Olive Green Cardigan and Garlic Olive Hummus

This outfit is a combination of three current trends that I am really digging right now: dark floral patterns, stripes, and the oh-so-popular Chelsea boots. Add in one of my favorite colors, olive green, and I feel super! I put this outfit together to attend an FRG (Family Readiness Group) meeting last week. These meetings are held periodically to keep family members updated on the schedules and happenings within our soldiers’ military units. I don’t usually attend, but with my husband currently deployed, I obviously like to keep myself abreast of what’s going on. I also look at it as an opportunity to style a new outfit!

These meetings are usually held in the evening hours, around dinner time, and we usually have a potluck style meal. Each company will be assigned what type of dish to bring for sharing. We were designated appetizers, so I made some kid-friendly mini turkey sausages wrapped in crescent rolls (a.k.a. birds in a blanket). For the adults, I made garlic olive hummus served with crackers and carrot sticks. I thought my hummus came out super-delicious, but it wasn’t very popular with the attendees and I ended up bringing a lot of it back home. But that’s fine because I will snack on it all week! (Recipe below.)

Back to the clothes…I hate wearing coats because they make me feel claustrophobic, so when it is cold outside I usually opt for lots of layers with a heavy sweater and a scarf for extra warmth. If I keep my neck warm, I am usually okay without a coat until it hits below freezing. It was in the 40’s, so I layered a tank top, a black and white striped long-sleeve boxy tee, and a very cozy long, open-front cardigan in olive green. I paired these with dark wash boot cut jeans and taupe Chelsea boots. Then I added this adorable floral scarf! I think this scarf is going to be an extremely versatile piece for Fall and Winter because of the many vibrant colors on a black background. It has greens, pinks, grays, yellow, and white. I have all of these hues currently in my wardrobe, so I think I will be wearing this scarf often. The green in the leaves on the scarf really popped from the olive of the sweater. For a little added interest, I layered a long double tassel silver necklace under my scarf.

Garlic Olive Hummus

(I didn’t take a picture because I didn’t plan on sharing this on my blog, but it was pretty in a 3 section dish with the hummus in the middle between the crackers and carrot sticks):

1 can chick peas (Garbanzo Beans), drained and rinsed, but reserve the water
1/2 cup chick pea water (approximately)
1/2 cup garlic stuffed green olives
Splash of lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
(I have tried many different versions of homemade hummus and I found that I don’t particularly like the taste of Tahini so I usually leave it out. But you can always add a tablespoon or two to this recipe if you prefer Tahini for a more traditional hummus flavor.)

Combine all ingredients except the chick pea water in food processor. Blend, slowly adding chick pea water until desired consistency. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving with crackers or raw vegetables of your choice.

Do you have a super versatile accessory in your collection? And how do you keep warm without feeling overburdened in too many layers?

What about hummus? Like or dislike?

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee