Breakfast Nook Table Re-do

I am so excited to share with you our first big furniture painting project! When we moved into this house two months ago we realized that we needed to buy a small dining table for our breakfast nook area. I was so excited that this house had a separate formal dining area because I love my dining table and like to show it off. Yeah for me!!

OK, back to the project at hand. We could have bought a simple table and chairs set from Target or a furniture store but I didn’t want to spend a lot of money because depending on when and where we move again we may not use it at the next house. So I wanted to check out a local furniture consignment shop. I am glad I did!!

We found this simple table with four chairs for $179!! That is so cheap. It had a few minor scuffs and scratches but I didn’t care because I knew I wanted to paint it to blend with our kitchen cabinets. While we were in there we looked around at the other stuff and I found this great mirror for $8.

$8, SOLD!!!

I loved the shape of the frame and it was in great shape.  I had been looking for a great shaped frame for my Menu chalkboard for months with no luck and then I found this one for pennies basically. That will be a later blog post! OK, I am side-tracking, back to the table.

So like I said I wanted to paint it a warm white to blend with our kitchen cabinets and keep the space light and fresh looking. I chose the color String of Pearls from Valspar. It isn’t an exact match to the cabinets but we wanted it to blend without being too matchy-matchy.

Here are the supplies needed:

Paint (I used Valspar Eggshell finish in String of Pearls)

Primer (I used Zinsser Bulls Eye)

Polycrylic (I used Minwax)

Paint brush or roller (I used a paint brush because of all the corners and crevices with the chairs)

Sand paper (I used light and medium grit)

I don’t have a great before picture because we took the thing apart to get it home and then we got right to working on it. You can at least see the color of the wood in this photo.

First we sanded each piece. Since you are using primer you don’t have to sane too much unless there are a lot of scratches and ding marks. We were lucky ours didn’t have many. Wipe each piece with a damp clean rag or paper towel to remove the dust.  Now you can start priming, we did 2 coats of primer since the wood was a dark color and we were painting it white. Be sure to let each coat dry before applying the next.

Once primed go through and lightly sand out any drip marks and wipe clean. Now you can begin painting, again we did 2 coats of paint as well for good coverage.  Let dry in between coats of paint.

Lastly, we added a coat of polycrylic to help seal and protect our hard work; it also adds a light gloss. You can do more than one coat of this if needed. Once everything was dry we put it back together and placed it in the nook area.

I love how it turned out!! It is perfect since it is just us two most of the time and now we don’t have an empty space. It amazes me what paint can do!!

Linking to:

Tatertots & Jello

Positively Splendid

Classy Clutter

Serenity Now
Homemaker in Heels
Serendipity & Spice
Craft-O-Maniac

Grilled Pesto Pizza

I was brave this weekend and tried grilling pizza for the first time. I had heard so many great things about grilled pizza but was afraid to try it. In my head I saw a huge gooey mess happening on the grill and so did my hubby, but luckily for us no such thing happened. It was amazing and really very easy.

 For the whole wheat pizza dough:

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached, all purpose flour

2 pkgs. dry active yeast

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. Splenda or sugar

1 ½ cups lukewarm water

½ tsp. olive oil

Flour for work surface

Extra olive oil for baking sheet (to hold the dough while the grill heats up)

Place whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, yeast, salt and Splenda in a mixer fitted with a dough hook. While mixer is running gradually add water and knead on low speed until dough is firm and smooth, about 10 minutes. Turn machine off and pour the olive oil down inside the bowl. Turn on low once more for 15 seconds to coat the inside of the bowl and all surfaces of dough with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

After your dough has doubled in volume, punch down dough and cut in half. On a generously floured surface place one half of the dough. By hand, form dough loosely into a ball, stretch into a circle. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out dough until desired size and thickness. Keep in mind your grill size as well. Take a large baking pan and brush it with olive oil, place the rolled out dough on the pan. Do the same for your other half of the dough. Set aside until your grill is ready.

