My Closet: Outfits Of The Season!

In honor of the beautiful weather we're having, I thought I would blog about some outfits I wore this winter.

When I put together an outfit I really love or feel really good in, I take a picture of myself in it. I started doing it to give myself ideas on clothing items I feel awesome in. That way, when I have no idea what to put on in the morning, I can scroll through my outfit pictures and give myself some inspiration. I'd also like to mention that I don't usually share these pictures. Sometimes I do, but most of the time I keep them to myself.

I don't know who exactly is reading this blog, if anyone even is! But maybe you could use a little inspiration, too. Or maybe you do the exact same thing and we're kindred spirits. Or maybe you're a crazy psycho killer who likes reading blogs about boring things. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that someone is reading this!!

Anyway, I feel like I'm getting off the point. Lol. Here are a few outfits I put together this past winter that I loved enough to share.

I have a lot of fashion scarves!

BTW, these are all horrible quality pictures. Hahaha.. Minus the boots that I got at Charlotte Russe, the rest of my outfit (scarf, brownish heather shirt, and pink jeans) all came from various thrift stores and all together only cost me $4 or so. I love how the knee height boots cover a little bit of the pink jeans so it's not too much pink, you know?! The sleeve length on the shirt is extremely flattering. And I just feel really tall and slim in this silhouette!

Hello, stupid face! Good to see you're back!

I bought this white with black polka dot blouse at Old Navy with rewards points, so technically it was free. Skinny jeans are from Forever 21 (they sell for $7.80 and since I bought my first pair there, I've found several more at the thrift store for $0.25!). The cardigan is a thrift store cheapy and I have tons of them. This is just one time of many that I wore this ensemble. To change it up, I just wore it with different cardigans (I have about 60 of them, so I have endless possibilities). The great thing about this outfit is that it's comfortable and is a no-brainer on days that I want to look put together without the hassle!

 

Sometimes, you just luck out!

Charlotte Russe boots, F21 skinny jeans, and a purple turtleneck made of very polyester feeling fabric! First off, I hate turtle necks and I hate this fabric. I have no idea why I scooped it up for $0.50 back in the day. I must've been desperate. But let me just admit, I love it. The turtleneck, is low enough to not annoy me and I think the way the fabric falls adds a little drama to an otherwise boring ensemble. I look at this outfit every so often to remind myself that sometimes it pays off to try something out of your comfort zone!

I don't always wear pants... I mean.. err.. You know what I mean!

I always thought maxi skirts were for tall people or people with smaller hips; pretty much anyone besides someone with my shape. In a hopeful mood 6 or 7 years ago, I ordered this skirt online. It was $12, I think. I would try it on every now and again and I'd just hate it on me. For whatever reason, when I paired it with my thrifted Gap sweater and long necklace I got at Goodwill for $0.90, it just worked. It's nothing fancy, but I feel kind of fancy in it. Regal, even. I don't know. Maxi skirts are still pretty tricky for my shape, but when they work, it makes it worth it! So, I bought a couple more!

My white t-shirt is a little shorter than I like but I like the overall look.

Charlotte Russe Scarf. Pants $10 from www.10dollarmall.com. Everything else was thrifted. Well, except for those shoes. Ballet flats from Wal-mart. I bought them for $2. They were my first pair. I am not a "sneakers" person, so I stick with heels or wedges. I'm glad I found these ballet flats though. I like having another option in the footwear department that makes it easy to chase after my kid who still gets into everything! For a while, I thought "These are not me at all." That is, until I put them with this outfit. That was about a year ago. Nowadays, I own at least 7 pairs of ballet flats. I just love them!

Looks like I'm hiding a dead body under the bed! Yikes. I need to hide it better!

I love a pop of color and I love chunky statement necklaces. Charlotte Russe boots and F21 jeans again. (I wear F21 jeans almost exclusively!). The statement necklace is from Charming Charlie. I got it during a big sale and it only cost me $5 (I've gotten better deals elsewhere, but that's the best for that store!). I have lots of jewelry and I don't always remember to wear it. I don't always know which piece will look best with which outfits. It's great to have a little reminder that this necklace looks great against a high-necked t-shirt.

And that's it for now, I guess. I'd like to do more of these as time goes on, but not too many. I'm sure you guys (the both of you and my mom, HI MOM!!!) weren't too bored, but I think you might be less bored if I made some junky food and painted some stuff!

Jill Can Cook: Apple Pie Empanadas

How this recipe came to be will definitely not surprise anyone.

I bought some Pillsbury cinnamon roll biscuit/buns in a can. You know what I'm talking about. I have no idea what they're called. All I know is I had never made them before, they were on sale, and I was totally feeling some cinnamon buns. Between buying them and actually making them, Joe ended up buying me a huge cinnamon bun from Cinnabon's.

