Dressipes: Holy Pizzamole!

Happy Saturday, everyone! It's kind of a gloomy and rainy one here; the perfect sort of day for curling up with a good book and a cup of tea. Today's book of choice: the Hunger Games! I know, I know everyone's obsessed with it - but the premise really intrigues me, and I can't wait to start it.

But before I get to my little date with the book and some pomegranate green tea, I'm beyond delighted to share this recipe with you all! I must say that I can't take the credit for the original idea; my mom came up with it on a whim one day when she needed to come up with a dinner with what we had on hand. The end result has become a family classic. The best thing about it (well, besides the fact that it tastes awesome) is that you probably already have many of these ingredients in your cupboard already - and even if you don't, it's endlessly customizable.

I give you: Holy Pizzamole! 

Ingredients

Basic:

- 1 pizza crust

- 1 can of refried beans (my favorite are the refried black beans - I just used regular this time around, though)

- 2 avocados OR 2 packs of guacamole

- 1-2 tomatoes, chopped

Optional:

- cheese (I used Daiya vegan cheese)

- mushrooms

- onions

- spinach

- black beans

- spices (pepper, basil, cilantro, prepackaged guacamole spices, etc.)

- whatever else you like on pizza!

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Open the pizza crust and put it on a baking sheet.

2. Open the can of refried beans and spread it across the crust. To ensure more even heating, you may want to heat up the beans before spreading them, either in the microwave or on a saucepan.

3. If you're using pre-made guacamole, spread that on top of the refried beans now. If you're using avocados, remove the pits, scoop the insides into a bowl, and mash them. Mix in some spices or herbs if you like (I recommend cilantro!) Then, spread the mixture on top of the refried beans.

4. Now you can add your toppings! You can really add as many as you like - just keep in mind that you will probably need to adjust the bake time accordingly. For this pizza, I added tomatoes, black beans, and Daiya vegan cheese. I recently tried spreading baby spinach leaves on top of the avocado before adding the rest of the toppings, and it was incredible!

5. Once your oven is preheated, pop in the pizza and wait! I left this version in for 20 minutes, since it was a thin crust. If you're using a thicker crust or have a lot of toppings, you may want to leave it in for longer.

 The finished result:

6. Once it has cooled down for a few minutes, slice it up and enjoy!

Here's the outfit I came up with to coordinate with the pizza - the "dress" part of "Dressipes"! I never thought I would open my closet and say "I wonder how I can dress more like a guacamole pizza"...but such is the life of a style blogger.

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Things to come

scarf: vintage | cardigan: Forever 21 | top: Target | skirt: Francesca's Collections | boots: ModCloth

It's a funny thing: when we had that freak heat wave back in March, I enjoyed the awesome weather, but was a little bit sad because I love dressing for cooler temperatures. But now that it's April, and nowhere near the balmy 85 degrees we enjoyed a month ago, I'm itching for summer. I suppose it's a case of always wanting what you can't have. Sort of like girls with straight hair wanting curly hair, and vice versa. (Me? I just wish my hair would pick one, instead of remaining perpetually in-between...)

As a general rule, I haven't gotten that excited about warm weather outfits in the past. I think that's partly because I love texture and layering so much, and partly because it was during autumn one year that I first started dressing in vintage-inspired styles. Essentially, I completely overhauled the way I dressed, and I think that shift may have set my inner style dial to "perpetual autumn."

But this year, I'd like that to change. Yes, autumn is my favorite season, but I'd like to branch out and start having fun with spring and summer outfits.

I just realized that I've already worn every single piece in this outfit in previous posts. It certainly wasn't intentional, but it serves as a good reminder when I'm feeling bored with my clothes: there's almost always some new way you can wear something! 

The difference between a good wardrobe and a bad wardrobe has nothing to do with price tags or labels or number of items. It's all about creativity - remixing, you might say.

This is actually the outfit that goes with the next Dressipes post, but I thought these photos were good enough that they deserved a bit of their own spotlight. So what is the next Dressipe?

The most perfect homemade pizza ever! I absolutely can't wait to share the recipe with you all - it's one of my favorites. Can you see the resemblance between the outfit and the finished pizza?

