Happy #thinkingoutloud Thursday! No idea what I’m going on about? Click here!
1. A quick order of business before we get into the true ToL randomness. You guys may have noticed that I changed the format of my recipes a little over a month ago, and this was mainly so that I could offer you some spiffy new options. See, Spoons recently partnered up with Ziplist, which is a super awesome shopping tool that not only lets you save recipes online and keep them organized in your very own personal recipe box, but actually builds you shopping lists based on the ingredients in the recipes you’ve saved so that you know what you need to pick up when you’re in the store! Cool, right?!? Here’s how it works…
In Spoons’ navigation menu, you’ll see a link to “Recipe Box,” which will take you to your own personal recipe box where all of your recipes, shopping lists, and meal plans are saved. And if you’re not yet a Ziplist user, no worries! It’s quick, easy, and free to sign up!
To add a recipe from Spoons (or any other blog that uses Ziplist) to your recipe box, all you have to do is hit the “Save” button located in the upper right hand side of my recipes, and it’ll go straight to your virtual box where you can start making shopping lists and meal plans.
And the best part is that there’s even an app you can download on your phone so you don’t have to worry about forgetting your list at home (story of my life). I hope you guys like the changes and find them useful! 🙂
2. Speaking of changes, I recently reorganized a few things in my kitchen cupboards and I feel like I don’t know where anything is anymore… which makes prepping meals a tad bit annoying since I’m either going to the place where something used to be, or having to stop and think where it now is. Reminds me of when I first moved in and felt completely awkward and lost in only a few square feet of space. Hopefully I get used to it soon.
3. As for why I was reorganizing in the first place, it was to make room for this guy right here…
… with “this guy right here” being a Santevia Alkaline Gravity Water Filtration System. My parents have been using one of these for something like 5 years now, and whenever I go over there, I can’t help but notice how much better that water tastes compared to what comes out of my little pitcher filter, and how much better it is at satisfying my thirst, too. I’ve been wanting to get my own for a while now, but I kept putting it off because I had no idea where I’d put it… until one day I just got fed up and decided to take out one of the shelves in my pantry and stick it in there.
I don’t want to go into too much detail in this post about how awesome this filter is, and how important it is to drink good quality water with the proper pH balance, but I’d be more than happy to write a separate post if you guys are interested… Let me know!
4. I spy with my little eye… Spoons on the radio!
And no, I have no idea what it actually was. And yes, I did stop to listen to Journey’s Don’t.Stop… Beliiiiiieving when I came across it while station surfing.
5. I also spy with my little eye… an interesting choice of wheels 😆
6. So I had a complete Damsel in Distress moment the other day… I was all excited to bust into my new mango kombucha, but I could not for the life of me open the bottle when it came time to drink it. Like, no amount of grunting and cursing would ‘Open Sesame’ that sucker up. But after about 5 minutes of working up a sweat and literally shredding the skin on my hand, I came up with the brilliant idea to pop on a rubber glove and I managed to get the cap off on the first shot. Why did I not think of that sooner?!?
7. Oh well, at least I was able to console myself with one a few of these…
… which I actually had to whip up a second batch of because the first one disappeared so quickly. And I’ll probably have to whip up another because I was hoping on bringing them with me on a road trip this weekend, and I doubt there’ll be enough left over by then. Oops.
8. As for where I’m going… I’ll be heading up to the mountains on Saturday morning and I can.not.WAIT. It’ll only be my second time going up to the mountains in the fall, and it may just be one of my favourite times of the year to visit. Fingers crossed that the weather holds up and it doesn’t decide to rain!
No questions… just tell me whatever comes to your mind! 😀
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Water filters really are life savers. We’re lucky enough to have filtered water filling stations in almost every building at BU, so clean, fresh water is convenient. Brita pitchers are also nice too, but your filter looks uber convenient!
Hope you’re having a beautiful time in the mountains, dear!
Those darn lids! There are just days when they are on too tight – I’ve had that same experience! Love that you have ZipList now…It totally makes it easier to have the recipes I want to try go to one place since I sometimes forget about them when they are just saved/bookmarked!
I’m thrilled to hear you’re spending this weekend in one of your happy places: the mountains. The Hubby and I were going to go hiking too, although the weather is not cooperating, which is probably for the best since the leaves are just starting to change here. In a few more weeks, it’ll be really beautiful.
I actually have a rubber gripper specifically for opens jars or wine. Maybe more of the latter.
I do that when I’m opening things sometimes too,,,,I try and try and then I remember I have a rubber grip and it pops open in one second lol. Those bars look professional – and delicious!! Have a great weekend 🙂
I’m coming your way this weekend but you’re heading to the mountains…sad. But have a great time!
