Baby Kyrstin

My lovely niece was born yesterday. And with that Auntie Kiki (that's me) is startin to make the birth announcements. Let me know what y'all think! They're a work in progress.

Kelly

Lime Garlic Butter Salmon with Green Bean Salad

Summmmmer deliciousness!

I've been really trying to work more seafood into my diet because I become more and more bothered by red meat lately. With all the health benefits, and the fact that its my favorite type of protein, its worth the occasional splurge!

This recipe was so simple. I got some fresh green beans from a farm in Iowa, covered them in water and brought them to boil until they became bright green in color (about three minutes). Shock the beans in ice water and set aside. While cooking the beans, pre-heat your oven to 425 F.

Blend together a chunk of softened butter, a large splash of lime juice and some freshly ground pepper with chopped garlic. Spread this over your salmon filets and be sure to place foil between the filets and the pan. You don't want your fish sticking to the cookie sheet! Bake the salmon for about 8-10 minutes, or until the pieces flake apart very easily.

While the salmon is baking, combine minced shallots with a splash of red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Whisk in some salt & freshly ground pepper and you have a perfect dressing. Toss chilled green beans and romaine in the dressing.

Seemingly complicated, but makes a super healthy meal and reminded me of my Florida roots. So yummy! Happy eating,

Kelly

Margherita Pizza

Time to make your own pizza!!

My one regret for this recipe? I bought Pillsburry pizza dough instead of making my own. I think it's worth the extra step (and the saved pennies) to make your own!

This recipe started out with homemade pesto. My mama made it (so I guess I cheated) but it contained her homegrown basil and lots of it, extra virgin olive oil, pine nuts, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Spread the pesto generously across your pizza dough then add in fresh mozzarella slices (its much better than shredded mozzarella from a bag), halved cherry tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, freshly ground pepper and some grated parmesan. Easy as that! 

I baked mine in the oven for about 10 minutes, brushing olive oil on the crust once or twice, wait to cool, and slice it up! This made great leftovers for lunch too. Delicious! 

Kelly 

Applesauce & Pork Chops (All-grown up)

Hello friends!

Tonight I was a little homesick-- in light of the College World Series going on in my hometown Omaha, I made one of my childhood favorites. Since I can't actually be at home hanging with my family-- it might as well taste like I am. When I was a little girl, my favorite dinner was pork chops and applesauce. My lovely mother used to make my favorite "chop chops" by frying breaded pork and some classic kid friendly Mott's applesauce cups. This is my adult-friendly, all grown up version. (Don't worry mom, I still love yours!)

Apple cider pork, served with roasted brussel sprouts.

I served roasted brussel sprouts with my pork tonight-- simply sprinkle salt, pepper, and olive oil over halved brussel sprouts, and roast for 10-12 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

I've made this recipe a few times, and I don't even remember where I found it, but tonight I just played in by ear. Heat up a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil over low-med heat in a large saucepan... place roughly-chopped large cuts of shallots (or onion), and thinly sliced Honeycrisp or Grannysmith apples until golden and soft. Generously season pork with salt and pepper and add to saucepan.

Let pork become caramelized on the outside, and then add in about a cup of cider and a splash of unfiltered wheat beer. My favorite cider to use is from a local cider mill in Louisberg, KS-- the Louisberg Cider Mill. Luckily I can find this in my local Hen House year round-- and buying local is always a plus. Let the cider pick up all the golden pieces of onion and apple stuck to the pan. Add in a few pinches of flour and stir while thickening for a five minutes. Or, until your vegetable is done, in my case :)  In the last minute or two I added in a few sprigs of thyme from the garden- aka my deck.

Enjoy!

The BEST meal I've ever made: Yucatan Pork Chops

Hello readers :) I cannot even BEGIN to say how amazingly good this recipe was tonight. I just want to make this meal all week-- and I cannot wait to go each this for leftovers at work tomorrow :) Check out the yumminess below.

 

Make a brine of 2 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of allspice, 3 tablespoons of salt, a bunch of freshly ground pepper and some bay leaves. I was supposed to let pork chops set in the brine for an hour, but I only did for about 10 minutes. I then seasoned the pork again with pepper after removing from the brine. 

