InstaFriday

Hoppy Easter! We had a busy week. Doing what? I have no clue. The weeks seem to go by so quick lately!

Here's a quick summary of my week in pictures:

 1. I went to a free outdoor Yoglates class at our local Lululemon. It was wonderful to workout outside. We did tons of pushups and I was sore for days... always the sign of a great workout! 2. Don't you love these colors together? They are gift bags from Target that caught my eye. 3. This photo is actually quite coincidental. I was taking a photo of our wine, La Crema pinot noir (it is amazing by the way), and happened to include some corks from  some of our fave Canadian vineyards... Summerhill, Mission Hill, and Gray Monk. Can you spot each? 4. This was a flower one morning in my from yard. I love the vibrant purple.

5. How I keep myself organized when running errands. An orderly list, on a sticky, on my dash! 6. The other day I made a peanut butter and banana quesadilla. What a great combo and so simple to make. You should try it! 7. When it rains, it pours in Baton Rouge. It rained lots this past week but now everything is green and growing even more! It is supposed to be 27C and sunny for the next week! 8. Another SB morning date! We ordered the same thing as last week... why ruin a great thing? I loved my iced coffee!

We have another fun weekend planned of productivity, relaxing at home, and maybe a couple bike rides around the lake! Have a great Easter weekend!

Sewing: lounge chairs brought to life

What do you do when you have chairs that look like this?

These chairs have been through a lot. I purchased them about 5 years ago on sale at Urban Outfitters for $10 each. They have been through many rain storms, a couple snow storms, and the big move. Many outdoor meals and glasses of wine have been enjoyed on these chairs. I like their shape, they are very comfortable, and easy to move so I had to keep them. The faded green was very unpleasant in my mint green and charcoal sunroom but I knew my sewing machine and mad sewing skills could fix that problem.

The covers were easy to remove and measure to know how much fabric I needed. I found the beautiful outdoor striped outdoor canvas at Joanne Fabrics, then waited to use my 50% off coupon and 15% teacher's discount. I was easily able to trace out my pattern, pin everything in place, and put my sewing machine to work! They only took a couple hours to finish once I figured out what I was doing. The arms took a bit more planning as I had to cut off the old arms and find a way to sew on new ones after they were already on the chair. My crafty self figured out a way and sewed the joining seams 5 times over for extra reinforcement.

I decided to change up the direction of the stripes on the second chair for two reasons. First, I thought it would add some interest to basic chairs. Second, they fit on the fabric in the opposite direction which would give me extra fabric. I plan to use my extra fabric to make pillows that will sit on the chairs with the stripes running opposite to their paired chair.

This was probably the simplest reupholstry project ever completed but the result is so much better than what I was looking at last week!

My next craft project is based on this post. I have the window cleaned up and ready to go, I just need some supplies to hang it properly. 

Bodyrock update:

If you check my fitness page you will know I have still been kicking my own butt on a daily basis. Today's workout (50 x high knee skips, 10 x burpees, 10 x squats, 10 x straight abs) x6 was completed in 13:27.4. I also did the second part with reps of 24, 26, and 26 respectively.

These are a few of my...

favorite things!

Can't you just see me prancing around singing to The Sound of Music while I discover wonderful new things on Pinterest? What a great invention... but I have told you that before.

1. I love this tufted ottoman from Sow Kindness . I wish I could have it for my home! 2. I have been loving large clutches lately. I would really like one that fit all of my essentials and my iPad... clearly an essential. 3. I saw this pizza the other day and knew we needed to make it. Caramelized onion, roasted butternut squash and sage. What an amazing combo! I bet you will see a photo soon from my table! 4. You can  never have enough loafers! They go with everything and are soooo comfy! 5. I am half way through MWF seeking BFF and loving it! I am reading it on our iPad. So far it has convinced me I should join a book club... or get a job to find local friends! 6. Ultramarine blue and emerald green... love! Please find your way into my closet. 7. I wish I had a tabletop picnic bar in my backyard. What a great idea! 8. I had a dream last night that I owned this belt. Maybe we were meant to be together.

There are so many amazing finds on Pinterest. Go follow me and find some favorite things of your own!

