Good Eats!

Cooking

Well I've definitely cheated with the no carbs, but I've been doing a pretty good job at just keeping healthy food around the house.  Here are a few meals I made this past week:

As I've said, I love the blog skinnytaste, so I decided to try the Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast (without the breadcrumbs) paired with a South Beach recipe of Roasted Eggplant Parmesan.  It's easy to do the eggplant prebaking while you prep the spinach for the chicken.  Then you top the eggplant with the cheese and tomatoes and pop it in the oven along with the chicken.  

This is a quick and tasty lunch.  I just made a simple lettuce wrap with turkey and lots of veggies, and paired it with some celery and hummus.  Yum!

 For a "Taco Tuesday" alternative I made a shell less taco salad, which actually kind of turned into lettuce nachos :P  First I sauteed some chicken, mushrooms, and onions.  Then I shredded the chicken and added a bit of taco seasoning.  Then just lay down a bed of lettuce and add your toppings!  I had refried beans, tomato, avocado, olives, and corn.  I also had enough for leftovers, so it was a tasty meal twice last week! 

I'm definitely going to be breaking the rules this week since my birthday is on Tuesday (We're going to Melting Pot!  Yum!  haha plenty of sugar and carbs galore though!)  and then of course Easter is this weekend.  I'm planning recipes out now!  

Hope everyone has a good week!  Goodnight!

Cheap Finds for Spring's Trends

Trends

Now that spring's officially here I picked a few of the top runway trends this season and found some more thrifty options for >$100.  

Accordion Pleats

Nanette Lepore - Spring 2012

I've had a thing for accordion pleating for a while now (wore some hunter green wide leg pants for Christmas), so I thought this was a fitting trend to share. 

1.) Buffalo Jeans - Haylee Chiffon Skirt - $89.00

2.) Asos - River Island Foil Pleat Mini Skirt - $62.67

3.) Asos - Oasis Lace & Pleat Dress - $98.48 (pleats and lace combined! love!)

4.) Forever 21 - Pleated Palazzo Pants - $27.80

5.) Mod Cloth - Spirited Spirits Dress - $79.99

Doily Lace

Louis Vuitton - Spring 2012

Decorative looking laces are big this spring, which of course I love.  I had a bit of trouble narrowing down some looks to share :) 

1.) Forever 21 - A-Line Lace Skirt - $17.80

2.) H&M - Crochet Shorts - $24.95

3.) Top Shop - Petite Lace Georgia Dress - $96.00

4.) Bluefly - Wyatt Ivory Lace "Maggie" Long Sleeve Dress - $92.00

5.) H&M - Pencil Skirt - $14.95

Similar Skirt - The Outnet -Helene Berman Lace Pencil Skirt - $85.00

6.) Shop Bop - BB Dakota Lundy Scalloped Lace Tank - $80.00

7.) Nordstrom - Bellatrix Lace Fan Top - $68.00

8.) Dillard's - Willow and Clay Pleated Lace Dress - $99.00 (Another lace and pleat combo :) )

Similar Top - Last Call by Neiman Marcus -Romeo & Juliet Couture Crochet Lace Top - $59.00

Zig Zags/ Chevron

Carven - Spring 2012

The missoni-esque style lines are this season's new stripe. 

1.) Anthropologie - Broken Pleats Skirt - $39.95 (Sale! and cute pleat/zig zag combo!)

2.) Asos - Lipsy Zigzag Skater Dress - $80.57

3.) Dillard's - I.N. San Fransisco Zig-Zag Burnout Dress - $59.00 (I like the more subtle look of the zig zag in white!)

4.) Revolve Clothing - Lovers and Friends All Night Mini - $97.00 (Sale!)

5.) Macy's - AGB Dress Sleeveless Ruffle Belted Printed - $54.99 (Sale!)

6.) Asos - Zigzag Cardigan and Shorts - $50.13 + $37.60 (Sales!)

The Midsection

Versace Spring 2012

The featured body part this season is still the midsection.. I'm not a big fan of mid driff shirts personally, but since the fad seems to continue, I tried to find a few cute options to share..