Start sauteing largely chopped onions in olive oil, while pork is setting in brine. Cook until carmelized over medium heat. Start pork chops on medium high heat in olive oil, and brown the outside. As they are cooking, set out green cabbage, and thinly sliced radishes. Slice avocado while still in the skin and scoop out over dish with a large spoon. 

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup orange juice and the juice of two limes with a handful of chopped fresh cilantro. Placed carmelized onions in the citrus mixture and season with salt and pepper. Place pork over the cabbage and top with citrus onion mixture. I ate half of my portion in a warm whole wheat tortilla-- this was just the. best. combination of flavors. There were so many flavors going on, but it was amazingly good. This recipe also would work great on the grill-- if only.

Simple Goodness

Summer staple? Lemon and herb roasted salmon.

 

Absolute summer favorite food?? Hands down-- BLT's. Mine never ever taste as good as my mom's though :) This was very good with some fresh berries. Like my new tablecloth?

Pot Luck: BBQ Chicken Wings & Drumsticks

Whew. Its been a few weeks. I graduated, started a full-time job, and even bought insurance and a box spring like a true adult. Whose life is this?

At least I'm still cooking-- maybe just haven't had so much time to tell you about it! This post is actually some tasty eats from about a month ago. Some friends of mine had a pot luck, and I made my first BBQ sauce and made baked chicken with it. De. licious. This sauce was so tangy and so good (recipe also read that it can be frozen). Enjoy!

Sauce:
2 cups of ketchup
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons unsulfured molasses
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chili powder (depending on how spicy you like it!)
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
3-4 minced garlic cloves
2 teaspoons paprika
salt & pepper to taste

-Combine all the sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan, cooking over medium low heat and stirring occasionally. Do this for about 10-12 minutes until heated through and thick. Do not boil. Strain the sauce to remove garlic and cool to room temperature (makes about 3 cups).

Preheat your oven to 350 F and coat the chicken wings/drumsticks in a large bowl in half of the sauce. Lay chicken in a single layer-- with space to breath. Bake and continuously brush over with sauce for 45-50 minutes. Any extra sauce can be used for dipping/pouring over. So. Yum. Thanks Epicurious App!

Paper flowers

As many of you might guess from my puffy faced picture on Facebook- I had my wisdom teeth out on Friday. That left me with some free time over my Easter holiday. What better than to make something fun and pretty when you're bored laying around with gauze jammed into your cheeks?

I am graduating from COLLEGE in May! (Super excited at this, as you can imagine) So I was making some little paper invites from stuff that I had around the house. I literally have zero money to invest in fancy invitations, so these were totally free for me. Just took a lot of time.

To make these pretty little things all you need is a printer, three different colors of regular weight 8.5x11 paper, and a bit of needle and thread. 

First I made my paper flowers, by drawing with a sharpie very primitive flowers on the darkest color paper (as many as you can fit on a page, about 2-inch circles). I then placed the two other colors behind and cut out flowers on all three sheets. Place six little flowers (two of each color) in a pattern that is darkest to lightest repeated twice, dampen the paper with water and scrunch them up as tight as possible. Let the paper flowers dry. 

I then printed out my invites, tore the edges for a homemade look and also tore out background paper that was about a cm wider on every side. Once your paper flowers have dried, open and flatten them, and sow onto the top of the invites. After they are secured, crinkle each sheet individually to give a natural petal look & feel. 

These cute little paper flowers could go on anything! And I plan on having them around at my party :)

Kelly

Mrs. Lucas Pasta

With The Art Show and family in town things have been a bit hectic-- I haven't cooked in a week! (It truly is sad) But I have had the blessing of lots of free meals-- so that is always good for any college student :)

Here is a family favorite that my family and I made while they were in town. We lovingly call it Mrs. Lucas Pasta (our family friend who gave us the recipe).

Mrs. Lucas Pasta- cooked by my, stirred my Mama.

Here's the recipe:

Prepare half a box of penne pasta. Set 2-3 tablespoons of pine nuts in a small pan, roast on low and put aside. In a few tablespoons of olive oil, stir in 2-3 minced garlic cloves on medium heat. Add in halved cherry tomatoes and let soften for 5-7 minutes. Add in 10 leaves of loosely chopped fresh basil and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinaigrette as you stir into pasta. Toss in roasted pine nuts. We love serving this with a french baguette popped in the oven for a few minutes (just to make it crunchy on the outside) with some butter. Simple good food-- full o carbs! 

