Silly Thirty in the Test Kitchen: Skillet Lasagna

What's going on everybody?  It's another Monday - so it's another cooking post!

The last time I reported on my adventures in the test kitchen, I told you about a total flop for me with the Two-Ingredient Pancakes.  Well this time, I bring you a success story: Skillet Lasagna!  This is lasagna deconstructed - doesn't that sound all modern and hipster?


I got this recipe from Shape Magazine - they posted it on Facebook.  When I read up on what this meal would entail for prepping and cooking and saw how easy it was, I figured why not?  You can find the recipe here.  I think this is the perfect meal for a weekend when you want to stay in, but you don't want to make anything too fancy or involved.  This has cheese and carbs, so I consider this to be comfort food - perfect for the winter time.

The only thing I changed here is I used 8-oz. of a ready-made spaghetti sauce - like Prego or Ragu - instead of a no-salt added tomato sauce.  Because of that, I did not add anymore salt to the meal.  So, if you happen to make your own spaghetti or marinara sauce then use that, or if you do not have any plain tomato sauce on-hand, don't be afraid to add some spaghetti sauce from the jar and carry on with it. 

Here is the finished product:

 (Please excuse the messy stove top!)

Here is what it looked like plated with some chopped basil:

(We used the fine china for this meal.)

(Seriously though, why haven't I been topping all of my pasta dishes with some chopped basil?  *Cue Rihanna's "Where Have You Been (All My Life)"*  Between the fresh smell and the little extra it adds to the taste - my husband and I were in heaven.) 

The last thing I would say is - don't be afraid to use another kind of meat.  This recipe originally called for either 95% lean ground beef or pork.  I have lately seen in the grocery stores that they are now offering ground turkey that is pre-seasoned with Italian seasoning and chicken sausage that is also pre-seasoned the same way.  I plan to make this again, but will use either ground turkey, chicken sausage, or ground chicken with some Italian seasoning added in - I'm sure it will be just as delicious.

If you haven't already figured this one out - this meal was a big win in my house and I think it will be at your house as well.  Let me know if you try this one out, and if you have made any substitutions to the ingredients.

Take care and talk to you soon!

Silly Thirty Reviews: Benefit's Fakeup Concealer for the Winter

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Here is another beauty review of something that has quickly become a holy grail product for me during this cold and very dry winter: I'm talking about Fakeup from Benefit. 

Fakeup is a concealer intended for covering darkness under the eyes.  It is a crease-control hydrating concealer that looks like nothing I have ever seen before.  The actual concealer is surrounded by a moisturizer.  Take a look:

 (Shade 01: Light is on the left and Shade 02: Medium is on the right)

When Fakeup first debuted, I had my misgivings about it.  I thought it was a gimmick.  Then, the winter weather hit.  It has been an exceptionally dry winter for me here in New York.  

My skin is already pretty dry and the concealer I was previously using - Timebalm from The Balm - while perfect for the warmer months, was emphasizing my fine lines and magnifying the crepe-factor that is going on there.  (Let me know if you would like a review of Timebalm in the comments section.)  It made me appear tired and old - not a good look.  It turns out that I need a little more of a moisture boost under the eyes for the colder weather.

I had a sample of Fakeup that I totally forgot about and "found" while getting ready one morning.  I must say, I was very impressed from the get-go.  I did not set this with powder because I knew for myself that it would totally defeat the purpose and make the area look dry and gross. 

For the duration of the day, my under eye area looked great.  It stayed moisturized throughout the day, no crepe-i-ness or fine lines emphasized.  I did not find that this stuff slid around (most likely because I needed the moisture boost so my skin was drinking this up) and it did not require any touch up.  

As far as the color range goes, it is very limited.  You have to pick between 01 light, 02 medium, and 03 dark.  Let's hope that Benefit will be coming out with some in-between shades for this concealer.  My skin tone is definitely more towards medium, but I like to blend the light and medium together for a brightened effect.

I was so impressed with the sample, that I went out and purchased the full sizes that evening at my local Ulta.  This concealer is now part of my everyday makeup routine. 

