new house = new blog

Eric and I bought a house, so we decided to start a new blog. 

If you would like to check out what we are doing at the new house, the new blog is House 2.0. 

Our new house is everything we wanted, but it needs some updates. We will definitely have a lot to post about in the coming months and years as we make our new home ours. 

We are beyond excited to start this new adventure and make our forever home exactly what we want it to be. Hope you follow us to the new blog!

xoxo

rainy days make for perfect comfort food nights

Eric has been sick so we decided some easy vegan comfort food was the perfect thing to make for dinner last night. I found a recipe for vegan macaroni and cheese without the fake cheeses so we decided to give it a try. I decided to add sweet potato fries to make it truly a comfort food night.

 

Of course, the first thing Eric says when I told him what we were making was "I thought we were making something easy!" Yeah, it's not boxed mac & cheese, so it does require a little work, but it wasn't that hard. We've made a pasta dish where cauliflower was used to replace a creamy diary product before so we knew what we were getting ourselves into for the most part and all the pictures from the recipe we followed looked delicious.

chalkboard paint all the things

Chalkboard paint ALL THE THINGS. That is what I said after I chalkboard painted my refrigerator. I seriously love it! It really adds to the kitchen and the look/feel I am going for.

 

The first step is to prep the surface for painting. We deep cleaned the fridge so that there was no dirt or grime on the surface, then primed the surface with Zinsser Bulls-Eye 123 primer.

 

 

oh she glows - big vegan bowl

This week Eric and I made the Big Vegan Bowl from Oh She Glows. It's a pretty intense meal and delicious. I love Oh She Glows and all the recipes we have tried from there.

 

If you are looking for a nutrient packed meal that has everything you could possibly need you MUST try this bowl.

 

Here's our take on the Big Vegan Bowl.

garden box planning

I'm really excited about this, and it's not because I will be getting my "birthday present" a month in advance. Since Eric and I eat lots of veggies now that we've cut meat out of our food preparations at home, a garden is the perfect supplement in the summer months (not that I don't love the farmer's market). I've been planning this out since there was a gazillion inches of snow on the ground, and at one point thought I might have to shovel the lawn to be able to get my garden boxes built before I needed to plant seeds. Thankfully, the snow has melted, mostly, so hopefully I can get the boxes built and ready to go for when I need to start planting my seeds.

quinoa vegan burgers

Eric and I have tried a few different veggie burger recipes along with the store bought ones. The quinoa burgers we made for dinner last night are by far my favorite so far. I found them on the Produce on Parade blog.

 

Here is the recipe:



a new way to eat your greens

A week or two ago Eric and I found a great new way to eat your greens (collard greens, spinach, kale).

 

We found the recipe when we made a delicious carrot ginger potato bowl and have been making the greens as a side dish for some of our meals.

 

It's a super easy, fast recipe so it makes a great addition to your meal during the week.

Here's what you need for this recipe:

 

1 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

2 cloves garlic

1 bunch of greens (whatever type you choose)

salt and pepper to taste

 

Roughly chop your greens. Make sure to remove any large stems. Sauté garlic quickly in oil and then add the greens. Cook for a maybe 10 seconds and then add in the vinegar, salt, and pepper. Toss together and remove from heat.
 

 

The whole process literally takes less than 5 minutes. Feel free to try different types of vinegar. Just last night we tried balsamic. It wasn't as good as the apple cider vinegar; so far that is my favorite vinegar to use with this recipe.

another kitchen update

The kitchen is coming along. && it makes me very happy.

 

Here's my list of things to do (& as you can see most things are crossed off): 

1. Move refrigerator $0
2. Move cabinets around $0
3. Remove odd cabinet and replace with shelving $40
4. Remove wallpaper  $0 completed by removing soffit
5. Fix/replace side window $0
6. Concrete counter tops $100
7. Replace back-splash with pallet back-splash $0
8. Replace kitchen sink with black kitchen sink from parents $0
9. Buy new faucet $170
10. Build pantry for far corner $100
11. Paint laminate cabinet doors (grey)
12. Paint (ceiling $40, walls, pantry $30)
13. Paint refrigerator black chalkboard $10
14. Replace flooring in kitchen (not happening for awhile)
15. Spray paint baking sheets and hang inside cabinets
16. EAT wall art $6
17. Add outlet on other side of window $5
18. Drywall ceiling
19. Put in attic access $100
20. Touch up paint and trim
21. Replace kitchen light since the old one broke $30
22. Molding around top of cabinets

 

lace window decals

This weekend I was super busy working on little house things so I may have a few posts this week. One of the things I worked on was my front door windows. I've been wanting more privacy and a sunlight filter for the front door. The sun hits the front door just right in the late afternoon that it is blinding. This blog post will be a little bit of a nailed it and failed it.

