GET TO KNOW: AMY OF 5TH AND VINE

Who is ready for some affordable fashion in their lives?! I AM!

I am so excited to share the redesign of my friend's blog, but even more pumped to announce she will be guest posting for me while I am in Ohio for the next few days.

Amy is a style blogger who went to school for fashion merchandising and has quite the knack for putting outfits together on a budget. Please welcome this fashionable, little mama as she tells us how to get "the look for less."

First off, before we "get to know" Amy, here is the new design I came up with for her style blog, 5th AND VINE. Amy wanted something simple and sophisticated and we both felt this fit the ticket.

And now for the good stuff! Let's get to know Amy! 

(She totally humored me and answered all of my questions. I can't help myself! I love this stuff.)

BAKED PASTA WITH SAUSAGE & SPINACH

Like I said in this post, Skinnytaste is one of my go-to sites for meal planning. I tried this baked pasta dish last week and OOOMMMGGG was it good. Logan said it made his 'top ten favorite meals I make' list. ;) Only thing is, when I was shopping for the ingredients, I made a mistake and bought the wrong kind of cheese. I bought 'pepperoncino provolone zesty blend' instead of 'Pecorino Romano'. Do not even ask me how I screwed that up, except for the fact that the Woodman's cheese isle is a bit overwhelming if you ask me. I could stand there and look for a certain kind of cheese for 15 minutes and it will be right in front of me.  Anyways, I used the pepperoncino provolone cheese anyways (there was no way I was running back to the store) and it was AMAZING! It gave the dish a some kick. Logan 'lover of all things spicy' gobbled it up. I loved it too! I wouldn't make it any different. Put this recipe on the meal planning list people! DO IT! You will love it aaaand you can freeze it. Stock up that freezer kids!

(I made a few changes to the recipe - the cheese being one and I used fully-cooked chicken sausage so I could skip the browning the meat. I would also suggest making the marinara yourself. It is really simple.)

Ingredients:

olive oil spray
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano pepperoncino provolone zesty blend
8 oz part-skim ricotta
8 oz part-skim mozzarella, shredded
14 oz fully cooked chicken sausage - chopped into bite-sized piece (see image below)
12 oz rigatoni pasta
1 tsp olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid
salt and fresh pepper to taste
4 cups Marinara Sauce  - or make your own - See recipe HERE.

I used the applegate brand, but either will work just fine.)

Directions:

If you are going to make your marinara, do it now. See recipe HERE.

Preheat the oven to 375°. Spray a 9- x13-inch baking dish with olive oil spray.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, 6 tablespoons of the Pecorino Romano cheese and half of the mozzarella cheese.

Add oil to a heated skillet and sauté garlic about a minute, careful not to burn. Add spinach and season with a little salt and pepper and cook another minute. Add sausage and the marinara sauce to the skillet; cook on low about 2-3 minutes.

When the pasta water comes to a boil, cook pasta according to instructions for al dente, but undercook them by 4 minutes less; drain and return to pot.

Put half of the cooked pasta into the prepared baking dish and top with half of the meat sauce. Spoon the ricotta mixture on top of the sauce in an even layer. Coverwith the remaining pasta and the remaining sauce. Top with the remaining mozzarella and Pecorino Romano pepperoncino provolone cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 6-7 minutes or until the mozzarella is melted and the edges are lightly browned.

FREE PRINTABLE: BIRTHDAY CAKE PENNANT TOPPER

A few weeks ago my adorable nephew, Brixton, turned one! I made his birthday cake as a trade of services with his super talented mama for doing my hair! :)

Here is the backstory on why the cake is blue. Brixton loves his blue stuffed rhino named Rupert. Holly wanted the cake to be the same color as Rupert, so she bought the blue icing dye and gave it to me.  I had every intention of making a little rhino out of fondant to place on the top of the cake, but time just got away from me. Imagine that! When that happens, as it often does, I fall back on my graphic skills and make something out of paper! Here is what I came up with!

I made it into a free printable if any of you would like to use it!

Download the free printable HERE.

(print on 8.5x11" paper)

Here is what you will need:

And here is how you put it together:

And here is the birthday boy himself, with Rupert, of course! (Isn't he the cutest?!)

In case you are interested, here is the recipe I used. I got it from my co-worker who said it is pretty much amazing. Another co-worker made it and confirmed - YES, It is amazing!!! so I made it!

(I doubled the recipe and made it in two 12" round cake pans. I put a little bit of the frosting in between the layers to hold them together, then frosted the rest of it with the remaining frosting.)

FALL WISH LIST

Yup, it's me again making a style post. I still find it rather humorous that I post about fashion at all. I love to shop and buy cute clothes/shoes/accessories, but fly out the door wearing jeans, a boyfriend T and my toms about 90% of the time. Oh, and add wet hair and no makeup to that hot look. I wish I was the girl who always leaves the house looking all put together, but I am not. Never haven been, never will be. So I guess this is my wish list for the 10% of my life I feel the need to look cute. :)

INSPIRATION:

BUY IT:

From top to bottom - left to right

cream sweater  |  tan cardigan  |  basic striped t

neon crossbody bag  |  initial necklace  |  basic t

white textured dress  |  jean jacket  |  green bag  |  olive dress

leopard belt  | mustard over-sized clutch  |   high ankle booties  |  sweater tights

pointy toed flats (animals print in my fav!)  |  low ankle booties  |  jack purcell tennies

CAMERA PRACTICE: GARCIA 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PICS

