Leftover Christmas Ham

Did everyone have a great holiday? I sure did! I spent Christmas day with family & friends, and had a great time.

After everyone went home, I was left with a large ham bone, with TONS of delicious meat still left. I knew immediately what I was going to make. Ham and Northern Beans! This recipe also works great with black eyed peas ( great if you keep up with the new year's tradition!)

I hesitate to even call this a recipe, because it's so simple! Simply rinse your beans(I used one pound Great Northern beans). Then add the beans, your ham bone to your crock pot, and cover with water. I added a generous amount of black cracked pepper, and just a tiny bit of  Lawry's seasoned salt. The ham is already pretty salty, so don't overdo it!

See all that meat? YUM!

I put my crock pot on high to start, for the first 3-4 hours, until the beans look like this:

At this point, the beans have almost doubled in size and soaked up a lot of the liquid, but they are still hard. So I turned the heat down to low, and continued cooking them for another 3-4 hours. If I were to cook these on a week day, while I'm at work, I would have put them on low all day, since they would be on for at least 12 hours.


Make sure you test a bean or two, to make sure they are tender, and then dig in!

Normally I will serve some cornbread to go with this meal, but I realized halfway through my bowl that I forgot to make any! I was so eager to dig in, and it was so good, that I barely missed it anyway.

Someone else made out like a king from this meal too:

This whole bone is for me??!

How many shades of beige can there be?

Happy Monday all! I absolutely cannot believe it is two days away from Christmas! I am not prepared at all. And my decorations this year are very lack luster and not at all blog-worthy, which is why you haven't seen them!

Yesterday we were able to go down to the construction office and choose the colors for our house. Very exciting! Although I feel like there was all together too many choices. I was pretty decided on what I wanted for my cabinets(white, shaker style), but the carpet and tile choices were a little more difficult.

I wanted to go with a neutral carpet, and I think I'm pretty happy with what I chose.



Mohawk "Moonrock"

It's a medium toned beige, with a hint of gray. It's so hard to tell from the swatches, but I think it'll look good.

The kitchen and bathrooms floors are going to be a grayish-stone vinyl. We are just going with the basic finishes for now, and we will upgrade things as we go along. Eventually (in a few years), I'm hoping we can upgrade the main living areas with tile.



Below is our countertops. The darker gray is for the kitchen, and the lighter gray is for the bathrooms. I did the same finishes in both bathrooms. Is that weird? There were just too many choices so I just went with what I knew I would like and would look good.

The exterior of our house is again, neutral gray tones(see a pattern? Gray is my color!).

Main body:

SW Jogging Path

Trim:

SW Intellectual Gray

And Front door:(love this color!)

SW Thunder Gray

And here is our lot! They begin construction in just a few weeks, and I'm sure it's just going to fly by!

Exciting News!

I haven't posted in a while, and part of the reason why is this....



We are buying a house!! It's in the process of being built, and should be ready around the month of May! In the meantime, I'm not really doing much in terms of home decorating. I just don't think there is much point, because the layout in our new house will be totally different. So I'm just scheming in my head potential decor ideas. I have a hard time picturing floor plan as real life, and even though I've toured several models, I don't think I'll really know until we are there and living in it. BUT I have been brainstorming paint colors! I plan on keeping my bedroom the same color:

Granite Gray by Glidden

And since I've tied in golden yellow and aqua with my curtains, I'm thinking of continuing that into the master bath with a shade of light aqua, I just haven't found the right one yet.



Decor Pad

 

 House Beautiful

Then the guest bedroom I'm going with a light, neutral gray for the wall color, and that will be the final home of my coral dresser. I also want to add in some deep navy blue, possibly in some pillows or a rug.

Then onto the living room! I'm really leaning towards a pretty light blue for the living room and adjoining dining room and kitchen. We are planning on investing in some new couches sometime after we move, and I really want dark gray fabric, and I think teal and lime will be my accent colors.

Sorry for the shadow on that last photo. It ended up being the one that was most true to the colors, but my head got in the way!

The top left photo is what I want for the walls in the main living area, Glidden's Icy Teal. It's the perfect cool blue/green/gray that I've been looking for. The dark gray is representative of the couch color I want, and then my accent colors. The peacock blue is a lot more "peacock" in real life and less navy looking, although I also like the idea of navy as well.

I will try to get on and post some more here soon, and I have a few new crafts to share with you! Stay tuned!



The power of Target

What is it about target that makes you want to buy everything?

I've had my living room rug for a couple months now, and I just wasn't digging the colors anymore. I wanted something more modern and updated.




Here you see my adorable pooch modeling the colors for me, fuzz from his recently destroyed toy and all.

Sorry for the blurry photo, it's all I have now! I sold it on craigslist. I have been eyeing this rug from target for weeks now:

Maples Fretwork rug in gray

When I saw it was 15% off, I went ahead and sprung for it! After my 15%, I also got another 5% off for using my brand new target debit card! Read about that here if you haven't heard about it! My sister told me about it, and I think it's an awesome idea. It has all the perks of a Target credit card, except the money comes directly out of your checking account. So now I get 5% off everything, and free shipping, and I can't overspend!