That truck??? Lol
And thank you for the hair product advice! I’m definitely looking at the pricier hair masque right meow because I think it would benefit me A LOT.
Yay! I’ve been using it for years, and it’s definitely one of my favourite products.
I’ve never used the rubber glove trick, but I have put rubber bands around lids I have a hard time opening.
Ahh I’ve never been to the mountains in the fall! Have a wonderful time. I’m sure they’re gorgeous!
Ahh if only I had the counter space for that fancy water filter! My tiny NYC kitchen would not permit it though 🙁 Have fun in the mountains this weekend! You’ll seemingly be there during the perfect time when the fall transition is happening, soooo make sure to take many photos!
I will have to remember that rubber glove trick for opening lids! Last night I had to call in reinforcements (i.e. my husband) with a particularly stubborn pasta sauce jar.
I used to live on the East Coast, but I’m a West Coast convert now just because of the mountains.
Re #6: I had bought a jar of preserves from a farmer’s market, but could not get the lid off! I tried a rubber gripper, tried running it under hot water. Nada. I ended up taking to my gym to have them open it! It took a couple of seconds but they got it! Sheesh… The preserves were tasty though!
😆 That may just be one of the best jar-opening stories I’ve heard.
Somehow I just convinced myself that each of my nut butter jars (4!) needed stirring. Read: I dipped knives in 4 nut butter jars and licked licked licked. No shame. That is all.
http://www.youtube.com/sparklesandsuch26
Those granola bars have been taunting me all week! Ugh. I’d better go pick up the ingredients for them. Speaking of, I love that grocery list feature! I’ll be using that way too much 😉
I’m jealous of your upcoming trip to the mountains! What a great time of year for a trip like that! When I can’t open a jar I use an oven mitt that usually have some rubber on it. When I still can’t get it to open I get my husband to try but then he takes all the credit, when I really loosened it up for him:) So I usually just try to do it on my own:)
I bet the mountains in the fall are absolutely gorgeous! I went hiking last weekend and got some pretty nice views. It’s sad that they won’t last for long!
Hope you have an awesome time! 🙂
teach me your ways! food blogger pro and extraordinaire! <3
Growing up we always had these rubber grippy things to help you open stubborn jars (http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-GT-3219-3-Piece-Rubber/dp/B0000CF3MP/ref=pd_bxgy_k_img_z), and that was one of the first things on my birthday list after I started to have my own kitchen. They make SUCH a difference in opening jars! Although I have had to resort to other methods occasionally — I once had a jar of salsa that I had to open with a bottle opener (thankfully I wanted to use the entire jar!), and I’ve shied away from using coconut oil for months and months because I can’t get my jar open using anything. It’s so sad! I’d love to use coconut oil more frequently (and/or at all), but I can’t get that top off for the life of me, and I don’t want to drop $$$ on more coconut oil when I have plenty already on hand…I just can’t get to it haha.
Oh noes! Have you ever tried turning the jar sideways and tapping the lid on the counter? I actually find that works for a lot of bigger jars. Or using a knife to try to pry it loose before twisting.
I can NEVER turn the channel if I know that song is coming on. It is guaranteed I will belt it out in my awesome, by awesome I mean awful, voice! I would have waited around to see who used that car as their mode of transportation!
The recipe sharing/collecting thing is pretty sweet. But… I can’t get past that tank parked across the street!!! I mean WHAT THE EFF is that?!?!???
Ha! Spoons on the radio! Awesomeeee. But good choice with Journey. Journey is always a good choice. Also, your damsel in distress moment reminded me that my mom used to have this thing that was like literally a piece of rubber and it’s sole purpose was to open jars. Crazy, right? Like, they make something to open things that are difficult to open, but you basically just made your own, with a rubber glove. Haha. Super random, but that reminded me of it! Annnnd sweet new recipe format, girl. I like.
xo
I actually think that my parents had something like that as well. It was literally just this thin, round, flimsy piece of rubber 😯
The Ziplist/Recipe Box is a terrific idea.
I have been considering investing in a water filtration system. please let us know what you think of it.
Have a glorious time in the mountains!
I SO agree with you – nothing beats the mountains in the fall. Swoon. <3 Well…except maybe mountains in the winter! In the spirit of moving to said region, I am determined to go WAY outside my comfort zone and actually try snowboarding this winter!
Omg that radio station is too funny! What are the odds of that?? I’m bookmarking that water filtration system, too, since Joe and I are always looking for one that works better than Brita (neither of us will drink tap anymore…it just tastes wrong near us anyway), so I would definitely be interested in a review of that thing if you feel like writing one 🙂