Award!

Thanks for the award I am Pices! I love the blog, especially the recipes. I am somewhat of a food addict.

The rules for this award are:

1. Post who gave you the award and link to it.

2. Tell 5 strange things about you (a little tag).

3. Give the award to 5 other blogs.

Of course, you have to post the image, which is the award itself.

5 strange things about me:

1. I do not procrastinate that much. See title of blog to realize why this is strange.

2. I love singing opera and classical music and almost never want to learn theater music or modern music from my teacher. 

3. I cannot stand the sound of blenders unless I am operating the blender.

4. I have a deep, insane perfectly rational fear of banana peels. They are terrifying. Especially the spotty, overripe, smelly ones. Gah.

5. I read books I like over and over and over again. I read Harry Potter every summer (time to go borrow the books!), and I have probably read the few Secret Seven and other Enid Blyton books I own about 50 times.

I nominate...

Casual Chic Mom

Preppy Premed

The Bowtiful Life

The Blonde in Blue

Lilly Limes

Banana Muffins

I used this recipe, except I used brown sugar combined with honey instead of just honey, and I added some chopped almonds and a dash of cinnamon. I also added 1 chocolate chip on top of 6 of them, thus providing enough chocolaty goodness to make you happy without adding more than 5 calories. These are absolutely perfect for breakfast with 1/2 a glass of skim milk. Yum.

Pasta with Ricotta Cream Sauce

We had Ricotta, fresh spinach, and whole wheat pasta. Thus this simple recipe was born. It was fantastic. And fat free ricotta= low cal meal.

This recipe serves 2 people

Ingredients: 

Northeast - Baby Spinach Raw, 4 cup

Barilla - Whole Grain Pasta (51% Whole Wheat) - Rotini, 4 oz (56g 2/7 of box)

Stop & Shop - Fat Free Ricotta, 1/2 Cup

Milk - Nonfat (fat free or skim), 0.5 cup

Onions - Raw, 1 medium (2-1/2" dia)

Generic - Garlic Cloves, Minced, 2 clove

Generic - Fresh Basil Leaves, 2 Tbl. chopped

Oil - Olive, 2 tsp

So you saute the garlic and onions in oil and dried oregano/herbs add the ricotta and milk, let the cheese melt and become sauce, and add the spinach. Cook closed for 1-2 minutes. Add cooked pasta. Top with chopped basil. Simple, easy, delicious. Don't forget salt and pepper to season! I had it with a simple side of steamed broccoli that was supposed to be added to the pasta. The spinach took up a lot of space, so I ate the broccoli on the side. Yum!

Nutrition facts: The recipe serves 2. The nutrition facts is per serving!

Calories: 350
Carbs: 56
Fat: 6
Protein : 18 (I do not believe this, I think it has less)
Fiber: 10
Calcium: 35

Giveaway Winner and Other Info

The other day, I was trying to create a new header for my blog. Here is a tip: Don't mess with your template. I did. And suddenly, no title. At all. Hence the new look. I had to pick a new template. Motto of the story: Back up your template if you try to change it. I just copied it and pasted onto Word. Apparently, that messes it up. 

So anyway, new look!

And also, I have decided to de-clutter my home page. Hence the new page for Blog Communities and Link Ups. On a similar note, I would love to get rid of the blogroll on the side without getting rid of the fact that I read the blogs there, so if you have a button, I would love to exchange with you! Leave a comment and we can exchange ASAP.

Oh, and here is my messy yet very honest philosophy in life.

And now for the Giveaway.

I used random number generator, and it came up with 21 out of 1-27. I cannot get the picture on here though. Sorry!!! I have no technological skills.
So anyway...

the winner is the writer of comment number 21. 

Congrats Susan Bryant!

I am sending you an email with the details. Please respond within 7 days. 

GIVEAWAY REMINDER

Don't forget, my first giveaway for the bracelet pictured above ends Tomorrow!!!!!!! at 12 AM Eastern Standard Time. ENTER HERE!!!

(Almost) Classy in a Denim Mini

Yes, I know. Shocking. How can a denim mini skirt be (almost) classy in any way, shape, or form? This middle staple is usually paired with garish colorful tops and little else. Rarely is it appropriate. Almost never is it stylish.

Until...

You pair it with a button down shirt. Like this really awesome, perfect-for-summer, thin-but-not-see-through, watercolor-printed, almost-Japanese button down. I really love this shirt.