A recipe to make again

The other day I was looking at the Whole Foods Louisiana Facebook page and discovered a recipe for Peruvian Style Roasted Chicken. I knew we had every ingredient for this recipe except for a bell pepper so I knew we would be making it soon. I also made some changes like adding an extra bell pepper and yellow onion, using boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken, and using apple cider vinegar instead as we did not have any white wine vinegar. We also used lemons from our neighbor's tree. 

It turned out perfectly. So much color! It was full of flavor, moist, and delicious. We served it with roasted sweet potatoes and a slice of bread!

Last night I made pasta salad for dinner. It had whole wheat shells, broccoli, tomatoes, olives and an amazing vinaigrette. It was delicious and disappeared so fast that I did not get a picture. Oops! Bad blogger moment...

Here a sneak peek of what I have been up to:

Chair reupholstery is going well! Actually better that expected so that is nice. I cannot wait to show you the finished product!

Have a great Tuesday!

Mussels

This weekend was filled with some amazing and healthy food. My fave part of the weekend? Eating at the table with our beautiful new table cloth. This weekend featured some Canadian mussels from PEI. Did you  know they are sold at Whole Foods approx 50 hours after they are picked? They are also the best price I have ever seen... even better than Canadian prices (but that is to be expected). I payed $8.99 for 2lbs. They fed us for 3 meals so I would call that a great buy!

Mussels with saffron and tomatoes:

This recipe comes from an amazing cookbook I purchased at Costco called Cooking for Friends by Williams-Sonoma. It was a great investment and has so many ideas. They actually show 4 different recipes for mussels which I think is a great way to add new recipes to your repertoire. I had been wanting mussels all week and this recipe really came through.

Ingredients:

2T EVOO

5 cloves garlic

red pepper flakes, salt, pepper

fresh basil

1 1/2 c canned diced tomatoes

1/2 diced onion

1/2 c dry red wine

saffron threads

2lb mussels

crusty bread

Instructions:

Combine ingredients up to saffron threads in large sautee pan with lid. Let simmer until desired consistency and flavor. You can adjust your spices in your tomato sauce as desired. We are very go with the flow when it comes to tomato sauce and tend to use whatever we can find.

Add mussels, toss to combine, cover and cook on high for 5 minutes until all mussels have opened. 

Transfer to serving bowls with slotted spoon then ladle tomato sauce over mussels. Serve with crusty bread... and maybe some grated cheese... and a salad to add more veggies! Oh and don't forget the red wine!

Of course, we had leftovers so over dinner we decided to make mussel pizza the next day! We used the same tomato sauce, thickened with arrowroot powder, along with thinly sliced roma tomatoes, basil, and peppered goat cheese! I have the best recipe for pizza crust from E's mom... adjusted to include whole wheat flour and chia seeds of course! We also served ours with a salad for some extra veggies.

Pizza crust:

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c white flour

1/4 c chia seeds

1 packet quick yeast

 1/2t salt

1t sugar

1c water (at 120F)

1T oil

Instructions:

Mix together all dry ingredients. Heat water to 120F in microwave, add oil. Combine dry and wet ingredients. Mix in bowl until dough caves away from sides of bowl. Knead of floured surface a couple times. Let rest for 20 minutes to rise. Knead a couple more times then roll out to size of pizza pan (I always use a pre-heated pizza stone for mine). Add toppings. Bake in 350F oven for 15-20 minutes then enjoy!

If you are intimidated by making your own bread, please try this pizza crust recipe! I swear is it fool proof.  If I can make pizza crust from scratch, anyone can! Actually, I think this was my best crust yet. Want to know why? It is very important that you use hot water otherwise it will not activate the yeast and you will have a dense thin crust. You could also use this recipe to make foccacia and just cook it with sea salt and herbs on top!

I also saw a picture of french toast when meal planning on Saturday. I whipped some up using the recipe from The Complete Light Kitchen then made a blackberry sauce quickly on the stove since we do not have syrup. This was a great way to use up some older spelt sourdough we had in the fridge. Never go grocery shopping hungry... this is an easy way to fulfill that rule!

Want any other recipes like my blackberry sauce or salad dressing? Just let me know!

We had an excellent and productive weekend. I even have another recipe for you tomorrow! Yup, I really did cook this weekend.