I’ve Moved!

Hey Everyone,
I’ve packed my bags and moved out on my own. Please find me over at aweekfromthursday.com.

xoxo

my top halloween costume picks

Halloween is so close. It’s even closer, since all of the good parties are on the weekend. That’s only three days away. And I don’t even have a costume. If you’re like me and wait until the last possible second, I hope I can help you out. Polyvore has this Halloween Costume contest that’s great for inspiration. It’s a few years old now, but I just love to browse through the different costume combinations. Here are my favorites.

Daria. I just finished watching the complete series and it really brings me back to my teenage years.

Carmen Sandiego. I used to love playing this game on my old DOS computer. I’ve always always wanted to go as her, but I’ve never had the red coat, until one time I found one at a thrift store, but it was $25 and January. And I lacked prescience to buy it. So, alas, another Halloween has come and gone and I am not Carmen Sandiego. Plus, where am I going to find a red hat like that?

Jessica Rabbit is a classic costume. Although, I do not have the body to pull it off. Lucky for any woman who does.

You could go as Audrey Hepburn. She’s so timeless. Remember to pencil in your eyebrows.

This is a cute rendition of Cogsworth. He was my favorite character in Beauty & the Beast. And think,  making clock hands for a mustache would be a fun costume highlight.

Velma is a quick and easy costume that’s instantly recognizable. It’s a great go-to, but the downside is I usually see a Velma every year. One year I saw two.

Arthur is another one you could probably create with the things in your closet. Make a set of felt ears, so there’s no confusion as to who you are.

Oh, and how I’d love to go as Sofi from Howl’s Moving Castle. It’s one of my favorite animated films. So magical. I just need to find the right dress.

I wish Halloween was more than once of year. Writing this post has boosted my creativity a little in the costume department. Let’s hope mine comes together. So is anyone else out there a procrastinator when it comes to costumes? Good luck on yours!

dreamy: anna karenina and vogue

It’s been a while since I’ve done any fashion related post. And I can’t say this post is about fashion, exactly, but more about my excitement for the sharp-looking Anna Karenina film. Vogue’s cover story this month features some nicely-styled photos of the actors in character.

Just look at how stunning Kiera Knightly is as Anna.

And this guy. Who is this guy?

Actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Russian Count heartthrob Vronsky. Look at that hair!

I can’t wait.

And sort of want to read the book again.

Vogue has a slideshow that includes Jude Law as Anna’s husband more pictures of Kiera Knightly in fun outfits.

All photos by Mario Testino for Vogue.

CSA haul 10/6

This was last week’s haul. We get a share every other week. It’s certainly getting colder (though, not quite fall in Florida). All of the greens are back – radishes again, mustard greens, and some weird bok choy/kale hybrid (can you help identify it?). The eggplants are getting smaller and smaller. I fear we’ve seen the last of them this year. We got the best cherry tomatoes I’ve ever had. They were gone too quickly. I didn’t even have time to put them on a salad. They were just snacks.

We bought more apples from the apple guy. Yes, we have an apple guy. We look foward to seeing him each fall. The apples weren’t part of the CSA. It’s gotten a bit cooler in the past week. Today the high is 80. So I think we’ll start to see squash and pumpkins in our share.

I’m still stumped with what to do with these mustard greens. I like their taste, but after a few bites, I’m just a little sick of them. I have the same problem with actual mustard. We roasted the radishes, which is the best way to eat them.

I’m off to run 11 miles (what?!) before it gets too warm. I’m running a half-marathon in two weeks.

pumpkin-shaped sandwich cookies

I couldn’t pass up a $1 pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter from the craft store. Normally, when I buy cheap cookie cutters, well, you get what you pay for – sloppy edges and rounded corners that resemble some type of cookie shape. You’re just not sure what. At least it’s still a cookie. That’s the great thing about baking.

I had a really great feeling about this cookie cutter. And while I know I’ll only use it once this year, it was worth it, because these cookies were fantastic.

CHOCOLATE SANDWICH COOKIES
yields: 12 3-inch sandwich cookies
adapted from here

ingredients:
Cookies
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1 egg

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. milk (I used almond milk)
red and yellow food coloring

Other Things
Whisk
Wax Paper
Parchment Paper
Cookie Cutter

In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and sugar together until you get a custardy look.

Add the egg and the vanilla extract. Continue whisking.

Once blended, begin mixing in the melted chocolate chips, until they’re fully combined and you get a nice, smooth chocolate texture.

Slowly fold in the flour mixture until well combined and you get a thick dough ball.

I switched to a wooden spoon here. You want your dough to look something like this.

On a piece of wax paper, roll the dough flat. You want it to be about 1/4 inch thick. Then let it firm up in the firm up in the fridge for about fifteen minutes. If you’re having a hard time rolling the dough flat, stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

After the dough has set, pull it out of the fridge and get to work with that cookie cutter.

You can ball up the extra dough and roll it out flat. If it gets too gooey, just stick it back in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes.

Place them about an inch apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. These cookies spread a little. Bake for 20 minutes.

Let them cool before you add the frosting.

I added about a tablespoon in the middle and Smush!

For the Filling
Beat all of the ingredients until they are soft and creamy. Add food dye until it looks like this (or desired color).

These cookies are great for Halloween. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good picture of the baked pumpkin shapes. I was too busy eating them.

