August Recipe Roundup

I've been trying A LOT of new recipes lately, so much so my parents are referring to me as their personal live-in chef haha! I have always loved cooking, it's so relaxing for me and I've had fun lately trying to find healthier recipes that actually taste good. With all that being said, I'd like to start a new series on this blog where I put together some of the new recipes I tried over the month and let you all know the good, the bad, and if Pinterest recipes are really all they're cracked up to be (thank you besties Ariel and Jackie for this idea)!

Healthy Banana Pancakes

 

First off, I have seen this recipe probably a million times all over the place because it's so simple but I feel like I never have ripe bananas lying around lol (and I also don't generally like pancakes/sweet breakfast, don't hate me)! Earlier this month on a Saturday morning, I decided to whip these up as a treat: two eggs, one ripe banana, and a little cinnamon. Topped mine off with fresh fruit and sugar free syrup, plus Applegate uncured turkey bacon (my fave)! As I mentioned in a post a while back, I've been following the Weight Watchers program so for those wondering this whole meal was 6 SP's (4sp for just the pancakes).

Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk, Tomatoes and Cilantro

I mentioned this recipe in my last Fridays post but OMG, I'm serious you have to try it. I made it twice this month and the whole family loved it! I added to the recipe half a chopped white onion and green bell pepper instead of red but followed the Skinny Taste recipe pretty closely. I served it over basmati brown rice from the rice cooker (3sp for 1/2 cup) and the recipe itself is 5sp for 1 1/2 cups. Delicious if you love shrimp and something a little spicy!

Cauliflower Fried Rice

Another recipe I've seen on Pinterest time and time again but finally made it this month! I cheated and bought cauliflower already "riced" at publix on bogo but who can blame me when my food processor is a postage stamp in comparison to the huge ones you're supposed to use. I made this as a light dinner/side dish one weekend and had tons of leftovers, next time I'd love to add chicken or shimp. 100% guilt free chinese food at 2sp per serving! The sesame oil is what really gives it that take-out flavor so make sure to follow that part of the recipe.

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

I loosely followed this recipe for the lasagna but used plain ground turkey cooked with italian spices, crushed red pepper, garlic, and onion instead of the ground turkey sausage and omitted the Parmesan since I didn't have any on hand. I also used the innards of 2 spaghetti squash. I always get asked by friends how I cook my spaghetti squash so here it goes: I poke a few holes in the squash with a fork or knife and microwave it for about 5 minutes which will make the squash much easier to cut in half and remove seeds (careful because it's really hot!), then I place the halved squash face down in a baking dish with about a half inch of water in the bottom and bake at 400 degrees for 45 min to an hour and use a fork to scoop out the innards. Voila, steamed spaghetti squash! Anyways, this recipe was so good and honestly made even better leftovers. I calculated points using the weight watchers app and the whole pan made 8 servings which were 7sp each and so filling!

Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats

And my final recipe was made last night! Stuck to the recipe, but I used 3 zucchini's instead of 4 and used a whole red bell pepper because I just really love peppers. These kind of took a lot of work to make but I really loved them! I probably doubled all the spices in the recipe too because they just didn't seem flavorful enough. I topped mine with fresh salsa and a tablespoon of greek yogurt (if you haven't tried this as a replacement for sour cream you're really missing out) and served with my mom's delicious black beans (3sp for 1/2 cup). Since I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I recalculated the points and it came out to 5sp for one zucchini boat. 

Let me know in the comments, what new recipes have you been cooking this month?

P.S. do you sense a theme? I'm clearly obsessed with Skinny Taste #noshame and the shrimp recipe was hands down my favorite from the month!

Great Harbour Cay, Berry Islands Bahamas Part 2

Ah, back to blogging our trip to the Bahamas earlier this summer! Sorry these posts were so far apart, but if you missed part one here's the link. 

Halfway through the week, one of our daily little excursions was to go to what we call Sand Dollar Beach. At low tide, the south eastern most tip of the island (on the west side of Shark's Creek) becomes this beautiful white sand flat that is perfect for starfish and sand dollar hunting! P.S. why is my brother so silly *insert monkey covering his eyes emoji*

Later that afternoon, Victoria and I walked the beach north of the house. The rocks along the beach here are so beautiful and fun to explore!

        

These next couple of days I'm short on photos but most of it looked something like this: beach days on the most perfect sand. 

{Hat: Clavin Klein (old), Swimsuit: Asos}

Our last full day, we did quite a bit of exploring. First stop: the caves.

"The caves" are on the east side of the island, halfway through the north cove. There's a cliff you can climb up to get these gorgeous views, but the caves are known for just that: the caves in the rocks. I still can't believe how beautiful the water is over the rocks here!

        

Next, we headed a little further north on the main road to check out the ruins of an old hotel. In it's hay-day, Great Harbour was an island for the stars and it's guests stayed at this hotel which was destroyed by a hurricane in the 80's. It was kinda of creepy walking around, but the views from this spot were breathtaking!

And our last stop for the day: the Beach Club, the casual restaurant on the island. I think we all had burgers haha and delicious rum punches of course!  

        

{Romper: Old Navy, linked similar below}

And to polish off this post: some nice family photos we took the one time we got dressed up the whole trip haha!

{dress: Tobi (old)}

And finally, our last morning in Great Harbour :(

And the view from our little puddle jumper!

