Thursday Things

Time for this week’s Thursday Things:

1. I signed up for Ziplist

“Ziplist the free, easy-to-use online grocery list service that enables you to build and share grocery lists and recipe boxes, has teamed up with Averie Cooks to provide you many of ZipList’s capabilities. Save your favorite recipes from Averie Cooks in one place, along with any other recipes you may have, then automatically create a shopping list with different recipes each week.

No matter where you create your grocery list or save your recipes, they will always be available online at Averie Cooks or ZipList. If you have an iPhone or Android, you can also access your list(s) and recipe box from ZipList’s free mobile apps too.”

ZipList Features:

• Save your favorite recipes to one universal recipe box.
• Use our free appsto take your list with you to the store – in aisle order.
• Add recipe ingredients to your grocery list with just one click.
• Easily create a weekly meal plan calendar with your saved recipes.
• Connect & share content with friends & family so you can collaborate.
• Search for new recipes your family will love.
• Quickly scroll to discover new trending recipes.
• Easily browse and search weekly grocery deals by zip code, favorite store, or grocery item and add deals to your shopping list with just one click.
• Save money and time by getting deals on items that are already on your shopping list. We bring the savings right to your fingertips.

2. How does it work and what’s the benefit to you?

Let’s break this down in plain English because I was really confused by it for ages and didn’t see the benefit but now I do.

In the upper right corner of all my new recipes, there’s two little buttons. One allows you to Print and the other allows you Save the Recipe to your online recipe box. When you’re on my blog, or any other blog that uses Ziplist and you come across a recipe that you want to remember, you just hit Save and it goes into your virtual recipe box.

It covers many bases all in one – you don’t have to Pin It to remember the recipe. I do this all the time and my Pin boards are overflowing with saved ‘ideas’.

You don’t have to email it to yourself. My inbox is overwhelming already.

You don’t have to Bookmark It, and you don’t have to print it out. You can just save it to your online virtual recipe box and it’s as good as gold.

The other bonus is that the site helps you to create a shopping list based on the various recipes you’ve saved and the various ingredients used in all of them. Trying to remember whether it was pumpkin puree or pumpkin pie filling, whether it was 8 ounces of semi sweet or milk chocolate, or whether it was cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup you need to purchase for a savory recipe you want to try from another blog, there are so many recipes, so many ingredients, and so many times I stand in the market trying to think-think-think what was it that I needed again.

3. It’s taking everything in me not to just go buy this Emmerson Buffet from West Elm, $999 and figure out how I’m going to pay for it later but the responsible adult in me is refraining. So far.

Much of my living room is from West Elm and it would not only fit in aesthetically, but I love the rustic wood. And I love that it’s functional and that I could store lots of dishes in it.

See, I’m kinda outgrowing this hutch. Did I mention I love dishes? And old wood.

5. Celebrities who name their babies after places

Reese Witherspoon named her baby Tennessee James and “It’s a trend that had its roots starting in the late 1980s with several celebs picking names from the American West, like Austin, Dallas and Dakota, including Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, whose now grown daughter Dakota is the star of a new sitcom. But lately the trend seems to be heating up and much more widespread,” Rosenkrantz said. “Sometimes the place has real significance to the parents… Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale have meaningful associations with Kingston, Jamaica. Others seem to have no personal connection to the place, as in Bronx Wentz and the two recent celebrity kid Camdens.”

I grew up in rural Minnesota and growing up there, Dakota meant either North or South. And Madison was a place in central Wisconsin. I wonder if the names Minneapolis or Des Moines will catch on any time soon?

 

6. I recently received this new cookbook, Cooking Light The New Way to Cook Light: Fresh Food & Bold Flavors for Today’s Home Cook

If you’re looking for healthier meal ideas and recipes, this book is a good one.

There’s an abundance of glossy, beautiful images, which is key for me. Without a photo, it’s hard for me to fully embrace a recipe.

The recipes seem straightforward and not overly complicated, long, or cumbersome. The book has given me a jumping off place for some dinnertime ideas and there’s a chapter devoted to vegetarian entrees, which is nice.

7. I tried some Clearly Kombucha. It comes in Original, Ginger Berry, Asian Pear, Black Currant and Tangerine. I liked them all but I especially enjoyed Ginger Berry and Black Currant.

Really though, I love kombucha and making your own Homemade Kombucha with more info here and here is really easy once you get into the groove of brewing. It’s so good for you, full of probiotics and it just does a body good.

8. This woman paints KitchenAid Stand Mixers and her work is so gorgeous. Although I doubt I’ll ever want to paint on top of my shiny red machine, she’s the only person who could tempt me.

9. Mum’s Original Vine-Ripened Banana Powder

“Produced from a delicious red banana variety, sweeter and heartier in flavor, grown to their fullest potential with the only help of natural sunshine. Our careful dehydrating and milling process ensures that our Banana Powder maintains its dense nutritional composition that includes high fiber content to gently cleanse your digestive system. Pop into a daily smoothie for a great source of natural energy, help to decrease blood pressure, and relax your muscles after a work out.”

I love bananas. Banana Bread Fest much?

Six weeks and counting and that banana powder has be intrigued.

10. Display your cornucopia of squash, pumpkins, fruit, or pretty little display items in this iron Rustic Bucket with Stand, Pottery Barn, $299

What are your Thursday Things?

If you’ve made anything, done, seen, or bought anything fabulous recently, feel free to link it up in the comments.

How do you organize your recipes?

My recipes are all over the place and it’s a mess. And I do mean all over the place.

I have them in emails to myself, handwritten on pieces of paper and tucked into various drawers around the house. Pages of magazines are dog-eared, cookbooks have paper bookmarks in them, and online sites are digitally bookmarked. My Pinterest boards overflow, I have dozens of browser windows open at all times on my computer of various blog posts or recipes I’ve seen online and want to try, and now I have Ziplist.

I don’t lack for ideas and inspiration. I lack for a way to cohesively organize it all and not lose or misplace recipes. I feel like I lose track of or forget about so many good ones because I can’t seem to remember where I put them or find them again.

I’d love to hear your recipe organizing tips and strategies.

Thanks for the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies + KitchenAid Stand Mixer + $200 Williams-Sonoma Gift Card Giveaway entries