Last week, my husband and I, were having some serious delicious food flashbacks to our trip to the D.C. area, in October of last year. The reason for the flashback was us trying to decide what we wanted to eat/make for dinner, and wishing we could hop in the car, drive to Don Taco and eat delicious tacos. Specifically, their phenomenal “surf n’ turf” tacos.Read More
DIY Painted Monster Pumpkins
Happy Tuesday everyone! It’s the first Tuesday of October and I’ve been in the Halloween mood since October 1st. It has become a tradition of mine to paint pumpkins as decor for my front porch. 2 years ago I made the popular minion pumpkins, last year I made the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and this year, after much thinking, I came up with the classic Halloween monsters: The Mummy, Frankenstein, and Dracula. Read More
Valentine’s Day 2016
Happy Monday everyone! It is the day after Valentine’s Day, and I hope this past weekend was a great start to your week. If you’re one of the lucky folks, you have today off for, President’s Day. We had a very simple but perfect Valentine’s Day weekend. We decided to go to dinner on Saturday evening to avoid the crowd on the actual day, and not only was the food good, but a couple we met while in line waiting for our food paid for our meal. I’m still smiling due to their enormously sweet gesture towards two strangers. We bought them a bottle of wine to thank them for their generousity. They insisted it wasn’t necessary but we wanted to let them know how much we appreciated what they did for our little family. They shared and spread more love to others and that is what Valentine’s Day is all about.
On Sunday we decided to hang out and relax as a family. One of my husband’s favorite foods is cinnamon rolls so I decided to make him some, from scratch, using a recipe I found on Pinterest. They turned out super yummy and took SO long to make! But he was happy and that made me happy. He bought Jordyn a teddy bear and a pink soccer ball for her Valentine’s Day gifts and she LOVED them. When she saw her ball in his hands, her face lit up, and she yelled “BALL”! It was absolutely adorable. Jordyn made her Dad a beautiful canvas painting with her hand prints and message saying “I <3 DAD” for his gift. Dad loved it. 🙂
Later that evening we went to the community center on base to play some basketball, and run around the gym with Jordyn, before we came back home to make/eat a homemade heart shaped pizza, and watch a movie together.
I got my Valentine’s Day gift from the hubby earlier this morning when I went to a local spa/salon to have a two hour, Caribbean Spa Treatment, done. I can’t think of a word strong enough to explain how amazing this treatment was so I’ll just use GLORIOUS. It was a much needed and much appreciated Valentine’s Day gift from the hubby. He is the best.
Whether you spent the holiday with a significant other, friends, family, or even by yourself, I hope you felt and shared love in the process. Valentine’s Day is all about love and there is more than one way to love, show love, and spread love. I hope you are all recharged and enjoying your evening. Have a happy rest of your day and even though it still isn’t Valentine’s Day, tell someone you love them, today.
Brie <3
[02.16.16]
Super Bowl Sunday-Funday
The day is finally here ladies and gentlemen…Super Bowl Sunday! I don’t know about you guys but this is one of the first Super Bowl match ups I’m excited to watch because I love both of the quarterbacks. I can honestly say whether Superman Cam walks away with his first ring or Peyton walks away with possibly his last ring, I will be a happy lady! However, what is any super bowl without the delicious snacks?! My family and I have our usual favorite get together/party snacks, but some snacks are so super bowl worthy they have to be made for multiple occasions. Here are the snacks I have prepared for today’s festivities 🙂
Chips & Queso:
I found this recipe on Pinterest a few years back and it’s actually quite popular. Most grocery stores even have an entire display dedicated to the popular “chips and dip” during super bowl time. However, for my dip I use Velveeta’s Queso Blanco and add 1 lbs. of seasoned ground beef (or turkey). Guys…it’s SO good. The instructions are easy: brown 1 lbs. of ground beef/turkey in a medium sized pot. Add your block of cheese cut into three pieces to the cooked meat. Constantly stir to prevent the cheese from sticking and burning until it has all melted together. Take your can of Rotel and mix into the cheese and meat. Pour into a bowl and serve!
