Healthy Fall Salad and Delicious Souffle

Wilted Spinach with Fall Fruit Compote and Chicken

This is a great recipe for just 2 people.  It is best made with leftovers.  It just makes preparation so much faster!

Here are my leftovers:

1 chicken breast seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic cut into chunks 
(I usually cook several chicken breasts at once and have them on hand for quick meals) I cook my chicken breasts in a grill pan but you could do them in a regular pan, on an actual grill or on a George Foreman...whatever floats your boat!

Compote (this was leftover from a stuffed porkloin I made earlier in the week...these measurements are my assumption of what was used in this salad...triple this recipe to stuff a porkloin- it will be one of the best things you've eaten)

1/8 c. raisins

1/8 c. dried cranberries

1/8 c. chopped walnuts/walnut pieces

1/2 apple diced

1/2 small yellow onion diced

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

chicken broth

I start with the onions and apples and saute them in a scant amount of olive oil (or butter) until they are softened I then add about 3 tablespoons of chicken broth and let it reduce.  I add raisins, cranberries and nuts last.  Once browned I add another splash of chicken broth and let it reduce again.  Add chicken in at the end just to warm it up.

Fresh additions:

6-8c. fresh spinach

In the same pan, throw in spinach tossing to coat in compote mixture.  Let sit 3 minutes then remove from heat, tossing again and let it sit as it wilts

Butternut Squash Souffle!!

This recipe is a great alternative to sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving. WAY fewer calories in this one!

Ingredients and Directions:

1 butternut cooked squash- there are many ways to go about cooking this. I put mine in a 400 degree oven for 30 45 minutes.  It was very easy to cut it, remove the seeds and goo and then scoop it away from the skin.

3T butter (or butter substitute)

1/3c. higher fat milk (easily made dairy free with almond milk)

1/3c. sugar (this was 2/3 less than the recommended amount in the recipe.  I think you could even omit sugar altogether)

1 1/2t. salt

1/2-1t cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1 1/2t. fresh ground black pepper

4 eggs at room temp

Put all ingredients except eggs in the blender and puree to an even consistency, add eggs altogether but just pulse the blender to blend eggs into mixture.  DO NOT OVER BLEND!

Pour mixture into a souffle dish or casserole and bake for 1 hour in an oven preheated to 325.

SO DELICIOUS

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Break for Fall

This post is loooong overdue but I couldn't skip it!  Russell and I had a fabulous fall break in NYC and the Outerbanks of NC.  I will admit now that we took zero pictures in NYC- it's such a fast-paced city we felt like we were in the way with the camera out so we just left it in the room the whole time.  Obviously, we regret our decision!  Pretty much this is going to be a recap for our own memory but feel free to read on!

We began our trip by picking up Russell from his final on Wednesday afternoon and dashing to the airport because we only have 2 hours from the time I picked him up until our plane takes off.  No worries though, our flight was delayed because of rain in NYC.  Luckily the rain stayed only for Wednesday.

We headed from the airport to our friend, Dr. Jere Crook's home in the Upper East Side.  We received a warm welcome along with some time to unpack, unwind and have a snack before heading to the theatre.

What a treat the theatre was!  We saw How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying starring Daniel Ratcliff (Harry Potter) and John Liriquet with the voice of Andersen Cooper as the narrator.  If you're in NYC or if this show travels it's a MUST SEE!  We had amazing seats courtesy of Jere.

  

This is pretty much the only picture we took...excuse me while I pat myself on the back: my dress looked great with the theme of the show (I also stood out like a sore thumb yellow dress + pink Vera Bradley umbrella= not NYC black)!  

After the show we headed to a lovely little restaurant right around the corner from the theatre where they knew Jere by name.  We had a great dinner and great conversation.  From there we headed to the King Cole Bar inside the St. Regis Hotel.  It was really fancy :)  We had a nightcap and headed home...it was almost 2am when we got home!  Jere is a night owl!

Thursday we began the morning with a run in Central Park followed by breakfast at Jere's table and then the best walking tour a tourist could ask for!  Jere knows SO MUCH about the city and we were happy to soak in all he had to tell us!  We walked through Central Park, through the theatre district, to Grammercy Park, The Ford Foundation, Grand Central Station, Columbus Circle, The UN Building and had a leisurely lunch at The Harvard Club where we also received an in depth tour of the building and heard about it's rich history.  

Thursday night we met our friends Dasha and Dan Faires at Samboca in Chelsea.  It was a cozy, hip tapas restaurant.  We had a 3 hour dinner catching up and stuffing our faces with dishes that included almost half of a pig!  

