Project Post 8: Kitchen Buffet & Hutch

In my opinion, the best kind of furniture is free furniture, but next to that, the best furniture is a piece that comes from family. This piece of furniture has both of those characteristics.

I mentioned before that my kitchen island was the first piece of furniture I bought for our house, and I pretty much planned our kitchen around it, even down to staining the cabinets to match the wood top of the island. After we had the island and cabinets, I sought and found our table and chairs on Craigslist. I needed a quick-fix, and found it pretty fast - the table is a great basic black rectangular table (exactly what I wanted for the space) and the chairs are just ok (never have been crazy about them - might eventually switch them out), but they also match the island/cabinets and you won't find a set of 8 chairs 7 chairs very often (it was 8, but my dear husband {I love you} neglected to fix one until it finally broke after being used multiple times without all its supports).

{Kitchen table - this is from last week when our dishwasher was out, hence the paper plates}

All of these pieces I had in storage before we moved (thanks Dad!), and shortly after we moved in, my Aunt Karen told me she had a buffet in her barn if I wanted it (I planned on a tall piece for the blank kitchen wall). SCORE! She even delivered it.

I knew I would paint the piece even though there was nothing wrong with the wood - it was in great condition. My grandma really hates when someone paints over perfectly good stained furniture. I agree with that, to an extent. But the reason I decided to paint it was because the shape of the piece in conjunction with the color of the stain really made it dated - and not in a good way, so it needed at least one element to make it semi-modern. At least in my head it did, and I'm no expert, but it is my house!

I painted it black to match the table and island, and to have 3 "matching" pieces in the kitchen. Our living, kitchen, and dining area is one large room, and I like having the "matching" pieces in the kitchen to define the area and to just keep it cohesive and not have too much going on since it is all one room. That's a lot of words just to describe one piece of furniture (well, actually it's two pieces, but who's counting?), so without further ado, I will be quiet and share some pictures.

{Hutch before}

{Buffet before}

{in progress}

{in progress}

{Don't worry - I dusted under the buffet after I saw this}

{Again, don't worry - I dusted!}

Guest Post: S to the 3rd Power {Otherwise known as Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti}

Happy Monday! Please allow me to introduce today's guest writer, the fabulous Chelsea. Hopefully, she'll want to come back and visit from time to time! Today she is going to share one of her favorite recipes with you.
-Leslie

{Sorry Chels, I just had to add a "nice-to-meet-you" picture}

As a kid, I remember going to Aunt Lisa's bootcamp or just passing through to visit, and hearing Aunt Lisa say, "I'll put on some spaghetti for dinner." And then thinking, "Yuuuuum." Maybe I should back up a bit and introduce myself.


My name is Chelsea, Les's cousin (making Aunt Lisa Les's momma). I am a 20-something aspiring shop girl who in the midst of trying to finish college also lives the life of a fashionista, chef, blogger, daughter, & friend. (Yes, that is my twitter profile, feel free to follow). Les asked me to guest post for her awhile ago and I've been conjuring up some good ideas for a post, wanting to make a good first impression to all you fine folks. So, here goes nothin'!


I love cooking. I love pasta. I also love my skinny jeans, therefore, pasta is few and far between for these lips. However, I stumbled across this recipe, put a few spins on it, and when I feel the pasta urge, I whip up this quick and easy meal. Let me introduce you to my new favorite food steal!

 

Step 1: Brown 1 lbs of ground beef with a generous sprinkling of onion flakes, oregano, garlic powder, and a dash of salt/pepper. I've found that if you season your meat really well according to the type of food you're cooking then it accents very nicely and adds a blast of flavor!

 While you're browning your meat, go ahead and put a small-medium spaghetti squash in a microwave safe bowl in for about 9-10 minutes. This softens the squash for easy prep work. 

 This is Lady, my mini-dachshund. She's my side-kick. Sorry, I couldn't help but snap a shot of her watching me cook. :)

 Step 3: Back to the meat, after you've completely browned your meat, drain off the excess liquid, and return back to skillet. This is where you can adjust to your preferences. Usually, I make my own marinara sauce but I was missing one ingredient so I had to settle for the packet mix. If that's your forte, go with the directions on the back. However, if you like to be adventurous, try this easy yummy marinara recipe:

Mince 3 cloves fresh garlic

Saute with 2 TBSP butter

Add 15oz can of crushed tomatoes

Add a generous sprinkling of oregano, garlic salt, and black pepper

Simmer til bubbles appear

Lower heat and add 1/4 heavy cream

Stir and let simmer for 10 minutes

Finely chop basil and top sauce before serving

 Sidenote: I also added diced zucchini into the sauce--I am obsessed with zucchini. I make a mean zucchini lasagna may have to share with you all sometime.

 Step 5: So I forgot to take a picture of how I got to here with the spaghetti squash, but it's so easy, y'all. All you do is grab the squash (may want to stick on an oven mitt, the squash will be hot), cut it right down the middle, scoop out the mushy in the middle with a fork and then start running your fork along the inside of the squash and spaghetti like noodles will fall out. I usually do this over the skillet so I don't dirty another bowl. 

