Croquets

So remember how I talked about the pastry lady recognizing me at Public? Yeah, so the reason we kept coming every day was because of croquets. One day, we decided we could make our own or at least attempt so. It was one of our best decisions, by the way, I hope all my Miami stories aren’t boring you. I got up to a few more fun things while there that I will be sharing later next week. For now, I hope you enjoy these!

Ingredients:

Cheese (Queso Blanco or Fresco works best)

Milk (we used soy milk)

Bread Crumbs

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Cut cheese into small pieces. (The smaller the pieces, the more you have to eat!)

2) Roll cut cheese in breadcrumbs. Place on greased cookie sheet (I use Pam).

3) Bake for about 7-10 minutes, the bottom will be more golden.

4) ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekly Wonderings: July 11th, 2012

      I thought I would share some pictures from my trip to Miami, that is if you aren't sick of my previous post while there or these gifts. My time in Miami was a blast. It's funny how quick time goes when you are having fun! I was skeptical of Miami at first I blame pop culture for that but I quickly warmed up when I saw all the pastries in the grocery store bakery. By the end of the week, they might have recognized me there. One thing I liked was that I got free Snapple one day at one of my many trips to Marshalls and TJ Maxx, There was a random Snapple truck giving out magnets and free drinks. I also had the best pizza of my ENTIRE life, which in no way was influenced by the fact that I had just helped moved a sleeper couch (i.e. heavy heavy couch) . And I have had a lot of pizzas. It was roasted cauliflower pizza, and I could have eaten all of it.  It had breadcrumbs and garlic with the roasted cauliflower, check to see if you have one near you. At another restaurant, I had a Miami Vice, which is half Pina Colada and half Strawberry Daiquiri. And at Ikea, I always shop around in their Swedish food market, this time I walked away with only vegetable medallions and Swedish pancakes. The perfect breakfast for the rest of the week. Cake Pops which we gave to the maintenance men so they would like us. Bribes in the form of Cake Pops work wonders.  The U-haul from the aforementioned couch moving. It was a cargo van, and it was some expert driving by my friend. She did really well in crazy Miami traffic. Putting together Ikea chairs was another night's work, and drinking blueberry soda. Delicious. I feel like much of my judgement of Miami was based on my food experiences there, but you know what, I am totally okay with that. 

Gracious Gift/Pinterest Challenge: Martini Glasses

So remember how I mentioned I could not contain myself last week? I had a blast in Miami, but while there I was secretly gathering information. Highly classified stuff. Like what color my friend’s kitchen was and her decorating scheme. Schemes are always top secret. So once I gathered the information (blue and kind of modern/flowery), I felt I could better get her a housing warming gift.  You know how these decisions are totally life and death. Anyways, that brings me to Bed, Bath and Beyond, where I was shopping with my mom one day and stumbled into the clearance section. I love their clearance section, it is as good as the one at Home Goods. One time, I got like 100 different cookie cutters for less than 10 dollars because someone had damaged the plastic box they were in! But enough about clearance scores, I saw these two martini glasses that were begging for some TLC and maybe a little glitter.  Thus started my adventure in finding out how to decorate them. I took inspiration from these two pins: one with dots and one with glitter. But I thought of a way to make them look better: combine the two! GLITTER AND DOTS. Bam! It actually was a pretty easy craft, and they look adorable. Here is how I did it:

Materials:

Modpodge

GLITTER

Different acrylic paint

Pencils with erasers

Lacquer (not shown)

Directions:

1) Thoroughly wash the glasses and dry them. Take off price tags too!

2) Use the eraser side of the pencil to dip in paint. (I poured a little bit of paint in the caps because they were the perfect depository)

3) Layer and do more!

4) Let dry for a couple of hours

5) Use an eraser to dip in the modpodge, and place several dots around the container. Then pour glitter on. (I used a dry paintbrush to wipe away excess)

6) Let dry

7) Cover the rim with plastic (I used saran wrap and taped it down), and carefully spray with clear lacquer to seal it in.

 

Enjoy! What’s the best gift you’ve ever given? Or tried to give? Got any great ideas I could ‘borrow’?

 

Apartment Basics List

Last summer, I did three posts about what was needed to start a kitchen. (You can check them out here, here and here) This year, I decided to make a list of some of the basics to help. Mind you, this is the bare minimum, I did not even list a rug. But, I did leave two blank columns for you to be able to add things. Feel free to add things, delete things, move things around. Sometimes, you just need a jumping off point when starting. My biggest piece is don’t rush to buy everything on the list, wait, and see what you need. Maybe you realize you don’t need a couch but a futon or several arm chairs that double as dining room chairs. Think carefully before spending tons of money on that adorable printed couch that totally goes with your rug, styles change and furniture is expensive. You are better off picking something plain and adding fun pillows or slip covers.

 

Apartment Basics List

Cauliflower Steak

My mother and I are on a vegetarian kick right now, and we are loving it! It surprised us both that we aren’t missing meat, the only thing we do miss is being able to eat more at restaurants. It seems like our only options are Caesar Salad hold the chicken or pasta with sauce of some sort. And as much as I love those two options, they aren’t the healthiest. The other day a friend took us to this restaurant that’s all vegetarian. WooHoo! I had a cauliflower steak and it was delicious. (Disclaimer: I love cauliflower, I think one month, my roommate thought I lived on just Bird’s Eye steamfresh Garlic Cauliflower) AMAZING actually. It was so good, the next night, mom and I came home and tried to make it. Our results are pretty darn good if we do say so ourselves.

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower

1 Jar of marinara type sauce (heavy veggies kind)

1 package of tofu crumbles

Olive Oil

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 f degrees. Peel leaves off of the cauliflower, but leave the stem intact. On a cutting board, slice cauliflower into large one inch sections. (it should look like the inside of  a brain) You should be able to get about two to three good sections and then have left over pieces. They all taste the same anyways so do not agonize over perfection.

2) Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place cauliflower steaks in skillet and brown about 5 minutes per side. (You may have to do it in two batches)

3) Place cauliflower gently on cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Then turn oven down to 350 degrees, and bake an additional 15 minutes.

4) After turning the oven to 350 degrees, place a small pot over medium heat on the stove. Pour in tofu crumbles and as much marinara sauce as you like. Personally I like my a little saucy, lol. Heat through.

 

5) Once cauliflower is done, remove from oven and place it on plates. Then pour the sauce over the cauliflower. And enjoy!

Weekly Wonderings: July 4th, 2012

Happy fourth of July! I hope your day is filled with fireworks and good food! I went to Daytona a few weekends ago and got to see fireworks! It was also my Dad's birthday. So the fireworks were a nice addition. They have a show every Saturday evening at the pier. It was wonderful. I also had a fabulous crab cake. I took a bungee ball type thing and the views were fantastic. It was not jerky at all. Probably one of my favorite things about the trip. So do you have any big plans for the fourth? Any family traditions? I'm in Miami trying to figure out how to get a sleeper couch into a small SUV, it may end up besting me. Oh well, this is what Uhaul is for right...

Containing myself

Sometimes I feel like I have so many ideas bouncing around in my head I don't know where to start. Currently, I'm in one of those quandaries. I'm helping a friend decorate/furnish her apartment and I feel like I just can't contain myself. I just have so many ideas! Looking at a white canvas is sometime the hardest because then you have to decide what to do. Here goes nothing!