Making Spaghetti Squash

Here is my made up but so simple recipe. Remember you can make spaghetti squash any way you want and not just with a "marinara" sauce.

Recipe:
1 spaghetti squash cut in half and cooked in the oven at 400 for 45 minutes
1 yellow onion
Garlic
*sauté in pot with a little evoo
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
Hand full of spinach
*toss in pot
1 larger can of crushed tomatoes
1 can diced (any type)
*toss it in the pot and add a little Italian seasoning to taste
1 package of Trader Joes chicken sausage
* dice and toss in
After 45 minutes scoop the seeds of the squash in the trash and then just scoop the insides of the squash into the pot. I usually let the squash sit in the sauce for a few minutes to soak up the flavor.

Last nights outfit

Last night we went out to dinner at Capri which is in Burr Ridge, IL. I wore a Rachel Roy sweater dress with hue tights and mui mui ankle booties.

Smoothie

This is our go to smoothie and it is so incredibly easy, tasty and healthy!

Kitchen Renovation

We purchased our home on June 15, 2012 and moved in September 1st.  It had to be livable by September 1st because I was renting downtown Chicago and my lease was up.  I'll show all of our renovations and trust me it is still a work in progress but here is our kitchen before and after.

 This was our kitchen before, we decided to completely redo and make the window into a door so that you didn't have to go through the garage or screened in porch to get to our backyard.

Pretty right?  Maybe 30 years ago, very Laura Ashley!

 Their formal dining room became my eat in kitchen area.  I got rid of the wall right away so that the dining room and kitchen are one big space.  I am a big fan of open layout!

 I added this picture which is now our family room, to show where we knocked out the wall at the end of the room and put in these two columns that I LOVE!  (I will show the family room reno soon)

OMG, what did we get ourselves into!  This is our first home!!! No turning back now!

TA DA!!!

 HELLO NEW KITCHEN!  YES, this is the same space.  I decided to keep the stove and the sink in the same space as before so that we didn't have to change to much of the gas lines, plumbing and etc.

 The island sits where the wall was between the "formal dining room" and the old kitchen.  Bye bye wall and hello my amazing island where EVERYONE hangs out.

 I actually also kept the fridge in the same space and I built in my pantry on each side of the fridge.  The pantry in the old house was actually behind the stove.  I made that space my laundry room to get it on the first floor and not in the basement.  Turned out perfect!  I will show my laundry room later.

 These are the two columns that I had built which I love!  You can also see in this picture actually where the wall came down in between the kitchen and the old dining room.  I decided to offset that table and make a bench... see below!  So that it felt like one big flowing space.

 The bench worked perfect and were built to match the columns.  I love the bench for storage and the offset look.  I didn't want it to be a dining room AND a kitchen but one big flowing space.

 This picture was taken sitting on the bench so that you can see the whole space.

 With the island I wanted a piece of furniture look and not just more cabinets so I went with different cabinets but the same carrara marble top.  The end actually has columns to create that furniture feel.

 My new pantry!

This is taken from walking in from our garage.  Hope you all love our new kitchen, we sure do!

Proud Fiancé

Yesterday my fiancé graduated from law school! So proud of him!!! The smarty pants finished in 2 and a half years. I couldn't be more blessed to have him in my life.
Graduation for John Marshall Law School was at the Hyatt Regency downtown Chicago. The whole fam then went to Mastros to celebrate. We called ahead to get private dining put the boys made us sit in the bar so they could watch the football games.

Oh and I also had a minor dress malfunction. I had this adorable gold dress on that i purchased for the occasion but had to change at the last second so I was not happy with my outfit. The dress/ blazer shown is BCBG, purse is Kate spade, necklace is Nordstrom collection, boots are from DSW (I love them to dress up leggings because they make the whole look flow).

Island centerpiece

We moved into our house in September and have been crazy busy every since. I'm still decorating and trying to get the house how I want so I thought I would ask some advice.
I had these 3 glass vases on my island ever since we moved in but I have put "seasonal" things in them. For fall I had pumpkin, leaves, acorns and gourds. Winter you can see below I had ornaments, fake cupcake Christmas candles and fake snow.
Now, I'm seasonal confused and honestly a little bored with it and wanted to put it away until spring.
What are your thoughts on the floral centerpiece? Too heavy? Good for a little change?

Casual Friday Night

Tonight we decided to just go out for dinner since the fiancé is studying for the bar. Any chance I can get him to go out is a win for me!
Look for tonight: Nordstrom blazer that I bought a few years ago and still love, vintage Havana top from Bloomingdales, black true religion denim, kohl's boots (steal of the outfit!), and a few boutique bracelets.

Christmas!

It was our first Christmas in our new home so I went a little overboard but we loved it! Here is a little recap of some of my decorating.

A few healthy foods this week

So me and the fiance try to stay super healthy definitely during the week.  He is studying for the bar so I find that he is in a better more positive mood when he is fed healthy and is able to work out.  Here are a few things I have made this week. 

 Light Caesar salad and a turkey burger no bun.

 I tried a new recipe (yes I followed a recipe and my fiance was amazing, I usually just guess and throw it in).  It was spicy turkey burgers which were AWESOME and a wheat bun with homemade steak fries.

 We love love this bruschetta but my fiance hates tomatoes alone so I decided to blend wheat bread in my blender and cover the chicken with egg white.  I put the wheat "bread crumbs" on top of the chicken and baked it until done and crispy.  I put our bruschetta that we love to make on top for another 5 minutes and it was delish!

 Another obsession that the fiance requests I make all the time is spaghetti squash.  The first time I made it I thought he would hate it and my heart was going to drop because I was making it on my own forever but to my surprise he LOVED it! 

 Another fav of his and ladies you will learn that the man gets stuck on something and doesn't like the very!  Strawberry banana smoothie with almond milk and whey protein.  Oh ya and I definitely sneak kale into it!

 One of MY favorites!  Chicken tortilla soup to die for and it is SO healthy!!! 

Smoothies in the morning are our thing!  Peach, pineapple and kale which I couldn't hide this time do to the color of green.  Oh well, he loved it anyways!  I always add almond milk and whey protein.