Once it's all scooped out, spray non-stick cooking spray over the squash and season with salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic salt. Toss around til soften. 

 And viola! Yummy, healthy, and delicious Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti! 

Leslie, you should feel special. The only way I got Tucker (my brother and Leslie's cousin) to pose for this was by telling him it was for your blog. He was a good sport...

As you can tell, this meal gets a thumbs-up!

*this meal is meant for 2-3 people, adjust quantities according to dinner party size.

Vacation on the Horizon!

Soon, and I won't say exactly when on the world wide web (creepers!), we are going on a little mountain/lake getaway with some family. There will be lots of relaxing, four-wheeling, movie watching, hiking, picture-taking, game-playing, sweatpants-wearing, and cooking/grilling/marshmallow-roasting (if they lift the burn-ban) going on.

These glorious activities will be taking place here:



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Weekend Fun

{ Fun at the fair }

Last weekend and this weekend have both been packed full of lots of family and lots of fun. I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready for things to slow down a little bit. We have a certain little boy's first birthday to celebrate before there is even a chance of that happening! Here's a little of what we've been up to:

Spending last Friday night at the State Fair with Tyler's parents, running 5k at the track with my dad (me), celebrating September birthdays with my mom's side of the family, putting siding on our almost-completed shop building in the backyard (Tyler), church, smoked chicken Sunday family dinner, Friday night family dinner at my grandparents' house, running a Hospice 5k race with my dad (me), watching my cousin's soccer game, play date with my sister and her favorite 1-yr-old, a trip to Nanny's, to be finished up tomorrow with church and probably some kind of family dinner at some point. Whew!

{ Grandad, BonBon, & Levi }

{ Someone loved the fair petting zoo! }

{ Happy birthday! }

{ Cutest soccer watchers ever }

{ Les, Levi, Hunter, Allie }

{ Ready to race }

Project Post 7 - Grapevine Address Wreath

If you've ever browsed Pinterest, chances are you've seen one of these wreaths. Here is a refresher (if you've seen them) or an introduction (if you haven't):

{Seen here, originally here}

 

{seen here, originally here}



{seen here, originally here}

Well, I made my version of it yesterday. Don't judge it too harshly, because I used materials I already had, minus the numbers. The numbers are those Hobby Lobby cardboard numbers, spray painted antique white. It was a fun little 15 minute project (I painted the numbers weeks ago, after I bought them), that didn't turn out too shabby. It's very simple - nothing special - but adds a little touch of fall and replaces the summery wreath I had up before.

Bubble Relaunch!

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Several seasons ago (maybe sometime in 2007?), J. Crew released the Bubble Necklace with their fall collection. The Bubble Necklace is a beautiful piece of art made of 18K gold electroplated brass with hand-set resin cabochons and beads. It was wildly popular, and they kept it around for a few seasons and offered it in several different colors. Since then, they discontinued the necklace and for the last several years, you could walk into almost any mainstream clothing or department store and see cheaper, colorful, not-so-great copies of the Bubble, and the necklace has continually been wildly circulated on eBay (and still is - just search "jcrew bubble necklace"). Most stores who copied the necklace added a few beads, or made the shape a little different, but H&M came right out and copied it exactly (minus the high-quality products J. Crew uses) as seen in the picture below. 


Well, good news to all of you who have lusted after the necklace for years (me), IT'S BACK! And it's offered this season in two of the best colors ever, Black and Modern Red (and good news - Christmas is less than three months away). I will leave you with some eye candy:

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{H&M's copy of the Bubble necklace - almost exact, but made with cheaper materials. VIA}



Easy Chicken Alfredo

This recipe is a great one! The alfredo sauce is a little bit "lighter" than your traditional sauce, so you can eat it a little more guilt-free. This is definitely a staple at our house. I normally use penne pasta (you can use any type you like), but this time I used tri-colored bowtie pasta (to be a little bit fancy for you fine folks).

Ingredients:
1 lb. pasta (penne or bowtie probably works best), cooked to package instructions
1 stick (1/2 C) butter
1 pint half and half
6 oz shredded parmesan cheese
Garlic salt (or powder, to cut down on sodium)
Parsley flakes
cooked chicken, shredded*

Instructions:
Prepare pasta according to package instructions
In a large skillet, melt butter. Add half and half slowly, stirring it in (I use a whisk). Bring it to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add parmesan cheese. Stir until cheese begins to melt and blend with the sauce. Remove from heat. Add a little garlic salt (to taste) and parsley flakes (for garnish mainly). Add pasta and chicken. Serve immediately.

*I usually used 3 small/medium grilled chicken breasts (and sometimes add grilled shrimp), and shred them up and add them. Occasionally to save time, I'll buy a rotisserie chicken and use the meat from it, which is what I did this time.