Resolutions: Quarter Year Review

I'm pretty excited that I'm actually posting this progress report! It's good to think about goals throughout the year and writing about them helps me... or at least I think it will. (You can view my original 2014 Resolutions post here). Annnnd, here goes: Resolution 1: Eat more veggies.

Progress: This one gets a big thumbs up from me... a pat on the back, etc. For a while I was making a concious effort to add vegtables to my meals. NOW it feels pretty "normal" and usual to have some sort of veggie with my meals. It's getting to the point that my meal doesn't feel complete without it. Since that was kinda the main point of this resolution I'm gonna say: YAYYYYY! Of course I need to keep going, but I'm definitely on track with this resolution -- BIG TIME.

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Resolution 2: Correspond more!

(New desk -- more correspondence? Maybe... but definitely lots of memories of this desk being in my grandparents house when I was growing up!)

Progress: I have sent several letters already this year... and I'm up to date with sending birthday cards (at least I think so?). I'm not doing PERFECT with correspondence, but I'm learning to go ahead and send people things as I think of them. I even have sent off a few packages of fun things to people -- "just because." This resolution is really fun for me because I enjoy making people smile/making their day/sending people mail... and such. So, hopefully I'll be able to keep this up throughout this year! :)

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Resolution 3: Decorate the house.

Progress: Progress on this resolution has been pretty minimal. I've worked on decorating a few places more, but haven't really put anything new up on the walls or anything. Hopefully there will be big changes in the near future... But this review is a good reminder to keep working on this one!!

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Resolution 4: Decorate for holidays AND (the kicker) take down decorations in a fairly timely manner.

Progress: This one is a big win thus far!! I put up decoration for Valentine's Day, St Patty's and for Spring/Easter! I love having fun stuff like that around the house... And Skylar is fascinated by all the colorful stuff that's been up. I've also done pretty well taking down said decorations in a timely manner. Looking forward to more seasonal decorating in the future!! :)

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Resolution 5: Exercise.

Progress: Okay. This one is definitely a work-in-progress. I'm still not getting to the gym as much as I would like, but I have been able to lift and/or do exercises at the house a few times a week during the last couple weeks. So, I'm gonna keep trying, keep pushing, and add in exercise as I can.

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Resolution 6: Work on the office.

Progress: It's a freaking mess still, but progress is happening! Finally. The picture above looks... better? Maybe a little? (Ignore the bed, that won't be there forever -- but it FITS! LOL). But I'm finally getting things organized and clearing out areas and spaces. So, hopefully this one will be a full success soon!! I can't wait to have a more functional office space!! :)

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Resolution 7: Dishes. I resolve to do more dishes when I have a spare moment. To make a better effort to get them done when I can and to not let them pile up so much or for as long as I do. Additionally, I want to strive to have the whole kitchen clean/dishes completed (nothing in the sink/counter waiting to be cleaned) at least once a week.

Progress: I'm calling this one a successful work in progress. The above picture is what I have "around my sink" right now... and it's not terrible. I usually DO have the kitchen fully clean at least once a week and I am getting better about doing dishes while Skylar is playing or when I'm talking with Jimmy or something. It's still a chore I don't really love, but I'm getting better about keeping up with dishes. :)

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Resolution 8: Use nail items and accessories that I own but don't use much. This resolution is a goal to be more creative and use more nail art items when I do my manicures. I also want to work towards crossing off more nail art methods on my “want to try” list.

Progress: A partial success! There are still items I want to use and more methods I want to try, but I am branching out some and I'm getting better at remembering to add small additional details to my manicures. I think this one will also get better as I have a dedicated space for doing my nails (that's something I hope to set up in the office while working on organization there).

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Final Thoughts: I am posting a progress report! That's PROGRESS, people! LOL. But seriously, just reviewing these was useful... at least I think so... Hopefully there will be even more progress the next time I post one of these in a few months (probably sometime in July). Learning and growing is definitely part of this year. I can hardly believe I'm 31 years old now.... But there it is. I'm officially and firmly "in my 30s." For better or worse... (yes, I'm a heck-of-dramatic today).

