Jess Golfs!

SPORTS AND FASHION!

by with No Comment adventurecharitycommunityfitnesssportstechnologytravel

I always find a way to incorporate my sense of style into everything I do…..including sports! Today I share with you this week’s goals and all of the week’s happenings…while wearing colorful kicks! I’ve been following the #ATTProAm which is being held just a hop and a skip away from where I am in L.A., and some incredible things have happened this week!

Let’s catch you up – I’ve been following the Foursome: Tim, Katie, Tiffany, and Dan who are receiving the VIP treatment for a Fan’s Eye View at this year’s #ATTProAm. You can follow them via twitter @TimLangGolf, @KtHorsford, @BlackGirlsGolf and @TheDanPlan.

Dan McLaughlin-2

This week I got to ask them each a few questions that I’m so excited to share with you! Some things they participated in this past week so far, besides an up close and personal experience during the event, they had the opportunity to meet with Veterans at the VTC Monterey and helped deliver food. They got to interact with kids at the Boys & Girls Club and be inspired by those they inspire, and they got to tee off on one of the most beautiful courses I’ve ever seen!

I’ve been so motivated by their stories and found that I relate to each of them in a different way but in a way that reminds me that we are all so similar in life’s struggles and in life goals. So I decided to set some fun goals for myself this week!

Look I'm golfing!

My goal was to play the course in as few strokes as possible…which for me is usually an embarrassing 4+ strokes per hole. Starting off with a reasonable yet attainable goal for myself….that is key. So I took my skills out onto the golf course….yes that is a Putt Putt course. You have to start somewhere right, and for me it was just fun to focus on the basics of form and swing.

Hole in 1!
Golfing during the day with no one around, I was really able to experience how a sport like golf- when appreciated, can be so calming as it requires great focus and attention. It’s easy to find the appeal in it even if I’m not so great at it. I think people love it for that challenge and the competitiveness of it when playing against someone or in a competition. It takes strategy but it’s also fun. It doesn’t hurt that the sport is played outside, on a beautiful field, where you can also enjoy being surrounded by nature…I especially love that part of it. Here is my ‘happy nature’ smile.

Success!

Please be sure to check out the bios on each of the Foursome and see what about the sport they love so much!

Tim Lang:

Tiffany Fitzgerald:

Katie Horsford:

Dan McLaughlin:

 

Be sure to follow them for their event wrap ups! I’m looking forward to seeing what their favorite moments were! See you next week with more on next week’s goals!

xo – Jess

 

ATT_PB 30 YRS-Full Logo

This post is in partnership with AT&T, celebrating 30 years of the #ATTPROAM.

foodblog3

Making eating healthy easy!

by with One Comment DIYfitnessfoodlifestyle

I don’t know about you, but when people say ‘eating healthy’, I automatically think “oh yum, rabbit food! Salads! No sugar! No carbs! Ummm… no thanks!!!” 


I personally love to cook, even more so I love to bake! I like when food tastes good, and I like food in general, don’t we all? I mean, social events revolve around food and we celebrate all things in life with food – all the foods. So thanks to a few of my friends’ different recipes, today I give you the yummiest dish to make for lunch or dinner, and this super healthy dish makes eating healthy, super easy.


Now I’m not one to eat salads, I don’t love them, I don’t think they’re filling at all, and I don’t particularly think they’re tasty at all. If I eat a salad it’s because it’s healthy for me and I’m perpetually trying to be ‘healthy’. This salad however is so good, since I’ve discovered it, I literally have it now four to five times a week, thank you Miya! It’s a citrus spinach salad with fresh grated parmesan cheese on top and it’s so flavorful and tangy! 

Next to the salad is the salmon I roasted. I probably make salmon or some kind of fish at least three times a week. Not because of the health thing but because of the taste thing, I’m Islander and I love sea food. But the benefits we get from fish is also a plus. This is the best marinade and you can hardly taste the ‘fishy’ taste with it. 

