A Joyful Apartment Tour

I am a lousy photographer.  Never has it been more obvious to me then when trying to take pictures to upload to this blog for all of you.  My New Year's resolution will be to purchase a decent camera and start trying to learn how to use it.  In the meantime, this is what you get: my lousy work.  Just remember that everything you ever see from me, looks much better in person.  Too bad I can't invite you all to my home to share, but sadly, since I cannot, we will have to make do.

The ornaments on this year's tree are a mix of store bought and handmade: the black globes with silver snowflakes were a fun find from a vintage shop in Dover, New Hampshire.  The silhouette frames were found at a discount shop, and I printed out the black silhouettes myself from clip art and fit them inside.  The needlepoint stars I made myself, and the wooden star ornament I painted with acrylic red paint and red glitter glue.  I also painted several porcelain bulbs with red acrylic and gold acrylic, brushing with red glitter glue to finish .  The "PEACE" sign in red gingham was a Michael's Crafts bargain bin find for a $1 and this year's red, black and beige plaid stockings were a Christmas Tree Shop steal at $3 a piece.   One boring Friday evening I cut out all the snowflakes that you see on the cabinets a week or two ago.  I enjoy mixing DIY projects with purchased decor items.

Happy Holidays from my small space to your home!

Holiday Card 2013

I am still working on my decorating my space before I share pictures of Marisa's Christmas Apartment 2013, but in the meantime, I wanted to share my holiday card that already went out to friends, family and coworkers.

I love Shutterfly!  Their design aesthetic really aligns with mine, and after absolutely adoring the address labels and engagement party invites I ordered through them, it was a no-brainer to browse their holiday card selection.

This was the winner (front and back.)

  I was able to select the back design (they had many patterns to choose from.)  And I love the vintage "JOY" font.  

This Past Week in Pictures

 Hi Interweb friends,

I'm really settling in to New Hampshire life, and I'm at peace.  Naturally with the colder temps, I'm feeling more inspired in the kitchen.  Here are some pics of a breakfast and dinner from this past week.

The first is Banana Steel Cut Oat Casserole  (modified from this recipe found here http://findyourhealthyhaven.com/2013/02/25/blueberry-banana-steel-cut-oatmeal-bake/  )

Boil 2 cups of water and 2 cups of almond milk (I use vanilla UNSWEETENED in most of my recipes) and then cook 1 cup of organic steel cut oats in it (the longer cooking oats, not the quick cook).  I also added several tablespoons of cinnamon, and a teaspoon of organic almond extract to the mixture, as well as a 1/2 tsp of baking powder (aluminum free) and 1 tbsp of chia seed and 1 tbsp of flax seed.  Cook the oats until they are fairly well done and not too full of liquid (for me, that was about 20 minutes since I used the full cooking version of the oats.)   Now came the tricky part.  The original recipe said to add 2 egg whites, but I have no issue with yolks and just wanted to add one whole egg instead, however, even after removing from the heat, the egg pieces cooked immediately.   When I make this again, I will let the oats sit for several minutes off of the heat before I add the egg.   Meanwhile, I had sliced four bananas that I had previously frozen (see that yucky mess of peels on the cutting board in my pic!) and placed them in the oiled bottom (NON Gmo Canola) of a 9x13 pan.  I sprinkled a bunch more cinnamon and nutmeg on the bananas (did not measure, I love spices) and then poured the oat mixture on top of it.   The original recipe called for drizzling agave nectar on the top, but for me it was a no brainer to drizzle organic maple syrup (the real stuff, not some Log Cabin lookalike.)   I baked in an oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, and it was super yummy.  I froze individual portions to heat later. 

 

My second concoction this week was pizza.  I adore pizza.  Yes, I want to move to a clean eating lifestyle.  But I have to have pizza, and I personally see nothing wrong with whole wheat.  I don't have a gluten intolerance, and yes, I work in organic foods so I've listened to the debates as to whether we should ALL remove gluten from our diets anyway.  But, I know take out is horrible for me, so this is my compromise.  I used Cucina Antica Sauce (full disclosure, my brokerage represents them) because they are such an authentic, low sugar pasta sauce that might as well be crushed tomatoes with seasonings because they are such a rustic, clean brand.  (Incidentally, they are coming out with Organico Bello, which is a similar pasta sauce concept only certified organic.)   Anyway, I used wheat refrigerated pizza dough from the deli section of the store (short-cut, #semi-homemade) and layered that with the sauce, a ton of organic dried basil (fresh would have been better) and then cut up two sausage links from Al Fresco's chicken sausage line (sweet italian sausage flavor).  Lastly, I dropped pieces of mozzarella I shaved off a chunk.  Fresh mozz is even better though.  I like using this method, because it saves calories to not cover the entire thing in cheese.  And there you go.  I baked it at 450 degrees on my oiled (organic 365 brand EVOO) Pampered Chef pizza stone for 15 minutes.  Yummers.

 

 The rest of this grouping is just some pictures I have taken on recent bike rides.  Yes, I am finally getting use out of that Specialized Mountain Bike I bought this past summer.  The rails to trails starts right across from my apartment, and I am loving the New England, late Autumn scenery here in New Hampshire.