1.) H&M - Cropped Tank Top - $14.95

2.) Top Shop - Petite Daffodil Bralet Top - $48.00 (They also have a TON more bralet options..)

3.) Urban Outfitters - Pins and Needles Cropped Prairie Cami - $34.00

4.) Forever 21 - Pailette Embellished Crop Top - $19.80

Pastels

Finally, I thought I'd share one of Louis Vuitton's spring ads, which are adorable in my opinion.  I'm very much a "spring palette" myself, I love softer hues such as coral and lime, and pastels are returning this spring season.  I hope everyone has fun spring shopping!

Cooking

School has kind of forced a habit on me of skipping meals and missing my trips to the gym, so now that I'm finished I'm trying to get back into a "healthier" groove.  I'm going to do a bit of a modified South Beach Diet.  The basic concept is to get rid of your carb/sugar cravings and then slowly reintroduce healthier ones into your diet.  I'm not giving up alcohol (ha I did that enough the past few weeks!), and if I ever go out to eat I'm not going to restrict what I'm in the mood for.  Otherwise, I hope to stay as close to the rules as possible.

Tonight I made Grilled Steak Wraps with Peanuts and Southwestern Black Bean Salad.  Had a couple sugar free lifesavers for my sweet tooth.  Love that sugar free hard candy is allowed!  I'm all about anything's ok in moderation ;)  

Busy working on getting my room clean.  Off to see Hunger Games tomorrow!  I'm sad I haven't heard the best reviews :(  I'll have to check in and let you all know what I thought!  Have a good rest of the weekend!

Fashion Grad!

Hi Friends!

That was a serious hiatus, but now I am happy to report I'm officially a fashion design graduate!  I finished class last Friday, and my sister Britta was here for the weekend to help me celebrate.  She blogs as well, so might as well check out her blog to get details on that.

Design

My portfolio collection was titled "Rococo au Courant," Rococo in the Current.  Obviously I drew my group moods off of various inspiration from the infamous 18th century French era.  I created  a Facebook page specifically for my design work which you can find here.  Additionally, I have the entire portfolio posted on the online magazine site Issuu. , so check out all of my hard work there!

I'm currently in a bit of limbo over the job situation.  Just got a call to schedule a second interview for next week for a costuming internship, so we'll see what happens with that. 

Food

As with most other things in my life, the cooking hobby has taken a slight back seat as I finished up my degree.  My fridge is completely empty (aside from wine, beer, and other assorted beverages that don't go bad :P), so tonight I ordered take out from California Pizza Kitchen.  Really good; carmalized peach half salad with california club pizza.  It kind of inspired me to try a new project in my new free time.  I'm going to try to create healthier home cooked versions of food I've ordered recently or enjoy out at restaurants.  Anyone have any suggestions or ideas they would like me to test out!?  

Tomorrow starts day one of a massive and much needed room cleaning...perhaps I'll take before and after pictures, but it might be too shameful to share :P  I'm also getting back on the work out routine, so I'll let you all know how it goes! 

Busy Busy!

Sorry for the lack of updates!  It's my last quarter at FIDM (only 7 more weeks!), and I got an internship this past week :)  So most of my time is consumed with all of that at the moment.  I'll try for a big update as soon as possible <3

Tis the Season to Eat and Drink!

First day back in LA, and I'm worn out from the 10 hours of traveling yesterday (and probably the wine I was fed from my chatty neighbor on the plane ;) ) So I'm just going to do a quick little post of the lovely drinks and food I enjoyed over break. 

Christmas

 In honor of my mom and grandpa's birthday on the 24th, I made some more jello shots from the Jelly Shot Test Kitchen.  For our brunch I made some Bellini's and for the evening I made Old Fashions and Pink Squirrels.  

For Christmas Dinner at my Dad's side we had our traditional meal; turkey, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, onions, parsnips, brussel sprouts, squash, stuffing, green bean casserole, and cranberries...seriously so good, my eyes are usually bigger than my stomach :)  A tradition has kind of developed for me to make the dessert, so this year I made Apple Cranberry Streusel Custard Pie (the recipe makes enough for two pies!)  I love cranberries, so I was a big fan.  

