Bites of My Life

A great post-DC week. Some cooking, some studying, and a sneak peek at fall weather. It was a wonderful week, but a more wonderful weekend.  OU playing Tennessee brought a lot of people back in town.  A weekend well spent with new friends, old friends and family.

-Baked from the book for Monday night dinner. Did you catch my Blogging for Books post? More on this great cookbook and recipe! -@dcdining still regramming my pictures even though I'm back in OK! My 5 second claim to fame. So what if I obnoxiously tag them in my DC foodgrams, they seem to like it. -Something blue showed up in my mailbox last week. Sara Kate Studios is expanding from online to a brick and mortar shoppe and it opens  this weekend! If you live around OKC make sure to visit the opening of Sara Kate's shoppe. She is my cousin's cousin so we are practically related. -My take on pad thai. Shirataki noodles, almond butter sriracha sauce, tofu and cashews! -My first try at an egg baked in an avocado. YUM. 450 degrees, 15 minutes. Scrape a little of the avocado out, crack your egg inside then top  with salt, pepper, sriracha and basil out of the oven. Perfect lunch.  -Tailgate success at MAMAS house. Love living under the same roof with these hoodlums. -A barbecue feast made for a fabulous game day. Not pictured are the abundance of sweets and chips and dips. It's not a party without food.  -There's only one Oklahoma.  Annie

Blogging for (Cook)Books

So I got this email. An email about a company that lets bloggers have access to a range of books as long as they review and post about their book. I'm not a reader but thought this might be a good opportunity to get into reading again. That was until I discovered they had cookbooks to choose from. Say hello to Blogging for Books. 

B4B has an array of fiction, non-fiction, business, craft, faith, healthy living and cookbooks etc. to choose from. I selected Vibrant Food by Kimberly Hasselbrink. This book is filled with beautiful images of seasonal produce, and the recipes inspired by them. I kept the book on my night stand for a few days, browsing through it each night before bed. 

Monday night was the night to cook from the book. I was feeling adventurous and wanted to test my cooking skills. I used Kimberly's recipe for Millet Stuffed Peppers with Tomatillo Sauce. Per usual, I adapted it a bit. Millet is a grain, but I found it hard to come by in my little Norman grocery stores, so I subbed it with red quinoa. Below is my version of the recipe, but do yourself a favor and pick up Kimberly's beautiful book to find the exact recipe along with other wonderful ones like Turkey Burgers with Balsamic Figs, Summer Squash Pasta with Green Goddess Dressing and a Salmon Banh Mi.

Stuffed Mini Bell Peppers with Avocado Sauce
serves 2

Ingredients:
16 ounces small sweet peppers (about 6 per person)
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 cup of red quinoa, cooked,
1 small tomato, diced
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. chili powder
black pepper
feta, for serving

For the avocado sauce:
1/2 cup verde salsa
1/2 avocado
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 a jalapeño, seeds removed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, extra for garnish
juice of 1 lime
1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cook your quinoa to the package directions. Once cooked, heat 1 tbsp. of oil in a sauce pan. Add the onion and saute until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Add the tomato and corn, and cook until the corn is heated through. 

Add your quinoa, cheese and spices to the veggies and let them all hang out together. Prep you peppers by cutting a slit from the stem to the end. Scrape out some of the membrane if needed. Using a small spoon, stuff a little bit of filling in each pepper (It's likely you will have leftover filling). Place them on a baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. 

While the peppers are baking, combine all of your sauce ingredients in a food processor until combined. 

Serve your peppers laid out on a plate, pour sauce over your line of peppers then garnish with feta and cilantro! 

I am already a junky for good cookbooks but Blogging For Books just amped it up, I can't wait to request my next book! Check out their site to see how you can blog for books and see my full review on Vibrant Food here.

Annie

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.

A New Approach to Graphic Tees

Graphic t-shirts are back and not in the way we wore them in 6th grade. I used to get the Delia's catalog in the mail and open straight to the center fold where the double page spread of graphic tees were located. My favorite usually had Hello Kitty on them. I think I've mentioned my past Hello Kitty obsession, if not, it was a thing, I was obsessed. Annnnyway...you knew you were cool if you walked down the middle school halls with your Abercrombie boot cut jeans, Junk Food graphic tee, lace cami hanging out the bottom and either Uggs or Seychelles ballet flats!

