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I am now on Facebook so be sure to like the page here.

I have a few new posts in the works that I will be sharing soon on recipes, garden updates and ring sling reviews you wont want to miss.

We are continuing to work on the website so I look forward to sharing that with you soon!!!

Operation Pintrest – Cilantro Lime Quinoa

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chef, cilantro, cooking, entertaining, Gardening, home, house, household, lime, mother, parenting, party planning, pinterest, quinoa, recipes

I am a big fan of Quinoa and its possible after 3 years I am finally able to pronounce it correctly. Maybe. I was purchasing white, black, and red quinoa so that I could mix it together for a colorful appearance but now Trader Joes does that for me with their Tricolor Organic Quinoa. I saw this on Pintrest and thought this might make a good way to cut my craving for cilantro rice.

Sorry it was so good we ate most of it before I remembered to take a picture.

Cilantro Lime Quinoa: The Pin The Website

In case you missed it I recently made an amazing Quinoa salad that is based on a pin from Martha Stewart’s page and I have tailored it to my personal preference. Recipe post here. It would be a great way to double batch and use this recipes left overs in a different way.

Operation Pintrest – Baked Avocado with Parmesan and Lime

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avocado, chef, cooking, diy, edibles, entertaining, hippy, home, house, mother, pinterest, recipes

I love avocados and wanted to try this baked avocado. I cant eat to many spicy things right now so I made one of these avocados with hot sauce and one without. Here is the set up.

Slice and add hot sauce

Sprinkle cheese and bake

I made these with an cauliflower recipe you can view here

Serve with lime and eat. Delicious!!

I love this and although I did it in the oven I think putting the on the BBQ in the last few minutes of grilling would be even better.

Baked Avocado with Parmesan and Lime: The Pin The Website 

Recipe change up: Bulgur Salad to Quinoa Salad

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chef, cooking, diy, entertaining, home, party planning, pinterest, quinoa, recipes

We already know that I am not the greatest at following instructions on recipes.  In my married life I have come to learn that you have to be able to recognize that some recipes you really have to follow measurements and instructions to a ‘T’ or you will get a total mess, like a watery apple pie no one will touch (thank you Thanksgiving of 1999). Since cooking is already a chore I try to make life easier on myself and find recipes that I can easily change according to what I like and what I have on hand.  Plus my taste buds are not the same as everyone elses.  So I often find myself adding or subtracting ingredients after I made them according to instructions the first time.

Here is a great bulgur salad from Martha Stewart that I love in its original form.

Ingredients

• 5 1/4 ounces dried bulgur (1 cup)
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 cup (packed) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions

1. In a large bowl, pour 1 cup boiling water over the bulgur. Cover with plastic wrap; let stand until water is absorbed, about 30 minutes.
2. Add cucumber, onion, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; toss to combine. Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. (To chill, cool, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 day.)

My husband tries to eat wheat free and so I cook accordingly to accommodate this request.  I turned the above recipe into this Quinoa salad and added a few things I like.  It is an incredibly healthy salad that is great for summer since you can eat it hot, cold, or room temp.  Its also a great way to use up left over quinoa.

My version:

Ingredients

• 2-3 cups cooked Quinoa
• 1 cucumber (I like persian), roughly chopped (unless I’m feeding my sister then I skip this)
• 1 tomato, diced or several cherry tomatoes sliced
• 1 red onion, diced OR 1 large shallot minced
• 1 handful of roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or cilantro or 50/50 mix what ever I have
• 1 big spoonful of minced garlic from my jar I keep in the fridge ALWAYS
• Juice from 1 fresh lemon or lime or both
• Feta Cheese maybe like 1/4 cup depending on your taste
• Avocado Diced

Directions

1. Cook Quinoa according to package, I use water only for this recipe.
2. Add all ingredients; toss to combine. Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. (To chill, cool, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.)

Please be advised. I made this last night but was out of cilantro and avocado. They were sadly missed.

Original recipe found here

Operation Pintrest: Pesto pasta with chicken sausage and brussel sprouts

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brussel sprouts, chef, cooking, diy, edibles, entertaining, home, house, mother, pasta, pinterest, recipes

I only recently tried Brussels Sprouts again since refusing them as a young kid. I have found that it is really all how you cook them. Here is a recipe I came across adding them into a pasta dish.

Seasoned lightly with grapeseed oil and a little salt lots of pepper.

Roast in the oven while you cook pasta and sausage

I cooked sausage in its own pan so that I could cook halfway removed slice and wipe down excess grease from pan.

I added about a quarter cup of pasta water to thin out the stickyness once mixed together.

I think this recipe shows how to roast the sprouts as an everyday side dish or added into this pasta recipe.  You can make a double batch and have as a side dish and use leftovers here. Either way this is a great recipe that is filling and very tasty

Pesto pasta with chicken sausage: The Pin The Website

 

Operation Pintrest – Baked Cauliflower Poppers

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cauliflower, chef, cooking, diy, edibles, entertaining, french fries, home, house, mother, pinterest

Touted as a replacement for french fries and I just so happen to be a fry connoisseur so lets check it out.

