Bunless Buffalo Burger

This Buffalo Turkey Burger is almost exactly like the Buffalo Chicken Burgers we had for Ralph's birthday in October with just a few tweaks to make them South Beach Diet friendly.

Obviously there is no bun...I used 2 big butter lettuce leaves instead and surprising to even me, it was pretty good!  Honestly, yes I missed the bun a little but since the burger is so flavorful it really was great ok it really was good, but I keep thinking about bathing suits and it helps.  You can see the zucchini slices peeking out from the side which I grilled to go along with the burgers - very South Beach friendly!  Modified recipe after the jump!
Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

Stolen Recipe Success: Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

Short and sweet: last night I made this recipe from Peace, Love and Low Carb and it was totally awesome!  Basically a green bell pepper stuffed with sauteed garlic, onions, mushrooms and get this: roast beef lunch meat!  So easy, really filling and quite tasty, a lot like a Philly Cheesesteak without the bread.  Cut the peppers in half, clean out the guts, saute your veg until soft, cut up the lunch meat throw it in the pan for a minute or two along with some Worcestershire and Dijon, stuff it all in the pepper, cover with cheese and bake until bubbly.  How easy is that?  I served it with a blue cheese dressed spinach salad.  Totally South Beach Diet friendly and a great change up from the normal roasted meat and veggies. 

Finally its Friday!  Wishing you all a great MINT JULEP filled weekend!
Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

Happy May 2nd Day

Wowser...so its been a while...I could apologize and say it won't happen again and let you know that I have been busy and all that other blah, blah but we all know its just life and that's the way it is.  All of that being said, let's ease back into this.  A few random thoughts for the day and hopefully another post will follow in the not too distant future.

• The hubs has been umpiring baseball games like crazy!  He has a dream that one day he will be a major league ump, for now he is sticking to little league and high school but it's a start.  I am so proud of him for working to achieve his dream job...can't say that about too many people.  Side note: who's dream job involves getting yelled at by fat men in little boy's clothes...
• We went to Daytona for a family wedding 3 weeks ago and my bathing suit had shrunk!  It was crazy small...so I have been following the South Beach Diet for 2 weeks now and I am down 4 pounds!  Thanks to Kalyn's Kitchen for some great recipes that follow the diet I have still been eating well.  I hope to share some real winners soon!
• I can now say I have eaten at Empire State South and the food was all it has been cracked up to be, not to mention the atmosphere and service - it was an all around winner.  I can't wait to go back.  And for the record this was one of our 13 in 2013 - hooray check it off the list! Humm..now that I think about it dinners like this are probably why all my clothes have shrunk...
• Due to some unexpected home issues, don't ask it involves "critters" best left unsaid, we have modified our 13 in 2013...more on that to come: The Modified 13 in 2013!
• Everyone must be busy because I have been missing some of my friend's blogs lately...not going to call you out but you know who you are - write on your blog even if it is only a post of 5 bullet points..

Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

I Rented The Runway

A few months ago, my Birch Box included "$25 off" a rental from Rent The Runway.  I had been wanting to try this awesome site for a while and the combination of a formal event coming up and the coupon pushed me over the edge.  The concept of Rent the Runway is brilliant - you can rent dresses for formal events, weddings, girls nights out, etc, wear them once and return them.  Let's be honest, we don't really wear these formal dresses over and over again and the prices are usually ridiculous, so renting at a fraction of the price is really the way to go.  The customer service I received was out of this world, and I will for sure use the service again.  Here is how it went down:

Back in early January I scoped out the website (you do have to "sign up" to see the dresses, but they really don't spam you all the time) and picked out the Badgley Mischka Flora Chiffon Gown.  For me the most helpful part of the website were the past customer reviews.  Girls who had previously rented the dress uploaded their picture along with their: height, weight, bra size, typical dress size and any comments.  This was so helpful because you could see real people in the dress, look for some one that was similar to your height, weight, and build, how smart is that?  It made me feel so much better about the sizing.

The price tag for rental was $125 and for that price you get the dress delivered in 2 sizes (side note for an additional $25 you can get a 3rd size of the same dress, or a completely different dress all together, so cool!).  You get to keep the rental for 4 days, so since my event was on Saturday I scheduled delivery for Friday, and was told to return the dress on Monday in their prepostage-paid envelope.  I used my $25 off coupon, thanks Birch Box, paid my bill and patiently waited for the event.....

Fast forward 5 weeks and on Friday when I got home from work the box was sitting on the porch.

I was so excited, I carefully opened the box

and inside was the $900 dress I had rented for $125, in 2 sizes!  The dresses were freshly dry cleaned and came with a little sample size of moisturizing bronzing lotion and some fabric tape.  After trying on the dresses, complete with hubs wrestling a tough zipper, and realizing I needed to wear the tallest 5 inch heels I own to keep the dress from dragging, I was so satisfied with my purchase rental and began getting super excited for the next day.

