Daily Yummi: Waffles in South Loop

Waffles
1400 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60605

My rating: B+
I wasn't too fond of the communal seating & their hot chocolate flights tasted like Swiss Miss.  But overall, their waffles were creative and delicious.

FROM CLOCKWISE: Chicken Bacon Waffle, Waffle Benedict, Hot Chocolate Flights (peppermint, dark chocolate, & hazelnut)

Daily Yummi: Burger Point in South Loop

Burger Point
1900 S. State Street
Chicago, IL 60616
(312) 842-1900

My rating: A+
Delicious and inexpensive burgers + BYOB with no corkage fee!

The Burger Point Burger: roasted chile peppers, fried egg, smoked bacon, pepper jack cheese on a pretzel roll bun
&
Sweet Potato Fries with sea salt

They also serve Flirty Cupcakes!

Daily Yummi: Sunday Brunch @ Juicy-O

Juicy-O
2035 S Washington St
Naperville, IL 60565

Fresh, homemade donuts for free.99! 

Me: Chicken, Egg, & Biscuits

My Kuya: Corned Beef Hash Eggs Benedict

My Mom: Spinach Mozzarella Omelette

My Dad: Italian Sausage Skillet

NOTD: OPI's Mermaids Tears

Bloom.com - $25 for $50 Worth of Merchandise!

Although I Facebooked and Tweeted about this earlier today, I thought I'd post this deal to my blog because it's too good to miss...

Bloomspot is offering a $50 voucher for bloom.com for HALF THE PRICE - $25!  Bloom.com carries both high-end and low-end beauty brands, including Almay, Cover Girl, Clarisonic, DDF, Kenra, Jouer, OPI, and much, much more.  See here for a full list of brands.  The voucher also includes FREE SHIPPING and three free samples with your order!

I just placed my order - I'll blog on my goodies once I receive them - and the order was also tax free!  So if you're looking to pick up some brush heads for your Clarisonic or a few OPI or Essie nail polishes to add to your collection, grab this deal before it's gone =]

My Favorite Chicago Cupcakes!

Google Offers is running an AWESOME promotion today: $1 for $6 of made-from scratch cupcakes at Molly's Cupcakes in Lincoln Park!  My personal favorites are the Cookee Monster, Red Velvet, Cookies-N-Cream, and Peanut Butter Nutella cupcakes =]

Get yours before they sell out!

Chrissy Teigen's Lemon Garlic Bacon Chicken

I will be the first to admit that I am lacking skills in the kitchen.  Fortunately for me, I am blessed with an amazing cook, my mother, who fulfills all of my tummy's desires.  However, as I near my 25th birthday (EEK!) it's hit me that I really need to get my butt in the kitchen and start COOKING!  And I when I say "cooking" I mean: going to the store and buying the meat, vegetables, and other ingredients...NOT emptying the contents of a box or prepackaged frozen meal into a pot and calling it a day.

So for my Mom's birthday late last month, I decided to surprise her with a full, home-cooked meal when she came home from work.  For weeks prior, I searched high and low for easy, no-brainer recipes that a newbie, such as myself, could not mess up.

I've been an avid follower of SI swimsuit model Chrissy Teigen's food blog So Delushious, so naturally, her food blog was my first stop.  I came across this super easy, delicious recipe for Lemon Garlic Bacon Chicken and I knew that it was something that my whole family would thoroughly enjoy.  The only modification that I made to Chrissy's recipe was that I added more bacon...who doesn't love bacon?!

I also prepared chicken gravy to serve with the chicken, and for side dishes, I whipped up some delicious green beans suggested by Chrissy, as well as Alton Brown's creamy garlic mashed potatoes.

Ready for the oven!

The end result =]

Green beans

Creamy garlic mashed potatoes

Dinner is served!  Happy birthday, Mommy =]

If I can do it, you can do it too =] my whole family was full, happy, and impressed!  Thank you Chrissy for helping me make my Mom's birthday truly memorable!

Win an iPad or Kindle Fire! =]

Rafflecopter is giving away an iPad or Kindle Fire!  Enter below for your chance to win, and enter my name "Jennifer de la Rosa" so that I have a chance to win the Kindle Fire =]

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Daily Yummi: Almond Croissants!

Almond Croissants from Whole Foods - DEEEEEELICIOUS! 

