Strikes my fancy

I'm not a New Year's Resolution girl.  I make to-do lists every week (sometimes every day!), but I've never been one to make resolutions...maybe a year view is just too much for my little heart to handle most days ;-)  Last year my only goal (and maybe that's the issue, I'd rather call it a goal than resolution) was to be debt free and to have a 3+ month emergency fund set up.  I accomplished that goal on January 2, 2014.... so close to being done in 2013! But as I was perusing the internets I found this gem and thought "I can do that!" A bad habit I'm going to break: Daily Diet Coke.  I did a pretty decent job of getting this down to             one Diet Coke per day two years ago, but yeah, that's not where I'm at now. A new skill I'd like to learn:  running a successful Etsy shop.  Does that count as a skill? A person I hope to be more like:  Jesus?  Is that cliche?  Isn't t...

Yup - another crockpot recipe!  This time from here . Provençale Chicken Supper - 4 (6-ounce) bone-in chicken breast halves, skinned - 2 teaspoons dried basil - 1/8 teaspoon salt - 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper - 1 cup diced yellow bell pepper - 1 (15.5-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained - 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, undrained - Basil sprigs (optional) Place the chicken in an electric slow cooker; sprinkle with basil, salt, and black pepper. Add the bell pepper, beans, and tomatoes. Cover with lid; cook on low-heat setting for 8 hours. Pros - the chicken fell off the bone.         - this made A LOT Cons - the bones also dissenegrated          -  the flavor was "eh" If I made this again I would probably add more veggies (why not?!) and experiment with some additional spices.  I might also go for boneless chicke...

I found this recipe here .  Where I find most of the yumminess I'm making these days.  It's fall/winter, so that means it's crockpot time!  With a little planning, making dinner is easy-peasy! Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken with Pears and Portabella Mushrooms - 1lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts - 1 large or two medium sized pears, cored and sliced thick - 8-10oz portabella mushrooms, sliced thick - 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar - 1 tsp salt - 1/2 tsp black pepper Place all ingredients in the crock pot and let cook for about 4-6 hours on low, or until chicken falls apart easily.      Yum, yum, yum!  The flavors mix together so well!  I actually served this over brown rice just to make it a bit more hearty.  Make this when pears are in season and it becomes a pretty cheap dish to feed 4!

I love, love, love this dish...and yet EVERY time I make it - it is not picture worthy.  Yummy, but not pretty.  The original poster (sorry, I forgot where this came from!) says that this should be the consistency of fried rice.  Not sure if it's because mine usually is holding in the "Stay warm" setting for about 2 hours - or I'm doing something wrong, but it's not as fluffy as fried rice.  Still delicious!  Great to come home to on a chilly fall night! Autumn Sausage Casserole 1 pound sausage (I've used Kielbasa and I've used the flavored sausages you get in the 4/5 pack) 1 larger (or 2 small) apples, chopped - no need to peel! 1 yellow onion, chopped 1/2 cup chopped carrots 3 cups already cooked long-grain rice 1/2 cup raisins 1 Tbls dried parsley flakes 1 Tbls brown sugar 1/2 tsp allspice 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp black pepper 1/3 cup chicken broth or water Dump all the ingredients into the crock and stir well. Cook on low for 5-7 ho...

If you follow our blog you'll see we've inherited a love for old furniture...either refinishing or something else to make it useful for everyday life.  Well, we don't just do that for furniture - I do it for clothes too!  Ok, maybe not as much as with furniture (because I can't see potential/ideas for clothes as easy!), but every once in awhile. Take this 80s dress I found at the thrift store (at least I think it's from the 80s, maybe it's older!)     I wore it just like that (with a skinny or br oad bel t) for awhile, but I knew that I wanted to do something to make it feel more modern...knowing I'd wear it more if it felt less 80s. S o after fran tic brain storming emails with sister #3 I had a game plan .  But it was still hard to make that first cut!! I cut off the sle eves and made them more of a c ap sleeve and shorte ned t he skirt by 4 ".  I'm trying to decide if I want to go another 1.5 -2" shorter....     And here ...

This is one of the few pieces that has moved with me to every apartment I've lived in.  Actually, now that I think about it this is THE only piece of furniture that has moved to every apartment/house I've lived in (except the first two).  Wow - I must like this piece ;-) Our love story began when I was in college and wanted to "build" some furniture.  This was back in the day when Lowe's sold build-your-own furniture (do they still do that?).  I picked up two pieces and put them together and stained them.  This piece came with wooden knobs and at some point in my NY moves one broke.  I replaced all the knobs with the metal ones in the picture.  I knew I wanted to do something different with the piece.  It was stained cherry and I couldn't decide between going darker or painting it.  So for THREE YEARS  I lived with this piece and the fact that the stain didn't go cover the whole piece (look closely under the knobs, you'll see it....) ...

SWEET POTATO AND PINTO BEAN TACOS adapted from thugkitchen.com ....but there is offensive language on the site (and in the recipes) - so you've been warned! 3 cups of cooked pinto beans (about 2-15 ounce cans) 1 teaspoons of coconut or olive oil (Olive oil is what I had) ½ cup veggie broth or water (water....) 2 teaspoons smoked paprika or chili powder (I went chili powder) 2 teaspoons blackstrap molasses (I used what I had in the cabinet) 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or lemon juice (I have both of these at home usually, went with lemon juice this time around) 2-3 garlic cloves 1 pound of sweet potatoes (this should be about 2 cups when you chop it all up) ½ of a yellow onion 1 teaspoon coconut or olive oil salt to taste soft corn tortillas standard taco toppings that you like to add. Warm the first teaspoon of oil in a medium pot. Add the beans, water, chili powder, molasses, vinegar, and garlic. Get it to start bubbling slowly for about 5 m...