Dress Code

Spring/Summer Anticipation 

This dress code is more aimed towards spring/summer. This is because stores are starting to pull their winter items, and are bringing in the spring collections. Everything today is from Forever21.

 Floral love studs $4.80 - I am loving floral pattern for spring. The fact that they say love is even cuter. They also come in white and pink but the floral was too pale to make out on such a tiny item so I went bolder.

 Bejewelled Chain Necklace $7.80 - I have seen looking around for a large statement necklace like this. They have been popping up everywhere and are getting very popular. Most of the ones I saw were over 20$ so of course when I saw F21's version for 1/2 price I got it, and it looks just as great.

 Nautical Striped Faux Leather Tote $29.80 - When first shopping for an over sized bag, I had two choices. This one, or a bright neon yellow bag. I am so happy I got this one. I just love it even more every time I look at it. The nautical pattern for summer is so cute and the bag is well designed. Can't wait to start using this.

 Geo Pattern Bikini $28.60 - How cute is this? The pattern pops and the style is something I've never had before. It fits like a jewel and looks awesome.

Strappy Neon Bikini $28.60 - Last summer I was pretty skeptical about bra style bathing suit tops but they are all over the place now. I have come to realise that they are a good option for us bustier women.  The top comes with an optional neck strap as well. 

D

Glasses

Good Morning! 

Just a quick & short post to show you all my new glasses. Its always super exciting to get new glasses. For starters you get a new look, and I can see again. This year I actually got a pair of prescription sunglasses as well for the summer. 

 New Glasses: Ray Ban

New Sunglasses: Burberry 

The only downside of getting new glasses is the cost associated, especially when you have a strong prescription like me. Also, I do not have coverage so I'm stuck paying full. Luckily, Lens-crafters had a 40% off sale so I got a bit of a discount. 

D

Dorito Chicken

Last night I made the best food ever. By far my favourite, so amazing. I am a huge Dorito fan already so this just blew me away. 

Dorito Chicken 

Ingredients:

-1 bag of Doritos

- Two boneless chicken breasts cooked and cut into small pieces

-1/2 container of sour cream

-1 tablespoon of chilli powder

-1/8 teaspoon of salt

-1/4 tablespoon of garlic powder

-1 cup of cheddar cheese

Step One: Crush enough Doritos to cover the bottom of your casserole dish. 

Step Two: Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl except cheese. (this makes an awesome nacho dip as well) 

Step Three: Add entire bowl of mixture on top of Dorito layer.

Step Four Crush more Doritos to create the top layer.

Step Five: cover with cheese!

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes

Looks amazing, tastes amazing, but huge amount of calories, so be careful with this dish! 

D

Cupcakes

Ahhh!

Lately I have been craving cupcakes like nobodies business. We have quite a few luxury cupcake shops in the area as well. Are local owned stores who make their own cupcakes in such unique delicious flavours.

My three favourite shops are 1. The Sweetness Bakery 2. The Cupcake Diner and 3. Beyond the Batter Cupcakes. All have locations in Hamilton area. 

The Sweetness Bakery stays more with classical flavours, while Beyond the Batter has some crazy ones like "Watermelon Wave". I'd like to try that one! Today they have a maple bacon flavour on the shelf that I want to try so bad since watching Two Broke Girls. Sadly, I must refuse! The Cupcake diner is a on-the-move food truck that travels all over Hamilton area, mainly Ancaster.

 exploring The Cupcake Diner's website I saw that they do weddings and fell in love with the idea! If I am still in Hamilton when I EVER get married I am so having them with their awesome pink truck, giving out cupcakes to my guests. LOVE IT. Check out their great displays. 

Just wanted to throw in an image of the adorable cupcake packaging from Beyond the Batter. 

This blog is all over the place, my mind is scattered, but I needed to get some of this craving out there!

D

Creamy Broccoli & Chicken Over Rice

Good Afternoon

Last night I created something for dinner that was super easy and tasted amazing! Very simple recipe to follow, and easy ingredients.  I call it Creamy Broccoli & Chicken Over Rice.

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 Broccoli stocks

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 jar Cheez whiz

2 1/2 cups uncooked rice

Step One: Cut up broccoli into small pieces and bring to boil. Meanwhile, cook chicken breasts in separate skillet. 

Step Two: Drain all water from broccoli, and chop chicken breasts into small pieces. 

Step Three: Add full can of soup & 1/2 jar of Cheez whiz to broccoli pot. You can add more to taste but I found that to be a pretty good balance. 

Step Four: Add chicken to pot and mix. At this point I added a small amount of water to make sauce a bit more liquid-like but the option is yours. 

Step Five: Cook some rice, I use minute rice so I just saved this step to last while I had sauce pot simmering. 