Annnnyway, still striving to be a great mom (my little girl is so awesome -- I love her so much)... a supportive, helpful, wife... and of course, figuring out something for me to put some of my time into that's for me. That's still in development, but I'm getting closer I think! More on that in the future!! This year is only one quarter over! Still lots of time. :)

Until next time! ♥

2014 Resolutions and Goals:

Just like last year all this month I have posted in my Instagram about my resolutions this year and now it's the end of January (and the Chinese New Year!) So... here goes! (in no particular order)

Resolution 1: Eat more veggies. My "goal" is to eat more healthy in general, but specifically to have more nutrient rich vegetables as a larger portion of my meals!

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Resolution 2: Correspond more! I love getting letters and fun things in the mail, so I'm going to work on sending more things to people in my life in order to share the wealth!! (Starting off with this stack of belated Christmas cards!)

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Resolution 3: Decorate the house. We started this at the end of 2013, but I definitely want to keep at it in 2014. My hope is that we'll be mostly done with this project by mid-year. ;)

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Resolution 4: Decorate for holidays AND (the kicker) take down decorations in a fairly timely manner (like within a week or so of said holiday's passing).

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Resolution 5: Exercise. This was a resolution last year... (And many years previous, really).. But something has GOT to give! I miss the energy... I miss the post-work-out high. I miss the feeling of accomplishment. I even miss the feeling of sore muscles (not CRAZY SORE, but somewhat sore... Who likes crazy sore?). So I'm back on the horse. Trying again. Etc. 2-3 times a week is my goal for now. It's not ideal, but it's something.

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Resolution 6: Work on the office. This picture is of "my half" of the office (give or take). It's not a usable space by any means. My goal is to work on this so that I can do projects up here and have some safe spots for Skylar to play while I'm doing it. It's also a room I want to decorate, but first things first: I need ORDER and to clear out clutter. Wish me luck!

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Resolution 7: Dishes. If you know me at all you know that dishes are my most hated chore... That I consider them a "nemesis" of sorts and that I truly dislike doing dishes as much as they easily pile up! (Yes, I'm being dramatic. Deal with it.) . . Ok. So. My resolution is NOT to always do dishes right away... Or to not leave them overnight sometimes. Because it's just not realistic to set those things as goals. Instead I'm going to resolve to do more dishes when I have a spare moment. To make a better effort to get them done when I can and to not let them pile up so much or for as long as I do. Additionally, I want to strive to have the whole kitchen clean/dishes completed (nothing in the sink/counter waiting to be cleaned) at least once a week.

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Resolution 8: Use this stuff! I know that's simplistic, but I really just want to be more creative and use more nail art items when I do my manicures (and if I work on other's mani's). I also want to work towards crossing off more nail art methods on my "want to try" list:

Also: fan brush method, using acrylic paint, & a "spotted mani" using hairspray or spray hand sanitizer.

(I've actually tried the first two in this list, but I want to knock out more of them!)

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Final thoughts: I will try to post progress reports this year! Haha. That should be a "goal" in and of itself for this year... I also have a couple general goals. I really want to work on being a better mom... on being more patient, learning better ways to communicate with my daughter... and just generally accept and embrace this life and enjoy it more. Don't get me wrong, I love being a mom. But some days are definitely better than others and sometimes I get discouraged and stuck in a rut. To help with that last part... there's my final goal...

This is something I want to work towards throughout the year, but is bigger than just one resolution. So... here goes... I want to dream and grow and develop something creative that's *mine*. It doesn't have to be something that brings in money (though that would be nice), but it does need to be something that I do that I take ownership of and control. Some of my ideas right now are pretty big and some are really small. It's just a general concept I want to figure out and determine how to pursue something important to me as well as be a good mom and wife.

So, what about you!?!? What are some of your resolutions or goals for 2014?

xo, Emmie

Cowfish: A Review

Last night Jimmy & I went out for "date night." This might not seem like a big deal, but since we haven't gotten any sitters used to watching Skylar at night yet, we rarely go out just the two of us. Thus far we've only gone out just the two of us when we've had family in town... and that's pretty rare. So, when we were trying to figure out where to go last night it was a big deal to find somewhere good because we don't have time to mess around with mediocre date locations... (lol, i'm so dramatic). Anyway... A good friend suggested the brand-new restaurant: The Cowfish as a possible location. After looking at their menu we decided to go for it!