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No shrinking violet

outfit details: see previous post

Here are some more photos from the same day as the previous post...because what else are you supposed to do when a magnificent little field of violets blooms overnight in your very own backyard, if not take photos?

This beautiful field is no more, sadly; my dad mowed over them and before I realized it, they were gone. But I am glad I have these to remember them by. I love how the flowers are echoed in the dress pattern (not planned, believe it or not!)

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Bright and vivid

dress: Forever 21 | cardigan: Goodwill | tights: GAP | shoes: Ruche

Do you ever find that one trip to the thrift store can revitalize your whole wardrobe? I had that experience when I bought this cardigan on a whim during a random trip to Goodwill. I had been feeling rather blah about my closet, but this was just the shot of color I needed. Suddenly now I'm wearing this cardigan with everything. I feel like it makes this dress look completely different...normally I think it's rather breezy and slightly sailor-esque, but there's something about it with this cardigan that makes me think of school uniforms. I have no real basis for that, but I think it's a good thing!

Like I mentioned in my last post, my church's Easter (Pascha) festivities are this week, so it's been crazy busy around here! Lots of services, and since I direct the choir, lots and lots of singing...but it's one of my favorite weeks of the year. Tomorrow, we'll be cooking up a storm and hopefully making delicate little wax designs on eggs and dying them bright red...and napping in preparation for the huge late-night party and feast! Such a joyous time of year...

With all the festivities, I'm afraid I've been neglecting this poor blog a bit...but after this week, I have tons of stuff to post. Chris and I actually did two photoshoots with this outfit; I was initially going to put them both in one post, but I thought it better to split them up because they look so different. So stay tuned for that! Also coming up is a Dressipe post with one of my favorite recipes. Of. All. Time. I seriously can't wait to post it...

...and now all this talk of food and feasting has made me hungry! I know Easter has passed for most of you, but I'm curious: do you have any Easter traditions that you look forward to every year? Or did you do something new this year?

(p.s. - the name of this post is also the name of a great album by Kathryn Calder, which you should listen to immediately!)

photos by Chris

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The eternal question

dress: Charlotte Russe | cardigan: Target | shoes: ModCloth

I got a wonderful surprise when going through these photos. Some of you may be familiar with the artist Charles Dana Gibson - the man for whom the "Gibson girl" of the late 19th and early 20th century was so named. Well, he's one of my favorite artists - his ink drawings are just beautiful, and though their fashions would be incredibly impractical today, it's hard not to want to be a Gibson girl when looking at them...

Anyway, one of his more famous works is called "The Eternal Question," modeled by Gibson-era beauty icon Evelyn Nesbit. In the drawing, her hair is in the shape of a question mark, with a little curl at the end forming the dot:

And if you look at that first picture I posted, down to the little curl at the end, my hair is in pretty much the same shape! A perfect question mark. It was completely unintentional, but I love that I was able to subconsciously find a way to channel my love for Gibson girls into my everyday style, without looking like I'm in costume.

Sometimes I wonder how famous artists of the past would render modern women. In the past, most fashion was all long skirts and flowing materials, and that was reflected in the styles of art...how would those styles lend themselves to a structured A-line minidress? It would be an interesting project, if some artist out there would be ambitious enough to tackle it!

 

Full disclosure: I don't need glasses. But sometimes I really want them. I am one of the few people in my family who doesn't need glasses, actually - my dad has been wearing glasses since he was 18 months old (yes, months), but I inherited my mom's 20/20 vision. I've always thought it would be kind of fun to buy a pair, but I always felt weird about it - like I would be lying somehow. But then Chris pointed out to me that people don't always wear belts because they need to - sometimes, you just like the way something looks! 

So I latched onto that little bit of justification and we snagged these glasses from Joelle at the Vintage Soiree. They're clear glass and just wonderful. I think they're really fun to wear, but I think maybe they look better on Chris than they do on me...

My church is actually on a bit of a different calendar, so I'll be celebrating Easter next weekend. But to those of you celebrating Easter tomorrow - I hope you have a wonderful holiday, filled with good food and lots of love!

photos by Chris

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