DIY Tutorial: Creative Yarn Chandelier // Hostess with the Mostess®Hostess with the Mostess®

DIY Tutorial: Creative Yarn Chandelier // Hostess with the Mostess®Hostess with the Mostess®:

'via Blog this'

Enjoying Baking & Cooking

I had plenty of ripe bananas and decided that I would make some banana bread earlier this week.  I tried a few recipes and the one from best bites was far the best.  It was yummy, of course I shared with friends and neighbors!!

So my neighbors have a brand new baby girl and I thought it would be nice to bake them a few treats.  I made this awesome pull-a-part cinnamon and sugar bread for them to enjoy (recipe from Joy the Baker) !!!

Easter/Birthday Cake Pops

I also made Easter/Birthday red velvet cake pops!! Yummy Yummy!!! I used red velvet cake mix and cream cheese icing. Coated with white chocolate and sprinkles. Check out Bakerella for cake pop and other baked goods creations and ideas or purchase her book online at Amazon.

Since Jason and I have a beautiful garden full of herbs and growing vegetabless, I used some of the basil to make a few dishes this week.  Jason loved them all of them, below is the recipe and picture for one of them.  Using fresh herbs in your food makes a world of a difference! 

Chicken-Basil Roulade with Warm Olive Pasta

Chicken-Basil Roulade ·         1 Chicken breast ·         sea salt ( to taste) ·         pepper (to taste) ·         1 clove garlic minced or finely chopped ·         1/4 cup Greek yogurt ·         1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard ·         3/4 cup mozzarella cheese ·         1 Tbsp. dried basil ·         1/2 cup fresh basil chopped ·         1 cup Bread crumbs/Panko ·         1 Tbsp. Butter, melted Pound chicken breast so that it is flattened.  Season with salt, pepper and garlic.  Then mix dried basil, Greek yogurt, and mozzarella together. Spread the mixture onto the chicken then sprinkle with fresh basil.  Roll chicken into a log and spread bread crumbs all over the chicken roll.  Place melted butter in oven safe container then place chicken in dish and bake at 425 F for approximately 30 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.  Allow to cool down and serve!!

Olive Pasta ·         Pasta of your choice ·         1 Garlic clove, sliced ·         2 Tbsps. olive oil ·         1 Tbsp. rosemary, dry or fresh ·         1 cup Olives (of your choice, I used green) ·         2 tsp. pepper ·         salt ( you won't need to much, but to your taste) Prepare pasta by package directions. In a pan heat oil and sauté garlic for 2 minutes, and then add rosemary. Let sit for a bit or can let it cool down and place in a jar overnight allowing flavors to infuse into the oil.  Strain oil removing the garlic and rosemary and reserving the oil. Place oil back in pan on medium heat; add olives and pepper and salt (if you desire). Mix with prepared pasta and serve!

He is Alive!!!

Happy Easter

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he may live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die". John 11:25-26

Though I am not normally into all the commercialization of Easter I do enjoy making eggs at Easter.  I saw this craft with eggs and it turned out awesome!!!

Crackled Colored Eggs or Dinosaur Eggs Craft

Step 1: Boil Egg
Step 2: Place cracks shell all over egg
Step 3: Place egg in dye
Step 4: Remove eggs from  dye and remove cracked shells
Step 5:  Voila!!! Cracked colored eggs!!
Adapted from Best Bites

Garden season/Farmers Market!!

Jason loves to plant!!!! I am eagerly learning and observing my husband. He was anxious to plant last Friday, but we had horrible weather, so he had been itching to get into the dirt and plant his vegetables all weekend   As soon as he got home from work on Monday my husband got his planting gear together and planted all his vegetables in the front of our house (we don't have sunlight in the back so we used potted plants). 

our potted sidewalk garden

I was so motivated by my husband's planting enthusiasm that I decided to take a trip to the nearby nursery/farmers market!! It was awesome, all the plants were absolutely beautiful and smelled wonderful (I don't have allergies).   I picked up a tropical plant for our guest room, herbs for the kitchen and some vegetables for a smoothie. The farmers market provides fresh produce at a lower costs, and what's in season.  I will be making a few more trips to the farmers market for some more plants in the future.  

 In the future Jason and I will hopefully have our own sprawling garden filled with numerous veges and fruit.  Until then I will enjoy the garden we have and view some inspirational pictures for our future one:

Herb Garden (Martha Stewart)

Martha Stewart's Garden




Of course the garden from the movie It's complicated.
The design is absolutely wonderful!

Dreaming of Kitchens

Lately I have been fantasizing about kitchens! And with my new apron, my sister, brother-in-law and nephew got me (from Bermuda, I might add) I have been feeling like I need to be in a faboulous kitchen with my fabulous apron.  Both Jason and I love to cook, but we have a tiny, tiny stove that functions on only 2 burners (the oven is functional though!) and are crammed in a petite kitchen. While we are still able to make fabulous foods in our kitchen, I do look forward to the day we have a beautiful, fully equipped, sate of the art kitchen.  In the meantime I will drool over many images of kitchens on the internet! Here are some I find absolutely stunning!

Do you see the double ovens!!!!!!



Kitchen from the Movie "It's Complicated"

 

Bakery From  movie "It's Complicated" I bought the movie just because of this bakery!! Je' Adore!!

Will post picks of me cooking/baking with my new apron soon!! 

Ea Active 2 Update/ Happy Sabbath!!

So I am absolutely loving the Ea Active 2 (wii)!!!!! Today I set myself with the 9 week fitness program, it has three phases each one challenging and helping me reach my fitness goals. These programs are designed to limit plateaus from occurring which is a major bonus!! I burned a lot of calories and felt great afterwards.  They also include sports programs such as basketball drills, soccer drills etc., and you can also create your own workout programs.  There are over 70 preprogrammed programs to choose from, which is great because I enjoy variety!! It can also be used with a wii balance board if you have one!! For those who are totally into sports I think the EA Active Training Camp would be better. Jason was considering looking into that!!

Well enough of exercising!! It's the Sabbath and I am grateful for it!! Going to Berean SDA for the first time, you can enjoy the church service too on churchpond.

Hope you enjoy your day too!!!

Callaway Gardens

Been A While !!

So sorry for not updating our blog in so long!!!!  But I plan to do a better job on updating all my family on what's going on.  For those who do not already know we got ourselves a little Shih Tzu and her name is Nala.  She is a fun, frisky puppy full of lots of love and energy!!! Of course Wee-Man is doing well and enjoys having a buddy (most of the times)!

Nala after her first haircut!

You all know I am aiming at trying to lose weight.  So I recently bought EA Active Sports 2 for the Wii. It comes with resistance bands, heart-rate monitor, and leg motion sensing technology.  I really enjoy this games.  It is like having a personal trainer in my living room! EA Active Sports lets you plan workout programs, or generates it own programs varying from easy, normal and hard.  They also have programs designed for sports lovers, others designed for full body, upper body, lower body and core workouts. I will keep you posted on the exercises for those who might be interested in it.

Also For those who love parties and entertaining, like I do, here is a giveaway for a cake stand at one of my favorite party planning sites!! Check out Ice Cream Before Dinner Blog by:  The Smart Baker for her great cupcake and dessert tower giveaway here