Hannah Morrison

February’s Favorite Five

My goodness, here we go flying into March! This month’s favorite five are arguably also my favorite five also. We round up the most clicked and bought items from you each month, and I gotta say I like where you guys are headed this spring 😉

Magnolia Hearth & Hand Headboard: This piece is so affordable and looks incredibly “high end.” The woven details and the perfectly washed wood look put this piece way up on my list of finds this month, and evidently yours as well! A king sized headboard is under $300 … which is basically impossible to find. If you’re looking for a beautiful piece for a focal point in your bedroom on a budget, this is it.

Rifle Paper Co. x Loloi Rugs: I have been a longtime supporter of Rifle Paper Co. and their new line with Loloi rugs has made their beautiful art available for your homes in a new (and shockingly priced) way. This 5×7 rug is only $220 and is a statement maker for your home. I could see it in an entry foyer with a natural bench or console table, or as a living room rug (put on top of a 8 x 10 jute if you need something that covers more space.

Levi’s Ribcage Jeans: I bought these two Nordstrom Anniversary Sales ago, and I love them. They fit my petite body like a glove and magically make my squat torso look lengthy and lean. However, we call these The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant jeans, because multiple of my friends have them -all different body types- and feel like a million bucks in them! I bought true to size in a 25 but I will warn, there’s no give for days you have some bloat and can easily go up a size!

Puffed Sleeve Selkie Lookalike: I think this dress is so cute and perfect for a spring wedding or Easter service and lunch with family. This dress is under $100 vs. it’s designer lookalike that prices out right at $300!

Tie Shoulder Pink Dress: Cue the perfect spring and summer dress. You can put a long sleeve white shirt or bodysuit underneath while the temperatures are still a little frigid, and then pair with sneakers or sandals! I think this one is so cute, kinda some LoveShackFancy floral vibes, and it’s only $60!

DF/GF Baked Pasta

I grew up on mom’s famous spicy spaghetti sauce (no, really, all of my siblings’ friends/high school soccer team asked for it!) and it’s become a staple in my own family. The key is spicy Italian sausage, y’all. Today, as promised, I am sharing a recipe for baked spaghetti/lasagna that was a hit on my reels the other day. The notable part of this recipe is that it’s gluten free AND dairy free!

Cashew Ricotta “Cheese”

1 cup unsalted raw cashews

1 tbsp EVOO

2-3 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice

1 tbsp Full Fat Coconut Milk

A dash of salt

Boil on high the cashews for 35 minutes. Blend in a food processor until grainy. Add EVOO, lemon juice, and salt. Blend until smooth. Add coconut milk and pulse until creamy.

Lasagna/Baked Spaghetti

**I often make a larger batch of sauce for freezer- note you may not use all of this sauce depending on the size of pan/people to feed. I have a fully homemade sauce recipe but when cooking a typical weeknight meal, I go the easier pre-made marinara sauce!

This recipe is all exactly the same process other than the noodles of choice

1-2 packs of GF lasagna noodles (Spaghetti if doing baked spaghetti!) *My favorite is Cappelo’s Lasagna Sheets!

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage

1lb. chicken sausage

1 tbsp EVOO

2 16 oz. marinara jars *I like Rao’s at Costco!

Salt

Pepper

2 cups fresh spinach

Cashew Ricotta “Cheese” (See above recipe)

Instructions

Prepare the noodles as instructed on box. (Cappelo’s sheets don’t require any prep!!) Brown the meat together in large skillet with 1 tbsp of EVOO. Add in sauce once browned and spinach. Place a lid on top over a low simmer until the spinach is wilted. Mix together and set aside.

Place a layer of sauce on the bottom of a cooking dish to begin. Start layering noodles (if doing spaghetti, think just enough to cover the sauce evenly), add a dollop of ricotta every 2-3 inches, layer more sauce, repeat process until all noodles and ricotta are gone, finishing with a thick layer of sauce on the top. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes (or edges golden brown)

If You Love Them, Let Them Go?

You’ve heard that before, right? “If you love them, let them go.” Based off my understanding of it, I always have deduced it down to meaning simply sometimes the best thing for somebody else isn’t you. Easy enough, I suppose. In my quiet time the other day, though, I came to the story of the Israelites and God when He all but literally says “I love them, so I will let them go. Let’s see how this goes for them.” It brought a whole new depth to this line to me, but it also brought a whole new depth of understanding of God’s love for us. Can you imagine how so very difficult it would be to say “I love you so much that I will let you go and ruin your lives so that you can finally see just HOW MUCH I really do love you”? Like, as a mother, I can’t even imagine letting my sons go make horrible choices with the hope they’d see in their self-inflicted destruction that they actually were so deeply loved by me all along. But that’s exactly what God did in Deuteronomy 32 for the Israelites, and it’s an act of deep deep love. It says “They [the Israelites] made light of the Rock of their Salvation”, offering sacrifices to demons and other worldly things, and “neglected the Rock who had fathered [them].” So God says, “I will abandon them, then see what becomes of them. For they are a twisted generation, children without integrity.”

