Easy Hollandaise

Happy Monday readers!

I hope you are getting to enjoy the Columbus day holiday today!

Unfortunately, we have a teacher workday, so I'm at school, but it was certainly nice being able to leave early on Friday NOT having to be prepared for the kiddos today.

For today's post, I am sharing a recipe for an easy hollandaise sauce with you.

I'll start by saying that brunch just might be my favorite meal!

Because of that, I am excited to be sharing this oh so easy hollandaise with you.

Hollandaise is a part of many brunch staples, but I'll admit that before making this recipe, it intimidated me.  It seemed so "fancy."  I gave it a try for our Easter brunch months ago, though, and was surprised by just how easy a delicious hollandaise can be.

This asparagus with hollandaise was gone in no time at our family Easter brunch!

I started with Barefoot Contessa's recipe (found here) but modified it a bit.

Below you will find my slightly modified (and slightly lighter) version:

Ingredients
8 tbs (1 stick) butter
3 egg yolks
Juice from most of 1 lemon
1.5 tsp salt
0.75 tsp pepper
2 pinches of cayenne pepper

Directions
Melt butter in a small saucepan

Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, 1.5 tsp salt, 0.75 tsp pepper, and cayenne pepper in the jar of a blender.

Blend for 15 seconds.

With blender still running, slowly add the hot butter into blender, blending for 30 seconds, until the sauce is thick.

Add to your favorite recipe requiring hollandaise.

Done!
*This sauce can be left in the blender for up to 1 hour at room temperature.

I added this delicious and easy sauce to roasted asparagus, baked at 400F for ~15 min in olive oil and spices.

I can't wait to try it next in a recipe for eggs benedict!

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the pound cake recipe that Bryce made for Easter brunch, as well, here!

Have you ever tried to make hollandaise before?

What are your favorite brunch staples?

Have a great day!

Puppy Fever

Happy Thursday readers!

This has been my best week yet since starting school and I am finally feeling like things are calming down and I am caught up (and even ahead)!  Fingers crossed this momentum keeps going.

Today's post is simple.  I am just providing a daily dose of cuteness.

You see, I have puppy fever...bad.  Bryce and I have been talking about becoming puppy parents for a while now, but have yet to take the plunge.

My birthday is coming up at the end of November, though, and when Bryce asked me to give him a wish list the words "A MILLIE!!!!!" were at the top of my list.  I want a puppy and I want to name her Millie. Bryce wants a him and if that's the end result, the name will be Finn. I don't think the puppy wish will be fulfilled as soon as my birthday, but a girl can dream, right!?

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The plan is to eventually get a black lab. I'll take this one, please:

Sure does look like a Millie to me!

And of course, my Millie will have some fabulous accessories!

A cheery, bright dog bowl:

Scales Yellow Dog Bowl

A collar like this for time at the Hunt Club with dad (aka Bryce):

Duck Duck Goose Needlepoint Dog Collar

I wonder if they could make one in pink for Miss Millie!?

And a collar like this for shopping with mom (aka me!):

Starfish Needlepoint Dog Collar

And finally, an oh so chic dog bed for her beauty sleep:

Rectangle Safari Pet Bed

Do you have a pup?

What breeds are your favorite?

Have a great day!

Sunday Well Spent

Happy Tuesday readers!

I hope your week is off to a great start!

Mine is going okay, but I am still playing catch up after being out sick on Thursday.

Those who follow along on Instagram saw that Bryce and I spend the day in Charlottesville on Sunday. Between the start of school for me and lots of September work travel for him, it felt like we barely saw each other during the month of September and had spent little quality time just the two of us.  We decided a special day was in order and headed to Carter Mountain Orchard early Sunday afternoon. Neither of us had ever been apple picking before and it was definitely on the bucket list!

Apples of all varieties grow all along the side of the mountain.

As we first walked along, this was all we saw: Lots of apples up high and out of reach.

I'll admit, we even snapped this pretend picking picture, for fear we wouldn't find a single apple to pick!

Eventually, however, we struck gold!

Bryce found a Jonagold tree with lots of ripe apples ready for picking!

The apples were juicy and delicious!

I even managed to get a few that were down a little lower!

My Longchamp proved to be the perfect apple picking tote!

