Uncommon Goods

My sister Kristin got us a cheese making kit for Christmas from here. 

Making our own mozzarella cheese? Kinda awesome.

Gourmet Night-I hosted! :)

I thought I'd share a few pictures from the gourmet night last month, which I got to host at our home. It was so fun, there was a great turn-out, and I had the BEST co-host in the world. Jessica, you are a lifesaver. Most of these pics are hers too (thanks for letting me steal use these! ;)

The women all brought amazing dishes! The theme I chose was Apples and Cinnamon, and it turned out DELISH. We had salad with apples, warm braised chicken and apples, a spicy African chicken dish, amazing spiced stuffing, to die for goat cheese, apple and honey tarts, and many more awesome dishes we all got to try. (no pictures of food sadly. We are always too busy eating to think of that! ;)

As a little thank you/party favor I sent the women home with some homemade caramel apples. I dipped them in all sorts of things and they were fun (and messy) to make :) I don't have a picture of the finished product but I wrapped them up with clear cellophane, raffia, and a cute thank you tag.

Jess and I had a ton of fun with the decor as well. We made cinnamon covered candles, apple votive holders, leaf garlands, a leaf chandelier, and pretty fall foliage place settings. 

Can't wait for this month's dinner party! This time someone else gets to host so I just need to find an awesome recipe to try :)

Gratitude wall

It has been slow going for me to accumulate and put up art in our new home since that Van Gogh original I've been eyeing just won't go on sale, so there is a big blank wall in our dining room that was just begging for a little something.  

Welcome Gratitude Wall! 

(and for the record, I am very grateful to have walls to put art on)

For the month of November we want to fill this wall with many of the things we are thankful for, and have our friends do the same when they come over.

I just keep the little die-cuts out with a pen and painters tape. Voilà! Instant "art" for our wall and a wonderful reminder of the many things we have to be grateful for. I think even when we get art up we will make this a tradition :)

Obsessed? Really Rach?

The other day at church I saw a girl who came back from summer vacation looking very much more pregnant than when she left (much more? Sounds good). Her and a friend of mine who is also pregnant (True fact: About 95% of the women in our ward are currently pregnant/just had a baby.) were chatting it up when I came up and bombarded them with a,

"HI! Welcome back, you look cute! I am obsessed with pregnant people!" (that's really what I said. I know.)

She was sweet and gave me a polite smile and then started backing away slowly.

"No wait, I'm not going to steal your baby or anything! Wait!"

So the truth's out. Except maybe I should re-phrase it to "the miracle of birth" instead of "people". Because being obsessed with people freaks them out a tad. My neighbor upstairs is also currently pregnant so she has to deal with my love of baby bumps on a daily basis. Poor girl. But she's awesome and puts up with my personal pregnancy questions, and me talking and singing to her belly and such. Today's the day she and her husband find out if they are having a boy or girl (my guess: boy). In keeping with my obsession I made them this for when they get home:

Just got to fill in the blanks when they tell me haha :D Oh and that extra square is for an !, because it's gonna be a boy.

So my obsession may be a little odd but really, when you think about it, pregnancy/birth is amazing so I'm rolling with it.

Oh, and as to whether I am pregnant.... WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO KNOW!

no. I just like when other people are :)

I now present to you....

Canned Peaches! :)
Locally grown in MA and canned by yours truly, and the ever talented Jessica.

Do I feel like a bit of a domestic goddess? You bet I do.

Restaurant Week: Salazar Style

Restaurant week has been going on in Boston. It is on our Bucket List and I have been dying to go try some of the amazing restaurants here in Boston. As anyone who has spent any amount of time with us knows, we love food! However Job and I both agreed that we could skip it this year to save some money. But that didn't mean we had to go without good food! I decided to create a few fun 3 course meals for us to eat at home, using only ingredients we already had. It was a fun challenge and we got to enjoy some yummy meals together. I even busted out the candles ;)

Here's the lowdown on our menus. I didn't take pictures (gasp) because I decided to just sit back and enjoy the meal rather than stress about that. So go make some fancy food and share it with someone. They will looovvvee you {more}.

