Newest Paintings: Mountains, Dreams, and Dark Skies

New in Campbellstown - kitchen shelves

Every gal has her dream kitchen glittering somewhere in her mind - posh appliances, perfect cabinets, gorgeous dishes, miles of counter space, happy colors or maybe all white... My dream kitchen, you'll see if you follow me on pinterest (Campbellstown), is something like "cottage clutter" with wood floors, a pie safe, heaps of white ironstone, a spiral staircase, fireplace, apron front sink, and shelving instead of cabinets.

All three pics via Pinterest

My for realz kitchen (seen in this post), is home to an army of cabinets. I'm grateful for them, since we don't have a pantry (c'mon architect, seriously?), but shelves has been my dream for a long time. So finally this past week, I took down my family photo board and drilled in these babies!

 

I found an old plank underneath our shed, cut it in half, sanded down the edges, and bracketed it to the wall. It's perfectly sized too! My fav part are the mug hooks, which you can easily find at Lowes for a couple bucks. The shelf brackets cost $6 each, mug hooks were $3, so this whole happy project took less than $30 and less than 30min - my kind of DIY! Now my bright kitchen looks a little more like my dream kitchen. Thank you, Lord, for free wood, and free time!

Happy Easter!

Best news you'll hear all day, folks.

Spicy Sausage 'n Cheese Pasta

This recipe was a Pinterest find, as are most of my trial recipes, and we really enjoyed it. It was sorta like a Mexican mac 'n cheese with delightful hits of salty sausage. We'd definitely do it again. The kids (ages 1 and 4yrs)  said it was too spicy, but they're wimps. My favorite part of making it was that it was SO simple! You don't boil the noodles ahead of time, just toss everything thing in a pot and simmer. This supper-procrastinating mama loved that, plus the noodles have lots of flavor from cooking in the broth. If ya give it a try, I hope you and yours enjoy it as much as we did!

Spicy Sausage Pasta

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb smoked sausage, sliced
1.5 cups diced onion
2 tsp garlic powder
4 cups low-sodium, all natural chicken broth
2 (10 oz) cans Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chiles OR cilantro lime
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 box penne pasta (or whatever you've got in bite-size)
1 teaspoon white pepper (cut back on this if you have wimpy kids, like me)
 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/3 cup sliced scallions (optional)

1. Heat olive oil to an oven-safe pot (I use my beautiful, cast iron le cruset look-a-like from Aldi) over medium high heat until hot. Add sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned -you want that good color and roasted taste.

2. Add broth, rotel cans (undrained), uncooked pasta, garlic powder and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil, cover pot, reduce heat to medium-low, and add cream. Simmer until pasta is al dente, stirring occationally to keep it wet. Check for doneness at 12 minutes.

3. Remove beautiful blue pot from heat and stir in 1 cup cheese. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with scallions (I didn't have any on hand, but the inspirational recipe I adapted this from called for them, and I think they'd be a nice addition.). Broil until cheese is melted, lightly browned, and bubbly.

Makes 8 servings.

Two Ingredient Banana Pancakes (Gluten Free)

     

 This is one of those "no excuses" recipes - meaning you have no excuse for not trying it because: (a) it's good for you, and (b) it's so easy a four year old could do it. And she did do it, my four year old that is. Also, if you're one of those folks who unfortunately can't have gluten in their diet, you have even less excuse because, seriously, you can't eat like anything good and here's a recipe for something good you could eat.... so make it. (If, by chance, you're one of those folks who is voluntarily avoiding gluten for some trendy (crazyinthehead) reason... seriously?? Live for those who cannot! BAGEL! BAGEL! BAGEL! Okay, I'm done.) On to the recipe...

Yum. I saw this recipe on Pinterest, of course, and I love it's ease for the cubs. I can whip these up just as fast a a bowl of oatmeal, but I get more smiles. It's as simple as this:

Grab a banana and an egg, this will make one large pancake. (the recipe below makes two) A soft banana is best, easier to mash.

Begin mashing the two together in a small bowl. You can use a fork, but I like my biscuit mixer/ potato masher thingy.

While you mash, heat a small skillet over medium heat and add a little pat of butter. Note: Please, people, use butter not oil or (heaven forbid) PAM. If you want that crisp, browning action, you need to use butter. It's really not as bad for you as the health department would like you to believe - fat is not the enemy, it's brain fuel, especially for children... but don't get me started. : ) Let that skillet get good and hot, and the BUTTER spread all 'round.

 Mash, mash, mix, mix, until the there aren't large banana lumps anymore.