Friday morning was greeted with another run in Central Park, lunch at Le Colonial with Jere and a trip to the Met.  Le Colonial is a Thai restaurant with French influence- YUM.  Such great flavor and fresh food.  It reminded us of Fijian food.  We could've spent a week at The Metropolitan Museum of Art...but we only spent 2.5 hours.  We browsed Greek, Roman, Victorian and African Art with a quick run through the Modern Art section.  We followed up our visit to the museum with a yummy pumpkin ginger cupcake from a food cart.

Later in the afternoon we checked into The Shoreham Hotel and then headed to Union Square to visit Alton Lane.  We love their showroom and enjoyed looking at new fabrics and clothing lines.  Check out what's going on over there and order yourselves or a loved one some well-fitting clothes!

From there we headed to another scrumptious tapas restaurant (I can't remember the name of it) that was lit with a plethora of crystal chandeliers that contrasted the rustic restaurant setting.  The restaurant was packed with people and we loved the atmosphere!  We ended our evening at the bar at the W Hotel in Union Square and made it home around 3am (I know, you're thinking...do I know the Bloodworths? They don't stay out that late)!  We had some adventures in the subway with rats on the platform which definitely woke us up for our trek back to the hotel!

Saturday we headed back to Alton Lane for Russell to order some new digs and then went to lunch with Meg and Michael McCullar at a Mexican restaurant.  This restaurant rocked because you got a free drink with your meal...that's what I call Saturday brunch!  We had a wonderful time with Meg and Michael hearing about their transition to NYC and we loved getting to see their apartment.

We left lunch and headed to the Upper West Side to see Eric and Savon who just had a beautiful baby boy, Benjamin.  We had great conversation and were excited to hear about parenthood and job transitions.  

Upon leaving Eric and Savon's home we stumbled upon a little clothing store called Pookie and Sebastian.  I accidentally went on a shopping spree and left with a cute knit dress, an army inspired jacket and the coolest fur vest!  

Off we went to the Lower East Side to meet up with Dasha for dinner (Dan had headed to AR to spend time with family) at a pub/oyster bar. We had some outstanding beers and really good seafood (no oysters for us).  We then headed to some cool bar where we again met up with Meg and Michael and then headed home so that we could prepare for our early trip home.

As soon as we landed, we hopped in the car and headed to the Outer Banks!  When I was feeling rich this summer (because we had an income, it wasn't a big income), I purchased a Living Social Escape to The Marsh Harbor Inn on Bald Head Island.  I'm so glad I did because we had a perfect vacation from our vacation (we actually decided there was a distinction between vacation and trip.  New York was a trip.  Bald Head Island was a vacation).

To get to Bald Head Island, you have to take a ferry.  Once there, your mode of transportation is golf cart, bicycle or your own two feet.  No cars allowed (except construction vehicles).  The ferry ride was fun and it was nice to have an ocean view of the coast.

Upon arrival, we were picked up by a golf cart taxi and taken to Marsh Harbor Inn.  It's a lovely little inn and the only "hotel" type lodging on the island.  Everything else is beautiful homes.  After settling in, we set out on our own golf cart to find some dinner.

We settled on pizza from the poolside bar (the Pellicatessen) at the country club, it was delicious.  We were planning on taking out to the beach to watch the sunset (the sunsets were absolutely beautiful) but the bugs were attacking Russell...at first I didn't believe him but I looked over and he literally had a swarm of little bugs around his head.  We opted for a moving dinner in the golf cart to keep the bugs away.

That night we also saw a beautiful deer (we don't have a picture because we were so stunned we just sat and stared at him).  The deer on the island look different than the deer we see on the mainland!  We also saw a beautiful red fox that just sat still and let us take his picture.  The picture is not very good because of the lighting.

The next day we spent some quiet time kayaking in the marsh.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  Russell and I had the best time talking with no interruptions.

The rest of the trip was filled with eating, a little bike ride, sleeping, reading and a little more eating.

We have decided that we should always have a vacation after trips!

...I've been doing lots of cooking and a little crafting lately, stay tuned....

Going Into The Closet: A Series In Closet Organization (Final Step)

I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post...closet organization is holding up other blog posts that need to be written!!


Step 4: Refilling Your Closet
Number one rule here: you must use hangers that are all the same.  This is key to keeping your closet organized, looking pretty and under control. I highly discourage using the wire hangers from the cleaners,
they tangle up with each other and they look ugly.

According to the season, begin filling your closet.  As I said before, we will be using a twice a year rotation in these explanations and right now I'm going to talk about the Fall/Winter rotation since that's what I just worked on.  Our closet is split between my clothes and Russell's clothes and so I give Russell a half of the top rack and a half of the bottom rack and then we split the rack on the opposing side for his suits and my dresses.

