.:news paper mache birds wall art:.& .:rosemary lemon chicken:.

.:hello:. friends... today was a rainy day and I did some crafts AND made a delicious dinner. Two of my most favorite things to do. First off I am going to show you how to make some pretty wall art. Very easy to do, just takes a little patients, wal-mart, and a printer! Here we go.

Supplies:
two canvas's of what ever size you would like
newspaper
mod podge
water
brushes
permanent marker
black piant
scissors
spray paint

Start by....

Prepping your canvas.

I just sprayed half hazardously all over. no direction. just a few squirts. you will cover most of it up anyway. You could just splatter or paint if you do not have spray paint. However, spray paint is CHEAP and fun to work with. Keep that in mind(: I ended up spray painting our patio. Because, I am an air head and really didn't think about what I was doing...oops.

Next...let it dry and in the mean time start ripping up your paper. The original project used an old book. I do not have an old book to rip up. I did however have newspaper. It also did not use ANY color. I love color so came up with this idea.

now its time for MOD PODGE.If you have never used this, then you are seriously missing out.

water, sponge brush,mod podge,newspaper, birds(we will get to that)

Put some mod on your sponge brush and brush it onto your paper. 

Then dip your brush in water and brush it over the paper on the canvas.

I have not perfected the method of application. You can also put Mod onto the canvas and then stick wet paper onto and brush it smooth. Mod podge is water based...so it works well with water for sticking to things.

All done. Now it needs to dry. In the mean time this is what I did.

"googled" small birds and found the ones I liked. I wanted a side few and a front few. Then I opened then in paint shop and either shrunk them or enlarged them so they would be the right size. Then I printed them in "grey scale" so I wouldn't waste color. Cut them out carefully and WAIT!

Put up and decorated my tree. That little monster is under the tree waiting for me to leave so he can eat the balls hanging from it.

Then I made dinner. This was DELICIOUS.

Rosemary Lemon Chicken. Recipe is at the end.

Then we ATE it and watched X-Factor.

All dry!

Now I took the spray paint and squirted a little over the canvas to make everything really pop.

Take a pencil and out line your tree, then go over it with a black marker.

trace your birds on.

I love this black paint because it has a sparkly finish.

now paint in the rest of it black and let it dry!

FINISHED!

These are the first ones I made. They hang in my mother-in-laws house above the piano. I am honored.

.:well I hope this was helpful and inspiring. I hope you all try this because it was worth it! The rosemary lemon chicken recipe is below. I picked it up from a cooking class so I hope the instructions will be helpful if you try and make it on your own:.

Rosemary lemon chicken:

Ingredients:

5 slices of bacon

1/4 cup of flour

6 medium chicken thighs/4 large

6 medium cloves of garlic thinly sliced or chopped

1 tbl. Rosemary

1/8 tsp. red pepper

1 C chicken broth

1/2 C white wine(or red)

2 Tbl. lemon juice and zest

4 pats of butter

salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in a large skillet over med-high heat until crisp but not over done. move bacon to a plate to drain. 

Remove all but 2 tbl. of bacon fat.

Place flour, salt and pepper in shallow dish. Dredge chicken in flour. Brown chicken on both sides. You MUST be patient during the browning because a lot of flavor will come from this. You want them to be a nice golden brown on both sides. Depending on the size of the chicken may take 10 mins on first side 7-10 on the opposite side.

GOLDEN!

When your chicken is brown reduce heat and add garlic, rosemary, and pepper flakes.

Cook until garlic is aromatic-2 mins

Add wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Add bacon and chicken broth. Bring the broth to a boil and then add lemon juice and zest(also added mushrooms at this point but not necessary if you don't like them). cook 12-15 mins simmering, turning chicken often, until sauce is thick and glossy.

Chicken must be 165F/75C

adjust seasonings and serve.

I served with wild rice and asparagus! oh and I added mushrooms.

Cheers!

.:stephanie:.

What have we been doing all this time?

Well, it has been awhile. I realize that I made a commitment to share my crafts and kitchen with the world wide web but...life caught up to me.

First of all, we moved. my house is finally finished and I believe that pictures are in store off our second home! I am waiting to finish painting and hanging pictures.

Second, we started a cleanse. Therefore our food options have been extremely limited. However, I would be happy to share with you the healthy dishes we have enjoyed. Hey, it's working....I have dropped 5 lbs and Michael 8!