This post is linked here, here, and here.

csa haul {9/22}

Last week’s CSA haul brought us lots of greens. I didn’t start eating greens, or liking them for that matter, until about a year ago. This week I ate my first mustard greens and radish greens thanks to this share. An earlier haul this year introduced me to beet greens, which are my favorite so far.

Oh, and do you see? Oyster mushrooms? Yes, please! I felt like I hit the jackpot. We also received sweet potatoes and more eggplant, which we are thoroughly sick of eating by now.

I’m excited for this Fall’s harvest. Even though everything is still green around here, we bought our first apples of the season, so it can’t be too long for Fall.

cheesy squash quinoa bites

For dinner tonight, I initially set out to make oh-my-god-so-good quinoa patties, but I thought, maybe, just maybe, I could sneak in that squash that is going bad in my fridge. You still have to trick me into eating my vegetables. So, I stuck the squash in my food processor until it was about the size of a grain of quinoa. Sauteed it with the rest of my seasonings, and made this dinner in my muffin tins. Yes, instead of  frying the quinoa patties (the preferred choice), I tried to bake them in my muffin tins. For health reasons. And because I feel sorry for them. It’s been months since I last made a cupcake or muffin.

CHEESY SQUASH QUINOA BITES
yields: 12
total time: 45 minutes

ingredients
1 cup quinoa
6-8 large basil leaves
1 medium yellow squash
1 small shallot
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 green onion, chopped
3 eggs
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

instructions
1. Cook your quinoa. Bring 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups of water to a boil, then turn the heat on low for 15 minutes.

2. Preheat your oven to 350.

3. In your food processor, process your basil leaves, shallots, and squash. Or, you could chop all of this by hand.

4. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Sautee the garlic until light brown. Then add everything in the food processor and sautee until the squash looks soft.

5. In a large bowl, combine the quinoa and contents of the skillet with the green onion, eggs, and parmesan cheese.

6. Scoop the mixture into a muffin tin. I sprayed mine with Pam, which was a good idea, because they tend to stick. You can fill the tin to the top with the mixture, it won’t rise.

7. Bake in oven for 25 minutes.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce. And by that I mean ranch. Because I’m from the south ya’ll.

seacrest wolf preserve

For Ryan’s birthday we headed an hour and a half outside of Tallahassee to Chipley, Fla. We visited the Seacrest Wolf Preserve. They’re one of the biggest wolf preservations in the United States. They have grey wolves, British Columbia wolves, and Arctic wolves.  We were able to walk right into the wolves’ habitat. The preserve staff socialize the wolves, so they’ll come right up to you. I have to admit, before this trip, I didn’t know a thing about wolves. It was really an amazing and educational tour. And the best part…we got to play with wolf puppies!

We weren’t allowed to take digital cameras into the actual wolf habitat, but we could take as many as we wanted with the pups.

That one puppy was so tired, but it didn’t stop me from cuddling it.

The Seacrest Wolf preserve really does a great thing trying to protect these amazing creatures. If you’re in the Tallahassee area, it’s definitely a trip you have to take.

chocolate banana shake (w/ peanut butter)

I pretty much want to indulge all of the time, but I’m told that’s bad for you, or something. So when I have a massive sweet tooth, I try to chill it out with something like this smoothie. So I can indulge, but not too much.

It’s sweet, creamy, and most importantly cold. It’s pretty low in fat, but I imagine it’s still a little high in carbs, since bananas have lots of sugar in them.

CHOCOLATE BANANA SHAKE
yields: 12 oz.
total time: 5 minutes

ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
two frozen bananas
3 tbsp PB2
1 tbsp Cocoa powder

PB2 is a powdered peanut butter. It only has 45 calories per 2 tablespoons. I gives the shake a nice peanut butter flavor without the calories.

steps:
Put all of the ingredients in the blender and mix until combined.

It’s fast and simple. And as someone who chronically suffers from ice cream cravings, this really does the trick.

life lately

I’ve let my job take the wheel these past few weeks. By the time I get home from work, my brain is fried, and I’m finding it hard to get anything done. I zombie out in front of the TV or occasionally attempt reading a book. I usually try to dedicate a little bit of time after work to learning new things like programming, Photoshop, or even reading up on current events or spending time on Wikipedia. But, these days, I can hardly tolerate looking at a computer screen after 5 p.m. The good news is, I anticipate my job getting easier in the next few weeks.

Despite all of that, I’m still having lots of fun, mostly on the weekends. Here are a few glimpses of some things that have been happening.

Ryan and I have been biking from Tallahassee to St. Marks. It’s intense and awesome.

Here we are once we made it to St. Marks. We’re super sweaty. Did I mention it’s like 99 degrees outside?

Ryan and I own bikes, but we’re not bikers. I was so proud of our Map My Run stats, since it was our first ride. We’ve been back and beaten this time already.

Grilled pizza. Before and after.

The biggest moth on my front porch. Yes, I live in the jungle. And yes, I have fears of this thing flying right into my face every single day. Ever notice how flying insects have no sense of direction?

The best vegetarian product – Gardein’s Mandarin Orange Chick’n. I can eat an entire bag.

I only take photos of food, don’t you know? This is our latest CSA share. I made the best squash quiche with the squash. We renewed our share for fall.

Ryan and I are trying to take a photo at least once a month. We’re really bad at it.

But we’re getting better. This was taken on his birthday. ❤

I love him so much.