Common sense says put shirts on the top rack and pants/skirts on the bottom rack so that's what I do.  On Russell's side, I hang from left to right as follows:

top rack:

casual jackets

formal dress shirts

dress shirts

casual button downs

long sleeved polo shirts

short sleeved polo shirts

long sleeved t shirts

short sleeved tshirts

bottom rack:

track pants

jeans

chinos

dress pants

I realize that this logic kind of goes backward from the top row, but for some reason it works better that way in our closet.

Here's where you decide just how organized you can be.  Do you organize by color and pattern or not?  In our closet, my clothes are organized in rainbow order, Russell's are in a rough rainbow order, but he doesn't really care if his clothes are in color order so I'm trying not to care about what his side looks like with regard to color progression.

My side of the closet from left to right:

top rack:

tanks and sleeveless tops

t shirts

polo shirt

long sleeved shirts

button downs

fleeces/jackets

bottom rack:

jeans

chinos

dress pants

skirts

On the opposing rack, which has no bottom bar, I have half of the closet reserved for hanging storage, one fourth for dresses and one fourth for suits.

From front to back:

 3 hanging shoe shelves

 two hanging sweater shelves

Russell's suits 

my dresses.

In the shoe racks, I organize from top to bottom beginning with flip-flops and flats and graduating to heels and all the while in rainbow order (except for Russell's shoes).

Hanging sweater racks: in one I keep Russell's undershirts and t-shirts, sweatshirts, workout clothes and sweaters. In the other I keep my cardigans, sweaters, and workout clothes.  I split my workout clothes by tops, shorts, and pants.

**side note** Keeping your workout clothes visible and easy to access, it helps with motivation for actually putting them on and working out :)

As far as the rest of it goes, Russell's suits that he does not wear regularly (like his tux) are kept in plastic suit bags that hanging in the closet and I keep his suits on suit hangers (the ones that are thick plastic or wooden) in order to keep them from wrinkling because I'm terrible at ironing.

My dresses hang from casual to fancy and from short to long as well as rainbow order :)

On the floor, we keep boots and tennis shoes.

On our shelving, I keep bathroom storage and accessories down the middle in canvas boxes and on the sides I place overflow sweaters, purses, overnight bags, and hats.

Well, that sums it up!  I hope that this series in closet organization has helped you begin to create an organized, functional and happy closet!  Once you take the time to organize once, it's so easy to maintain and reduces your need to go shopping, the time it takes to get ready in the morning, may even increase your outfit options!

Going Into The Closet: A Series in Closet Organization- Step 3

Step 3: Closet Organizers:
This step is VERY important.  To make the most of any closet space, you're going to need some organization gear.  This will vary depending on your closet and drawer space and you'll probably want to buy several things to figure out what works best in your space and with your things.  The things that I can't live without are my jewelry hanger, sweater hangers, shoe hangers and matching clothes hangers.  I also love cloth boxes for things like scarves and belts.

Depending on your price range there are several places where you can look for closet organization (this stuff gets pretty expensive...but it's worth it, I promise).

Here are some of my favorite things at my favorite places:

The mecca of closet organization is The Container Store.  Here's an example of some of their closet organization offerings.  They have lots of cute "series" of storage solutions so they all match!  This one is called Firenze.  This is probably what my heaven will look like.   You can find EVERYTHING here and it's all pretty.  Even better, they have closet organization specialists so you could just stop reading this blog post now and go there and get someone to totally makeover your space for you.  For those of us not that fortunate (and I'm not) look at these options:

Target- Check out this hanging purse organizer.  Great space saver too!  I don't have that many purses so I don't need one of these but maybe one day I'll have that many purses!  Target has great hanging shelves, colored bins, modular sets, and storage boxes of all sizes.  They often have special collections by designers too.

(the picture that should go here is a canvas handled hamper by Mainstays)

Walmart- similar to Target but usually not as cute.  I like these hampers because they're easy to move around!  I use one hamper to hold donation clothes.  These hampers fit nicely in closets as well as bathrooms and are very easy to tote to the laundry room!

TJ Maxx/Marshals/Homegoods- Check out this adorable dresser someone found at Homegoods!  This would be great in larger closets for your "unmentionables" or just for extra storage space in your bedroom.  These stores are also great for patterned storage bins and jewelry holders (you never know what great stuff you'll find).  

Bed Bath and Beyond- These bags by Real Simple are fantastic for wool storage!  They come with cedar inserts to keep the bugs away.  I especially like the under the bed options as well as the label pocket so you know what's inside!  Bed Bath and Beyond will always have what you need, and it will always be overpriced.

You may even need to add some extra bars or rip out everything and start from scratch and in that case I highly recommend using somewhere like Home Depot, Lowes, The Container Store, or a specialty closet designer like California Closets. Most of these retailers have programs where you can input your closet dimensions and build storage solutions from the ground up.

