DIY to-go Mason Jar

I love drinking out of mason jars. The other morning I switched up my usual hot cup of joe with some iced coffee, complete with coffee ice cubes I froze the day before. 

By creating a hole for a straw to go through in the lid of a mason jar, it makes for a perfect to-go cup! So efficient and easy to transport without any spillage.

This DIY is so easy. I literally put it together the other morning, right before I had to leave for work.

What you need:

• mason jar
• lid
• hammer
• philips screwdriver
• straw

What to do:

1. Center the screw driver on the lid and hammer to create a hole.

2. Wiggle the screw driver around until you've made a hole big enough for your straw.

3. Hammer the edges down so around the hole is smooth.

4. Stick your straw through and screw on the lid! And there ya go, a to-go mason jar!

I'm sad to say I'm going to take about a two week hiatus from the blog. I start prep for sorority recruitment this weekend and I'm about to be busy busy. There might be a random post here and there, but I'll be back soon with a huge "bites of my life" post to catch up for lost time!

Annie

Hand over the pie please

Hand over the pie please...punny right? These rustic apple hand pies are the result of my itch to randomly bake something at 11:00 a.m. yesterday morning. 

I had a couple granny smith apples sitting around so I knew I wanted to incorporate them into something. As I've mentioned before I'm kind of a lazy baker. I hate having to go to the store to buy only a few ingredients so I usually only make recipes I already have everything for, or I just adapt the recipe to fit what I have on hand. 

I used my grandmother's crust recipe and then some cinnamon apples to whip these guys up!

My attempts add "food styling." Not quite sure how my efforts turned out.

My grandmother taught me how to make her pie crust when I was probably about 7 years old. I vividly remember the night she was babysitting me and taught me the recipe. She told me how this was my dad's favorite thing. She always thought he loved her pies, but later found out it was really the crust he loved. She started making just the crust and would roll it up with some cinnamon sugar to make little bites of pie crust!

The best way to combine the dough is with a pastry cutter, but if you don't have a pastry cutter you can do it the way my g-ma taught me. You use two dinner knives and cut through the mixture until a dough starts to form. Then use your hands to continue to combine it.

The recipe calls for 4-5 tablespoons of water, it's a pretty dry dough, but just add until you feel it is the right consistency and starts to come together.

I used about a 4 1/2 inch cookie cutter but anything that is round and about that size will work to cut out the crust. 

I could eat that whole bowl of cinnamon apples before they even make it inside the crust. When we make our apple pie on Thanksgiving we make sure to cut up enough apples to have some leftover for snacking on!

Fold 'em over and pinch 'em up! (the crust ripped a little bit, no worries, that's why we call them "rustic")

Rustic Apple Hand Pies
makes 8 pies 

Ingredients:

For the crust:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (can use all whole wheat or all, all-purpose I just like the combo)
1/2 cup shortening or 8 tablespoons
1/4 teaspoon salt
4-5 tablespoons of cold water

For the filling:
1 large granny smith apple, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons sugar, extra for dusting
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 egg, whisked for the egg wash

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Combine crust ingredients, starting off with only a couple tablespoons of water. Add more as you go. Using a pastry cutter or knives, cut through the shortening to combine. Once you have a dough consistency dump it out onto a floured surface. Roll pretty thin, about 1/8-1/4 inch thick.

Using a cookie cutter or something circular about 4 1/2 inches in diameter cut through the dough. Place on a greased cookie sheet.

Chop apples and add cinnamon, sugar and lemon juice. Only about a tablespoon of filling will fit in each pie. Fold the crust in half and using a fork pinch the edges together. Fork the top or cut a few slits in the dough to allow steam to release when baking. 

Brush the tops with an egg wash, sprinkle with a little bit of sugar, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Enjoy these for a yummy afternoon snack or an easy way to fix your itch to bake, like myself! I'd have to experiment, but I'm sure any fruit would be delicious in these! 

Annie

Bites of My Life

First off, take a bite now has its own domain! No more blogspot attached to my blog address. I'm now official at www.takeabiteblog.com!

Secondly, this weekend wrapped up my last weekend of summer. I move back into my sorority house on Friday to start prep for recruitment. Goodbye to one of my best summers. It seems crazy that summer is coming to an end, but I can't wait for all of my friends to be back in town! 