The Cowfish is brand new to the Raleigh area, but is only the 2nd location for this restaurant. So, I'd still consider it to be a fairly "local" type restaurant. It's gotten a lot of hype from what I can tell because it was PACKED when we got there. At 8:30. Yes, that's right... at 8:30 at night there was a wait for a table for 2. So, I would recommend reservations (though I will say that they only accept reservations till 6 pm -- at least on weeknights. I'm not sure about the weekend).

First impressions: The dining room is rather understated... except for the giant fishbowl in the middle of the bar section. Seriously. Giant:

They have an interesting outdoor dining area that seems like it would be really hot a lot of the time, but gives them more room for guests. Fortunately we were seated indoors (it was muggy as anything last night -- I'm pretty sure it wasn't very comfortable outside). It was also LOUD. But I suppose that's to be expected with a very busy restaurant. I'm sure it's even more so on the weekends... eek! ;)

There was a good selection of music... right up until they played . But .. withstanding it was a nice atmosphere in general. Not super fancy, but not run-of-the-mill either. I also LOVED the tongue-in-cheek artwork on the walls. I only snapped a picture of one of them, but check this out:

Heheheheheheh... Love it.

Okay. On to the real review... the FOOD. It took us a while to settle on what we wanted to order... but we finally did. We started with two Appetizers:

Crab Rangoon Dip Classic crab rangoon filling served as a creamy dip topped with a parmesan panko crust, served with wonton crisps and sweet chili sauce

Lobster & Crab Spring Rolls Maine lobster, blue crab, Napa cabbage, ginger, bok choy and carrots rolled in spring roll wrappers and flash fried until crispy. Served with cilantro pesto, Thai chili sauce and Cajun marmalade for dipping

The verdict: We LOVED the Crab Rangoon dip. Jimmy really likes regular Crab Rangoons and this was sort of a deconstructed version of that. It was very flavorful and not too fishy. We felt the opposite about the Lobster & Crab Spring Roll. These were low in flavor and pretty underwhelming. We both felt like we'd rather eat any other part of our dinner again except for the Spring Rolls. So, my recommendation is to skip this one (easier on your wallet and your waistline too).

On to the Main Course:

The menu is filled with regular entrees as well as sampler platters of burgers and sushi. We both really wanted sushi rolls of some type for dinner so we went with that and skipped all the rest. Here are the two we picked out:

“The Prime Time” Filet & Lobster Roll Filet Mignon, portabella mushroom and asparagus rolled inside, topped with our famous lump crabcake mix and baked to perfection. Served drizzled with spicy cream sauce.

Master Chef Rifali’s Nirvana Roll Avocado, cream cheese and yellowfin tuna roll, topped with whitefish and baked with spicy mayo and sweet eel sauce. Finished with a drop of our delicious cilantro pesto and 4 different types of roe.

The Verdict: These were both phenomenal. It's worth noting that "The Prime Time" roll was a full 8 pieces, but the picture is only of 4 because I didn't get a good picture until half of it was gone. The "Prime Time Roll" has a lot of depth of flavor. The meat is perfectly rare and the truffle mushrooms on top bring the perfect amount of richness and saltiness to the roll. The Nirvana Roll was equally yummy. The Yellowtail was very good and the flaky fish on the outside was cooked just right. The cream cheese and avocado added a delicious creaminess to this roll. My only "complaint" is that there was no texture in the roll. I typically prefer something a bit crunchy in my sushi. Jimmy preferred the Nirvana Roll and I (very slightly) preferred "The Prime Time" roll. They were both amazing... and it would be difficult to not get the very same rolls again if we go back to The Cowfish in the future. So. I highly recommend both of these rolls!!