Here's what we're working with in our closet:

All plastic hangers like these except that they're white (except for the suit hangers I use for Russell's suits and jackets).  I like my hangers to have the strap holders because they're much more convenient for sleeveless shirts, shirts with wide necks and dresses.

I highly recommend those new skinny hangers with the felt covered arms and metal hanger top like these from Bed Bath and Beyond by Real Simple.  I think I will transition to these soon.  They're great for small closets.  My sister has them and they're the only reason that all of her clothes fit intoher small space.

2 hanging sweater shelves and 3 hanging shoe shelves: I use my sweater shelves for more than just hangers.  They're great for making tshirts, shorts, and workout clothes easily accessible.  Shoe shelves really help to maximize space and save you from piles of shoes in your floor.

1 over the door shoe hanger is used for shoes that are not worn as often.  I also use one of the pockets to put the tags in that I use to monitor whether or not clothes are being worn (read comment on Step 1)

1 hanging jewelry bag.  This one is from Bed Bath and Beyond and is made by Real Simple.  I love it.  There is a bottom portion that can be snapped off and rolled up for travel.  This bag takes up minimal space and makes it really easy to see jewelry options.  (Please forgive the poor photography- minimal light and minimal space).

8 cloth boxes are used for belts, purses and non-clothing items.  I keep lots of toiletries in these bags from travel sized items to extra shaving cream.  Our bathroom has NO STORAGE so these boxes are a must!  These shelves are super-convenient for over-flow sweaters, hats, and bags.

Several plastic storage boxes with lids in varying sizes are kept on the upper shelves of the closets with off-season clothes as well as scarves.  Ideally, I'd like to have scarves hung somewhere so that they don't get wrinkled but there's just no space!


Our closet system is wire and we have a mixture of shelves and hanging areas.  You can design your own wire grid system here at ClosetMaid for $5.

Alright, that's it for Step 3!  Step 4, the final step, coming soon!

Going Into The Closet: A Series In Closet Organization Step 2

Step 2: Categorize 

Now you have clothes organized by those that you would like to keep and those (away from you so that you cannot pull things out of it and hoard them) that will either go to resale or will be donated.  The next step is to further organize the clothes you are keeping into season.  I really only change my closet out two times a year so I organize into Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter, but this depends on how many clothes you have and how big your closet space is.  For explanation purposes, I'm going to stick with two rotations of clothing.

When you're organizing your piles, really think about what makes sense.  Just because it's a sweater may not mean it's for Fall/Winter.  You may also want to consider a pile that is year-round that will not change out with the seasons.

Now is a good time to take inventory.  Look at the clothes you are choosing to keep.  Did you get rid of all of your flats that go with brown?  Do you need a new coat for Fall?  Did you find a dress that you love but you need a belt for it? Even more importantly, did you get rid of an entire season's worth of clothing? Write all of this stuff down (and if you're really anal, ahem I mean organized, put it in a spreadsheet on your computer).  You may even want to write down your entire closet inventory if you're getting really serious about this (note: I do not have my entire closet inventoried nor do I have a closet spreadsheet).

Here's a link to some crazy closet organization databases. I'm not sure that I will ever use these but hey, you could try it! http://www.instantfundas.com/2010/07/5-best-wardrobe-management-software-for.html

The clothes that you will not be showcasing in your closet for immediate use should be put in plastic bins with lids, vacuum bags or hanging bags.  I use clear storage bins so that I can see what is in each box in case I need to access an item before I rotate the season.  I try my best to keep like items together so that rotating my closet is easy because everything is already organized.

Before you put any clothes away for storage, make sure they're all clean.  It's worth a trip to the dry cleaners to make sure your clothes don't ruin if you put them away dirty!  I just looked up a dry cleaning guide to help you out on how often to dry clean your clothes but it appears there are many differing opinions.  I am not a dry cleaning expert and don't want to give bad advice so I'll skip it :)

Back to organization.  Let's say you're transitioning your clothes from Spring/Summer to Fall/Winter.  You've put your summer clothes in boxes and you're left with your Fall/Winter wardrobe.  Now divide your clothing by type.  Look at what you have and really think about what makes sense in your closet.  Do you want to fold some items and put them in dresser drawers?  Would some things be more accessible in under-bed boxes? Where is the best place for your shoes? Only you can decide what works best for you.  We only have one dresser for the two of us and our undergarments, socks, and pajamas fill the whole thing.  It is necessary for us to use our closet for everything else!

One more note- often times more than just clothing may need to go in your closet- purses, luggage, toiletries and other extras.  Also consider these things when you're thinking about where to place everything back in your space.

I think I'll end this post here.  The next post will be a great compliment to helping you figure out what should go where!

Happy Organizing!!

