Spicy Corn and Black Bean Salsa (and Semi-Homemade Tortilla Chips)

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Once upon a time, Justin and I were in the mood for something spicy. And by spicy, I mean salsa. But we wanted spicy, chunky salsa. And we wanted some color. Hence the corn.

The salsa itself is pretty darn hot... unless you cut the Sriracha Sauce in half (which is do-able, but why, why, why would you want to?!). But here we were, a delicious bowl of Salsa in front of us, with no chips. How could we forget the chips?!

Justin muttered to himself... Darn. I wish we had chips.

My response? Give me ten minutes.

And, true to my word, ten minutes later, I had semi-homemade tortilla chips (thank God we had a bag of "authentic" corn tortillas hanging around!). And the rest, as they say, is history! :)

...oh, but did I mention the whole bowl is only 206 calories (and with 42% of your daily FIBER intake?!)

 

Spicy Corn and Black Bean Salsa

Calories Total: 206 (for the salsa recipe only)
Calories Per Serving: 52 (based on 4 servings)
Prep Time: 2 Minutes

Ingredients for Salsa:

• 1/2 Cup Corn (Look for Whole Kernal Corn and try to avoid any corn that says "Sweet," "Sweetened," etc)
• 2 Tomatoes, diced (or 1 cup Canned Crushed Tomatoes with No Salt Added)
• 1/2 cup Organic Black Beans (if buying a can, look for no added salt or low sodium)
• 2 tsp Sriracha Sauce (or 1 tsp for a more mild salsa)

Ingredients for Homemade Tortilla Chips (Just in case!):

• 8-10 corn tortillas (look for the lowest calorie bag. I've found that authentic is actually better in this particular quest!)

Directions for Salsa:

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well
2. Serve with chips! 

Directions for Homemade Tortilla Chips (Just in case!):

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Stack Tortillas on top of each other and then cut them, all at once, into 4 triangle pieces for large chips or 8 for small chips.
3. Place on an un-greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes or until crispy. Make sure to test a chip before you turn the oven off! If they're not crispy enough, keep them in for another few minutes.

DIY | Teacup Candles (Oh, Martha Stewart!)

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Me oh my. Martha Stewart, you've done it again. "Done what?" Oh, nothing, really... you've just made my life a bit more colorful. A few months back, I hit up a thrift store and walked out with a few random teacups for $.99 each. I had visions of teacup candles dancing in my head... and there I was, thinking I had come up with this incredibly genius concept. 

Enter Martha Stewart. Apparently she was the genius. I must have unknowingly absorbed her incredibly genius concept by some undiscovered form of osmosis. Sure enough, there I was, googling around about teacups, when there it was: Martha's teacup candles.  You know what, Martha Stewart? I hate you. But I love you. 

Got a thrift store or Goodwill around town? There are always shelves full of various cups and teacups. This tutorial will work with just about any container. Teacups? Milk saucers? Glass jars? Check. Please, pretty please, will somebody put this in an elephant tea pot? You would make my day...

How To Make Teacup Candles

DIY | Glitter Heels

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At some point over the last few months, glitter went from being entirely tacky to surprisingly chic. I don’t know whose fault this is or why it happened but I will certainly admit that I’ve jumped on the band wagon (for proof, check out my Photoshop Glitter Tutorial or Photoshop Glitter Masking Tutorial).

Glitter is an interesting 'material,' though, because it either looks great or horrible. I see something covered in glitter and immediately think either “I WANT THAT!” or “How tacky…”  

When I saw a few glitter-covered heels on Pinterest, I was convinced I’d have to make myself a pair. So I did. As with most projects, there’s a tacky way and a non-tacky way to go about things. But I’m pretty sure we nailed this one...

And here's how:

I had a pair of nude heels from Target sitting around in my shoe drawer at work (yes, I have a shoe drawer... when you walk to work in snow-and-salt-covered Chicago, a girl's gotta improvise). The heels were getting a bit marked up so it felt like the perfect time to tackle this project.

Having purchased gold glitter spray-paint ($5.99 at Hobby Lobby), I covered both shoes in painters tape and plastic bags, leaving only the heel exposed (because an entirely glitter-covered shoe just might cross the line into tacky town, depending on the venue and event, right?).

 
I did about 4 layers of glitter spray-paint before the spraypaint can suddenly stopped working. What on earth?! Have the glitter gods have doomed my project to failure?  No. Apparently, if you leave a spray-paint can right-side-up after its inaugural spray voyage, it can ruin the can... FOREVER.  

Here's how glam-ed up my heels had become before the death of the spray-paint can...

They look better in that photo than they were in real life. Truth was, while they were glitzy on camera, they just weren't cutting it off-screen. I wanted there to be a clear difference between the nude shoe and the glitter heel. I wanted the battle between Plane Jane and Lady Gaga on my feet. Instead it was... Plane Jane and regular Jane?

Anyways, with my impatient nature, I began searching for a solution. Sure, I could buy another can of glitter spray-paint… but I didn’t love the gold look anyways (just wasn't Gaga enough for me, I guess?). Plus, a new can of spray-paint would have meant another drive to the store and another 6 dollars; both sacrifices I was unwilling to make at the time.

My solution? Nail polish.

It sounds odd but was probably the best accidental discovery of all time (exaggerate much, Carly?).  I covered the heels in this silver nail polish, bought for $5 at Urban Outfitters. I did about 3 coats of nail polish to get the look just right… (The above photo is after the first coat)

Ultimately, I think it was fate that brought that little silver glitter nail polish into my life (still exaggerating, I see...). The combination of gold (spray-paint) and silver (nail polish) helps these shoes really sparkle, though the end result is much more silver than gold. As an added bonus, the tip of the nail polish brush allowed me to be very deliberate with my painting and get every nook and cranny, which would have been quite difficult if I had exclusively used the glitter spray-paint.

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DIY Camera Bag

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This year, I was determined to get to work on a homemade-yet-extremely-useful gift for my mother. We both shoot with a Nikon D5000 and had been working with fairly standard Nikon camera bags.  At the end of the day, however, those bags pose two problems. First, they're not particularly glamorous. It felt like lugging around a huge, unattractive... diaper bag. Shouldn't it feel badass to be shooting in downtown Chicago? Not when you're carrying around a diaper bag! Second, the bags were total theft magnets. I can't even keep track of how many people I know whose cameras have been stolen. Why does that surprise me when we carry around bags with NIKON or CANON written across the top? 

From now on, I will carry a camera bag that screams neither "Steal me, I have $1,000 of equipment inside!" nor "Look, a diaper bag!"  No, sir. I pledge (ha!) to carry a bag that is attractive. Chic. Fabulous. 

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