Monday, June 2, 2014

May Favorites

My Favorite Items This May 

 

1. Essie Nail Lacquer in 'the more the merrier' Essie Canada

$9.99 Shopper's Drug Mart

A great spring/summer color. It's a neon-lime color and it's fantastic!

2. Quest Bar in 'Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough' Quest

$2.99 GNC

I have been eating this for breakfast almost all month. 21 grams of protein and 3 grams net carbs. It actually tastes like cookie dough!

3. Sephora Colorful Eyeliner 24h Waterproof in 'Love Song' Sephora

$15.00 Sephora

A great shimmery hot pink liquid eyeliner. I like to wear it on top of my usual black liquid eyeliner.

4. The Face Shop Color My Eyebrow in 'Light Brown' The Face Shop

$5.99 The Face Shop

I swear this is a great dupe for Benefit's Gimme Brow. And super cute packaging! The Face Shop is a Korean cosmetics/skin care brand that has been opening up stores across Canada. There isn't one in my province yet, and I'm kinda glad there isn't. I would be spending a lot of money there.

 

5. Flower Beauty Blush/Bronzer Duo in 'Glow Baby Glow' Flower Cosmetics

$9.98USD 

I recently was in the states so I made sure I was able to stop by WalMart to check out Drew Barrymore's Flower Beauty Cosmetics line. I also got a nail polish and lip crayon, but this blush/bronzer duo is my favorite. I hope they decide to carry this line in Canadian WalMart! Although according to the Flower Beauty Facebook Page, there are no plans to expand at this time.

 

6.  Clinique Acne Solutions Clinical Clearing Gel Clinique

$29.00 Sephora

I realize you can buy this product at many places, but I bought this at Sephora for the points. This product works great! I found it worked great under make up and also at night before bed.

 

7. Express Graduated Spike Necklace Express

$29.95 

Love this necklace! It's totally my style and can be casual and dressy.



The Face Shop Haul

I recently was in Edmonton, AB and of course had to check out WEM while I was there. There was a new store called 'The Face Shop' that sold Korean beauty products.
Has anyone checked this place out yet? Thoughts?

Monday, April 11, 2011

Cajun Boil

I realize not many of these ingredients are in season, but I have been wanting to try out a shrimp boil recipe for a long time.
Aaaaand I would totally do it again, because this turned out fantastically

Shrimp Boil

Ingredients
2 lemons, halved, plus wedges for serving
1/2 cup Old Bay Seasoning or 2/3 cup Creole Seasoning
8 cloves garlic, smashed
1 large red onion, quartered
1 pound baby red potatoes
4 ears corn, husked and snapped in half
1 1/4 pounds large shrimp, unpeeled
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Hot sauce, for serving (optional)





Directions
Fill a large pot with 4 litres of water. Squeeze the lemon juice into the water and add the squeezed lemon halves. Add the Old Bay, garlic and onion. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook about 5 minutes.

Add the potatoes to the pot and cook until just tender, about 10 minutes. Add the corn and cook 5 more minutes.

Meanwhile, slice along the back of each shrimp through the shells; remove the veins and rinse the shrimp. Add to the pot, cover and cook until the shrimp curl and are just opaque, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not unpeel the shrimp as it adds flavour the broth.

Transfer the shrimp and vegetables with a slotted spoon or skimmer to a large bowl. Add the butter and about 1 cup broth to the bowl and toss until the butter is melted. Transfer the shrimp and vegetables to a platter. Serve with the remaining broth, lemon wedges and hot sauce, if desired.




Creole Seasoning
3 Tbs. paprika
2 Tbs. salt
2 Tbs. garlic powder
1 Tbs. black pepper
1 Tbs. onion powder
1 Tbs. cayenne pepper
1 Tbs. dried leaf oregano
1 Tbs. dried Thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Makes about 2/3 cup.
Can be stored in an airtight container.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Irish Guinness Stew


I wanted to make some pub-style Irish stew to celebrate St. Patty's Day.
This recipe is done in the slow cooker/crock pot.