New Years

 Another tradition with my family is to fondue for New Year's Eve.  I've missed out the past several years, but I stayed in town this year and enjoyed the celebration!  We do an oil, swiss cheese, and chocolate fondue.  I had the idea of using ravioli this year, which my dad was skeptical about, but everyone seemed to enjoy it, yay me ;P  We consumed booze of all sorts, but compliments to my dad for suggesting and making us Cosmos!  I continued the jello shot trend and made a variation of the Double Rainbow Cake shot, using just yellow food coloring and sprinkles.  

Someone had too much party ;)   I think that wine glass was spilled twice! 

It was a delicious holiday season...Time to start bootcamp with my roommate I think!

Today's Cooking
Now that I'm back to the real world I had to restock my groceries...$120 later...

 Stuffed pastas are one of my favorite dishes, I would love to try making my own pasta at some point, but for now doctored up store bought works fine :P  I did a google search for "ravioli sauces" and found the Cheese Ravioli with Crab and Garlic Sauce recipe.  I halved the sauce recipe but still used about 4 oz of pasta (I can't really see how you can get six servings from that!)  I added some white wine to the sauce, and used canned crab (since I'm not a fan of imitation crab and wasn't looking to spend the money on fresh crab).  I also sauteed some shredded carrots in with the crab to give it a bit of color.  As a side dish, I baked some artichoke hearts with parmesan cheese.  At first I didn't think the sauce was going to add much to the dish, but when it's combined with the crab it really works nicely together.  I'm pleased with the way the meal turned out, it was definitely satisfying.

Still need to do some unpacking and organizing.  I start class again tomorrow.  Break ended too soon!  

Viva Las Vegas! The Start of Christmas Break...

Sorry for the lack of updates :-X  Finals ended and Christmas break started in full swing, so I have lots to update, I'm just a bit behind ;)  

To celebrate my roommate finishing school, and her boyfriend's birthday, we went to Vegas the weekend of December 16th.  I've never been, so it was fun to learn a bit about gambling and see the casinos, etc. 

Hotel

 We stayed in the new Rush Tower of the Golden Nugget, which is in Downtown Vegas.  The hotels and gambling are generally cheaper downtown vs. the strip.  The hotel has a yummy Italian restaurant called the Grotto which we ate at twice.  I had vodka ravioli the first night and veal parmigiana towards the end of the trip...yum! 

Decor

There were amazing Christmas displays set up while we were there.  

 

The Bellagio had the most elaborate display that included a huge tree of silver and gold, fountains, polar bears made of carnations, and ice skating penguins :P 

 The Venetian was a close second, showcasing white peacocks and a pretty waterfall.  They also had ice skating in the front of the casino and my favorite tree, which looked like big iridescent bubbles. 

Beverages

The best thing about gambling is you get to drink for free while doing it ;) and you can walk the streets with your drinks as well!

 I recently bought the Jelly Shot Test Kitchen book (which sprouted from the Jelly Shot Test Kitchen blog) so we decided to test out the "Grasshopper" recipe for the drive down/arrival to Vegas.  Unfortunately Bevmo apparently doesn't carry green cream de menthe haha so they turned out looking like milk :P  Still tasty though!  I got a "Madras" mojito at one point, which is Bacardi "O" with fresh cranberries.  I'm usually not a very big mojito person, but come on it's like Christmas in a cup!  Cheers to New York New York, who is genius enough to put cup holders in their bathrooms haha.  For our final night we went to a comedy show, complete with a yard high slushie drink of course :)  and I got to wear my new dress, a cute find actually from Forever 21. 

 A trip to Vegas isn't complete without viewing the Bellagio fountain show and the Mirage volcano. 

It was a fun first experience of Vegas.  I'd definitely like to go back at some point in the future to experience a couple of the bigger shows and go dancing :)  

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, holidays, and a Happy New Year!  I have a lot of holiday photos to share from Wisconsin, but now I'm off to the airport to catch my flight back to LA.