Daily Yummi: Hashbrowns

Hashbrowns
731 W Maxwell St  Chicago, IL 60607-5016
(312) 226-8000

18th Street Omelette: chorizo, tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, & cilantro with a side of homemade salsa.  I also added some mozzarella cheese...how can you have an omelette without cheese?!  BLASPHEMY!

Apple Cinnamon French Toast served with a vanilla glaze.  My roommate and I agreed that it would've tasted better with vanilla ice cream.

Naked Palette 2 Product Preview

The internet is abuzz with rumors of Urban Decay's Naked Palette 2, and Urban Decay just posted some photos on their Facebook page to prove its existence:

Blogger Pinch of Pretty has AWESOME shots of the Naked Palette 2 here, and also follow Urban Decay's Facebook Page to stay up to date with news and release dates!

Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate, Dried Cranberries, & Walnuts

Happy Saturday, everyone! =]

Around this time of the year, I usually like to bake my Kris Kringle cookies with white chocolate, dried cranberries, and walnuts.  This past week I encountered a similar recipe on two peas & their pod that included oatmeal, but no walnuts...so I thought, why not throw all the ingredients together?  I'd say they turned out pretty awesome!  I love nuts in EVERYTHING (no jokes please) but if you're allergic to nuts, feel free to omit them from the recipe.

Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate, Dried Cranberries, & Walnuts

(adapted from two peas & their pod)

½ c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
1 egg 
1 tsp. Vanilla
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1 1/4 c. flour
1 1/4 c. oats
1 cup of dried cranberries (Craisins)
1 cup of white chocolate chips
1 cup of chopped walnuts


Beat together the butter & sugars until smooth.  Next, add the egg & vanilla.


In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.  Add this mixture slowly to the wet ingredients, mixing after every addition.  Finally, add the oats, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and chopped walnuts.  Your mixture should look something like this...

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

How to Revive Your Shattered Eyeshadow

Being the careless, clumsy person that I am, I often drop things.  However, this particular drop nearly cost me $33!

NARS Cordura Eyeshadow Duo ($33, available at Sephora, www.narscosmetics.com, and other select online retailers) is a combination of a "shimmering warm rich brown" and a "shimmering sooty dark brown".  Since I purchased this eyeshadow duo, I think it's safe to say that I've used it every single day. My everyday look consists of the medium brown eyeshadow patted onto my lid with a few coats of volumizing mascara; when I have a little extra time, I'll deepen my crease with the dark brown shade.

I'm so in love with this eyeshadow duo.  Both shadows are highly pigmented and possess just the right amount of shimmer with very little (if any) fallout.  So you can just imagine my devastation when I dropped it!  At first it started out as a tiny crack, then larger pieces began to shatter and crumble...

I'd never repaired a shattered eyeshadow before, but there's a first time for everything.  I researched a couple different choices, and I found By Celina 's method to be the simplest and easiest.

Say hello to my revived Cordura eyeshadow =] still beautiful, still pigmented!

After adding a few drops of 99% isopropyl alcohol, I mixed the eyeshadow until it transformed into a pasty texture. 

Next, I cut the corner of a rounded-edged card into the shape of the eyeshadow pan, wrapped it into a tissue, and stamped the eyeshadow...good as new!

SOME EXTRA TIPS:

• The higher the concentration of alcohol, the quicker the eyeshadow will dry.
• Speed up the drying process by patting a paper towel or tissue onto the wet eyeshadow to absorb excess liquid.

Butterless Apple Brownies

Yes, I know, I've been slacking.  But what can I say...life gets busy!

Winter break is approaching, and if there's one thing I know that I'll definitely be doing during winter break, it's BAKING =]

I don't exactly remember how I came across this recipe, but once I saw it, I knew I had to try it.  As I quickly skimmed over the ingredients to determine if it was something I could immediately bake without having to drive my lazy ass to the store, I noticed one thing...NO BUTTER!  Although the recipe does call for 1 cup of vegetable oil, in my opinion, that's way better than 2 whole sticks of butter.

I wouldn't personally call these "brownies" because I think the texture is more cake-like, if anything.  Call them what you want, they're super moist, delicious, and extremely easy to bake.  ENJOY!

Grandma's Secret Apple Brownies!