For the pesto:

Ingredients:

2 cups of fresh basil

½ cup grated Romano cheese

½ cup olive oil

1/3 cup walnuts

3 med cloves of garlic, minced

Place basil and walnuts in a food processor, pulse a few times (I used a mini food prep chopper/processor). Add the garlic and pulse some more. Add in the olive oil a little at a time and pulse. Stop and scrape the bowl, add the cheese and pulse again until everything is incorporated. Move into a small bowl to take out to the grill.

Other toppings:

2 cups of shredded cheese (I used 5 blend Italian cheese)

Crushed red pepper flakes

I kept my pizza simple but you can add fresh tomatoes or chicken, be creative.

For the grill we used our charcoal side, place the coals on only half of the grill. This will keep your dough from getting too crisp while you add your toppings.  Let your coals get hot, about 20 minutes depending on your grill. Now take your pan out to the grill. Using a grill spatula, place your dough on the charcoal filled half of the grill. Let it cook for 3-4 minutes, you will see it bubble up a little bit. Flip the dough over and cook for 3-4 minutes more.

If you want it more ‘grilled’ you can flip it again. Now move your dough over to the half of the grill that doesn’t have the coals under it. Spread your pesto sauce on the dough, top with cheese. Let it sit on that side of the grill for a few minutes for the cheese to melt. You can shut the grill but keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn. Once the cheese is melted, you are ready to serve. Repeat with other pizza dough. I topped mine with red pepper flakes.

Incredibly delicious!! Enjoy!!

Linking to:

Tatertots & Jello
Centsational Girl

Shrimp Alfredo Lasagna

Have I got a yummy recipe for you guys today!! This past weekend I wanted to make something different but I really was craving lasagna for some reason. So I made my own version of Shrimp Alfredo Lasagna.

It is simple to make and extremely delicious. Side note: I prefer glass baking dishes for lasagna so,  I used a 10” X 15” dish and there were lots of leftovers!! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 box lasagna noodles

1 (15 oz) container of ricotta cheese (I use low fat)

1 (16 oz) container of cottage cheese (I use low fat)

1 ½ Tbsp. Italian seasoning

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 ½ cups freshly grated parmesan cheese (divided)

1 Tbsp. butter or margarine

25-30 small/medium uncooked tail off peeled shrimp

3-4 cloves of garlic minced

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. cayenne pepper (I use more than this (about 1 tsp.) because I like the zippiness)

4 Tbsp. flour

2 cups half & half (I use fat-free)

 

Directions:

Mix the cottage cheese and ricotta cheese together in a bowl, add in the Italian seasoning and mix again, set aside. Mix your mozzarella cheese with 1 cup of your grated parmesan cheese, set aside.

Cook your lasagna noodles according to package directions. Once they are done, drain them and toss them with cold water to reduce sticking and to cool them down to be able to assemble the lasagna.

Meanwhile, place your butter, garlic, salt and cayenne pepper in a good size fry pan and blend together. Add your shrimp and sauté until nice and pink. Add the flour and stir until well incorporated into your shrimp mixture. Slowly add your half & half and the remaining ½ cup of grated parmesan cheese. Stir and then turn burner on high until the sauce begins to boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until thickened. Once thickened, remove from heat.

Now you are ready to assemble the lasagna. First take a little of the Alfredo sauce (try to keep the shrimp out on this thin layer) and spread it on the bottom of your pan, this keeps the first layer of noodles from sticking and getting crispy. Next layer your noodles on top of the thin sauce layer. Be sure to evenly cover the bottom of the pan. Now add a few big dollops of the cottage/ricotta cheese mixture and spread out evenly on the noodles. Add a couple of spoonfuls of your Alfredo sauce mixture on top on the cottage/ricotta cheese mixture. Sprinkle some of the mozzarella/parmesan mixture next. Now continue with this order until you are out of room or until you use up all the ingredients.

Cover your pan with foil and place in a preheated oven to 350 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes and then remove the foil and place back in the oven for 5-7 more minutes so the cheese can brown on top. Serve with a salad and some garlic bread and you have a unique and delicious meal!

Enjoy!

Linking to:

Serenity Now
Tatertots & Jello
Six Sisters' Stuff
Positively Splendid
I {heart} Nap Time
Homemaker in Heels
Craft-O-Maniac
Serendipity and Spice

Our New Home... For now!!

