Simple Cookin' Spring Break

This past week, while I was home relaxing for spring break, my mom and I decided to try a few new recipes for the family.  Each recipe had one main thing in common- simplicity.  We wanted to try easy, delicious recipes that I could bring back to school with me.  Although we had a great time eating at some amazing restaurants over the break, including Corner Table (my one of my new favorites), we enjoyed cooking different dinners on our nights in.

We started our cooking frenzy off with an "omelet bar" on Sunday morning.  This was not only fun and easy, but healthy and filling as well.  I know you know what veggies look like, but the colors in these pictures are just too pretty not to post.

Omelet bar

We added some olive oil and combined the spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers and mushrooms

Instead of putting the ingredients INTO the omelet, we made the omelet with the ingredients and added cheese in the middle.

Served with a multi grain English muffin and fresh berries :)

Our next meal was a pasta recipe that I originally found on Pinterest, but altered to my liking (and you can do the same).  We used whole wheat pasta, added shrimp and made a light "sauce" that consisted of olive oil, grape tomatoes, basil, garlic, salt and pepper.  My parents added a tomato basil pasta sauce to give theirs more flavor.  We then made mozzarella and spinach portobello mushroom caps, which are one of my favorites.   

Olive oil, tomatoes, basil and garlic

Then we added the shrimp, since they do not take very long to cook

YUM

Served with mozzarella and spinach portobello mushroom caps

I unfortunately did not get pictures from our other meal, but it was similar to something I have made at school before.  I love seafood, and I specifically love fish.  Tilapia is one of my favorites because it is light and easy to make.  I try to make different variations of tilapia, so this one was inspired by Mexican food.  

Tilapia seasoned with Lemon Pepper seasoning, regular pepper and salt

Served with avocado and pico de gallo and sliced bell peppers on the side. 

College Bedroom, Through the Years

As I have mentioned in a previous posts, I love decorating!  So it should come as no surprise that I was beyond thrilled when I was told I got to decorate a whole new bedroom when I went off to college.  Well that was three years ago, and my room has been evolving through the years.  Just as I did with my bedroom at home, I tried to stay within a budget.  Because the style of my room and my bedding has been the same since I was a freshman, I have added new pieces to enhance my room each year.

Here is my room freshman year, when I lived in a dorm.  There was not much room for personality here, but I did my best!

Sophomore year I moved into the sorority house.  There was a lot less space, and a lot less room for personality.  This was my lest favorite set up, and my least favorite room.  Yes, I had a bunk bed that was like 20 feet high.

This year, I have had two different bedrooms.  For the fall semester, I shared a bedroom and still had a twin bed.  This semester, I got my first queen bed AND my own room!  It has taken a while to decorate, but like I said, my room is forever evolving and changing.  I was also lucky enough to get some new pillows- all white, my favorite.

Pine Cone Hill bedding, Target bed skirt

My favorite part of my room, all white pillows! All from Pine Cone Hill and Z Gallerie

Great mirror from Home Goods

Pottery Barn version

My version...the Ikea version

BEFORE. Bed side drawers from Home Goods; before Anthro nobs 

AFTER with new Anthro nobs!  So much better!

I still need a headboard, but I don't want anything traditional.  I want something unique like I have above my bed at home.  If you have any ideas or suggestions, I would greatly appreciate them!

Mom's Weekend, The Best Weekend

Our sorority's Mom's Weekend was a huge success, to say the least.  Each year our sorority has either mom's weekend or dad's weekend, and it switches off every year.  This year was designated to the moms, and I was fortunate enough to be on the committee that planned the entire weekend.  My mom came in on Thursday night so that we had even more time to spend together.  As soon as she got here, she took a few of my friends and myself to Olive & June for an amazingly delicious dinner.  We started off with seafood fritto misto and zucchini involtini (my favorite part of the meal- pictured below).  For our main course my mom and I split the whole wheat ravioli with goat cheese and roasted pears; seared golden tilefish with artichokes and citrus; and sides of roasted baby beets and baked eggplant.  We were going to order dessert at the restaurant, but decided to make a Tiff's Treats run instead.  I highly, highly recommend Olive & June, and I know Caramelized does as well :)

Friday was crazy hectic, as I had to rush around to get things ready for our sorority's Friday night event.  Luckily my mom didn't mind helping me all day, but thank goodness she was there because I needed all the help I could get!  Our "Dinner, Drinks & Dessert at the Driskill" event went off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  We hired a great photographer, a beautiful pianist, and worked with the amazing Driskill staff.  To decorate for the "Texas Chic" theme (for Go Texan Day) we set out Texas "confetti," cowboy boots, and even had a Texas necklace giveaway.  And thanks to my incredible mother, every girl and her mother also left with a personalized truffle from Sessy's Sweets.