Pour all the mix into the hot skillet, and let it cook on one side until browned, then flip. Mmm, look at that golden sweetness!

Serve immediately to happy toddlers! You can top your pancake how you'd like, Nutella, peanut butter, etc, we chose vanilla Greek yogurt as a "dip" instead of syrup - the cakes are quite sweet already being made of natural sugar! So how do they taste? A lot like banana bread, yum, and they're filling. They have the consistency of an omelet, easily cut and chewed. Also, they would freeze well, if needed, since the two ingredients freeze well.

Oh, don't let this snarky little handsome face fool ya... see that yogurt everywhere? Yeah, he thought his pancake was "Umm! Oood!"

Two Ingredient Banana Pancakes
Makes 2

Butter for pan
2 bananas
2 eggs

Heat butter in skillet over medium heat. Mash bananas and eggs together with a whisk or fork in a bowl until smooth. Pour half of mixture into skillet and cook, flipping half way through after the first side is browned. Follow with the rest of the mix, making the second pancake. Serve immediately with topping of your choice. Enjoy!

10 Minute Slouch Beanie DIY

I love me some goodwill; both the happy feeling and the thrift store. Weeeell, their prices could be a bit better since they are, at times, the same as Walmart, but often i still find cheap treasure. While there recently, I snagged a couple of old, thick sweaters to make into beanie hats for the kids... and, okay, for me too. It was an easy 10 minute project, and hard to mess up, yay. (perfect for this sloppy sewer) Here's how i went about it...

- grab an old sweater, flip it inside out
- use another hat as your template for size and line it up with the bottom of the sweater (NOTE: for a slouchy look, I cut my hat several inches taller than the template hat)
- cut it out. ugly edges are fine, just try to make both sides fairly even
- pin the two pieces together
- use a small, straight stitch (stitches close together), and sew yourself a beanie!

hope y'all like yours as much as I like mine! and I promise Eva liked hers too, but she wouldn't let me take a picture that could convince anyone of that. stinker.

 

Easy Cajun Beans and Rice

Stromboli. I make a mean one - homemade semolina dough, two kinds of meat, cheese, and homemade marinara. The Huz worships those loaves of chewy Italian goodness, as well he should, but this recipe, however, is not that one. This recipe was one I whipped up in 20min, fridge to table, on a night that my former supper plan came to a sad end. I left dough to rise for that fantastic stromboli...aaaaaaand left it forever and it dried out. Fail. (and by left it forever, i mean more than 24hrs in a warm oven. don't ask.) Happily, my two big men and I loved this quick-fix supper, and we're adding it to the rotation. I shared it's spicy gorgeousness on Facebook and y'all asked for the recipe, so here it is! One warning, it is rather hot, we like our Cajun seasoning, so taste as you go. Eva couldn't eat it (yogurt for supper!), but Dre took the heat like a champ. Hope you and yours dig it! This grainy photo was all I got, folks, but you can still tell it was deeelish.

 

 

Easy Cajun Beans and Rice

(brought to you by the fruit of forgetfulness and blessed creativity.)

 

1 smoked kielbasa sausage, sliced

3.5 - 4cups cooked brown rice

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

2-3 TB Cajun seasoning (more or less to taste)

1 can chicken broth

½ cup sour cream

Heat skillet over medium high heat. Add slices of kielbasa, and brown for several minutes. Add rice and drained beans and mix. Sprinkle Cajun seasoning over mixture, followed by broth, and blend. Allow to simmer for 10min or until heated through. Stir in sour cream and taste. Add more Cajun seasoning if desired. Serve with honey cornbread and enjoy!

First Book!!

well folks, after a week of really late nights, my first book is finally completed and even (self) published! yeah, it's a little blurry, but looky here....

  in case you can't read through the fog, i'll make it big and beautiful here for ya.... it says, "Advent: Remembering How Jesus Came and Will Come Again - 25 Daily Readings for Families to Share at Christmas Time." yup, that's what i wrote - 64 pages of stuff about Jesus and Christmas mixed with a heavy dose of scripture. i've been working on it off and on for about a year, and ya know what, y'all? i'm pretty proud of it. okay, really proud of it.

woo hoo! look at me, ma! i'm a writer!

i started this little book because i love the tradition of reading the nativity story during the Christmas season, but i wanted to be able to teach my own kids more of the whole story of why Jesus came on Christmas. i looked around for a book to read with them as we did our little advent "calendar" through december, but i couldn't find anything that i liked, so, the huz and i talked some theology, and my "Advent" book was born. and since kids like pictures, i doodled some of those in there too. so did eva actually, as you can see, on the front cover. so it was really nearly a whole family endeavor in some ways.

if you'd like to see a preview of the book or buy one for your family, you can find it here on blurb.com in my own little book store! (how cool is that?!?)

here's the book's description:

   "Start a new family Christmas tradition with this great little book magnifying the glory of God's great plan of salvation through the sending of His Son, Jesus.

