Vegan Recipe: Southwestern Stuffed Butternut Squash

Since we are a vegan company, I thought I'd share with you a new recipe I tried recently!

First, let me explain to you how I fell in love with butternut squash. I went 23 years of my life without tasting a butternut squash.

I could eat you up right now.

I know. How on earth did I do that?

Well, my mom had never been much of a cook.{Sorry if you are reading this mom...you are good at other stuff though lol}. And most of my family in rural Indiana were traditional "steak & potatoes" kind of people. So I've not had much opportunity to encounter this weird yellow vegetable.

That being said, my mother actually is the one I now have to thank for my new favorite food's discovery.

She recently gave me some yellow squash that her neighbor gave her from their garden. She's not one to experiment in the kitchen, which is how I ended up with them. She knew she wouldn't use them, so she passed them on to the daughter who's husband is a chef. Plan seems legit to me. 

But I'm so thankful she shared them with me! Because now I can share this recipe with you!

Here's where I found the recipe I based MY RECIPE on...Click Here For Original Recipe.

Southwestern Stuffed Butternut Squash 

{Serves 4}

Ingredients

2 Butter Nut Squashes

1 can of black beans (drained & rinsed)

1/2 cup diced onion **Quick Tip: Use frozen diced onion! Super convenient for recipes like this!

1 teaspoon minced garlic 

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 can of corn (drained)

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Vegan Cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Halve and seed butternut squash. Hollow out your squash just a bit to make room for your stuffing. 

Happy little squash boat!

3. Lightly brush with olive oil.
4. Place on a baking sheet and cook for about 30-40 minutes with the skin side down. To check if it's ready, pierce it with a fork. It should be soft.

Getting all hot and awesome in there. 

5. While those are baking, saute your onions and minced garlic in a pan for 3 minutes.

6. Next, add your bell peppers, corn, and spices and saute for 5 more minutes.
7. Finally add the beans and sir, sauteing for a 3 more minutes.

You can totally eat just this stuffing with some rice. Legit. It's the best.

8. When squash is finished, fill with stuffing mix and then sprinkle vegan cheese on top before returning to the oven for 5-10 minutes.

When it's all done, I found putting it in a bowl was the easiest route. That's it! Eat up!

I devoured this stuff. 

Have you tried this recipe? 

Let us know what you think!

The Glorious July Update.

Alrighty, so I'm a bit late to the party on a July Update Post. BUT I didn't want to go through all of July without an update of some sort. So here it is.

The Glorious July Update.

First of all, in case you haven't already taken advantage of this sale, we are currently offering BUY 2 GET 2 FREE on our already discounted clearance shades. Use the code "SUMMERTIME" at check out for this one!

Second, while we're on the topic of our clearance shades, there will be some new additions to our clearance section in the next month. Be on the lookout for the announcement via out Facebook page! The first shade to be added to the clearance is Doomsday Clock! Grab it while you can!

Finally, the most exciting part of this post, is the new Sample Sets we will begin offering this fall!

This has been one of the #1 requests we get from customers. So I took your feedback and worked on figuring out the best way for samples to happen.

There will be a total of 5 different sample sets to choose from, each being released a week or two apart. {That gives me a bit of a break from endless samples lol.}

First will be the Working Girl Sample Set! This set is perfect for someone who's looking for neutral shades, perhaps for work or everyday looks! Colors in this set:

1. Brit's First Time
2. Grandfather Clock
3. High Noon
4. Late Night Burger Gnomes
5. Dusk Til Dawn
6. Metronome
7. Super Bowl Sunday XLVI
8. It's Only Forever

Second to be released will be the Rainbow Rocker Sample Set. This set is great for someone who's all about rocking a rainbow of shades! Lots of variety for this one!

1. Midlife Crisis
2. Two-Timing
3. Atomic Clock
4. Mayan Calendar
5. Happy Hour
6. Stop...Zombie Time!
7. Once in a Blue Moon
8. The Night Bus

Third will be the Woman In Grey Sample Set--The name pays tribute somewhat to my theatre background, referencing the Woman in Black. :-) This set will feature shades perfect for anyone wanting to do a smokey eye look!

1. Time Square
2. I <3 U 4EVA!
3. Age of the Dragon
4. Judgement Day
5. Starry Night
6. Honeymoon
7. Night Owl
8. Digital

Forth to join the samples sets will be Pastel Princess Sample Set. This set will feature a variety of our pastel and lighter shades. 