 

The first thing I tried for the front door was a major fail. I had purchased the decals you can use on windows for $20 and attempted to apply those to the 9 small windows that are my front door window. This did not work as planned. If I wasn't such a perfectionist, I'm sure I would have been okay with the window decals. The problem with the window decals is, if you don't cut them perfectly, you can see your mistakes (very clearly). With it being such a small area, it was difficult to get them cut perfectly and the decals also didn't stick very well. For all these reasons, I decided to scratch the idea of the window decals and search out other options.

 

I debated between using an opaque spray paint, or a spray paint to make and etched glass look, but then I stumbled upon an excellent idea on Pinterest. Enter: Annabel Vita. Annabel used lace and cornstarch to create a beautiful and non-permanent window privacy solution.

 

Here's how you do it:

the least expensive backsplash you will ever install

This weekend the backsplash went in. I'm beyond excited to see everything come together. I decided to repurpose pallet wood for a number of reasons. The first reason being it was cheap; you can get pallets for free! The second being that pallet wood isn't perfect, and since my concrete counter tops are imperfect they go together perfectly.

DIY concrete counter tops for $150 or less

This weekend my dad and I worked on my kitchen counter tops.  I had decided on doing concrete counter tops awhile ago; probably even before I decided to start the kitchen remodel. I just love the look of the concrete counter tops and despite my perfectionist tendencies, love the imperfections and character that concrete counter tops have. I think it's perfect despite its imperfections.

I took tons of pictures, so this post will be loaded with them. I found that most of the blog posts I read about concrete counter tops did not give as much detail as I would have liked, so I will also try to be as detailed as possible for those of you out there that want details (in case you want to try this on your own!)

asparagus pesto pasta salad

I love pasta. It's a weakness. So when I ran across this recipe for pesto pasta I got really excited to try it out. As usual, we made a few changes and made it our own.

 

tasty vegan shepherds pie

I apologize for the less than attractive photos this post will bring you. Eric decided he wanted to use the BIGGEST dish we have but we did not have enough potatoes to cover the top of the shepherds pie due to this. Regardless of how it looks, it tasted spectacular.

 

We had a bunch of leftover potato insides from making potato skins over the weekend so we decided to try our hand at making shepherds pie. I found a plant based shepherds pie recipe on LettuceChance.com that we greatly adapted since we already had our "mashed potatoes." Here is our recipe.

kitchen update

I feel like the kitchen is starting to come together, even if the only thing accomplished is that it is finally painted. I even did all the wall painting by myself and surprised Eric when he got home! I know he enjoyed not having to help paint because he helped paint the ceiling, which is the worst kind of painting to do.

I'm really excited because I ordered my concrete from Amazon the other day and my concrete countertop adventure will be starting soon! Hopefully it's not a complete failure because that would be very sad. Regardless, I am excited to give it a try.

I've read numerous blog posts about how to do concrete countertops (thin coats, building boxes, over tile, over laminate, etc.) and came to the conclusion I wanted to try thin coat over the current countertops. Everyone that posted this method seemed to be please, but then again, their blog isn't called "Nailed it or Failed it," so maybe the failures out there just didn't blog about it! Anyway, I bought my supplies: Ardex Feather Finish, Cheng Concrete Sealer, and Cheng Concrete Countertop Polish.

hs photo & design - an adventure into boudoir photography

If you read my blog regularly, you've heard me talk about Heather. She's the blogger behind Confessions of a Wannabe and one of my best friends.

 

She has a new blog now, as she is starting her own photography and design company. I am unbelievably excited and proud of her. Her creativity is truly inspiring.

 

I told her just today that I wish I had sweet skills like her, something I could market, something I loved, that I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. I'll get there eventually, but that is not the point of this post.

 

Just last weekend we shot a boudoir session at her parents' house. We did it at her parents' because they have really good lighting and a little more space than either of us have. It wasn't even that awkward to run around her parents house in next to nothing...

