Homemade Parsley and Garlic Croutons

If there is nothing I like more, it's a big flipping salad. Sometimes it just sounds so good, especially if I've been eating a lot of not-so-good for you things.

When my husband and I make salads, we make 'em big with lots of toppings. The toppings are (not surprisingly) my favorite part. A while back, I really wanted croutons on my salad and we had none. Thus, homemade parsley and garlic croutons were born.

Want to make your own? You'll need:
• 2 TBSP of butter (you can use less)
• 1 slice of bread (I used whole wheat, it's great with white too)
• a generous dash of parsley flakes
• a generous dash of garlic salt

You'll also want:
• A cookie sheet & oven
• A microwave safe bowl or measuring cup

1) Preheat your oven to 350. I use my toaster oven. Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl or measuring cup. Add a generous dash of parsley and garlic salt. (I probably "dash" the spices 5 or so times into the melted butter)

2) Cut your bread into 1/2" size or so cubes and dunk them in the butter. I use a butter knife to scoot them around and mix the bread so it all gets a nice coating.

3) Your oven should now be at about 350. Arrange the cubes on the tray and let them cook for about 5-10 minutes. Keep your eye on them and move them around so that all sides get crispy and toasted, not just the bottom side burnt (I speak from experience! :)

  

4) Remove them carefully and let them cool for a bit. Add them to your big flippin' salad with other toppings (in this salad, I used chopped chicken, cranraisins, a bit of celery, a boiled egg, cucumber, tomato...) and enjoy!

Review {L'Oreal Paris Revitalift Miracle Blur}

Hi all!

Can we first talk about how awkward it is taking selfies of your wrinkles and eyes without makeup? I look like crap. But! It's all in the name of science, I suppose.

I get Vogue magazine, which NOT my favorite magazine (too weird and "out there" for me) but there has been some sweet samples inside recently, so I can't complain too much. One of those was a free sample of L'Oreal Revitalift Miracle Blur, which is an instant skin smoother finishing cream. I am thankfully blessed with Mama LOC's skin so I have few wrinkles (so far...!), but I knew the promise of "instantly erases the look of lines, wrinkles and pores" would be helpful, especially the lines and pores.

Now, it says you can wear it alone for a flawless, matte finish, or under foundation for a smoother, more even application and wear. I decided to go the "wear it alone" route.

Samples!

This is what the cream looks like. It looks and feels a bit like toothpaste - it is not very liquidy, it almost comes out like paste. It has no real smell to it. It's almost grey. The paste feel actually makes a bit of sense though, as I imagine that's what help you achieve the more matte look.

So let's do some befores and afters, shall we? (yikes)

good morning! Before cream...

Under eye darkness and little lines

I have pulled back my hair so the cream wouldn't get in my hair, but because it is thicker, it's actually much easier to control on your face.

On the package, it says to use daily after applying moisturizer. So I applied some moisturizer, and then gave it a go. Instantly, I liked the feel of the lotion on my face. It really was soft and cushiony, and I actually could see an instant difference. Was the difference HUGE?...

This makes my eyebrow look HUGE hahaha

No, not really. The only difference I noticed was that my undereye darkness was a little less (I applied it to one eye and then compared) and I also had a few less obvious lines. It became a bit more obvious to me as I applied it to my entire face, but the camera didn't pick up on much difference.

So the verdict?

Pros:

• I like it. I can see how it would be nice to have your tone evened up before applying foundation.
• The texture is really neat.
• Made in the USA.

Cons:

• For me to wear it as an everyday type thing, I would want a little bit of sunscreen protection in it, so instead of just hiding wrinkles, you're preventing them too. BUT - in my search to see how much this product was, I see now that they have actually added SPF 30. My sample and/or sample card didn't say anything about a SPF, and actually had the statement "Quantity not sufficient for sunscreen protection." Hmm. 
• I have skin that doesn't really get too irritated very easily and it made my forehead kind of itchy for a little bit, but then it went away.
• It's $24.99 for 1.18 fl oz. (!!!!) I think it's neat but I'm not sure it's 24.99 neat.

While I don't think it's for me, I think it's a cool product that others may find useful in their arsenal of makeup. Hope you enjoyed my review! Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I'm not being compensated by L'Oreal or any other company for this review. Just saw the sample and thought I'd share my thoughts! :)

BBQ Bacon Turkey Calzone Recipe

Bacon makes everything better, doesn't it? :)

That's what I thought when I was trying to figure out what the make with a half package of bacon and about 3/4 of a pound of ground turkey a few nights ago. I combined those with some BBQ sauce, some cheese and a pizza crust.... and came up with the "BBQ Bacon Turkey Calzone" - and it was so good Mr. LOC requested it again ASAP! :) This post was my second time making it and I think it was even better than the first!

This makes a great splurge meal! ;) It's got all the makings of a classic comfort food. If you've got a BBQ lover in your life, you've got to try this out.

Ready to make your own? You'll need:
• Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Chipotle BBQ sauce - we think that this is a big part of why this tastes so good, so I highly recommend grabbing some of this.
• 10-12 oz of ground turkey (about half the amount of turkey in the package above)
• Half of a package of bacon
• About 1/2 - 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
• a packet of easy prep pizza crust
• A dash of onion powder
• A dash of garlic powder
• Salt and pepper

You'll also want:
• A cookie sheet
• Some flour
• Some Pam-type spray
• A rolling pin
• Kitchen shears
• Large saucepan
• A cutting board
• A colander

Start by preheating your oven to 450. Follow the directions according to the packet of pizza crust and prepare your pizza crust to the point of letting it rise in the bowl, and let it rise while you work on the next steps of the calzone. You could also use a pre-made dough ball crust too.

Next, start browning your ground turkey in a large saucepan. Add a dash of salt, pepper, and onion powder. Once it's browned, put it in a colander, bowl underneath to catch the grease. Set it aside for now.

In that same saucepan, cook your bacon. Cook it until it's just cooked - you don't want it ultra crispy (which is tough for me, as that's the way I like it...ultra crisp! :).

Move the bacon once cooked to another plate. Using some kitchen shears, cut the bacon into pieces. Set aside.

Add your BBQ sauce to the meat. Add just enough so that it will cover the meat completely once stirred. I probably added about 1/4-1/3 cup of BBQ sauce. Stir so that the meat is coated. I do this right in the colander.

Now, add some flour to the pizza dough (not a lot, just so it's not so sticky) and kneed the dough. Take a rolling pin and roll the dough out to fit your cookie sheet, I usually do this on a separate cutting board. Spray your cookie sheet with Pam spray and move your stretched out crust carefully and quickly to your cookie sheet (having them right next to each other is recommended.)

Now, add your toppings. I add my ground turkey first, bacon, cheese and then a layer of BBQ sauce.

Now, start at the bottom of the pan, closest towards you and begin rolling. You have to be quick and do this pretty carefully, otherwise it will get explode-y or not want to roll correctly. Roll up the pan until the roll is at the top of the pan, then scoot it (carefully so you don't tear it apart!) back to the middle of the pan.

Then, take your garlic powder and dash a little down the calzone on top. This cooks up really nicely and gives it a great flavor.

Your oven should be preheated at this point, so go ahead and put it in the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes in the oven, your top will get golden brown.

Take it out and let it cool for a second (the sugar in the BBQ really stays hot for a bit! whew!) and then enjoy!

Thank you for following along! I hope you enjoy my BBQ bacon turkey calzone recipe. Let me know how this turned out for you! :)

It's Pinspired Friday! {A New Style}

TGIPF! It's Pinspired Friday!

So, I have a relatively large announcement regarding life outside of the blog... I've accepted my first full-time job with a local advertising agency. I am SO happy. I went to school for and graduated with a B.S. in Advertising and it's been a lifelong dream to work in an agency. Needless to say, I'm on cloud nine. 

So what does that mean for this blog?

I have no plans to abandon the blog! Will I still have time to do every Friday still and a post sometime earlier in the week? I'm not sure yet. You may just start seeing many more crockpot meals and recipes. ;)

---------------------------------------------------

So in light of the recent development in my career, today I am touching on office attire. I definitely have some dressy clothes in my closet, but I thought I would share what I'm slowly grasping:

You need basics.

Who would have guessed, eh? I have this fantastic ability to purchase shirts and forget about my bottom half because it's boring. So I have a wonderful selection of bright shirts or "exciting" shirts, but very few cardigans, pants or skirts that are just basic. Is basic boring? I am learning it doesn't have to be. And people prefer if you wear pants in public, so...

I have a collection on my "My Style Pinboard" on Pinterest that I've been collecting forever, it seems, and a lot of my styles I've "collected" have the following basics:

Patterned Skirt	Black Skirt
From Outfitposts.blogspot.com	From Cleo.Ca
Grey/Dark Grey Skirt	Navy Skirt
From Outfitposts.blogspot.com	From Hello-Gorgeous-Blog
Khaki Skirt	Bright Colored Skirt
From Polyvore	From Hello-Gorgeous-Blog

So now that we've got six basic colored skirts, we'll want the same in dress pants. You can start to see in even just those five images, if you've got the basics, you can change around the tops easily to make them work with the other colored skirts too! It's worth noting having basic shoes: black pumps, tan/brown pumps, black flats and camel/brown flats go with everything too. You can throw some sandals or sandal heels in there too.

So now we need pants:

Navy Pants	Grey Pants
From Simplyme091909	From outfitposts.blogspot.com
Colored Pants	Black Pants
The Streetstyle Tumblr	Unknown Source
NICE Jeans	Khaki Pants
From SimplyMe091909	From Polyvore

Get the idea? I finally am. I need basics and the rest will come. Grab a cardigan using the same basic formula (black + tan + navy + patterned + colorful + grey) and you can easily layer and make a great looking outfit.

Next, you need accessories.

Some offices may be more or less stringent on what is appropriate. I always tend to stick with more traditional styles when it comes to accessories like purses so that it matches with everything, but I may have more exciting earrings or necklaces. If you can balance a more traditional accessory like a purse with crazy shiny earrings, you'll look more put together and avoid my biggest fear - look like you're trying TOO hard to love every trend.

Basic Semi-Exciting Studs	More Exciting Earrings
From Anthropologie	From FashionDivaDesign
More Traditional Necklace	More Exciting Necklace
From MaxandChloe.com	From Luulaa
More Traditional Purse	More Exciting Purse
From Toryburch.com	From JustFab.com

So there are just a few tips and tricks that I am learning! I am excited to have the chance to wear more office appropriate attire and of course, to be an asset to a company that does what I've always wanted to do.

Have any tricks or tips when it comes to office attire, or heading into a new position? Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!