Third, I have been job hunting. I had started to lose all hope and finally decided to promote myself on craigslist and put out an add since responding to the majority of the jobs either never panned out OR where ridiculous scams to score your "credit information". no joke. Well, I actually received a reply from a WONDERFUL women looking for a personal assistant. It is basically the perfect fit but only 10 hours a week and not enough to pay our bills. After emailing back and forth, we met for an interview and it WAS a perfect fit. So I am suppose to start Tuesday! YAY! I figured, well, this takes the pressure off.At least I have a part time job that I will enjoy even if I have to get a job at Target to help pay the bills.except then....

I got into a dilemma that most people right now wish they had.

Today, I set out to run errands while Michael went to the shooting rang with a friend. He had a watch that needed to be repaired, so I thought I would surprise him and hunt down a watch repair shop.(never run errands the day before thanksgiving because EVERYONE is running errands the day before thanksgiving).

Anyway...

I went into Jared. I asked the nice lady about repairs and she told me...yah...but I know a better place(ssshhh its in the mall.I took it there afterwards, and ya, it was better. The guy did it for free! WHAT?!?!) anyway, I'm looking for jobs. So I mustered up some courage and asked if the nice lady in Jared if they were hiring. Turns out, THEY ARE!

Side note, I have an extensive background in Jewelry. I have taken dozens of classes, gotten certified in fixing and repairing as well as diamond setting AND, completed a year long apprenticeship working in a jewelry store. SO, I filled out the application and really didn't know what to except.

Went home. Took the puppy to the tennis courts to play a few rounds of fetch. Got a phone call from Jared asking for an interview A.S.A.P.

"oh yes, I am available to come in RIGHT NOW. I will be there in 5 minuets. Yes, I am interested in a full time job with possible advancements and promotions."

Turns out, that today was my day.

I should of taken my uncle Chris's advice a month ago. He told me that the best way to get a job is to walk into the corporation you would like to work in, drop of your resume, and speak to the manager. Even if they aren't hiring, you put yourself out there.

well well. I start Saturday!

I will be working full time for 3 months, after the trial period, if I "fit in" they will keep me(: I hope I "fit in". WOOT WOOT. I love working with jewelry. Jared is a big corporation which will allow me to move up!

now back to my dilemma....I absolutely do not want to give up this other job opportunity. I love working as an assistant, organizing, planning, dealing with people, working in marketing. This job will also give me a plethora of useful experience for my young future.

My hope is to do both jobs. To work out a schedule so that I do not jeopardize my full time job and I can still schedule in this wonderful part time job opportunity.

And honestly, at this point in my life, when money is of the  utmost importance with student loans, rent, bills, food. Working TOO MUCH is not a bad thing.

So, here we go. Cross my fingers.

Sorry for the absences of pictures in this post. It was mostly a vent session.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Steph

.puff paint on canvas.

Saw this idea on pintrest. Thought it would be easy....nay nay

I made the mistake of just reading the comment that someone put underneath as there "describe pin". So it wasn't from the actual source. The comment read..." Elmer's glue on canvas then paint all one color." Im thinking...sweet...super easy.

So I go buy my supplies at our local craft store...walmart(: and get to it!

I printed off a sweet design.

Cut it out and then glued it onto the canvas. I figured if I was painting over it you wouldn't see that I glued paper onto the canvas.

Lookin' cool, im getting excited...little do I know.

So i start tracing it with Elmers glue. First I realize how long it is going to take to dry. So im blow drying it, and retracing it with glue to build it up.

and I am thinking to myself...gee this is not working...so I decide to try and track down the original source.

Pinterest lesson learned.

ALWAYS look up the original source.

The girl who original did it uses puff paint. Makes so much more sense.

So...I went back to the craft store, and bought some puff paint.

(yah the lighting sucks, you get the idea)

A little better...however I also read on her blog that she transfers the design onto the canvas. Well well.

Anyway, I let it dry. Then I worked on painting it. I decided against painting it just one color because I wanted it to pop. So I played around with it until I came up with this.

Its gold, purple, and grey. Hard to see the purple but hey.

Not to bad. Try it! I am going to do another one.

.Crafty Crafty.

This was A LOT of fun.

The concept is that you take and hot glue crayons onto a white canvas and then with a blow dryer you melt them and they drip. I like the messy look of the colorful wax dripping down the canvas.

Here is what I did wrong:

I peeled the paper of the crayons thinking it would look better but not realizing that with a blow dryer there isn't direct heat so the wax was spraying everywhere when I started to try and melt the crayons. If I had left the paper on, the paper would have funneled the wax down as it melted.