Night One

Starter

Spinach and spring greens salad with a homemade lemon and agave vinaigrette topped with herb feta

Main

Slow cooked pork loin with mango sauce

Buttered leeks

Sweet potato medallions

Desert

Chocolate swirled banana bread

Night Two

Starter

Steamed artichoke with homemade chipotle aioli

Main

Lentil bolognese over spaghetti rigati (vegetarian)

Fresh Parmesan bread sticks

Desert

Strawberry basil soup shot, garnished with whipped cream and fresh mint

Night Three

Pizza ;)

Re: Tid-bits for today

In response to yesterday's post

• STILL rocking the bounty quicker picker uppers.
• I brought my friend chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, curried carrot soup, and spice pecan cookies. Hope she liked it! (And her baby was adorable!!)
• Job has had that "I have a little surprise" look on his face lately. (he uses that face a lot. I like it.) I am pretty sure that means he hasn't forgotten about my birthday ;)
• The No Knead Bread turned out sooo good!! Seriously, you cannot mess this bread up. It turned out fragrant, crispy on the outside, chewy and soft on the inside. Mmmm....I advise you to make some. Right now.
• New plan on the computer-buy a hardrive and some software "stuff" to fix up a computer that our other friends gave us. Seriously, we have amazing friends.
• These girls are also extremely cute. And I sure as heck love them too. 

My sister Eliza and my sister Kathleen....psych! That's my mom! I know, she's hot. (Trip the Boston Temple, May 2011)

Tid-bits for today

• I am reduced to using paper towels for loo roll today since Job took the car and I don't want to walk 3 miles carrying a big ol' thing of toilet paper. But maybe that's just because I'm lazy 
• I am bringing dinner to a friend who just had her baby. What do women who just had a baby like to eat?!
• I am realizing that my birthday is one day before Job's concert, so he will probably be very busy. Oh well, new plan! ;) (my old plan was to do a whole day of service in different places. 21 acts of service for each year of my life. I will probably just spread my service out over a few days instead because I am too selfish to do all that service alone without Job ;) 
• I am currently trying to make the New York Times recipe for No Knead Bread. I'll let you know how it turns out :) I put garlic and rosemary in mine and it is smelling so good!   
• We haven't gotten a new computer yet. We have been taking advantage of some wonderful friend's kindness as they let us use an extra laptop they have. We decided rent was probably more important to spend money on than a new computer. Darn my practical side.  
• Aren't these silly girls just adorable :) Love them.

Enjoying some hot New England Clam Chowder. Melia and Maren, May 2011

Record Bowl

(my titles must be either a) the most uncreative in blogdom, or b) the most honest because I just say it like it is)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
In an effort to "accessorize" this bookshelf in our living room:

 (I know, it has got a long way to go, don't judge ;)

I made us a record bowl.

Not an original idea of course. I first saw my roommate Mallory doing this (back in the college days, oh-so-long ago ;), and I know that it has been done for decades before. Not everyone's style surely, but I kinda like it a lot because it is:
a) quirky and unique because no homemade record bowl is exactly alike
b) vintage-y because the record was from the 50's and
c) is dirt cheap to make and utilizes reuse/reduce/recycling which I like to do (wait, that was like c and d. I'm an over achiever.)

I love "oldies" and has my eye on a Garfunkel record but decided to go with classical which I knew Job would appreciated too :) So there it sits on our bookshelf. Not bad for $1 and 5 minutes of my time :)

You can find tutorials on how to make these all over the web. Here's one :)

bark.

I can be crafty. If it try reeaallly hard!! :)

The other night we had a Relief Society activity where a lady from the ward came and taught us how to make different fabric flowers. Mine were less than anthropologie worthy, but turned out ok and I will sure as shootin' wear them proudly ;)
After that evening I came home with some extra scraps and looked up a new way to do flowers. Here is what I came up with to add some color to my Easter outfit:

While I was attempting to artfully capture my beautiful bloom Job looked over and confusedly asked me:
Why are you taking pictures of your boob?
Go figure that is what he notices and not the cute flower I slaved away to make ;)

Easter Recap

Easter is such a beautiful holiday! With Spring in full force the weather was just perfect for the reason for the holiday-Christ and his Atonement and Resurrection for each of us. Job and I really tried to focus on Him this year and as such we had a wonderful Easter weekend. We did sneak some worldly fun in there as well ;) I wanted to start a few traditions with our little family of two.

Good Friday we went to see the BSO and Tanglewood choir perform Bach's Saint John Passion which is a piece about the crucifixion of Christ. It is traditionally performed on Good Friday so it was the perfect day to go. It was a beautiful concert! It made me so grateful for what Christ did for me, and excited to celebrate his resurrection on Sunday.

