Gourmet Avocado Chicken Salad

We work from a home studio so it only makes sense that lunch is always eaten at home. But so many of you are out in the busy world and you just gotta grab a lunch somewhere that's convenient. Unfortunately it's so easy to slip into bad eating habits and spend way too much money when you're getting takeout or delivery. So if you've got the time to make and take a lunch, then by all means skip the diner or the deli or the burger, because we have got a deeelish healthy and cheap recipe for you. It makes enough for a few days worth and we think you'll like it so much that you'd eat it for a few days straight. It seriously takes minutes. And besides being a perfect healthy lunch in your busy day...think picnics, or bringing it to a summertime party. 

And it's not just healthier, it's way more tasty than your average chicken salad. When you get hints of cilantro and lime in every bite you'll realize why it's called Gourmet. You're likely to feel spoiled. Since we love avocado so much this is a total go-to lunch for us.  It's great in a wrap or even on toast or crackers, or served on a bed of your favorite greens. Turn your left over chicken into lunch gold...or do like we do so often...just grab a 4.99 rotisserie and half the work is done for you.

This is so simple and quick, and avocado is highly beneficial...and deeelish!

Serves 4-6

Here's what you will need:

2 cups shredded chicken

1 avocado (peeled, pitted, and cubed)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2-3 teaspoons lime juice

2 stalks celery chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped

1/4 cup light mayo

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

In a large bowl shred your chicken and set aside.

Then in a medium bowl combine your yogurt, mayo, salt, pepper, garlic powder, lime juice. And mix until well combined and smooth.  

Now add your diced avocado, celery, and cilantro to your chicken. Fold until well combined...you don't want to completely smoosh your avocado...you just want to gently turn your spoon or spatula to evenly distribute the ingredients. And we hope you love the bit of crunch that the celery brings!

Now, add your mayo mixture. Again, just fold it through gently to coat everything.

Yeah, you're done already! Now you can make a wrap, or top off some crackers, or a bed of greens. Simple as that. And store the rest in the fridge. We like wraps a lot, and we'll add a few grape tomatoes and a handful of veggie chips to the plate for good measure.

We hope you love this healthy, easy, affordable, gourmet lunch option!

xo, Jenny & Aaron

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My name is Laura McHugh, I live in Matawan, N.J. with my two boys, wonderful understanding Husband, and an adorable dog named Shelby. I am a middle school art teacher by day and an obsessed late night crafter. I enjoy all art mediums and can’t get enough of them. My mind is always racing with ideas and can’t wait to start something new and colorful.  Vintage2Glam is my idea of reusing vintage goodies.  Salvaging items most would consider old and turning them into something Glam.  I love taking vintage finds, such as beads, buttons, lace, trims, fabrics, and jewelry, odd one of kind vintage pieces and incorporate them into my own vintage inspired art and accessories. I am happy to say that my jewelry was worn by Ellen Burstyn in the movie “Greta” starring Hilary Duff and Ellen Burstyn.  It was such a pleasure and thrill to work with Whitewater Films on this movie, filmed in Historical Ocean Grove N.J.  It was an amazing experience, one I will always treasure.

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Hey guys, I hope you all make good use of the above links...and especially the discount codes! All of these peeps are absolute sweethearts and as diverse as they are, what they have in common is a passion for what they do well! Whether it's making jewelry and art, or homemade scrubs, or collecting cottagey treasures, or baking, or sharing personal stories and specialized knowledge...these gals have got a whole lot to offer. 
I can't believe May is almost over. Will it seriously be June in a matter of days?! A return to flip flops, sand in our toes, lemonade, and my personal favorite: escaping it all in a nicely air conditioned room! 
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Cakes & Cupcakes

Ok, so I doubt you'd remember this, since it was wayyy back in February, but we blogged about a new painting we were working on, I should say paintings. At that time we hadn't yet announced that we were working on our book and were trying hard to balance so much at once. Filling orders, working on post storm repairs, and doing whatever we could to squeeze in some new creative stuff. We had big plans for a whole new series of paintings but as with many ambitions, they had to be back burnered. Well...as of today we are pretty darn happy that we were able to take a bit of time the past few days here and there to chip away at one of those key art pieces. 

If you are a long time reader or collector of our art you know that we have been menu board obsessed for years now, so of course when the design world went "Chalk Art" crazy we were all for it! We love some of the elaborate stuff, the endless samples of amazing typography, but we keep things kinda simple, clean and country. We like the side of the road bake shop, or the old timey small town mom and pop bakery. 

Painting cakes and cupcakes is truly therapy for us. We just love the aesthetic and we feel like we can't go wrong if sweets are the subject we're working with. And we love how well received our longtime love has become in the decor world. Besides fab bakeries, kitchens and studio spaces, we've seen kid's room with full on sweets theme from floor to ceiling. We definitely will make the time over the next couple of months to fully realize the collection that we've had waiting on our drawing board for so long. This new one is in the shop now and we can't wait to deliver it to all those waiting walls!

Thanks for loving Cakes and Cupcakes right along with us!

xo, Jenny and Aaron 

Southwest Quinoa Sliders with Avocado Cream Sauce

There are too many words to describe my favorite meal of this week! So I'll limit them to: cute, little, adorable, mini, and Delicious!!! And these happen to contain so many of our favorite flavors. It was so cool to be able to put these together using mainly our kitchen staples. We always have a bag of quinoa, some frozen corn for who knows what, we stock black beans like a corner bodega, tomatoes and salad greens...check, and avocados...if you can't find avocados in our house then you won't find us either...because we're at the store buying more. But besides being deelish and suited perfectly for our palettes we love these for the possibilities of 'em. We've gone to plenty of pot luck type get togethers where veggie burgers woulda been a huge hit. And sliders!!! Tiny cuties that even the thinny minis won't feel guilty about. So great for cooking for a group because they're so simple...and great for dinner for two because you can easily wrap up the extra patties and freeze them for a future feast. 