Original recipe found here

3 c	all purpose flour
3 c	apples
2 c	sugar
1 tsp	cinnamon
1 tsp	baking soda
1/3 c	orange juice
2	eggs
1 c	vegetable oil
1 tsp	salt

Directions

Pre heat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.

Peel and core about 3 to 4 apples, Finely chop apples (You want the pieces small)

Mix all ingredients well in a large bowl.  

Bake at 325 degrees for appoximately 45 mins to 1 hour.

Eat and Enjoy!!

Weekly Fave Five

Since I've been slacking on the blogposts as of late, I thought it would be a good idea to start a weekly blogpost of my favorite YouTube beauty videos.  Here are this week's faves!

MakeupByTiffanyD reviewed Benefit's newest mascara, They're Real.  I saw this at the checkout counter at Ulta a couple weeks ago (you CAN'T miss it...the model has huge boobs lol) and I was curious about the product...now I really want to try it!

MissChievous posted a great tutorial on how to achieve easy, "sexpot" hair with hot rollers.  As a child, I was OBSESSED with curly hair.  Unfortunately my hair falls somewhere in between curly and straight, so my mom was forced to buy me a set of hot rollers to satisfy my curly hair fetish.  I'm so mad at myself for throwing it out =[ it's definitely time to purchase another set.

Jessica Harlow inarguably has the best hair on YouTube - it's natural, thick, and healthy.  I'm not so skilled in the hair styling department, but this bohemian braid tutorial looks achievable!

It's no secret that Angelina Jolie is absolutely stunning.  About a month ago, I watched "The Tourist" and she looked flawless in every single scene!  Apparently I'm not the only one who admired her style and her beauty in the movie, because Michelle Phan posted a tutorial inspired by her character in "The Tourist".

Chicago native ahanhbarbie (we went to the same college =]) always posts the quickest & easiest makeup tutorials.  I love how she uses both drugstore and higher end products to achieve her looks.

Hope you enjoy the videos as much as I did =] have a great week!

High Quality, HD (Hi Def) Nails

I've always admired the look of bright orange nails since I spotted the color on Kim Kardashian (yes, I'm a Kardashian lover), but quite frankly, I've never had the balls to try it myself.  A couple weeks ago I spotted this Sephora by OPI nail polish in Hi Def on sale for $5 (a steal!), so I knew it was my time.

Is the color "hi def" and true to its name?  Definitely.  I followed up my base coat (Sally Hansen Insta-Grip) with two coats of the varnish, and I was left with a bright, shiny, and opaque orange.  The color looked even more amazing after application of my favorite top coat, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri.

My next venture?  Yellow nails!  Summer is almost over so I'm trying to experiment with as many bright nail colors as possible.

Hope everyone's enjoying the last days of summer <3

Dream Bars!

I apologize for the two month hiatus - I've been playing catch up with life!  And with grad school starting in exactly two weeks, I don't have much time to spare.

During my time off, I've jumped back into one of my favorite hobbies, baking.  For months, my brother has been asking me to try to duplicate Potbelly's infamous Sheila's Dream Bars.  I did some research to find the best recipe, and I modified it to make it my own.

I think they turned out pretty great!  My next batch will probably have a little less butter...I used THREE STICKS!  I'm so happy that my family loved them, especially my brother <3 the whole pan was gone within three days!

Love, love, love my mixer...can't live without it

Forming the bottom cookie layer

Ready for the oven!

Yummi gooeyness

Finished product =]

You have no idea how good this tastes.

June Birchbox!

I'm loving EVERYTHING I received in my Birchbox this month!  All the products were definitely worth the $10 monthly subscription fee.  Here's a sneak peek of the goodies...full reviews on some of the products later =]

Daily Yummi: Father's Day at Wildfire

Happy Father's Day to my Daddy!

For me: Spit Roasted Turkey Dinner with mushroom herb stuffing, cranberry relish,
gravy, and redskin mashed potatoes

My brother's Tenderloin Steak Sandwich with arugula, red onions, mozzarella, and pesto

My Mommy's Swordfish "London Broil" with oven roasted tomatoes and red onions

My Daddy's Tenderloin Steak Sandwich with french fries

Dessert was so yummy!  Chocolate Pretzel Ice Cream Sundae with
vanilla ice cream, peanuts, hot fudge, and caramel sauce