Kelly

Mama's Banana Bread

I've been enjoying the lovely spring weather all weekend. So tonight I walked to the grocery store (gotta cut those outrageous gas costs somehow...) and as I was about to buy my usual Kashi breakfast bars, I had a vision of all the frozen bananas Trisha & I have been saving up in our freezer.

So-- I opted to buy the one ingredient I didn't have (Baking Powder) for a much cheaper cost and make my mom's banana bread for the week's breakfast. Saving money is the best. Plus-- this bread may or may not be way tastier than Kashi bars, as much as I love 'em.

Mom's Banana Bread, in my prized vintage Pyrex. 

More bread, more pyrex. All is well in the world. 

Can't wait to slice fresh pieces every morning. No butter needed, cause this stuff is one of my favorite's, just plain. Recipe? Top secret. 

Kelly

TACOS!

Okay-- let me just say these tacos were a.maz.ing. The pictures don't do them justice. But try out this recipe if you want some tasty treats. Plus it is like summer outside, so tacos are in order. With fresh tomatoes. GO!

Summer Tacos

Easy as one, two, three.

1. Grilled boneless skinless chicken breast, seasoned with salt, pepper, and cumin.

2. Stir up frozen yellow corn & black beans in red onion, olive oil and garlic. 

3. Serve with mont jack cheese and quartered small tomatoes, wrapped in corn or flour tortilla. I had some left over chips & salsa from out to eat, and it was a super happy dinner (and lunch the next day).

Happy eating!

Kelly

i love kansas city poster

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm putting on an art show with two other girls and a whole team of people this FRIDAY. We decided to make some posters as a give art back packet for our donors. Here's my contribution for our lovely donors. We love your art!

i love kc poster, kelly lawler

Taco post coming soon! Yummmm

Kelly

River Market

I've always been really into city life, but this weekend just made me fall in love all over again. I spent Friday night down at First Friday's (for all those Omahan's, first fridays is a big hipster-fest for art lovers in downtown KC the first friday of every month. Its great).

Saturday was baseball (I was ultra tempted to do a whole post about my love for sunflower seeds... its an obsession). Maybe someday.

But Sunday (starting to remind myself of a Rebecca Black remix...), Sunday was river market day. On my way to church I had some amazing iced espresso from Broadway Coffee in Westport, and would have been happy to leave the day at realizing it was warm warm warm enough that iced coffee was a must. But it got way better. Grocery shopping at River Market has got to be one of the best things about Kansas City.

My friend Liz (who apparently gets mentioned in this blog a lot) took me to a bakery in the market that I had never visited: Bloom. Heavenly bread. Other great part:  except to for the steak, I made this dinner straight from the market.

Really easy to make. Toss green beans, halved mushrooms, and loosely chopped red onions in olive oil, salt & pepper. Toss on the grill. Season steak with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar and sear on both sides. Cook to your preference, of course. While grilling I just chopped up the greens and made a dressing out of the vinegar & olive oil... tossed it together with some salt & pepper. And decided that my 3/$1 oranges would be tasty with this... which they were. 

Great Sunday. I love the city. 

Kelly

Sister Nite

My younger sister Emily loves pasta. Ever since this girl was a young child she's been completely enamored with all kinds of it: spaghetti, penne, lasagna... tortellini is a favorite. 


The girl is simply in love.

So, we had a sister night, and of course I made her carb of choice. Obviously a really simple meal, but the salad was my favorite:

-choice of favorite lettuce
-avocados
-red onion
-feta cheese
-greek dressing
-yum!

Classic.  

We even did some yoga to burn off all those carbs! Great to just hang out with family even away from home at college... needless to say Emily was very upset the next day when she realized she had left her spare container of parmesan cheese at my house. That stuff is her main food group. 

Kelly

Blue

Screenprinting is easily one of the most frustrating and incredibly complicated processes of art I've ever practiced. I've only barely scratched the surface of how to use this medium, but this is my latest project. 

A gift for my mother, this piece was really special to me. She hails from the east coast, in Massachusetts, where these buds flourish! We kind of both have a thing for hyrdrangeas, and I created this specifically with her in mind. So this one's for you Maggie! And you'll be getting your actual print of it sometime very soon :) 

"Blue" by Kelly Lawler

I've also decided to make this print available for sale in an upcoming art show that I'm a part of planning. 

