Romantic Metallic Macaroons

The Romantic Metallic Macaron

by with No Comment bakingDIYfoodholidaysspecial occassions

Macarons can totally be romantic right?! You bet! These babies were a labor of LOVE!!! These sweet treats make a perfect dessert or gift idea for this Valentine’s day- for your loved ones and friends! These are salted caramel metallic gold and silver macarons and I get it now why these crunchy, chewy, sweet, and savory treats can be so expensive. This photo was taken this morning after:

  • two trips to Bed Bath & Beyond
  • two trips to my local grocery store (in sweats and tear streaked cheeks)
  • an impromptu trip to Target at 10PM
  • a trip to Michael’s
  • and dumping the entire first batch to start again from scratch at 11PM

macaron love

Let me tell ya, if you’ve mastered the art of making macarons than you’ve mastered an art. Below is a recipe I got from two different places EatLiveTravelWrite and HowToCookThat blogs.

I’ve linked you to the two original recipes if you want to follow their method, HowToCookThat’s blog, saved me from breakdown number two! I won’t list the step by step here since she so adequately displays the ‘how to’s’ over there. Instead I’ll show you what I learned along the way to get these fluffy, chewy, and delicious macarons…..errr take two!

sift it real good!
First sift your dry ingredients once twice….trust me on this. And set aside.

I took my egg whites out for about 2 hours before I whipped them into a fluffy mound. Just when you think it’s ready, it’s not…keep on whisking folks! It took me about 15 minutes by hand to achieve what 2 minutes of an electric mixer did.

goldennnn
I wanted a golden macaron to fit in with the theme of metallic salted caramel, so I mixed in 10 drops of yellow food coloring with 2 drops of red food coloring.

fold, press, turn, repeat
Then I added it into my dry ingredients and folded, press, turn….that’s the method. Fold, press, turn, repeat. Until your mixture flows like lava!

look at the 2 love birds
I piped my ‘rows’ of batter into an odd zig zag pattern for some reason, also they were huge like loving lil cookies, some even touching. They will spread so don’t over pipe them out like I did.

those pretty feet though!
Allow them to rest on the counter for about 30 minutes after racking them to release air pockets. This is the time to set your oven to 300 degrees and sprinkle a bit of coarse salt on top of each of them.

tadaaa!
Then pipe out some homemade Dulce de Leche in the centers and sandwhich with another macaron.

metallic gold and silver salted caramel macarons!

I also got inspired by my friend’s birthday macaroons that were bright gold, so I picked up some cake spray paint in metallic gold and silver and when the macaroons were set, I sprayed them down and above is what I got!

I took a ton of photos with them and then allowed my family to devour them, they were soooo delicious!!! They are chewy and fluffy, they’re delicious and delightful, try them out!

I love to bake but I’d give these a sold 7 in difficulty level haha. Try them out and tag me in your yummy posts! You can make them for events, holidays, and gifts! Happy love day to you and yours!!!
xoxo- Jess

 

Corriney's Photography

Exploring Downtown L.A.

by with No Comment artbeautycommunitylifestyletravel

Here’s an oldie but goodie from my Corriney who writes for our mother/daughter blog and sometimes for me here. Thought I’d share her post with you since everything she does makes me such a proud momma. So here is some of her awesomeness on photography and art, and if you aren’t following her words on that blog, please do. She wrote:

Here are some snaps from my eventful day of filming.

Corrine's photography of Downtown

If you didn’t know, I love art and I love making it too. I died from happiness a little when I saw this poster that said “Paint or Die”. Nice, nice, props to you friend, whoever posted this. Really though, paint or die. x______x

This whole wall was filllllled with posters and graffiti, stickers and paintings. People just pile it on, layer after layer so you can still see some paintings that were once there underneath it, too.

Also, spotted the love of my life while I was there. This beautiful Husky baby named Cash, just hanging out on his second floor window.

He was so so precious, I just wanted to give him a great big hug. Spot the tag at the right, just beneath the window? It says #HewittHusky. I googled it and yeah, he has his own twitter account. That melted my heart, I tell ya. One guy walking down the street told us the dog’s name and that he thinks he’s a mountain goat. Awwwwwww.

