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Friday, June 15, 2012

Outfit of the Week


So, I was out of town last weekend for my youngest sister, Mallory’s, high school graduation.  We are all so proud of her for all her accomplishments!  Because of this, last week’s “Outfit of the Week” is being combined with this week’s.  It’s just one outfit but it’s the one I wore last Saturday for the actual graduation.  Check it out below.


Pink, black and white dress:  Taboo (D.E.B.)
Pink sandals:  Club Zone (D.E.B.)
Silver heart lock necklace:  Tiffany & Co.
Silver tank bracelet watch:  Coach

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Healthy Meal of the Week


Hey everyone!  How’s everyone’s week going so far?  I hope it’s going good.  This week’s Healthy Meal is “Lemon-Garlic Chicken with Creamed Corn” from the June 2012 issue of Food Network.  I thought it was okay, I’m not a big chicken fan.  Scarlett liked it a lot though.  I hope you all check it out below!


Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 skin-on chicken drumsticks (about 1 pound)
4 skin-on bone-in chicken thighs (about 1 ½ pounds)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
12 cloves garlic (about 1 head)
2 lemons (finely grated zest of one, juice of both)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound frozen corn, thawed
¾ cup whole milk
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 450°.  Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle the chicken with ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper, and 2 tablespoons flour.  Add to the skillet and cook, turning, until slightly golden on all sides, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice and turn the chicken to coat.  Transfer the skillet to the oven, roast until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through, about 20 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the corn and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until the corn softens, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the remaining tablespoon flour, then add the milk and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring, until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the chives and season with salt and pepper.

3.  Divide the chicken among plates and drizzle with the pan juices.  Serve with the creamed corn.

Serves 4

Nutritional information:  591 calories; 35g total fat (11g saturated fat); 37g protein; 32g carbohydrates; 4g fiber; 158mg cholesterol; 343mg sodium

My large skillet isn't ovenproof so I transferred the chicken to a baking dish






Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Healthy Meal of the Week


Good evening all!  It’s time for this week’s healthy meal.  Tonight I made “Seared Scallops with Herb Butter Sauce” along with “Roasted Green Beans” for a side, both from the June 2012 issue of Cooking Light.  The whole meal was a big hit with everyone.  Check it out below.

Seared Scallops with Herb Butter Sauce, Orzo and Roasted Green Beans

Ingredients:

¾ cup uncooked orzo
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, divided
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ pounds large sea scallops
3/8 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
3/8 teaspoon black pepper, divided
Cooking spray
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons chilled butter, cubed
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

Directions:

1.  Prepare orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.  Drain.  Return to pan; stir in 1 tablespoon parsley, 1 tablespoon chives, olive oil, and 1/8 teaspoon salt.  Keep warm.

2.  Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle scallops evenly with ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper; coat scallops with cooking spray.  Add scallops to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned.  Remove from pan; keep warm.

3.  Combine wine, shallots and vinegar in a saucepan; bring to a boil.  Cook 5 minutes o until liquid reduces to 1 tablespoon.  Reduce heat to low.  Add butter cubes, 1 at a time, whisking after each addition until butter is fully incorporated.  Stir in 1 tablespoon parsley, 1 tablespoon chives, 1 teaspoon thyme, 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.  Serve scallops with sauce and orzo.

Serves 4 (serving size:  about ½ cup orzo, 3 scallops and 1 ½ tablespoons sauce)

Nutritional information:  382 calories; 12.9g total fat (5.9g saturated fat; 4g mono.; 1g poly); 32.8g protein; 29g carbohydrates; 1.3g fiber; 79mg cholesterol; 0.7mg iron; 577mg sodium; 50mg calcium


Seared Scallops with Herb Butter Sauce and Orzo

For the Roasted Green Beans:

Preheat the oven to 450°.  Combine ½ pound haricots verts, trimmed; ½ pound wax beans, trimmed; ½ cup thinly sliced shallots; 1 tablespoon olive oil; and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Roast at 450° for 10 minutes or until crisp-tender.

Serves 4 (serving size:  about ¾ cup)

Nutritional information:  84 calories; 3.6g total fat (0.5g saturated fat); 130mg sodium

Roasted Green Beans




Monday, June 4, 2012

Weekly Wrap Up


So yeah, I’m way behind, lol.  How’s everyone’s past couple of weeks been?  They’ve been good for me, just busy, which is why this week’s wrap up is for the past two weeks.  It’s gonna be a bit long so I better get on with it.

Starting with weight loss, I’ve pretty much just been maintaining with a slight fluctuation up and down, not even a pound though.  I still can’t get into a routine lately for working out, I just don’t want to.  I know, I know, I’m going to half to though, if only just to stay healthy.  Anyone have any motivation they can give me, lol?