Finally... Dessert. I have to admit that I failed completely at taking a picture of this whole. We got the dessert to go and after we arrived at a friend's house to play with her baby chicks I completely forgot to take a picture before diving into this yummy treat. But here's a partially eaten picture:

Chef Dave's Not Factory Made Cheesecake Rich and creamy coconut almond cheesecake atop a golden fortune cookie crust. Finished with almond coconut and raspberry sauce

The Verdict: This was HUGE. I mean HUGE when it was whole. I think 4 people could share it and still get a decent amount of the dessert. This was also pretty tasty. The coconut flavor could have been a bit stronger for my taste, but generally it was actually pretty light -- especially for cheesecake. I enjoyed the fact that the coconut was very summery and gave it a creaminess (although it's cheesecake, so how hard is it to make it creamy? ;))

Overall thoughts: The service was attentive though not particularly memorable (our waiter specifically seemed both busy and kinda quiet -- he was otherwise very good and our water glasses were never low and he was around often in case we had questions). The dining room was definitely busy and somewhat loud, but not otherwise bad. Their bar area is not very comfortable (the chairs are not what I prefer and were definitely not meant for someone to sit in for long periods of time). Fortunately we spent very little time there since our table was ready pretty quickly. In terms of price we were both impressed by the quality of food for the price. The Cowfish is by no means an inexpensive night out, but our bill (with tip) was actually under $100 (it also included a glass of wine and a beer). The bathrooms are a whole other experience that I'll let you discover for yourself.

But I will leave you with the Buddah Belly Elvis who greets you in the restroom area:

Peace, Love, Burgers & Sushi, Emmie

Valentine's Day (pictures, and recipes, and presents, oh! my!)

As I mentioned in my previous post: I love Valentine's Day. I've had lots of good ones in the past... and this one was no exception! In fact, I think it was one of the best! I got to share it with my two loves: Jimmy & my precious daughter Skylar! Jimmy and I had alone time at night AND Skylar and I had plenty of great times together earlier in the day! It was pretty near perfect. So, here are a few highlights of the day: Woke up around 6 to feed Skylar and wrote a note to my hubby in lipstick on the mirror... along with a sassy card that I left on the sink counter for him to discover when he got up to take a shower. (muhahah - I can be sexy as well as sweet!) I then went back to sleep... woke when Jimmy kissed me goodbye and told me he loved me! (including his appreciation for the mirror/card). Slept in for a while.... & got up to send a dear friend her Valentine's Day surprise!!! :)

I spent the morning sending various surprises via e-mail, text, facebook... It was so much fun! I love stuff like that! Skylar woke up and "helped" me with some of my projects on the computer and then we had a mini-photo session with my iphone:

Then we dropped off some v-day bags to a couple neighbor girls... and packages and FLOWERS arrived!:

(Jimmy, you did good! I love them!)

The rest of Valentine's Day involved hanging with Skylar, loving on her and... you guessed it... more pictures! This time she was more dressed up with headbands and such and I used my fancy Cannon SLR:

(more pictures will be uploaded from that "photo-shoot" sometime in the near future -- hopefully this weekend!)

Finally around 4 I figured dinner should be started... ANd here's where I was nervous: I decided to make something new... & something reasonably HEALTHY for Valentine's Day. I've been really wanting to try a healthy Fettuccine Alfredo recipe I found on Pinterest (resolutions! Ding-ding!). Yes, you read that right... HEALTHY Fettuccine Alfredo. I started making it... prepping everything... and put Skylar down for her "late in the afternoon/evening" nap right when Jimmy sent me an ETA for being home (perfect timing - yay!). I was hopeful that it would be good... but, i have to admit, a bit skeptical. Well, half-way through the process I started raving about the sauce to my friend through text. You guys, I wanted to DRINK the sauce. Seriously. And that was BEFORE adding cream. In fact, in the future, I'm pretty sure I could skip the 1/4 cup of cream and not notice in the slightest. I finished the recipe soon after Jimmy got home (adding chicken -- because we needed some PROTEIN with all those carbs from the noodles) and plated it!:

(plated... but not well... Hey! I'm not a chef!)

We both LOVED this meal, ya'll (so becoming a southerner... wow). It was so... YUMMY and flavorful! I will be using what I am dubbing the: "cauliflower creamy method" to make this and lots of other things in the future! I'm so excited to be experimenting with it... because it truly adds so much smooth, creamy, goodness to a sauce (or a soup, or a pasta dish, or ... well, you get the idea).

