Sneak Peak!

I finally finished the curtains for my office...here's a sneak peak. Reveal coming soon!

Cook at Home: Healthier You, Healthier Planet

Image Source: Heads of State


I've been a big fan of Mark Bittman for a few years now. The New York Times columnist, author, and advocate preaches a simple but powerful message: fill your plate with more veggies, know where your food comes from and how it's produced, make less of an impact on our planet. Food Matters is a quick read espousing these principals, and he's now come out with The Food Matters Cookbook. (I just ordered it yesterday. I'll let you know what I think!)

One way to improve your health (and the health of the planet) is to cook at home. In this article from the NYT, Mark offers this solution to those who say they can't cook or don't have time: "a cooking repertoire of three basic recipes can get anyone into the kitchen and beyond the realm of takeout food, microwaved popcorn and bologna sandwiches in a few days." Check out the article to learn which three basic recipes he stands behind.

Here's to a 2011 full of delicious, home-cooked food!

1.1.11

Happy New Year!

To make sure your year starts out on the right foot, don't forget to eat your....

Collard Greens for wealth

Image: Simply Recipes

Black-eyed Peas for luck

Image: Simply Recipes

Pork for prosperity

Image: MyRecipes.com

Cornbread because it goes well with this meal

Image: MyRecipes.com

Check out this article from Epicurious about the origins of these and other lucky foods.

Happy 2011!

Happy Friday!

Auld Lang Syne

Hooray! Tomorrow is New Year's Eve!

It's supposed to be very chilly here in Denver (high of 19, low of-2), but since this is a pretty date-specific celebration, the show must go on.

In case you too are headed to a party, I've pulled together some of options for easy appetizers. If there is no recipe link, then the recipe is basically just the ingredients I've listed in title.


Easy Greek Dip with homemade pita chips


Bruschetta with fresh tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper


Spiced Ginger Cashews


Phyllo with pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, and Parmesan


Greek-Style Potato Skins


Puff pastry with fresh whipped cream and strawberries


Blackberry Cobbler in a Jar

This year, I'm planning on making homemade Snickers and a ginger simple syrup you can add to a glass of champagne.

Cheers to a wonderful 2011!

A long December

This is my second post of the month (the first post was 28 days ago). Clearly I've been doing other things...with all the holiday fun/travel/stomach bug/parties/etc. I've let the blog slip. But no longer!

Even though it's four days past Christmas, here's few shots of our house decorated for the season.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday!

DIY Designing: Cork Board

This is the perfect time of year for this DIY project. Why? Because (hopefully) you're celebrating often and drinking lots of wine!

I've been collecting corks for quite some time now to make this cute board. Mama was even sending me some out to Colorado so I could wrap this project up. Originally I had planned to make this to hang in the kitchen. But then I moved to Colorado and into a house with very few interior walls on the first floor. So now it's going in my office. Yay!

1. Gather corks.

Lots and lots of cork.


2. You'll also need a frame of sorts. I used a frame that no longer had any glass in it. Want to know why there's no glass? Because I was drinking a glass of wine on my birthday and accidentally knocked the glass off the table. Seem like a loss? At least I got a cork out of it!


3. Take the time to lay out your pattern. More than likely you'll have several corks of the same brand, and you surely don't want a cork board with two brands side by side.


4. Now we come to the incredibly not fun part: gluing more than 100 corks one by one onto the board with hot glue. Don't try to glue more than one cork at once. Evil things happen.


5. Keep gluing until you are done. Which will take a while.


6. Then hang on the wall.


And months of collecting and hours of gluing later, you've got a darling cork board.

P.S. Coming soon! The reveal of my new home office. Just need to sew the curtains, and we're good to go!