SQUASH!

We have planted squash in the past, but this is the first time we've had substantial squash grow. These are the 2 we picked for tonight,  and there are so many more growing. I'm accepting squash recipes....

Faux Rock complete!

About a month ago, I started doing faux rock in the alcoves in the dining room.   It morphed into a much larger project since I decided to do 2 additional alcoves that aren't actually IN the dining room.  I finished the last (and largest) alcove this morning!  I love it!

Black Bean Salad with Corn, Red Peppers, Avocado, Jalepeno & Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette

I saw this recipe on Pinterest, and it looked so good that I had to try it!  I tweaked it a bit, and below is my revised version.

Ingredients:

• 2 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 ears fresh corn, cooked, cooled and kernels cut off the cob, or 1-2 C frozen corn, thawed
• 2 red bell peppers, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots 
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¼ C extra virgin olive oil 
• 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon lime zest (be sure to zest limes before juicing them)
• ¼  C chopped cilantro, plus more to garnish
• 2 Hass avocados, diced
• 1-3 fresh jalepenos, seeds and "white meat" removed, finely diced

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients except avocados in a large bowl and mix well. 
2. Cover and chill for a few hours or overnight. 
3. Right before serving, add avocados and mix gently, being careful not to mash avocados. 
4. Garnish with a few sprigs of freshly chopped cilantro if desired.  (I'm not a fan of cilantro, so I keep it to a minimum.) 
5. Serve at cold or at room temperature.  It can easily be served as a dip or as a salad on a bed of Bibb or Butter Lettuce.

Sicilian Casserole

Sicilian Casserole

My cousin, Nicole, asked me for a pasta and sausage casserole recipe this morning and said she couldn't find it on the blog.  I searched, and to my surprise, I never posted this!  I'm still searching for the picture since he made it the first time in the summer of 2010.  We froze one of the casseroles, and we had it for dinner on his first day of Kindergarten.  (Too bad I didn't realize it wasn't posted when Breckin made this LAST week.)

This was the first meal for our oldest son, Breckin, to cook by himself at age 6. It's not the healthiest meal that we eat, but everyone loves it.  It's a nice treat.  Our twins devour this dish and have since the first time they had it at age 1.  Enjoy!

Prep Time: 15 mins                             Total Time: 45 mins

1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed (I use half mild or sweet and half spicy)     

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped                                                             

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce                                                         

3/4 cup chicken stock (or water)

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning                                              

2 cups elbow macaroni (we actually use Gemelli instead of macaroni)

8 ounces cream cheese, cubed                                                          

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup sour cream                                                                             

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown sausage, onion and pepper in saucepan. Cook until sausage is done. Drain well.
2. Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, and dried Italian seasoning and stir well to blend.
3. Let simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook pasta as directed on package. While pasta is cooking, combine cream cheese and milk in medium bowl. Cook in microwave on medium power for 2-3 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking. Remove from microwave and stir with wire whisk until sauce is smooth.
5. Drain noodles and add to cream cheese sauce along with sour cream and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; stir.
6. In 2 quart casserole dish, place all of cream cheese mixture. Top with all of the sausage mixture and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until casserole is bubbly.

**To freeze, add 1 tablespoon cornstarch to the cream cheese sauce. Prepare casserole as directed, except instead of baking, chill in refrigerator. Wrap well and freeze up to 3 months.

To thaw and reheat, thaw casserole overnight in refrigerator.

Bake, covered, for 25-35 minutes 5 minutes longer until bubbly.

Kentucky Derby Hat

So as much as I would love to afford Milli Starr to make a hat for me for the Kentucky Derby, I just don’t see that happening unless we are GOING to the actual derby.

I have this fab sun hat that I bought last year (that my husband thinks is ridiculous because of its size.)

I decided this hat could be temporarily dressed-up for the derby.  One flower I bought on a recent outing, a trip to Hobby Lobby for feathers and organza, and about 15 minutes of assembly, and I have a hat that I love for the party!

Faux Rock

Multiple alcoves in our formal dining room haves stared at me since we moved in almost 3 years ago. They taunted me. 

I finally figured out what I would do with them.  (Two of the four are complete!)

Clear faux glaze + Mocha glaze + 2 tones of torn tissue paper = Faux rock alcoves!

Tear tissue paper (I used natural and white papers) into "bricks" with irregular edges.

Remove faceplates from outlets and light switches, and tape off the area.

Mix clear faux glaze and colored glaze as desired (uniformity is NOT necessary.)  I used Valspar's Mocha glaze.

Paint a layer of the glaze to cover a section large enough for about 4 "bricks."

Carefully place your first "brick" and glaze over it.  (Move your glaze outward around the edges so that you don't roll up or rip your tissue paper.)

Place your second brick either very near or slightly overlapping one edge of the 1st brick, and then glaze over.

I highly recommend tearing the paper to fit the space prior to glazing it in.  The glaze makes the tissue paper hard to handle, and then creating the right shape at the edges is near impossible.

Repeat until finished!

More pictures will follow once all 4 alcoves are complete.

Bento: Dr. Seuss

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

In his honor...

An egg shaped like a car - could be for "places you'll go" or "green eggs & ham"

Goldfish - 1 fish, 2 fish (3 fish, 40 fish?)