Going Into The Closet: A Series In Closet Organization

It's time to get real about closet organization.  No one's closet looks like a California Closets ad. It's not possible.  Even if you have a top of the line closet, you have more than four dress shirts, four pairs of shoes, and four pairs of pants (I guess I should say ESPECIALLY if you have a California Closet you have more than 4 of those things).


I, however, do not have a custom closet, I live in an apartment and my husband and I share 1, that's right 1, closet for 4 seasons of clothes.  It is a walk-in and for that I am thankful.  (This is where I attempted to post a picture of my closet, but there was no way for me to take a picture at an angle where you could view the entire thing...you'll see some pictures throughout the post though.)

I must pause a moment and say, I am not knocking California Closets or custom closets in general.  One of my dreams in life is to have a custom closet.  My parents just got one this year and I'm pretty sure I could just lay out a pallet and live in there when I go visit.

I believe that one of my gifts in life is good closet organization skills.  I can't say I'm organized in every aspect of my life because anything to do with paper organization is a lost cause for me.  I can never get everything filed (or even piled) in an organized fashion...but that's a different post.

To me, closet organization is kind of like therapy.  I really enjoy it.  I actually changed out the seasons in our closet this weekend and it was so satisfying.

**Disclaimer: I do not claim that I have all of the answers for closet organizing or that my closet is perfectly organized.  I know so many more people who are more organized than me so take this as a beginner course in closet organization.

After writing this post I realized that it was a bit lengthy so I decided to break it up into more manageable chunks!  I'll be posting one step at a time.

Here we go...

Step 1: Purge
I am a believer that it takes awhile to get your closet organization under control.  If you have never had an organized closet or you find yourself with a full closet of "nothing to wear" you should probably start with doing a purge.  Don't get discouraged here.  A complete closet purge can take several months.  You'll probably want to take a whole Saturday for the first go 'round if you're starting from scratch.

Start by separating your clothes by type (pants, shirts, dresses, shirts, shorts, sweaters, shoes etc). From there, separate each pile into things you wear regularly and things you wear on occasion or have not worn recently. Give the pile you wear frequently a quick once over to see if there's anything you hate in that pile and does not fit well (there probably won't be much since you wear this stuff regularly).  Now you'll spend a significant amount of time with this next step: begin going through the clothes that you do not wear frequently.

My tip here is look decent (you don't have to look like you're going out on the town but semi-fix your hair and maybe put some mascara on).  I say this because you'll probably hate everything you try on if you don't feel good about your hair and face...silly but true.  You may also want to have a patient and honest friend nearby.  My mom always needs a patient and honest friend (usually me or my sister) during this process.  I think it's just human nature to get attached to clothing (for Mom, it's shoes, sweaters and really ugly button down corduroy shirts...sorry for ratting you out Mom).

You'll probably want to have a floor length mirror for this.  I have no better method but to dig in to each pile by clothing type and start trying things on.  If you don't like it- put it in the give away pile.  If it doesn't fit anymore- put it in the give away pile.  If it still has the tags on it and you bought it more than 2 seasons ago- put it in the give away pile.  If your friend looks at you and says "that shirt is disgusting"- put it in the give away pile.  "I might wear this again someday" is not a good reason to keep something that doesn't fit or is out of style.  If you can't name an exact time you will wear it or put an outfit together on the spot with that clothing item, it's time for the clothes to go.

What to do with all of these clothing items you are getting rid of?  Start by taking clothes that are in good condition to a resale shop.  This may seem like a pain, but I think it's worth it...don't get embarrassed when they don't want all of your stuff.  Remember, you haven't cleaned your closet out in a long time!  Use the money you make from resale to restock your closet.  Take everything else to Goodwill or Salvation Army.  They will put your items to good use and it's a tax deductible donation.

Check out Dirty Secrets E-Boutique.  This is a painless way to advertise your clothing items you no longer need.  Contact Timie for more information!

In North Carolina I use Fifi's and My Secret Closet for consignment as well.

Once you've got your closet cleaned out, you're ready for Step 2.  Watch for the next post!

Fall Pureed Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 large butternut squash
1 medium yellow onion
2 large carrots
1 medium sweet potato
salt and pepper to taste
3T butter (or butter substitute)
3T minced garlic
1/4tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 bay leaf
2-3 cans chicken broth
1-2 c. fresh spinach
chopped walnuts for garnish

Instructions:
1. prepare veggies by peeling the butternut squash (with a vegetable peeler- I just learned how much easier this is than removing the skin with a knife) then roughly dicing the other vegetables so that they will cook evenly.  Don't worry about cubing perfectly, you're going to puree it later!  Leave the skin on the carrots and sweet potato.  It's easier and I think it adds nutrients.

2. spread the veggies on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray and roast at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

3. sautee garlic and butter until bubbling then add the spices and herbs

4. transfer veggies from pan to soup pot with the garlic, butter and spices and coat veggies.