As I am sure you all know at this point, Jodie is my Kirsten Dunst look-alike bestie. Jodie and Luis (usually referred to as J&L in my blog posts) got married a little over a year ago and Kate (my other bestie - now known as Ohio bestie... boo!) and I were her maid of honors. They got married in their backyard and planted a 'wedding tree' as part of the ceremony. The plan was to take a picture by their tree every year on their anniversary. Well, they got married in April, so we are a little late... but who cares. :)  Jodie has been asking me to snap their picture with their special tree for a few months now and I keep forgetting my camera when we go over for Monday night dinners. Anyways, I called Jodie last week and told her we are taking that darn pic and we are doing 'pretend' engagement pictures, too. Ok, let's just call them anniversary pics. It will probably just be a tradition now. We will call it the annual Garcia anniversary photo shoot. :)

These too are pretty much my favorite. I love them and I love how much they love each other. (that's a lot of loves) I will take pictures of these two anytime. I love Jodie's vintage style, red lips and adorable smile. Luis is pretty darn adorable as well. :)

'WHAT'S UP WITH THE BUELLS' HOMEMADE PIZZA

I am 1/4 Italian and 3/4 all kinds of other stuff. I may not look Italian, but it shows up in other places, like my fiery temper. ;) My Grandfather, on the other hand, is 100% Italian. He is from a small town in northern Italy called Bormio. Logan and I actually had a chance to travel to Bormio a few years ago and meet my family who still lives there. It was, without a doubt, an experience of a lifetime.

Having an Italian family, I grew up eating pizza. My family's favorite pizza joints were Paisans (before it moved locations), Gino's on State Street and the GreenBush Bar in the basement of the Italian Workman's Club. Greenbush was the name of the old Italian neighborhood in Madison before they knocked everything down to build Meriter Hospital. That is where my grandfather grew up.

So I guess that was my unnecessary history lesson/intro to try and make you understand how much I LOVE authentic Italian pizza. Nothing beats the real deal in Italy, but this recipe is the closest I have come to making it myself. I really must give credit to my sister in law, Ashley, for the crust. She makes the most amazing pizza. After I had her pizza crust, I did away with my old recipes and now only make hers. The rest of the recipe, much like the crust, is actually really simple. It doesn't have to be complex to be delicious.

CRUST INGREDIENTS:
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup cold water
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour

DIRECTIONS:
Sprinkle yeast over warm water in a large bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes to proof. Stir in salt and cold water, then stir in the flour about 1 cup at a time. When the dough is together enough to remove from the bowl, knead on a floured surface until smooth, about 10 minutes. Divide into four pieces, and form each one into a tight ball. Coat the dough balls with olive oil, and refrigerate in a sealed container for at least 16 hours. Be sure to use a big enough container to allow the dough to rise. 

At this point you can either freeze the balls of dough or use them right away. I always make a double batch (makes 8 balls) and I make two for dinner (one for Logan and one for Ellis and I) and freeze six so they are ready for quick week night dinners. If using right away, remove the dough from the refrigerator one hour prior to using. If frozen, take it out of the freezer and place it in the refrigerator the night before. Take it out an hour prior to using.

NOTE: This picture shows a double batch.

PIZZA INGREDIENTS:
Homemade crust (above)
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella balls
Fresh basil
Olive oil
Dried oregano
Cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven, with a pizza stone on the lowest rack, to 550 degrees F. Lightly dust a pizza peel with flour.

Using one ball of dough at a time, lightly dust the dough with flour, and flatten with your hands. Continue to flatten with a rolling pin until it is about 1/4 of an inch thick. Place the rolled out dough on the floured peel. 

Place thin slices of mozzarella over the crust, then grind a liberal amount of black pepper over it. Sprinkle with dried oregano. Randomly pour the crushed tomatoes over the pizza, leaving some empty areas. Drizzle olive oil over the top and sprinkle a few basil leaves on top.

With a quick back and forth jerk, make sure the dough will release from the peel easily. Place the tip of the peel at the back of the preheated pizza stone, and remove peel so that the pizza is left on the stone.

Bake for 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the crust begins to brown. MAKE SURE that the edges are brown and crispy before removing the pizza from the oven. The slightly crispy crust is what makes it so yummy. Remove from the oven by sliding the peel beneath the pizza. Sprinkle a few more basil leaves randomly over the pizza. Cut into wedges and serve.

After writing this post, I went back and looked at some of our pictures from our Europe trip. We went to Switzerland with Jodie and Luis and then split off and traveled Italy ourselves - Bormio, Venice, Cinque Terre, and Rome.

I pulled a few pictures from Bormio, where Logan and I got to meet my Italian relatives and eat really, REALLY good Italian pizza. :)

Going through our pictures gave me a severe case of the the travel bug. 

Who am I kidding? All I ever want to do is travel. I have so many places to go...

AMEN!

CAMERA PRACTICE: SRNKA FAMILY PICS {CONTINUED}

Happy Monday morning! Here are a few more pictures from Friday night's little photo shoot. Like I said in my last post, I had so much fun taking these pictures. How can you beat cute floral dresses, big baby blues and beautiful lighting? Even though I am a complete amateur, I am in love with the way they turned out.

Amy is a girl after my own heart. She got that fabulous dress just hours before at Urban Outfitters for $10! :) Yes, we are both love a good sale! We were taking the girls to the Children's Museum and Amy just happened to do a little shopping before I got down there. Oops! ;)