The average girl's guide to food, fitness, fashion and everything in between

Zucchini Chips

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Katie

Zucchini chips are a fun little appetizer or afternoon snack that is super easy to make. If you have a craving for something salty you have come to the right recipe.

Ingredients

1 large Zucchini
1 TBSP of Jane’s Crazy Mixed up Salt
Canola and Olive oil enough to coat the bottom of the pan

Directions

Cut zucchini into very thin slices

Put zucchini in bowl and toss with 1 TBSP of Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt

Add an equal amount of Canola and Olive Oil, enough to coat the bottom of the pan and heat up to a simmer

Drop in each slice and cook until they start to brown and flip
Remove from pan and pat dry

SELF Workout in the Park Giveaway

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Ashley

What’s great about Chicago in the summer is there are SO MANY fun outdoor events happening. One of which is the upcoming SELF Workout in the Park which is happening on June 1 at Butler Field in Grant Park. This year is the 20th anniversary of the event, at which attendees indulge in a full day of fitness, pampering, consultations, giveaways and one-on-one interaction with SELF and the event sponsors.

With Kelli Zink acting as the celebrity emcee, along with CRUNCH Fitness workouts, mini-spa services, hospitality tents and a Quiet Zone featuring yoga and Pilates, it sounds like it is going to be a great day.

It is $20 to register, which you can do so here, but through the grapevine I heard if you enter promo code CHI5, you’ll get $5 off.

The team at SELF has kindly offered us a fab giveaway to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Their Workout in the Park Fit Kit – valued at $200 – features a ton of fun items from the event’s sponsors. A sneak preview of just a few of the items is below.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below and mention your favorite outdoor workout. For extra entries, you can like the Not Quite “It” Girls on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and follow us Pinterest (maximum 4 total entries). You can mention those additional entries in the comments below. The giveaway will close on Thursday, May 23 and a winner, chosen at random, will be announced on the blog the following day. Good luck!

(All images courtesy of SELF)

A Few Spring Things

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Lauren

Spring weather has finally settled in, and so have my shopping instincts. Here are just a few things that would be great for a spring wardrobe. I had a gift certificate, so I pulled the trigger on these patent flats (on sale!) and got these beautiful coasters for my mom on Mother’s Day… and now I want them for myself. I’ve also got my eye on those strappy wedges that are the perfect height for both day and night.

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6

It’s Summer Festival Time in Chicago

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Katie

This past weekend we headed over to Soldier Field for the American Beer Classic. Now Chicago is a town with MANY summer festivals, but this one has quickly risen to the top of my can’t miss list. It hits the top three of my summer festival must haves:

Good beer
Live Music
Close to home (about a five minute walk from our place)

Before we headed over I made sure we had the basics including IDs, tickets and of course pretzel necklaces. Now I thought I was pretty clever with my pretzel necklaces, until I saw folks walking around with a pretzel, string cheese and Slim Jim necklace. GENIUS!

Now onto the beer – we sampled ALOT of beers and from what I can remember my favorites were:

Abita – Purple Haze
Bridgeport – India Pale Ale
Kona – Big Wave Golden Ale
And some Oatmeal stout that was amazing and I really wish I would have written it down

And I may have sweet talked my way into a free beer cupcake as well

Now that festival season is in full swing what are your can’t miss summer events – please share in the comments!

Fitness Faux Pas

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Ashley

via brazosrunning.com

Everyone has had something embarrassing happen to them while exercising. Sometimes when you’re new to working out, you’ll come across situations where you’d wish someone had warned you to do (or not to do) certain things.

What’s encouraging is that while it may be mortifying to you at the time, know that people have super short attention spans when it doesn’t have to do with them, and whatever your faux pas, no one will remember it come tomorrow.

Thou Shalt Always Remember To:

Confirm new workout apparel is not see through. Yes – it’s worth it to look like a fool in the dressing room to be sure you don’t look like a fool in front of your kickboxing class. Also – think ahead about what sweat will do to the fabric.
Ensure your headphones are firmly plugged into your iPod. Or risk everyone around you hearing Carly Rae Jepsen blasting from your playlist (this has most definitely happened to me more than once..)
Not push your limits just to impress people around you. When you limp in the next day in pain, it will be soooo obvious.
Use the bathroom before a long run. I know more than one person who has shown up to a race a little too well-hydrated with no where to go….
Wipe off your makeup before working out. There’s nothing more unfortunate than a girl with racoon eyes dripping down her face on the elliptical

What other tips do you have? Anyone else have embarrassing moments mid-workout?

Denim Vest

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Lauren

I’m really into this denim vest. I was initially a little afraid of it, worried that there’d be limited ways to style it. But it’s actually been the opposite. As I suspected, the vest looks cute over casual dresses, but it also works with skirts and non-denim pants, too. They key is to wear it with feminine pieces or bright colors, which prevents it from entering frumpy lumberjack territory.

Any tips for styling a denim vest? I’m always looking for new outfit ideas!

Denim vest: Gap (sold out online, similar here)
Snakeskin blouse: LOFT (old)
Pink jeans: Zara (old, similar here)
Bracelet: J. Crew
Sunglasses: Michael Kors

Spruce up your Popcorn

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Katie

Like most kids going to the movies meant all the popcorn, candy and pop you could handle, or in my family’s case what you could smuggle in under your Starter jacket.

I vividly remember the one time I was in charge of the bringing in the pop. Right when we walked by the ticket collector, two cans of Sprite fell right out of my jacket. That’s it I thought, I am done for, Cook County jail here I come.