This day showed me a lot of adventure. it was easy to get lost and forget about myself, to float around like a ghost for a little while. I love blending into my surroundings, and I must say, this space felt like home. I see myself in this place in the future.

-xx, C

Bison Burgers

Game day bison burgers and buffalo chicken dip!

by with No Comment foodsports

It’s super bowl Sunday!!! Cheers to your home team, your parties and all the celebrations! Make these dishes for your party and they’re sure to be crowd pleasers! Here are two of the most loved dishes of the day…of any game day really; the burger and the dip! [this is a tee shirt slogan in the making]

So I took the traditional burger recipe and teamed it up with a recipe I got off of self.com- threw in some secret ingredients of my own, and created a “stacked bison burger atop a toasted brioche bun, and layered with spicy aioli and smoked bacon”!!! Now THAT’S the right way to burger!

Game Day

I added in some fresh cilantro, avocado slices, and pepper jack cheese!

But wait, there’s more! I didn’t stop at the bison burger, oh no… I took it further and stepped up my dip making game! I tried (for the 3rd time) to make my friend Michelle’s famous buffalo chicken dip! It’s delicious, it’s delicious, it’s…. delicious!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

I don’t know if you can tell from the photo, but that red layer you see on top is Frank’s Red Hot! It MAKES the dip! I totally evened out the healthy to unhealthy ratio by using organic tortilla chips also!

For the bison burger you’ll need:

  • 1 pound of ground bison meat (I used grass fed bison from Wholefoods)
  • half of a medium white onion- finely chopped
  • 1 tsp coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • fresh ground pepper
  • 4 brioche buns (or opt for your favorite low carb bread)
  • spicy aioli (recipe to follow)
  • avocado
  • pepper jack cheese
  • uncured, nitrate free, smoked bacon

The method:
In one skillet cook your bacon slices. In another skillet heat up the coconut oil and saute the onions. Toss the onions in with the bison meat, along with the ginger, soy sauce, ground pepper, garlic powder, and roll into patties. Cook to your liking on an un-greased skillet and set aside.

Melt some grass fed butter on a pan and place the brioche buns face down on the pan until they are golden brown and crispy. Remove and top with spicy aioli, the bison burger, bacon, cilantro, avocado and cheese! Enjoy!

For the aioli:

  • 1/3 cup mayo (I used the Ojai Cook brand made with cage free eggs, free of hydrogenated oils, and organic)
  • 1-2 teaspoons sriracha sauce or your favorite hot sauce (depending on how hot you want it)
  • garlic powder to taste
  • Mix it all together in a small bowl and serve it up on your toasted brioche buns!

Michelle’s famous buffalo chicken dip!
What you’ll need:

  • 1 1/2 cup cubed chicken
  • 9-12 oz Franks Red Hot (psst, this is a hot sauce NOT a sausage brand….errr I made this mistake on try 1)
  • 3/4 cup finely chopped celery
  • 2 (8oz) cream cheese – cubed
  • 1 cup bleu cheese dressing
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

The method:
Cook the chicken and add in the red hot sauce, remove from heat and toss in the celery, cream cheese, bleu cheese, and pour into a 9×13 in. pan. Top with the cheddar cheese and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Enjoy with your favorite tortilla chip!

buffalo chicken dip cheddar

I hope you enjoy your game day and tag me in any food posts so I can see what you’re making for your party! Cheers to winning! We.are.all.winners.here.

xoxo- Jess

yummy chewy cookie

The Cookie Butter Nutella – cookie sandwich

by with No Comment bakingfood

Please do not try to adjust your screen, you read that correctly. Behold! The cookie butter Nutella cookie…sandwich!

Imagine a Nutella cookie smeared with chunky, crunchy cookie butter, and then sandwiched with ANOTHER Nutella cookie! Oh it happened! Here’s how!

nutella nomsFirst let me preface this by saying that this is NOT exactly the healthiest of recipes, but it’s one of the YUMMIEST! I love cooking and baking in healthy ways, but sometimes you just need a ‘good ol’ chewy goodness’ kind of cookie!

Here’s what you’ll need:

    1. 1 cup of Nutella (you won’t regret it..just scoop it out of the tub with your eyes closed)
    2. 1 egg
    3. 1 cup of flour
    4. 2 tablespoons of sugar
    5. sea salt if you like sweet and savory!
    6. cookie butter if you wanna live a lil! (ps cookie butter changes everything!!!)


The method:
In a bowl combine all of the ingredients together except for the salt and cookie butter
Spoon rounded tablespoons of the cookie dough onto an un-greased cookie sheet 2 inches apart
Bake for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are set
Allow them to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack
Sprinkle with sea salt or smother cookie butter in between two of them and enjoy!!!!

Nutella Cookies!All the credit and love goes to @lina_fit who posted this yummy little number on Instagram sans the cookie butter. I fell instantly in love with the recipe…it had me at Nutella.

Try these out, tag Lina and I on Instagram when you’ve regained consciousness from all of the goodness, and have a rockin’ rest of your weekend!

xo-

Jess

ACURE Organics

Staying young, raising a teenager, and giving back!

by with No Comment communitygiveaways

I’m raising a teenager guys! Pretty crazy right? My daughter is 17 years old. I have to say this over and over to people sometimes and I still can’t believe it myself. Post coming soon on what it’s like to have her go to college soon and my empty nesting! 

I get asked a lot about my skin care regime and lifestyle since I’m no longer in my 20’s but still have 20 something skin (all hail the eye cream). I have a video on this that goes into detail about routines and the importance of drinking water and getting rest, but it’s also genetic. Genes and lifestyle are the two main components I believe in skincare. Prevention prevention prevention!

Here are my current obsessions:
 acure_post
I was the face of this amazing campaign called the “ACURE pop up challenge” (see the whole series HERE) where I skipped around L.A. talking to strangers about skin care and if they knew what was really going on their skin and in their bodies. We talked to people of all ages at farmer’s markets, at colleges, and from all walks of life. You’d be surprised how clueless we can all be when it comes to ingredients…yours truly included.
 
I fell in love with this company, what the brand stands for, and the story behind their products. If you love organic, all natural, and putting pure ingredients on your skin, hair, and eventually into your body, give this brand a try. 
 
Of course get your rest, drink a ton of water (I’m talking at least a gallon a day), be active, be well, be happy! And your skin, your body, your energy- will all reflect that. Follow my advice and your glowing skin will thank me later 😉 And speaking of thanking (is that a word?), I want to thank all of you always supporting my work, and 10 of you personally – so I’m giving away TEN Acure Organics kits to the first 10 people to share this post on your social media! 
 
Have a beautiful week! See you later this week, right back here, to talk fad dieting, working out, and the other ‘F’ word….fruit. lol. More on that soon!
 
 
xoxo- Jess
 
***To enter into the ACURE giveaway, simply post a link to this post to your social media and share it, then screen grab it and email me at [email protected]! First 10 to do so get a care package from yours truly! Thank you! <3***
 
Style Watch with Pop Basic

Inspiration, goals, and 2015!!!

by with No Comment communitygiveaways

New year, new beginnings, new goals. We’re all setting them so lets share what our goals are and any updates….. accountability is everything! So here are some goals of mine for this year and you can crack the whip on me if I slack up on one of them:

  • 3 blog posts a week (alternating 6 of my most passionate topics)
  • stick to it (anything and everything and this includes being active)
  • family time (and me time, this is necessary and I should do more of this)
  • a video a week on my YouTube channel and Beauty channel
  • read more (20 minutes before bed each night)
  • give time to my friends (dedicate time each week to empower another friend of mine)
So share with me what your goals are this year, if you have a blog, the name of it so I can check in with you, and where you draw the most inspiration. I’m inspired by different things every day and today it was my daughter coming home from school and asking me to paint with her. She inspires me to be creative. In the drawing world and even though I suck at it, she makes me feel so talented!
Updates: My app (in the app store and totally free!) is going through some awesome updates and new features are rolling out each month. Download it if you haven’t and join our community of creatives!
My home screen and this face
Some of the content you’ll see in the app
The login page, which will be changed to our logo, the Encourage, Empower, Inspire infinity circle
Hope to see you in the app and hearing your goals for this year! Have a beautiful week!
xoxo- Jess
love

New Year new things

by with No Comment communitygiveaways

Happy new yeearrrr! Sorry for the lack of posts here but I like to post when I have something to say not just post to post. But I finally have words to say! Wahooo for getting over this sicky feeling, got the flu over NYE and still fighting it but I missed blogging so here I am. 

