Easter Dinner Series: Spring Salad + Twice Baked Potatoes

March 26, 2013

Post by my talented sister Maria, you can check out our Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade whip cream and Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin to complete the meal!

Spring Salad Recipe:
1 Bag of Spinach, rinsed and dried
1 handful of Dried Cranberries (or more to taste)
2-3 Tbs. Toasted Slivered Almonds
1 Orange cut into sections
4 slices Cook Crumbled Bacon
Cheese of Choice (Mozarella, or Crumbled Feta)
Balsamic Vinigarette Dressing

Twice Baked Potatoes
These will be gone in minutes!

4 Large Baking Potatoes
1/4 to 1/2 cup of Milk (I usually use whole)
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 cup of Butter
3 Slices of Bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 Cup of Sharp Cheddar Cheese, plus more for garnish
1 Tbs. Green Onions

Preheat Oven to 375.
Wash Potatoes, puncture each potato with fork a few times to release steam.

Bake potatoes at 375 degrees for about 1 hour or when tender when poked through with a fork. Carefully slice potatoes in half lengthwise and let cool. Turn oven up to 400 degrees.

When cool enough, spoon out center and place in a large bowl. Leave a little potato around the rim so that the skins don’t sink and fall inward.

Add softened butter, milk, and salt. Beat with electric mixer until whipped and potatoes are creamy and smooth. I love my Kitchen Aid mixture for this! Stir in green onions, cheese, and bacon. With a large spoon, fill potato skins really full.

Place potatoes on a shallow baking tray and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Place in oven and heat for another 15-20 minutes until heated through and cheese has melted.

My Food Philosophy: Because the effort to make good food is a gift to those around me, it’s happy memories, togetherness, the living part of life.

Bump Styled: Uptown/Downtown

March 25, 2013

White Coat: c/o Sheinside, Tunic top: ON, Denim: Gap, Boots: (similar), Tote: ASOS (similar), Leather Jacket: c/o Windsor Store, Necklace: c/o Chicpeek, F21

I had a glorious forced break from work these past 4 days.

My computer died on me and despite deadlines and big goals for the weekend, God decided I needed to rest and be still. I can’t believe the wonders it did for me. I tackled logo design with pen and paper, my house got cleaned, some DIY projects were completed, I started this book (fascinating so far), and the kids and I built lots of forts and block towers. Gabe and I also watched an unhealthy amount of NCAA basketball and our new addiction “Once Upon a Time” on netflix.

I think I will hide my computer more often;) These small things made me so happy. Its not easy to unplug when your job depends on your computer, but I realize how necessary it is for my own well being.

Hope you all had a good weekend despite the fact that spring seems to be on strike nationwide!

$1000 #Glamgrand Visa Gift card Giveaway!

March 22, 2013

Well friends, my computer died on me but don’t worry, I managed to get this sucker up because you all deserve to be apart of this chance to win a grand! I’ve teamed up with a group of fabulous ladies to bring you something special today. One very lucky reader will have the chance to live glam with a grand – you’ll win a $1,000 Visa Gift Card!

To enter, simply use the Rafflecopter below. Points will be earned for each item completed – the more you do, the closer you’ll be to winning the prize! The $1,000 Glam Grand Giveaway will run until midnight Friday 29th March 2013 and is open to participants worldwide. After this, the winner will be announced and contacted via email.

So, now all you have to do is enter, go meet these other fun gals and start thinking about how you’d spend a grand. (I’d love to know your ideas, share them in the comments below.)

Kelsey Bang | Style Elixir | Moiology | Casey Leigh | Elle Apparel

Ivory Lane | Pink Peonies | CaraLoren | Shannon Hearts | The Chiffon Diary

Twist Me Pretty | Dont Quote the Raven | Barefoot Blonde | Crazy Style Love | The Daily Tay

Jessica Who? | MessyDirtyHair | Glossy Blonde | Glam Hungry Mom | A Little Dash of Darling

Merrick’s Art | In Honor of Design | Coast With Me | Plane Pretty | Mix and Match Fashion

Get Your Pretty On | The Shine Project | Fashion and Tea | Crowley Party | Along Abbey Road

Style With Shannon | Love Chugs | Dreaming In Cashmere | Sincerely Arizona | Kacie’s Kloset

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms & Conditions:
The Glam Grand Giveaway is for one USD $1,000 Visa Gift Card. This giveaway is open worldwide to people aged 18 years and over. It will run from Friday 22nd March 2013 to Friday 29th March 2013. Entries will be verified, so please be honest in completing items. Once the giveaway closes, the winner will be announced on this Rafflecopter and also contacted via email. To claim your prize, please respond to the email within 72 hours, failure to do so will result in a re-draw. Once the winner has been selected, this decision is final and no further correspondence will be entered into regarding this matter. This giveaway is in no way affiliated with Visa or any other social media platform. Good luck!

