15 4th of July Drinks, Desserts, and Breakfasts

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Whether you love getting festive for the fourth of July, or you're still feeling the USA love after watching Tim Howard defend the union last night, here are 15 delicious and healthy recipes you can make to celebrate your Red, White, and Blue!

Cocktails and Drinks

1. Skinny Summertime White Wine Sangria

2. Blueberry & Chambord Patriotic Cocktail

3. Strong & Skinny Strawberry Daiquiri

4. Victoria's Secret Model's Red Detox Juice
For those of you who are trying to keep away from the alcohol, there's no reason not to indulge in something patriotic and red, white, or blue!

Desserts and Sweets

5. 100 Calorie Cake Balls
These aren't red, white, or blue, but you could easily make them more patriotic. Try using natural food coloring mixed in with white almond bark for the hard shell exterior. You can make them any color you want!

6. Gluten-Free Upside-Down Apple Pie

7. Blueberry Cheesecake In A Jar

8. Chocolate Frozen Yogurt with Berries

9. 4th of July Red, White, and Blue Suckers

Mains

10. Berry Balsamic Crumble

11. Whole Wheat Fiber Waffles

12. Paleo Grilled Carrots

13. Spicy Corn & Black Bean Salsa

14. Pork, Caulirice, and Feta Stuffed Peppers

15. Grilled Eggplant with Sharp Cheddar and Vine Ripened Tomatoes

Eating and Drinking My Way Through The City

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As I gathered my pictures from the weekend, I realized that the majority of my photos are of food. Go figure. Apparently I ate and drank my way through the city of Chicago.

Before my condition worsened...

We kicked off Friday with Delirium Day at Paddy Long's. The Irish restaurant is known for its bacon laden menu, so we combined delirium tremens with everything bacon. I had a bacon quesadilla. It was delicious and filling.

As luck would have it, I have developed an allergy to some beer (Dear God, don't let this spread to Guinness...). So, thirty minutes into the event, I was suddenly a snot ball (glamorous, I know) and could hardly breathe. We stayed as long as we could, but when our friends decided to change venues, we had to call it quits and cab it home. 

Handsome husband :)

The next morning, we were feeling lazy. After our weekend in Holland, we still hadn't had the time to properly grocery shop, so we were out of supplies. The logical answer? Breakfast date.

Entirely mismatched. The Carly Brunch Special.

After a delicious (read: HUGE) meal at The Breakfast Club, we walked around for a bit and ended up stopping to by a chocolate bar. After said huge breakfast. At my behest. Because I apparently needed it at the time. It's not what you think.

A few hours later, after I realized how much junk I'd put into my body, I decided to get some fresh air and took the dog on a jog. We headed toward Wicker Park, spent some time drinking from the fountain there (just her... not me), and eventually came home about an hour and a half later.

It's fall, isn't that enough of an excuse?

...which was just in time for me to put more food into the machine. I made gluten free, upside-down apple pie and topped it with organic vanilla bean ice cream. Recipe coming tomorrow...

How much leopard is too much leopard?

Sunday morning, I woke up to a clean apartment. No, the cleaning fairies didn't visit during my slumber -- we spent a few hours cleaning the day before. We headed out on a walk with the dog, and I continued to shamelessly wear my leopard print Aerosoles. Seriously, it's like walking on a cloud.

Husband-made. Wife-approved.

My wonderful husband (are you reading this, babe?) had gone grocery shopping during my jog with the dog (dogjog, anyone?), so we had all the supplies we needed for a delicious breakfast. He made me egg whites with sauteed veggies, and I sprinkled nutritional yeast on top. Compared to the day before, I was getting an A+ for nutrition.

New specs!

A few hours later, after a run at the gym and, yes, more cleaning, we headed back to Wicker Park to meet my parents for dinner at Mana Food Bar. It was amazing the first time I went (after a girls spa day), and I was still impressed this time. The men weren't quite as excited, but it was a meatless dinner, so I don't know what I was thinking bringing them there.

Pineapple and Ginger Sake Cocktail at Mana... and my dry cleaning label that I didn't realize was on my jacket until we arrived! Oops...