5. add 1 can chicken broth and allow to reduce

6. add spinach then another can of chicken broth, cover and bring to a boil.

7. puree soup with an immersion blender and add additional chicken broth until the soup comes to your desired consistency.

(I have no picture here because I burned myself trying to take it. My left limb is beginning to look horrible- burn + bandaged finger)

8. serve with chopped walnuts and cracked black pepper as garnish.  I also added some garlic bread (gluten free of course)

Here's my garlic bread recipe:

This is a great alternative to your typical garlic bread.  It has much fewer calories and it takes no effort.

sandwich bread (or you can use something fancy if you have it)
olive oil
garlic powder
salt and pepper

1. set oven to broiler setting
2. place bread on pan and lightly drizzle with olive oil- I make a zig-zag on each piece of bread
3. sprinkle salt (I use sea salt) and crack pepper over the top then dust with garlic powder (if you use garlic salt omit the added salt from the recipe)
4. put in the oven until browned each broiler varies in intensity, but it won't take long so watch it carefully.

Your toast will be crispy on the top and soft on the bottom- it is SO good (and ridiculously easy)!

Disclaimer: I used Instagram to alter my photos a bit.  The soup is not a pretty color like in the photos...the spinach gives it a pea green color...It still tastes really good, but if the color is too much for you, just omit the spinach from the recipe!

Crazy-Good Cookies ( You could maybe call them healthy)!

I don't have a picture of these because we gobbled them up too quickly.  I'll have to say this is a supreme creation (I am patting myself on the back right now). You can try to tell yourself that these cookies are healthy (and they're healthier than your average cookie) but let's get real- they're just good, not healthy.

Ingredients:
3/4 c. softened butter or butter substitute (I use Earth Balance for dairy free)
2/3c. white sugar
2/3c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. flour (use brown rice flour for gluten free)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
1 c. granola (I usually use Bare Naked but now I use Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax Plus- unlike the name implies, it does not taste like pumpkin, it just has pumpkin seeds.  I do not recommend this if you have a strong gluten allergy because it has a disclaimer that it has been made in the same factory as products containing wheat.  If you just have an intolerance for gluten, you should be fine.)
1/2 c. raisins (or 1 c. if you choose not to use craisins)
1/2 c. craisins
1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions
1. preheat oven to 375
2. cream butter and sugars until well combined (maybe up to 10 minutes if you're feeling patient).
3. add in eggs and vanilla
4. in a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder
5. add flour mixture to wet ingredients until well combined
6. turn mixer to low setting to add oats, granola, raisins, craisins, chocolate chips and nuts

drop tablespoon (ish) sized cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

You're going to love these things!

Late Summer/Early Fall Dinner

So, we've been working on this special diet for about 3 weeks and it seems to be doing the trick for Russell We're going to keep at it and hopefully decrease the need for meds!  I'm going to try to get better at posting my recipes that get the thumbs up from both Russell and me.

As always, I'm terrible at measuring so my measurements are usually approximate.

More recipes to come but I'll start you off with these two!

Curried Butternut Squash and Chickpeas with Jasmine Rice and Asparagus

Why this rocks: packed with vitamins and protein and low in calories, this meal is filling and well-rounded.  It's Indian-inspired flavor is exciting and is an easy step away from your nightly "no-brainer"

Ingredients:
1/2 lg. butternut squash
1/2 yellow onion
1 pkg Tasty Bite seasoned Chickpeas (these are already seasoned they are so yummy)
1-2 lg carrots
1T garlic
pinch of salt
1tsp yellow curry spice blend
1/2 can chicken broth
1 c. Jasmine rice
asparagus (however much you think you can eat...this replaces the salad part of your meal)

Instructions:
1. follow instructions to prepare the jasmine rice (I love this rice because it's very light and fluffy and takes half the time to cook as regular rice)
2. chop carrots, butternut squash and onion into bite sized pieces and saute with garlic, when it begins to soften add salt and curry spice blend
3. add chickpeas and stir together with chicken broth.  add chicken broth in small batches so that it doesn't make the food soggy
4. while butternut squash mixture is cooking, prepare asparagus by trimming the ends LIGHTLY coating with olive oil, salt and pepper and putting into a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes
5. serve dish as pictured, yields 4 servings.

Note: We discovered half-way into dinner that the curry has red pepper in it.  Russell's diet says no pepper flesh.  Keep this in mind if you're supposed to steer clear of peppers.

Grilled Peaches with Cinnamon and Honey

So simple and so delish!!

Why this rocks: This dessert is super easy to prepare and you can put in on to cook right before you sit down for dinner.  It's warm and satisfying- like cobbler without the added sugar and calories!  Not to mention the vitamins you get from the peaches and when you use local honey you're going green and possibly building up your immunity to seasonal allergies!