Easter Dinner Series: Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

March 20, 2013

The Easter Holiday is an extraordinary occasion to celebrate. Since we come from a big Catholic family, its one of the most significant days we celebrate out of the year, so it entails a big feast 🙂 So I thought I would post on my Easter dinner menu and hope you can try some or all of these out for friends and family. We will start with the main dish….

Easter Main Dish: Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2 lbs. pork tenderloin

1/2 cup of Catlina or French Dressing, divided

2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. garlic powder
1tsp. dry mustard

1tsp. paprika

1/2tsp. dried thyme leaves

2Tbsp. honey

Place pork tenderloin in a baking dish. (I usually put mine on a baking mat and on a baking sheet because it is 10times easier to clean)

Spread about 4 Tbs. of dressing over pork. Combine all spices and rub over the meat on both sides. Place in oven and bake for about 12 minutes. Meanwhile combine the 4Tbs. of dressing and 2Tbs. of honey. Brush over meat after 12 minutes and place back into oven for another 10 minutes or until interal temp is 145degrees.

It will have a slightly charred look, but the meat will be very moist with incredible flavor, serves 8. Recipe adapted from Kraft.

Stay tuned for Easter Sides and Desserts!

My Food Philosophy: Because the effort to make good food is a gift to those around me, it’s happy memories, togetherness, the living part of life.

*Post by my sister, Maria. You can find the rest of her beautiful eats here.

Giveaway: Custom Print from Mosie Posies

March 19, 2013

Tara Mosier is the artist and designer behind Mosie Posies, an etsy shop dedicated to personalized prints for new arrivals or birthdays. I love her combination of colors and the way she uses type. I mean the elephant duo on the top left?? My fave of course.

There are alphabet, numbers, initial prints, and name sake prints as well.

She is giving a reader a custom 8 x 10 print! Enter easily through rafflectopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

P.S. Winner of the Pursemafia giveaway announced in the rafflecopter widget here!

Bump Styled: Neon and Turquoise

March 18, 2013

{Top: c/o Questhaven Fashions (20% off site with code IHOD), Coated Jeans: H&M, Necklace: Bauble Bar, Shoes: Zara (similar), Tote: Asos (similar)}

Anyone have tips for that lovely growing out the bangs phase? A perpetual side braid is all I got!

I am entering into the third trimester (already?!) – what I like to compare to feeling as if you are carrying a kangaroo in your pouch and the awkward waddle starts to replace your once confident stride. The puffy face alludes to the fact that you did just eat a whole can of pringles by yourself, and you don’t really care if your toddler just dumped a bag of rice on the floor. Let her play in that mess because you don’t have the energy to move you and your kangaroo pouch off the chair to clean it up.

Goodbye energetic and mobile second trimester.

But its okay because I get lots of kicks and hellos from the little one inside reminding me its all worth it.

In other news…

We were blessed with the most gorgeous weekend Georgia has seen in a while, and even better, I had my sisters in town to share it with. I am now okay with the rainy monday since I soaked the sun out of the weekend. How was yours friends?

P.S. Its the last day to enter to win $50 credit to PURSEmafia! This could be that time you win!

Style File: Spring Fever

March 15, 2013

Hat // Shades // Tote // Cardi // Necklace

Image: H&M via Shop Sweet Things

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After what seemed to be a month of rain and gloom, spring has arrived in all its glory and it has brought a FEVAAA with it! Sunnies and 70’s all weekend long (you guys gotta move to the ATL) and these lovelies above are on the top of my favorites list.

I have a fun round up of links for ya:

This is what I am doing with my abundance of strawberries in the fridge via Creature Comforts

This DIY has me in a frenzy. Seriously good.

Not only crazy about this shop website but everything it contains:)

Cutest St. Patrick’s Day pinch polish from Andrea Dozier.

4 Messy hairstyles for unwashed hair.

IHOD has a DIY up for your little ones over on Small Fry Blog!

If you are in the south, hope I will see you at the Maiedae Mixer in June!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day weekend friends! I am not irish but my children are so that means we are celebrating the good saint loudly! (I have plenty of freckles to boot.)