Onward with the new year, I love that each year NYE brings on new possibilities in the year to come, new goals to set and achieve, and new starts. It really does remind us though that any day we can start over, set new goals, or begin again. 

2014 was an incredible year. Probably one of the best I’ve had in a while. I accomplished a lot of things this year both personally and professionally. You all had something to do with that too, so thank you for coming back to check in on my posts, share in my videos, and participate on social media. This space can be overwhelming at times, but so rewarding when you think about what it is that we really do. 

I crossed some things off my bucket list this past year, held on to my courage, let go of some people in my life that were toxic to me, and strayed from my comfort zone which was a good thing. 

This year I resolve to blog at least twice a week, post on my beauty channel twice a week and on my main channel twice a week, whewww that’s a lot of posts! But I can do it, just have to take focus from other projects and redirect them back to my own business. I also need to learn how to take a day to rest. Like really rest. From work, from working out (this too I started on the 1st, like a real plan that I’ll stick to like for reals), and just let my well refill. We have to remember to do that especially being creatives, we get burnt out. A lot. 

So I hope your new year had a kick ass kick start, I hope this year is incredible for you, set goals, give yourself a break sometimes, and remember that each day is a new chance. 

All the hugs, 

Jess xoxoxo

Techgating_post

Weekend Wrap-up: #Techgating and Twitter Parties!

by with One Comment DIYfoodgiveawayssportstechnologytravelvideo

Happy Tuesday to you and happy weekend wrap up! I hope your week, your day, and your month have all been amazing. We’ve been doing a lot you and I: Twitter parties, launching an app, catching up… and slowing it down to get ready for the holidays! Yes, I said the H word! Can you believe it’s only TWO more Thursdays until Thanksgiving and SIX more Thursdays until Christmas!?!?! The red cup is out and everything (praise to PSL all day with sprinkles of nutmeg).

So I’m wrapping up the weekend and the week’s happenings.
 
If you love hosting parties, love football season, or just love awesome gifts, then you’re not going to want to miss out on our LIVE #Techgating Twitter party happening this Wednesday, 11/19, with our friends at AT&T @FanForAll. Sign up here . RSVP with your Twitter handle and be sure to use the hashtag #Techgating to participate and for a chance to win fun prizes! We’ll contact the winners after the event. I can’t wait to chat with you all, share my hosting skills secrets, and talk about how tech obsessed we all are! 

As much as I love writing, I also love creating videos – whether they are, my video blogs or my sketch comedy, all are up on my channel now! Click here to check out my latest video blog where I take you around my #Techgating party with my closest friends, show you my DIY tech stations that I’m so proud of, and introduce you to my party’s signature hostess drink! It’s complete with photo booth props and game day shortcakes! For all of the recipes you see in the video and my game day DIY how to’s, click here for that post! I hope this inspires you to get creative with your parties and make them your own with your personal style. Please share your blog posts and photos in the comments so I can check them all out!
Comedy really is my creative outlet. Some people meditate or bake. I write comedy sketches and web series. My latest sketch shows all of my fellow football ‘noobs’ just how to fit in with the cheering and celebrations by throwing the best party ever! It goes through all of the things you’ll need on game day to stay connected to the game and to your friends enjoying it somewhere else. Oh technology, such a beautiful thing. Except when my parents try to Facetime us and aren’t sure how to use that feature on their phones! Ha! So click here to laugh out loud at my dance skills (errr lack there of)!
 
And for some knee slappin’ good time giggles, check out the video Corrine and I did together. It’s our mother/daughter ‘favorites’ video. You KNOW Corrine doesn’t love the camera as much as I do but she rocks it! Click here to check it out. She steals all of my things like my makeup and my clothes, so it’s no wonder they end up in our ‘favorites’ video as her own! Awww parenthood…gotta love it! 
 
