Recent shopping spree

Yep, I cannot resist shopping.  Love it.  Thank goodness I at least shop around and find deals.

World Market finds: (in addition to the bowls in the previous posts)

  

Snack foods: blue corn tortilla chips with flax, sea salt and vinegar kettle chips, and bruschetta veggie chips

Wine: Cocobon 75 2006 Red Wine - review on Cork'd

 

Dark Chocolate: Ritter Sport Marzipan (I love this!!!) and Chocolove Almonds & Sea Salt

 

Glee gum and Chocolate-covered Creme de Menthe Altoids

As you can see, I've found a ton of junk food that fits my new dietary requirements.

American Apparel order:

 

Creme lace body suit and 3-pack of leggings in navy, brown, and cranberry (no longer online, but I contacted customer service)

Mall purchases:

 

Forever 21 necklaces: Silver giraffe on a long chain and gold owl with a leaf (no longer online)

From Target: my newest "prescription" from the GI doctor, a probiotic.  I'm REALLY hoping this helps me.

Chile Stew

Finally posting a review of the chile stew I made for the super bowl.  It was very easy to make and tasty.  It was even toddler-approved.  Aiden, Courtney's son, liked it.

Roasted Chile Stew

Ingredients: 20 oz ground turkey, two 7 oz cans of fire-roasted mild green chiles, about 7 jalapenos diced, and the rest of the recipe as written.  For corn I used one regular can and a handful of fire-roasted frozen corn.  I didn't add the corn until after cooking the stew overnight on low in the slow cooker.

It was so good!  Especially topped with avocado, fresh lime juice, and blue corn chips.

Also, it's pictured in my new bowls!  I finally bought the white jumbo stacking mugs from World Market.  They may be called mugs, but almost 20 oz, they're definitely bowl-sized.

Movies

I don't watch movies like normal people do.  I don't see very many things in the theater.  I don't follow Harry Potter or Twilight.  I haven't seen Avatar.  I do, however, love a few movies very much.  Recently I discovered I like movies that tend to be considered "indie".  I go to the movie theater that everyone else forgot about...and that's what I like best about it.  I purchased two movies this weekend:

(500) Days of Summer

Taking Woodstock

I've figured out that I particularly like Focus Features films and Fox Searchlight films.  From now on I'm going to make a point of watching their movies.  I definitely want to buy Garden State, Thank You For Smoking, and Away We Go since they're already three of my favorite movies.

Gluten-free, Dairy-free Baking!

These were easy to make and made my apartment smell wonderful.

Chocolate chip cookie bars

The verdict: Very flavorful.  I love the coconut and dark chocolate together.  They're like a cross between a cake and a cookie.  Very light and fluffy, slightly crumbly.  I can handle gluten-free/dairy-free baking if everything turned out like this!

Details - Ingredients: Trader Joe's Gluten-free Pancake Mix, Crisco Vegetable Shortening, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, sweetened flake coconut, dark chocolate chunks.  I baked it at 350F for 21 minutes and rotated the pan halfway thru the baking time.  I used both Pam spray and parchment paper, which I highly recommend.  It still stuck a little to the parchment paper.

Shopping!

I'm in the process of cleaning out my overly full closet, so I had vowed not to shop for clothes too much for quite a while.  Unfortunately, while cleaning out my closet, I realized that the reason I pretty much only wear one pair of pants and one cardigan to work over and over again isn't because I'm in a rut - it's all I have that fits.  So I shopped around online, set a budget, and set goals.