Again, sorry these posts were so disjointed and probably make 0 sense but I had to share how beautiful the trip was! I loved spending so much time with our family and our friends that might as well be family. If you're looking for a really relaxing family vacation spot in the Bahamas that is 0% touristy, I recommend checking out Great Harbour! Can't wait to go back again one day :)

SHOP THIS POST

Friday No. Seven

1. Two Saturday's ago I had the most amazing day helping one of my besties Ashley find her perfect wedding dress with her whole "bride tribe!" She looked amazing in everything duh, literal bridal model. Such a special thing to get to reunite with this group of girls, most of which I became friends with during church in middle school haha! And yes, Ashley said yes to the dress ;)

2. Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk, Tomatoes, and Cilantro from Skinny Taste. I saw two separate instagrammers making this recipe and  I immediately knew I wanted it ASAP. Whipped it up the next night and OMG, delish! The only thing I did differently was add half a chopped onion and subbed red bell pepper for green since they're so much cheaper. I served it over brown rice from the rice cooker and the fam loved it, highly recommend trying it out if you like shrimp and spicy flavors! I made it again this past Monday so that't twice in one week, I'd say it's a new staple for sure!

3. A week ago, my mother and I made a trip to Ulta and I couldn't resist picking up some new goodies #basic. I kept stealing this First Aid Beauty moisturizer from my mom for months so I finally purchased my own and dang, I'm so happy I did. I seriously feel such a difference in my skin after just a week. This Mario Badescu product also really surprised me. I've only used it twice but it really works at clearing out my pores, just a little interesting the way you use it. Last but not least, I finally decided to switch up my concealer. The urban decay naked one was simply not doing it for me, really did nothing about covering my under eye circles, so I went with the YouTube hype and bought this super popular concealer. Absolutely love it! Amazing coverage and actually looks really natural on the skin/ doesn't get greasy and creasey.

4. Is it fall yet (even though Florida doesn't have fall and it's gunna be hot until December)??? Whatever, I'm burning pumpkin candles and you can't stop me! Fall faves are this one and this one.

5. And lastly, here's a few fun pics from the last 2 weeks or so just for fun :)

Little moment of gratitude for where I live while driving to meet a friend over the causeway. 

Eclipse 2017 followed by some awesome eclipse shadows!

Wishing everyone an awesome Friday as I head to Jacksonville to visit my bestie with my other bestie today!

xoxo, Olivia

August in DC

Happy Friday! I got back from our short little trip to DC late Wednesday night and I'm so excited to share some cute photos with you all. A month or two ago my grandpa asked my sister and I if we would go with him to DC and show him around since he had never been. So sweet, so of course Victoria and I said yes! 

We drove to DC all the way from Florida (13 hours but we spent the night in North Carolina on the way up) so obviously we had to stop at the cheesy Virginia is for Lovers sign!

Our first half day in DC was Sunday and after checking into our hotel in the Navy Yard, we hopped on the metro and headed to the National Mall. Our grandpa can't walk for too long so I was extremely proud of him for keeping up with us as we walked from the middle of the mall all the way to the Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial is my absolute favorite spot in DC. I'd love to visit one night when it's quiet and there's no one else around because it's always so busy! Also, this candid photo of my grandpa and I was captured by my sister and it's the sweetest thing ever :) We grabbed pizza for dinner near the hotel and hit the hay early that night! 

Monday morning we enjoyed the yummiest fresh bagels ever at Bathesda Bagels in Navy Yard and took the metro to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. My grandpa was a pilot in the Cuban Navy before becoming a U.S. citizen and was a career pilot in the U.S. as well so he was really excited to visit this museum. I kid you not, we went into pretty much every single exhibit except for the IMAX theater haha. I loved seeing how much airplanes have changed over the years and enjoyed seeing how much my grandpa already knew about so many of them!

Had to take a snap of this sweet part of an exhibit on WWII memorabilia. Give me a time machine please so I can go back to the 1940s and have a cute air force boy ask me on a date with that note!

And now, my favorite part of the whole trip: going to my first Major League Baseball game! I was a huge Canes baseball fan in college (still am :P) and was even a bat girl for the Miami Hurricanes, but I had never really been an MLB fan and I'm completely unattached to any team in particular but none the less I was super excited to see my first real game! Monday night we got tickets to see the Nationals play the Marlins at Nationals Park in the Navy Yard and luckily the stadium was right by our hotel. 

It was kind of a slow game until the 6th inning when they were tied but the Nats won and we got to see my number one MLB crush Bryce Harper hit a home run! I think I just may be becoming a Nationals fan, sorry Miami haha.

Tuesday was our last full day and we got tickets for the Big Bus double decker tour. The weather was perfect since it was over cast and not too hot like normal summers in DC are so we loved sitting on the top of the bus! We took all three loops the bus offered but didn't really get off at any stops except one for lunch. I loved getting to see Arlington Cemetery and driving through Dupont Circle and Georgetown. Next time I'm in DC, I'd love to stroll the shops in Georgetown because they literally have everything. Like ALL my favorite stores, everything! 

After our all day bus tour, we hopped over to the white house to take pictures and then back to the hotel! My grandpa needed to rest, so Victoria and I headed out on our own and explored the Navy Yard neighborhood. We had ice dream for dinner at Ice Cream Jubilee and hung out in the parks right along the river while tons of people were out and about for another Nationals game that night. This neighborhood is so cute and seems so young, I could totally see myself living there in another world and I loved having stayed there twice now. It's so quiet compared to the rest of the city but it's so close to capitol hill, I love it. 

And if my description of how cute Navy Yard isn't enough to convince you, here is some cold hard evidence. There is a pop-up bar called the Rosé Garden! I peeped the menu, yes lot's of rosé but more importantly insanely instagrammable pink and tropical decor. Don't worry Rosé Garden, I'll be back for you!!

The next morning we left early and drove all the way back home. We had an amazing trip and I'm so thankful for the quality time I got to spend with my grandpa and sister! Such a nice end of summer adventure :) 

xoxo, Olivia