The coconut quinoa with cilantro is everything! Also from Miya, this recipe is beyond yummy and anything with coconut I am alllll about! And the refreshing water tastes like a vacation and is an awesome detox beverage! 

So what you’ll need:

The Citrus Spinach Salad
– spinach (I usually use an entire bag)
– juice of 1 1/2 lemon
– fresh cracked pepper
– a pinch of sea salt
– 1 cup grape tomatoes cut in half
– 1 Persian cucumber sliced 
– red onion (just a few very thinly sliced long pieces)


– 1/4 cup olive oil
– drizzle of vinaigrette 
– fresh grated parmesan cheese

What you’ll do is throw the spinach into a big ol’ bowl, toss in all of the other ingredients and give the salad a good mix and set aside for 15 minutes to allow all of the flavors to infuse the leaves. Then before serving, grate the parmesan over top and enjoy!

Spicy salmon in tomato lemon juice

– 1 to 2 pieces of salmon
– 1 lemon
– fresh ground pepper
– cilantro
– Himalayan sea salt
– paprika
– olive oil
– tomato paste
– 1 medium sized jalepeno 
– 1/4 cup red onion finely chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a baking pan drizzle some olive oil on to the bottom. Rinse off the salmon and place them into the pan. Drizzle the tops of them with olive oil, some ground pepper, a pinch of sea salt, and sprinkle some paprika on top. 

In a small bowl combine some finely chopped cilantro, the juice of one lemon, a bit of olive oil, a squeeze of tomato paste, half of a medium sized jalenpeno finey chopped, and the red onion. 

Pour this mixture on top of the salmon, cover the baking pan with foil, and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until cooked in the center. This is even more yummy if you allow the salmon to marinate in the sauce over night. 

Enjoy!


Coconut Curried Quinoa

– 2 cups quinoa
– 1/2 finely chopped red onion
– sea salt
– freshly ground pepper
– 1 bay leaf
– 2 cloves fresh garlic
– 1/4 cup chopped baby kale
– 21 salute seasoning
– cumin
– tumeric
– 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
– 1 can coconut milk 

In a pot add 4 cups water, one bay leaft, quinoa, salt, pepper, cumin, and let cook. 

In a pan on the stove drizzle some olive oil and add the red onion, garlic, salt, and pepper and let the onion saute. 

When the quinoa is done, add it to the pan, along with the coconut milk, cilantro, tumeric, cumin, 21 salute, kale, and some more pepper. Let this mixture simmer together for about 5-7 minutes and then remove from heat. 

Enjoy! This is the best!!!!!!!!! 😀 



Detox water

– 3-4 strawberries
– half cucumber
– 1 small slice of lemon
– water
– ice cubes

In a jug, combine water, ice, chopped strawberries, cucumber slices, and the slice of lemon. Let this sit for a few hours in the refrigerator and ENJOY! So so so delicious and good for you! I hate plain water, I don’t know why, and this makes drinking a JUG of water super easy!


Hope you enjoy these recipes and your day!!!

hugs,

Jess













photo-3

Angeles State Park Adventures!

by with No Comment DIYfitnessfoodlifestyle

I love LA but sometimes you just gotta get away and enjoy some fresh air, and unplug for a while. This weekend we took a trip to Angeles National Park and hiked the most beautiful 6 miles I’ve seen in a long time, picked pine cones bigger than my head, and had a picnic outside with the birds and the bugs. It was awesome!



Angeles National Park is about an hour (with the drive up the windy beautiful mountain) outside of Los Angeles. As you drive up the windy road you realize that you’re breathing clean air, I mean my lungs were in shock haha. You also realize that your phone says ‘no service’ which can give you a slight heart palpitation if your job is to be online at all times. But getting away from the noise and hustle and bustle of it all can be such a good thing for creativity. 