   This book is setup for daily reading, starting the first day of December, and going through Christmas day. Instead of focusing solely on the Nativity story, the author has sought to tell the bigger picture of God's redemption plan beginning in the Garden.

   Broken into five sections, (Why is Jesus Important? / He is Coming! / Meeting Baby Jesus / What is He Like? / What Happened to Him?) "Advent" begins with God's promise of salvation at The Fall of Adam and Eve, and ends with the Great Commission. Each day has a theme, scripture, and symbol to tell a different piece of the story of Jesus. Also woven in are pieces of Christmas tradition history (Candy Cane History / Evergreens Symbolism), as well as a section of Christmas carols to sing along with corresponding days.

   The author's own delightful little color illustrations are found on each page and are also included in the back to cut out for use with an advent calendar.

   From the author: I sincerely hope you and your family are benefitted by this book as you seek to make the Savior the center of your Christmas celebrations together."

Easy Ruffle Shorts in 10 Minutes

Y'all, i am NOT a short shorts kinda gal....mostly because Jesus told me I look cuter in longer shorts, but also because I'm half-ginger rather pale and freckly. As I like to say, with a hearty chuckle, "These thighs bless few eyes." Teehee. Anyway, if you're like me and prefer more length on your shorts, then you've probably noticed there are two options out there: Bermuda shorts (they hit right above the knee - a fine look, but limited.) or what I call "classic" shorts (you may know them as "Mom" shorts, a take-off from "Mom" jeans - high waisted, thick, rather roomy, and not typically fashion-conscious. An unfortunate few are still constructed with the use of elastic in the waist. Girls! That look does nothing good for your hiney! But I digress...) Classics shorts are at best bland and at worst the worst, but they do provide a "canvas" to work with as I did here...

 

Frustrated with the selection in the stores, in recent years I've taken to making my own shorts out of old wide-leg jeans, though those are getting harder to find with the whole skinny jean craze. This summer I just couldn't find any wide-legs, so I bought these "classic" shorts at the thrift shop for $2. Not bad, but they were a little wide and a little long. An easy way to fix both of these problems typically, is to simply roll them legs up a bit, but inspired by a trend of ruffly shorts on Polyvore, I decided to give these an added touch.

Some pins and fabric glue assited in the transformation, as you can see here. Note: It's really important to try them on with the lace pinned lik this so you can see what the final length will look like on your body. Just look at that smiling lace! So happy to be hangin' out with me. Teehee again, no?

And there they were! Tada! The whole thing took about 10min.

 Of course this look is so customizable for personal preferance. I was pretty happy with out they turned out, might try adding a touch of lace to my little girl's shorts too!

 So there you have it! My little...

Hope ya liked it!

Curry Crunch Chickpeas

lately i've been on the hunt for healthy snacks i can munch during my prized quiet "exercise hour"  in the afternoon. (okay... i'm not really working out, i'm couching-it watching man vs wild) well, thanks to pinterest, there are a lot of fresh ideas out there like this one: roasting chickpeas.

 

i'll admit, these didn't sound much good to me, but i went ahead and made them today, and i'm quite happy to report that not only were they super easy to make, but they were delightfully flavorful and satisfyingly crunchy. and hey! they're high in fiber and have some good protein to grow those muscles i'm working on. (yeah, right.) if you don't like curry or spicy, there are a lot of other variations out there that are worth a try, or you could make up your own version! i plan to test out chili lime and tex-mex next, but this flavor below will definately be made again. hope y'all like 'em!

 

 

Curry Roasted Chickpeas Using Canned Beans

(adapted from here)

Preparation time: 5 minute(s) | Cooking time: 50 minute(s)

Makes 6 servings.

 

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tsp olive oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and spread chickpeas out in a single layer. Bake, stirring every 15 minutes, until golden and crunchy (Test for crunchiness. They shouldn't feel stale in your mouth. Tf they do, add 5min more until they're right.). About 50 minutes worked for mine. Cool completely before serving.

Per serving: 3g Protein; 3g Fiber.

if y'all decide to go ahead and make 'em, let me know how ya like 'em! maybe i'll even send ya a baked chickpea veteran t-shirt? perhaps "bean there, done that" across the front? (i apologize for that.)