Some Favorite Meals

Well of course by now we are all going crazy over Pinterest. I just had to explain what it was to my mom yesterday and she is so excited about it! My parents own an antique and next to new shop, so knowing what people are going crazy over on Pinterest is very helpful to them. My hubby has to go away for work next week, which makes me very sad because I don't like to be away from him, but it gives my parents a chance to have a live in designer to help them at the store all week. My parents just moved their store into a new building about a month ago, so there's a lot she is anxious to do!!

Anyway..................... last time I shared home ideas mostly found on Pinterest, but this time I wanted to share some really great recipes I have found. Sometimes, I feel so inspired in the kitchen and other times I feel like I make the same things over and over. I have been trying to do at least one new recipe a week, and a lot of times on Fridays, my hubby and I try out a new recipe together. Now that we finally have a real kitchen, it fun to be in there together having fun coming up with new meals! :)

This is a recipe from http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/09/crispy-southwest-chicken-wraps.html we just tried on Monday night. Its so much better than anything you would get a Taco Bell, and really not that difficult to make at all.

 
This dish from http://realmomkitchen.com/1505/baked-cheesy-chicken-penne/ is absolutely fantastic. It's definitely not low fat though, but it tastes like something you would get at a restaurant. It also makes enough for two meals, one dish for now and then one to freeze for later. I didn't use the sun-dried tomatoes, because they were hard to find, but it still came out great.

Another favorite is this stuffed shells recipe from http://joelens.blogspot.com/2009/06/italian-sausage-spinach-stuffed-shells.html . I was never able to make them before because my hubby doesn't really like ricotta cheese, so he thinks they should only be stuffed with meat. Who ever heard of a stuffed shell with no cheese in it? That's the part I go crazy for, in college my roommate and I used to sprint down to the dining hall on stuffed shell or manicotti night, just for the cheese! :) So these are a happy medium, with sausage, cheese(but not too much) and spinach.

This chicken dish from http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/2011/04/crispy-chicken-with-creamy-italian.html is also so yummy! My mom said that back in the day, breading chicken in crushed up corn flakes and then cooking them in oil was the big thing, but I had never heard of it until this dish. Wow, is it good! Also the sauce for this dish is fantastic. Again because of the sauce, this dish is by no means low fat and you wouldn't want to make it all the time, but I think its ok once in a while! :)

This is one of my new favorite dessert recipes, cookie dough cheesecake bars from http://www.chef-in-training.com/. You will have to search through her dessert recipe archive to find this, but it is so worth the hunt! I have already made it several times for church and people always go crazy over it! I always double the recipe though, so that I can get about 2 dozen bars out of it.

I hope that you try some of these recipes and enjoy them as much as we have! Hope you are all having a blessed day!! :)

Projects I Would Love To Do!

Probably more like projects I would like my hubby to do! :)

We have a small walk-in closet in our bedroom, which is a blessing to have in a house as old as ours. Right now we just have a plain white set of louvered doors, something like this would be so much better!

We just bought new bedding and curtains for our bedroom and I would love to put a display shelf like this above our windows.

Our kitchen is mostly finished now, but the one thing we are still lacking is a pantry. We already have the door and are planning something like this. Only hubby is a little afraid to go red, and we will be using fabric instead of the screening, since we don't want to be able to see in from the dining table.

Also thinking of Spring, I would love to have a beautiful raised bed garden someday. We had held off on this project because we have so much work to do on our house. A girl can dream though, and something like this would suit me just fine! :)

However, the biggest thing we need to do this year is to put a new roof on our entire house. We were hoping to hold off longer, but Hurricane Irene taught us otherwise. Right now, our house is light gray with a red roof. I feel in love with the red roof right away, but lately I have been thinking that a dark gray roof would look nice. My hubby has actually been thinking the same thing, but he was afraid to tell me because he knew how much I liked the red. We are thinking a dark gray metal, something like this.

This is a picture of our house a few years ago in the fall. We are thinking the dark gray roof, grayish blue siding, white trim, and brick red board and baton shutters. However, lately dark gray shutters with a red door also intrigues me! :) Sigh.....................but she will not be shining in all her beauty for quite a while yet!

Some New Things For The New Year

I know I have mentioned before that my parents own an antique and next to new shop. So it goes without mention that we are privileged to many awesome finds. Especially with an old farmhouse, they find the coolest things for us that go just right. When we got married, our wedding present was furniture for our whole house. It was kinda like a dowry, now a revolving dowry, as things have been traded many times. :)

This is our newest piece, it is a dresser from the 1800's that we are going to use as a buffet. It is exactly what I was looking for. We just need to find some plate holders to go in the drawers to hold the dishes. I also need to figure out what to hang above it. I was thinking some of the frameless mirrors hung by ribbon or a grouping of photos hung on a curtain rod (a pinterest idea).

The other piece is a grandfather clock. The chimes don't work and it incured a little damage in the move, but I'm sure my hubby will be able to fix her up just fine.

Just a little of what is going on over here! I feel so much less stressed now that the holidays are over. I actually kinda like January it gives you a chance to rest and breathe a little. :)