Friday, August 26, 2011

Totally Personal


Hola!
I wanted to note a very exciting and momentus occasion. If you weren't paying attention you would've missed it but I've finally hit 30 Followers! This has been a personal goal of mine for a while, to hit 30, but I didn't want to say anything in case I jinxed it! I want to thank Robin & Clydia who are my two newest followers! They are the authors of the T-Shirt Diaries & Three Mango Seeds respectively.

I'm so excited that my adventures in crafting and cooking has garnered at least a little bit of a following. Thank you to all my followers-I truly appreciate all of you! Here's to the next 30!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Chicken with mushroom gravy

I'm always on the hunt for a new chicken recipe, and this one is quite good.  While Ty and I definitely found the ground thyme a little overwhleming and too earthy (Ty's words), si next time around I'm gonna nix the thyme altogether and add garlic salt!

What You'll Need
2 chicken breasts, halved
1/4 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3 tbls butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tbls cornstarch
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary

Combin flour, salt and pepper in a bowl and dredge chicken in flour mixutre.  Melt 2 tbls of butter in a large skillet and over medium heat saute the chicken until cooked through.  FYI your house will smell like deliciousness! Once done, set aside and cover to keep warm.


Melt the remaining butter in the pan and saute onions until they just start to brown.

 Add mushrooms and conintue cooking until mushrooms soften and reduce in size, about 5 minutes.  Add wine and reduce to simmer.

Mix the corn starch with the chicken broth and add to pan.  Season with thyme and rosemary, adjusting to taste.  Let simmer until gracy thickens.

Add chicien back in to re-heat if nececssary.
 
 Serve with your favourite side.  I had this with my Quick & Easy Chickpea Salad.

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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Stashbusting September

Yes!  It's back!  Stashbusting September with Robin over at the T-Shirt Diaries is back for another wonderful installment of STASHBUSTING! 


I know it totally sucks to think about September, but it'll be here before you know it!  So if you want to get in on the fun, sign up for Stashbusting September right now!  For all the deets about this awesome month of upcycling check out Robin's blog


The T-Shirt Diaries

Not to mention, yours truly will be guest posting over at the T-Shirt Diaries during Stashbusting September.  So make sure to check back to find out when I'll be hopping over to bust some stash!

AND I'll be donating a great stash-busted prize to Stashbusting September!  So you'll definiately want to join in the busting to win some lovely handmades from me!  Only blogs who have signed up for Stashbusting Spetmber can win-so get over there!
I can't wait to see what other peeps have stashbusted...
I know I have A LOT of glass jars in my garage and no clue what to do with them!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Pinning!


Ok, I'm hooked.  As like most things I didn't see the point until I actually signed up and started Pinning.....hmmmmm I wonder if I'll like Twitter? Probably not. Anywho, yes, I'm on Pinterest!  And I'm loving it.  I'm trying to be selective about what I pin, because it is EASY to get carried away!
 
Think I have good taste?  Want to see what I'm inspired by.  Want to snoop in on my planning and creative thoughts for my wedding? Wanna follow me on Pinterest?  Of course you do!
 
Follow Me on Pinterest
 
 

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Crazy Cooking Challenge

I was so delighted when I got an email from Tina over at Mom's Crazy Cooking who invited me to take part in her Crazy Cooking Challenge!
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What is the Crazy Cooking Challenge you ask? 
I'll let Tina explain:

"We are a group of bloggers that are getting together in 'Blog World' to bring you ONE FEATURED FOOD ITEM each month of the year! This ONE ITEM will be made by different bloggers all in their own special way, but we will ALL be making the SAME ITEM!!! We will all post together on the same day, at the same time and the linky party will have ALL OF THE BLOGGERS posts linked up."

How great is that?!?!  It's one stop shopping for a multitude of different recipes!  Once the posts are live and up on the linky party you'll be able to go and vote on your favourite recipe to find the ULTIMATE RECIPE!  Like Top Chef, but with recipes!

