New Cards and Home Decor

New cards! I bought some new scrapbook/craft items and made some new cards. I am still creating greeting cards, but Christmas cards are coming soon. I hope Christmas paper comes out soon. Anyways, this first set has kind of an Asian feel. I like them alot!

These are sweet cards. Simple "thinking of you" type cards.

I love these cards. Black, red and white--you can't get can't get more classic that that.

This is my "new" lamp shade. I found this most fabulous ribbon at Michael's and hot glued it around the top and bottom edge. Then stenciled the bird. It was hard to stencil but it really turned out fantastic. I have one more lamp and I hope it turns out just a nice.

Inexpensive Wall Art

This is some inexpensive wall art I made last night. All it is a stencil, scrapbook paper, acrylic paint and brush, and a couple adhesive borders. All together this project cost me about $3.50, plus I have more materials leftover for other projects.

I am really happy with the results. If you are a looking for a cheap way to add some decor, maybe you can try this out. Just Pick out a stencil, few coordinating pieces of scrapbook paper, a shade of acrylic paint that matches your color scheme, and a stenciling brush (ask a store rep if you can't find it). Center the stencil on the paper and tape down (use scotch tape so you don't rip the paper). Get a little paint onto the brush and start dabbing the paint around the edges of the stencil then fill in the rest. Just remember a little paint goes a long way--I used about a tablespoon for this project and had plenty left over. Anyways, the paint will set quickly but let it finish drying overnight. All in all this project took me about 15 minutes. But I love the results--instant, unique art!!

Here is my final work. Eventually I will frame these and hang them in the bedroom, but you can always dab a little Elmer's glue on the corners and place right in the wall. It will hold, but comes off cleanly when you are ready for a change!

Brazilian Pork and Beans

This dish is Ahhh-mazing!! Seriously. Also, if you are in a time crunch most days, this would be good to fix one Saturday or Sunday, then freeze for meals later on or reheat for a quick meal later in the week. Anyways, this is my version of the recipe.

Recipe: Serves 8-10

8 cups water
2 tbsp oil
1.5 lb pork loin roast
1 lb bag of dried black beans (sorted and rinsed)
1 medium onion, diced
1 package soy chorizo (regular chorizo is fine, but i thought this worked better because it crumbled and became part of the sauce, adding a nice background flavor and richness)
6 slices bacon, cooked or uncooked
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalepenos, diced
2 cups long-grain rice, prepared per package directions
cilantro for garnish

In a large dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat and brown pork. Once pork in browned on all sides, add black beans, 1/2 of the onions, bacon, and chorizo. Pour all of the water over the pork and beans, bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 2 1/2 hours.

After 1 hour 45 minutes hours, heat a 10"-12" fry pan with a little oil, saute the rest of the onoins, jalapenos, and garlic. Once veggies are softened, add 1 1/2 cups of the cooked balck beans to the veggies and mash with a fork or potato masher. At this point, you can break the pork up into chunks if desired. (It will basically fall apart, think pulled pork, during the last 30 minutes of cooking.) Stir the bean mixture into the pork and continue cooking for 30 minutes. Once you add the bean mixture to the pork, start cooking the rice. Everything should be finishing up about the same time. Serve pork over the rice, garnish with cilantro and enjoy!!

Summer Squash Frittata

We eat a lot of squash during the summer. We bake, sauté, and steam it. Squash is just so versatile. Well, I had some leftover and wasn't sure what to try. I was reading another blog and saw she has made squash frittata. Why hadn't I thought of this? Oh well, here is my own version. I turned out pretty good for the first try. Next time I will drain the leftover squash first.

Recipe: Serves 6 as a side dish or 4 as a main course

5 eggs

1 each small yellow squash and zucchini, steamed or sautéed

4 slices of bread, toasted and torn into pieces

3/4 cup SHARP cheddar cheese

s/p to taste

1/4 cup milk

Heat oven to 375*. In an 8x8 casserole dish, spread out squash and top with bread. In a bowl, mix eggs, milk and s/p. Pour over squash and bread. Top with cheese. Bake 15 minutes and then turn on broiler. Heat under broiler for 2-3 mins or until is browned and bubbling. Enjoy!!

Pork-tastic Chops

Let me begin this post by saying I typically do not like to eat pork (exception bacon). However, I had a coupon for a free pound of boneless pork chops at EarthFare (love this store). So Nick and I splurged one pound free and $4.99 for another pound. This got us four 1"-1 1/2" chops weighing 1/2 lb each. These were huge! Anyways, I made two of these with a homemade mango bbq sauce.

Recipe: Serves 2

BBQ Sauce:

1 mango diced

1 hot banana pepper (or other chile pepper)

2 tbsp Sweet Baby Ray's Bbq Sauce

1 tbsp chopped cilantro (optional)

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until all mango is smooth.

Pork Chops:

2 thick cut boneless pork chops

Salt, pepper, garlic powder, steak seasoning (like McCormick's Montreal Seasoning)

2 tbsp oil

Heat skillet on medium high with oil. Season one side of the pork with a sprinkle of each seasoning and place seasoned side down in skillet. Season the other side of the pork. Cover with lid or aluminum foil. Cook each side for about 5 mins. Reduce heat to medium low. Once each side is browned, begin basting with the mango bbq sauce. Baste one side and flip, it cook about 2 mins. Baste other side and flip immediately, cooking about 2 mins. Baste and cook each side 2-3 times. Should take about 20 mins to fully cook. Once pork is finished top off with mango bbq sauce, cover and let rest five minutes. Serve with veggies or instant potatoes (that's what I did). Enjoy!

Sensational Salad

I love salad--really love salad!! Seriously, I could eat salad everyday. Recently I tried a simple salad and it was a hit. I hope you try it and love it as much as I did. My only request is USE FRESH INGREDIENTS--splurge just a bit for fresh lettuce and cheese.

*Side note: Even my I-don't-eat-anything-with-salad-in-the-name husband enjoyed this. He's eaten it three different times now!!

Recipe:

3 cups mixed salad greens (or favorite lettuce*)

3/4-1 cup freshly grated gouda cheese

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Mix together and top with any vinaigrette (or ranch if you must).

*Please, please, please do not use iceberg with this. It will only detract from the quality of this dish.

Quick Cooking Potatoes

Tonight, Nick and I took dinner over to his grandmother's house. It was so good--the food and conversation. Also we got to spend some time with Nick's cousin, Kevin, who was over for dinner as well. Well, I cooked this meal tonight after I got off work so I definitely needed to make sure it was fast! I made homemade mashed potatoes. Usually I would not make these in a time crunch but had a brilliant thought..."Why not slice the potatoes so they cook faster?" So I did. And it worked wonders!

I figured the amount of time spent dicing the potatoes vs. time spent slicing (about an 1/8"-1/4") was the same--maybe 8-10mins. I just filled the water, covered it, and started heating it on med-high. Then I sliced the potatoes and placed them in the heating water when I had too many on the cutting board. Added salt and chicken bouillon, and let it boil for about 15 mins (about half the time had I diced them). They were perfect! Mashed with butter, milk, and s/p. Delish! Try this one and enjoy a fabulous homemade dinner.