My mother, never one to abort a mission, looked down at me and mubbled through her teeth “pick IT up NOW.” I quickly grabbed the goods and was pushed to my seat by my very embarrassed mother, but after a few fake coughs (to hide the sound of the pop can opening of course) all was forgiven and we settled in for our viewing of 3 Ninjas (or another equally awesome 90′s children’s film).

I tell you this story to explain why I have such a love of movie popcorn, while we brought in candy and pop we ALWAYS bought popcorn. And while I love me some extra buttery movie popcorn, I also enjoy an afternoon snack that is slightly more healthy. I came across this article in the May issue of Self that provides some interesting variations on traditional popcorn. I haven’t tried any out yet, but hoping to make some cinnamon popcorn one day this week.

Have any interesting variations of popcorn I should try out – leave them in the comments!

Workout Refresh

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Ashley

Every once and while I go through a funk where every workout I do just feels boring, hard, or uninteresting. The period can last anywhere from one workout to months. Usually when this happens it means that I need to take a step back to assess what I’m doing and why. My fitness routine is best when I have something to train towards, whether it be a race, or a beach vacation.

This article from FitSugar this morning has some great tips for reassessing your fitness routine when you’re going through workout fatigue. I have added my personal comments on each tip as well.

5 Ways to Freshen Up your Fitness Routine via FitSugar

1. Start fresh: Time to look through your workout gear. Donate any old equipment you don’t use anymore, clear out your workout wardrobe, and take a peek into your gym bag. Clearing away all the excess, old, and germ-y gear can help you recommit to your routine. Read our tips for donating old running shoes and cleaning your gym bag.

I personally will add, that nothing gives me an extra boost more than getting to wear a new outfit to the gym (does this make me totally lame?)

2. Reassess your routine: Feeling bored? You may not be challenging yourself. Check your routine — if it’s been awhile since you switched it up, then now’s the time to get a new one. Our printable workouts will help you switch up your routine.

A few months ago I fell into a slump and that is how I discovered high intensity interval training (post about that here). A change is always welcome!

3. Make a goal: Having a specific goal helps motivate you to commit to a workout and can make it all that more fun as well. Sign up for a race, take a beginner yoga class workshop, or challenge your friends to some friendly workout competition.

My most recent challenge: training for the Soldier Field 10 Mile. I am NOT a runner. But committing to at least one race yearly keeps things interesting (and I don’t burn out on running, which is easy for me to do.

4. Seize the weekend: If your workouts consist of time-constrained weekday workouts, then it’s time to incorporate something that’s both active and fun into your weekend. Round up your family and take a long hike, or catch up with an old friend at gentle yoga class.

I recently moved to the Gold Coast, so my favorite weekend “active recovery” exercise has become walking on the lakefront path over the weekend.

5. Find your inspiration: Sometimes, it just takes a few wise words or a healthy success story to spur you back into action. Use your friend’s successful 10-pound weight loss or motivating fitness quotes on Pinterest to help you find your enthusiasm.

Again, back to the Soldier Field race, Lauren is set on PRing, so her motivation and drive have pushed me to train harder. I know I’ll be happy about that when it’s over (right now…. not so much )

Anyone else suffer from periodic workout fatigue? How do you deal with it?

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Lauren

I’ve had the itch to do some casual baking for awhile now. (Casual baking = the kind of baking where you aren’t rushed or frazzled while doing it, or bound by some commitment to bring the baked goods somewhere). You see, a sweet friend of mine gave me some giant glass Pyrex mixing bowls for my birthday and I have been excited to put them to use. Before these, my largest “bowl” was a saucepan, and all of my ingredients would spill overboard. That, combined with a very small kitchen, made baking a little ridiculous. Lately I’ve had my Pinterest eye on these cookies, which remind me of ones I would occasionally get from a local bakery growing up. They’re chocolatey and chewy, almost resembling a brownie, with a dusting of powdered sugar on top. I made these for a coworker’s birthday last week and followed a recipe from Two Tarts, an adorable food & cocktail blog. These are easy to make–even without a stand mixer–but do require some time, as the dough needs to chill for ~2 hours. These were a hit and I’ll definitely be making these again!

Chocolate Crackle Cookies (recipe via Two Tarts)

Ingredients:

6 oz melted dark chocolate
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
8 tbsp (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, for rolling

Directions:

*Don’t preheat the oven yet, this dough will need to chill for 2 hours or so.
1. Melt dark chocolate gently.
2. Mix dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt).
3. In a separate bowl, cream sugar and butter together, then beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. Pour melted dark chocolate over the creamed butter and sugar, blend, then add dry ingredients & milk (alternating between the two to prevent puffs of flour getting all over the place).
5. The dough will be very sticky. Cover the bowl loosely in plastic wrap and chill for approx 2 hours, or until dough is hardened and can be handled.
6. Preheat oven to 350. Scoop out spoonfuls of hardened dough, roll between your palms to form a ball, then toss the ball into a bowl of powdered sugar to coat it. If the dough gets too sticky to handle, pop it back in the fridge or freezer to cool it back down. Line cookies on the sheet (not too closely – they spread) and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

Cinnamon Churros

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Katie

In celebration of Cinco De Mayo and my father-in-law’s birthday I decided to try my hand at cinnamon churros. After a few false starts, I was able to pull together about three that actually looked edible.

The rest still tasted great, but they fell apart a little bit once I fried them. A few lessons learned:

If you want to use a decorating bag (which would probably be the easiest) you need a LARGE star rather than the ones you would use to decorate a cupcake.
Now if you don’t have decorating bags it is also easy enough to roll out the dough into long thin pieces, fold the piece in half and twist. This makes a pretzel shape, rather than the traditional churro star shape.

Either way they still tasted great – check out the recipe below

Recipe

1 cup water
1/3 cup butter
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Vegetable oil for deep-fat frying
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon