Steppin' Out...

 Dress & Belt: H&M

Tights: Anthropologie

Necklace: Francesca's

Shoes: Bakers

Bag: Vintage

This was a spur of the moment outfit & I love it! 

Quinoa...

I was inspired by Danielle at Sometimes Sweet to eat healthier. She's posted photos of her fridge and how she makes her quinoa and now I can't wait to start.

I have fallen in LOVE with quinoa. It's so so healthy and SO easy. I plan on making it once or twice a week and saving it in the fridge for when I'm ready for it. Then I can mix whatever veggies I want in it. 

I said in the post right before this one that we went to the grocery store and I got a bunch of good stuff! Well, I DID! I bought everything for this amazing salad/dish. 

It's a take on traditional Tabbouleh.

I used red Inca quinoa. It's so pretty when it's cooked. I followed the directions on the box for cooking. It's a 1:2 ratio (one cup quinoa to two cups water). 

I boiled it, covered, until all the water was cooked out. 

Then I spread it all out on to a sheet tray and put it in the fridge to cool.

I didn't want the hot quinoa to cook the vegetables.

The vegetables that I used are: 

1 English cucumber

8 cherry heirloom tomatoes

4 stalks of celery heart

1/2 cup of shredded carrot

a huge handful of chopped parsley

1 Meyer lemon (my favorite)

(I also cut up some scallions, but I didn't end up adding them)

When the quinoa was cool, I put it all into a bowl to mix.

I added a few tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper.

Then added all my vegetables.

Then mixed.

Then taste tested.

Yum.

I can't wait to try more quinoa recipes and different vegetables!

We had a nice day...

Yesterday was one of the last nice days before it gets really cold so Jack, Jeremy, and I took full advantage. 

 I actually got up AFTER the sun! (That hasn't happened in a LONG LONG while).

 Jack was ready to go outside! He loves those little cars and he'll drive them up and down the windowsill for hours. :] 

 We went to Dunkin' Doughnuts! Yum.

 My boys enjoying their doughnuts. Jack had an old fashion (no frosting or glaze).

 Yup. They were THAT good.

My new favorite drink... vanilla chai. yum.

We played outside some but Jack is still sick (I know... Over a week now of the exact same symptoms). so we played some then went to get lunch!

 One of our favorite places to eat... Mongolian Grill.

I had lots of veggies & tofu.

 Jack liked watching them cook our food.

Cookin' cookin'

We went home and ate then had nap time/play/mess time :)

After everyone was up and ready again, we headed to Yogurtland! My favorite. Jack loved the huge fountain right outside. It was getting kind of cool by then, so we ate our yogurt in the car.

Red velvet cake batter with granola & toasted coconut with coconut flakes, mochi, & rainbow sprinkles. Yumm.

In the car.

Then we headed to Central Market (our favorite grocery store).

We got all sorts of fun stuff! I bought everything I need to make & post a few recipes on here! I can't wait!

I got a little chill time because my awesome husband gave Jack a bath. So I had some fun with a little piece of knit fabric I cut off of a shirt. It's a little Elsie inspired. :)

We went to bed fairly early and woke up this morning just in time to give Jeremy hugs and kisses before work. These days are hard because Jeremy has work from 8am to almost after 10pm. He hardly gets to see Jack.

Today we are:

-doing laundry

-hopefully getting well

-cleaning

-making messes

-cooking

-resting

-blogging

-lots of hugs & kisses

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Oh, Pretty Dress + Cardigan...

I don't do dressing up much on the weekdays. Yes, these photos are from last weekend. I've had a terribly sick baby who WON'T sleep and I'm working really early mornings (life of a baker). SOOOO... yes... I cheated. Shoot me.

 (pardon my goof-troop of a smile here)

Dress: Anthopologie 

Cardigan & Necklace: Target

Tights: We Love Colors

Oxford heels: No idea. 

Tonight...

this is where I'll be sleeping with a little sick guy.


Jack is really congested and still has a pretty ugly cough. He got a few hours of sleep last night but I only got about one.

On a higher note, I've been spoiling myself the last couple of days. I'll share all my purchases as soon as they come in.

This is what I got today:


They are all so so good. I'll post links and a full (little) review tomorrow when I'm not sleeping in a chair.

:)

Hope everyone has a good night!

Rainbow Cupcakes...

Yup. Rainbow cupcakes.

And a cake, too. 

If you didn't already know, I'm a baker. I went to culinary school and I work in a cupcake bakery as the head baker. This "recipe" isn't complicated nor does it require much skill. It's just fun and so pretty!  We don't make this at my bakery.

I actually made these a while ago... a long while. BUT they are so fantastic and fun that I wanted to share them again on here.  

(I've never posted them onto this blog, but I did on a blog I had a while ago that didn't work out.)

They may look difficult, but they are super easy. You'll probably make a mess, just some fyi. :]

 What you need:

2-3 boxes of white cake (see.. easy)

Neon food coloring

Sprinkles

Cake or cupcake pans/liners

Wooden dowels (for the stacked cake)

Buttercream 

(I won't post my buttercream recipe because I use it at work and I can't really share, but any recipe will do)

Mix the cake batter as directed on the box. Divide the batter according to how many colors you want to use. I used pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple so I had six bowls of white batter. Then color each bowl of batter with your color, one in each. 

Cupcakes: 

Spoon the different colored batter into your liners one at a time until about 1/2 full.  

(1 tablespoon of pink... one tablespoon of orange.. etc.)

Then BAKE according to the directions on the box.

Let cool completely before icing. 

Decorate! Have fun!

Cupcake guts!

Cake:

You will need to either have 6 cake pans all the same size, or bake in batches. I had 3 pans. 

Divide the batter into 6 bowls and color each bowl a different color. 

Then, pour one color into one pan. BAKE. 

After all the cakes are cooled, pick the cake layer that you want at the bottom. 

Put a layer of buttercream icing covering the top, then place the second layer cake on top. 

Do this until you get to the top layer. 

This is important... If you are doing a big stacked cake like I did, then you will need to reinforce the cake layers (so it doesn't topple over). 

I like to use wooden dowels. 

After all of the layers are stacked and ready to be completely iced, cut the dowels to size  

(you don't want them sticking out of the cake. You want them to be flush with the top.) 

Then stick them into the middle of the cake. 

You want them to go all the way through the cake (bottom to top) but not sticking out.

Then cover the cake completely in buttercream.

Decorate to your hearts content!

Enjoy!!
(link your photos/blog if you make them!)