New Blog!

My sister has decided to join me in my blogging adventures. Join us at Create.Bake.Celebrate to follow my life in the big city and my sisters in the country!

Ellie!

So I must admit that the amount of cooking I have been doing has gone way down. One of the reasons is David's house. We are in the process of moving old furniture out, new furniture in, cleaning, painting, getting renovation quotes, and landscaping. So needless to say that is keeping us very busy. But the other very exciting thing keeping us busy is our new puppy, Ellie.

 

We got Ellie from The Dancing Bear Rescue in Stafford, VA. She was born in the shelter and is a 16 week old golden retriever and lab mix. So far she has been very sweet and while not housebroken has only had a few accidents. Luckily Grace and Ellie are starting to become friends and Ellie is mimicking Grace which is definietly helping with the house training.

So, as the house projects wind down and Ellie ages I will defintiely be posting more recipes. And as summer approaches I am hoping a lot of those involve griling!

Bedside Table

For the striped guest bedroom we needed a bedside table.  David has random small table in the living room that we had thought of throwing out but with a little white paint it made the perfect side table. Below is the transformation!

Starting the sanding process

A Few Coats of Paint and a Cute New Knob

Guest Bedroom Stripes

While I haven't been cooking much lately I have been extremely busy! David and I are really getting to work on updating his house and the first full room we tackled was the guest bedroom. The guest bedroom is tiny but has a lot of charm with a sloped ceiling and beautiful hardwood floors. I spent some time on pintrest and found a blue and white striped room and decided I had to try it. David wasn't completely sure but agreed to let me have a little fun. We decided to only paint 2 of the 4 walls since the room was small and we didn't want to overwhelm it. Below is the transformation:

Guest Bedroom Preparing to Paint

Painting the Edges

We totally thought that this room was almost white it would be easy to paint over it. Well 3-4 coats of paint later we learned how difficult painting a room white could be. We also learned having two perfectionists paint a room leads to a lot more painting :)

The Room is Finally White!

Since the room has a slight slant in the ceiling we decided to start the stripe at the top of the lowest wall. This left about 11.5" at the top of the taller wall. So, we decided to go with 11.5" stripes for the wall. We used a yard stick and level to mark all the stripes....yes a laser level would have made this project much easier!

Removing the Tape

We Love our Stripes!

We are still working on furnishing the room but we did get a bed in. David is also replacing the window with the old window unit in it so that wall will look much better soon!

The Closet With the Matching Blue Shelf

Starting to Move the Furniture in

I am working on painting an old bedside table to match the room. I am also getting a dresser that is currently in my parents storage unit and a few other items to finish the room. Hopefully I will have a completely finished room soon! More pictures to come!

Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms

When I found this recipe I was very skeptical. However, these stuffed mushrooms were extremely easy to make and delicious. They are also super healthy and really filling! This is going to be one of my go to recipes.

Ingredients:

1 tsp canola oil

1/2 pound sweet turkey sausage, casings removed

4 oz nonfat cream cheese

1 small tomato, seeded and chopped

1/2 c shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese

2 tbsp chopped parsley

4 drops hot pepper sauce

4 large Portabello mushrooms (1 lb, 4" diameter) stems removed and wiped clean

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray.

2. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet. Crumble the sausage into the skillet and cook, breaking apart with wooden spoon, until the sausage is browned. Transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in the cream cheese, tomato, cheddar cheese, parsley, and hot pepper sauce until blended.

  

3. Place the mushrooms on the baking sheet. Fill the cavity of each mushroom with the sausage mixture, mounded slightly. Bake until the mushrooms are tender and the filling is hot, about 25 minutes.

This recipe was fast, delicious, and healthy! Love it!

Baked Shrimp in Lemon Garlic Sauce

I needed a quick recipe that was low in calories and didn't require too many ingredients and luckily I found the baked shrimp in lemon garlic sauce recipe. It is super easy and fast!

Ingredients:

1 lb shrimp, peeled

cooking spray

1/4 c lemon juice

2 tbsp light butter, melted

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

3/4 tsp lemon pepper

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

2 tbsp parsley chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Arrange shrimp in single layer 13x9 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine lemon juice and next 5 ingredients. Pour over shrimp.

3. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Sprinkle parsley over top and serve.

I chose to serve it over pasta and without the parsley since I didn't have any available. It was delicious and left plenty of leftovers which I plan to incorporate into another dish tomorrow.