I actually don't have any pictures from last week except for food pictures, naturally. Enjoy my foodgrams and some of my favorite pins from last week!

{Food Bites}

 -Quinoa cakes for an easy weeknight dinner last week! So easy and made on the panini press. Served on a spinach salad and topped with the best yogurt sauce (so good we licked the bowl clean).

-Got my thai food fix Friday night. I could eat curry every day.

-My favorite snack. Apples and almond butter.

-Made the PW's watermelon pico de gallo last week for my parents as an appetizer before our black bean and corn quinoa tacos. I halved the recipe since there were only three of us yet we still ate every last bite. This stuff is addicting to say the least. The tacos were just as good. My dad admitted he was skeptical, but ended up going back for seconds! 

{Pinterest Bites}

-I'm having a major denim and converse moment right now and my pinterest is showing it. I love how these outfits are all as equally chic as they are comfy. 

-Using these pictures as inspiration and wearing my jean vest and monogram converse today.

-All images via my "fashionista" Pinterest board

here's to the last week of summer!

xo annie

Hooked on Houses

My aunt introduced me to the site Hooked on Houses a few years ago and I've been waiting for the right time to blog about it. The other night my mom and I got to watching Sleepless in Seattle. I love the houseboats featured in the movie like the one Sam (Tom Hanks) and Jonah live in. Anyone remember Jason Mesnicks season of the bachelor? Jason was the present day "Sleepless in Seattle" while he and his son lived, just the two of them, in a houseboat like the one in the movie. You can see an inside look at the houseboat on Hooked on Houses.

{Overview of Sam and Jonah's houseboat}

Hooked on Houses is a website created by Julia, a self proclaimed "house swooner." She gives you an insight into some of your favorite celebs, movie and TV houses! The site features houses such as the Hampton estates from Revenge, the ever-so famous "Bachelor Pad," everyones dream house, the Father of the Bride house, and my personal favorite, Meryl Streep's Santa Barbra cottage in It's Complicated.

{Swoon. This is the actual Father of the Bride house located in Pasadena, CA. The front was filmed here, but they used a different house's backyard to shoot the basketball scenes.}

Julia uses pictures from the movie and ones found online to show off the famous movie houses! I could spend hours on this site looking at these iconic houses.

{The Bachelor Pad like you've never seen it. An ex cast member describes it as a "compound." What they don't let you see on the show is the 7 ft cement wall surrounding the mansion.}

        

   {Dan in Real Life is one of my favorite movies. The Rhode Island river house they spend Labor Day weekend at in the movie is actually a real house that you can rent out. I wouldn't mind spending a cozy weekend here!}

{Iris's cottage in The Holiday is actually a movie set. Everything was custom built for the movie.}

{Meryl's kitchen in It's Complicated}

{The house in It's Complicated is a real house in California, but all the interiors were filmed on a movie set in Brooklyn. Here is the the kitchen in the real house that was used for exterior views.}

Head over to Hooked on Houses and you can see some over my other favorite on-screen houses from The Proposal, Sex and the City, The Parent Trap, Something's Gotta Give, Gilmore Girls and The Blind Side.

xo annie

The Staples

White jeans and a jean shirt are staples in my opinion. Apparently they are for Emily and Helena too. They both featured the classic pairing on their blogs last week. 

via Cupcakes and Cashmere

I wear my jean shirt a lot. I even had to by a second one because I got a hole in my first one...

via Brooklyn Blonde

I wear my jean shirt as a cover up at the beach, as a jacket over a striped t-shirt, or like these two ladies and pair it with crisp white jeans or shorts.

via Pinterest

How great is this dark denim shirt? The perfect thing to pair with your white jeans to transition them to fall. I don't believe in that whole "no white after Labor Day" thing. Who decided they could make up rules when and what colors I can and cannot wear?

 jean shirt /white jeans /zara heels

Here are my staples. This Madewell shirt is the only jean shirt you ever need. I recommend it to everyone. I love how Emily styled her outfit with my favorite Zara heels!

Embrace these simple staples and sport this classic outfit!

xo Annie