Ingredients:

1 peach per person halved, peeled and pitted

cinnamon
honey

Instructions:
1. Heat your grill or grill pan to a medium- medium high heat
2. sprinkle the flat side of each peach half with cinnamon
3. place peaches flat side down onto the grill pan.  Do not move them around or flip them or they won't have pretty grill marks.
4. Cook for approximately 10 minutes.
5. Remove peaches from the heat and lightly drizzle with honey.
This dessert can be eaten alone or with ice cream or sorbet.  I thought raspberry sorbet would be a great accent!

Yum!  Eat up :)

...and that's all!

Gluten Free Dairy Free "Ice Cream" Cake

Russell turned 29 this week, or as our friends Peter and Katelyn call it "30 minus 1".  I always make Russell an ice cream cake for his birthday but this year I had to be  a little more creative.  Russell is on a new diet that we are trying in lieu of meds that were prescribed to him that came along with some pretty undesirable side effects. The point is to try to keep his digestive tract working efficiently and limit the number of foreign bacteria in his body.

So here's the diet: no gluten, no dairy, no shellfish, limit red meat and pork, no tomatoes, no peppers, no eggplant, no potatoes, limit eggs, limit chocolate.

"Yipes" you say.  "Yipes" is right, but we're making it work and I plan to blog about my recipe creations throughout this diet trial.

Off I went to Target to get inspiration for this birthday cake experiment...

At target I found a decent selection of gluten free, dairy free products which I was really excited about!  I brought home Pamela's Vanilla Cake Mix, Haagen Daaz Peach Orchard Sorbet, and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter butter substitute (which I'll have to say, I'm really sad about using fake butter...so not healthy).

I created a vanilla cake with peach sorbet filling frosted with caramel butter cream.

Here's the cake story in pictures:

All of the alternative ingredient options- I'll say one thing: this diet is expensive!

The cake mix gives three options: basic, light and fluffy, and dense.  I went with light and fluffy which I recommend, I can't imagine the texture of the other two options but the light and fluffy seemed like a normal cake.  I baked the cake in 2 greased 8" rounds with parchment paper lining the bottom.

Time for the frosting!  In a medium saucepan melt 1 stick of butter with 1/2c. (ish) of brown sugar, 1tsp cinnamon, 1tsp vanilla and 2 cranks of sea salt.  Stir throughout while cooking over medium-low heat until sugar has dissolved.  In your mixer, add room temperature butter (or fake butter) with 1-2tsp vanilla and 1 c. powdered sugar start mixer on low setting and increase to med-high setting.  Be patient, it looks like the butter and sugar will never come together but it will. Once it begins to form butter cream substance, continue adding powdered sugar in 1/3c. intervals until it forms a stiff paste kind of like fresh playdoh.  You want this mixture to be stiff because you're going to add in the caramel sauce next.  Make sure you cool your caramel mixture to room temperature before adding it into the butter cream.  If you pour it in warm, it will melt the butter in the frosting and pretty much ruin it.  Slowly add in caramel mixture.  If frosting becomes too thin, add more powdered sugar.  Sorry for my lack of a perfect formula.

Once cakes are done, remove them from their pans and let them cool on a baking rack.  Once they have cooled, layer them into a spring form pan.  The smallest spring form pan I have is a 9" but I didn't want to make a cake that size so I made 8" cakes, cut them down to 6" cakes by using a bowl for a stencil and used the leftovers to make my spring form pan smaller.  Once I put in the leftovers, I put plastic wrap in to form a barrier then began layering my cakes.  I used about 1 1/2 pints of sorbet for the filling and then topped it with the remaining cake round.  After all of that, I covered it with parchment paper to prevent sticking in the following step.

Now it's time for the cake to set.  I placed a dinner plate over the top of the cake to weight it down and then put frozen fruit bags on top of that (mostly because I didn't have another place to put it).  You should probably let it set for about 2 hours but I didn't have that long so I let it set for 40 minutes. 

To remove the cake from the pan, I just lifted mine out with the plastic wrap that I placed in before.  If your cake is actually the size of the spring form pan, just release the spring and slide the cake out of the pan.  I placed the cake on a cold glass serving plate to prevent melting.

Since I didn't have time for my cake to set as long as it should've in the freezer, there was a little bit of sliding while I frosted it as you can see from this picture...oops!

Here's the finished product! It's actually pretty and trendy with it's neutral color combination :)

I'll have to say for a non-dairy, non-gluten, non-chocolate cake, this was pretty darn good!