After both those discounts and using the money I got from selling the old rug, I came out almost even! I also picked up this adorable soft rug for in front of the door:

I couldn't find it on the website for you, but it was $14.99(before my 5% off) and I just love the color! It's a gorgeous deep teal and adds a nice touch without being overwhelming. It doesn't have any backing thought, and I need to tape the corners down.

I adored these cookie jars, but held off from buying them. I'm trying to cut down the counter clutter because my kitchen isn't the biggest, but look how cute!

Also, have you seen these stickers? They were all over popular Pinterest items in Target.

As if Pinterest isn't addicting enough already, now we've got pins running around in real life!

I also loved these mercury glass dishes:

Then I picked up one of these cute placemats for $3.99:

Then I had to hurry and leave the store before I bought anything else! I think it will make a super cute pillow! I'm either going to cut it open and  stuff the inside(it's lined) OR find a cute contrasting fabric for the back.  Stay tuned!




Crockpot Cheesy Chicken and Rice

Hi all! Today I'm going to share with you an easy and inexpensive crockpot meal!

I love my crockpot. Nothing is better than throwing some ingredients into the slowcooker, and then arriving home from work to a great smelling house and a done or almost done dinner!

I don't even remember exactly where I got this recipe from. A friend of my mom's, I think. It is SO easy and delicious. I will warn you, this does contain "cream of" soups, which admittedly are not the healthiest things to eat, BUT sometimes you just need something easy and quick.

*** EDIT: My sister just updated me that this recipe came from HER friend, Sarah! All I could remember was my mom handing me a tupperware bowl and telling me to try it, and I was hooked as soon as I heard how easy it was! I've made it dozens of times since then, and it's always good.


First you are going to mix one family size cream of chicken soup and two regular sized cheddar soups.

Just dump them in and give it a good stir. I usually add a fair amount of black pepper, but maybe only a pinch of seasoned salt, if any at all. The soups have enough sodium as it is.

Next I added two large chicken breasts, about 3/4-1 pound. These were huge, usually I would use 3.

Just poke them down until they are covered by the soup, and that's it for now! They need about 3-4 on high or 4-6 on low. But it's basically impossible to over cook this. It's not uncommon for it to cook more than 10 hours from start to when we are sitting down to eat.

Once the chicken is done, I just take my spoon or two forks and start shredding the meat. The longer it's cooked, the easier this will be. After 6 hours it just falls apart.

 Next I steam a bag of frozen veggies and mix that in. I like broccoli, but carrots and/or peas are really good too!

The last thing is to cook your rice, which takes about 10 minutes typically. Then get yourself a bowl, load up with rice, and spoon the cheesy goodness on top!

Yum!

If I'm feeling extra indulgent sometimes I'll add some shredded cheddar to the top, but it still has great cheese flavor either way. Enjoy!

Ingredients:                                                                                                Printable Recipe

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 family sized can cream of chicken soup

2 regular cans cheddar cheese soup

12 oz frozen vegetable of choice

4-6 cups brown rice

Black pepper, to taste

Mix together soups, add with chicken to crockpot and cover, cook for 3-4 hours on high or 4-6 hours on low. When chicken is finished cooking, shred the meat, then add the steamed vegetables. Cover and let sit while rice cooks. Serve over brown rice.

Serves 6+

DIY Halloween Costume

This year is the first year in a long time that I've actually dressed up for halloween. We are allowed to wear costumes at my work for halloween, but last year I just wore a lame themed t-shirt, and the year before that I put on a cat ear headband and called it a day.

Well not this year! I actually put together a real costume, and I didn't pay one cent! I am a HUGE fan of The Big Bang Theory, and since my hair is dark right now, I though I'd dress up as one of my favorite characters from the show, Amy Farrah Fowler.



From CBS.com



From Wikipedia

How to make curtains from a duvet cover

WOW! It's been a while since I've posted! Sorry about that folks, I've been busy! However, I've finally finished my bedroom curtains, so that's what I'm going to share with you today.

Since I had decided on my bedroom color, wayyyy before I even actually painted my walls, I started hunting for curtains. Originally I was going to sew them myself(there are a TON of great tutorials out there for curtains), but  all the fabric I liked was super expensive, and I still didn't LOVE any of them. I knew I wanted something with gray and yellow in it, but not too much gray, because the walls and rugs are already gray. I'd been thinking I wanted to tie in another accent color, like aqua, and then I saw this on target.com:

I knew I was set on having an all white comforter for the bed, but I LOVED the colors and patterns in this. I've seen people on pinterest using sheets for curtains(but then I'd still have to put a liner in), and a quick google search found that a duvet cover would work as well!

I sat on the idea for a few days, until I checked back and saw that it was on clearance for $23. SOLD!

Coral Dresser/TV Stand

I've finally got my TV console finished! I'm still waiting for the paint to fully cure(I used latex which can take 30 days to completely harden), which is why there is no TV on the TV console.

Sorry about the shadows... I need to invest in a "real" camera!

The Perfect Shade of Coral!