BBQ Root Beer Chicken Wings:
YES- these wings are as yummy and delicious as they look in the picture. My husband saw this recipe on Tasty’s Facebook page about two months ago and it’s one of our favorites. If you would like to give it a try, head on over to Tasty’s Facebook page, like them, and try out this recipe (along with many of their other delicious recipes)!
The wings were still in the crock pot so I couldn’t get a picture with the sign lol.
Root Beer Floats:
These are pretty self explanatory. When are root beer floats NOT a good idea? Exactly. They’re easy, fun and delicious which are all the right description words for a successful dessert following yummy snacking foods. I am a huge fan of the individual IBC root beer bottles so guests don’t have to share, and wait to use one 2 liter bottle of root beer.
Banana Bread:
This honestly has nothing to do with the Super Bowl. I had overly ripe bananas and didn’t want to throw them away/waste them. Why not make some delicious banana bread to send home with our guests to eat for breakfast throughout the week? We’re already having root beer floats for dessert so the banana bread would be overkill. If you would like to make this delicious banana bread click here for the yummy recipe.
In addition to these delicious snacks for our Super Bowl get together our friends are bringing homemade quesadillas and nachos. It’s going to be a great evening in the Jamieson household and an even better food “cheat day” for me! Haha. What are your go to snack foods for Super Bowl Sunday? Feel free to comment and share below.
Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday and I hope whoever you’re cheering for wins!
Brie <3
[02.07.16]
January Goals Accomplished!
At the beginning of the year I shared a post outlining 12 goals I am striving to accomplish every month of 2016. Click here to read the post if you haven’t already. As of earlier today, I have accomplished all 12 of my goals for the month of January with one day to spare! Yeah, go me! I will share a picture of each goal for the month of January below.
Date Night:
While my Mother in law was in town the husband and I went on a few date nights this month so that was a lot of fun. Here is a picture of us at a stop light on our way to see the Hateful Eight for a day time date. 🙂
New Recipe:
I follow the Tasty page on Facebook and decided to make the shepherds pie stuffed baked potatoes for my new recipe to try for dinner. It was an instant hit and I’ve made it twice this month for dinner!
DIY Project:
I actually almost forgot to do my DIY for this month, but thankfully earlier today I was bored and decided to do one anyway. How about that timing? I re-purposed an old t-shirt I never wear into a workout shirt.
Twitter Chat:
Thanks to a good friend who is a social media strategist I learned about the “My Creative Connection” monthly twitter chat. Not only did I love the Q&A but I learned so much from the first chat to help better my blog and brand. They do this #BlkCreatives chat on the second Monday of every month. It’s safe to say they have a loyal monthly chat customer now. 🙂
Natural Hair Style:
This month I did a nice and easy, wash n’ go, natural hair style but it looked great! It has been my favorite wash n’ go result thus far. Talk about a selfie worthy hair style. 😉
Periscope Cooking Broadcast:
I did my first ever Periscope broadcast (@BrienneJamieson) for cooking. The first meal I shared on Periscope was my yummy Potato Corn & Bacon Chowder. I know it’s yummy because my family loves it and I have gotten some excellent reviews from fellow followers and readers who have tried it out. Thanks again to those of you who watched and tried the recipe!
Nail Color:
I have a drawer filled with nail polishes I haven’t worn in over a yea,r or ever, for that matter. I decided to try one of the colors I have never worn before. It’s called Russian Navy by OPI and I loooove it! I had to show it off with my lovely workout gloves while at the gym haha.
New Book:
The book I read this month was The Pact by Jodi Picoult. I love Jodi as an author so it shouldn’t come as a surprise how much I enjoyed this book, but I was still impressed and emotionally drawn in. If you are looking for a tragic yet relatable book to read I highly recommend this one.
