Formal Dining Room Makeover

Years ago, I shared my faux rock wall that I created in my dining room alcoves as well as the drop cloth + freezer paper chair makeover.  Since then, we've replaced the china cabinet, curtains, and chandelier, as well as repainted the dining room chairs to tie together the more French Country look.

Dining Room BEFORE

I took the cushions off of the chairs, threw down an extra large linen drop cloth in the backyard, and spray painted all of the chairs with Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Paint + Primer in Ivory Gloss to match my new china cabinet.  

I purchased the new French Country Cotton Linen Crochet Lace Curtain Panel Drape curtains on Amazon, but they don't appear to be available at this time. 

 

I still absolutely love this chandelier (Franklin Iron Works 30" Wide Rust Candelabra Chandelier (Y2301)

,) and we have it on a dimmer which makes for great ambiance!

Easy Pickled Peppers that are good on (almost) EVERYTHING!

You can use this recipe for ANY pepper!

Y'all!  A few months ago, I needed some pickled peppers for a recipe, and I realized we were out of jarred/canned pickled peppers.  <*Gasp* The horror!>  I sliced up and pickled a few fresh jalapeños we had on hand, and I LOVED THEM. Like, I never intend to buy pickled peppers again. 

We normally grow jalapeño, Serrano, and scotch bonnet peppers in our garden, but they have cross-pollenated the last few years making every pepper a "surprise Scoville mystery pepper."  This year, my husband picked up a Cowhorn Pepper plant that we have kept away from our gardens in its own container.  I had never had a Cowhorn.  

They are long skinny curved peppers that are green until they reach full maturity, but I love how pretty they are when I mix the red and green! 

Everything I've read puts them on par with an "average" jalapeño with regards to Scoville heat, but personally, we feel like they are hotter than most jalapeños - more like somewhere between a jalapeño and Serrano. 

They have great flavor, and when you pickled them with Rice Vinegar, Sugar, and Salt, they are so good on most ANYTHING! 

You can use this recipe to pickle any peppers that fit your personal heat preference. 

EASY PICKLED PEPPERS 

Ingredients:

Peppers, washed and sliced

6 T Rice Vinegar 

2 T White Sugar

1/2 t kosher salt 

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a sealable container, seal, and refrigerate.

Copycat Starbucks Egg Bites

My husband came home raving about the Sous Vide Starbucks Gruyere Egg Bites, and he asked if I could recreate them based on his description.  Let me just say that I have made A LOT of egg bites in the past 3 weeks to find the best way to make fluffy Gruyere & Bacon Egg Bites for easy grab-and-go breakfast.  Yes, I even made a "Green Eggs and Ham" version. 

While we have a Sous Vide, trying to recreate the egg bites using other recipes I found didn't produce the results we were looking for.  I also tried pressure cooking them, but they came out much more dense than we wanted.  

So noting all that didn't work, I've finally come up with a recipe that we love.  I have used Gruyere and sharp white cheddar, arugula, spinach, and kale.  We LOVE adding my pickled cowhorn peppers and blending them into the mixture for some extra kick, too.

Enjoy!

Copycat Starbucks Gruyere &  Bacon Egg Bites

Printable Recipe

By Dawn at LearningAsISew.blogspot.com

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs - yolks & whites separated

• 1/4 C Heavy whipping cream

• 1+ C  grated  Gruyere cheese (or hard cheese of your preference)

• 1/2 C cottage cheese

• 2 C fresh greens of choice, chop for about 1 C (spinach, kale, arugula, etc.)

• 4-6 slices of thin cut bacon, cooked, and chopped

• Tabasco - to taste (optional)

• Peppers (optional)

• Salt & Pepper as desired

Directions:

1. If using the Instant Pot and Silicone Egg Bite Mold, add 1 C of water to the pot, cover with glass lid, and set to saute.  If using the Egg Poaching pan, add water to the bottom reservoir, cover with the lid only, and place over low heat on the stove.