The pasta, well, that part is another story... I'm really not sure how to omit that part... Except by using spaghetti squash... which I am only reminded of because a friend mentioned it recently (thanks, Liz!) I'll have to try out the sauce on spaghetti squash sometime in the near future!

After dinner we moved on to opening presents (Skylar was still sleeping -- good timing, little babe, good timing!). His & Hers:

Inside Jimmys: JellyBelly's (and a promise to buy more from the "menu" that he likes -- I couldn't find a place with all of the specific flavors in time for Valentine's Day, but I will get more in the near future to fill his Jellybelly candy dispenser!), A Hacker Book & another copy of Archer (he can't find his at the moment)... and finally another "I Owe You" for body wash that's coming! :)

Inside Mine: FILM for my Fuji Instant Camera!! (Jimmy got me the camera for Christmas -- we celebrated as a family here in NC only recently --but it didn't come with film. Both he & I were surprised... so he got me a pack of "50 shots" for Valentine's Day!), Chocolates... seriously, a very sexy box of chocolates! (with lace on the front -- so pretty), Roses (already pictured), and an Alex & Ani bracelet!!!!!:

(The "E" was a Christmas present! & J gave me the Key for Valentine's Day. I'm so excited to have more than 1 now!!)

First picture taken with the instant camera:

We had a few more minutes together before little miss Skylar woke up... and then she was awake and ready to hang with family! We spent the rest of the evening relaxing together and having fun! It was pretty near perfect! And Skylar (who was sick and getting over having shots earlier this week) enjoyed the evening and seemed to be getting better! yay!

After Skylar went down for the night we had some more grown-up-time and then it was time for bed for us too!! All-in-all it was a pretty wonderful Valentine's Day!

So, readers, how was your day!?!?!?!!? I wanna hear about your adventures into this day of love! How did you show love to those in your life???

xo, Emmie

Resolutions {2013}

Throughout the month of January I posted several resolutions with a corresponding picture to inspire me on my Instagram. My goal is to truly work on all of these things throughout the year and post progress reports every so often. I'm thinking that I'll post the progress reports (PRs for short) every 2-3 months, but to kick things off I'll post the resolution and an initial PR for the month of January. So, in no particular order, here are my Resolutions for 2013: Resolution #1 Read More. I have so many books on my "to read" list. I want to start working my way through them finally. At this point reading at all would be an improvement to the last few months. So, my "goal" is to read at least 2 books a month in 2013!

Progress Report: In the month of January I read two books. So, YAY for meeting my goal. It was an underwhelming goal on purpose because I wanted to keep from being discouraged -- but I do feel like I should be able to read more than 2 books a month... so, I'm mentally shooting for more (hence my slight disappointment at literally reading only 2 books my first month working on this resolution). BUT I should keep in mind that they were long books (Harry Potter books to be exact). They were both 600 pages or more, so I wasn't skimping on the 2 books I read. Additionally, I'm only 5 days into February and I'm already 476 pages into the 5th Harry Potter book (and loving it). It feels good to read and get excited by the literary world again. I think I'll enjoy keeping up with this resolution!

Resolution #2 Make/do something off my Pinterest at least 4x a month. I'd like to do something once a week, but until Skylar is a bit bigger its hard to do crafts a lot. Really, I just want to start DOING the things I see as "good ideas" regularly... Instead if just "pinning" them and forgetting them. This resolution could include recipes, dress style, hair & makeup ideas, & polish inspiration.

Progress Report: I am rocking this one! In January in just the baking blogs I posted on here were 5 pinterest recipes! I actually referred to it more than that! But I'm definitely trying to use the ideas and things I've posted to Pinterest with intention! Yay!

Resolution #3 Exercise! (this one is explained BY the picture)

Progress Report:This resolution has been a pretty major failure during the month of January. I have gone out walking with Skylar a few times, but between her being sick for a week+ and the weather being SUPER cold at times (though the nice days we have tried to go out), I have not exercised much. I really want to find a gym... and that needs to be a priority in February/March/April.