And holy cow...the avocado cream sauce is like phenomenal...later in the evening we watched tv and dipped carrots in a bowl of it. I saw this recipe on the Naturebox blog and knew we had to give it a try. It is so so us!

Again, it's so incredibly easy. And you could truly use both the avocado cream sauce and the slider recipes on their own and in so many other meals.

This recipe makes 12 sliders.

Here is what you will need:

2 cups cooked quinoa

1/3 cup grated parmesan

1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs (or a bit more if mixture is too loose)

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (whole wheat is fine too)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1-2 tablespoons pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (you can just cut/mash them really well)

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

2 large eggs (or for vegetarians, egg substitute)

1/2 cup whole kernel corn

1/2 cup canned black beans (drained and rinsed)

salt & pepper to taste

Olive oil for your pan (about 2-3 tablespoons)

12 slider buns of your choice (we used Alexia brand Sweet Potato rolls)

Sliced tomato

Arugula or favorite greens

For the Avocado Cream Sauce:

1 avocado seeded and chopped

2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

2-3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

1/2 teaspoon cumin

dash of lime juice

salt & pepper to taste

Start out by making the Avocado Cream Sauce. It's super easy and fast! In your food processor or blender add the avocado, garlic, Greek yogurt, cilantro, cumin, dash of lime juice, salt and pepper...

Process till smooth! And then put to the side. Yep...that easy!!

So, before jumping into making the slider mix you might want to take the time to prepare your buns.

We used these and loved them! Really, they brought a tiny bit of sweetness to the overall slider experience. These come in this bag, frozen, and slightly browned.

And then you just pop them in the oven to make them all golden and good. They take about 12-15 mins in the oven. 

Now, again, it couldn't be easier...grab a large bowl and combine the cooked quinoa, Parmesan, panko, flour, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, chipotle peppers, lime juice, eggs, corn, beans, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. We used our hands.

 When everything is mixed well, divide the mixture into 12 balls and form little patties.

 In a large skillet heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the patties to the skillet and cook until browned and cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side, flipping only once. 

You don't want to crowd them so break them up into two batches. You may need to add the third tablespoon of olive oil to the pan for your second batch. 

Now all that is left is assembling these little bundles of heaven. A slice of tomato, some greens, a dollop of the Avocado Cream Sauce...and SERVE!!

We absolutely loved these and will be making them again very soon! We happen to like a couple varieties of pre-made veggie burgers that are on the market, but these are leaps and bounds beyond those. So much more moist and full of flavor. We really were so excited after making these and couldn't wait to share them with you. We really think they'll appeal to vegetarians and meat eaters alike! There's nothing lacking. Perfect little bite sized party on a bun!

Hope you'll give them a try!!

xo Jenny & Aaron

Friday Favorites

This time of year...when the weather decides to stay in seasonal character...it's so great to sleep with the windows open and get woken by the chatter of birds. The balmy temps these past two days in Jersey has permitted exactly this type of aviary wake up call. Only, me and Aaron kinda shot ourselves in the foot by getting my baby brother Walt a birthday gift that he absolutely loves. His job requires very early rising...somewhere in the 5am hour...and at this hour he'll joyfully use the birthday gift we got him. Why is this a problem?? Well, because it's a smoothie maker...a wicked powerful, ice pulverizing, startle the household awake at 5am smoothie maker!! The boy needs his protein shakes by george! 

Oh well, it doesn't actually bother us. Most things that Walt does make us chuckle. We'll be in bed sleeping away and then RAAAAAHHHRAHHHGRRRRRRIINNNDDD!!!! Goes the smoothie maker. And me and Aar will just nudge each other and kinda laugh and mumble like Beavis and Butthead...huh huh...he's making a smoooothie at 5am....huh huh..heh heh...And then we'll go back to sleep once he's all through.

Anyway! it's Friday...so that means no 5am smoothies tomorrow morn! Cause for celebration...and likewise goes for these Friday Favorites!

Love this slice of decor seen above! Adore the combination of gold and teal. I could work a whole room around just a glimpse of this. 

And I loved reading about Grumpy Cat's visit to the offices of Time Magazine. Here she is in all her Grumpy Glory, photographed for Time. I just love that her human mom got to go on a nationwide press tour...all because of someone's adorable pout!

Every time summer approaches I just gravitate toward Yellow! And I so love the golden yellow and aqua color combo of these vintage pieces. Just so evocative of time, place, and a certain breezy summer mood.

I've been seeing this image float around pinterest and tumblr and of course I just can't seem to track down the original source. I'm actually pretty sure it is photoshopped...but who cares right? It would be a challenge to replicate...I'd rather not try...I'll just look at it and love it.

Ohh gosh yes! For Summer...This PINK  Instax Mini

 is soooo on my wishlist! So many times when I'm out I want to snap a pic and I know I'd be that much more motivated to get it done if it was this sweetie that I was pulling from my bag.

Ok and as for this pair of PINK Swedish Hasbeens

...I require them now! Like, do not pass go, proceed directly to I need them right now. Love Love Love!! 

Ok, here's to Friday! Here's to the chirping birds of Saturday morning!

xo, Jenny...and Aaron