OUCH. If we read this without a full understanding of God’s character, it feels cruel. If God is so all-knowing and sovereign, why couldn’t he just force the Israelites away from sin? Well, because love can’t exist without choice. It isn’t love if there isn’t a decision to do so. In God’s full comprehension of perfect love, He also knows we cannot be forced to love Him or there’s no true communion between us and our Creator. God’s character is for all things to work for our good, though, and for His glory. Our feelings of abandonment from God is simply the sacrificial removal of his hand on our lives. Yes, sacrificial because it certainly grieves Him. But He is ALWAYS present. He is always near. Sometimes love, as shown by God here in scripture, is to let go for a bit. By the removal of His protection, we can no doubt feel a gap between us and our Creator whether we recognize what [or who] that gap is between or not. When we aren’t living in a connection to our Father, we feel a brokenness, an emptiness, and a void that we can attempt to fill with earthly idols and tangibles… but they will never satisfy our needs. God fills every gap, every void, every ache.

Maybe you feel that disconnect yourself right now from your Father God. Or maybe you connect with the Israelites in this story. You can feel He’s lifted His hand some. Or, maybe you’ve had to step into the painful position of removing yourself from somebody you love with the hopes they’ll return, recognizing how much you truly loved them all along. You loved them so deeply but needed to let them go for whatever the reason. I am not sure what your story is. But, I do know there is a God who is near and present. A God who loves you so much and wants to meet you in your gap. I hope above all that as we celebrate a month ahead of us devoted to love, you can see first and foremost the love of God in and ON your life.

January’s Favorite Five

Hello and WHOA! We are half way through January?! I hope this month has been refreshing and life-giving for you as you’ve pressed “restart” on your routines and getting back into the swing of life post-holidays. Today I have a list of my favorite five items I am using in my life that I think you’ll love, too!

  1. Against All Grain, Meals Made Simple: I love Danielle Walker and have slowly added all of her cookbooks to my shelves. She has great allergy-friendly family meals for us to make that everybody loves, and this cookbook in particular is family-friendly and QUICK.
  2. Cusinart 15 pc. Knives Set: We’ve needed new knives for ages, but I haven’t wanted to spend $500 on a “good” set. I have kept coming back to this one though, because the amount of reviews is mind-blowing for the star rating it has earned! I bought them and LOVE them. I cut through a large carrot the other day and had forgotten this is what it is supposed to feel like cutting vegetables.
  3. Foam Activity Set: We bought this for Rory for Christmas and it’s the best thing we have for the boys to play with currently. It basically just stays in my living room right now because they play with it all day together. We build castles, we build ramps and drive our bikes off of it… it’s the best.
  4. Studio Mcgee x Threshold Artwork for Living Room: I have been so afraid to hang things on my walls out of fear there’s something else out there I would love more. Sorta like #fomo but for home decor? But I am starting to commit and hang things to fill the walls of my home! I found these two pieces from Target in the Studio Mcgee line and I love them. They added so much to my living space for such great prices!
  5. Matte Liquid Lipstick: Without fail, any time I wear this lip color, I will get asked what I have on. It’s so beautiful and it goes on easily + smudge-free! You can’t go wrong with any of the shades, but I own

Top 10 items from this year

This year I moved into a new home, so naturally a lot of my top items purchased by me/you are related to the home! It’s been so fun as I really step into my love for home design to define my personal style and hone in on what that is. Modern and Coastal Transitional is where I see I lean toward. When you hear coastal, it’s not seashells. It’s California “cool”. The neutral spaces with natural elements mixed with metals and some more industrious accents. Studio Mcgee is my main inspiration for all things design, and you can find a lot of their pieces in my home! The Target line with Studio McGee is the best thing that came in 2020 with our new home! 😉

As for the rest, my platform converse with my Madewell jeans are a consistent pairing. They just lay perfectly together! The popular back massager you’ve seen everybody post about … I can now assure you it’s worth the hype. I use my Always Pan daily, my quilted jacket from Target (comes in tons of looks and colors) feels lux for less, and my Chloe perfume has been my scent for 3 years now. I added their new Nomade scent to my line-up and I love it!

Shop all my favorites below from 2021!

Top Items:

Amazon’s Popular Back Massager | Always Pan | Sam Edelman Boot | Platform Converse | Madewell Vintage Straight Jean | Casa Luna Comforter and Sheets | Quilted Jacket from Target (Luxury look for less!) | Chloe perfume (My hands down favorite scent still three years later!) | Beaded Chandelier for Dining Room | Side Tables for Master Bedroom

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