Jordyn Activity:
Although Jordyn and I play and have fun all day everyday, I made it a point to do something each month that we’ve never done before. This month we built our first “fort” and we both had a great time eating snacks and watching TV/movies. It was the perfect cold and snowy day to do so too. 🙂
Workout Reward:
I made a commitment of having to workout at least 20 days of each month in order to reach my post baby body goals AND buy myself a reward of $25 or less to keep me motivated. As of Friday night I hit my goal which gives me two off days before starting again on Monday for the month of February. I was happy to achieve this goal!
The last two goals of the month were performing a random act of kindness and doing something nice for my husband. I didn’t take pictures of either of these “acts” because 1) I didn’t even remember to do so at the time and 2) some things don’t have to be shared through pictures. However, I will share what I did for each. While out running errands, and buying dinner for the family, I randomly decided to stop and buy some pizzas for the cops who guard the gate on base. It put smiles on their faces which made me super happy. For my husband, while out running those same errands, he had accidentally broken one of his PS4 controllers earlier that day. I bought him a card that very sweetly said “I love you” in mushy card ways and I put a Game Stop gift card in it. It made him smile and tell me how much he appreciates me so I think he loved it. Making people smile always makes me smile and that’s what it’s all about.
What goals did you set for yourself in the month of January? Did you accomplish them? If so, congratulations and I hope you have a great February as well. If not, what can you do to make sure you adjust and execute for the month of February? Feel free to share below.
Have a great Saturday evening and rest of your weekend everyone!
Brie <3
[01.30.16]
Meal Prep Tips
What better time to share some meal prepping for clean eating tips than the day before everyone overdoses on Halloween candy, right? 😉 I started meal prepping for the first time a little over a year ago. It was part of the fit girls guide challenge I did in November of 2014 for twenty-eight days. Although it was a lot of work, it definitely helped save time throughout the week, as well as, have no excuse to grab unhealthy food. However, when I first started meal prepping it was more time-consuming than need be because I hadn’t figured out how to make it easiest just yet.
I have been consistently meal prepping for about 6+ months now and it takes me half the time to meal prep, three times as much food, from when I first started. I have had a lot of people ask me about good meal prepping food and resources which I shared in a blog post back in September. Click here to read it. I have most recently been asked about tips and tricks to make meal prepping a little easier for those who are just getting started or beginners. I’m no expert on meal prepping per se, here are three helpful tips for your next meal prepping session:
Prep in Steps:
Instead of doing EVERYTHING for your meal prep on the same day, break up what you can into different steps. For example, one of my favorite meal prepped combinations is the baked chicken, green yellow and red quinoa (rice) and a veggie of some sort. To do this prep I always cook my quinoa and/or rice the night before and keep it in the refrigerator overnight. While my quinoa and rice is cooking, I season my chicken and place it in the refrigerator overnight as well. The following day while my chicken bakes in the oven, I chop up my vegetables that go in the quinoa/rice combo as well as my vegetable that will serve as my side. Although it takes two days of prepping, it allows you less time in the kitchen overwhelming yourself all at once.
*Cold quinoa/rice is easier to mix in to your cooking vegetables in the pot for meal prep which is why .
Double the Recipe:
Most meal prep recipes are for about a weeks worth of food. However, when making certain foods, you can double or triple the recipe and freeze what you don’t need right away. Look up the guidelines regarding how long certain foods last in the refrigerator and freezer to be sure you’re making sanitary choices. I always prepare two weeks of lunch at a time to save time on doing it all over again in another week.
*If you have a favorite recipe that uses a certain measurement and mix of spices, using a smaller Tupperware container, triple or quadruple your mix of spices and it saves you time for your next 3-4 meal prep sessions by not having to measure each ingredient.
Switch Up Choices:
Besides being time-consuming, another reason people lose interest in meal prepping is because they get tired of the same foods. So switch it up! There is no rule that says you have to meal prep the exact same food for two weeks straight. Who wouldnt’ get tired of that? Instead meal prep at least two different meals to alternate each day. Once you’ve gotten better at conserving your time and meal prepping quicker, make as many different meals as you choose. Believe it or not, being excited about eating your food helps motivate you to find the energy to get in the kitchen and meal prep in the first place.