Spice Storage

As David and I continue to organize his house we found a creative way to store our million spices. So after painting the inside of the pantry we decided to utilize the inside of the pantry door. We decided to paint the door using a magnetic paint.

Once the paint dried we attached magnetic spice containers and a pad of paper for making our grocery list. We still needed to put the spices in the containers in the picture below but you can still get a great idea of what an awesome storage solution this is.



Bikram Yoga

This week I completed one of my goals for the year, trying yoga. I had several friends recommend Bikram Yoga to me and luckily there is a studio right by my house. Bikram yoga is a 90 minute yoga class where you perform a series of 26 poses in a 105 degree and 50% humidity room. Below are the poses performed:

I received a lot of advice before taking my first class and the most important was to hydrate. I had been warned that you may feel dizzy or nauseas during your first class but most important was to stay in the room even if you had to take a break from poses. Well I can happily say I finished all 26 poses my first class and felt pretty good doing it. And after my second class this morning I felt even better and think I have found a new practice to help round out my workouts. Some of the things I love about Bikram are the calming feeling it provides afterwards, the clarity I have at work after a morning practice, the ability to breathe more deeply throughout the day and the overall affect it has had on my body image and food choices. I finally understand what people mean when they say they eat to fuel their bodies. Bikram makes me think about my food choices as what is best for my body. What will help me get through class tomorrow without feeling sick?

David even noticed a difference when we were driving in DC traffic and he started to get frustrated by the other drivers. I just took a deep breath and said it will be ok. I am usually the one driven crazy by DC traffic but with Bikram in my life my perspectives and patience are beginning to change.  I can’t say that I recommend Bikram to everyone, as I found my first class to be very intense, but if you go in knowing what to expect it could be life changing.

Sausage and Mushroom Lasagna

In my fitness magazine this month they had delicious and healthy Italian recipes. They recommended making the lasagna in individual dishes but we made it in one large pan. It turned out really well and made plenty.

Ingredients:

Lasagna Noodles

1/2 pound fresh sweet Italian turkey sausage

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp shredded Parmesan

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 medium onion (we omitted)

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

4 ounces sliced white mushrooms

1/4 cup red wine

1 15oz can crushed tomatoes

1 tsp sugar

1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, cut into 12 slices

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook noodles 5 minutes, gently stirring occasionally. Using a slotted spoon, transfer pasta to a bowl of ice water and let cool 20 minutes, then drain.Cut each noddle in half to make 12 squares.

2. Remove sausage from casings and with it with half the garlic, 1 tbsp Parmesan and parsley. With clean, damp hands, divide mixture into 4 meatballs; pat meatballs into 4-inch square patties about 1/2" thick.

3. Heat 1 1/2tsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add patties and cook until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer to plate using a slotted spoon and dispose of oil left in skillet.

4. Return skillet to stove; heat remaining oil over medium heat. Add onion, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper and cook until just golden brown, about 2 minutes.

5. Raise heat to high, add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown about 5 minutes. Add remaining garlic; cook 1 minute more. Stir in wine scraping bottom of skillet. Add tomatoes and sugar; season with salt and pepper to taste. Add patties and simmer, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

6. Heat the broiler to medium high. Place 1 pasta square in the bottom of each of the four shallow heat proof bowls. Top with 3 tbsp sauce, 1 sausage patty, 1 slice mozzarella and 1 tsp Parmesan. Layer with a second square of pasta, top with 3 tbsp sauce, 1 sausage patty, 1 slice mozzarella and 1 tsp Parmesan.Top with a third pasta square, 1 slice mozzarella and remaining Parmesan. Place bowls under broiler and cook until cheese is bubbly, about 1 minute.

Delicious! And for only 476 calories it is a great dinner option. Again, we didn't do ours in individual dishes but it was very easy to adapt to our larger pan recipe.

Lemon Chicken Tarragon

This is one of my favorite recipes when hosting guests. It is very easy and comes out with such a light refreshing flavor. This is another recipe from my Aunt Robin that is a great crowd pleaser.

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breasts

4 tbsp butter

3 tbsp Dijon mustard

3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 tbsp finely chopped tarragon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

10 saltine crackers finely chopped

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place chicken in lightly greased baking pan.

2. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Stir in mustard, lemon juice, tarragon, salt and pepper, and pour mixture over chicken.

3. Mix together crackers and cheese and sprinkle over chicken.

4. Bake until chicken is cooked and topping is golden, about 35 minutes.