2. Spray the molds (silicone or for the egg poaching pan) with cooking spray.

3. Place egg whites and heavy whipping cream in a blender or whip with an immersion blender until very frothy. (2-3 minutes)

   
   
   

4. Add cheeses (reserve a bit of the grated Gruyere to top the egg bites after they cook) and Tabasco or other hot sauce as desired and blend until smooth and uniform.  (I wouldn't recommend salsa, because it will make it runny.)

   
   

5. Add yolks, and blend.

   
6. If you choose to add pickled or fresh peppers, you can add them now and blend again, or you can just stir them in according to your preference.

7. If you want "Green Eggs & Ham," add the spinach and blend thoroughly.   If you want "regular" egg bites, you can add greens and pulse very briefly to mix them in.

   

8. Add most of the chopped bacon and stir.

9. Place remaining bits of bacon in the bottom of molds.  (If you need to reserve some for a second batch based on the size of your molds, then set some aside.)

   

10. Pour EQUAL amounts into each mold.  I would recommend filling them about 3/4 of the way, because they will "inflate" like a soufflé before shrinking, and if they get too big, they can break and fall into the water below.

    

11. If using the Instant Pot, use the metal trivet with handles to lower the mold into the I.P. and recover with the glass lid.  Do not seal and set for pressure.  If using the Egg Poaching pan, add the tray layer with the egg poaching molds, recover with the lid, and turn heat to medium.

12. Set a timer for 8 minutes.  Do not uncover while they cook.  If you have a glass lid, you will see them puff up and "dome" as they cook.  If they aren't fully domed, continue to cook for another minute or two.

13. Carefully remove molds and use a small knife to loosen the egg bites from the sides of the molds and turn onto a clean surface.

14. Top with remaining shredded cheese and a slice of pepper if you desire. (You can broil them at this point to brown the cheese, but I just let the residual heat melt the cheese.)

    

15. Refrigerate or freeze, and reheat when ready to eat!  

    

Movie Themed Bulletin Boards + Secret to Adhering Items to School Walls

3D Cinema sign that extended out over the "stage" below it.  The painted concrete blocks in the school are notoriously difficult to adhere anything to, and don't even say "3M?" It doesn't work either. But double-sided duck tape can work miracles!  We've been able to make things stay without issue with the double-sided duck tape.  The blue protective peel on both sides can be frustrating to separate from the tape, but I've found that using my nail to scratch a corner can actually work much better than trying to separate it from the beginning.

Ombre 3D tree and a backyard movie party. 

Here was my first 3D tree from my Polar Express hallway, and while we saved it and used it for 3 years, it was time for a new tree.  The new one isn't "winterized" so we can use it for other themes as well!

Peanuts Themed Halloween Bulletin Board

Y'all, I have to confess...I created this bulletin board scene 3 or 4 years ago. Everyone loved it so much that we laminated it and have reused most of the pieces year after year. Given the way 2020 has gone, I thought it was only appropriate to share a little bit of the "happy" that was inspired by our favorite Peanuts gang. 

I made the gnarly tree with the face even longer ago than that, but he's come in SO HANDY for so many boards, that we keep saving him for reuse.  I mean...it's FALL!  We needed a tree for all of those leaves.

Some of these were cut with a Cricut, Silhouette, or VariQuest machine, but others were free-handed.  If you think you just *cannot* free-hand (which I think you might do better than you think), find a projector, grab some painter's tape, and hang your paper on the wall to trace it out!  Even if you're not artistic, you can still create great scenes.  If you really just don't have the time (which I GET!), there are some options on Amazon, too.

It was actually such a HUGE HIT with children, teachers, and parents, alike, that I followed it up with a Thanksgiving Peanuts scene and a Christmas/Holiday Peanuts scene. I'll try to find those images and share them to close out our 2020 with more warm and fuzzies.

Camper Trailer Bulletin Board

Our elementary school counselor had asked for a vehicle with a camper trailer for a "Life is a Journey - Travel Drug Free!" themed bulletin board. The kids each created suitcases to add to the board. Once we had it on display, our 4th grade teaching team asked for us to save it to re-use in a "Camp Write-Along" themed set of bulletin boards for their "Writing Camp" as they prepared for state testing.

