Sneak Peak (Toy Chest, Part 2)

This little guy and a few of his friends will soon find a home on the toy chest. Too bad the weather is so lame! I really wanted to finish the toy chest this weekend. Next week, hopefully.

Toy Chest, part 1

I've been itching to do a big project for a little while now. We don't have a dresser, so I was hoping to find a dresser to refinish. (Do I have experience refinishing furniture, you might ask? Well the answer is absolutely not! Start with a dresser? Why not?!) I stopped at a yard sale the other day and they had a toy chest for $5! I thought, "Perfect! This is way less intimidating, equally needed, will fulfill my itch for a big project, AND is only $5!" So I snatched it up!

Here are some before pictures. As you may or may not be able to tell, it needs a little TLC. BUT, just a little! It was pretty dirty. It still needs a little cleaning. And I hope Kaitlyn doesn't mind that her autograph is gone.

I think we are going to make it blue. I would like to do some sort of applique-ish something on it so it's not too plain. Any ideas? There are six panels on the front-I could do Elinor and Johnny's names and add as we go. Or some sort of picture? Seriously, any ideas?






Here's a "during" picture. And my hand is not deformed-just in an awkward position.


Last night I got the lid and front sanded. I have white paint dust everywhere (and I mean everywhere!).

Leave some suggestions! I'll post my progress!

Spinach Salad with Egg and Crumbled Bacon

(Serves 2)

Salad Ingredients:

• Flat Leaf Spinach Leaves (enough to fill majority of a salad bowl for each person)


• 4 Boiled Eggs


• 4 Strips of Bacon, cooked and crumbled


• 10 Grape Tomatoes

Dressing Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs. Olive Oil


• 1 1/2 Tbs. Red Wine Vinegar


• Salt


• Pepper


• Dash of Oregano


• Spice mix of your preference

Wash spinach leaves and remove stems. Tear larger spinach leaves into bite size pieces. Place spinach into salad bowls. Cut boiled eggs into eighths and scatter over the top of spinach leaves. Crumble bacon and scatter on top also. Cut tomatoes in half and add to salad.

For the dressing, combine all ingredients into a small container with a lid. Shake vigorously and pour over salad. Enjoy.

*If you would prefer a healthier option, use turkey bacon.

Adapted from a Bob Green's Best Life Diet Recipe

Meatless Monday: Quinoa and Black Beans with Homemade Tortilla Chips

This recipe was another meatless big hit at the Frost home tonight. I cooked the recipe up and decided it needed a little something to make it more exciting. Solution: homemade tortilla chips to scoop it up with. We spooned up the quinoa into a bowl, added some cheese and sour cream and scooped away. Yum. Yum.

P.S. This one got high fives from the hubs again. It seems like I get more high fives from meatless Monday than I do other days of the week- go figure!

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (I used chicken broth)
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I didn't have any, so I just added parsley at the end)
• Optional: 1/2 green bell pepper chopped ( I added this in)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic (and pepper if using), and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable (or chicken) broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

Tortilla Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Quarter corn tortillas.
Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.
Bake 5 minutes. Flip over. Salt other side. Bake another 5 minutes.
Enjoy!

You could brush some oil on to make the salt stick better if you want. You could also add some other spices to make them a little more flavorful. I didn't think they needed it with this recipe. Delish!

Moroccan Salmon and Yogurt Sauce with Garlic-Ginger Couscous

Ok, so if I saw this recipe title somewhere, I'd probably say "that sounds involved or complicated" but let me tell you: in my opinion this was SO GOOD and EASY.

Andrew and I decided to do date night in last night and use some salmon fillets that I got on sale. It was so tasty. You should give it a try.

The yogurt sauce is a marinade and an after sauce. You marinade the fish in part of it and then use the remaining half to eat with it. I was a little hesitant because it is cool and a little different, but by the end I was dipping my broccoli, mixing it with my couscous and eating it with my salmon. I think I liked the sauce a little more than Andrew, but he thought it was good too. Again, it says to grill it, but we just used a hot skillet and it worked great.

Note: the reviews of the recipe on the site said they needed more sauce. Andrew and I only used 2 fillets and so we had plenty of sauce. If you were making 4 fillets like the recipe said, I would double the sauce recipe.

SALMON RECIPE

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• Juice of 1 lemon, plus lemon wedges for garnish
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the grill
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 6-ounce skinless center-cut salmon fillets
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley, for garnish

Directions

Stir together the yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, coriander, cumin, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Pour half of the sauce into a large resealable plastic bag; cover and refrigerate the remaining sauce. Add the salmon to the bag and turn to coat with the marinade. Refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes, turning the bag over once.

Preheat a grill to medium-high. Remove the salmon from the marinade and blot off excess yogurt with paper towels. Lightly oil the grill and add the salmon; cook, turning once, until browned on the outside and opaque in the center, 4 to 6 minutes per side, depending on the thickness. Serve with the reserved yogurt sauce and garnish with the herbs and lemon wedges.

Recipe from Food Network

COUSCOUS

We buy the container of plain couscous so that we can season it the way we want (and it's cheaper than the preseasoned boxes).

The container says 1 cup of water, 1 T butter and some salt- bring to a boil then stir in 1 cup of couscous, remove from heat and let sit 5 min. Fluff up with fork. So to make it a little more flavorful, I made added some grated fresh ginger and a clove of garlic. After fluffing up the rice, I stirred in some parsley. Yum!

Bloom Giveaway

Bloom is having another giveaway! Go check it out and enter to win yourself! I'd love to whip up a little something in these beauties!

Scrambled Eggs in Puff Pastry

Hi everyone. Thanks for inviting me to the domestic blogosphere. I will do my best to contribute worthwhile items. My first recipe comes from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. We made it last week. It was really yummy. It is a great way to use up left over ham.

ingredients:

• 7 large Eggs


• 1/2 t. Salt


• 1/8 t. Pepper


• 2 T. Unsalted Butter


• 2 T. Minced Fresh Parsley


• 2 (9 x 9 1/2 in. ) sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed


• Flour for dusting


• 6 oz. of Cheddar Cheese, Shredded (1 1/2 cups)


• 8 oz. of Ham (6 slices)

Instructions:

1. Whisk 6 of the eggs together with the salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a 12 inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, swirling to coat the pan evenly. Add the eggs and cook while gently pushing, lifting, and folding them from one side of the pan to the other until they are nicely clumped, shiny, & wet, about 2 minutes. Quickly fold in the parsley, then transfer the eggs to a large plate and refrigerate until cool, about 15 min.

2. Unfold one sheet of the puff pastry onto a lightly floured work surface and smooth out the creases. Lightly beat the remaining egg and brush a thin layer over the pastry. Divide the chilled scrambled eggs, cheese and ham over the bottom half of the pastry, leaving an 1/2 - inch border at the edges. Fold the top half of the pastry over the filling and press down with a fork to seal the eggs. Repeat this process with the remaining puff pastry sheet, eggs, cheese and ham. Transfer both pastries to a rimmed baking sheet, wrap lightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

3. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the puff pastries form the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap, and brush the tops withe the remaining beaten egg. Bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before cutting individual portions.

Here is the finished product. I think it turned out well and my kids even liked it. Notice the stylish paper plates. (I may have acquired a new love for cooking, but I haven't picked up any desire to do more dishes yet.)