Add sauce mixture to top of rice and enjoy :) 

This will make about 5-6 servings of 1 cup each, ours is already gone. Its so addicting. 

D

My Dream Room

Ever since getting my own place I have always has visions as to what it would like my bedroom to look like. Obviously, never achieving it as its always very expensive and items are hard to find. Not to mention I share a room with Anthony and he has completely different taste so we need to work together to agree on something. Today I am going all out and choosing the room for me. 

 My new obsession is walk in closets. In our apartment now, I have a tiny one, but since being given that privilege my mind was been wandering. I started looking around at some examples of other people walk in wonderlands. It seems as though these people have entire bedrooms dedicated to the closet - call it a dressing room. I just love the idea! When me and Anthony were looking at houses to buy, I had a small second bedroom as a must tucked in the back of my mind so I could create a dressing room like these:

 My basic wants for the room are many. I like the theme of dark cabinetry. Black or dark brown storing units with white walls to offset. A chandelier is a must, the more extravagant the better. I checked a few out at Costco and they've got some awesome bedazzled ones. If the floor is not carpeted I would love a giant rug right in the center. Probably something white and fluffy much like the one in the top photo, or even something with a pop of color. This room will require a large surface area of mirror at least floor to ceiling and wide as well. I don't have enough mirrors in my apartment. I can never see my entire outfit without sitting down which is why I am always sitting in my outfit pictures. I would also like to have a vanity station of some sort to do my hair and makeup. That way I can free up a lot of space in the bathroom. A super luxury would be to have the laundry services in there as well like the bottom photo. It would be so convenient to have the laundry where you change! no more lugging baskets up and down stairs, and when somethings dirty it can go into the machine, not the floor. The last item is a really great chair! I have been searching for the perfect chair for a while and I finally found it. 

Sadly, it is super expensive around $400, and that is way too steep for me. It is absolutely perfect though. *Sigh. 

I am also loving this couch! How cool. Love the pattern as well. It would fit so perfectly in my imaginary dressing room. 

I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to home ideas, check it out here.

D

Wishes...

Happy Birthday MOM 

Just dropping in to wish my mom a very happy birthday! Wish I could be there to spend the day with you, but I know Dad will treat you well :) 

Love you

D

Pizza Making Genius

Hello All! 

My favourite pizza joint of all time is having a contest that is just awesome. It is called "Pizza Making Genius".  I think they do this every year.  Basically, you are the chef and can create a speciality pizza however you wish using ingredients they already have in store plus ONE new ingredient of your choice. You can also enter as many times as you want as long as your recipes are different each time.

If your speciality pizza gets chosen to win you will receive free pizza for a year, and have your recipe featured on the Toppers Pizza menus everywhere in Ontario. The contest is open to Canadian residents only, and closes March 10th. 

As soon as my mom posted this contest we got right to work brain storming some ideas. We came up with a couple good ideas and I plan on entering them all. I don't think I've ever really entered a contest like this before, it will be exciting! I remember when I worked at Toppers about 3-4 years ago this contest came along and I remember having to learn the new pizza recipe that was created by some lucky resident. Sadly, I cannot remember what is it was or what was on it but I do remember it being pretty tasty. 

We had a bunch of ideas flying around but the tricky part is thinking of a recipe that no one has yet using only the ingredients they already have plus one. Its easy to think up ideas but each one would require two+ new ingredients so we had to think really hard. The two recipes I decided on entering were....

Stuffed Pepper Pizza

Regular Crust

Classic Tomato Base

3 Cheese Blend

Green Peppers

Ground Beef

Garlic & Herb Seasoning

New Item: Croutons

Extra Cheese on top

&&&&

Pulled Pork Pizza

Thin Crust 

Classic Tomato Base

Mozzarella Cheese

Roasted Red Peppers

Onions

New Item: Pulled Pork

BBQ Sauce (for marinating pork)

Drizzle Ranch & Hot Sauce on top.

Let me know what you think, could we improve them? Anyone outside Canada have some more ideas that I could enter? Hopefully someone else doesn't steal my ideas. Good luck to all entering the contest.

D 

Bacon & Baked Potato Soup

 

Yesterday I cooked again. This time I made Bacon & Baked Potato Soup. This is probably one of my favourite dishes now. I just loved it, and couldn't believe I made it, and that it didn't come from a box! I found the recipe on kraftrecipes.com. That website is great because it even does the nutritional breakdown for you. It will tell you calories and amount of everything that is in it (ex: sodium, cholest, protein. etc.) The recipes are simple to follow and very straight forward, plus are available in easy printing format. I print out all the ones I like and store in a folder in the kitchen for when I am in the mood to cook something. You can find today's recipe print out here.