Instant Pot Beef Tips

Instant Pot Beef Tips

Ingredients:

• 1/4 C olive oil
• 3 lbs. Beef tips or beef stew meat, cubed
• 1/4 C flour (or GF flour)
• 1 T garlic powder
• 1 Medium onion, diced
• Salt and pepper
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 C beef broth
• 1/2 C red wine
• 1 T soy sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• Cornstarch & cold water
• Parsley to garnish
• Serve over mashed potatoes or rice

Directions:

1. Set Instant Pot to saute and add olive oil.  Once hot, add cubed beef (tossed in flour), onions, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
2. Stir to brown.
3. Add beef broth, red wine, soy sauce, and bay leaves.
4. Set IP to manual high pressure for 30 minutes, and use natural release to maintain moisture and tenderness.
5. Add the cornstarch and cold water mixture and add to pot to thicken sauce.

It smelled so good, that it disappeared before I even took a picture of it plated!

Mad Scientist Bulletin Boards and Decor

Mystery Lab?  Yes, please!  Such a fun STEM theme to decorate our elementary school's hallways this spring.   Our bulletin boards are huge.... They are insanely massive, actually.  Fortunately for me, I have some mom friends that are willing to help me with my visions.  I don't have templates, because I freehand most of my creations, but I hope they inspire you to get creative.  We were able to do some of the silhouettes of lab equipment on our school's VeriQuest machine, and you could easily do them with a Silhouette or Cricut, too.
We were also able to grab everyone's attention with a bubbly beaker outside thanks to Kiwi's Party and her donated balloon art.
All of the big gears ⚙️that are everywhere were hand-cut by a mom friend of mine who helps enable my bulletin-board-crazy💡. 

Another mom friend made this awesome portal for the entrance to our "Mystery Lab."

I purchased the photo prop files from TheQuirkyQuail on Etsy.  We printed them on cardstock, laminated them, and used packing tape and cake pop sticks for our photo op.

Christmas at My House

Welcome to our home!  This is our living room dressed up for Christmas.  We have (what I refer to as) our "Family Tree" in the living room.  These ornaments have been collected over the years.  We have ornaments on this tree from both mine and my husband's childhood, and we add an ornament for each person in our family every year.  When we take vacations, we pick up ornaments as a reminder of our time together.  If you look closely, you'll find Mickey Mouse dressed kind of like Davy Crockett from our time at Disney World's Fort Wilderness, a rocking horse from my 2nd Christmas, Lucy on a jingle bell from our annual trip to see ICE! at the Gaylord, a gondola from a summer trip to Estes Park, Colorado, a black and white hand-painted skyline from our trip to Paris, and this year's gold Aspen leaf from our time at the Grand Canyon this summer.  This tree tells the story of our family, and I LOVE IT!

I made our Christmas stockings, and yes, I am well aware that they are huge.  I made each family in our extended family a set of stockings, and they are all big.  We don't really do gifts for the adults, so our stockings ARE our Christmas gifts.

If you follow my Fairy Godmother of Family Travel Facebook page, then you also know about the hand-painted Santa that resides on our mantel that was a gift from a sweet client.

 We have a small Christmas village on our console beneath our television in the living room.  I have a friend who has a truly INCREDIBLE Christmas village, and it's a sight to behold.  Ours is sweet, and I like it.  There's a "live" nativity scene, ice skating rink, pictures with Santa in the gazebo, working streetlights, and a few other fun elements besides the lights in the village homes and buildings.

 This is our formal dining room.  We have Santas throughout the house at Christmas, and you'll find 2 hiding in here.  On the formal tree, you'll also find some sentimental ornaments that I have received from friends at gift exchanges.

I love the Franklin Iron Works 30" Wide Rust Candelabra Chandelier (Y2301) we got from LampsPlus when we redid our dining room.  (I just realized that I never did a post for that makeover. 😜)

Our children's bedrooms each have a city theme.  This one is London....  The tree skirt is actually the crib skirt I had made for him as a baby, and I love that it matches his room perfectly with his tree now!

Here is Paris... Pink, Black, Silver, White...shoes, purses, Princess carriage, chandeliers, dresses, and all things sparkly!

New York is my teen's room...so...I'm not taking pictures in there!

From our family to yours, merry Christmas!