Saturday I went to the temple while Job did some school duties. After that we met up to take a friend out to the Natick mall and surrounding stores. We definitely stopped to eat Five Guys before shopping. Couldn't resist ;) Of course it was several dollars more expensive than it is in UT/ID, and no free fries, but I think I am getting used to the whole everything-is-more-expensive-here thing. It's life. And this place is so great that other things make up for it ;)

 When we got home I went into Easter bunny mode. I would have liked to do our secular celebrations (eggs, bunnies, chocolate etc.) on Saturday so as to not take away from Sunday's celebrations, but I was not organized enough to get things ready on Friday. So I dyed eggs and made our Easter baskets Saturday night. We hid each others so we could both have some fun in the morning.

Sunday morning we turned on Music and the Spoken Word (mormon tabernacle choir performance) and some Mormon Messages to help bring the spirit. We also searched for and found our little easter baskets, and I took my eggs out of their onion skin dye (yum! ;).

Church was excellent. I always feel so refreshed after attending church! Which is quite amazing considering it is usually a 4-5 hours block for us with meetings, choir practice, church classes etc. But I really do come home feeling so good each week. Job played his violin along with a mens quartet and a cello. They performed "This is the Christ" and it turned out really well.

Job made fish tacos and spinach soup for dinner, and then I made some strawberry shortcake for desert. Que rico!! (Dear posterity, What we ate for dinner is very important information to us. Just in case you couldn't already tell)

I now interrupt this normal programming to bombard you with a mass of pictures:

At the Symphony. Hello random head.

My onion skin dye. Appetizing, I know.

I made some little treats for a few friends. Little rice crispy treat "nests" with M&M "eggs". I also included a quote and scripture about Easter. Pretty cute if I do say so ;)

I like how these turned out. Soft and natural. I want to try more natural dyes next year.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Tuna and Chickpea Salad + plus a cute Job quote :)

This salad is great with some baked wheat tortilla chips, wrapped in a fresh pita, or just on its own! Super quick, easy, healthy and inexpensive.
I told Job we were having chickpeas for lunch and he said,

I get why they are called chickpeas. Because once the outside layer is gone they do look like little cheeks :) (he thought they were called cheekpeas hehe. I could just die, that man is so cute :)

Anyways, here 'tis for your eating pleasure:

Tuna and Chickpea Salad

• 1 (5 ounce) can tuna, drained
• 1 (16 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
• 1 (2.25 ounce) can black olives, chopped (optional. Job doesn't like 'em but I do)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• lemon, juiced
• 1/4 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese, or more to taste
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Stir the tuna, chickpeas, olives, parsley, red onion, lemon juice, and feta cheese together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Forgive the messy bowl. Any food blogger would be horrified ;) But this is really is just a "throw and go" recipe which I like.

How we do handsoap in an apartment with one slightly obsessive hand washer

That obsessive hand washer would be me, Rachael. We go through about a bottle a week just in the bathroom so it was getting pricey. 

This may seem silly to even write this because it is super simple but, to save money we bought a dial foaming handwash ($4, or you can buy a less expensive Bath and Body Works one for $1-$2 on sale), and a very large bottle of regular handsoap ($4). We then make our own foaming soap by putting a small amount (maybe 1/2 inch or so, or a few good squeezes from the big bottle of soap) of soap into the foam dispenser and filling the rest with water. That's all foam soap is anyways. So instead of spending $4/week (or even $1 for the cheaper non foaming soap) we spend mere cents each time we fill up the bottle. 

That I can do. The one big bottle of hand soap has lasted us months and we still have quite a bit left. And the foaming bottle was a one time investment so basically we will just spend $4 every 6 months for hand soap in the bathroom. 

Now I can wash my hands to my hearts content!

Green Machine

I am thinking green might be my new favorite color. But then I feel like I am being a traitor to blue which has been stalwart pretty much my whole (albeit short) life! And what about pink, I have loved that one for a long time too! What will they think if I just suddenly start saying my favorite is GREEN?! Am I the only one who feels they must stay loyal to colors, of all things?! I mean, I don't really think "blue" would mind. Maybe if I break the news to blue in a nice way.....

I need more friends.

Anyways, speaking of Green, feast your eyes. And your bellies because you should make some.

When Job saw what I was putting in it he just said, "Sorry hun, I love you, but I am not eating that." He was serious!! I was shocked! I pleaded, puppy eyed, "demanded" etc... but he was pretty firm. But finally after I drank mine and mentioned how delish it was he sipped it. And LIKED it! ha!

