Abbey Dawn by Avril Lavigne purses and wallets *NEW*

I just got in some great pieces from Abbey Dawn in my ebay store. Check them out!

Friday Night Lights

I went to a high school football game last night and was glad that the rain subsided fairly quickly. It made for an amazing view with the setting sun. Just thought I'd share :)

Photo Contest

I just entered a photo contest today and I would really appreciate some votes! Thank you :)

No Sugar Added Banana Oatmeal Cookies

I felt like baking the other day so I found a recipe on Taste for Home for banana oatmeal cookies. I just made it a little healthier by using whole wheat flour and Splenda instead of sugar. They came out really well so I thought I would share.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose wheat flour
• 24 packets of Splenda (or less if you don't like it too sweet)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2)
• 1-3/4 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

• In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients; beat in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg, bananas and oats; mix well. Stir in nuts.
• Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets (I used a small scoop I have for cookie dough to make them uniform). Bake at 375° for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

--All I had was Old Fashioned Oats so, I pulsed them in the food processor a few times and added a couple of tbsp of milk with the wet ingredients to soften them and it worked out fine. If that's all you have, it can still come out well.

Greek Yogurt Chicken Recipe

I was looking for something to make for dinner the other night and stumbled upon this recipe from dashingdish.com.

http://dashingdish.com/recipe/the-worlds-best-baked-chicken/

This is all you need:
1 lb Boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4 medium size chicken breasts)
1/2 cup Plain low fat or fat free Greek yogurt
3 tbs Grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp Garlic, chopped (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 tsp Dried minced onions (or 1/2 tsp onion powder)
Pinch Salt and Pepper
1 tsp Dried herb mix (such as Mrs. Dash) or dried parsley

 --I used 1 tsp dried parsley and 1 tsp dried rosemary I also added some chopped green chile (if you like green chile, it's a nice addition)

 1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a large baking pan with cooking spray, (no exact size needed, just big enough to fit four chicken breasts). Set aside.

2.)Place chicken breasts in a large ziplock bag, and lightly pound them with a meat mallet or rolling pin, (this tenderizes the chicken breasts and makes them all even thickness, which helps for even cooking and tender chicken!)

3.) Meanwhile, In a small bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients, (everything except for the chicken breast). Place chicken breasts in baking pan and brush yogurt mixture evenly over chicken breasts, covering the tops and the sides evenly.

4.) Bake chicken for 30-35 minutes, (or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle.) Remove from the oven and enjoy with salad or veggie of choice!

 --I thinly sliced some yellow squash, drizzled with olive oil and salt, and sprinkled it around the chicken and baked it along with it. It was great because it absorbed the juices from the chicken. Also, mine didn't brown too well, but I think if you add a little extra cheese to the top of the greek yogurt topping after you put it on the chicken it may brown better.

It's very easy to make and the flavor is really good. You may have to add extra salt to taste if you like more.

Enjoy!

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First Blog Ever: Nail of the week

     I usually try to do a new nail design each week that I either come up with or get inspiration from somewhere else. This week I decided to just do a simple design with some dotting at the tip. I am in love with the polish salon Julep and I get most of my polishes from there. They have every color imaginable as well as glitter polishes in different forms.

     Dotting tools are a good investment for nail DIY-ers. I have a set of 5 and I use them pretty often. I would highly recommend getting a set as they are super easy to use and clean. They don't cost a lot and create great designs. I think it's still fairly easy to use even when painting with my left hand, as I am not left-handed (lol). I have some brushes also, but I find I don't use them quite as often, although they can be pretty handy. I have some learning to do with those yet!

    It's great to check out other design ideas and make it your own. I think designing nail art can be very therapeutic if it's your kind of thing. It helps me to de-stress and gives me a creative outlet. 

     For this design, I used Julep polishes with the base color of Ingrid plus Joy, Francis and Leila for the dots. The dots are just 3 different sizes. I also bought a nail art black polish that has a striping brush built-in, which I love. I also added a few glitter specks at the black line I drew. For the accent nail I used a base of Zelda from Julep along with Ingrid for the flower pedals and Leila for the flower center. You can always change up the colors however you like. Give it a try!