You can check out my first Crazy Cooking Challenge post all about Mac & Cheese on September 7th.  PS: If you have a faboosh mac & cheese recipe on your blog, be sure to tell me.  Who knows, it could be the recipe I make?


Thursday, August 18, 2011

Quick & Easy Chick Pea Salad

First, I have to start off by apologizing for being MIA.  After my out of town company left I was dragged into the world of the Hunger Games.  I have spent the last week reading these books-up all hours of the night, totally engrossed in them!  I have currently pulled myself away from the third and last installment of the series (not quite as enrapturing as the first two) to write this blog post!

So without further ado, here's my Quick & Easy Chickpea Salad!

What you Need
2 cans of chick peas
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tomatoes, diced
red onion, minced
1/2 an English cucumber sliced and quartered
lemons
parsley
extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper

Dump your can(s) of chick peas into a large bowl.  You can rinse your chickpeas if you like.  Next dice your tomato and add it in.


Then cut up your cucumber.  I like to slice it lengthwise, and then again perpendicularly to the first cut, so it's quartered.  Then hold the quarters together and slice as normal.
Ta Da!

Next mince your red onion and juice your lemons.  You can briefly microwave your lemons or roll them on a counter to release more juice.  Add the onion and lemon juice into the vegetable mixture.

Finally mince some parsley and garlic and add to the bowl. 
This is, as usual, to your taste, so experiment with different quantities!  Toss well and add a little bit of EVOO.

The key to this recipe is to let the salad sit in the fridge for a while to let the flavours explode!  It is always better the next day when the flavours have developed, so try to make it at least 1 hour before you want to dig in!

There are a lot of great substitutions you can make to this salad to shake things up
1).  Add orange and green bell peppers, feta cheese and use a Greek inspired vinaigrette for a Mediterranean flare
2).  Swap out the chickpeas for cous cous or quinoa
3). Add in black beans, avocado and corn for a southwest taste
See what I mean?

Lastly stay tuned for some VERY exciting announcements coming your way in the next week.  I'm going to be a very busy blogger and I want YOU to be in on the fun! 

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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Baby You're a Firework!

Every year Vancouver holds an international fireworks competition at the end of July/beginning of August, called The Celebration of Light.  Thousands of people crowd English Bay on the west end of downtown (and I mean thousands, you really feel like a sardine down there) to watch as different countries put on a show! 



For the past couple of years our friend Katie has invited us to hang out with her & her company for a fireworks dinner cruise.  Being on a boat in the bay is definitely the best way to see the fireworks.  Plus we get dinner & drinks!





Fair warning, all these pics were taken on my iPhone, so no hating.
 I know they're not the best quality.


My beautiful city at night! 


Lion's Gate Bridge


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Welcome Rock

Having a townhouse has been a great adventure so far.  I love the freedom it gives me to paint any colour I want, and Ty's happy he doesn't have to mow the lawn.  One of my favourite features of our house is our front door.  We have 8 stairs leading up to our front door and a nice little porch. 
And it's one more place I get to decorate!

So I got this idea in my head, "hey, wouldn't it be cool to find a big ole rock and write something on it to welcome people to our front door?"  So out I went looking for a big enough rock to make a statement on our front porch.

FOUND IT! 
I found this rock on an empty lot in our neighbourhood. 
It was so heavy I needed Ty to come pick it up in the car!

Next up, the word.  I picked "Welcome", that seemed obvious enough.  I printed it out on regular printer paper first, but knew that wasn't strong enough to stand up to spray paint.  So I traced the letters from the printer paper onto poster board for a stronger, sturdier stencil.  Cutting out these letters with my craft knife was the longest and worst part of the whole endeavour!
Once I cut out all the letters and saved the middles of the e's and o, I had to find a way to attach the stencil to the rock and still be able to remove it.  I used Scotch Tape- a lot of scotch tape (I think masking tape might work better)

Next, try to make the scotch tape stick to the rock..ah ha ha ha!
I recomend making a cut on a diagonale from the corners to the centre to allow the paper to fold over the rock.  It will help keep the stencil on the rock, somewhat.

