FunSized Living

Giada De Laurentiis has her recipe for grilled chicken with apple-mango chutney in November's Glamour magazine , so I decided to try it out while changing it up a bit! Here's the recipe from the Food Network's website, Glamour didn't have their version online. First of all, I must say the dish was absolutely delicious! It wasn't too heavy or over-bearing with all the different flavors, it was absolutely perfect... just look! Now, what I did different was... - Instead of frozen apple juice concentrate, I used frozen cranberry juice concentrate. - Instead of apricot preserves, I used orange marmalade. - Instead of dry mustard, I used dijon mustard (which she specifies in the Glamour Mag recipe). - No use of jalapeño chile pepper or hot sauce. (I don't like my meals too spicy!) With these minor changes, it was still absolutely scrumptious. Have you made any of Giada's other dishes recently? Which ones?   Follow FunSized:  BlogLov...

Along with spending some time living in Arizona, I was also fortunate enough to live in Paris, France. It was absolutely the best five months of my life. I wish I could relive that time over and over again. Paris is my one of my favorite cities in the entire world; from the food, to the architecture, to the music and everything in between, the city exudes romance. These are my top frolicking spots from when I was living in the City of Lights. 1- Rue Mouffetard       It took me four trips and finally living there to discover this hidden gem, in the old streets of the 5th (5eme) arrondissement, also known as the Latin Quarter in Paris and I lived right alongside it. Rue Mouffetard is the perfect example of what living in Paris means to me. The one thing that I really took advantage of, when I was living there, was the way the Parisians do their grocery shopping and cooking. I found it to be such an interesting process. I love the idea of going to speciality s...

I spent four years of my life living in Tempe, Arizona while attending Arizona State University. I tried my hardest to take advantage of everything the Valley had to offer while I was living there, in between getting an education, of course! So here are my top 5 frolicking spots to check out when visiting the Phoenix area! 1. The Willow Stream Spa at Fairmont Scottsdale Princess      Located in Northern Scottsdale, the Willow Stream Spa is the perfect escape for some R&R. I just went back there in February (after being away for almost a year) and they've gone under some major changes, which I can't say I've completed adjusted to yet, but it is still the best place to be. With a gym, a rooftop pool, amazing services and a bunch of other hidden gems, you'll just have to find out for yourself, why this is one of the best spas in the country! Make sure to check out their website before going to look into deals and Spa Week Specials!   (The rooftop pool at ...

Celebrate Tax Day with a fresh new mani! What do your paws look like this week? Follow FunSized:  BlogLovin' ,  Twitter ,  Facebook ,  YouTube ,  Instagram .

This week's recipe comes from Food.com; Pork with Balsamic-Cranberry Sauce . The recipe called for pork tenderloin but I used pork chops. It was easy to make and absolutely delicious. I served it with squash which was marinated in oil, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and then baked in the oven for about 45 minutes.  What new recipes are you springing into? Follow me on:   Bloglovin' ,  Twitter ,  YouTube ,   Instagram ,  Facebook .

This past weekend was "Museums on Us", from Bank of America and I finally decided to take advantage of this great deal! The first weekend of every month, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch card holders get free admission to a handful of museums across the country. They have the full list of museums on their website . I used this great offer in the City of Brotherly Love... Philadelphia! The first stop was to the Philadelphia Museum of Art which now has "Outsiders Art" Expo going on; which included this incredible work of art by Simon Sparrow... Among the permanent collection,  you can find one of my favorites, Sunflowers by Van Gogh. My reasoning for going to the Philadelphia Art Museum(PAM) first was that regardless of BoA weekend, when you purchase a ticket to the PAM, you also gain entrance to the Perelman Building as well as the Rodin Museum . So, on top of all the free museums, thanks to BoA, you're getting two more for free! What a deal! ...

It's finally April, but it is still pretty cold here, on the east coast. But let's warm things up with a new recipe for this week! This week's recipe came from Health Magazine... The only thing I did differently was instead of using plain yogurt, I used Greek vanilla yogurt which gave the meal a completely different flavor. It's all about personal preference.  And here's the finish product... I also did not add all of the radishes and cucumbers into the sauce, which made it more saucy than how it came out in Health Magazine's photo. It was super yummy and healthy! Definitely a recipe I will use again! How have you built a better chicken breast? Share your recipe with me! Follow me on:   Bloglovin' ,  Twitter ,  YouTube ,  Facebook ,  Instagram .