Lets begin with a head of cauliflower cut into small pieces

Next seson with oil (I used grapeseed) and a tiny bit of salt and some pepper

then bake (I also made baked avocados see that review here)

As I said, I thought this Pin looked interesting since they are saying they are “just like french fries”.  Um no.  Don’t get me wrong these are very good and I will make them over and over as a veggie side but they are no replacement for french fries.  For someone looking to cut a craving I am sure they will work if you add more salt than I did but still no french fry.  I do have a hard time with side dishes and it is nice to find good ones that are easy and this is pretty simple.  Mine didn’t even have to cook for a full hour and I only turned them once.  Bake them while you prep the rest of dinner and have a healthy side dish.

Baked Cauliflower Poppers: The Pin The Website

Decollate Snails

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compost, cooking, diy, edibles, entertaining, Garden, Gardening, green thumb, hippy, nursery, plants, snails, worm factory, worms

A few months ago I bought a Basil at my Trader Joe’s and set it outside.  Two days later I go to retrieve some leaves for dinner and all that’s left of it is sticks.  I couldn’t believe that in 2 days I lost a large basil plant to the local brown snails.  I really wish I had before and after pictures.  I was shocked.

Later that week I went to the Green Thumb to get worms for the Worm Factory and saw a package for carnivorous snails.  Sounded kind of gruesome but once I thought about it I decided that one animal eating another is better than poisoning an animal to death. I decided that when I started working on the garden I would come back to pick up these snails in hopes that it will keep the brown snails from eating all my plants.

Once I was ready I picked up the snails at the local Green Thumb brought them home and stored them in the fridge until I could release them.  I released my Decollate Snails into the garden last night.  (Please note the chipped nail polish.  This is proof Ive been working hard in the garden)

Following the release instructions on the package I released them under the rose bush, under the tree and blackberry bush as well as below the Camilla.

I realize I may have to buy more later to restock my garden as there isn’t much organic matter to feed on right now and they may leave the area in search of food.  But now that the blackberry bush, mints and basil are outside I am hoping they survive the next few days.

Garden Makeover – Goodbye Palm!!

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compost, diy, Garden, Gardening, green thumb, hippy, home, house, nursery, plants

As the make over continues we are having the palm removed.  It is dropping tons of seed and we don’t want to spray it with chemicals to stop that process as it will get into the rest of the soil as well.  Also its grown so big that it is blocking the gate.

Heres a better view!

Operation Pinterest – Soap Scum Killa (aka Blue Magic)

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baby, cleaners, diy, home, house, household, household cleaners, mother, parenting, pinterest

First and foremost, I do NOT do bathrooms.  I am scarred for life from cleaning them as a child and have assigned this horrendous task to my husband.  Trust me I have my fair share of chores to do to make up for the fact that he is stuck with this job.

Being the nice wife that I am when I saw this concoction on Pinterest I decided to tell him about it.  I was also nice enough to mix up the concoction for him!  He took it upstairs and sprayed down the whole shower pretty good, coating the tiled walls and shower door.  I will warn you that if you really get offended by the smell of Vinegar this is not for you.  My whole bedroom smell like vinegar for the 3 hours that this was in the attached bathrooms shower.  It was strong.  I figured I would be taking a shower that afternoon so I could just ‘rinse away’ the blue magic.  Um not so fast.  BIG WARNING: Shit is slippery!!!!!  I start the shower, get in and almost kill myself right away.  Should have known better.  Also I left this for a little longer than they recommended and for some reason I was expecting this to just rinse off.  Well it didn’t.  I rinsed most of it away with some remaining on the doors and in the grout lines but my husband showered immediately after me and just took a sponge in the shower with him to wipe the remaining amount away pretty easily.

Here is before and after:

I do think that this worked pretty good and will probably use it again in the future.   I would like to try it with my Honest dish soap and see how effective it works in comparison.  I’m not sure I like all the ingredients in Dawn but can’t find links on the internet to get the full list of ingredients.

As I finish this I am beginning to realize I may have gotten tricked into cleaning the shower.

Soap Scum Killa: The Pin  The Website

Operation Pinterest – DIY Trellis

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compost, diy, Garden, Gardening, green thumb, hippy, mother, nursery, pinterest, plants, snails, worm factory, worms

This isn’t directly from Pinterest more Pinterest inspired.  I have so many projects I want to make from Ana White that it find it inspiring me in other ways.  I wanted a new trellis for my climbing rose and when I went to buy one I was shocked by the $50 price tag.  Here is one I made for A little less than $15.

At Lowes I purchased 3 1″x2″x6′ white wood boards and 4 poplar craft boards that are 3/8 x 2 x 24″.  I had the guy at Lowes make a cut on one of the 6′ board so that it was 4′ and 2′.  I laid out the 3 boards used Gorilla Glue and nails to secure the top board.

Then flipped it and placed the remaining poplar boards lower down.

I did all this in about 10 minutes and only used a level when first securing the top board.  Mainly because I was lazy and just wanted this done quick.

The hours reviewing project plans on Ana White have given me the imagination and courage to attack something simple to save myself lots of money.