And last but definitely not least; if you love a sense of community, would like to be a part of some awesome collaborations, and would like to be featured here on my blog or over on my YouTube channel, then please download my FREE mobile app! It’s totally fun, totally free, and I totally love being a part of all the conversations that are happening over on the app between you all, myself and the rest of our community! So click here to join in on the fun. I’m running a contest right now – #10DaysOfJessmas haha I’m so cheesy! So I pick a winner a day to get a handmade holiday ornament from yours truly. Oh, and I’ll be filming myself making them for you so you can be a part of the moment when I glue my fingers together 😉
 
So that’s the week and weekend wrap-up! Please leave a comment below if I’ll be seeing you at our live Twitter #Techgating party. (Sign up here) and let me know what’s new and exciting with you! I respond to comments so leave ’em all!
 
Have a superb week and thanks for stopping by for a read!
 
Hugs, 
 
Jess
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
techgating_food

Join our #Techgating Twitter Party and win 1 of 6 tech gifts!!!

by with 8 Comments DIYfoodgiveawayssportstechnologytravelvideo

Hello! I hope your week is going amazingly! I have some exciting things for you. Yes YOU! So I’m super excited to announce that I’ll be hosting another Twitter Party ahhhh!!! Yes I’m a pro now at this Twitter Live thing! This time I’m bringing on some friends to host with me! My amazingly hilarious and talented friends Nikki Limo and Sean Klitzner will both be joining me and we’re so excited to get to chat with you all!

So the prizes given will be: 
(1) Samsung Galaxy S5 phone
(1) Samsung Galaxy Note 4
(1) Miroir portable projector 
(1) Portable Speakers
(1) $500 AT&T Gift card
(1) Portable phone charger  


The Twitter party will take place next Wednesday, November 19th at 5pm PST (two games are on this day and we’ll get a chance to talk about it!) So mark your calendars! We’ll talk about the game, tailgating, and of course #Techgating and how you’re implementing tech into your game day! I mean I did share all of my hostess secrets with you all in my last video (click here if you haven’t seen it). I really want everyone to partake in our party so I’m so happy to announce that we have SIX amazing prizes to give to you all during the event, all courtesy of our sponsors @AT&T @FanForAll! Yes you’re correct, that is another form of love. Gifts=love. Makes sense. 

 
 
 
I mean whoa! Pretty awesome right?! So all you have to do to enter for a chance to win one of these rad prizes is sign up for our Twitter Party in the form I’ve provided below. You’ll list your ‘name’ as your Twitter handle (i.e. @jess_lizama) and your URL as your Twitter web address (i.e. http://twitter.com/jess_lizama). Leave us a comment after you’ve signed up I love responding to comments.
 
You’ll have to be RSVP’d to the Twitter Party in order to be eligible to win, and at the end of the party we’ll DM all of the winners for their information.  You’re going to want to participate in our party where we’ll be asking you some fun questions, challenging you to participate in some fun interactive games, and testing your DIY skills! Just kidding, no but really what are you making for your game day? Perhaps a recipe from my #Techgating party? (hint hint). The games will be a lot of fun, you’ll be sharing with us your game day parties, how you’re techgating and implementing tech into your game day, all while entering for a chance to win these amazing prizes listed above. 
 
Be sure to use our hashtag #Techgating so we can see all of your responses. Be sure to follow myself, Nikki (@NikkiLimo), Sean (@SeanKlitzner) and AT&T Fan For All (@FanForAll) so you’re sure to be included in all of our conversations. I’ll be passing some questions and games over to them during the party so you won’t want to miss out! 
 
I really can’t wait to chat with you all, check out all of your photos from your game day, see your game faces (literally), and give you some cool prizes that we teamed up with @FanForAll to send you home with! So please RSVP below, follow us all on Twitter, and use that hashtag! Easy like 1, 2, 3!!!! Ready set go! 😀 

Cheers and I can’t wait to chat with you all LIVE! 

All the hugs, 


Jess