2nd Annual: The Art Show will be held at Heartland Community Church on April 15th, this print any many other amazing pieces of art will be sold for CHEAP, all for the good of a non-profit "Artist's Helping the Homeless," who is based out of Kansas City. 

Kelly

ps: Happy Baseball Season! 

gradiest mesh wha?

Trying to spruce up the ole portfolio, for a specific job I'd love. Its the kind of job you want so bad, you'd almost rather not apply because then you can still hope that you would have gotten it. Dream. Job.

 Check out a birthday card I made two years ago... Been nitpicking it for the past couple hours and trying to perfect before I send some things in. Critiques? Ideas? Start over? Let me have it! The lettering is done by creating lots of tiny versions of that specific letter, but in the space of that specific font's stroke. (Aka, the letter "H" is made up of a bunch of tiny h's)

Happy Birthday Mark!! (two years ago... )

Kelly

pintaycolorea

One of my favorite bloggers, who my bud Liz introduced me to, featured this artist about a month back. But ever since I've been pretty mesmerized by her style. She's been published in International Magazines, famous blogs, and many others... but gosh this girl (Inés Iglesias Heras) is great. Check out one of my favorites from this amazing illustrator/designer extraordinaire.

http://www.pintaycolorea.es/

Is this amazing or what? Tell me what you think. If you check out her site...I'm also completely obsessed with her other overlapping pieces. The lines... oh my heart.

Dinner tonight: free banquet food. No cooking for me today!

Kelly

Thanks, Mr. Butcher

Steak, garlic roasted brussels, carrots, red onion, and golden potatoes, sprinkled with thyme. This recipe was one of my own...not very complicated at all!

Steak & Veggies by me.

Since I'm a poor college student with no grill, and it snowed today, (believe it or not!) I cooked this steak inside. Funny story about the steak... I was browsing around the meat counter at the grocer this week, and the butcher asked to help. Who knew that if you told a butcher you were looking for deals he'd give you free steak!? Well, it was incredibly delicious and I really loved making my own steak-- so much more affordable!

I roast these vegetables in a 400f oven for about ten minutes, with olive oil, thyme, and a fair share of salt and pepper. I might have sprinkled some minced fresh garlic in there too. The steak: rub down with steak seasoning and sear the outside, turn down heat and cook to your preference. Yummy and no sauce needed!

Kelly 

Real Simple: good food & good design

Welcome to Eat&Design. 


I can't wait to share good looking design, and yummy food with you. This weekend I spent making over 50 pages in a publication I am working on, and had a lot of great food that I made for myself on my new attempt to stop spending money eating out. 


So much graphic design and food in one weekend inspired me to blog about it. So here goes...


Real Simple. One of my favorite magazines of all time. Not only did their first issue ever catch my eye with its clean typography, and beautiful photography, but its guides to life, funny stories, random facts, and great recipes have kept my attention. My mom and I often fight over copies of backed issues. 


This week I decided to try a new recipes from their very pages: Huevo's Rancheros. 

Huevo's Rancheros by Real Simple. Check out original recipe here: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/huevos-rancheros-00000000055009/index.html

This stuff was tasty. And super different than anything I've ever made before. Simply brush corn or flour tortillas lightly with olive oil, bake for about ten minutes on 400f. Mix cumin & lime juice into some black beans, and serve it all up with fried eggs, feta cheese, avocado, red onion, cilantro and salsa. 

My tip: use pico de gayo instead of salsa....thats what I was wishing mine was the whole time. But this was seriously tasty. Glad I tried it. (And sooo cheap! 'Cept the feta)

Okay, moving on... Design. Here's a sneak peek for all you MNU students out there. This is page three of our yearbook coming out on May 2nd. Illustration by Ryan House... 

In case the title of the page is confusing you, this year's book is called "Home." Each division of the book is a room of a house, with feature stories called Real Rooms, which are features on the actual spaces around campus that we will remember for the rest of our lives. A special thank you to Ryan House, for creating five original illustrations, and beautiful cover art for this project!

I'll leave you with this quote, that has inspired me to never get lazy on designs:

"Try to make every assignment better than the last. When you finish a project, look at it, hard. scrutinize, nitpick. be critical. do more. do better. don't become complacent. ever. complacency is death."

Kelly