So once we got to the trail head of one of the many trails around the park, this was the view. Trees, sand, bushes, and more trees. The trail is pretty clear though we deviated from it for a bit, I mean you have to be adventurous, people. And it was lovely, lots of open land to see, lots of nature sounds to lull you away from reality for a bit, and lots of pine cones! Ahhh pine cones! The smell of it all reminded me of being back in South Carolina as a child where the smell of pine cones and wood chips filled the air. 

I’m a nature kind of girl – nature in that I love being adventurous and being outdoors, but the sun I can deal without. I’ll be the only girl on the beach with an umbrella, hat, sunnies, and a turtle neck! This kind of nature though, sun and all, is something I have to do every few weeks. The hike round trip was about six miles, which seems like a lot, but the trail is flat. There aren’t any crazy rolling hills, or steep mountains to climb, though there are on other trails if that tickles your fancy. It was just a nice chill, relaxing hike up to the ranger station where there are a bunch of open spaces for picnics and camping. 


I picked some herbs and dried flowers, I don’t know how legal that is, but there was a ton of white sage up there and I just wanted a sprig to remember, and some dried flowers I’d found laying around to keep in my pocket. I am going to make a picture frame collage out of them. I literally want to mod podge these all over my phone case! Hmmm maybe I will! Well they smelled divine, no matter what trouble it gets me into. 

We got a lil wild in the wild, stealing kissy faces next to the squirrels. How romantic to get lost together…..no? That’s just me? Okay, cool. Well we had a picnic outside and it’s the first time in a long time that I’ve heard true silence, where you hear nothing but wind, and birds, and the wrestling of trees and leaves. There were some families camping up there which I think we may do next time since you can get an annual pass at Big 5 Sporting Goods for $30, or opt for the $5 day permit. 



So we got to the park around 12:30 and ended up leaving around 4pm to head to the local pub just down the street from this trail. Some nice humans started a lovely cairn atop one of the tree stumps with two rocks. Our group decided to add to the merriment and leave our mark there also, by adding 4 additional stones. If you’ve ever played Jenga, this is what it feels like to me every time I have to balance my rock last. Do you build cairns when you go hiking or visit a place? Do you see them often because I feel like I do. Well this is what we contributed to the memory, and it only took me about 8 pictures to get the right ‘angle’ of this formation, I mean, Instagram is serious business man. 


And this was our group. Small but mighty we trekked through the woods. I love when you can be so comfortable with someone that you don’t feel the need to talk all of the time, just enjoy the silence, be present in the moment, and take in the peacefulness of it all, and that’s how I feel about these people in this photo. Nothing forced, nothing fake, just calm and chill, that’s hiking to me. 

I think we can get so caught up in the hustle of working and staying motivated that we forget to take time out for ourselves to decompress and chill out. I like chilling out, I think I’m going to do that more often. If you find yourself out hiking this weekend and you’re in the LA area, check out Angeles National Forest, there are dozens of trails to explore. 

Get dirty, get lost, have fun, and meet new people! Love that! Hope your day is wonderful, more posts coming soon <3 Go chill out


xoxo- Jess




















shepherdspie

Shepherd’s Pie and Irish Guinness Geniuses!

by with No Comment DIYfitnessfoodlifestyle

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I’m half Irish so this is my day to go around telling people that, whilst wearing green, dawning “Kiss Me I’m Irish” buttons, and consuming all things corned beef and green on this day! Oh and Irish jager bombs, must not forget those! So happy St. Patrick’s Day to you, cheers if you’re Irish, kiss kiss to you all, and today I give you the yummiest Irish Shepherd’s pie recipe. Paired with traditional Irish jagerbomb beverages but of course! I changed the name to Irish Guinness Genius because it has Guinness which is well genius duh.


So for the traditional St. Patrick’s Day festivities we made Shepherd’s Pie and had a few Irish Jagerbombs, but since we knew we’d be hardy-ing the night away, we started the weekend off with friends at Angeles National Forest.After hiking a good 6 miles and working up an appetite, we came home to make this scrumptious meal you see pictured above. 

