Tuesday Shmuesday

Top: LuLus | Jeggings: Forever21 | Booties: ShopMCE

This was one of my casual looks from last week, 

I wore pajamas all day yesterday so unfortunately my outfit was totally not post worthy.

How was everyones Monday?!

Gosh, I LOVE my Mondays off.

Even though it’s my day to do laundry, clean & grocery shop–

it’s still nice to have a day to myself.

Charley and I had a nice little 30 minute sun bathing sesh.

Then it was time for all my wifely duties.

On a positive note I cooked some damn good lasagna last night

AND made some homemade chicken salad that Kyle & I both loved.

Both are pretty simple recipes…let me know if you’d like me to share!! 

Have a good Tuesday babes!

Black on Black on Black and a Recipe.

I decided to rock the all black look for a double date night on Friday!

and I have to admit, I’m kind of obsessed with this look.

Top: LuLus.com

Jeans: Cotton On (scored them for $10)

Heels: LuLus.com (similar)

Necklace: Kendra Scott

Clutch: ShopMCE.com

This girl is quite the handful, but gosh she’s purity. 

Main squeeze.

Last week I made a new [healthy] recipe and it turned out SO yummy!

One of our favorite recipes is black bean enchiladas! 

One of my sweet friends gave me that recipe [and my own personal cook book binder] when Kyle and I got married!

Well this is very similar to black bean enchiladas but with more ingredients!

If you want to be even healthier and skip the tortillas and half the cheese 

you can totally just eat the mixture that goes inside the tortillas!

I may or may not have eaten ALL of the “left overs” before I even finished cooking.

So here we go…

This actually makes A LOT, I had a lot of the “insides” left over,

but I didnt mind because I loved it so much I ate it the rest of the week! 

What you’ll need:

15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

15 oz. can of corn
6 oz. fresh baby spinach (I didnt have baby spinach so I used regular)
1 cup of fat free cottage cheese
1/3 cup cilantro
2 teaspoon cumin [I added more, because I love this stuff]
2 cups shredded 3 cheese blend (or your favoite cheese)
1 can of enchilada sauce
flour tortillas

What you’ll do: 

In a large bowl, combine beans, 1 cup cheese, spinach, corn, cottage cheese,  2 tsp. cumin, and cilantro.

This is what mine looked like

Then, Preheat oven to 375. Lightly spray a 9×13 inch baking dish, and pour a small amount of the Enchilada sauce to coat the bottom.

Generously fill tortillas with the bean mixture. Roll up tightly with ends tucked in, and place seam side down in dish.

Pour remaining sauce over the enchiladas, coating evenly. Sprinkle with the other 1 cup of cheese on top.

Bake about 20 minutes, and garnish with cilantro and/or green onions (optional).

Click HERE for the original recipe. 

I decided to make some Guac for a side!

I’m weird and don’t like onions, tomatoes, etc in my guacamole.

I like it plain and super creamy!

So I mashed up 2 avocados with a fork, added some salt, garlic and lime and VOILA!

Dinner is served. 

Let me know if you try this recipe out,

Kyle and I both loved it.

xoxo, Monica

TGIF.

Please excuse the terrible quality iPhone pictures, 

sometimes you just gotta work with what you got!


This outfit was worn a little over a week ago when Kyle and I were in San Antonio.
Top: LuLus.com
Jeans: Nordstrom (similar)
Wedges: Tillys.com
Necklace: LuLus.com

I could not be any happier that it’s FRIDAY!
Kyle has been out of town for work ALL week and I absolutely hate it when he’s gone.
But he’s COMING HOMEEE! Thank God, he owes me a super hot date night soon.

Charley and I have really really missed him.
She is SUCH a daddys girl, it’s ridiculous.

So, on another note.
I’m currently on a health kick,
“currently” meaning I decided today I’m going on a health kick.
I may have tacked on a few pounds since getting married and I may
barely ever go to the gym anymore…This needs to change.
And it needs to change immediately.

I think my main problem is dinner, It seems like the only easy week night dinners
I make are completely full of fattening ingredients.
All of the healthy recipes I find are just too much work.
So my question for you is…
What are some of your favorite, EASY, and healthy week night meals?!

I’m begging for your help…

xoxo, Monica

Wifey Points and Charleys half birthday!!

[This was supposed to be posted yesterday, whoopsie!]

Yesterday was my sweet Charleys half birthday!

I can’t believe she is already 6 months old.

I seriously can’t believe I grew up without dogs.

I love her more than I ever thought I could, and I can’t imagine my life without her!

Thank God for pups.