*If you don’t know where to start for multiple meal prepping recipes and sites, Pinterest and Instagram are great resources. Or you can refer back to my link at the beginning of this post for more meal prep resources.
Hopefully these meal prep tips make meal prepping for you first timers, and beginners a little easier, and less frustrating. If you have any other questions regarding the tips or extra advice, please feel free to comment below or send me at email (info on my page). Happy meal prepping and clean eating! 🙂
Brie <3
[10.30.15]
DIY (No Carve) TMNT Pumpkins
Last year I did my first ever, DIY no carve pumpkins, by making three minions from the movie Despicable Me. After I finished the minions last year, I decided I wanted to make this a tradition by finding cool characters to recreate each year. This year, while on Pinterest, I saw a picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a no carve pumpkin project. The picture I originally saw was a little more in-depth, because they didn’t only use paint. They used actual material for the eye masks. The other bummer was there were no instructions on how to make it, only the picture. So, using the picture, I decided to give it a try by free-handing what I thought needed to be done. I can officially say I’m satisfied with the results! I’ve had a few people ask me how I made the pumpkins so I wanted to share the instructions and steps with all of you who would like to give this a try this Halloween. You will need:
4 pumpkins
2 cans of green spray paint
2 oz. bottle red paint
2 oz. bottle blue paint
2 oz. bottle orange paint
2 oz. bottle purple paint
2 oz. bottle black paint
2 oz. bottle white paint
1 variety pack of paint brushes
Black permanent marker
*Helpful Tip: If you live near a Michaels, download the app on your phone to use the coupons to save on your purchase*
Day 1:
- In an open area (preferably outside or in an open garage) spray paint all four of your pumpkins until they are completely covered in green. I recommend doing two to three layers of paint so the paint doesn’t make a drip look on the pumpkins. Let the pumpkins sit outside (or in the garage) over night to dry.
Day 2:
- Place your pumpkins somewhere sturdy (I used the floor and/or dining room table) to paint the eye masks on. Put a garbage bag or large piece of cardboard underneath the pumpkins to make sure the paint doesn’t stain wherever you are painting. Now you will paint each pumpkin a different mask color. If you don’t trust yourself to free hand the masks you can always use a folded piece of paper to make your lines even on the masks. Give the masks about an hour or so to dry and do at least one more layer of paint on the masks so they’re dark enough. Depending on the paint you use you may have to do more than two layers.
- Now that your masks are dry, you will notice there is a black line underneath each pumpkin for the “shadow” of the nose. Use your permanent marker to draw this line underneath the mask. You can use black paint with a thin paint brush if you prefer. I used the permanent marker because I could be a little more precise and it dries extremely quickly.
- Now take your white paint and draw the mouths on THREE of the pumpkins. It will just be a white area in the shape of the pumpkins mouth, but we will use the black paint later to draw in the teeth. If you know a little about the TMNT you will notice each facial expression matches their personality. Take your time doing this part. I looked at the picture after each brush stroke to be sure I was doing it correctly. Once you have painted the first white layer for the teeth, wait about 20-30 minutes and add one more layer so that the teeth really stand out. There is a picture underneath step 5 showing you what they should look like.
- Michaelangelo (the orange one) is different from the others when it comes to designing his mouth. His tongue is sticking out. Using the permanent marker OR black paint, draw a thin line almost resembling a smiley face on the pumpkin. Now take your red paint and draw a rounded out wide tongue on the pumpkin. There is a picture underneath step 5 showing you what they should look like.
- While you are waiting for the “teeth” to dry, draw in the eyes. When drawing them think of making two triangles lying on their sides facing each other. Wait about 20 minutes and do another layer to make sure the eyes stand out. Your pumpkins should look something like this:
- Once the eyes have dried, using the permanent marker draw the outline of the pupils on each pumpkin. Then, using the black paint, fill in the pupils.
- Now you will use your black paint again to fill in the details for the teeth on each pumpkin. Refer back to the original start picture so you are able to recreate every detail and line for each particular pumpkin. Take your time doing this step so you don’t mess yourself up and have to start over.