Angeles National Forest adventure pictures and stories coming tomorrow, but for today, onward with the feast! Thanks to my great friend and fellow Irish girl, Sarah, we whipped up this yummy meal for everyone to dig in to. We made a 13×9 tray full of this goodness, so here’s what you’ll need: 

SHEPHERD’S PIE
– 1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey meat like we used)
– 1 TBL olive oil
– 3-4 medium carrots finely diced (or 2 big ones)
– 1 large yellow onion finely diced
– 1 1/2 cup peas (frozen or canned, but I love peas so I added in that extra 1/2 cup)
– 3 sprigs finely chopped fresh thyme
– 2 sprigs finely chopped rosemary
– sprinkle of kosher salt
– 2 teaspoon basil 
-1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
– 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
– 1 TBL butter
– 1 Guinness beer
– 1 large bowl of mashed potatoes (made to your liking, I used butter, milk, garlic, and sour cream)

  • Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
  • Saute the onion, celery, and carrots in the oil and then add in the ground beef and cook until browned
  • Add in your thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, and basil
  • Then add in the butter and peas
  • Stir in the Guinness beer and let this simmer for 5-7 minutes 
  • Remove from heat and spread the meat portion into a 13×9 pan and top it with the mashed potatoes
  • Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the top is crispy to your liking and serve
*cheese on top is optional and super yummy!*

Irish Jagerbombs which we’ll so aptly refer to as Irish Guinness Genius bombs- super bomb and delicious (I can’t even believe I just said super bomb, but they are so delicious dot com). You cannot go a St. Patrick’s Day without consuming one of these bad boys. But remember you have to drink it up before it starts to curdle.

What you’ll need: 

– 3/4 pint Guinness stout in glass large enough to hold the shot glass also
– 1/2 shot Bailey’s Irish Cream
– 1/2 shot Jameson Irish Whiskey


  • Add  the Jameson and Bailey’s to a shot glass layering the Bailey’s on bottom
  • Pour the Guinness into a pint glass only about 3/4 full and let it settle as you will dropping the shot glass in (very carefully of course)
  • Drop the shot glass into the Guinness and chugarooo! 

Such a yummy traditional Irish meal and beverage! Thank you to my Sarah bear who came over with her hubs and shared the weekend with us, this recipe was so fun and easy and YUMMY to make! 

Hope you enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day, have fun, be safe, and of course drink responsibly 😀

Love, your mom

xoxoxo
frenchtoastpicjess

Recipe to end all other French toast recipes

by with 3 Comments DIYfitnessfoodlifestyle

Ahoy! I have a blog now! Yes I am on Tumblr also, but here will be my words, my rants, my thoughts, my videos my blah blah blah. 

My first blog will be a secret recipe that my mom used to make and this recipe will beat  end all other French toast recipes. I mean it! And if you’re not into the baking of it all, click on the linkies above and it’ll take you to your desired destination. Disclaimer this whole code html updating stuffs is pretty new to me so my apologies if it takes you to a blank page, I’m workin on it 😉

Now please keep all hands and feet within in your box and lets start cooking! ps they may not look like the game changer to all breakfast plates…..but it is. 








What you’ll need: 

1 loaf of a Hawaiian sweet loaf ( I mean, I can’t even )
2 cups milk
4 eggs
juice of 1 orange
2 tsp vanilla
2 TBSP coconut sugar
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
4 TBSP butter
maple syrup
powdered sugar -optional
unsweetened coconut flakes -optional but highly suggested
chocolate chips – optional but really a must


-Slice your loaf into big ol’ chunky rectangles 
-Place your skillet on medium high heat
-Combine all of your ingredients in a big ol’ bowl
-Dunk your bread into the mixture
-Put a slice of butter onto the skillet and melt
-Place dunked bread into the skillet and brown on both sides (about 2 -2 1/2 minutes or to desired golden-ness)

– Put the French toast onto a plate and sprinkle with coconut flakes and drizzle with maple syrup

ENJOY! 

this is my most favorite breakfast to make and to indulge in <3 My most favorite.