I am lovin wreaths right now!!

I don't know what it is, but I am in love with wreaths right now!  I would make some if I didn't have to travel an hour away to go to Hobby Lobby. lol  But, it will happen at some point.  Here are a few that I have seen on other blogs.  I want to encourage you to go check out their blogs.  They've got some pretty good stuff on there.  I'll have to post when i actually make my own versions.  I just thought that these wreaths were out of the box and just perfect.  When your guest say, "Oh, I love your wreath, where did you get it?!?, " you can proudly say "I made it!"

 With this one, you can easily transform season to season with a change of ribbon and a can of spray paint.
Lima Bean Wreath!!

Book Paper Wreath

Shabby Chic Rosette Wreath

Your's Truly,
Des

DIY Covered Matches and Save-the-Dates

I am currently planning for my big day.  It is going to be June 3, 2011, and it will be here before I know it!!  There is so much to do!  Here are a couple of diy ideas that I came across and loved.  

Covered Matches- I used damask paper from Hobby Lobby and doubled-tape.  The wedding is going to be hot pink, apple green and touches of damask. ;o)

I plan to pair these up with sparklers for a dazzling exit!

Next up, the infamous Save-the-Dates with a twist.

 
I came across these super cute save the dates on The Wedding Bee Blog.  Neatly cut out the numbers for your date, string them up with some ribbon and attach the info on a little cardstock.  They have several cute ideas for Save-the-Dates and lots of other diy projects.  Unfortunately, I have waited a bit too late, so I have decided to skip the save the dates and mail out the invites next month.   

I've got the Baking Fever!

I grew up around cooking all my life.  My grannie loved to put a meal on the table for her family, and it sure has rubbed off on me.  I love the feeling I get when I spend time cooking a meal and then watching as they enjoy the end product.  It gives me great satisfaction knowing that I pleased some taste buds!  BUT, baking puts the biggest smile on my face.  I don't know what it is for sure.  Maybe it's the science of it all and getting it right.  Or, maybe it's the fact that most baked goods are sweet.  ;o)  I can't forget to mention that playing some feel-good music and singing is a necessity.  I also love the process- starting with basic ingredients and seeing it slowly turning into yummy goodness.  To be honest, it is probably all of these wonderful things combined.  

So, today I cooked Rachel Ray's Orange Balsamic Glazed Chicken with green beans and  sauteed sweet potatoes.  After looking over some recipes on epicurious.com, it got me in the mood to bake something.  Unfortunately, my future hubby doesn't love love baked goods, so it's hard for me to make stuff and not waste.  On the website I came across Cinnamon, Pecan, and Currant Cream Scones.  They seemed delicious, and I talked myself into them being a little healthy.  So, I used 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup bread flour to substitute for the all-purpose flour.  I only had a touch of pecans, so I used part pecans and part crushed almonds.  It added a nice crunch.  The texture in general was nice.  I didn't have any heavy cream, so I used the fat free milk.  Overall, the scone was wonderful.  Grant seemed to like it, and he said that it would be good with some sort of icing.  

Sorry the picture isn't so great, but they really are beauties.  ;o)
Happy Baking!!

Pineapple Glazed Chicken with Jalapeno Salsa

Epicurious Recipe Number 2 was a success!  Here it is!

 The grocer store didn't have chicken breast with the skin still intact so I had to use skinless.  It didn't dry out thankfully.  The salsa was not too spicy, and it added a wonderful color to the plate.  I served the chicken with some green beans with toasted almonds.  Until next time, Your's Truly

Spice Rubbed Steak with White Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

Remember when I said that I wanted to start planning out meals for the week?  Well, epicurious came to the rescue!  Grant and I found out about this website and even better the app on our phones!  We got out of church on Sunday, drove to Walmart, and by that time we had a shopping list ready to go on the phone.  Gotta love technology (well when it's working right).  Simply download the app to your phone, pick out some recipes and click on the "add to shopping list" button, and presto, the work is done for you.  It even separates the list into categories.  So the first meal we chose was Spice Rubbed Steak with White Beans and Cherry Tomatoes.

The flavor was great.  Grant loved it, and he even liked the white beans and tomatoes.  The only thing I changed was used grape tomatoes instead of cherry.  That's just what the store had.  I followed the timing for the steak like it says, and it turned out so tender.  Until next time, Happy Cooking!