Then, spray paint.  Light coats, far away from the stencil.  If you get too close and it runs, it will get inbetween the letters, making them unreadable.  Also, try to do this all in one day.  I tried to do a second coat on another day.
Reattaching the stencil = not the best idea.

Let dry and remove the stencil!
I knew spray painting in this way wasn't going to give me the clearest image (like on my garbage can) so, fabric puff paint to the rescue!!! 
I did think about outlining it in hot pink...but a boy lives here too!

I quite like how it turned out.  I think I will leave it pink for a while and then eventually paint it black to match the outlining. 

Now I just need Ty to haul it from the backyard up to the front door!

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Monday, August 8, 2011

Everyday I'm Smuggling

Ok that's not really true.  But, when we go shopping in the States we are only allowed a certain amount of goods to bring back, based on how long we were away...so sometimes...y'know, I may or may not take the stickers off books and throw them in my suitcase... Anywho, the point of the story is my sister in law, Sil, and her man Drew were visiting us this past week and we re-vamped LMFAO's song (Party Rock Anthem) as a joke for our trip to the USA... "everyday I'm smuggalin" (insert running man here!)

I can't remember what everyone bought on the trip, but I did buy a beautiful spoon rest (left) from Anthropologie, I bought an awesome new daytimer from Target-it's grey and coral LOVE!, I also bought the first book in the Hunger Games trilogy (I've already finished reading it) and The Help (can't wait to start). 
Oh and a bottle of wine from Target too.

  One of my favourite parts of the trip was a stop at Trader Joe's. 

OH!  How did I live without Trader Joe's in my life?!?! So awesome, loved everything about it.  And I bought the cutest tissue box there.  I laughed so hard when I read all the sides!

And of course a trip to Seattle wouldn't be complete without BASEBALL (and beer)!


 Safe Co Field! We had AMAZING seats on the third base line. Had to put our drinks down everytime there was a lefty at bat-there were a few close foul balls to our section!


Me and Drew!

Be prepared for another baseball post next week. 
Ty & I will be headed back to Seattle to see the Red Sox beat play the Mariners!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Warm Quinoa Salad

This is my first attempt making quinoa.  Luckily I have my lovely sister in law, Sil, visiting me and she uses quinoa frequently so she helped me out a lot with this recipe.  Also, if you're like me and are definitely pronouncing quinoa, 'kwinoha', you're not totally wrong.  Both 'kwinoah' and 'keenwah' are both appropriate pronunciations. 
But I think 'keenwah' is used more often.
 
Ok onto the recipe...
 
What you'll need
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped (not in oil)
1/2 cup chicken or veggie broth
1/2 cup white wine
1 tbls spoon lemon juice
1 tbls lemon zest
1/2 cup quinoa
4 green onions, chopped
a few sprigs parsely chopped (to taste)
 
 
Mince your garlic and chop your onion.

Check this cool vid to see a super handy way to chop onions fast!  Please ignore the background voices of Drew and Ty playing video game......
 
In case you couldn't tell, I'm the one with the man voice
 
In a sauce pan, heat 2 tbls of oil and put in the minced garlic and chopped onion and cook until onion is transparent and smells so delicious. 
 
While that's cooking, chop your sundried tomatoes and add to pot.  Pour in your broth and white wine and stir.
 
Add in the quinoa and cook on low-medium heat for 20 minutes.  I had never made quinoa before, so i assumed it would puff up more-it didn't.
 
Once it's done, remove from heat and stir in the green onions and parsley. and put in a pretty bowl!
I made this as the 'grain' in my meal.  I served if with my Beets & Greens Salad and BBQ Salmon and it complemented the meal really well.  I think if you wanted to served this as the grain, I would double the amount of quinoa and broth and wine.