Color Scheming

Frustrated by a lack of cohesion with my living room, I've recently turned to a favorite source: Pottery Barn to solve my latest decorating dilemma. I have not been able to decide on any color scheme I truly love! For awhile, it was warm beige, black, white, with pops of red. Snore. I got tired very quickly. I've read that a great place to start for color inspiration is with a rug but I have yet to find a rug I'm truly in love with either (that doesn't cost an arm and a leg). I recently tried to shake things up for Spring in this post but it wasn't quite right.

In pondering this question, I remembered that my bedspread in my bedroom is a print from the 'Barn and I've absolutely loved having it and working with the colors in it. I got to thinking that perhaps I found a print I loved for the living room, I could just use that to guide my color scheme for accessories, pillows, etc.


And that, ladies and jellyspoons, is exactly what I've been up to in the living room. A new color scheme of greys, neutrals, light blues, and small subtle pops of yellow (still adding those). Here's a few befores and the (still in progress) after inspired by Pottery Barn's Sydney Palampore fabric...

BEFORES

AFTER

Mmm Spinach and Artichoke Dip

One of my restaurant faves the past few years has been Spinach & Artichoke Dip. I often get it as a meal instead of an appetizer and it is equally delicious with flatbread, garlic bread, or tortilla chips!


I've been meaning to make my own version for Gus and I to enjoy on the cheap (sans giant restaurant bill). So here it is, deliciously cheesy Spinach and Artichoke Dip for your home table...

Ingredients:
- 3 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and chopped finely (fresh can work too)
- 1 10oz. can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped finely 
- 3/4 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan 
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
- Dash of salt, pepper, garlic powder, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper

Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400F. 
- Combine spinach, artichokes, mayo, most of the mozzarella, spices, and half the parmesan cheese until well blended.
- Place dip in greased small glass pan and top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan.
- Bake until cheese turns golden brown and you can see the dip bubbling.
- Serve with chips, croutons, forks.. anything you want! Enjoy!

Author's Note:

Just an FYI to fans who miss my daily posts. I lost my job a few weeks ago and have been interviewing like crazy to find a new one. Since this doesn't leave me much time or resources to blog, I've been writing sporadically.

I hope to be able to post more regularly again soon. Thanks for stopping by as always!

Piccata in a Pinch

The other night, Gus and I were hoping to make Chicken Piccata with our trusty Chicken Piccata sauce from Trader Joe's. We were stopped in our tracks when we realized our open bottle of Piccata sauce was wayyyy too old to eat! Solution number two: Trader Joe's Cacciatore Sauce! We had a brand new bottle we'd been meaning to try.


We pop that open and my happy smile falls.... I smell red peppers! Aaaahhh, there's a few things I really don't like, especially in tomato sauce - and red peppers is definitely one of those things!


So here we are, chicken with onions and pasta cooking away.. and no sauce!


Dun dun dun.. the birth of a new recipe: Piccata in a Pinch! Enjoy this when you're in the mood for a lemony, wine, butter sauce full of deliciousness. Chances are most of this stuff is on hand in your pantry already.. it was in mine thankfully!

Serves 2-3


Ingredients:
- 2 large chicken breasts, diced into medium pieces (cooked- We put ours in the crock pot on high for 2 hours when it was originally frozen)
- 1 lb of your choice of pasta, cooked and drained
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic gloves
- 2 oz. of cream cheese (reduced fat works great)
- 1/2 cup Zesty Italian Dressing
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1 cup of white wine
- 2 large pats of butter
- Dash of basil, parley, salt, and pepper


Directions:
- Cook pasta separately while making the chicken with sauce.
- Saute onion and garlic with olive oil over medium heat.
- After a few minutes, add chicken pieces to the mixutre and continue to cook until the chicken browns just a bit.
- In a small bowl, combine italian dressing, lemon juice, cream cheese, wine, butter, and spices. Add this mixture to the saute pan with the chicken.
- Simmer sauce for at least 5 minutes. It should smell awesomely like butter and wine.
- To finish, top pasta with sauce and enjoy! Yum!