Moving on to beauty purchases, I have quite a few. 

From Hautelook my Alterna hair care order finally arrived.  I ordered the “Thickening Compound” and the “Straighten Balm” both from the Hemp collection.  I’ve used them a couple of times and half to say I really do like them.   They’re both made from natural ingredients with no gluten, parabens, synthetic color, phthalates, mineral oil, petroleum, DEA, TEA or animal testing so they’re not hard on your hair and they’re good to use on color treated hair.  Like I said, so far they work well, and the price was very reasonable ($6.99/each for the larger 6.7 US fluid ounces size) since it was from Hautelook, so I’m very pleased.

From MAC I picked up a new foundation, Mineralize Satinfinish in NW35.  I just needed one slightly darker for summer since the NW30 made it look like my head was floating above my body, lol.

At Ulta the past 2 weeks I’ve only picked up a few items.  I grabbed 2 of the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Protector Finishing Powder, one in “Honey” to go with my new foundation and the other in “Creamy Natural” to go with my lighter foundation.  I’d heard really good reviews of these comparing them to MAC’s Mineralize Skinfinish pressed powders but at half the price.  So far I really like them, the only problem I foresee is that Ulta had them on clearance and I can’t find them anywhere else.  A bit disappointing.

I also picked up an Ulta Extreme Wear gel eyeliner in “Ink”, a nice dark blue.  I haven’t used this yet and I’m hoping it performs better than the Ulta brand eye shadow I got a few months ago.  We shall see.

At Sephora I grabbed a new perfume, the original Michael Kors scent.  I really love this.  I first got this as a sample from a previous Sephora order and fell in love immediately.  The description from the website lists it as having notes of “Dewy Freesia, Tamarind, Chinese Osmanthus, Incense, Fresh Tuberose, White Wings Peony, Blue Orris, Arum Lilies, Cashmere Woods, Musk, Vetiver Haiti.”  It just smells sooo yummy!  I want to wear it every day but don’t want to use it all up, lol.

One last item I picked up at Sephora was a sample trio of Tarte primer.  It has a .25 fl. Oz. “Clean Slate Poreless” 12 hour perfecting primer, a .25 fl. Oz. “Clean Slate Flawless” 2 hour brightening primer and a .09 fl. Oz. “Clean Slate 360° Creasless” 12 hour smoothing eye primer.  I grabbed this because I’m almost out of my Too Faced Primed and Poreless primer and was thinking about trying the Tarte ones.  It was right by the register so it sucked me in. So far I’ve tried the “Clean Slate Poreless” one.  It works well and the formula is nice. I also tried the “Clean Slate 360° Creaseless” and so far, I’m not impressed with that one.  It seems bit watery for an eye primer.  I’m gonna try it again tomorrow.  I’m hoping the issues with it are because it’s new.

That’s pretty much it for beauty purchases this week.  I have a few more items coming this week in the mail that I’ll share next week after I try them out.

Moving on to the few fashion purchases this week.  The first one is at JC Penney I got the denim shorts and green shirt I was wearing in the most recent “Outfit of the Week”,  I also grabbed a second t-shirt while there in purple, all 3 items are Arizona Jean Co. brand.

From TJ Maxx I was trying to find a small makeup bag to keep my lipstick and lipglasses in while we’re at my sister Mallory’s graduation on Saturday (so they don’t melt in the car).  I wasn’t able to find a makeup back but I did find a small Michael Kors monogram wristlet that will work perfectly…for only $35!

Last, from Coach I got a new bag, a Laura tote in foam (a really pretty sea green color).  This was also shown in the last “Outfit of the Week”.  It’s a nice, big tote that holds all my junk with room to spare.

Finishing up this week’s wrap up, as usual, is my most recent manicure in “Spectrum” from the Sally Hansen HD Hi-Definition collection.  This one is a blue-to-green changing color that’s really pretty and sparkly.  I wish I could get it to photograph the way the color changes  but no matter how many different angles I tried it just looks blue.  Oh well L

So, that’s it for tonight.  Long, I know.  I’ll be sure not to let 2 weeks go by before doing a wrap up in the future.  It’s just too much for one post.  Anyway, I hope everyone has a great week this week.  I’ll talk to ya’ll later J.









Outfit of the Week


I know, I know, late again, lol.  Here it is though, the “Outfit of the Week” for last week!



Denim shorts:  Arizona Jean Co. (JC Penney)
Green t-shirt:  Arizona Jean Co. (JC Penney)
Silver heart necklace:  Helzberg Diamonds
Signature strap watch:  Coach
Silver star bracelet:  Michael C. Fina
Laura tote in foam:  Coach
Sunglasses:  Coach