52 Fridays: 21/52 - Eyes.

We took a day and went park hopping on Monday. My husband took off work this week, and he's out of school for a few short weeks until summer school starts. So, we're on "staycation" and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. This goose was such a ham! I loved the blade of grass hanging out of his mouth. He's cool. 

Sorry to be so short this week, but we are in the middle of making over our bedroom, and let me tell you it's going to be fabulous! I'm so excited. I just love how light an airy the room is starting to feel. Can't wait to show you all when it's finished. If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen a sneak peek.

Without further ado, take a stroll over to Renee's blog, and see the wonderful photo she has for us this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Huevos Rancheros Verdes - 52 Fridays project

Our theme this week comes from my favorite place, in the kitchen. 

This is one of my all time favorite recipes. It's a great week-night recipe that is fresh, satisfying, and delicious.

Here is what you'll need:
2 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce
1 scallion, green & white parts, sliced
4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
3 teaspoons olive oil
juice of ½ a lime
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 15-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
7 oz can salsa verde
8 6-inch corn tortillas
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 400°.

In a bowl, combine lettuce, scallion, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper.

Rinse the beans.

In a separate bowl, mix together the beans and salsa verde.

Lay tortillas, in pairs, overlapping by about 3 inches, on a baking sheet lined with non-stick foil.

Layer bean mixture, and 1/4 cup cheese on each pair of tortillas. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

While these are baking, fry the four eggs. I like mine sunny side up for this dish, but cook them however you like. When the cheese is melted, remove tortillas from the oven and top each one with a fried egg.
Garnish each serving with the lettuce mixture.

I serve it the same way every time, with brown rice, sliced avocado, tangy tomatoes, and lime wedges from the other half of the lime I didn't juice.

I hope you will give this recipe a try, and come back to let me know how you liked it!
(click here for a printable recipe)

Please take a minute to visit Kathy's blog and see what's happening in her kitchen this week.

Cookie Covered Ice Cream Balls

These are so simple, I almost didn't even post it.

 But, we like simple, right?

One of my favorite ice cream flavors is Cookies and Cream.
Well, we don't always get that flavor, occasionally I do have to compromise with my husband.
However, I can always have some kind of cookies and cream with this method. 

Pick out a pint of ice cream, and a cookie that will compliment your flavor.

Smash the cookies - not to powder, but good and crushed.

Can you spot my reflection? Hi. Okay, scoop out one scoop of ice cream. 

 Roll it around in the cookies, pressing them in a bit as you roll. Make sure it's covered really good.

At this point, set them on a wax paper lined baking sheet and keep them in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, or longer. You can make them quite a bit ahead of time.

Garnish however you like.

Can you imagine the flavor combination possibilities?

Mint Chocolate Chip with Grasshopper cookies

Cookie Dough with chocolate chip cookies

Peanut Butter & Chocolate with Nutter Butters
Vanilla with vanilla Oreos
Cookies and cream with Oreos

Strawberry with shortbread cookies

I just had to post this pull-back. Cooper was practicing his self control while I was photographing these for you. He wanted some so badly. It made me think, you can actually make a dog friendly version as well. They sell doggie ice cream, and doggie cookies, so why not? I'll make him one soon. 

But, he was so funny, and hopeful.

52 Fridays: 19/52 - Maternal.

I'm not going to go into all the details as to why this theme tested me, and I came really close to sitting out this week. I will just tell you that I have yet to get that motherly feeling. This might rock your world, 

but I've never thought, I want a baby.

Maybe it will come to me, maybe it won't. I don't know, and I'm not worried about it.

Me and motherhood: I just can't see it.

Either he adores me, or he is over this photo shoot.

 

Aww, hugs. 


 By now you are a pro at following the circle, so please continue on to Cris Stephens blog,
 and enjoy her take on this week's theme.  

52 Fridays: 18/52 - Opposites.

The word opposite is pretty straightforward. So, can you believe it was rather difficult for me to come up with something for this theme? On second thought, don't answer that. 

Make sure you visit Jackie's blog today, and see what she came up with for opposites. Jackie is a fantastic photographer, and always has a great perspective on our themes!

My new craft table.

 

We don't have a lot of room in this two bedroom apartment. One bedroom is, well, our bedroom. And the other one is the office. That doesn't leave much room to make a mess when it comes to sewing or crafting of any sort. I had a decorative accent table in the office, which I had my sewing machine on for a few days; also tried to assemble a wreath on it once, didn't work out too well. It wasn't made for that.