Filet o' Finger OR My Trip to the ER

Well ladies and gents, it has finally happened.   I have gotten my first stitches ever.  That's right- ever.  Now I know you may be surprised because I am the clumsiest person I know.  I guess you could call me lucky.  I wish I had an exciting story to tell you like "I saved my dogs from near death by jumping in front of a car" or "I was helping a senior citizen with her groceries and fell" or "I was running into a burning building" or just SOMETHING cooler than this:

"I was cutting an avacado."  Yep, that's it.  I was just trying to prepare a healthy lunch and I couldn't remove the pit of the avacado so I tried to stab it.  It rolled, and I stabbed/sliced my left pointer finger.  There was a lot of blood and I was pretty ticked...and home by myself.

As I examined my filet o' finger I decided I probably needed to go to the hospital so I made a compress and called a dear friend.  Emily answered the phone and I calmly start the conversation with,

"Hey!  What's up?  Are you at home?"

Emily says "I just got to Partners lunch" are you coming?

Me: "I don't think I'm going to make it.  I just cut myself and I'm bleeding a lot" (all in a conversational tone)

Emily:  "Hmm.  Do you think I should come now?"

Me: "Oh, you don't have to.  I can call someone else" (as my apartment begins to look like a murder scene)

Emily: "Do you think you need stitches?"

Me: "Yeah, I think so, but I'm not sure."

Emily: "Ok! I'm coming now"

After we hang up the phone, I call Russell.  Bless his soul, Russell doesn't always do well in emergencies.  Luckily he is on his lunch break so he answers his phone.  I try to stay calm while I hold the compress on my finger and tell him that I will be heading to the hospital.  He offers to come meet us at the hospital but I tell him I'll just keep him posted (I envision Russell puking when he sees my finger)  I expect him to ask me if he could bring me a beer (that's his solution for all ailments) but I can tell he's genuinely worried...looking back I think my voice was pretty shaky.

Now it's time to wait on Emily.  I'm starting to get nauseated and feel faint so I unlock the door as I am sure Emily will find me passed out in the floor.  I start trying to distract myself so as I hold my hand over my head still in a compress, I start reading the new Restoration Hardware look book.  It's pretty good- if you get one you should really take some time to read it.

Emily arrived and I ask her if she wants to see it.  She sees the massive amounts of blood in my kitchen says "could you see some whitish yellow in your finger?" I say "yes" and she says "nah, I trust you.  Let's just go to the hospital."

Off we went...with no idea where we were going!  Emily quickly realized that we weren't sure where we were going so she mapped the closest urgent care- note to all those living in Alexan: there aren't any close urgent care clinics.  We ended up going to Duke ER and I think that's the best decision we could've made.   I don't have much ER experience but I'm pretty sure Duke may have one of the best ER facilities around.

1) they have free valet parking

2) I was triaged within 3 minutes of walking in ( twice...once by a nice nurse and once by a humorless old guy who gave Emily a talk-to-the-hand gesture and told her to pick up our purses and get out of our way...he was the only negative to the whole experience.

3) after my 5 minutes (or less) in triage, I was sent back to the waiting room long enough for my bottom to touch my chair and then I was whisked back to meet my doctor.

4) My doctor rocked (and loves his dogs as much as I love mine)!  He was friendly, conversational and knew what he was doing!

In trying to keep my long story short-ish so I'll tell the rest of the story in pictures.  Be prepared, these are graphic:

This is me right after meeting the doctor and getting my finger cleaned up. Look how happy I am.   

This is my barf pail.  I told the doctor that needles make me nauseated and he wasn't taking any chances.

Here's the doc working his magic.

In the words of Rachel Ray "Yum-O"  This is finished product- 5 stitches later.

The sweet nurse who bandaged me up is a long lost best friend.  In the time we had to converse I learned of her love for J.Crew.  I know for sure we have matching barrettes, and two cardigans that are the same and we both use their personal shopper service.  She was awesome and SO NICE! She did a great job teaching me to bandage my finger and gave me the best tetanus shot I'd ever had.  That's right.  I didn't even know she had given it to me.  Ask my mom- I turn into an irrational baby when I get shots and I didn't even bat an eye when I got this one!

Now, I have to spend a little more time telling you about the awesomeness of Emily.  The only way I could've gotten through this incident in such good spirits (I didn't shed a single tear) was with Emily at my side.  Emily was with me every step of the way.  We started talking when Emily showed up at my apartment and we didn't stop talking until she walked me back inside of my apartment.  We talked future jobs, blogging, clothes, dogs- you name it we chatted about it.  I can't say it enough Em- you made my day!!!  It meant so much to me that you would sit through surgery, keep me comfortable, miss your lunch (poor thing was probably starving) AND take pictures of the whole ordeal.

Finally the real kicker- I accidentally let my health insurance lapse in the summer and my new health insurance plan activated on (drum roll please).......September 1.  The day I cut my finger.

...and that's all!