Harvest Orzo Salad

I wasn't originally planning on posting this recipe, reasoning for my lack of pictures, but after posting to Instagram I got lots of recipe requests! So enjoy a quickie afternoon recipe post for this yummy harvest pasta salad! The colors scream fall and translate this usually summer dish into the perfect Autumn lunch!

Harvest Orzo Salad
yields about four, 1 cup servings

Ingredients:
1 cup of orzo pasta
1/4 cup of pecans, chopped
1/2 of a red onion, chopped
1/2 cup golden cherry tomatoes
a handful of spinach, chopped
1 cup shredded chicken
1/4 cup of parmesan

Dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
1 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper

Directions:
Cook your pasta according to the package directions. While it is cooking, slice your onion, tomatoes, spinach and pecans. 

Once the pasta is done, strain it then return to the pan. Add in your veggies, pecans, chicken and parm. The heat from the pasta will wilt the spinach and melt the parmesan slightly. 

In a mason jar or a small bowl combing your dressing ingredients. Shake or whisk, then dress the pasta. The dressing just makes a little because I don't want it to sauce the pasta. I still don't even use all of the dressing. 

Toss the pasta together. Taste and see if it needs more salt or pepper! I made a full batch and kept it in the fridge all week to eat for lunch. It would also be a great side dish at a picnic or for dinner. Serve warm, cold or at room temp!

Annie

Mid-week Musings

image via Free People

Useful steps to deal with the anxiety I've been having. This too.

All you need is 10 minutes.

Tucking these ideas away for Thanksgiving pies.

How to quiet your sweet tooth during the holidays.

This Instagram is everything.

Where they are now. #13- my boys

I'm turning into a pot head.

A special delivery, brought to you by Starbucks.

Beer latte?

We are all born creative.

Love that Liz is now posting recipes intertwined with her stellar fashion posts!

Would you and your mom be friends if you were the same age? My mom once said she was pretty much like me in college, so I'm guessing we'd be friends. 

Lastly a good ole buzzfeed quiz...Can't help it, I'm a RomCom junkie, what are you?

Annie

Makeup Manners

I'm 21 and still feel like I don't know how to do my makeup. To be honest, I feel like I don't know how to properly do anything beauty related. This most likely comes from laziness. I'm a simple girl when it comes to hair, skincare and makeup. I'm all about the 5 minute look. My hair is bone straight and I can go from the shower to ready in 15 minutes. It's handy, but as I've gotten older I've realized I need to have better "manners" when it comes to my beauty routine.

I use the word manners because just like saying thank you and chewing with your mouth closed, I think those some ideas can be applied to beauty. It's time I start treating my skin with respect and applying my makeup and fixing my hair the proper way. 

I turned to my bestie and beauty guru to get the best tips on which products to use. Megan has the best manners when it comes to all things makeup and skincare. She takes her beauty routine seriously and it's definitely noticeable. 

Let's start with skin. After reading article after article about skin-care tips or "what I wish I would have told my 20-year old self," everyone talks about how important it is to take care of your skin. I've started to listen a little and added sunscreen, flossing and heavily moisturizing to my everyday routine. I've also been applying vaseline to my dry areas and eyelids before I go to sleep.

Now for Megan's tips and favorite products: 

She uses an incredible cleanser and moisturizer as well as a Clarisonic. For a cheaper version, Megan suggests
Orgins - Checks and Balances cleanser, Cetaphil - Oil Control moisturizer and Biore`- Acne Clearing Scrub. A good cleanser, scrub and moisturizer are the first steps in skin care. Below are more of her favorite products!

Step 1. Cleanse
Omorovicza Cleansing Foam -worth it

Step 2. Moisturize
Omorovicza Radiance Renewal Serum- revives tired skin
Omorovicza Balancing Moisturiser - for long lasting hydration
J.Berry Beauty Balm - A beauty lined started by Megan's facialist back home. I've tried this product and it rocks, put it on everything. 
Kiehl's Creme D`Elegance Repairateur - you can't beat Kiehl's

Now for makeup. I love having Megan do my makeup for special occasions, she makes me feel like I'm sitting at the makeup counter in the mall! She has all the brushes, primers and highlighters to make you look great without looking like you tried too hard.

Step 1.  Prime
Laura Mercier Hydrating Primer - Julia suggests it too!
Too Faced Hangover - for that red puffy "after a night out" skin
Smash Box Photo Phinish - to reduce redness 

Step 2. Foundation
Bare Minerals Original powder - for light coverage 
Chanel Viltalumiere Aqua - for medium coverage
Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation - for full coverage

Step 3. Conceal
Laura Mercier in Secret Camaflage

Step 4. Add some color
Nars Bronzer in Laguna
Nars Blush in Orgasm
Nars Highlighter in Albatross
Urban Decay Naked Palatte - every girl's favorite eyeshadow

Step 5. The finale
Chanel mascara #10

Now that's a long list, so I asked Megan to pick her tip top/can't live without products and she said...

1. Omorovicza Cleansing Foam
2. Nars Blush in Orgasm
3. Bare Minerals Original powder
4. J.Berry Beauty Balm
5. YSL Touche Éclat
6. Chanel mascara #10

Okay so who just wrote down all the beauty buys they need to go make? My hand is raised. To start, I'm thinking a big tub of Kiehls, Laura Mercier's primer and Nars blush and highlighter. Thanks Megan for sharing all of your wonderful makeup manners!

