A little bit of everything

I'm not even sure how to sum up my life lately. It's been busy, crazy, fun, all that stuff. It's been kind of an insane whirlwind that I can barely remember, but I feel like I've been enjoying it. Ha.
By the way, with all the Rachel Zoe marathons on TV lately, my fashion radar is that much more in effect, so it's been fun living this whirlwind, meeting my inner stylist somewhere in the middle, and seeing what comes out.

Here's my latest collection of evidence.

Studying my script for my latest film, "The Hit."

 A quick, healthy dinner mid-week: Open-faced egg salad sandwich. Hard boiled egg chopped up with a little mayo, topped with avocado slices, a slice of cheddar cheese, and turkey bacon on once slice of whole wheat bread. Cucumber "chips" and grape tomatoes on the side.

Heaven = almost burried under a pile of clothing to try on, in the dressing room of Buffalo Exchange.

A retro-inspired dress and modern smokey make-up to attend the premiere of my film, "Everything's Ok."

On the way to Dallas for some time with Steve's family.

This is where you can usually find me.

 Coffee and auditions and shoots, oh my!

Obsessed with this new vest from Buffalo Exchange, which I got for $15 and makes me feel like a fluffy little owl.

My sister moves to town this week, so things are probably about to get that much more cool around here. But this past weekend was one of the best I've had in a long time.

Cucumber-avocado Soup

Lately I've had the urge to throw random healthy ingredients into my blender and see what comes out. Usually I'm going for smoothies, but I decided to try a chilled cucumber soup. I looked up some random recipes online, but most of them called for sour cream. I decided to try adding avocado to achieve the creamy texture in a healthier way, as well as a little bit of almond milk. It has become my new obsession over soy milk, when I want to reduce dairy intake. I think it tastes much better.

The recipe:

- 1 large cucumber
- 1 medium avocado
- 1 cup almond milk (or you can go for soy milk or regular milk. Your choice.)
- salt (to taste)
- cayenne pepper (to taste...but you don't need very much!)
- lemon juice (again, to taste...but I probably added a table spoon.)

You can also change how much avocado, cucumber, or milk you use, depending on how thick or thin you want the soup.

Slice up the cucumber and the avocado. Pour all ingredients into a blender and blend until it is to the consistency you want. I was happy with how smooth mine came out. The texture was the best part.
Pour it into a bowl and enjoy!

This is an extremely low calorie and healthy dish. If you're not worried too much about that part, you could certainly top the soup with some sour cream or shredded cheese. If you have extra, you can just stick it in the fridge for a super quick lunch the next day!

"Pop" Some Champagne

 

Photo credit: CognacandCoffee

How's this for a summer cocktail idea? Brilliant!

Baked Tilapia with Marinara

Here's an easy and quick little dinner I prepared last week. It's one of the few recipes I've come up recently with that I've already made more than once.

First, start with a colorful salad:
Spring mix
Grape tomatoes
Green olives
Feta cheese
Dressing of choice

 **Fun note: If you make the individual salads first, you can stick them in the fridge and serve them in the chilled bowls right before the tilapia comes out of the oven. Fancy-shmancy.**

Now, onto the main event...
Ingredients:
Tilapia fillets (thawed)
1 egg (per about 3 fillets)
Flour
Cooking oil
Marinara Sauce (I used
Feta cheese
Seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic salt, parley flakes (optional)
Non-stick cooking spray (optional)

First, dip thawed tilapia fillets in bowl containing a whipped up egg. Coat thoroughly. Then dip in a bowl containing flour, salt, pepper. Make sure the fillets are completely covered in flour.
Place fillets in a already heated skillet (medium high), with enough cooking oil to fully coat the bottom. The idea here is to brown the fish on the outside and give it sort of a crispy texture (for a crispier texture, you could coat your fillets in breadcrumbs, but I only had flour on hand at the time). Once this is achieved (cook on each side until they are as dark as you like, the fish does not have to be cooked through yet), place fish into a baking pan (I used a metal one, covered with aluminum foil - saves you some time when cleaning up later!). You can either spray the foil with a non-stick cooking spray, or use some marinara sauce as a barrier to put the fish on.
Top the fish with as much marinara sauce as you like, crumbled feta cheese, and parsley flakes (optional). You might also add some garlic salt, or just more salt and pepper at this time, depending on how much flavor you like.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until fish is fully cooked (it will easily flake with a fork when it's cooked).

 I wish the photo would capture the yummy bubbling and sizzling!

Serve on top of cooked spaghetti (or your pasta of choice). I also like to have a bowl of heated marinara sauce available, so some extra can be added to the pasta, if needed. I suggest serving this dish with a side of cooked spinach or steamed broccoli, if you're wanting to add a few more veggies to the meal (aside from the salad).

Enjoy!

Totally down

 

I fully enjoyed the downtime with my boyfriend this weekend. I think we really needed it. No where specific to go, no one to see, no set-in-stone plans we needed to show up for. 

On Friday night, I prepared a sort of "hors d'oeuvres" type dinner to greet Steve when he got home. We had red wine, a cheese plate, shrimp cocktail, and my homemade version of bruschetta, I guess? - butter, garlic salt, and parsley flakes, spread on ciabatta bread (love. this. bread.), topped with a tomato slice, and baked in the oven for about 15 minutes (or until a just little brown and crispy). We ate in front of the TV with some candles lit, and caught up on some of our DVR shows. Then, we took dessert (vanilla frozen yogurt with fresh raspberries) to the bedroom and watched "Much Ado About Nothing" (one of my favorite films, and my favorite Shakespeare play) in bed. Such a lovely night and so relaxing. 

Saturday morning, I went to the gym while Steve ran a few errands. It felt great to have a run on the treadmill, especially after the indulgent meal the night before. I was even able to squeeze in a mini "Sex and the City" marathon (always on TV at the perfect times!) with a cup of coffee, before Steve got home. Then, I cooked us some breakfast - fried eggs on top of buttered toast (I used the leftover ciabatta. A-MA-ZING.), a few strips of bacon, and the rest of the raspberries. Delish! 

The rest of Saturday was pure lounging. A few friends, who happened to be in the area, stopped by for a little chat, but other than that, I kept to my t-shirt and boy shorts ensemble and enjoyed doing absolutely nothing, but watching random weekend TV on my big, comfy armchair. 

Come about 6:00pm, I decided to finish off the red wine, and Steve and I put on "Closer", which I just bought on DVD. I love it when a film we're watching will spark a dialogue, and we'll end up pausing the movie, and getting into some long, intimate conversation about anything or everything. All of a sudden, we'll realize like half an hour has gone by. 

After the movie (with one or two "pausing-breaks"), we ventured out to get some sushi. I jokingly wore my short pink wig, in honor of Natalie Portman's character in the film (if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about).

For a little change, we spent most of Sunday out and about. We woke up on the early side to see a matinee of "Thor" (Steve had been wanting to see it for a while now), stopping for breakfast as Einstein's Bagels on the way. Then, we tackled a much-needed grocery shopping trip, which will hopefully last us until we leave for New Orleans in 2 weeks! Our kitchen is finally stocked with healthy foods again!

I am so thankful to feel completely rejuvenated today. I'm not dragging in the way I usually am on a Monday morning, and I'm not even dreading getting to work after posting this blog. It just makes me realize how much Steve and I had been running around lately and how much stress I'd been under.

I hope you had a fabulous weekend yourself!! Maybe I've passed along a few relaxing ideas for next week, if you've been craving some down time, but still want to feel like you really experienced the break. 

Have a great week! xx