I haven’t been able to blog for the last few weeks because we have been packing and getting ready to move into our rental house. So that doesn’t leave much time for crafting, cooking and projects. I am so excited to have a yard and to unpack the other half of our stuff that has been in storage for 6+ months. Plus I have more than 5 cabinets in my kitchen in the rental house.  It is the little things that I enjoy now! J Ha ha ha ha. We decided to rent because we don’t know how long we will be in Tulsa (this could be a short stay) and we just sold our house in Texas after 5 and a half months of being on the market. I know that isn’t bad in the housing market today but it was still quite stressful.  So we decided that renting was the best, plus my hubby knows a home builder that his company does a lot of business with and he had a rental available right after we sold our house. Here are some pictures of the blank space without any furniture in it.

Now, that we have a house and space I have a huge list of projects I want to do. Being in a rental makes a lot of my original ideas a little hard to do but these projects won’t be as major as some of the upgrades we did to our last house since we can’t make permanent changes to the house.  I think my list will last me awhile though, what do you think??? J

I should be able to start on these soon once we unpack everything, (another joy of moving)!!

Swarovski Crystal Lanyard

I just realized the other day that I have not had a jewelry craft post since I started my blog. That is changing today! I used to be real big on making jewelry but I have only made a few pieces for special occasions in the past few years. To me jewelry making is fairly easy and somewhat relaxing. There are frustrating patterns and pieces but for the basic stuff it is pretty simple.  With that said this will be my first jewelry tutorial post and hopefully not the last. J

Last night I decided to make a lanyard for my work badge. We are required to wear our badges at all times and it has to be visible from the waist up. The only problem with that is we have to use our badge all the time to get into different areas of the building so it is easier if it is on a lanyard or retractable clip. I decided to combine the two into something fashionable (well as much as a badge can be! J ). Here is my lanyard that was issued with the badge.

Not so pretty, right?

Supplies needed:

34-40 inches of bead stringing wire (I used Beadalon 7 strand that I had on hand)

2 crimp tubes or crimp beads (whichever you prefer)

2 jump rings

1 large split ring (key chain sized)

1 small split ring

1 retractable badge clip

Jewelry crimpers

Chain nose pliers

Lots of beads or crystals (I used all Swarovski clear crystals, 4- 12mm cosmic bead, 6- 16mm Cosmic bead, 21- 3mm Helix bead, 15- 10mm Helix bead, 18- 6mm Bicone bead, 12- 6mm Round bead, 7- 8mm Round bead, 16- 6mm Briolette bead, 4- 12mm Graphic bead and 12- 10mm Disco Ball bead). This part is completely up to you so be creative.

All of these items can be found at any craft store. The bead choices will vary by store and I buy my Swarovski crystals from Bluemud online because they have a huge selection and are reasonably priced.

Okay to begin you need to figure out how long you want your lanyard. I am tall and didn’t want the badge to be up too high so I measured out my wire to be 40 inches, plus you want to be able to take it on and off over your head. This gives me the length I want plus extra wire to play with when crimping and finishing off the end. My actual finished lanyard is 34 inches.

Slide your crimp tube/bead on the wire and hold it in place towards the end of your wire. Take the end of your wire and slide it back into the crimp tube to make a loop.

Make sure you have excess wire (1/2 inch) on the other side of the loop and crimp tube; this will be covered by the beads and gives extra support at the end. Now take your crimpers and crimp the bead and then round it.

*For novice jewelry makers look at your crimp tool and notice that it has 2 different shaped notches, the bottom is the crimper (elbow macaroni shaped) and the top is the rounder (circle shaped). You place the crimp tube/bead in the crimper part first and squeeze and then place it in the rounder and squeeze to make it pretty.

You should have a loop like this:

Now you can start stringing your beads. This is the easy part!! Make sure your first couple of beads cover up the 2 strands of wire that are at the end so that none of it is poking out.

I used a bunch of various shapes and sizes and I did not do a particular pattern when stringing my beads. You can do it like this or you can use a bead board and design a pattern to follow. I just used my bead board to separate my types of crystals.

As you are adding beads keep in mind the length you want it to be and work from there.

Once you have finished stringing the beads you can string your other crimp tube. You will want to do the same as you did in the beginning by stringing the wire back through the tube and making a small loop.