We decided to take her to the dog park when Kyle got home from work

as a little birthday gift.

This is afterwards, which is why her face is so dirty.

There were SO many people/dogs there!

I’ve gotta start taking her more often,

She was the youngest by far and it was so funny to see how clumsy and slow

she was compared to the full grown dogs.

She had the time of her life and has been taking LOTS of naps today.

<3 <3 <3

So I mentioned “Wifey Points” in the title.

Well I found this “healthy” recipe on pinterest that I’ve been dying to make!

It’s from Skinnytaste.com and it’s called

Eggplant Rollatini

and it looks like this…YUM right?!

[Click the picture for the full recipe]


I decided to make zucchini fries for a side dish because we both

LOVE zucchini.

This recipe is from Pauledeen.com

[Click the picture for the full recipe]


I should’ve taken pictures while we were in the process of cooking,

but I didn’t.

But this is how MY eggplant rollatini turned out!

I may or may not have added A LOT of extra cheese…

And dinner is served…

I was nervous Kyle wasn’t going to like it because there’s no meat in it.

Just spinach and cheese!

Well he took his first bite and says “it’s pretty good!”

Which as we all know can mean a lot of things…like… 

“please never cook this again”, “am I going to have to eat all of this?”, “Lord help me”

or it may actually mean that it’s good!

Well lucky me, as he kept eating I kept hearing things like,

“Wow this is actually REALLY good!!”

So GO me!!

The one mistake we did make with the zucchini fries was cutting them too thick,

they were good but some weren’t quite as crispy!

So make sure you cut them nice and thin for more crispiness ;]

Let me know if you try out this recipe!

Who would’ve though that eggplant was so delicious?!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Have a great weekend ladies.

xoxo, Monica

A few of my “Go To” Recipes!

If you know me at all…you will know that I HATE cooking.

It literally gives me anxiety, and I have no common sense when it comes to cooking, whatsoever.

I NEED a detailed, specific recipe to go by, 

and even if I follow it step by step something always goes wrong.

ALWAYS.

But guess what?!

I’m kind of getting the hang of things!

[kind of]

So for all of my fellow clueless cooking ladies, I bring you my favorite go to recipes!
Most of these recipes are from pinterest, but it’s always nice to know
that someone (with little cooking skill) has actually cooked them,
and they turned out great!

First: Chicken Avocado salad


This is the EASIEST thing you will ever “make” in your entire life.

I am an avocado ADDICT. like for real.

I stumbled across this recipe on pinterest but I actually left out some ingredients.

Go to the store and buy yourself one of those delicious rotisserie chickens,

a few avocados and some limes.

The recipe also calls for cilantro and chopped green onions but I didn’t have those

at the house so I skipped them.

Here’s what you do:

Cut up your rotisserie chicken into small pieces until you have about 2 cups full 

then take 2 avocados and slice those babies.

Mix the chicken and avocado together in a bowl and throw some salt on there,

and cut up a lime and squeeze the juice into the bowl.

and voila…SO easy and SO delicious and SO simple!

Kyle and I have eaten it 3 times this past week.

If you love avocados this might become your new favorite meal,

because I crave it every day now…no joke ladies.

Second: Lemon Baked Salmon


Okay, y’all this is GOOD and your husband WILL be impressed.

promise.

This recipe was also found on pinterest [duh, where else?!]


Ingredients:
4 tsp minced garlic
3/4 cup light olive oil
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 T lemon juice
2 T fresh parsley, chopped
4 fillets salmon

Directions:
1. in a medium bowl, mix garlic, olive oil, basil, salt, pepper, lemon, & parsley
2. line a glass baking dish w/ foil & place fillets on top
(i like to spray butter on them before drizzling the marinade)
3. drizzle marinade on salmon, cover with foil
4. preheat oven to 375, cook for 25-30 minutes!

Third: Black Bean Enchiladas 

[I may have overdone it on the cheese…Just kidding you can  never have too much cheese]



My sweet friend Anna gave me this recipe and it is now one
of me and Kyles absolute favorites!
and it is SO easy!

Ingredients:
1 can black beans, washed
1 can refrained black beans
2 T cumin (more or less, whichever you prefer)
2 T Chili powder (more or less whichever you prefer)
Mix together

Take 1 cup tomato sauce
1 T cumin
1 T chili powder
and pour into skillet
Individually soak tortillas in sauce mixture then set aside on paper towels.
Fill each tortilla w/ black bean mixture and sprinkle some cheddar cheese inside.
preheat oven to 325
place enchiladas in baking dish and sprinkle cheddar cheese over all.
cook for 30 minutes!