Resolution #4 Cook Dinner more often. For a while I used the excuse that we were unpacking & the kitchen wasn't put together to avoid cooking dinner every night. The funny part is, I LIKE cooking! It gives me a sense of accomplishment to cook and/or bake food for Jimmy and I (& eventually Skylar). This is a meal I made recently... Mashed Potato soup with Pumpernickel toast (no that's NOT burnt toast).

Progress Report: I succeeded in making some pretty yummy dinners in the month of January -- but I also "dialed in" some by serving left-overs or using frozen stuff. If I were to grade myself I'd probably give myself a C+ or maybe a B- if I was being generous. I think I can do MUCH better and keep branching out with cooking... so here's to more good, healthy, and inventive food in the coming months!

Resolution #5 Drink more wine! (Especially before buying more!) and loooook I'm working on this one right now!

Progress Report: With the exception of a few very inexpensive bottles of wine purchased at Trader Joe's, I avoided buying wine in January. I also shared several "old" bottles with Jimmy and friends. So, I've delved into the "stash" and will continue to enjoy a glass of wine a few times a week. I must say this might be my favorite of my resolutions... ;)

Resolution #6 Blog more. Specifically I want to blog at least once a week (I'd really like to work up to once a day or every-other day, but baby steps!). I also have a "back-log" of subjects to post about... & I want to work on those. Briefly they are: Skylar's Birth (including labor), Online Community, Super Secret One (I know what this means), Re-post and re-formate the "in the NICU" Skylar posts (for posterity) & Nailpolish (this may be a series of posts).

Progress Report: I blogged 4 times in the month of January. It wasn't *quite* once a week since all 4 posts were during one week, but I'll still count that as progress. I think the "issue" is that I don't have blog time worked into my day (or week). I don't really have a specific time that I do it, so it's not as likely that I'll get around to posting even when I fully intend to do so. This is something I'll work in for the next couple months.

Resolution #7 Finally learn to crochet! I can knit, but I really want to master crocheting this year!

Progress Report: I have not actually worked on this resolution much at all yet and I'm okay with that. I do fully intend to LEARN to crochet this year, though... I just need everything to settle down a bit (hah ... in other words my house needs to be in order and the rest of the unpacking needs to happen and organization, etc) and then I'll get to this one. So, check back with me in a few months! ;)

Resolution #8 Clean up after myself. This is embarrassing to admit (especially as an almost 30-year-old), but I have a bad habit of using something & not putting it back when I'm done; completing a project & not putting away the things I used right away; eating breakfast or lunch & not even clearing my dishes to the sink area consistently; of... well you get the idea! So in 2013 I want to work on breaking that habit. I want to learn to put things away as soon as I'm done with them! & if that's not possible at times (re: Skylar needs me or something) I want to work on taking care of it as soon as I can -- before leisure time. (This is a picture of my clean & organized nightstand to inspire me to keep it that way by putting things away & not letting them get stuck randomly on that surface!)

Progress Report: I actually only posted this resolution a week and a half ago (or so), and my nightstand still looks like that! Considering how consistantly cluttered it usually is, that's some major progress! So, I think I'm making progress on this resolution. I've been paying more attention to when I'm leaving things un-done and seeking to finish, clean up, and work on being less cluttered in general. I still have a long way to go when it comes to general organization -- but at least I'm not making many more messes as I go anymore. :)

And there ya have it! Those are my resolutions, for 2013!

Do you have any resolutions for this year? What are some of your resolutions???

Xo, Emmie

Homemade Mayo (Instructions, Review & more!)