(I left a little bit of room for my beads to move around because I still have to add the retractable badge clip to the middle.)

Crimp and round the bead as before. You will now need to trim the excess wire or if it isn’t a lot then you can just string it through the beads to hide it.

Now take your 2 jump rings and open them up a little with your chain nose pliers. Slip the loops from your lanyard into the ring and then close it. Be sure it is fully closed so that it can’t slip out. Before you close the second jump ring attach the first closed ring to it so that you have a necklace that can slip on and off of your head.

Now you just have to add the retractable badge clip. Take your large split ring, the one that looks like a key chain ring, and hook the clip to it. Now slide your small split ring onto the large one.

Lay your lanyard on a flat surface and find the middle of the necklace. This is where you need to attach your small split ring that is attached to the badge clip. I just slide mine onto the wire like you do when you attach a key or a key chain to a split ring. You may need to use your chain nose pliers to create an opening if you aren’t a pro at taking keys off of key chain rings. (Be sure that your badge clip is facing the right way before you attach it).

Voila!!

Now you have a beautiful and fashionable lanyard for your work badge!

Linking up to:

Tatertots & Jello

Serenity Now

Serendipity & Spice

Positively Splendid

Healthy Wrap for Lunch

I just wanted to make a quick blog post about these awesome wraps I recently discovered called Flat-outs. A friend of mine at work goes to Weight Watchers and she was told about these Flat-outs and all of the awesome things you can do with them, plus they are healthy. So of course I went out and got some! I bought the Light version in Original, only 90 calories for one wrap and they are good size. Here is a quick recipe that I made for lunch the other day, the best part is the turkey wrap I made was only 236 calories and very filling:

1 flat-out (Original Light)

1 wedge Weight Watchers Jalepeno spread cheese

3 thin slices Jennie-O Cracked Pepper Turkey Breast

a handful of baby spinach

3 slices of a Roma tomato

1 1/2 slices turkey bacon (cooked and refrigerated)

Spread cheese on entire flat-out, lay turkey breast on top of cheese. Spread spinach evenly on the turkey, then add the tomato slices. break the bacon up into pieces and lay on the top. Then roll the wrap up and wrap in saran wrap and pack in your lunch box/bag.

I brought some carrots with mine but you can bring anything with it. Delicious!!!

Crock Pot Ranch Pork Chops

Tonight for dinner I made crock pot ranch pork chops, garlic parmesan mashed potatoes and oven roasted green beans. Yummy and super easy! This one is a keeper.

I found the pork chop and mashed potatoes on Pinterest and changed the potato recipe a little, click here to see the original recipe from Chef in Training. The green beans are a go to recipe of mine that I love. I have shared all three here.

Crock Pot Ranch Pork Chops:

4-6 boneless pork chops (I used 4)

1 can Cream of Chicken soup (I used Campbell's Healthy Request version)

1 packet Ranch Dressing mix (I used Hidden Valley)

Place the pork chops in the crock pot and pour the soup over them. Add the ranch dressing mix and stir together. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.

Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes:

My recipe is quite different than the one I linked above because of how I like my potatoes. I used less milk and did not roast my garlic. I also do not use a mixer to make mashed potatoes. I don't think you need a mixer, use a little muscle and they are fine. :)

6 med-large red potatoes (about 2.5 lbs)

1/3 cup skim milk

5 Tbsp. of margarine

3 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Peel and cut up your potatoes, place them in a pot and cover with water. Bring potatoes to a boil and boil them until fork tender. Drain potatoes and put them back in the pot. Mash the potatoes with a masher, and then add the milk, cheese, garlic and margarine. Mash and stir all ingredients together.

Oven-roasted Green Beans:

1/2 lb fresh green beans with the ends snapped off

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1/2 tsp. of kosher salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rinse green beans and snap or cut the ends off. Place them in a bowl and add olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss to make sure they are all covered. Lay them out on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Roast for 15 minutes, halfway through stir.

This is a great, quick and healthy meal. I hope you enjoy it.

Linking up to:

Tatertots & Jello

Serenity Now

Serendipity & Spice

Positively Splendid