Fakeup costs about $24.00 US and you can find it online at Benefit.com; Sephora (in stores and online); Ulta (in stores and online); and a bunch of other online retailers.  If anyone else has used Fakeup - I would love to hear what you think!  Talk to you soon!

Full Disclosure (I should have been doing this with my earlier beauty posts): I purchased these products with my own money.  I did not receive any compensation of any kind in connection with this review.  These are my own opinions about this product.  I do not have any affiliation with any of the  products mentioned.  The links I have inserted are for your convenience for finding and researching these products. 

Silly Thirty Cooking: In the Test Kitchen Making Two-Ingredient Banana Pancakes

Hi everyone - hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I took an unintentional and unplanned break from posting last week - so I apologize if you were wondering where I was and were missing the blog.

A couple of weeks ago, I was on Bloglovin perusing the beauty and food blogs and I saw an interesting post on pancakes, specifically banana pancakes.  I love pancakes, french toast - anything carby and delicious for breakfast.  Unfortunately, pancakes and french toast are not something I can eat too frequently because I would have to start wearing clothes about 10 sizes larger than what I already wear.  But getting back...

The Black Pearl Blog, operated by a woman with lovely looking eyebrows named Sandra who hails from Glasgow, had this post last month on her recipe for "Healthy Two Ingredient Banana Pancakes."  You can check out her and her banana pancake post right here.  Much like the title of the recipe would suggest, the recipe calls for two ingredients - bananas and eggs.  Needless to say, I was intrigued especially considering the fact that bananas and eggs alone are, by far, much healthier than traditional pancakes.

So one Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago when I was mulling over what to eat for breakfast, I decided to give this recipe a go.  I mean how hard could it be?  Heh - well, let's put it this way people: I wouldn't be telling you about this little experiment unless a) it was totally delicious or b) it was a complete and total disaster and I couldn't resist giving you the opportunity to have a chuckle about it with me.  Can you guess what happened here?

Now before we begin, I want to say that I set the bar pretty low for myself in terms of how well I thought this would turn out.  I did not think that these two ingredient pancakes were going to taste just like regular pancakes - it would have been ridiculous to think that way.  I thought that if I could get the consistency right - more or less similar to a traditional pancake - then maybe this would become part of my breakfast cooking repertoire.   

So here is how I started:

Black Pearl Sandra, as I will call her for the purposes for this post, suggested adding a little vanilla extract or cinnamon to sweeten things up a bit.  

I thought I had a photo of the bowl with the egg and banana mixture - guess not.  Here is the mixture in a measuring cup which I thought would help with my pour of this concoction onto the pan:

I modified the recipe by adding another banana into the mix.  When I initially mixed everything together, it looked too much like eggs with banana blended in.  (I know, I know...)

Here is the first pancake, mid-cook:

 

Black Pearl Sandra said you can flip it over once it starts to bubble, much like traditional pancakes.  So that is what I did and here is what happened:

The one thing about these pancakes is that patience is key.  They are to be cooked in low/medium heat, you need to let them sit there and cook, and just when you think these are ready to flip, just leave them on a little bit longer and then flip them over. 

Black Pearl Sandra also suggested adding some baking powder if you wanted a fluffier pancake.  And who wouldn't want a fluffier pancake?  So I took a look in my pantry, but I did not see any baking powder.  I did find some cornstarch though, and figured at that this point: why the heck not?

 

 (Big shout out to Ben Affleck for making a wonderful little film about the true story of the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.) 

This is what the final product looked like:

Yea I know, it looks like an omelet with mashed banana in there.  And it more or less tasted the same way, corn starch and vanilla extract be damned.  

Funnily enough, later that morning while at the chiropractor, I found the following post on instagram from Blogilates: 

 

 

Will I try this again?  Most likely I will - I do have a blender so I can do a second try with the aforementioned suggestion.  I wonder if omitting the egg yolks would make a difference and add some fluffiness to consistency?  There is only one way to find out!

Have any of you tried the Two-Ingredient Pancakes?  Please share in the comments section below if you have.  

Talk to you soon!! xoxo