The whole graphic tee thing has re-emerged in a chic way.  To veer away from the lace cami, Hello Kitty shirt look, I'd style my graphic tees today with cutoffs, patterned pants or under a jacket or vest. 

1) J.Crew Tout Va Bien 2) Zara Eyeliner 3) Old Navy Cest La Vie 4) Sincerely Jules Donut 5) Wildfox Tea Time 6) Old Navy Audrey Hepburn 7) Zara Printed V-Back 8) Old Navy You, Me, Oui! 

I kid you not, I tried a graphic T on in every store on M St. this weekend and came home with two (#1 and #2) in my suitcase. Thoughts on the reemergence of graphic tees? Hate it, love it or make you think too much of the awkward middle school years?

Annie

Bites of My Life

-Ready for fall, but holding on to summer by snacking on a big juicy watermelon.

-Can't wait to dig into this cookbook c/o Blogging for Books!

-A getaway weekend back to D.C. calls for nothing but SCOUT bags to help me pack!

-So Georgetown U. has this incredible grilling club; I'm tossing around the idea of bringing it to OU because it is just too wonderful. I pretended to be a Georgetown student on Friday so I could chow down on one of their incredible GUGS (Georgetown University Grilling Society) burgers. 

-One tacky bridesmaid coming up! I've always loved a good theme party. 

-#GOBO2014, the point of my trip back to D.C. Best night getting dressed up in ridiculous outfits, eating and drinking tacky themed wedding food, and dancing and sweating with the SCOUT team.

-My free birthday drink. LOL at the time I signed up to be a gold member a few Septembers ago and thought it would be convenient to get a free drink that week. Starbucks does not let you change when you say your birthday is, so now I celebrate in May and September.

-MASA 14 brunch. Favorite area of D.C. and favorite meal of the weekend. Curry potato pancake, sautéed spinach, poached egg and chipotle hollandaise. 

-Sunday brunch at a Cafe Bonaparte. A frenchie spot in Gtown I wanted to try all summer. My egg and sausage crepe was the perfect finale to my weekend in the district; followed by shopping on M St. and picking up goodies from Trader Joe's and Baked and Wired!

A weekend well spent in my favorite place. Now for a week of sticking my nose in my school books to get caught up!

Annie

p.s. A return of D.C. Diary is happening tomorrow! 

Bedroom Reveal

I have been pinning bedroom images for years just waiting to have the chance to finally decorate a room exactly how I want. I couldn't wait to move into my little campus house and finally bring my ideas to life. 

Patchy walls, a bare bed and hand me down furniture just waiting to be brought to life.

White, white and more white. Oh, and a few touches of navy and gold. Now follow me as I give you a 360 tour of my room. 

Along the wall across from my bed, my clothes and TV are displayed prominently for easy viewing. The clothing rack serves more as a decorative piece being that I actually have plenty of room in my closet. As for my TV, you can expect Food Network to be playing 24/7. 

Moving around the room we come to my dresser and mini gallery wall. This dresser has been in my room since I was born. Gold handles and a coat of shiny white paint have transformed it from the hand painted pink, blue, and green Laura Ashley design that it had when I was 6.

I've never been much of a bedroom person. I would rather be in the middle of the action hanging out with anyone who is around in the central room of the house. Now that I have this perfectly curated space, I can hardly get out of bed. I eat, study, blog and create in my room at all hours of the day.

If I'm not in my bed, I actually sit at my desk. Most people have a desk in their room just as a place to throw junk on, but I actually use my desk on a regular basis. I'm more productive if I'm sitting up with a table space in front of me. Yes, the drawer of my desk is filled with random knick knacks, but I try to keep the top clean of clutter. I have a crush on my room. It's my favorite thing right now and I'm always enveloped with positive vibes when I walk into it. 

"My bedroom is my sanctuary. It's like a refuge, and it's where I do a fair amount of designing - at least conceptually, if not literally." -Vera Wang

You and me both Vera.
Annie