I Wanna Try

Yes, this is another blog list cause I can't get things done quick enough. :) So to document my "wanna tries" and to share them with you - you may even be able to try them before me - here we go...

I've been thinking about doing this in my boys' room:
a) books that have their name in them
b) good "boy" books
c) my childhood favorites



from Project Nursery

Oh, how I've been feeling this lately. Would love to get a print of this for my kitchen, living room, or laundry room.


from Etsy's Twitterpated Toad

No more searching for blue jars - you can just make your own out of jars from a discount store. Yay!!


from Bridal Buzz

A great way to spruce up old jelly or pickle jars so you can repurpose those too. Or even a blue jar lid. :)



from Design Sponge

Thought this would be a great pillow for our bed. :) And I could even make this myself.



from Apartment Therapy

I thought this was a great idea for storage under a bed. Cute and purposeful. Does anyone have any old suitcases I could have? :)


from Better Homes and Gardens








 

 
This is probably my favorite!! I LOVE the organization in this small closet. And it's cute ta' boot!


from Better Homes and Gardens

 Words can not express. Mmmmm (as I wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth). I don't think I'll be able to wait until summer to make these treats. Chocolate and Salted Caramel Pudding Pops?! Who wouldn't love to nosh on those right now?!



from Endless Simmer











Hope you enjoyed my latest findings. And please let me know if you have a chance to try them out before I get to them. :)

I Wanna Try

I've been all over bloggyland and found a few recipes that I really want to try:

DIY Kale Chips by Dana at House Tweaking
(a favorite DIY decor blog)

Cheddar Cheese + Apple Pie by Jamie at Prudent Baby
(a fun DIY craft blog)






Yummy!! What have you been cookin'?

What's For Dinner?

Last night we had this

Short Stop's Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup
picture from Short Stop

and this

Short Stop's Homemade Beer Bread
picture from Short Stop

for dinner and it was delicious!!

* soup tip - add the chicken stock gradually, I added it all at once and the soup didn't really thicken up
* soup tip - whatever you do, don't bring the soup to a boil because the milk will curdle (oops!). take your time and heat it slowly, it's worth it
* bread comment - this was the best beer bread I've ever had. my husband said it was the type of beer (Samuel Adams Octoberfest), but I said it was because it was made from scratch and not from a packet

Enjoy!!

Check out Sarah's other recipes. She's one of my favorite foodie bloggers!!

Cooking for Wedding Week

My baby sister got married on Saturday, June 13th at my parent's farm. I'll be posting more about the wedding later, but I told my mom that I would cook the week of the wedding. She had enough stuff going on. Plus, my sister's family (4) and my family (4) would be staying on the farm. I knew that would be a lot of people to cook for and it sounded like fun to me. So, here's the menu from the week:

Sunday dinner: tacos

Monday lunch: leftovers
Monday dinner: frozen lasagna

Tuesday lunch: empenadas with guacamole and cilantro lime sour cream
Tuesday dinner: BBQ sandwiches, baked sweet potatoes, and Cajun coleslaw

Wednesday lunch: leftovers
Wednesday dinner: leftovers (husbands and children); Dad, Mom and my sisters out for pizza

Thursday lunch: taquitos, Southwestern salad
Thursday dinner: leftovers (husbands, children and my dad); girls night out

Friday lunch: chicken club brunch ring and BLT dip
Friday dinner: rehearsal dinner at the farm - smoked, grilled or baked turkey (that my brother-in-law shot), fruit, potato salad, tea rolls

I also made Cowboy Caviar and Brownie Bites. Delicious.

I didn't have anything to do with Sunday or Monday's cooking or Friday's dinner. But the others were all me. I had my family helping me in the kitchen - rolling out dough, chopping veggies, shredding meat. It was a lot of fun.

What's For Dinner?

**Update: Seriously yummy salad. We even used the lettuce we grew in our "garden." I had a little trouble getting the taquitos to roll (they cracked). They were not pretty but they tasted great. I plan on making this for dinner when I'm at my parent's next week.

Tonight for dinner we're having Baked Shredded Beef Taquitos and Southwestern Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing. Both recipes are from For the Love of Cooking, one of my favorite foodie blogs. Make sure to check out For the Love of Cooking for tonight's recipes and many more!