That's why in the picture above you see me using a blow torch thingy. It's my father-in-law's. He has lots of cool little things like that.

Second, I used a lot of dark colors. It would have looked a lot cooler if I had used brighter colors. I am going to do it again on a smaller canvas with brighter colors.

bottom line...it was fun. I'm sure you can get crazy with it but for the most part....well it was just fun.

I'm not sure if I should post the finished product....I wasn't a huge fan of what it looked like because the dark colors just sort of ran together.

Let me know how yours turns out if you make one!

.dinner LAST night.

Yum. I was in charge of dinner last night because mama helton was workin late. Here's what was on the menu...

Stuffed Shells with meat sauce
Caesar salad
Rosemary rolls
Home made brownies and ice cream


Want the recipe's? I took some pictures. Mind you, they were awful because my good camera is in storage and the lighting in the kitchen is no bueno. But that's just an excuse.

The meat sauce came from the lovely Pioneer woman. I changed nothin' about it. Its great.

The shells I adapted from a basic stuffed shells recipe. I personally do not like ricotta cheese. I think its bland and has a gritty texture. So I added a twist to mine that gives it some flava flave and really makes them POP!

 So we have here, fresh basil, onion, garlic, canned fire roasted tomato's, goat cheese, cottage cheese, cream cheese, ricotta cheese, parm cheese, italian sausage, red wine...must have....and jumbo pasta shells.

Get your sauce going first...the longer it cooks, the better it will taste.

*tip, use canola oil to saute with instead of olive. Chef Robert, in a coking class I took awhile back explained that olive oil burns at a lower temperature then canola oil, so you end up having to use more of it and well frankly its expensive. Food network uses olive oil all day long.( probably because they are getting paid to) But most likely in a real restaurant, they are sauteing your food with canola oil. You can't taste either one in the finished product.(and if you think you can I would like to challenge you.) Its one thing to finish off your dish with a dash of olive oil another to cook with it...do what you want with it (:

Saute - means to jump in french. So you want your pan hot when you drop in the goods.

Get a tablespoon or two of oil heating up in your pan. while that's going chop your onion( I have a tutorial on chopping later. Trust me its worth it. When I was shown how to properly chop an onion it was revolutionary.)

when the oil first starts to smoke, its ready for your onion. Drop it in and hear it sizzle.

Then chop up your garlic. I like to use a garlic twist when I want the garlic really fine and keep all the juices with it, but it's in storage.

Add the garlic once the onion is translucent and fragrant. All the garlic needs is a minute. You will start to smell it, that's when you add your sausage.

I didn't get a picture of every step, sorry. Basically you want to cook this till its nice and brown. No need to drain the fat. After about 10 minutes or so it'll be time to add the red wine and this is what really brings the flavor.

(So blurry, please forgive me.)

Let that cook down a little bit, then pour in your tomatoes. Add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste and then leave it alone for 30+ minutes. 

I guess you should stir it every once in awhile.

oh it smells so good....

.lets move on to the shells.

Get your water boilin' and the oven preheating to 350....hopefully by the time you finish all this stuffing, your sauce will be ready.

Its time to chop up some basil. Use fresh, its worth it. I have tried growing basil 3 times and I kill it. A green thumb is something I did not inherit from my mother.

This is how you chop it. Roll up as much as you can and slice away. I used the whole package. Because its so dang good I didn't see any reason why I shouldn't.

Now we gotta make the filling. I left out up top that I used an egg. Don't forget cause you need it.

I added the goat cheese because it adds a really great level of flavor. Using the whole brick does not over power the flavor at all, but i'm sure that has to do with using a whole brick of cream cheese as well. I add almost but not all of a container of ricotta as a filler. The other cheese's cover it up enough that you don't really taste it. The cottage cheese was a fluke. I bought it forgetting that I use it in lasagna not stuffed shells. Oops. I added some anyway(:

(yum)

Add salt and pepper, I added some red pepper but the papa helton didn't like it. I also added "Italian seasoning" because its yummy and I use it a lot in everything.

You want to only boil your shells for HALF the cooking time. Like 6 mins. Because its going to bake in the oven for 30 mins. 

Cook em'. Drain em'. Cool em'.