And that is how to take the denim mini that you got because everyone had it in 7th grade and make it wearable, even though no one wears them in high school. I know. I jumped on the denim skirt bandwagon. I am still ashamed But that does not mean I am going to waste it. Dark wash is classic. And although this skirt was really short before, that was because it was folded up about 2 inches. I undid the sewing and now it meets the fingertip rule (a rule broken all too frequently in school). And it is almost classy.

Skirt: Kohl's

Top: Coldwater Creek

Bracelets: India/My Basement

Shoes: Circa Joan and David

And Don't forget to enter my giveaway here!!! Less than 2 days left.

Awkward Sans the Awesome

First of all, if you like free stuff, enter my GIVEAWAY. If you don't like free stuff, I do not understand you at all.

So awkward only today, because this week was rather awkward.

Add caption
I love them, ok. And we had 30% off.

1. Bragging about my no shoe vow and breaking a buying shoes. To be fair, when I made said vow, I said I could buy rain boots because I did not have a pair. Best rainboots ever, by the way.

2.Seeing your baby cousin run around after ditching his mom... and his pants.

3. Making a schedule for summer homework and breaking it within 2 days.

4. Saying no repeatedly to someone who is putting food on your plate as they shovel food on anyway, despite asking if you wanted more.

5. Procrastinating one homework assignment by doing another. I mean really. This goes against every fiber in my being. My desire to do work does not mesh well with my desire not to do work.

7. Talking while serving yourself and looking down to find a small mountain on your plate.

Midweek Musings: (Lack of) Organization

My Life

On Saturday, I created a schedule for completing summer work. On Sunday, I broke said schedule. And I am ok with it. I mean, despite my blog title, I am not a terrible procrastinator during the school year. I actually do work, on time-ish. I know, I am so accomplished. So during summer vacation, I am ok with just living and doing things when I want to. So there goes my plan to finish all my hw before August. But here comes my plan to relax and prepare myself for a killer challenging yet manageable junior year.

On a side note, I recently discovered the tool that lets you cross out words! I am slightly (read: decades) behind in technology.

And don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY!!!! It ends on Sunday!

Simple Pasta Salad (For the killer triple digit weather!)

First of all, don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY!!!

yum!

I just threw together some ingredients we had and created this delicious pasta salad that serves 2.5 people (meaning 2 meals and 1 snack. Always make enough for a snack). I have been tracking my calories on My Fitness Pal, so I just made the recipe there. Here are the ingredients plus the nutrition facts if you eat it so that it serves 2. Personally, I could not handle that much of it, because it is rather filling.

Ingredients	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein		Fiber		Calcium
Barilla - Whole Grain Pasta (51% Whole Wheat) - Rotini, 2 oz (56g 1/7 of box)	200	41	2	7		6		0
Generic - Black Eyed Peas, Cooked, No Added Salt., 1.5 cup	300	54	0	21		18		6
Cheese - Mozzarella, part skim milk, 2 oz	144	2	9	14		0		44
Tomatoes - Red, ripe, raw, year round average, 1.5 medium whole (2-3/5" dia)	33	7	0	2	2		2
Northeast - Baby Spinach Raw, 4 cup	29	4	0	4		3		12
Garlic - Raw, 3 clove	13	3	0	1		0		2
Wegmans - Balsamic Vinegar, 2 Tbsp (15ml)	28	6	0	0		0		0
Spices - Oregano, dried, 1 tsp, leaves	3	1	0	0		0		2
Generic - Fresh Basil Leaves, 1 Tbl. chopped	1	0	0	0		0		1
Oil - Olive, 1 tsp	40	0	5	0		0		0

Total:	791	118	16	49	29	69
Per Serving	396	59	8	25	15	35

So here is the ridiculously simple procedure.

1. Cook Pasta and soaked black eyed peas. Then cook the black eyed peas. We soak them for like two hours and cook the in a pressure cooker (very Indian), but you can cook them any way you want, as long as they end up, you know, edible.

2. Saute minced garlic in oil with oregano. Add balsamic. I only used 1 tbsp, but 2 will be more flavorful. Don't forget salt and pepper!

3. Add chopped/diced (see picture) tomatoes and cook for about a minute and a half until it is almost like sauce but still tastes fresh and has texture. Don't let the tomato skin peel from the flesh!!! Then wilt baby spinach leaves with the pan covered for a minute. That is enough, trust me.

4. Mix with pasta and black eyed peas.

5. Add grated mozzarella. If you can get the mini fresh mozzarella balls, use those. Use about 3 per person, chopped in half. I shredded fresh mozzarella and froze it. It is not as good, but it is decent. And if you want the cheese to have more taste, don't mix it in. It gets lost among the garlic and other awesome flavors.