I realize that in my last post, I said I wouldn't know when I would have time to paint my new dresser/console table for my spare room. However, I was so excited about my find I decided to go ahead and get started! I'm not finished yet, so stay tuned!


Here's a sneak peek of my new favorite color:




Behr "Cool Lava"

 

This is Behr "Cool Lava". I bought a sample because I wanted to make sure it wouldn't be too pink or too orange... and as soon as I painted the first stroke I knew I should have went ahead and bought a quart! It's the perfect coral! I can't wait to get it finished.

Goodwill dresser as a TV stand!

For a while now, our spare bedroom has been basically like a storage unit. Barely any furniture, and odds and ends starting piling up. I'm finally getting around to getting it organized, and my first step was finding something for the TV.

I knew I wanted something like a dresser or large console table, because I like the unique look and I really could use some(hidden!) storage!

I tried for a few weeks to find what I was looking for on Craigslist, but sometimes it's really hard to find what you want, at the price you want, and even just getting people to respond can be a pain! Imagine my delight when I walked into Goodwill and saw this baby:

Shout out to my hubby for dragging this in the house by himself!

Turkey Taco Mac & Cheese!

This is a great, easy weeknight meal that I like to make on nights I don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen, and just want something fast and easy! I won't claim that it's super low in calories, however I do use lean ground turkey, you could use ground beef if you prefer.

Glidden Granite Gray Bedroom Walls!

Well, I finally got my bedroom painted this weekend. Yay! You may remember what it looked like before:

Double Sided Pillow

I made this pillow a few weeks ago, when I made my envelope pillow cover. I just used some leftover fabric, and for the stuffing I cut up an old pillow!

This birdie fabric is leftover from my rast nightstand.

Ramen Noodle Soup

A couple weeks ago I got a craving for ramen. You know, that .10 a pack stuff from most people's college days. But then I got to thinking, there's got to be a better(and healthy) way! We don't really have any Asian restaurants in the area that serve ramen, so I got on google and looked around. After viewing a couple different recipe ideas, I decided to take a stab at it myself!

DIY custom phone case

I'm battling an illness right now, which is why I haven't posted in a few days. Today is just a short post with an idea on how you can have a custom phone case, without a lot of hassle! To start I purchased this clear plastic case on eBay for about $5.00.

Easy Envelope Pillow Cover Tutorial!

I decided this weekend that my bed was looking rather plain. Since it's not really in the budget right now to overhaul all my bedding, I decided I could jazz it up some with some fun pillows. But then, I got a little bit of sticker shock. Have you seen the prices on pretty, decorative pillows? It's a little crazy if you ask me.

ANOTHER upcycled jewelry box!

What is it with me and vintage jewelry boxes? I just can't stay away! I found this one hiding in the back of the thrift store, begging to be saved. Aside from being badly outdated, it was in really good shape, and it has a lot of storage! Here's the before:

Tutorial: Pajama Pants to Scarf!

I love flannel pajama pants. Today I'm going to show you how to give your pants a second life, and turn them into a trendy circle scarf!

DIY Hanging Dish Towel- with Pattern!

I made these towels quite a while ago, when I got frustrated at my kitchen hand towels always ending up on the floor! I made these pre-blogging days, so I don't have a tutorial, but I'd like to share where I got the pattern and my end result! Here is the pattern. I just printed it out and it was super easy to follow! You could use Velcro instead of button holes, but I thought the buttons would be sturdier, and I had my mom to help me out so I chose the button route.

I chose some brown striped dish towels I found on clearance at T.J. Maxx, and my fabric came from Joann Fabrics, children's flannel on sale! I think I *maybe* spent $15 total for all four towels!

I typically only hang two at a time, and switch them out as needed to be washed. I LOVE these! If you try it out, please let me know! 

Hold on to your butts!

You might have noticed my website is a little funky today. I am in the process of changing the blog name and registering my domain, so sit tight! I am learning about building websites and HTML but it's a slow process so just bear with me. Happy thursday everyone!

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

I got a hankering for a chicken pot pie last week. When I was growing up, my mom would make chicken pot pie frequently, and I would tear that pie UP! My mom always made the bisquick biscuit crust, but I decided I wanted to try to make a real, flakey pie crust from scratch. I was nervous about it, because I've never made one before, but I used Ina Garten's crust recipe and it turned out amazing! One substitute however, I used all butter instead of butter/shortening(google said I could!!) and it still came out yummy. I really don't cook with shortening ever, I don't like the trans fats. Also I loosely follwed this recipe for the filling. By loosely I mean I read the recipe and then did whatever I wanted to.

How to: Mason Jar Salads.

So I've really been trying to make an effort to eat better. I do love salads, however it's such a pain trying to keep the lettuce fresh, and having to make up a salad every morning to take to work gets old fast. The first time I saw these mason jar salads on Pinterest, I knew I HAD to try it! Since I first saw this idea, there have been dozens of reincarnations floating around Pinterest. So here is my take!

From Scratch Chicken Noodle Soup!

Does anyone know what day it is???

I love this Commercial..

So to celebrate getting over the "hump", here is the Chicken Noodle Soup recipe I promised!