Annie 

Bites of My Life

My week was looking at two tests and days full of studying, when BAM, my allergies slapped me in the face. It got so bad I had to excuse myself from the local coffee shop to escape the disgust I was probably causing everyone with my pile of snot rags and the sneezes every minute. After that, I decided to say goodbye to my chances at focusing on studying. Probably not the most responsible thing to do, but no worries the tests ended up great!

A healthy dose of Zyrtec and a home cooked meal from mom healed me right up! I was then able to enjoy the rest of the week filled with birthday celebrations, Halloween, and day 1 of wedding dress shopping for Kathleen!

-Homemade Ramen. *pats back* Used How Sweet It Is' recipe.

-My current Blogging For Books shipment, A Beautiful Mess' Happy Homemade Home. Lot's of retro home decor ideas that unfortunately didn't strike my fancy. I'm a huge Beautiful Mess fan but their book didn't excite me as much as I'd hope. 

-So I've mentioned the hot tea kick I'm on, but now I'm welcoming homemade tea latte's into my life. The perfect cure when allergies hit you in the face mid-afternoon. Try Kylie's recipe from Yeah...Immaeatthat, one of the blog's I featured last week. 

-A spur of the moment trip home treated me right with a family favorite for dinner and cinnamon apples for dessert. 

-A stunning view from the 20th floor at The George restaurant for mom's birthday dinner!

-Just the start of an incredible meal. To follow was the bacon tart, beet salad and seasonal salmon. Read more about my meal here. 

-Leftover salmon from mom's birthday dinner was the star of this fall salad. Seasoned pumpkin seeds helped too!

-Played the part of MOH for our tacky bridesmaid Halloween look.

-Bowl 1 of 3 amazing chili's from VI Brand's Carne Diem Chili Cook-Off downtown! Yummy warm lunch with daddy on a chili day.

-Spent actual Halloween in, cozying up with my gal pals, candy, queso and homemade pumpkin bread!

-Made cutie wedding dress sugar cookies for Kat on our first day of dress shopping.

-Pumpkin breakfast quinoa spiced up with dried figs, granola and a splash of soy!

Annie

p.s. If you didn't see,  I've started a new album on my Facebook page where I'm sharing all of your take a bite pictures! If you ever try one of my recipes, DIYs or just eat something "bite" worth, use the hashtag #takeabite for me to see it!

New Season, New Blogs

New season, and new blogs on my radar. Some food blogs and some fashion/lifestyle or as one blogger describes her's, an "inspiration blog. I love that.

First up, My Name is Yeh. Pronounced Yay!!!, with lot's of exclamation marks! She's Chinese and jewish, uses code names of important people in her life and doesn't believe in capitalization. Not to mention her recipes all make me yell, YAY!!!

Some of my favorite recipes are her Pistachio Pop-Tarts, Funfetti Biscotti, Coconut Quinoa with Dates and Nuts (the recipe that put her on my radar), and Chicken with Apples + Chardonnay.

The Darling Detail is written by Jessi Afshin, lives in my new favorite city, Austin. A few "details" about Jessi: she has a crazy legit blog, she has amazing style, she is the production Assistant for Camille Styles (woah) and she's my age. She also wakes up at 5:45 ever morning to work on her blog. It's currently 6:47 a.m. so I sort of feel your pain, this isn't an everyday thing for me though.

Yeah...Immaeatthat. Kylie makes awesome sweet and savory healthy food that is still "crave-able." She wants to pursue a career intertwined with food without working in a restaurant (you and me both girl). She makes stellar sweets, veggie rich meals and also shares "what she eats every week" similar idea to my bites posts. My friend I interned with this summer showed me Kylie's site this summer and now we are in a constant game of sending screenshots of her dishes back in forth!

Some favorites are  Baked Apples Stuffed with Oatmeal Cookie Granola, Single Serving Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls, Less Slutty Brownie and her new Tea Latte post (perfect for my new tea kick!)

Mrs. Lilien, written by Kelley Lilien is a blogger, designer and author of the adorable, Mrs. Lilien's Cocktail Swatchbook. I love the way Mrs. Lilien formulates her posts. The graphics, colors and placement really sets her creativity apart from most blogs I read. They are crisp and impressive but still simple. Her aesthetic is to always keep the "Mrs." in mind, so you can expect every post to be tres chic! P.S. her current post on jumpsuits is on par. 

Lady and Pups-An Angry Food Blog. A misery outlet as the author likes to call it. L&P is the result of her move to Beijing and the anger it brings her. She has channeled her anger into delight through food. She is cynical, sarcastic and cooks some amazing food. 

Most dishes have an asian feel, but I love her recipes like The Saucy Marriage Pie, Sea Salt Buttercream and Chocolate Cupcake, Microwave Sausage and Cheese Spaghetti  and Green Butter Grilled Oysters. She doesn't believe in measuring, but I don't either, her recipes are more of "guides." Don't let that scare you. Five seconds of looking at the photography on her site and you'll be sold.

Straight From Kate  is my newest read. I found her on Tuesday and had to add her to the list. Kate lives in Dallas where she ditched corporate world to pursue, well, anything. She is a photographer, freelance artist, creative and stud sugar cookie decorator so we obviously bonded on that. Since Straight from Kate is so new on my radar as well as new in the blog world, I look forward to seeing how she progresses it.

Sometimes you just need some new inspiration.

Annie