 

meal plannig done right (part 2)

This is the continuation to my last post regarding our meals this week.

 

I split this blog post up into two different posts because we had two REALLY good recipes this week for dinner and they both deserve their own posts.

 

Part 1 is Tuesday's dinner: Lentil Taco Salad

Part 2 is Wednesday dinner: Roasted Red Pepper Soup

These were both definitely "nailed its," and were both found on Pinterest.

 

 

meal planning done right (part 1)

I'm going to split this blog post up into two different posts because we had two REALLY good recipes this week for dinner and they both deserve their own posts.

 

Part 1 is Tuesday's dinner: Lentil Taco Salad

Part 2 is Wednesday dinner: Roasted Red Pepper Soup

These were both definitely "nailed its," and were both found on Pinterest.

 

vegan zuppa toscana

My friend and I love Olive Garden. It's our go to place for lunch when we all meet up. The problem with Olive Garden is that they don't have many "healthy" choices. Quite a few of my friends are into healthy foods; vegan, vegetarian, organic, you name it.

 

I found a recipe on Pinterest for Zuppa Toscana and Eric and I made it a few weekends ago. The problem with it was that it was more Indian than Italian. It had chili powder and curry in it, so it wasn't like the Zuppa Toscana I've grown to love from Olive Garden.

 

My solution to this little dilemma was to make my own Zuppa Toscana recipe. I took the Indian Zuppa Toscana recipe and changed out the spices and a few other things to make my own. Man, am I glad I did. The second Zuppa Toscana attempt was amazing, delicious, excellent, etc.

everyone should have a rice cooker

Eric had talked about wanting a rice cooker for awhile because he just didn't like how sticky the rice came out when we cooked it in a pot on the stove. I figured it was the perfect Christmas present and told my mom he wanted one.

 

We found one at J. C. Penney for $30! Yes, it was only $30. Here's the one we got (or I should say, Eric got): Aroma 8-cup Stainless Steel Rice Cooker.

 

Rice literally comes out perfect, every time. Perfect restaurant rice, every time. 

 

Eric is not one for things. He hates clutter and having anything that he feels serves no real purpose. This is not one of those items. Does it take up room in the kitchen? Yes. But even Eric doesn't care. That's how great the rice cooker is.

 

It seriously makes it so easy to cook rice. You put it in, press a button, and then it tells you when it is done. It even keeps it warm for you until you're ready to eat it.

 

If you eat rice as often as we do, I highly recommend a rice cooker. 

peanut stew with rice

I found a tasty looking recipe on Pinterest last week and decided to give it a try this week. The recipe was for this easy and tasty looking peanut stew.

 

The recipe is VERY simple. I don't think you could mess it up, unless you don't know how to cook rice. && if you can't cook rice, see my next post (coming soon!!) about the best kitchen investment you can make!

 

Back to the recipe. It's really good and really easy so it makes a great week night meal.

 

mexican quinoa

Eric and I love quinoa. We use it a lot in recipes. It's a great alternative to rice (which we also use often). Last night I made a Mexican quinoa that I found on Pinterest and Eric told me that it needed to be added to our recipes.

 

We have a Dropbox folder called "Recipes" so that we can access it anywhere; even on our phones at the grocery store! It's one of his best ideas. It allows us to pull up our favorite recipes and see what ingredients we need if we are going to make said recipe. Now, I also make a grocery list that's in that folder too, but sometimes things are last minute so we can at least look through our recipes and find something we both like. The titles have hash tags like: #vegan, #vegetarian, #dinner so we can search the folder depending on what we want. We've even rated them so we know which ones we like more than others.

 

goals > resolutions

A lot of people make resolutions for the new year... I don't. I figure, why disappoint myself? Most of the time when people ask me what my resolutions are; I just say I don't make them and leave it at that. 

 

This year, I am taking a different approach. While no one has asked me what my "resolutions" are, I've decided to set some goals for myself instead. In my opinion, goals are better than resolutions. People make resolutions to lose weight or stop smoking, etc. and then are disappointed when they don't do it. I don't think it should be so definitive as people make it. Set a goal, work towards the goal, and if you don't reach the goal at least be happy in knowing that you worked for it, you tried. Even if you failed, you learned something about yourself.