Monday, February 21, 2011

30 Things to Make... While I am 30

Where did the year go!?! 4 Months to go until my 31st birthday ((gasp)). With that being said I need to get cracking on the rest of this list from my post in September .

1. Knit/Crochet Gloves
2. Hat
3. Black & White Cookies
4. Roast whole Chicken or Turkey
5. Baby Blanket
6. Scarf
7. French Onion Soup
8. Apple Pie
9. "Filled Cupcakes"
10. Homemade bread
11. Honeymoon Scrapbook
12. Apron
13. Jack O'lantern
14. Christmas gifts (in jar)
15. Inspiration Board
16. Sangria
17. Ina's Ginger Cookies
18. Pasta Fagioli
19. iPod Case
20. Cake balls/pops
21. Baked Apples
22. Pizza
23. Kabobs
24. Tie Dye Cake
25. Scrapbook paper Artwork
26. Headband / Clip
27. Chicken Soup
28. Banana Bread
29. White Chocolate Blueberries
30. Table runner

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Fashion Remix!

I am setting some year long goals for my self, one of those goals is to be more fashionable. When I worked for Torrid I would dress cute make fun outfits and really show my personality. In the past 3 years working at my current job I have started to loose some of that spunk. I dress business casual for work and then come home to throw on jeans or maybe even PJ's. I usually look better than my boss, so that is a plus. But, being that I don't see many people during my work day, I haven't been making a huge effort besides fixing my hair, basic make up and putting on some slacks and a sweater.

I saw on Mandy's Blog called Life in the Fashion Lane she was doing a challenge from  Kendi Everyday's blog- a Closet Remix. The idea is to use 30 items you already own and not shop for an entire month- just use what you have. I really think I could do that. I think I could force myself into looking better everyday, therefore feeling better too.
KendiEveryday.blogspot.com
Seems like for me the hardest part will making it through this challenge with out shopping and into something for us plus size gals to do. I do not wear skirts or dresses normally, but have a great assortment of dress pants and jeans. I just need to release that inner diva again! I am going to take some time this weekend and figure out some key pieces and work some ideas out. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Kim in the Kitchen

I made my first Chicken Pot Pie with a recipe from The Pioneer Woman . Ree's blog, cookbooks and tweets have made me want to try some of her recipes. Below is the recipe that I used.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 pie box pie crust (Ree made her own, I use store bought)
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1/2 cup finely diced carrot
1/2 cup finely diced celery
2 cups cooked chicken
1/4 cup flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken
splash of white wine (optional)
1 cup heavy cream (I used non fat milk)
Frozen peas (optional) - I used 1/2 can of peas
Fresh thyme, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Melt butter in a skillet or dutch oven. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and cook until translucent (a couple of minutes.)
Add chicken and stir. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour in chicken broth, stirring constantly. Splash in wine (you can leave this out if you’d like.) Pour in cream. (May add frozen peas at this point if you’d like.)
Bring to a slow boil and allow mixture to cook and thicken for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste (do not underseason), and fresh or dried thyme to taste. Do one final taste at the end and add what it needs.
Pour mixture into a casserole dish or deep pie pan.
Roll out crust so that it’s about 1 inch larger than the pan you’re using.
Place the crust on top of the pot pie mixture, and press crust into the sides of the dish. (I used a top and bottom pie crust. I followed the box instructions baking the bottom for 10 minutes before adding the mixture in and covering the pie crust with the top)
Cut vents in the top of the crust.
Bake for 30 minutes or until very golden and bubbly.
Allow to cool for a little bit before serving


This was a great and surprisingly easy meal to make!!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Goals!

What a fast month! Here is how the goals for the month of January worked out:
  1. Read 3 booksI read 5 books! Check out my book blog for reviews at Kimsbookblog614@blogspot.com
  2. Make 4 meals using cook books I have home Fail! Didn't get 4 in but I tried.
  3. Crochet 3 hats 4 baby hats and 2 adult hats made
  4. Gym / work out twice a week Fail. We shoveled a lot of snow this month but no major work outs
  5. Go to Yoga twice this month Nope. 
  6. Find a curtain for the bedroom window Looks Great!!
  7. Eliminate 111 items from our home- donate what we can from them YAY! This helped us de-cluttered and clean the house
Now here we go for February 2011 Goals
  1. Read 3 books
  2. Make 4 meatless meals
  3. Keep to monthly Budget
  4. Print pictures for frames around house
  5. Make 2 crochet projects
  6. Plan something for Mom's Birthday
Hopefully the shortest month of the year will prove to be a good one and maybe less snow!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

111 for 1/11

I am proud to say that we accepted the 111 in 1/11 challenge & totally rocked it! All in all we got donated, removed, gave away, threw out or returned / exchanged over 150 items. I am so glad we participated in this challenge!

 Here are some of the areas I was dying to work on in my house. 1. The pantry 2. Cookbook area 3. Our closet. All 3 areas were over run with items we were dumping because of the lack of organization. After filling in my Husband on my goal, he was in and started to take apart closets and drawers




What a mess! 


The After shot -33 items removed and donated

Organized and eliminated clutter

The items ready for the garbage

I had over 25 headbands! I haven't worn these in years!


Donated an entire set of dishes to a family friend in need