Baked Shredded Beef Taquitos

Southwestern Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

Oscar Party Review

Our Oscar party was a lot of fun! We had a lot of fun razzing each other about who were were picking to win. All the ballots were placed in a sealed envelope and then we had a Master Ballot that we used to keep track of the wins. There were 24 categories and our winner got only 12 correct (50%). This just goes to show that none of us get out much. ;) The winner received the DVD My Cousin Vinny Gold Academy Awards Edition in which Marissa Tomei won best supporting actress at a previous Academy Awards.

We had a LOT of food and some great creative names:

**Benjamin Bellybutton Roll-ups (tortilla roll-ups) - our pick for most creative name
Pineapple Express Pizza (fruit pizza)
Alien Eyes (pickle wraps)
Nacho Libre Dip (layered Mexican dip)
Wall-E Brownies (Cosmic brownies)

I also bought ingredients to make sparkling apple juice - apple juice and ginger ale. It tasted great and looked really pretty. And I bought some "special" drinks for our guests. We usually don't have soda in the house, but we get it when we know people are coming over. I knew what my guests' favorites were so that's what I bought.

Mountain Dew - 2 of my husbands co-workers
Cherry 7-Up - a nursing mom
Diet Coke - our dear friend (who usually brings a can along because we don't usually have soda)
Carolyn's Irish cream - a co-workers wife

Kind of fun to get special "treats" for guests. Especially when they don't suspect it! ;)

81st Academy Awards!

I'm hosting and Oscar Party! Yep, we're celebrating the 81st Academy Awards on Sunday Night. I have ballots printed out for all the guests. They're at 7pm during the red-carpet interviews so they can fill in their picks. I asked everyone to bring an appetizer or a dessert. I thought it would be fun to get together, even though I don't know a lot of the movies that are up for awards. It should be fun anyway. Oh, and I'm giving away a little prize to the winner.

I will be serving:

Red Carpet Cookies - sugar cookies with red sugar
Chex and the City Mix
Three Amigo's Dip - layerd Mexican bean dip
Punch - ginger ale and apple juice or Cherry 7-Up

(I got the Red Carpet Cookies idea from the latest Food Network Magazine. I also got the Chex and the City Mix recipe from the Food Network Magazine. It's not a good recipe. Kind of bland...I just don't like it. If I could do it over again, I'd use my original Chex Mix recipe and add the wasabi peas and chow mein noodles.)

Surprise In the Mail

The other day I received a surprise in the mail:


I was so super-pumped!! I thought it was wonderful to see a foodie magazine in my mailbox!! The next day I got a postcard in the mail saying that my mom had gotten me a 6-month subscription to the Food Network Magazine. Does she know me or what?!

There are a bunch of recipes that I want to try:

• Watermelon Pork Tacos in Lettuce Shells (pg 50)
• Almost-famous Pumpkin Cheesecake (pg 53)
• Cornmeal Blini Bites - made with Jiffy corn muffin mix (pg 55)
• Cranberry Pecan Biscotti - made with Jiffy corn muffin mix (pg 57)
• Chicken and Black Bean Tostada - or tacos (pg 80)
• White Chicken Chili Stew (pg 80)
• White Pizzas with Arugula (pg 87)
• Cincinnati Chili (pg 141) - I already have a recipe for this dish, but would love to give this one a try

Other features I enjoyed:

• index of the recipes with pictures (I love to see what it's supposed to look like)
• what wines to pair with what dishes
• good boxed wines and what to use to serve the wine to make it look more elegant
• gift-ideas based on cooks/chefs from the Food Network

What can I say, I'm hooked! The only disappointment was a chunk taken out of the back few pages. Happy to say that there were no recipes on those pages, so it worked out okay.


Yesterday I got a postcard to subscribe to the magazine: 1 year for $10. Sounds like a deal to me.

Oh, and included in the magazine was a little booklet "50 Toast Toppers." Amazing little book! I can't wait to give them a try. I might make a meal out of yummy french baguette toast and fun things to top them with. Yumm-O!!