My mom and I both tried their Pineapple Ginger Sake Cocktail, and it was amazing. I also love their Coconut Water and Lime, but this may have been better. It's hard to say. Either way, that's a good tie in my opinion!

Last but not least? We stopped by Shit Fountain. Pardon my French... but it is engraved on the fountain!

What about you?

• Have you ever been to a Vegan restaurant?
• Do the men in your life require meat for their meals?

6 Skinny Cocktail Recipes You'll Love

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Not sure if you'd noticed, but today's Friday. You're probably shedding tears of joy right now, aren't you? Me too, folks, me too. I'm pretty sure Friday is my favorite day of the week, simply because there's so much anticipation for the next few days of not working. And by not working, I mean exercising, baking/cooking/making things/taking pictures for this blog, finishing my book and/or editing, doing laundry... WAIT, stop, Carly! Now you're just depressing everybody. The weekend is supposed to be about relaxing... right?

Apparently my way of sending you all off to relax is by getting you drunk. Seriously - I looked it up. I've given you cocktail recipes every Friday for almost the entire summer. No, I'm not trying to kill you.

How about, instead of shoving just one recipe in your face, I give you 6? Look, now you have choices! People love choices! It's true, I asked my mom!

P.S. If thou goest shopping this weekend, I charge thee to instagram/tweet a picture of thy shopping cart with the hashtag #inmycart. 

P.S.S. Apparently, Old English and talking about social media don't exactly mix well. Oh well. These drinks do!

1. Blueberry Chambord Cocktail

2. Red In The Morning Cocktail (Sparkling Vodka Sunrise)

3. Whiskey Sweet 'N' Sour

4. Moonlight Basil Mojito

5. Skinny Strawberry Daiquiri

6. Purple People Drinker 

DIY Decor | Leather Coasters

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After overhauling my bedroom headboard using a thick leather-esque fabric, we had a whoolleeeelotta leftovers. It ended up in bow bracelets and cuff bracelets (and leather coasters, oh my!)...

Then, one fateful night, I stayed up for far too long making a camera bag for my mom. Somehow, that small exposure to a sewing machine gave me confidence in my sewing abilities, leading me to stay up even longer to make Justin these leather coasters for his apartment.

These are pretty easy. Of all things craft-and-food related, I am especially unskilled when it comes to sewing (something about fine motor skills and patience... not a good combination for this gal). And so, my friends, as they say in Kindergarten... If I can do it, you can do it! (They do say that... right?)

I started by deciding how large to make the coasters. I decided to go with 3.5in by 3.5in. Larger coasters would work but I wouldn't go much smaller than that.

The lines in this fabric made cutting fairly simple, but make sure that all your pieces are the same size. Don't get too overwhelmed by this detail, though -- you can always trim them after sewing.

I was worried that the two pieces would slip-and-slide while I sewed them together so I decided to start with a bit of super glue. I gave them a healthy dose of glue in the middle and then dotted a bit on the outside. Be careful not to go too overboard with superglue on the outside edges or you may end up trying to sew through super-dried-and-hard-glue.

Once the glue dried, I went around all 4 corners with white thread.

And the finished product was quite pretty..

Am I totally crazy or are these actually fairly manly? I'm sensing a fabulous man-gift movement right here. Valentine's Day? Birthday? Christmas?

Psst! If you're digging these coasters, you might also dig these Scrabble Coasters. Check them out! :)

Whiskey Apple Cider

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I was browsing through my cocktail recipes and realized... It's time for some warm drinks. Enough of those cold cocktails. It's cold at night! I want to be warmed up from the inside.

Enter apple cider. And whiskey. I know a lot of you aren't whiskey fans -- but -- the whiskey works so perfectly with the apple cider. It's like they are playing together. So my challenge is this: just try it.

Ingredients:

• 1 shot Whiskey
• 1 shot Water
• 3 shots Apple Cider
• 1/2 teaspoon Honey
• 2 shakes Ground Cinnamon
• 2 shakes Ground Cloves

Directions: Combine ingredients in stove top pot and heat, stirring occasionally, on low heat. Ready to serve once it's warm. Top with whipped cream for a bonus :) 


Advice: Pair this with Pumpkin Curry Soup for some real heat or Pine Nut Sage Risotto to class it up!