A while back a friend of a friend posted on Instagram and FB about making her own Mayo in order to make an Avacado dressing. I was instantly intrigued. I've never made anything like that... and was curious about what was involved. Recently I decided to try it to work on one of my resolutions and actually make the mayo myself! (remember a post about all of them will be up sometime near the end of January/beginning of February)! So, here's the video I used to make my very own Olive Oil Mayo at home: 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcKRj4E7m6M[/youtube]

And here are a few pictures of the process:

It was actually pretty simple and took me around 10 minutes (after the egg and lemon juice got to room temp for about an hour). The thing I did find interesting was how warm the mayo was when I scraped it into the container. I guess that makes sense considering the friction involved in this process & the fact that it started out at room-temp, but I wasn't expecting it. :)

Soon after I made the mayo I realized that I could just use the "dirty blender" to go ahead and make the "Dreamy Avocado Dressing". Since I obtained the recipe for that directly from the friend of a friend I will post it here for you:

Dreamy Avocado Dressing

• 1/2 large avocado • 1 tbsp lime juice • 1/4 cup olive oil mayo • 1 small garlic clove • 1 tbsp fresh cilantro (optional) • 2 tbsp water (optional -- I used it, but use or omit it depending on desired thickness) • salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Place all ingredients into blender and or food processor and puree to desired consistency. Add water 1 tbsp at a time if necessary. Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving.  Store covered in the fridge! Like the Mayo the egg's expiration date is your dressing expiration date. :)

FINAL REVIEW:

I like both the mayo and the avocado dressing. I especially love the dressing for eating cut veggies. It's a healthy-er version of a regular dressing. I think both the mayo and dressing are better after sitting in the frig for a while. It helps add a bit of depth of flavor for all the ingredients to "mellow" together. Also, I didn't use fresh cilantro for the dressing (only because I didn't have any). I used some dry cilantro  but I *know* it would be better with fresh herbs. I'll try it again with fresh and update once I do!

If you try these recipes please let me know what you think and if you discover any new or interesting ways to update them!

Enjoy!

-Emily

Healthy Snacks: Balls and more balls!

At the end of January I plan on posting my resolutions for 2013 along with info about how I'm doing with each of them.... One of my resolutions involves cooking and another involves my pinterest. I'm hinting because I can't wait to share about this past weekend of cooking! On Saturday Jimmy, Skylar and I headed to a Whole Foods for the first time:

Talk about food-mecca! It was incredible in there! It took Jimmy & I a while to get our bearings, but we were able to get some amazing food! I also was able to purchase a ton of raw ingredients I planned to use for making healthy (but tasty) snacks:

On Sunday after making a ridiculously bad for us (but super yummy) breakfast of french toast, bacon & fried eggs I settled into making snacks for the upcoming week! I made three types of "balls" (apparently that's the form many "snack foods" come in -- who knew?) and here's a picture of all three:

Now for the reviews! First the top left: Clean-Eating Cookie Dough (click for the recipe). These are the ones I was the most excited about and are probably my least favorite. Not only do they take the most work, but the recipe yielded the fewest "balls". I do like them -- just not as much as I had hoped. I may make them again and tweak the ingredients some to come up with something I like better. I will say that probably only about half of the almonds called for are needed to "coat" the balls. So, "food process" a 1/4 cup instead of half a cup.

Moving on to the bottom left type of "ball":  Power Truffles. I like these. They are actually similar to the next recipe, but with more actual nuts in them. Because of that I will likely make these again and will play with the types of nuts I use. This time I used cashews, almonds and walnuts. I would like to see what this is like with other nut combos. I also would probably add a few more cranberries and possibly raisins and a bit less sweetener (I used 3 T of honey). Overall, though, these are pretty satisfying.

Finally, my favorites (saving the best for last) on the right in the above picture: No-Bake Energy Bites. These are my "go to" snack balls at the moment. They are yummy and there's something about the oat texture in these that just reminds me of oatmeal cookie dough (with chocolate chips). I think if I made these with raisins I would enjoy them as well and they would truly be "oatmeal cookie dough bites". I may try that next. Or maybe I'll make half the batch with chocolate chips and half with raisins. Either way, these are awesome.

Along with these snacks I also cut up a bunch of veggies and separated them out into baggies for "easy snacking". Here's what I ended up with:

(Carrots, Zucchini, & Celery)

There ya have it friends! Here's me dipping my toe into the "healthy snack" arena. I will be experimenting with this a lot more in the coming year and I can't wait!

Love & Kisses,

Emily

PS: Last night I made home-made olive oil mayo and an avocado dressing out of the mayo. I'll write up a post about that in the next day or so -- after I try it with my veggies! :)