Kale Apple Smoothie

Serves 1| Hands-On Time: 05m | Total Time: 05m

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup chopped kale, ribs and thick stems removed
• 1 small stalk celery, chopped (go easy on the celery, it can get too strong)
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup ice
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• (I also added flax seeds the next time I made it for an extra boost of nutrients)

Directions

1. Place the kale, celery, banana, apple juice, ice, and lemon juice in a blender.
2. Blend until smooth and frothy.

(From Real Simple)

Don't let that gorgeous green color scare you. It is gooood! :)

For Health and Strength and Daily Food

I'm baaacckkk! Did you miss me? What? You didn't even notice I was gone?! oh, ok yeah...I guess it wasn't that long....

My very short absence from blogging has made me want to get right back in and post some catch ups today. Because babbling here does this girl some good.

First off: Check out the good start to our new way of eating (Basically just more fruits and veg, less meat, more whole grains, more natural, less processed, more whole foods etc. Basically the Word of Wisdom! :) More on our little "diet" later...if I remember that is.)

I checked out this book from the library and liked a lot of the recipes and ideas. So we are trying to implement some of them into our eating habits.

(source)

Job made roasted red pepper hummus, I blanched some veggies, and we used up some whole wheat crackers we had laying around. Super good!

I bought whole wheat flour to bake and cook with this time instead of white. I obviously need practice with making whole wheat bread as this loaf was too dense, but it tasted yummy and was nice and hearty :)

Anyone have some great healthy recipes they want to share with moi? Or just great whole foods we should try? I am wanting to try quinoa and see how we like it. Do share people, I love new ideas! :)

Baked Black Bean Taquitos-Easy Peasy!

These taquitos are easy to make, healthy, and delicious! We liked them so much after I first made them that we had them two more times within the same week and a half ;) Enjoy!

Baked Black Bean Taquitos

Adapted from: Naturally Ella who adapted it from a Whole Foods recipe :) Keepin' the love going.

Servings: 6-8 Taquitos

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium yellow onion finely diced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 small jalapeno de-seeded and finely diced
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 cup black beans drained and rinsed if using from a can
• 1/4-1/3 cup cilantro
• 6-8 white or yellow corn tortillas
• 1/2 cup Colby Jack, mozzarella, queso fresco, or Oaxaca cheese (i.e. whatever kind you like ;)
• Oil for brushing

Directions

• Pre-heat oven to 425˚ and bring a medium/large pot of water to a simmer.
• In a pan, heat oil over medium heat.  Saute onion and pepper until onion becomes translucent.  Stir in garlic, cumin, paprika, salt, and continue to cook for 1-2 more minutes.  Add in black beans and cilantro, cooking until beans are heated through- two to three minutes more.
• Turn off pot of water.  Taking one corn tortilla at a time, dip in hot water for 3-4 seconds.  Place on a cutting board and scoop one spoonful of black bean filling and a hefty pinch of cheese on top.  Roll tight and place seam side down on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.  Repeat until all the filling is used.  Brush each piece with oil.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes until the corn tortilla is a light brown color.  Dip in salsa, guacamole, or sour cream.

Deeelish!!!

We like to eat taquitos whilst playing games :) These are actually chipotle beef taquitos but hey, it's the only picture I had ;) These are divine too. I'll have to share the recipe later....
P.S. Don't worry, we are working on Job's shuffling skills

Making a house a home (or an apartment a more homey apartment)

I have worked on a couple of projects lately for our apartment. Getting things up on the walls really helps our blank white walls feel warmer and gives our apartment feel more like home. My friend Jessica and I got together one day to whip a bunch of stuff out (hers definitely more impressive than mine ;) She was so nice to let me use her home to craft. It is a much better crafting home than mine :)
Here are a few things I have done recently:

This bees and flowers country beauty

+
This ugly blank wall in my kitchen

+ some black spray paint and hooks 

=

Much better ;)

Here is another one:

I found this big canvas at a thrift store, but it was looking pretty sad.

I took off the fabric and found that someone had done an art project.

I primed over said art project

Washed and ironed the fabric and re-stretched it over the canvas. I would like to get new fabric eventually but for now it fills the space above our little love seat. (forgive the horrible pic. I had to snap it really quickly because somebody's husband was getting impatient and wanting to lay down on the couch ;) Oh and P.S. Ikea pillows, stop getting all wrinkly whenever we look at you! Thanks.

I found these frames for a couple bucks each. The other one had a "lovely" little picture of cats in it. 

