Tasty Tuesdays: Perfect Asparagus

Is asparagus grown-up food?  I never liked it when I was a kid, but now it's, like, the most delectable vegetable on earth.  It takes three years to grow your own so that it will keep coming back, and we are on year two.  I can't wait to harvest as much as I want for days on end.

In the mean time, this is my favorite way to prepare asparagus.  It goes especially well with Oven-fried Chicken Monterey.

Spring Fever

Is anyone else in complete Spring FEVER mode?

I have been cleaning, scouring, scrubbing, list making, and wanting to tackle little projects here and there that spruce up the rooms.

One project I have been dying to redo is my willows in my bedroom. I mean maybe it is just me, but it seems outdated already!

I like the drama the branches create against the wall. 

But can we say blah!?

I tried to remove them completely but it looked wrong.

So I took them outside with my trusty bff ....

...yep you guessed it,

krylon.

After several coats of spray paint and patiently waiting for these branches to dry ,

(o.k. there really  isn't a patient bone in me when I am creating. I want it done now and quickly. Sooooo maybe they were still tacky when I moved them in...tehe...shhhh...don't tell!) 

, they were ready to display.

MUCH BETTER

Best part....FREE-NINETY-FREE....... 

just re purposed  an old fav to be a new colored fav!

Vinyl as Labels

O.k. I promise for now just ONE MORE vinyl creation.

I am in LOVE with labels.

I obsessively label everything. 

So as you can imagine while my sis-in-law was slaving away for me on her Cricut, of course, I had her cut me a gazillion labels.

But my favs are for my baskets.

BEFORE

 I found some DI wallet sized frames awhile ago for my baskets.

I spray painted them Ivory

 Sanded and scuffed them afterwards.

Found some old scrapbook paper and cut out the paper to be framed.

Then rubbed on my new number labels!

And hot glued the frame to my entertainment center baskets.

AFTER

Linking up to

  Finding Fabulous

More fun with Vinyl

These next  project was a breeze to create!

Once again my lovely sis-in-law cut the vinyl for me.

 INITIAL frame.

I have wanted to make something like this since I first saw something similar on my friends brilliant blog here at Shabby 2 Sweet. 

So I bought an old DI 5x7 frame and spray painted it black!

I then had my sis-in-law design me a fancy shmancy cutout of my hubsters and my initials.

I found some old yellow card stock, cut it down to size, and crinkled it up.

Then using scrapbook ink, I inked up the crinkles to give it an antique feel.
(*You could use the process in the  below post too*)

Next I assembled my frame with the glass and vinyl, and added the paper for the backing. 

And VOILA!

I loved the way she designed our initials so much I had her cut me two.
Now to decide what color frame to do for the next one!

Inexpensive Antiqued Qoute Ideas

1st~ Type up all the poems, quotes, or sayings that you like. (I just printed mine out on regular printer paper, but you could use card stock too)

2nd~ Cut the poem or qoute to the size of the frame you have.

3rd~ Crumple the paper  into a ball and then unfold it, so it is nice and crinkled.

 

4th- Spray stain your poem or quote. 

( I use Design Master spray satin from Roberts. You could use regular stain, although the spray stain drys in seconds. Or even dip your paper in tea to give it a old weathered look. The more crinkled your paper is the better the creases will appear darker.)

 

5th~ Paint your frames the color you want them. (I bought dollar store frames that were ugly and just spray painted them with a high gloss black spray paint.*hint* High gloss makes it not look like spray paint. So my frames cost me $1.00 each. I also found some bigger 5x7 frames at the DI for .75 cents each and spray painted them too!) Sand your frames down a little around the edges if you like that look too!

6th~ Frame your quotes and enjoy!!

Tasty Tuesdays: Best Pizza Dough

I used to think that you couldn't make pizza at home as good as at a pizza joint, but am glad to admit that I was totally wrong.  I think the things that make all the difference are A) cooking on a stone at a very high temperature, B) homemade dough and sauce, C) quality mozzarella (the kind you have to tear into chunks yourself), and D), (if you really want to put it over the top) veggies and herbs from your own garden. . . in fact, if you always use the freshest ingredients possible, you'll be amazed at the taste of your own pizza.

The "deep dish" stone: before

Deep dish: after

This is the yummy "grownup" pizza I
made with tomato, Canadian bacon, and
oregano from our windowsill herbs.
If you want to have meat on your pizza,
Canadian bacon is the healthiest choice.

I love it that my husband doesn't like pineapple
on pizza . . . because that means MORE FOR ME.
I have pizza greed.

I've tried so many different recipes for pizza dough, but I always come back to this one from my friend Jessica: it's the easiest and the yummiest.  I make pizza at least twice a month, and this recipe can't be beat.  Use olive oil and as little flour as possible for a soft crust.  I usually make three thick crusts instead of four regular crusts.

Here are some step-by-step photos I took of the kids' cheese pizza.

Complement this recipe with Best Pizza Sauce (and topping) Ever.

Fabulous Frames

As I have stated in previous posts, I am slightly obsessed with frames.

My new frame obsession is ovals and circles!

LURVE!!

So you can imagine my elation when I stumbled across this wretchedly delightful oval wonder!

What a glorious beaut, don't ya think?

I grabbed my trusty black spray paint and gave it a once over.

My kind sis-in-law (aka-vinyl slave-tehe) cut me a new favorite quote and I rubbed it directly onto the glass.

Then I traced some paper to fit the frame and put it all together!

The only thing I payed for was the frame @ a bargain price of .50 cents! 

Stickety Steal!

I am sure I will  be moving it around the house until I find the perfect spot!