After picking some apples, we headed back up to the mountain to feast on some apple cider donuts!

The line was long, but the donuts proved to be worth the wait!

Not gonna lie, I said I only wanted 1, but ended up eating 3! They were so good and now I'm craving another as I write!

We also explored the country store before leaving:

It was obvious we were in Wahoo territory with an "Honor System" cider station!

I wish I had tried this Donut Peach Cider!

After stuffing our faces on donuts, we made our way to King Family Vineyards. King Family is one of my absolute favorites because of the gorgeous views and polo fields.

We started with a wine tasting...

And ended with my favorite, a Bellair Market picnic.  I sipped on the Merlot and Bryce had a glass of the Meritage.

It couldn't have been a more perfect day and we rode home feeling content and renewed!

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

Have you ever been apple picking or wine tasting?

What are your favorite Fall activities?

Have a great day!

iPhone 6 Cases

Happy Friday readers!

Good week?

Mine's been okay, I stayed home sick from school yesterday because of a sinus infection. I'm still feeling pretty under the weather today and could have used another day, but it would have just been too tough to miss another day of school and be prepared for a busy week next week. Sooner or later, I am hoping to start feeling like school has calmed down and I am back into my normal groove!

Today I am sharing a recent find for iPhone 6 cases.

I have been anxiously awaiting my upgrade and it is finally here, so I have ordered a brand new iPhone 6. It will be a huge improvement over my broken 4s. Because of the high demand, it will probably not be in until the end of October though (womp, womp, womp!).

In anticipation for the new phone, I have started searching for cases.  My normal go-tos for cases (J. Crew, Kate Spade and Rifle Paper Co) have not yet come out with any or have a very limited selection. During my search, however, I did discover a great new source: Society 6.  They have a huge selection which can be found here.  Below you will see some of my favorites. All cases are $35!

Pink & Gold Stripes and Arrows

Real Marble

Little and Fierce on Charcoal

Vulpes Vulpes

Black & Gold Chevron

Pineapple

Party Line

Watercolor Floral Print

And finally, I love this option for the gents:

Old Scotch Whiskey

Now the only trouble is narrowing it down to a favorite!

Which would you choose?

Do you have or are you getting an iPhone 6?

Have a great weekend!

#BloggersforBCA

Happy October friends!

I am so excited that my very favorite month of the year is here!

Today I am thrilled to announce a campaign you might see floating around the blog-world this month: Bloggers for BCA.  As many of y'all know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. According to breastcancer.org, 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime and about 40,000 women in the U.S. are expected to die of breast cancer in 2014. And finally, about 85% of breast cancer incidences occur in women with no family history of the disease. Those statistics prove that each of us is likely to be impacted by breast cancer at some point in our life, either fighting through it personally or knowing someone who is.

That being said, Bloggers for BCA is all about spreading breast cancer awareness throughout the blog community.  Today I am excited to share some ways that you can give back and help support breast cancer research through one of my favorite hobbies:  SHOPPING!

Below you will find many products that work to raise BCA!

Accessory Concierge Tough As Nails Necklace

20% of Purchase Goes to breastcancerfund.org

Also, see their Fight Like A Girl Cuff and Here Comes A Fighter Cuff

Tory Burch Carnation Red York Small Buckle Tote

20% of Purchase goes to Breast Cancer Research Foundation, up to $35,000 total

See all TB SHOP FOR A CURE Styles here. 

Essie "Pinking About You" and "I Pink I Can"

A special curated collection to help raise awareness of the fight against breast cancer.

KitchenAid Raspberry Ice Susan G. Komen Artisan Stand Mixer

The purchase of this mixer helps KitchenAid to raise a minimum of $450,000 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Ralph Lauren Pink Pony Foundation

Enjoy 25% off select styles TODAY and TOMORROW only to help raise for the Pink Pony Foundation. Use code RLGIVE14. I think making a custom oxford (in pink, of course!) would be fitting:

Ralph Lauren Custom-Fit Oxford Shirt

Holst Lee for LOFT Earrings

70% of purchase goes to Breast Cancer Research Foundation

So there you have it, some fun ways to make a difference and raise BCA.

Have you, or someone close to you, suffered from breast cancer?

Have a PINK day!