Sandwich - Red fish, blue fish

DIY Ruler

You've probably seen the adorable Pottery Barn Kids "ruler" to measure
growth....I wanted one.
I asked my Father in Law for one since he does wood work. I was expecting a
6' - 7' board with rounded edges. Instead, he created this amazing ruler!
He gave it to me "blank" along with a wood burning kit. As soon as I had it
in my hot little hands, I just had to get started. I had never done any
wood burning....
I printed the numbers out in Biondi font at 150 pt. I measured out the
board, and I traced over the numbers on top of the board to leave slight
indentions to give me a template on the wood. I will say that I'm no
wood-burning superstar, but I'm thrilled with the outcome! I originally
planned to put it in the kids' bathroom, but we like it so much, we hung it
in the front hallway where the kids' rooms are.
I'm doing "columns" so to speak for each of the kids to help keep it looking
"clean." Our oldest's markings will go on the left, middle in the middle,
and youngest on the right.
I didn't ask how much my father in law spent on the piece of wood, but I
know the wood burning kit was $15. All things considered, I *know* it was
less expensive (and more custom) than the one I originally loved!

Freezer Paper + Paint Drop Cloth = My New Love

I've been drooling over images of stenciled burlap and coffee sacks for over a year.  I've seen upholstered chairs, pillows, and even drapes full of relaxed charm.  Yes, much of it was designer / couture and very expensive.  Really?  $300 for a throw pillow?  Um. No.
Enter unbleached (6'x9') canvas paint drop cloth from Home Depot for $12 and a roll of freezer paper (thanks to my friend, Sue.) 

I spent some time deciding exactly how I wanted to redo those trite formal dining room chairs and played with designs on Sure Cuts A Lot 2 for my Cricut.  I finally settled on a script (Lasko Condensed) "E" and Engravers MT "Established 2002".  The freezer paper is so thin that even with a new blade and adjusted settings, it would occasionally tear with the blocky letters of Engravers MT font.  I was determined, so I just did a few extras.

Remove the seat cushion from the chair. (Mine were attached with 4 long screws.)

After cutting the freezer paper (shiny side down), I ironed it on to the "squares" of canvas (again, shiny side down) for the chairs.  I used a dry round paintbrush with black acrylic paint (50-97 cents at most craft stores) to fill in the stencil taking care not to saturate the paper or the fabric and to leave some inconsistencies in the paint.

Peel back the freezer paper, center the fabric on the chair cushion (already unscrewed them from the chair), and use a staple gun on the underside to keep the fabric taut on the chair cushion.  Start with one staple in the middle of the back or front edge of the cushion.  Then do one on the opposite edge.  Pull the fabric taut as you go, and add 2 more to the outside corners of those 2 edges.  Fill in the "empty space" of those edges with more staples as required.  Then, do the other two opposing edges in the same manner.  Depending on the cushion shape, the corners can be folded or just pulled until smooth.

I had so much leftover fabric after covering my 6 dining room chairs that I decided to make some placemats.  I used existing placemats as my template.  They are 18" wide rectangles.  I used the script "E" on 3 of them, but I didn't want them to all be too "matchy matchy."  (My husband came in as I was thinking through this outloud, and he said, "Even *I* know that we don't want 'too matchy matchy'."  Lovely, I've created a monster.) I wanted something a little less formal, but that could still be "fancy" enough for our (more casual) formal dining room.  I found an image of a place setting that was almost perfect.  I altered it some in Sure Cuts A Lot 2 and played with it some on the Cricut until I had forks, knives, and spoons that I loved.  Now, the remaining 3 placemats have a formal place setting with 3 forks, 3 spoons, and 2 knives stenciled on (using the freezer paper and black acrylic paint.) 

I *STILL* have fabric left from that original 6'x9' drop cloth.  I'm considering some napkins.  I didn't cut it in such a way that I could do a runner.  This project has given me inspiration for several other "someday" projects.  For now, I'm THRILLED with the 6 reupholstered chairs and 6 placemats that cost less than $15 to make!  (Actually, I think I will make some placemats for Sue since she did bring freezer paper to me to start this madness!)

Closet Makeover & Organization - Part 3

This project has really taken on a life of its own.  I'm not sure how many "parts" need to happen before it's complete....
Before
Jewelry Organization

Here are a few "Before" pictures as a refresher....or visual odor actually.  Nothing refreshing about these.

Here is what I've been up to...

First, I added this "pressed tin" wallpaper behind my shoe shelving.

(Imperial VP131600 Architectural Tin Ceiling Paintable Wallpaper on Amazon for $14.99)

Then, after the wallpaper had dried, I added some Valspar metallic silver glaze (that I already had from another project) to the wallpaper

I despised the light in my closet.  It held one puny little bulb to illuminate my entire closet, and it didn't do anything for me.  We changed that.  I will say that I had an incredibly difficult time getting this light.  (First, a box of organic diapers was shipped to me instead.  Then, they had to refund my $, which took a week.  Then, it wasn't available.  When it finally was, and I did order it, it looked like it had fallen off of the back of a truck and had some missing/broken pieces.  It was a booger to put together, too.)  It's intended to hang a little lower as a chandelier, but my doll of a husband worked with feathers and crystals in his face to install this for me.  The result?  swoon.

It's intended to hang lower like this one....I'm in love with it anyway.