We got creative with our pledge class event this year and decided to do a cooking demonstration with our moms at the Silver Whisk Cooking School.  After a long trek out to Lakeway, we sat down for a fun and interactive lunch.  We learned how to make deconstructed salads, chicken Parmesan with angel hair pasta, and tiramisu.  We all watched the staff "shake," jammed out to Beyonce and Britney Spears, and took turns volunteering with the chef.  My mom and I enjoyed the class and the delicious food, and look forward to taking more cooking classes together soon (I have to learn somehow)!

Because the weather was absolutely PERFECT outside, we spent the rest of the day walking around and shopping at the Domain.  I (un)fortunately had a good shopping day, and got a few goodies from J. Crew, Anthro, and Free People.  By the time we left the Domain it was 5 o'clock somewhere, so mom and I were ready for a little happy hour.  We stopped by Whole Foods on the way home to pick up an assortment of olives, cheeses, and other various appetizers.  We came home, polished off the appetizers and a bottle of our favorite Sonoma Cutrer, and made our way to Kenichi for a phenomenal sushi dinner.  I don't have any pictures from this meal- sorry guys.  As if I wasn't full enough, we then went to Halcyon with Cara and her mom where we ate a cookie with ice cream and drank "adult" caramel hot chocolate...yum.

Sunday morning we sat and had coffee before getting our nails done together.  Once again, it was gorgeous outside, so we went to have lunch on South Congress.  Then, sadly, mom had to pack up and drive home. 

I hope everyone else had as much fun with their moms as I had with mine!  Can't wait for her to come back and visit me again soon, because it is always a good weekend when mommy is in town.

Valentine's Weekend

Valentine's Weekend was so amazing and full of great memories.  As I said in my last post, the festivities started Wednesday night with a little dessert party in our apartment.  As promised, the chocolate chip blondie cookie recipe is posted below.  The Valentine's festivities continued on Thursday when my boyfriend, Ron, came to Austin so that we could our 5th Valentine's Day together.  He surprised me with two dozen red roses, a teddy bear, a balloon, a picture frame and a lot of chocolate!  We started with a little happy hour at home, and then made our way to a restaurant called Chez Zee.  This restaurant was the definition of romantic and cheesy and right up my ally.  The walls were covered in twinkle lights and heart lights, a band performed love songs in the middle of the restaurant, every table had a vase of fresh roses, and there was even a candy apple red grand piano at the entrance.  We at spinach and artichoke dip, shrimp bisque, rainbow trout and finished it off with a slice of mocha fudge cake.

The next event of the weekend was our sorority formal on Saturday night.  We enjoyed sushi and drinks at Maiko Sushi with 19 other couples, and then went to The North Door for the event.  The venue and vendors were all perfect.  There was good music, good drinks and even a candy bar where we could make our own candy goodie bag to take with us.  We all danced the night away and had a great time!

Chocolate Chip Blondie Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 bag Valentine's Day M&Ms

Directions:

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.  Add this mix to the brown sugar mix. Combine the brown sugar, vanilla, eggs and butter in a large bowl.  Stir until blended.
2. Add chocolate chips! Stir.
3. Spread the mixture into a greased 9x13 baking pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes (I did 20 minutes and they were still very soft).
5. Add M&Ms to the top of the blondie cookies about 5 minutes before you pull them out of the oven.
6. For best results, refrigerate for 15-20 minutes to harden.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's that time of the year again.

The one day where it is acceptable to be cheesy and romantic, and the one day everyone simply loves each other.  Even though my friends still make fun of me, I love celebrating Valentine's Day in every way possible.  The apartment is decorated, the chocolates are set out, the desserts are made and I am sitting here in my Valentine's pajamas... I am ready.  This year, the festivities started last night when we had our friends over to our apartment for dessert and wine.  Everyone had to pair up and bring a Valentine's dessert  that they found on Pinterest.  We also asked that everyone wear their Valentine's gear, but that didn't work out so well.


Before everyone came over, a few of us spent the afternoon baking and creating.  Brenna and I chose to make chocolate chip blondies, which neither of us had ever made before.  We didn't cook them all the way through, but they still turned out pretty good, and they were even better when paired with vanilla ice cream.  The recipe is very simple, but I will post it soon.  Cara and Paige came over to bake as well.  While Paige made some adorable pretzel buttons, Cara took a stab at making red velvet crinkle cookies, and man were they good.  Probably my favorite dessert of the night. She will be posting the recipe here soon.

Chocolate chip blondies with Valentine's M&Ms

Our creations

Cara's amazing red velvet cookies

Paige's pretzel buttons

Mel's assortment of cupcakes from Polkadots

Stacy and Jess' chocolate covered pretzels