The jewelry I've been working on!

 

Wooden disks with metallic crystal accents

 

Handcut & embossed sterling and brasspendant with crystals and rivets

 

Sterling earings with crystals and chain detail

Going to Miami!

Such a pretty morning - I can't wait to go to Miami tomorrow!!

Veggi Chilli fire roasted tomatoes with lentils and brown rice

This was a very quick dinner tasting a lot like chili and just as filling.

Brown rice prepared per package directions (I make mine with chicken stock & a little butter)

Lentils prepared per package directions (add a bit of black pepper and olive oil to taste)

1 small can diced fire roasted tomatoes

1 onion

4-5 cloves garlic

1 package pre-washed organic spinach

3-4 tablespoons chili powder

crushed red pepper

salt pepper

shredded mild cheddar

while lentils and rice are cooking:

caramelize garlic and onion a pinch of salt and lots of black pepper, stir in can of tomatoes, chili powder crushed red pepper to taste.

Let cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes

Add entire package of spinach and cook until fully wilted

Spoon a generous amount of brown rice topped with lentils topped with chili mixture.  I also melted a small bit of cheddar on top for some richness.  Enjoy.

Sweet bedroom designs

It's always great to find items for my house that are handmade and made of quality.  I came across these designers Holley & Gill from Montreal that make beautiful simple upholstered headboards.  They also take custom orders.    Check them out here

 

  

  

 

Snowy strawberry stuffed french toast

So for the first time, maybe ever I have a snow day!  When you can walk to work there aren't many opportunities to say you can't make it in.  Breakfast is my FAVORITE meal! I can't start the day without breakfast - even if I sleep untill 2 in the afternoon, I still need to start my day with an egg or something breakfasty.  This morning - after my green juice (see other posts), I made this strawberry stuffed french toast and it was awesome!!

Filling
Light sour cream and confectioners sugar to taste - that's it!  You might start with 1/3 C sour cream and a tablespoon sugar and go from there.  Remember if you add too much sugar you can't take it out! Chopped strawberries (organic!).

French toast
I like white bread for my french toast but it works with whatever - baguette, wheat, sour dough etc
3 eggs
1/3C milk
generous amount of cinnamin
a couple grates of nutmeg
no sugar, I let the syrup and filling sweeten the toast

In a pie dish, mix together everything for the french toast (not the bread) with a fork. 
Let a heavy skillet heat up on medium heat, you want the bread to sizzle when you drop it it. 
When ready to cook, add a tablespoon butter to cooking surface. 
Place the bread in the mixture for about 20 seconds each side and place in skillet, flip when golden brown.

Heat plates - A warm plate helps food like french toast and pancakes from becoming soggy
Smear (yes I said smear) about 2 tablespoons of filling followed by chopped strawberries on one piece of toast and top with the other.  Serve with WARM maple syrup and I like a big glass of milk!!!

Mighty tasty fluffy pumpkin muffins

I just made these and they turned out better then any muffin recipe I've tried!  It would be a good treat for the up coming snow day (s)

1 C white flour

1 C wheat flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

zest of one orange (remember organic)

3/4 C raisins soaked in very hot water for 5 min

3/4 C packed brown sugar

3 T molasses

1/4 C melted butter

2 eggs

1 small can packed pumpkin

1 t vanilla extract

3/4 C lowfat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 butter 12-cup muffin pan

Wisk together flours, baking soda, salt and spices

Beat sugar, molasses, butter and egg until well mixed.  Wisk in pumpkin. zest and vanilla.  

Add four and milk to sugar mixture until just combined (Don't over beat) add raisins

Pour batter into tins.  You could even top with a crumb topping and that would be great!

Bake for 20 minutes (my oven was 25) until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool 10 minutes and remove from tin and let cool completely on rack.

I topped mine with cream cheese & agave but you could do whatever and I'm SURE it will taste great!  The consistency of these muffins is great - fluffy & moist NOT heavy.

 

Clear out to Long Island this morning, not bad considering the weather that's coming!

For today I'm so excited a snow storm is coming, I hope we get walloped!! Here's something bright and cheery to welcome the snow! I've been wanting something colorful over my dining table.  I don't have electric to hang a chandelier and I haven't found one to convert to put candles in, so I also LOVE the idea of hanging some sort of mobile to help define the space and add a little color and movement.  Here are a few that I think are great options.  Calder is one of my favorite artists and most of them are completely inspired by him - all of them embrace his love of color.  I love that most of them are customizable!!Enjoy!

