Recipe Round-Up, March 2013

So far this blog has been all home renovation and not much else.  But in addition to painting and decorating, I love to cook in my free time. Bobby and I take turns cooking dinner most nights of the week. I recently added all my favorite recipes to a Google Drive folder, which makes organizing and accessing them much easier.  (Let me know if you'd like me to share the folder with you!)

Pinterest has definitely helped me expand my cooking and baking horizons, so I wanted to share a few of our recent favorites!

Asian Slaw with Peanut Ginger Dressing from Once Upon a Chef: I brought this to a work potluck (or pitch-in, as people in Indiana say), and it was a huge hit. It's colorful, full of flavor and texture, and a great way to eat your veggies.  I used one bag of coleslaw and one bag of shredded carrots and it made a very large batch. Add some grilled chicken or shrimp and you have yourself a substantial meal.

Crock Pot Pumpkin Turkey Chili from Skinny Taste: I love pumpkin and I love using my crockpot, so this is a match made in heaven.  The pumpkin flavor is subtle, but a great new take on chili.  We've made it with turkey and chicken, and both are good.  (Tip: Aldi carries canned pumpkin year round).

Black Bean & Quinoa Veggie Burgers from Prevention RD: I've been trying to cook vegetarian more often, so this recipe seemed like a good place to start.  We both really liked the flavor- even Bobby, who was very skeptical.  Instead of a chipotle I used some chili powder.  The yogurt sauce is excellent too.  They're very filling, so we froze the patties that we didn't eat for a future dinner.  

Banana Banana Bread from Amandeleine: Way too often I'm guilty of letting bananas get too ripe on the counter before we eat them.  When this happens I just throw them in the freezer (peel on) to save for future banana bread making. This has become my go-to recipe.  It's super moist and actually tastes better after a few days.  The recipes calls for six bananas, but I often use five and it turns out fine.  

What new recipes have you been trying? Any good ones that you would recommend?

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Pinterest Challenge: Winter 2013

Have you seen the Pinterest Challenge project, start by Young House Love and Bower Power? If not, check out the newest challenge here and here. (How cute is that video of the kids?!)  The basic gist is to encourage bloggers to actually make something that they've pinned! Novel concept, right? :)  It's also a great time to go through all your boards and do some purging.  You know, from when you first got a Pinterest account and pinned anything and everything that looked remotely cute, pretty, or tasty?

I tend to be pretty good about making recipes I've tried on Pinterest (see my 'Accomplished' board here), so I wanted to try a craft project this time.  After some debating, I finally decided on my project- a DIY sunburst mirror! Woohoo!  I've wanted one for awhile to hang over our guest bed. I think a white mirror would look great on the new teal walls (which I still need to write about). But, along with most things I want in life (new jeans, a vacation, a master bathroom not designed in 1952), they're typically pretty expensive.  Thankfully there are a lot of great tutorials on Pinterest, and the Winter Challenge was just the motivation I needed.  I used this tutorial from House of Fifty.  Here's what her awesome mirror looks like (please pin directly from her site, not mine):

Supplies needed:
Mirror (Hobby Lobby, $3.00- I had a 40% coupon).
2 packs of faux bamboo sticks (Hobby Lobby $7.00- they were 50% off)
Glue gun and lots of extra glue (already owned)
White gloss spray paint (Hobby Lobby $4.80- It was 30% off)
Spray paint primer (already owned)
Newspaper and tape to protect the mirror while painting
Hanging kit (Hobby Lobby, $1.47- paid full price. Darn it.)
Scissors, to cut the bamboo

I was looking for a regular mirror, but I found this flower shaped one and I thought it would provide extra support for the bamboo sticks.  I found the bamboo sticks in the floral section and got two bunches- each of them had about 25 rods.  I used almost all of them, so if your mirror is larger I recommend getting three bunches.  They're somewhat fragile, which made moving the mirror tricky, however I could cut them easily with regular scissors instead of needing a saw.

I started by cutting my sticks in various sizes.  I didn't really measure anything because I wanted it to all look natural and not too planned.  My sticks were about 24" long.  I cut some of them into thirds, and others I cut into a 18" piece and a 6" piece.  I first glued the longer sticks evenly around the mirror. (Sorry for the dim pictures, I was working in the basement).

Then I used the shorter sticks to start filling in each section.  I tried to alternate shorter and longer sticks.  I would often place them on the mirror to see how they fit before I glued them since some sticks were thicker than others and I had to make sure they would all fit.  Try to fit them together as tight as possible and make sure they're lined up at the bottom along the mirror. Also, don't go crazy with the glue gun. I definitely overdid it in some areas and you can still see the hardened glue globs.

After it was all glued together and dry I taped a piece of scrap paper over the mirror to protect it from the paint.  Here it is all taped and ready to be primed and painted.

Because the spray paint I got at Hobby Lobby didn't have built-in primer I decided to use separate spray primer first.  I did one coat on each side of the mirror.  The next day I used white high gloss spray paint to do two coats on the front and one coat on the back.  Make sure you spray from all angles to fully cover the bamboo rods.

After it was dry and back inside the house I attached a picture-hanging bracket on the back of the mirror.  This would have been much easier to do before all the rods were glued on, so now you can learn from my mistake!  Although only two pieces of bamboo had to be glued back on, so not too shabby.

Here it is in all it's glory in the guest room!

(Bed, nightstand, and striped pillow from IKEA, bedding from Crate & Barrel, rug from RugsUSA.com)

I hope you liked my Pinterest-inspired project!  Check out the four founding blogs' projects here: Young House Love, Bower Power, The Remodeled Life, and Decor & The Dog.

*If you like this one, check out some of my other Pinterest-inspired projects:
Staining a kitchen table
DIY Chalkpaint (Dining room buffet)

Next week I'll be blogging about our $33 half-bath transformation, including painting thick horizontal stripes!

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