1. Alarm Clock
2. Hourglass
3. Pocket Watch
4 Spring Forward
5. Cuckoo
6 Frozen in Time
7. Once Upon a Time
8. Deadly Nightshade

Finally, the last set will be the Dark Queen Sample Set. This set will have all of our deep dark colors. I like to also think of them as jewel tones as well, hence the Queen part of it. :-)

1. Darkest Before the Dawn
2. Tick, Tick, Tick, BOOM!
3. Back to the Future
4. Clepsydra
5. Midsummer Night
6. Uroboros
7. Sexy Time
8. Salvador Dali

All sets cost $10 and will come packaged in a cute little organza bag in a color matching their theme. :-)

Current release date for the first samples set will be Mid-August, but will likely be sooner. Just keep an eye out on the Facebook page for updates!!!

Which sample set are you most excited for? 

Upcoming Sales: Month of June

Hello Tick:Tock Fans!!

I'm going to try to do a monthly thing like this from now on to announce upcoming sales for the month!

This month, we've still got out Buy-2-Get-1 Free Clearance Sale going on. Use the code SUMMERTIME at checkout to receive the sale price!

There will also be a Free Shipping Weekend running Jun 14th-June 16th. This will be good on all orders of $15 or more, but will not include the Clearance colors. No coupon code is needed for this sale!

Also know that Storenvy doesn't allow two sales to be applied to one order (I wish they'd fix that, but they haven't yet). So if you are interested in some of our non-clearance shades, you'd benefit more from the Free Shipping Weekend!

We'd love to know what sales you'd like to see next month! Leave us a suggestion in the comments! :-)

P.S. Don't forget to check our Facebook page and Twitter for more updates!

Memorial Day Weekend, David Bowie, & TATs

Hello Tick:Tock Fans!

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend! I got to enjoy the weekend in my hometown with my dad and sister! And I also dyed my hair and got it trimmed a bit. Nothing crazy. I also spoil my sister a bit...I got her this sweet t-shirt. :-)

My little sister was in a happiness overload when I surprised her with this shirt from Hot Topic. She's 10 years old and her favorite celebrity is David Bowie. I feel like I've done something right as an older sister. :-)

So, exiting news: turn-around-times are still pretty great this week! This weekend was a bit off on actual days due to the holiday, as the post office was closed Monday and I went out of town on Friday evening. We had one order placed over the long weekend, so I had excess time to pack it up to be shipped out today. There was also one order placed on Friday, just in time for me to pack and ship it that same day! 

If you had ordered from us in the past and experienced an excessively long TAT, rest assured that your future order will not take nearly as much time. Our TATs have been improved immensely thanks to the new Tick:Tock Room! It used to take us at least a couple hours to fill an order. Now, it takes about 10-15 minutes to fill an order!

What are some improvements you would like to see us make? 

Comment below to share your thoughts!

SUMMERTIME Clearance Sale!

Hola Ladies,

So, life is pretty much excatly as awesome as I had anticipated with school being over, being moved into the new place, and the shop being back up for business! It's been so exciting to have everything all nice and organized so that our turn around times are super quick!

In regards to turn around times, I'm happy to say that we are currently operating with a TAT of just pretty much one day. If the orders are placed before 4-5pm from Monday-Friday, I can get them packed and shipped that very day. Weekends vary, but I tend to keep those days "off" so that I have time to spend with my family who live an hour and a half away. 

I do also keep TAT info updated on the Facebook page. I'll usually say something like "get your order in by 4pm Indiana time today to have it shipped today!"

Our current sale going on in the store is on our Clearance colors! All of our Clearance eye shadows are Buy-2-Get-1-Free when you use the code "SUMMERTIME" from now until August 15 at 12am.

What Tick:Tock Clearance Eye Shadows are you hoping to snatch up before they're gone? 

Leave us a comment!

A HUGE WELCOME!

Hello ladies!

I wanted to say thanks so much for first of all, coming to the page!! I'm going to use it as a way of keeping everyone up to date with what is new and happening!! But first...a little bit about Tick:Tock Cosmetics itself.

Tick:Tock Cosmetics is run by me, Tiffany Rusin , and my friend, Elizabeth Christjansen. We started unofficially in December 2010, when the idea first started solidifying in our brains. By January 2011, we had purchased some of the ingredients to start experimenting with colors and since that time, we've developed 14 official colors for our company.

We are a vegan, cruelty-free, and paraben-free company! What does that mean?

1. Our products contain no animal products, are all natural and are 100% vegan.
2. Our products are not tested on animals.
3. Our products contain no parabens, which is know to cause allergic reactions in some people and has been linked to possibly cause breast cancer.
4. In addition, our products are also COMPLETELY FILLED WITH AWESOME!!!! Just so you are aware. :-)

We are currently up and running and you can find us here on Storenvy.com where you can buy our products! You can also find us on Facebook where we post lots of pictures and fun stuff like that! Also, if you are a customer and would like a place to post some pictures of you wearing Tick:Tock Cosmetics, it is an excellent place to post!!

That's all I can think of for the moment! Stay tuned for more excitement!