Here is the finished product, it was like prom, getting dressed up and taking a photo on the porch...The event was a great success, we had a great time, and I have literally never gotten as many compliments on a dress as I did on Saturday.  Like I said this particular dress was quite long, but I am all of 5"3 so this is a problem I am used to dealing with.  The condition of the dress was great, and you would never know that it was a rental by looking at it.

Yesterday I folded up the dress tucked it into the pre-postage paid envelope that came along with the dresses and dropped it off at the post office - so easy!

I loved Rent the Runway!  The dresses selections are great.  The customer service is amazing, they are so responsive, I love their "live chat with a stylist' to discuss sizing.  The prices make it possible for me to wear couture that I could never normally afford.  And the process is so easy!  I totally recommend it!  Let me know if you have any questions!
Sincerely Loving Food and Fancy Dresses,
Lainey
PS - I was not compensated in any way for this review, I just had an awesome experience I wanted to share!

LOVE

LOVE - It's the 3rd word in the title of this blog, a short name I call the hubs, and the reason justification for eating 14 pounds pieces of chocolate on the 14th of this month.  Any kind of love: love of others, love for pets, romantic love, friendly love, supportive love I am excited about celebrating all of them in the next week.  It always surprises me the number of people who hate on Valentine's.  Whenever I hear people say they hate Valentine's I think - wow, how original.  Especially the people who say, "I show my _(insert gf/bf/spouse/whomever here)___ I love her everyday, I don't need to do something special on the 14th."  Well you know what, I love Jesus everyday, but I celebrate Christmas, just like I love hubs everyday and we still celebrate Valentine's.  I just don't get that, maybe because I am a half full kind of person, but I love celebrating, anything really, and this month I am celebrating love.  Here is what I have done or am planning for the next little while 

I hung my Valentine's wreath I made last year back on the door:

I put this cute printable up on my hutch

I found it on pinterest, and now I can't find the original, but there are tons of others that are similiar.

 

I'm planning on making these cookies next week for myself hubs

 pic and recipe courtsey of buns in my oven

 

 

 And I'm gonna do something cool for my friends, but I can't tell you because you might read it...

 

All of this to say, you can do whatever you want on February 14th, stay home, alone, drinking 3 bottles of wine and watching WWE or you can  take a bath and read trashy magazines, or you can go out to dinner with friends and special people and order more dessert than you need, or you can eat only the fudge filled candies out of the box and leave the lemon ones for others, really whatever you want.  But me, I'm celebrating love and the people I love.  It makes me happy and I hope it makes them happy as well!  I'll be a lover not a hater.  So please don't hate on me for loving on love.

Sincerely Loving,

Lainey

Everybody's doing it: Quinoa Style

I still remember my first quinoa experience, circa Memorial Day 2009, a lovely quinoa and summer squash salad at a winery in Sonoma, served by a nice hippy wine owner as part of her "tasting experience".

I swear we were asked 35.456 times if we were on our honeymoon and we weren't even engaged...I was so discouraged, but its cool because we are now happily wed!

The salad was delicious, but honestly I got home and sort of forgot about using quinoa again....fast forward 3.5 years later and now its is ALL THE RAGE!!!  At my first Costco trip of the year I decided to jump on the band wagon and over ambitiously bought a 20lb bag of the stuff.  Ok, its probably more like 2 pounds, but still, for just 2 people it will probably be a year supply.  I have used it twice already so we have made a small dent in the giant bag, and both times it has come out well so we are on our way!  The first time I cooked the quinoa in some chicken stock, simultaneously sauteed some onions and mushrooms and at the end added a little balsamic vinegar, then mixed it all together - easy and delicious, just my style!  Yesterday I made The Novice Chef's Cheesy Broccoli Quinoa Casserole and it definitely did not disappoint, with a crunch on top, cheese and relatively waist line friendly - winner!  I am looking forward to creating some more quinoa recipes to share with you and would love any suggestions for how you use this new, all the rage, super food!
Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

For 2: Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and Dumplings is one of my favorite comfort foods; more hearty than a soup, but still warm and creamy; it is really a great thing to sit down to after a long, hard, cold day.  I was inspired to make chicken and dumplings in the crock pot after seeing this recipe from Bubble Crumb.  That recipe is great, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't change it up a little, and I gotta be me, ya know?  Truth be told that recipe is a true chicken and dumplings, it is pure unadulterated chicken and dumplings, but I like to add a few veggies to make it a more well rounded meal, or at least make me feel better for eating thirds seconds...whatever you want to do is up to you...whatever sets your panties on fire (what up Duck Dynasty?).  Sorry, if you don't watch Duck Dynasty, in which case imagine I just said whatever makes you happy.  Back to the point - make this chicken and dumplings, it is good, really good, quite easy and when you get home from work it will be sitting there on the counter waiting for you to dive in.
Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey