flashback friday

Photos © Brian Sorg

Chilling (literally) on the bleachers of my high school alma matter in acid wash & black skinnies. Because some things never go out of style...

Skinnies x jbrand, shirt x zara, boots x theysken's theory

southern comfort

Photo © Brian Sorg

After getting a tease of spring in New Orleans and looking to make something out of what we had (while also needing a detox after all that southern food), we went for our go-to summer salad. While best in summer, when the ingredients are found at the market, we made do w/frozen corn & threw in a zucchini that was leftover from veggie patties. So, while this is certainly the opposite of cooking seasonally, it's definitely a comfort food of ours! Also, it's as easy as chopping and combining, so that's an added bonus.

Southwestern Confetti Salad
1 cup cooked black beans (soak 1/2 cup overnight, boil ~2 hrs/drain, or 1 can black beans)
1 - 2 sm zucchinis, diced
1 shallot, minced
1 cup thawed frozen corn
1 - 2 red/green/yellow pepper, diced
2 jalapenos, seeded, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
3 -4 limes, zested & juiced
1 tsp cayenne (more if you prefer spice)
Salt & pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and allow to sit at least an hour for ingredients to marry. An option for added protein is to throw in some quinoa, but brian's feeling on quinoa is 'not my favorite' (while my feeling is 'it's my favorite'), but relationships are about compromise, right? I say this as a person who is working on loosening the control and bringing in more of that compromise...I'd say it's a work in progress and I'm not sure what Brian would say. Fortunately he's not around to poll on the matter so I say progress is happening :)

southern bound

We head to New Orleans this weekend and I am very much looking forward to cocktails in the courtyard where we're staying. 

taking in the architecture...

and of course, plenty of live music!

Posts back next week!

sweet & salty x raw & vegan

          In my last post I featured Lorrie J's raw vegan sushi...another happy treat was that I she shared these raw, vegan peanut butter cookies. I went home and made them that night, they're so tasty!

A curious labradoodle...

Photos © Brian Sorg

If only Soph had been so lucky...next time I'll have to make a canine friendly cookie.

Recipe via a house in the hills

1 cup raw almonds

1/2 cup creamy, unsalted peanut butter

1 cup pitted medjool dates

1 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

sea salt to garnish

Combine all ingredients in a food processor to combine, adding more peanut butter if it's not coming together. Form dough into balls, press down w/a fork crossways, sprinkle generously with sea salt & refrigerate; they taste and stay together best cold. 

styled

I am surrounded by wonderfully talented people, including super-human super-stylist Lorrie J. This girl has more energy than anyone I've met...up at the crack of dawn to workout with her trainer (she can do more pull ups than most dudes), run around with her dogs, prop/shop/style on set all day, cook, re-do her house and on and on.

Lorrie's a great cook, but until recently, vegetables weren't a part of her diet unless they were battered, fried, and served alongside some red meat (or pizza). A month ago she told me she was doing a raw, vegan weekend with her trainer and I was definitely excited because Lorrie is always happy to share. Everything she makes is delicious and comes with a kick in the form of a jalapeno, while also looking beautiful. Enter her raw, vegan sushi...

Jalapeno 'Rice' in the form of blended cauliflower & pine nuts...

layers of avocado, cucumber & peppers...

Photos © Rex Waters, Styled by Lorrie J

The finished product which I would eat over the real deal any day; I actually preferred the texture of her 'rice' because dry rice is so common in sushi. It should be noted that when I attempted to cut the roll she gave me for dinner it was a giant sushi mess and the opposite of what you see above.

Lorrie has since done a 21 day raw, vegan cleanse, and told me she wanted to test her willpower while cleaning the toxins out, acknowledging that she ate a pretty poor diet before. She read 'Crazy Sexy Diet' where the author talks about the healing powers of food and was inspired. While this is by no means a permanent change in lifestyle for her, one of the best side effects was that she 'learned to like veggies!' Bonus  for me who is always a happy recipient of samples...and let's be honest, some things (like homemade sushi) are better left to the pros.

mad hatter

The original street style snapper himself featured hats in his weekly sunday column last week and it couldn't be more appropriate.

Photos © Brian Sorg

A sneak preview of an exciting project Brian and I have been working on, stay tuned for details on these fab handmade designs including a giveaway to one lucky reader!

working girl

Photos © Brian Sorg

Figuratively (well, my upper half is work appropriate) and literally (triple-booked, saturdays, client dinners, etc)...so I'm keeping this post short(s)

blazer by ella moss via Fuschia Boutique, cut-offs by rag & bone