I wanted something a bit more fun and "us" so I found some Kate Spade book covers that I printed off and put in the frames instead. So they are colleges of a bunch of colorful books. Quirky and fun, I like them :) Still not sure if they will be a permanent fixture, but for now they work :)

I've got this whole "design on a dime" thing going and it has been fun :)

Linked to: Thrifty Decor Chick Linky Party
and 

I now have pineapple preserves in my refrigerator

Happy Empanada Maker

Happy Empanada Eater

That's all :)

Homemade Glass Cleaner

Wanna see my bathroom mirror?

Of course you do!! ;)

See how pretty and shiny and clean it is? :)

Wanna know HOW I got it so clean and shiny? (don't answer that, probably most of you don't care ;)

Well I'll tell ya anyways.

Add two drops (yes drops) of dishwashing soap to a spray bottle of water.

Spray and wipe people. It works. No steaks, no nothin'.
And it is pretty much free.
And is pretty darn natural considering it is mostly just water and the amount of soap in it is teeny. I could drink it and be fine :) (but I don't recommend drinking it...)
I was skeptical at first but I tried it and really like it now. 

Oh and I didn't have Joy brand soap which is what the recipe called for. So I just used whatever I had and it worked-Dawn or whatever. So probably any nice liquid dish soap will work.

Here is the official recipe:

4 C water

2 drops Joy brand concentrated dish detergent (I can't promise any other brand will work. But for $1.12 you have a life time's worth of glass cleaner.)

1 drop blue food coloring (otpional)

Combine in a 32 oz spray bottle and shake to combine. Use as you would any glass cleaner. 

 
(from http://groceryshrink.com/) 

No more smelly, chemically glass cleaner for me! :) 

Linked to: iheartnaptime

Homemade Laundry Soap

I am finally getting this recipe up! Job and I really love it. It is "green", saves us lots of moola, makes our clothes feel and smell good. What's not to love?! :) This post is long, but I promise this is easy peasy to make. And once you make it a batch lasts a good long time. Enjoy!

Homemade Laundry Soap

1 bar soap such as lirio or zote. They are both laundry soaps and we have tried them with great results. (I have also heard ivory soap, Kirk's Castile soap, or Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap will work well. I've heard any vegetable-based bar of soap will work but I have only tried lirio and zote so can't say for sure)
1 cup Borax
1 cup Superwashing soda (found in laundry aisle of store)
5 Gallons water (or less if you want more concentrated soap) *Update, we found it was a bit too thick using 2 1/2 gallons. I would stick to the full 5.

 1. Grate the bar of soap into a bowl. Fill a small pot with water and heat on stove over medium-high heat. Slowly add the grated soap and stir gently over heat until it is completely melted.
Note: Try not to let the water get to a high boil, this will make the soap too foamy. Adjust heat higher or lower during melting as needed.
2. Fill a large container with the 5 gallons of water, making sure there is enough room for the other ingredients.
3. Add borax and superwashing soda and stir gently*
4. Add melted soap and stir gently without making too much foam.
5. Let the mixture cool off completely (we let it sit overnight). Once it is cooled it will be gelatinous and a think layer on top will have formed. Mix it very well once again before dividing into containers for use (we use old laundry detergent bottles, softener bottles, very clean milk jugs etc...). The soap will be a little lumpy, goopy and gel-like as your pour it out of your bottles for use. This is normal. Just give it a little shake before pouring out.


----For a medium load of laundry use 1/2 cup
----For a large load of laundry use 1 cup
----Adjust amount of soap used if less water was used in the recipe. This time we used half the water so halved the amounts of soap we used.

*We really like to add 1 cup of liquid fabric softener such as Suavitel during step 3. We think this makes the soap smell even better, makes our clothes feel comfy cozy, and saves us a step during laundry time :) But if you actually follow directions and add the softener half-way through the laundry cycle instead of dumping it all in at once like we do, feel free to leave it out ;)


1. Grate your bar of soap

 2. Melt your soap

 3. Add super washing soda

 and Borax to water (and softener if you wish)

and stir.

 4. Add melted soap to mixture and slowly stir in.

5. Let sit overnight to cool and "harden"
It will be really goopy and chunky in the morning. Give it a good stir

 And it will become more liquidy

 Funnel the soap into your containers.

 And enjoy your eco-friendly, super inexpensive, lovely smelling, and super effective laundry soap!

I linked this up to the iheartnaptime  linky party and