The Best Bouquet - a Gift Card Bouquet

For those of you searching for a new twist on the bouquet of flowers gift... I've got a great DIY for you inspired by a gift I received from my friends Melissa and Harper.


Everyone loves getting flowers but they die a week or two later.. Why not give flowers and some amazing gift cards- the gifts that keep feeding your shopping addiction!

For my 23rd birthday, Harper and Melissa surprised me with a bouquet of lovely flowers and several gift cards (for small amounts) peppered in with those plastic note holders that come with bouquets. Here's how to make your own:


Supplies:
- One nicely sized bouquet of beautiful flowers
- 4-5 gift cards that your loved one would love to have, in amounts that work for you (with or without envelopes, your choice)
- 4-5 plastic note holders for flower arrangements


Directions:
- Place gift cards in envelopes or skip envelope step. Attach each to a plastic note holder and stick into bouquet.
- Present to your delighted loved one! Huzzah!


Happy gift giving everyone:)

Weekend Kitchen Nightmares: Rubber Lemon Cake

So I got it in my head that I woud make lemon cake for Gus and be super awesome by using rice four and xantham gum as a replacement for all-purpose flour. I used a tried and true cake recipe and only subbed the flour ingredients.


Yeah.. should have done a little more research into gluten-free baking. What I ended up with is something I've never quite seen before. It is almost a dense, rubber-like consistency that has the appearance of a very deep dish pizza crust. The good news is that it's kind of tasty with buttercream frosting on top (what isn't though?) and Gus likes eating it with a cup of tea.

I'd post the recipe but I doubt any of you want to serve rubber lemon cake to anyone, ever.


For now, I'm sharing just to demonstrate that we all have our kitchen disasters. The last one I had were chocolate chip cookies that spread so much, I had to put them in muffin tins to bake them. 


Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Friday Fun with Spray Paint

So I finally got the nerve up to bust out the white spray paint I bought a year ago to transform my old clock/bookcase I got at the thrift store. I didn't anticipate the breeze yesterday and it turned out to be quite the adventure- ending with me inadvertently spraying my black shoes AND my cell phone!

Fortunately, both washed off relatively well and the clock turned out might fine too...

Here's the oddly yellow before -

The super white and lovely after...

Have a great weekend all! :)

Easy and Delicious Baked Ziti

Gus has been asking me to make baked ziti for ages - even before he developed a gluten allergy this past summer. Even though now he can't eat gluten, we finally managed to make a delicious baked ziti that's easy, gluten-free, and yummy for everyone!

Here's how to make your own amazingness tonight...

Ingredients:
- 1 lb of gluten-free ziti/penne noodles or regular wheat noodles (if you can eat 'em)
- 3 and 1/2 medium sized mild sausages, grilled then sliced
- 1/2 large white onion, chopped
- 1 zucchini, diced
- 1 26oz jar of spaghetti sauce (we used Classico Tomato and Basil)
- 1 8oz pkg of reduced fat cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup of sour cream
- 12 slices of Provolone
- 4 slices of Mozerella
- 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan
- Garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste


Directions:
- Grill sausages and slice into small discs. Set aside.
- Set water boiling in a large pot for the pasta. Saute onion and zucchini with a dash of salt, pepper, and garlic powder on medium heat until mostly cooked through.
- Add the sliced sausage to the mixture. Stir for a few minutes, then add your spaghetti sauce and turn heat to low.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Mix the sour cream and cream cheese together.
- When water boils, cook the pasta for a little more than half the normal cooking time then drain it. It'll cook the rest of the way in the pan with the sauce.
- Once your pasta is ready - here's how to assemble:
-- Use pam or olive oil to coat a 9 x 13 glass pan
-- Place half the ziti noodles on the bottom of the pan
-- Place 6 slices of provolone as a layer
-- Spread half the cream cheese mixture over the provolone slices
-- Top the cream cheese mixture with your sauce
-- Repeat once more (rest of ziti, provolone, cream cheese, remainder of sauce)
-- Top sauce with torn pieces of your mozerella slices and your shredded parmesan cheese
- Bake for 30 minutes and allow to cool for 5-10 before eating. Mangia!

 My salt and pepper bird shakers are like... "Dude that looks nom, right?"