I told you that when I participated in Virgin Atlantic's FITFOO Promo, they took some photos of me! Well they're here! Take a look! In the first photo, the stewardess wanted to be FunSized, too! Follow me on:   Bloglovin' ,  Twitter ,  YouTube ,  Facebook ,  Instagram .

This week's Mani Monday is inspired by my good friend, Kayla, who found this design on Pinterest. Let me introduce you to clouds... and now let me introduce you to my version of clouds... What's on your paws this week? Follow me on:   Bloglovin' ,  Twitter ,  YouTube ,  Facebook ,  Instagram .

Virgin Atlantic Airlines was going around New York City at the beginning of this week, promoting their new ad, FITFOO which stands for Flying in the Face of Ordinary. This was my first example of Real Time marketing. They were tweeting from ( @VAAintheUSA ) with their locations while also reaching out to celebs and different companies to raise more awareness of FITFOO. I am just a FunSized girl and Virgin Atlantic had no issue with coming to the steps of the main United States Post Office on 8th Ave to deliver their FITFOO Fun to me! I didn't know what to expect but to see a red Mini Cooper with the Virgin Atlantic logo! To my surprise, two lovely Virgin Atlantic stewardesses greeted me with a rather large container of Baked By Melissa cupcakes! I was stunned and so grateful! A photographer came along for the ride, who took a ton of pictures that will be on their Facebook page . Wednesday was their last day of FITFOO fun in NYC, they were off to London that evening. ...

For this week's In The Kitchen With FunSized I made stuffed bell peppers for the first time and it was such a success! I don't have a recipe to share with you because I made this one up on my own. What you'll need is: - 1 Package of Ground Turkey Meat - Green and/or Red Peppers (number depends on how many people you are serving) - 1 Yellow Onion - Fresh Baby Spinach - Craisins - Balsamic Vinegar - Mozzarella Shredded Cheese - Olive Oil - Salt - Pepper The first thing you want to do is place the ground turkey meat in a stove-top pan with a little bit of olive oil in it. Sprinkle some salt and pepper onto the meat as it starts to cook. Medium to light heat is good. While it is cooking drizzle some of balsamic vinegar on the meat and continue to mix. As the meat is on the stove you want to set your oven to about 350 degrees. While the meat is cooking cut up some onion, I did about two slices and then cut it into small pieces, add that into the ground turkey ...

Happy Manicure Monday!  For this week, I painted my paws a bit Lady Gaga-esque! Most people usually do this technique with tape. However, the last time I did a tape manicure, the tape let me down, so I used my handy-dandy toothpick to create the triangles.  It was a difficult task but I did it! You definitely need to have a steady hand to accomplish this! What do your paws look like this week? Follow me on:   Bloglovin' ,  Twitter ,  YouTube ,  Facebook ,  Instagram .

I spent the first day of Spring indulging in Chinatown Restaurant Week in New York City! There are a ton of restaurants to choose from, each with a variety of options on their prix-fixed menus. Some are only for lunch and some only for dinner so make sure you check out all the options on their website and read the fine print too! Each prix-fixed menu is $20.13 a person! I went to H.K. Wonton! We thought it was the best deal with the best options we would enjoy choosing from. They had two different "packages" or menus put together for restaurant week. So I got one and my company got the other so we were able to share and get different dishes. We ended up with so much food! We definitely got our money's worth. Just take a look: Everything was absolutely delicious! The staff was very nice and accommodating! I would definitely go back here even when restaurant week is not going on.  Chinatown Restaurant Week is going on now until March 31st so hurry and pick y...

Well, that goal of trying a new recipe every week disappeared for a little bit but I'm bringing it back with a new FunSized Homemade Pizza recipe! As I've said previously, making pizza at home is much healthier than buying it from your favorite local Italian place but it's just as good! Once the sauce is down on the dough, that is when the creativity begins! I topped this pizza with spinach, small sliced pieces of red onion, 2 plum tomatoes cut in small pieces, and then sprinkled with some fresh minced garlic, and oregano. After all those toppings were on, I layered on two bags off mozzarella shredded pizza cheese. Just look at how delicious this looks! And just after 40 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees it was ready to eat!  It was super yummy! Just remember to let it cool for a few minutes prior to eating! Have you made any homemade pizza yet? Let me know what toppings you used! Follow me on:   Bloglovin' ,  Twitter ,  YouTube ,...