The goals: 3 cardigans, 2 pairs of pants, a black or grey belt
The stores: American Eagle, Forever 21, H&M, Old Navy, Target
Prices: $20 cardigans, $35 pants, $10 belt
Total budget: ~$150 (tax is almost 10% here, so I'm allowing myself to go slightly over that if its just for tax)

I hit up the mall tonight, and I did pretty well.  American Eagle didn't have the cardigan I've been eyeing, and the boyfriend jean I was hoping would work for casual Fridays looked horrid on me.  I didn't make it in Forever 21 because my phone rang, and their music is much too loud to carry on a conversation.  H&M was frustrating - I tried on at least 15 pairs of pants, but I was successful.  The pants need tailored, but that's normal for me (5'1").  What I bought:

AE Cardigan Jacket - very warm and cozy

AE Shawl Collar Skinny Cardigan - I bought this in grey and ivory stripes

AE Plaid Ruffle Hem Tunic - Okay this wasn't on the list but it was cute and cheap!  I'll make it work for both weekend and work.  (I've been eyeing this on the AE website for quite awhile too.)

American Eagle total: ~$50 - everything was on clearance!

At H&M, I bought two pairs of khaki pants - a flare cut in navy and a straight leg in black.  Both need hemmed, but the navy will also need slimmed down (flares aren't flattering on me).  Luckily from the calves up, the navy pants fit like they were made for me. 

H&M total: ~$65 - nothing on sale here

So far, I've spent $115, bought 2 cardigans and 2 pairs of pants (plus a bonus tunic).  With only $35 left in my work clothes budget, will I find a belt and another cardigan?  Or are 3 cardigans enough for one work wardrobe? (I have a brown one in addition to the new navy and grey/ivory.)  Any other suggestions on where to shop for belts?

Best Cereal Discovery

Okay while I'm not feeling well, there obviously aren't many fashion posts.  There are, however, a lot of food posts.  I'm actually excited about finding new foods I like that don't have wheat or dairy.  Unfortunately I should never be allowed to shop at Whole Foods while hungry.  $50+ later and I only had two bags of food.  I got excited about all my options.  One of which is my favorite new cereal.  I don't think I would eat it for breakfast, but it's a super yummy snack.  It stays nice and crunchy in soy milk too.

Chocolate peanut butter kids cereal.  Amazing.

Review of Food For Life Bread

I saw a new doctor today, and he gave me a few new diet suggestions that may help me feel better.  The list he wrote out for me only had 4 bullets of types of foods to try eliminating from my diet.  Easy, right?  Oh no.  He somehow managed to write down pretty much my whole diet.  1 - All milk and dairy products, including milk, yogurt, ice cream, and cheese.  2 - Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, lentils, beans, and salads.  3 - Wheat.  4 - Dietetic sugars.  Okay number 4 is easy.  I put away my sugar free gum.  I never did like diet sodas anyways, so I can start that one today.  Number 1 makes me sad.  I LOVE cheese.  And yogurt.  And ice cream, cream sauces on things, butter, etc, etc.  The only part of that I can easily do is milk.  I can't stand the taste of milk, and I love the taste of soy milk.  Number 3 eliminates the staples of my daily diet.  I recently discovered roasting broccoli ... best veggie ever.  Okay so this is going to be hard, but I can do it....wait, does number 3 say WHEAT?  I thought about this for a moment...flour is wheat.  Everything has wheat!  Luckily I had a successful shopping trip at Trader Joe's.  It was expensive, but I managed to buy almost all things that meet those rules.  (The chicken stirfry has broccoli and the tomato soup has milk...I tried.)  I love bread.  My favorite snack/dessert at home is toast with nutella.  So I bought bread.  Food For Life Wheat and Gluten Free Bread.  This is possibly the densest loaf of bread I've ever picked up.  Ever.  I tried it tonight.  I was slightly afraid what would happen when I toasted it, but it turned out fine, aka not burnt.  I have to say, it's not bad.  Yes, it is dense, but it has a nutty, sweet flavor.  Too bad that dense sweet flavor totally overpowers my nutella.  From now on, nutella will either be served on a spoon or I will have to try another wheat free vehicle for it.  As for this bread, it will make good sandwiches...without butter or cheese or lettuce.  And if anyone has any stellar recipe or meal ideas that meet all those rules, send them my way!  I'll need ideas.