Ingredients

2 1/2 Pound stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
1/4 Cup all purpose flour
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup 1/4-inch diced onion
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
3 red potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 stalks of celery, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 clove garlic, sliced
1&1/2 Cup beef stock
1&1/2 Cup Guinness or other dark beer (an entire bottle/can - approx. 355ml will do)
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. thyme leaves, chopped (1/2 tsp. dried)

1. Coat the stewing beef in 1 tbsp. flour, salt and pepper. Brown in frying pan with olive oil. Do not cook all the way through, just enough to brown the outside.
2. Add beef to slow cooker. Add all of the brown bits from frying pan as well, it adds flavour. Add leftover flour. Stir well.
3. Add remaining ingredients in the order they are listed and stir mixture.
4. Set slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours.




Tuesday, March 15, 2011

the best dessert i've ever had...

I'm sure many people who have traveled to Las Vegas, NV just had to check out the Bellagio hotel. The hotel has the Fountains of Bellagio, a large dancing water fountain synchronized to music. It's so beautiful that I had to watch it quite a few times.
And inside the hotel there is a glass-encased 27 foot high chocolate fountain with 2 tonnes of melted flowing white, milk and dark chocolate. It's the world's tallest and largest volume chocolate fountain at the Jean-Philippe Patisserie.

My husband and I had already ate when we found this place, but we couldn't help but to try one of the desserts. There had to have been about 40 desserts to choose from. We finally settled on a triple chocolate cheesecake. The chocolate was so luscious and the cheesecake like velvet. I had decided that was the best dessert i've ever had so far.

Rachael Ray's Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza and Celery Succotash Salad

It was snowing so bad the day we made this and my husband and I were tired of sitting around watching television. I thought it would be fun to find a recipe that we'd never tried before and spend a few hours in the kitchen making it.
My husband doesn't do much cooking so I let him choose the recipe for enlisting his help. After scouring a few cookbooks he decided on a Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza with Celery Succotash Salad from '2, 4, 6, 8: Great Meals for Couples or Crowds by Rachael Ray (Paperback - Nov 7 2006)'.
The only thing we knew about 'succotash' was that 'sufferin' succotash' was what Sylvester oftenly muttered from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Succotash is actually a food dish consisting primarily of corn and lima beans.



Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Serves 4

Ingredients
•3/4 pound chicken breast cutlets
•Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
•2 teaspoons grill seasoning, such as McCormick brand Montreal Chicken Seasoning (eyeball it)
•1 pizza dough, store-bought or from your favorite pizzeria
•Cornmeal or flour, to handle dough
•2 tablespoons butter
•1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (eyeball it)
•2-3 tablespoons hot sauce, depending on how hot you like it
•1/2 cup tomato sauce
•1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (a few generous handfuls)
•1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
•3 scallions, thinly sliced


Preparation
Pre-heat the oven to 425°F. Pre-heat a grill pan to high.
Place the chicken on a plate. Drizzle EVOO over it and season with grill seasoning. When the grill is hot, add the chicken and cook about three minutes on each side.
On a cutting board, stretch the dough to form the pizza crust, using cornmeal or flour to help you handle it. If you let it rest and warm up for a few minutes, it will handle even more easily. Set the pizza on a pizza pan to the side and clean board.
In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and stir in Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and tomato sauce.
Remove the chicken from grill and thinly slice it. Add the chicken to sauce and coat. Cover the pizza dough with the saucy Buffalo chicken, cheeses and scallions. Bake 18 minutes or until crisp.




Celery Succotash Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients
•2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
•2 tablespoons honey (a healthy drizzle)
•1/2 lemon, juiced
•2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (eyeball it)
•1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
•Salt and pepper
•1 whole celery heart, thinly sliced
•1/2 cup shredded carrots
•1 box frozen corn (10 ounces)
•1 can chick peas or garbanzo beans (15 ounces), drained
•1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
•1/2 small or medium red onion, chopped
•2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped

Preperation
In a medium bowl, combine the mustard, honey, lemon juice and vinegar. Whisk in EVOO and season the dressing with salt and pepper. Add the celery, carrots, corn, chick peas, peppers, onions and thyme. Toss to combine the salad and adjust salt and pepper, to taste.






Final Thoughts:
Delicious!! My husband and I both loved it!
The pizza was yummy. We made the pizza dough from scratch too and that was something I had never done before. Next time I would make the pizza crust thinner.
The salad was very colorful and we really enjoyed the salad dressing for it. I would make the salad dressing on it's own and put it on a regular garden salad.
I also wish I would've taken a better picture of the meal.