 

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. butter or margarine

1/4 cup chopped onions

1/4 cup chopped celery

1 can (14-1/2 oz.) fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth

1-1/4 cups milk

2 baking potatoes, baked, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/8 tsp. pepper

8 slices  Center Cut Bacon, cooked, crumbled and divided

3/4 cup Cheddar & American Cheese

1 green onion, sliced, divided

1/4 cup sour Cream

 

**you will notice on the website they always recommend using Kraft products in the ingredients section but you can substitute with whatever brand you like.

 

Step 1: melt butter in saucepan, add celery and onions. cook until crisp tender. Meanwhile, start baking/boiling potatoes and bacon.

Step 2: Add the next four ingredients (chicken broth, milk, potatoes, pepper) bring to a boil.

Step 3: Slightly crush the potatoes and simmer on medium low for 5 mins.

Step 4: Reserve 2 tsp each of bacon, cheese and green onions. Add remaining amounts to pan. Cook until cheese is melted.

Step 5: Topped with reserved ingredients and add sour cream.

 

BTW, I suck at explaining things, and giving direction, so hopefully it makes sense. You can always follow the online exact recipe as well.

 

This soup was amazing.I will definitely be making this more often. I just made it last night, and already it is all gone. Only 210 calories per serving (1 cup). Not bad since its pretty filling. Enjoy!

 

D 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Outfits of the Week

I had two favourite outfits this week. One from New Years, and the other from today when out at movies and grocery shopping.  Please ignore the mess around me, I never clean. Also the photo's are crap quality once again taken through the mirror on the fly.

 Outfit #1 - I wore out on New Years. We had a quiet evening together. We went out for lunch/dinner and then planned on going to the movies but everything was sold out! So instead we quickly improvised and went home and watched the movie New Years Eve with a bowl of popcorn. I didn't end up wearing any of the dresses like I had planned because it was far too cold that night and I couldn't decide. I wanted to stay festive and sparkly so I wore a silver sparkly tank and a statement necklace in silver. Toned down a bit with a white blazer and some dark wash jeggings. My boots I have had for about 3 years now and I love them! I wear them alot, they are actually very comfy and probably the easiest heels to walk in that I own. I curled my hair with my brand new curling iron as well, I love it.

 Top: Sirens

Blazer: Urban Planet

Bottoms:  Guess

Shoes:  Gojane

Necklace: Gift from Anthony's mom

 MMM These are the nachos we ordered for dinner. They were amazing.  Anthony also got a boring burger, but whats new?

 Outfit #2 - Starts with me looking very sleepy. I just awoke from my nap after the overnight and was told to get ready, we leave in 10 minutes! So I quickly threw this outfit together and I love how it turned out. We went to the movies, then did some grocery shopping at Costco. I must say, I absolutely love the leggings I was wearing. Faux leather and extremely comfortable. I am usually pretty self conscious about wear leggings because i hate my legs, but this are pretty flattering. I paired it with a slouchy Aztec print sweater that is also very comfy. I knew I needed to accessorise a bit so I put on layered three leather bracelets and a leather/stud watch that tied the look together. I am loving this layered arm candy look.

Top: Forever21

Bottoms: Ardene

Watch: Gojane

Bracelets: Gift from Mom

 

 

D

Cheers to a New Year

 Welcome to 2013 everyone !

 

 

At this time of year everyone has a list of resolutions and things they want to achieve in the new year. I don't really have one of those. I used to make them all time but never fully went through with anything, sadly. Like most people I want to in shape but I have no will power, and I just love eating good or bad. And I seriously cannot see myself giving up certain food items. Anthony got his gym membership renewed last month and wants me to go along with him. Right now the idea sounds great, im thinking "Ya, ill get in shape this year, and be at my best." blah blah. I usually never stick with my gym membership longer than two months. I am a FAILURE! How do I get the strength to keep going?

 

 

On a more positive note, another thing I would like to accomplish this year is travel somewhere outside of Ontario. There are plenty of places close by that wouldn't cost me a fortune. For example, I could do Alberta and visit the Edmonton mall. Or even go to Whistler for a snowboarding vacation. I also really want to visit New York! Wouldn't be amazing to be there in times square on new years eve? That is a life time goal for me. Even though there will be billions of people out there too - I just want to experience it.

 

I mean how brilliant is this image ^^^.... I'll even do New York any time of the year. I just need to go! And I thinks its only about 6 hours from me? I think.

 

These New Years themed desserts and drinks are awesome! I wanted to try them all out, but didn't have any time. It comes and goes so quickly, especially when you are working. Maybe next year.

 

 Well, here's to hoping we can stick with our resolutions/accomplishments for 2013. Good luck and happy new year.

D