 

Sweet poms from Pom Love colorfull splashes find here

 

  

  

I LOVE LOVE LOVE These!!! They are all customizable made in steel and AFFORDABLE!!! Sweet styles I think one of these is a MUST!!! Find them here 

  

  

  

These are what prompted this post.  I saw these on Apartment Therapy this week and got me thinking of alternatives for a chandelier.  They're are fun and lightweight and also come in custom colors.  It's amazing all that you can find on Etsy.  These are from the Wonderland Studio.

I like that this one is glass, I think it would give it a nice weight and transparency. Find this and more from the same artist here 

 

Gorgeous YUMMY piepops + amazing food pics!!

The pictures speak for themselves.  When I saw this post from LUXIRARE I had to share.  Their pictures are sensual yet mechanical in a Dexter-ish way. I would love to eat something this small for dessert just about any night, just a single bite is all I usually need.  Enjoy!!

How much do you love the TINY scoops!!!???

a little Wednesday Love

How SWEET are these TINY rings! They would make such a pretty little Valentine's statement either the heart alone, or the heart with someone's special initial?!! From Catbird you can get them here

Ultimate baked potato!

I woke up to snow this morning, but it's already gone (darn!).  I actually like it to snow in the winter rather than just being cold and windy - because then the cold actually has a purpose...  So here's my ultimate baked potato or one version of it.  This one has no bacon since there is SO much flavor coming from the veggies.

There is a potato under there I promise.  I just baked potatoes till done I tossed them in evoo and salt first so the skins have flavor (don't forget you can eat the skins).  Then as they were finishing I sauted garlic, 1 onion, 1 green pepper and mushrooms until golden. Don't forget to deglaze the skillet to release all of the flavor from the veggies.  I also steamed some broccoli for a bit a greenness.  When the potatoes were done, I split them open used a tiny bit of butter, monteray jack and layered with all of the veggies and topped with sour cream.  Makes for a great dinner esp on a  day like today.  It actually tasted like a steak and cheese but with all veggies and you won't even miss the steak...

Make your own jewelry & have a little wine!!

 

I live across the street in South Norwalk, CT from this tiny bead store that is jam packed with tons of beads! I just got their newsletter and they are having a ladies night full of FREE instruction - all you have to pay for is your beads - & it's BYOB!  Doesn't get much better then that. It's Saturday Feb 11th from 5-7 so it's just early enough to still have a fun night & you can wear out what you make! Click here for info! 

quick dinner of flounder

Ok, it's not a gourmet dinner but it's very tasty and diet conscious... I don't make much fish at home.  Not for any reason it's not like I have an aversion to it my default is to go with land animals... So we had a late lunch yesterday and wanted something light for dinner.  I started out wanting shrimp.  It's impossible to get FRESH wild caught shrimp deveined at Whole Foods or wild shrimp that's not gigantic.  Everything else comes from Thailand!!!  Can you believe that?  Check all of their frozen veggies and fish a LOT of it comes from Thailand.  And if you've read any of the articles about farmed shrimp or shrimp from Thailand it will gross you out so much that you will also look to see where it's from (I promise)So They had wild caught flounder that looked really fresh and here you go!  

All I had to do with dip in egg wash and then in bread crumbs pan seared in evoo for 1 minute each side and it was perfect!  I served with a quick lentil pilaf and sauted spinach with a tons of garlic and black pepper.  The longest part of dinner was the lentils!  Maybe I'll have to try fish more often.  

Hot cereal banana muffins for Tuesday!

So on mornings like this I eat Red's Mill hot cereal and I find it warms me up a little especially with dried fruit and some yogurt.  I was looking at the package and it had recipe for muffins made with the cereal so I thought I would give it a try.  The bare recipe sounds a little drab so I made some changes including adding bananas, brown sugar, spices and nuts.  I also think it would have made a better loaf because of how dense the muffins are.  I think it's worth a try

1 egg
1/2 C sugar I did half white and half brown
1/3 C butter
1 C flour
pinch salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch cinnamon
couple grates of nutmeg
1 cup Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal
1 1/4 C Buttermilk

-Mix the cereal and the buttermilk together and let stand while prepping everything else
-Cream Sugar, butter then add egg a beat a bit longer
-add salt, cinnamin, nutmet and vanilla
-sift in dry ingrediants
-add milk mixture, nuts and banana mix untill wet don't over mix
-Bake for 20 minutes at 400

Makes about 14 muffins

*Tip, these don't really rise all that much because of how dense they are so you can fill the muffin tin pretty full.