Avocado Roasted Garlic Quinoa Salad

Typically you will see all sweets and parties here!  But today I wanted quickly to share with you a delicious and healthy salad ~ Avocado Quinoa (keen-wa) Salad

3 cups of cooked room temp or cold quinoa 

(for the roasted garlic flavor I use Roland brand and I cook it in vegetable stock)

1 can of reduced sodium black beans rinsed and drained

1 cup of room temperature corn

1 pint a little less or more of grape tomatoes cut in half

 2 avocados cut up into ¼ to ½ pieces

¼ of chopped red onions

Dressing~ (make you dressing 1^st let it come together for about 30 minutes if not longer) this dressing is so good!  Make an extra batch and save it for a taco salad or marinate some chicken! 

¼ of grape seed oil or a scant less

¼ of fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar

1 chopped and minced clove of garlic

1 teaspoon of minced fresh ginger root

Dash of kosher salt

3-4 teaspoons of chopped cilantro ( more if you want to, I like just enough cilantro I don’t like to over do it)

Mix all the salad ingredients, then mix in the dressing and let it chill for at least an hour to let it all come together.  

Enjoy!  Do you like quinoa?  Its all the health rage now I think or apart of it with the amount of protein and heath benefits it has to offer.  How do you eat or serve the grain.  Let me know I would love to hear!

Peace Love & Quinoa~

WINNER~ celebraTORI by Tori Spelling Book Giveaway

The winner has been chosen for the fantastic book giveaway celebraTORI by Tori Spelling!  Thank you to all that left comments and your feedback for my etsy shop Styled Prints Design loft is greatly appreciated!  Thank you to Simon & Schuster,  the publisher of the book for this wonderful opportunity and book!

Here is our winner out of the comments that were left here and on my facebook page~
celebraTORI book giveawayMin: Max: Result:5


Melissa C you are the WINNER!  I hope you enjoy this fabulous book as much as I do!

Thank you again everyone!

Love, Peace & Unleashing you inner party planner~

Easter flowers & bunny cupcakes

I hope everyone had a joyous Easter!  

I just wanted to share a few pictures with you from my Easter!  

Easter morning was fun and scrumptious!  I love my simple display of spring flowers to symbolize new life and a fresh start, along with the girls Easter baskets.  We enjoyed an Easter brunch with fresh fruit, buttermilk blueberry lemon zest muffins, omelets and all sort of candy.  We headed to mass, you can see a few photos below of my little girls with their Easter hats.  

You can see my middle daughter having enough of taking pictures, she started to making silly faces! 

Off to my brothers we went in which I brought a few desserts (more on that to follow) but you will see a few pictures I took before we headed over there of the bunny digging for carrots cupcakes in the fresh wheat grass that I grew the last 2 weeks.  See the bottom photo....lucky for me I took a few because I was walking into my brothers adoring seeing my nieces and nephew, bumped into the wall and the cupcakes all fell to the floor!  That's what I get for carrying a cake on a heavy cake stand in the other hand!  

I call it life and reality....Life happens and I am not to afraid to share, because we all know it happens!  

 Peace, Love & Happy Easter~

Key Lime Curd Brownie Mini dessert

Still undecided of something different to serve for Easter? Keep reading! 

I love spring and all the bright colors we are beginning to see.  We have many options for baking and cooking with all the beautiful fruits and veggies that are growing!   When I have an idea for cooking or baking to bring certain things together I refer to the infamous The Flavor Bible, to be sure it is something that will work. If you like to cook or bake creatively, The Flavor Bible is certainly one that you should have in your kitchen! More on the book later.  

Last week I made batches of lemon & key lime curd, I wanted to be creative with the key lime curd and flavors of coconut and chocolate to make a scrumptious mini dessert.  I got out my flavor bible and was able to come up with this~

Brownie topped with key lime curd, caramelized strawberries, toasted coconut and macadamia nuts!

It is delightful I must say, perfect for spring!  

Here’s how to make this scrumptious dessert~

Prepare a batch of Key Lime Curd

Bake brownies I use Duncan Hines chewy fudge mix, let them cool.

Depending on the amount of mini desserts you are preparing, slice desired amount of strawberries.  Place the sliced strawberries in a bowl, sprinkle and lightly cover the strawberries with light brown sugar.  Let them sit for about 20 minutes and place them into a sauté pan and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring when needed. (see below)

While doing the strawberries, toast your coconut & nuts in a 350 oven for 5 minutes. 

Have a fresh whipped a bowl of fresh whipped cream ready for topping.

To assemble (pictures below)~

1^st layer is brownie circle.  I cut the brownies while in the pan using my serving cup.

Spoon key lime curd on top of the brownie

Top with the warm strawberries

Sprinkle with toasted coconut

A dap of whipped cream

Finish it of with toasted macadamia nuts

 I love my tasting party glasses with spoons from Pier 1.  I use them all the time to serve the perfect amount of dessert.  This actual dessert is a must try I promise!  You can taste every flavor in the dish, the warmth of the strawberries enhances the dish!

 The only thing this dessert is missing is a name~ what do you think?  Let me know!

Peace, Love & Key Lime Curd Brownie dessert~

celebraTORI by Tori Spelling Book Giveaway

I am so excited to announce that I have a fantastic book giveaway this week on my blog!  I love everything about the author, she was an icon from my teenage years on a show about one of my favorite zip codes; 90210!  Since then she has become as I view her a very fun loving and down to earth, wonderful mother, wife, entrepreneur, author, tv producer and party planner just to mention a few....Tori Spelling!

Tori's new book celebraTORI launches today!  I received a copy from her publishers yesterday and I must say I enjoy this book and the reason I believe in it so much is because she is sharing with you easy and creative ways to entertain.  That is exactly what my blog is about!   I believe anyone can be a fabulous host, you just need the right resources and believe in yourself!  This book will help you discover and create to become the fabulous host that you are, Tori shares many secrets and gorgeous pictures through out to help you plan your next party.  You can take a peek into her book here.

Want to win a copy?  In Tori's book she writes about the importance of the invitation to your party.   She writes that it sets the tone and announces the concept of your event.  She also writes that the invitation allows you to stretch your imagination.  Which brings me to how to win a copy of Tori's new book, after the winner is announced it will be shipped from Simon & Schuster.  Recently, I opened an etsy shop selling invitations and other party decor that I create.  Still in its early phases as you will see, but I felt this is just another way to offer my creativity and share my style along with those who purchase from my shop for entertaining.  

What to do?
1) Visit my etsy shop Styled Prints Design Loft and pin your favorite invitation to your Pinterest board.
2) Come back to this blog post and let me know the invitation you pinned in the comment section that will be your entry.
If you don't have a Pinterest account no worries, just leave a comment below letting me know what was your favorite as your entry.


3) An extra chance to win~ simply visit my Facebook page like my page Scrumptious Swirls & leave me a comment about a theme or color combination that you would like to see in the shop!

Thank you!  Good luck!  This contest is only open to US residents and ends April 9, 2012 at midnight.  Winner will be announced April 10, 2012.

Want to find me on Pinterest?  Click here!

Peace, Love & celebraTORI giveaway~