- Put your pumpkins in a dry place to dry overnight.
The following day you should have pumpkins that look like this and are ready to be placed outside to be admired by your neighbors, and strangers in passing. I hope you guys enjoyed doing the DIY Halloween project as much as I did! Share pictures of your finished pumpkins in the comment section below 🙂
Brie <3
[10.08.15]
My Go To Clean Eating & Workout Resources
It has almost been a year since I have seriously started working on living a healthier lifestyle. I am by no means anywhere NEAR my health and fitness goals, but I am A LOT closer than I have been in years. I have tried the “healthy” lifestyle on multiple occasions prior to last year, but I was not as dedicated and educated on living a healthier lifestyle until I did the 28 Day Fit Girl Jumpstart Challenge in October of 2014. Since then, I have slowly been taking baby steps to teach myself the difference between diet fads and unnatural weight loss schemes, to the actual act of changing my lifestyle, and making cleaner eating choices and committing to working out regularly.
Clean eating is not a diet. I actually have learned to despise the word “diet”, and understand changing how I eat has to be a lifelong commitment. The changes will not happen overnight, but it will definitely start to show in the long run. The biggest fact I’ve learned about clean eating is, at no time should you starve yourself. When you’re hungry, you’re supposed to eat. You’re just supposed to eat healthier food vs. junk food, or not eating any food at all (leads to bingeing on unhealthy foods). In terms of working out, I learned any activity is better than no activity. You also don’t need an expensive membership to a fancy gym to stay fit either. There are so many at home or outdoor workouts available these days, which makes getting fit a lot easier.
Below I will share my favorite websites and social media people who got me started on my journey, kept me motivated on my journey, and continue to teach me how to do better along the way.
Jersey Girl Talk is a website I discovered through Pinterest while searching for lifting routines. I had been reading up on the benefits of lifting for women, and wanted to jump into it. I had lifted all through high school while running track, but it has been quite some time since I’ve lifted weights and wanted to find a beginners program of some sort. I stumbled upon Adrienne’s (the website owner) lifting for beginners pin, and really liked the sound of it. I’ve loved it ever since. I also follow her on Instagram and Twitter, where she is extremely personable, and responds to your tweets and posts if she is mentioned in them. I haven’t tried any of her recipes yet, but will be giving them a try sometime soon!
I found Fit with Curves through a friend’s post on Instagram. She had re-posted one of the exercises Tatiana (the blog owner) had shared on her own Instagram page. I’m all about seeing people doing healthy things so I clicked on her name to check out her page. I instantly loved the page, and not only because of the workouts. I loved seeing her acknowledge being fit means different things for different people. A woman with curves who is fit will not look like a woman who is fit without curves, and that is okay. Embrace it, and focus on how to become healthy in your own body. I enjoy some of her mini workout videos, and have occasionally added a workout here or there to my routine at the gym. She also has clean eating recipes on her blog I have not tried yet, but plan to in the near future. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter as well.
I’m actually not too sure how I found out about Get Fit with Nic, but I’m happy I did! I do know it was through Instagram somehow. Either way, if you’re looking for great at home and/or outdoor workouts, she is the person to follow. Gym memberships and/or finding the time to go to the gym can often be unattainable for some people. Her works are perfect for those of you who run into these issues. She often posts mini-videos of her workouts, which are perfect for those of us needing the extra “umph” to get our butts off of the couch in general. She has recently started a traveling workout session in major cities for a low fee of $10 which is pretty awesome. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
This is my FAVORITE meal prepping website at the moment. I found this gem of a website while searching for clean eating meals on, Pinterest. My Body My Kitchen, has SO many delicious recipes, broken down into separate categories, to make it easier to search for the type of food you want to eat. What makes this website the best for meal prepping is the amount of food options (so you never get bored), the amount of flavor used in the dishes (to keep you coming back), and how much he loves to make food spicy. If you aren’t a huge spicy food fan, just omit the use of the cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes in your recipes. My husband HATES spicy food, so I modify his meals, and he still loves them. You can follow this page on Instagram as well.