So, we moved it into the entryway to make room for a craft table in the office. It's kind of tricky in here due to where the internet hook up is located and all that technical stuff, so I knew it would be a challenge getting another desk/table in here that would have access to power. I had 10 different layouts in my head, but after my husband explained to me 4-5 times why 8 of those ideas wouldn't work, 

I finally told him, tell me what will work. 

Once we got that ironed out, it was time to look for a craft table - the fun part! No. We looked for three days in a row, and every table worth anything was more than $100....and needed a little something in order to match our decor. I found some very nice tables, but they were even more expensive. Finally, we decided if we were going to pay that kind of money, it was going to be exactly what I wanted.

I had seen a few different tutorials on fashioning your own craft table, so I took bits and pieces of each, and we came up with this table. It is perfect, I love it, couldn't be happier.

We got two of these organizers from Target.

We went to Lowes, and got a piece of plywood cut down to size, five feet long, three feet deep. Right away, I knew I wanted to paint over the brown panels on the back of the organizers. 

And, obviously, the plywood. 

I used one coat of Kilz on the plywood. I had a lot of it left, so I put three coats of it on the brown panels that were on the back of the organizers. I could have bought white paint, but why do that when you have way too much Kilz, right? It worked just fine.

Then, I painted the plywood with Valspar Dreamy Caramel. At this point, it was tough to wait out the drying time. I was getting pretty excited. 

 

Cooper didn't like the wait either; I suspect he's tired of sharing his floor space with my craft mess.

 The next morning it was all dry, and I was ready to make it pretty.

It's even more rewarding when it's something you put effort into, and you get to make it your own.

I'm so happy with how it turned out!  

I'm learning to sew.

I took Home Ec. in middle school, but I didn't care one bit about sewing at that time. I think we threaded the machine on the first day, but then every class after that, they were already threaded. 

So, yeah, I forgot all of that.

Sewing has intrigued me for a while now. Often, I'll see a tutorial for a fun little craft, but write it off because it has a little sewing. I felt limited. So when I came across an online Home Ec. class, I signed right up!

I realize some of my readers may not be on Instagram, so here's what I've been up to lately.

Our first lesson was a drawstring bag, but at the end I decided not to do the drawstring, knowing I wouldn't use it that way. I plan to use it as a pillow case for a travel pillow.

The next lesson was sewing napkins, and I went ahead and used up my extra material from the first lesson. I really like the napkins, and I plan to make a set of them for my house when I find a material 

that matches my kitchen colors nicely.

Then, just for fun, and because I'm now hooked on sewing, I decided to try this tutorial I found on making little pockets out of long sleeved shirt cuffs.

(I later discovered fray check, so ignore that fraying)

I plan to slip my lipstick and gloss in there for my purse. My iPhone won't fit in there, but some other cell phones might. The uses for a little pocket like this are endless. I went to the thrift store today and picked up some cheap shirts just so that I could make more. I know. I'm hooked.

Just in case you're wondering, I HAVE been doing other things besides sewing. Not much else, but stuff.

Saturday, we went downtown, looking for a craft table so that I could centralize my mess making. We didn't find one, but we did venture into a few stores we'd never been to. One of them was Vintage Vice where we picked up some fun glasses.  I think Cooper wears them better, he kind of has a thing for glasses. 

He's basically the coolest dog ever.

And you may have heard that I planted herbs for the first time ever. Well, they're growing, and it's awesome. I made some bruschetta the other night, and used some of the basil in it. I usually pay almost $3 for one of those little plastic containers of basil from the grocery store. There isn't much in there. So, it was great to walk out on the balcony and pick my own...free...basil. Well, the plant cost money, 

but I don't like semantics.

I like banana bread. I make amazing banana bread. But, when I came across this recipe for Whole Wheat Banana Bread Snack Cake from How Sweet It Is, I thought I'd give it a try. A little change from my usual. And, boy, was it yummy! I'm keeping my trusty banana bread recipe, but if you're looking for something a little different, and you're not feeling a loaf pan, this is a great choice. 

Also a healthy alternative to the original.

We also started working on a little project for me, but it's in the works. Literally. It's going to be fabulous though, and I'll share the start to finish here when it's finished...soon.

So, that's what I've been up to lately.