I can't tell if the guy loves me or hates me. Those cinnamon buns are so good, but so fattening and bad for you. This also proves that he definitely doesn't listen to me because why would he buy me that which I planned to make?! But his not listening to me resulted in a delicious cinnamon bun the size of my head, so can I really complain? I mean, really... Cinnabon's.

Anyway, this post is not about the inter-workings of my marriage. It's about how my Pillsbury can of cinnamon buns was about to expire and I was all cinnamon bunned out.

Then something kismet happened: My mother gave me a big bag of apples. She told me my brother gave her 2 big bags of apples. She didn't know what she was going to do with all those apples. And then proceeded to sneak a bag into my car. Hahaha I'm kidding.  (she made my dad do it!)

That's when I got the bright idea to make apple pie pockets. I prefer to call them Apple Pie Empanadas. It sounds more exotic and less bad for you!

I found this recipe at Tablespoon.com and grabbed my ingredients:

Apple Pie Empanadas

 

Ingredients

• 2 granny smith apples
• 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 can (16.3 oz.) Pillsbury Grands refrigerated biscuits
• 1 egg, lightly beaten  
• vanilla icing to drizzle over top                                      

Directions

1.  Using a mandolin or sharp knife, core and thinly slice the apples into wedges.
2.  Toss the apple slices into a medium skillet. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and brown sugar. Sauté on a medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the apples have softened a little bit.
3.  Transfer apples to a small bowl and stick them in the fridge for 15 minutes, letting the apples cool.
4.  While they cool, preheat the oven to 375°F. Roll out the biscuits on a floured surface until you get roughly 6-inch circles.
5.  Evenly distribute the cooled apples among one half of the 8 biscuits.                           
6.  Fold over the biscuit dough, pinching the ends together to create an empanada. Then, using a fork, crimp the edges to make them ridged.
7.  Place each empanada on a rimmed baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Then brush each one with a light egg wash. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.
8.  Lightly dust with more cinnamon and/or vanilla frosting/glaze and serve immediately.

 

OK, there's a lot of fail in this post, but don't fret my pet, these came out pretty good!

 

Joe was just hanging around the house when I decided to make this for the 4 of us as an after dinner treat. I can never open the Pillsbury cans, so I pleaded with Joe to do it for me. Good thing I did, too, because it took him a while to get it opened, too (any advice on how to do this without killing yourself is welcome!)

 

While he opened the worst can in the universe, I peeled my apples...

 

I peeled the whole apple in one long piece!

 

 

This is where the fail happens. Joe finally gets the can open and 'lo and behold, they're weird. They're not biscuit, they're strips. Of course they're strips. They are meant to be cinnamon buns. Also, they're covered in cinnamon and sugar which makes sense because (and why didn't I think of this when I was planning this recipe out?!!?!?!) they're cinnamon buns.

 

I was a little sad. I had high hopes for this recipe. I didn't want to give up! Joe, my awesome supporter, told me to work on the apple part of the recipe while he tried to finagle the cinnamon bun weirdness into something we could work with.

 

So, that's exactly what I did.

 

I cut up the apples into small little pieces.

 

I put all the ingredients into the pan with the apples.

 

I sautéed the mixture on the stove until the apples were nice and tender.

 

I worried the entire time.

 

And then I peeked over at what Joe was up to.

 

Heck yeah, dude!! You rule!!

 

Joe managed to stick everything together and even peel off a good amount of the cinnamon/sugar mixture. We had ourselves a workable dough. Granted, it was not perfect, but it turned out WAY better than I thought.

 

(and, yes, we got that t-shirt when we visited California, right after we got married!)

 

We're doing the best we can, folks!

 

This wasn't going to turn out too pretty, I knew that right away. We figured we'd just make 4 empanadas. We had just enough mixture to do so.

 

They look really gross right now!! HAHA

 

Oh that egg looks awful on the top. Since then, I've purchased one of those cooking paintbrushes so I can just paint the eggs on instead of blobbing them on.

 

And off these little uggo's went, into the oven, to cuten up.

 

I told you they'd get cuter and I don't lie! (Well, my hips don't lie, at least).

 

I grabbed the little can of frosting the cinnamon buns came with and put some on top. These smelled so enticing!! Joe and I loved how they turned out, even though the kids were not too impressed.

 

Mmm..

 

I wrapped the 3 we didn't get a chance to eat that evening individually and threw them in the fridge. These were great for an on-the-go snack. They were great to have for breakfast. They'd have been better had we started out with the right dough, but they were still pretty easy and yummy. This recipe gets an A from Joe and I. The kids, well, they're sometimes tough to please unfortunately.