This is my number one go to resource for clean eating and working out, because this is what got me started on the correct path to making healthier life choices. My friend Charelle told me about it back in September of 2014, and her, my Grandmother and I did the month-long challenge. The results were unbelievable for it to have only been a month. For anyone else looking for a great jumpstart to their healthier life goals, I suggest you start with the Fit Girls Guide. The major take back I got from this challenge was how to measure my food and calorie intake, correctly. Did I mention not only is the food really good, the exercises are extremely easy, and can be done at home. You can find the Fit Girls support groups on Instagram and Twitter as well.
If you decide to give any of these resources a try, I hope they are beneficial, enjoyable, and fun to do! Also, let me know what you think about them and what you like and didn’t like. Good luck on your journey and I hope these resources are helpful to someone out there. 🙂
This picture shows my results of the 28 Day Jumpstart Challenge last year.
Brie <3
[09.14.15]
Grilled Potato-Veggie Pouches
Summer is coming to a close, but I had to share a recently discovered, grilled favorite in the Jamieson household. I have read multiple articles suggesting summer grilled pouch recipes on Pinterest, but none of the ingredients really caught my attention. We decided to grill a few weekends ago, and I decided to attempt my own concoction of ingredients in a foil packet to throw on the grill with the chicken. Well, considering I’m sharing the recipe, and it’s now a favorite in our home, it’s pretty safe to say the concoction was a hit! Here are the step by step instructions to make your own yummy grilled potato-veggie pouches.
Prep time: 10 mins | Cook time: 30 mins | Serves: 5
15 Baby Red Potatoes
1 large Red Onion
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Orange Bell Pepper
1/4 cup Olive Oil
5 (individual) Tbsp Butter
Salt, Pepper, & Garlic powder
Heavy Duty Foil
Step 1:
Wash your bell peppers and potatoes. Cut your baby potatoes into halves, and your bell peppers and onion into slightly larger than quarter sized pieces.
Step 2:
Place all of your cut up potatoes and vegetables into a large enough container (with a lid), drizzle your olive oil and seasonings over the potatoes and vegetables in the container. Cover the container with the lid, and shake everything together to coat the potatoes and veggies in the olive oil and seasonings.
Step 3:
Tear off five decently sized pieces of foil and lay them on the counter. Evenly spoon the potato and veggie mixture in the middle of each piece of foil. Cut 1 tablespoon of butter in half, and place both pieces into separate parts of the potato veggie pouches. Repeat this for the remaining 4 pouches.
Step 4:
With your potatoes and vegetables in the center of the foil, close the foil by bringing the ends up to meet and crunch them together. Here is a picture of my lovely husband demonstrating what the pouches should look like when they’re closed and ready for the grill.
Step 5:
Put the pouches on the grill for about half an hour (or until desired tenderness). Once they are finished, leave them closed for another 3-5 minutes to finish cooking in the foil/cool down a little. We like to serve our pouches with shredded mild cheddar cheese melted on top.
Enjoy your yummy grilled potato-veggie pouches!
Brie <3
[09.08.15]
Happy 2nd Birthday, Ares!
Ares a.k.a Ares Monster turns a whole two years old today! I can’t believe we’ve had this crazy, hyper, lovable, pup since he was 3 months old. Like most fur children he drives us crazy, but we love him to death. I’m sure his mobile baby sister will have a few hugs for him. (By hugs, I mean trying to grab his paws and his ears while I yell at her to be nice to big brother) Or try to feed him her tube of buttpaste diaper cream. It’s all love, right?
I decided to look up a recipe for “pupcakes” on Pinterest to make him for his big day. I wanted to make him a treat of some sort for his birthday last year, but I was big and pregnant, and opted for the easier approach…we bought him some pig ears. He loves those! Since I had the “time and energy” to make him a homemade treat this year, I did just that. Talk about self control and looking depressed. Hahaha!
I think it’s safe to say this big ole bear of a puppy enjoyed his big day :-). We love you, Ares!
Brie <3
[05.13.15]