What's Cookin'?

Within the past month or so, I realized just how much money I was spending on going out for meals. The options at restaurants also aren't always exactly the healthiest choices out there, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and start limiting myself to one restaurant visit per week. This means that I've been cooking every other meal on my own at home. It's been a major change for my busy lifestyle, but I've loved the results. My bank account is a little cushier and I feel much healthier. I have so much more energy now. 

One of my favorite things that I've been reading lately is Mario Lopez's book Extra Lean. It teaches you to re-evaluate your eating habits and improve them. I haven't been following the plan to a T, but I've been using lots of the recipes in the book. I want to share with you guys one of my favorites, a beef stir-fry. The recipe in the book serves only one person, so if you're going to be sharing this meal, I'd recommend doubling the amounts. 

1 tsp canola oil

4 oz thinly sliced flank steak

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp grated fresh ginger root

1 cup chopped broccoli

1 cup diced red bell pepper

1/2 cup sliced red onion

1 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp teriyaki or hoisin sauce

1. Heat oil in a skillet or wok on medium-high heat, add beef and cook for 1 minute.

2. Add garlic, ginger, broccoli, pepper, and onion; cook, tossing continuously for 2 minutes.

3. Add soy sauce and teriyaki sauce and cook for an extra 2 minutes or until the broccoli is crisp-tender.

This is probably one of the easiest and best tasting things I've ever made at home. Not to mention the fact that it doesn't take very long to cook. I modified the recipe a little bit the second time I made this dish, because my boyfriend was having dinner with me. I removed the broccoli and onion from the recipe, added yellow bell peppers to the mixture while cooking, and added spinach leaves after it was all done cooking. 

Measuring out the flank steak

Diced bell peppers... I actually love those raw, too.

Soy & Teriyaki

During the cooking process

and... voila! The finished meal! It was delicious. I love that this meal only has 333 calories total, and it's got some good protein. For spicy lovers, I'd recommend adding a little bit of chili sauce!

Although this next part may be a little contradictory to the topic of this post (healthy cooking at home), I still have to share with you guys a little bit of goodness that my man surprised me with the other day. My favorite chocolates - Godiva Dark Truffles - and two red velvet cupcakes from Crave Cupcakes in Houston. I was definitely spoiled with all these treats, but my sweet tooth will never go away. It's impossible for me to resist indulging every now and again.

I'm about to relax with a cup of coffee and the latest issue of Lucky Magazine. I considered stopping by the mall for a few things I need to pick up from Sephora, but upon remembering that this weekend is "Tax-free weekend", I figured it's best to steer clear of the mall unless I feel like getting trampled by back-to-school-shopping moms and teenagers. No thanks. 

Hope everyone has a happy Sunday!

Natalie Delaine

Las Vegas

Greetings, pretties! I haven't disappeared, I promise. I have been so busy lately at the salon and at home -  trying to play catch-up after the Vegas trip was a bit much for me. But! Now I'm settled at home and I can finally take a moment to sit down and share some photos from the trip!

Me and a couple of co-workers of mine getting ready to head to the NAHA ceremony. I was so happy with the way my outfit turned out. The unexpected contrast of my bright, girly BCBGeneration dress with my tough, edgy Jeffrey Campbell platforms was exactly what I was wanting. The shoes were definitely a head-turner - I even had strangers telling me they were a hit. I strongly advise every female reading this to go out and buy a pair for yourself. I promise you'll feel at least a little foxier. And that's never a bad thing!

Me and Bre waiting for the awards to start.

This was taken during the opening of the actual awards show. It was fantastic this year. For those of you who aren't familiar with NAHA, it is the North American Hairstyling Awards. Held annually in Las Vegas, it's basically the Grammys of hair. Stylists from all over the US and Canada send in their latest and greatest portfolio photos to be nominated in several different categories. It was awesome to see so many of the stylists' takes on the newest trends, and there was so much amazing work this year. I definitely left with strong inspiration and even more excitement and gratitude for being part of such an incredible industry. I can't wait to see what's in store for next year.

Here's a shot of me and the wonderful, handsome man in my life. I was super stoked that he got to travel with me, even though it was a business trip for the salon. I loved having him there. <3

These two shots were taken outside of the NY, NY hotel and casino. Unfortunately, I didn't ride the rollercoaster while I was there, but I was a little too busy checking out the AllSaints store in the Cosmopolitan during my downtime... I couldn't help myself! I even found an amazing leather messenger bag that was on sale. I fell in love. (pictures to come!)

Of course when we were there, we had to hit up In-N-Out burger. With extra sauce. I promise only one of those burgers was mine! :)

And here's one last photo to round up the Vegas post! Me on the strip, feeling pretty and enjoying the evening after NAHA ended. If only my shoes were captured in this picture... but Lord knows you guys have already heard enough about those bad boys.

I hope everybody's having a happy Thursday! Next time, I'm going to share what's been going down in my kitchen as of late... and I'm pretty stoked about it. So keep checking back for more! 

Natalie Delaine