Its time to stuff! I filled up 2 9x13 baking dishes. If you want, after you stuff them and cover them in sauce you could probably seal it up pretty good and stuff one in the freezer. Or maybe take it to your sick neighbor. yum. Wouldn't that be a good neighbor to have? Some one who brought you food when they made to much?

I like having left overs so I made them both.

(big heaping spoon. over stuff it. it's worth it.)

By now your sauce should be done. USE IT ALL. cover up those puppies. Then, cover them in freshly shredded parmesan cheese and pop them in the oven for 25-30 until nice and bubbly!

(bottom rack so they don't burn)

I made caesar salad and rolls to go with. The caesar salad was from a "salad kit' at the grocery store. it included the dressing, croutons, and cheese (: and the rolls were frozen in a tray. I put pats of butter, rosemary and a little sea salt on them...delish. Don't hate, who has time to make caesar salad and rolls fresh?

(this is as good as it gets. I had hungry people to feed.)

oh and here is a treat for later. I'll post this recipe sometime later today.

Recipes and References:

Meat Sauce:

 (I doubled Pioneer Womans)

1lbs of Italian Sausage

1 medium white onion, diced

4 large garlic cloves, diced

2 C of red wine ( you can buy cooking wine in the dressing isle for 3 bucks)

4 14.5 cans of fire roasted tomatoes

1 tbls. brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Heat a few tbs. of oil in a large frying or saute pan. When its smoking drop in your diced onion and saute until translucent and fragrant.Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add sausage and cook until brown, about 10 minutes. When sausage is done, pour in the red wine and allow it to simmer and bubble for a few minutes. Then add tomatoes and seasoning and simmer for 30 minutes or more.

Shells

1 package of jumbo shells (11 0z? it was the only package at walmart)

12 oz cream cheese

10 oz goat cheese( maybe 12? there are two different sizes at the store. I bought the largest. Sam's Club has it cheaper.)

12 oz ricotta 

1 cup of grated parmesan

1 cup of chopped basil

1 egg

seasoning to taste

Boil water. Add shells and cook for half the cooking time that the package directs.( usually 6 minutes). Drain and cool until ready to stuff.

Mix all the cheese's, chopped basil, spice's, and egg and mix to completed blended. 

Spread a little sauce done on your baking dish so they don't stick. Stuff the shells and place them open side down into the pan. Cover with sauce and top with grated parmesan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until hot and bubbly all the way through.

Stuffed Shells 

Jumbo package of shells (11 or 12 oz. there was only one size at walmart)

.this is the first post.

I have no followers. Maybe someday, but I am ok with that. This is an attempt to record and document recipes. I got tired of handwriting recipes down for people  when ever they wanted it. Now, i can simply refer them to my blog, unless of course its grandma and then I will write it on paper in the prettiest form I can.

First I must give credit for the blog name to Rebecca Gray, childhood friend. She was always the clever and wittiest of us kids. Now she is going to be a lawyer and a great one at that I am sure. I had no doubts she would achieve her dream. Super hot lawyer wife, bringing in the big dough, and someday juggling kids straight out of a j crew magazine. I can not wait (:

Now, let's get this straight. Don't expect perfect punctuation. I am not here to write and publish a book. I am here to share with the world my ideas about cooking, and sometimes art. I was an art major in college not an English major.( Blythe can attest to how awful I was at "Words" last night.)

Anyway, I am here to give credit where credit is due. I am not one of those people who posts a recipe as my own when really I got the idea from a friend or fellow blogger. Nay nay. Cooking is about sharing ideas and enjoying the food you put on the table. If no one gave the knowledge that they had about cooking, where would we be?

My recipes and the modifications that I make to my cooking are geared towards my family and myself. I rarely measure, however I will do my best to give you an idea of how much. I love photography, and will take pictures whenever possible. But lets be honest, the reason I have not started a blog in the first place is because I don't like taking them time to do it. Soooooo we will see how detailed these posts get.

I realize that I am not the first person to do this. I also realize that there are people out there looking to make tasty things in the kitchen and I would like to contribute to helping them. Anyone that can read can cook following a recipe, and anyone that can smell can cook with their nose. It just takes patience. Something I didn't really have till college, which is when I first started being creative in the kitchen. I realized like everything else, cooking can be a blank canvas waiting to be painted on. So cut yourself some slack, stock up on the goods and try try again. You might burn, over salt, and down right ruin some things. But if you never attempt to do that, then you will never experience the joy when it finally comes out just the way you want it to.

Good luck(: now lets get down to the good stuff.

steph