wwMd

 In the July/August edition of House Beautiful magazine, I came across this beautiful and delicious recipe for an Avocado Ricotta Sandwich. It was so fresh tasting, but still creamy, comforting and a little nutty. I LOVED it and recommend you give it a try!


2 C full fat ricotta cheese
zest of two lemons
1/4 C olive oil
2 pinches of kosher salt
1 pinch of black pepper
*mix together
good bread, sliced on the diagonal
2 large avocados sliced with lemon juice
1 pint grape tomatoes cut in half
thinly sliced red onion
toasted sesame seeds
poppy seeds
lemon juice
*Layer the ricotta mixture, avocado, tomato, onion, poppy seed, and sesame seed on the slices of fresh bread. Then drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. salt and pepper to taste!

I've been spending some time testing my various Pinterest finds and have come up with a few favorites for the week!

photo via cakecentral.com

This is a recipe my sister gave me a long time ago and it's a crowd pleaser! Even better, it's super easy. You need:

1 box of white cake mix + the additional ingredients listed on the box
2 cans of mandarin oranges
Heavy whipping cream
2 TSP of sugar

-Make the box cake mix as instructed, except substitute the liquids (water/milk) with the juice from the mandarin oranges. Then bake.... In the meantime, whip up your cream with the sugar. When the cupcakes are cool, top with a couple of the mandarin orange pieces and you're done! It's so refreshing and pretty too. You could add a mint leaf to add a little green if you're feeling fancy. :)

DIY glitter pumps. I love them!

...I'm in the mood.


A place for everything and everything in it's place. This is my dream. Ahhhhh

The Zoo.
Easter

University of Missouri

A fantastic visit to Oliver's school.

 Pinning a flower on my boy during the mother's parade.







 And thanks to the fabulous weather, there's been lots of gardening and fun outside the house.

A great blog for a DIY taught seamstress!

mimi g. style

I had to post this.





It's a framed picture that turns into a craft table! I found this via Sarah M. on what else, Pinterest. It completely folds up to save space. Genious I say!

For the full tutorial: visit Bubblewrapp'd

Okay, back to my hiatus.

I don't like blogging anymore. I'm not motivated to upload pictures or projects or anything since Pinterest stole my heart... I haven't looked back.

I'm not so into Facebook either. I found my best friend from 6th grade, Sariah, and that was pretty cool. Other than that it's not been super impressive. Pinterest on the other hand, HELLO!!!

Looking at other people's blogs is much more fun than posting on mine, so I'm thinking I'll stick to that for a while... especially since I can save things to PINTEREST!!!!!

How can something so dumb be so addictive? I'm going to only let myself go on there every couple of days. Seriously, it's getting embarrassing. I don't "follow" a lot of people because I know then they can see just how many things I pin in one day. That's the reason.

I am so done with cyber-everything.

From now on I am going to actually get some exercise in the beginning of the day, and I'm also going to stop eating kettle corn in bed. It's such a bad idea.

I might eat a little tonight though. One last time before I start P90Xing it all day long yo!!!

I wish I could afford a Paul Villinski, but I can't. I'm wondering though, if I could recreate something like this on a much smaller scale. I'm no celebrated artist, but could I maybe come up with a humble interpretation????

... I made little Sophia a simple breakfast of toast, strawberries and herb tea. She was feeling a little warm. Within 3 minutes of finishing, she threw up her entire meal right back onto her plate. I know, right?!!!

Well, thank goodness for cheap IKEA dishes and thank goodness for tiny tummies! The entire puke was completely contained. No mess!!!

Little Green Notebook's Jenny Komenda has done it again! I love her use of vibrant colors and beautiful accessories! Today she's posted an incredible diy project that costs something like 10 dollars. If you've been trying to figure out how to display your sentimental photos or incorporate a more modern fresh look to your home, this is an easy, inexpensive way to "experiment". I think her LDS temple photo looks absolutely beautiful displayed that way!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 so I could make things like this


this too,
and shop here
and ride bikes like this. Anyone feeling patient enough to teach me???

I've been thinking lately that Martha has overextended herself. She is everywhere and not always in the best ways. Remember my doormat story?

In this case however, I think Martha has made the perfect choice. She is the master organizer, right?! So, what better choice than to develop a line of products that will help people declutter and establish a house of beautiful order. Maybe that sounds a little over the top ridiculous, but if I do have to file, stack, label, and divide, I would like to have a pretty result in the end as well!

This is totally a good thing.

If you're needing a little comfort, a little love in your tummy, THIS is just the ticket! The combination of the soft buttery biscuit with the sweet and sticky bacon... mmmm, and throw in a fresh slice of tart apple? Um, yeah, incredible and you're silly if you don't try it.

-First make the biscuit. Now, I've heard a lot of people say they are terrible biscuit makers, but if you just remember a couple of things, you will have the tastiest biscuits ever. 1. Cold butter only, cut up. 2. Don't over work your biscuit dough. Like pie crusts and other pastry doughs, you want your biscuits to be soft and light. So you have to make sure there are still little pea sized pieces of butter when you start to roll out your dough!!!

Cheddar Biscuits:

2 C all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick of butter (cold)
2/3 C of cold milk
handful of shredded cheddar cheese

www.make-it-do.com

Preheat your oven to 450. Stir or sift all of the dry ingredients together. Then cut in the butter to pea size pieces. Add the milk and the cheese and and carefully stir til the dough clings together. Knead for maybe 10 strokes or even less. Roll it out on a floured surface to 1/2"-1" thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter, or a similar size glass. Bake with the biscuits touching for 10-12 minutes. Serve warm!!!

Brown Sugar Bacon aka fat crack:

12 slices of good bacon, not too thick
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350. Put foil on a baking sheet with a rack on top. Mix sugar, mustard, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a gallon size zip lock bag and shake each piece of bacon in the mix. Then twist each slice and place on the rack. When all of the bacon is on the rack, bake for 30 minutes. Let it set for about 5 minutes before you serve.

While your biscuits are baking, slice a Granny Smith apple really thin and serve the three ingredients separately or sandwich style.

Sarah Richardson Design

I've got nothing.... but here are some beautiful pictures I've spotted on various sites this week. (The dresser is an IKEA redesign and the room at the bottom is EXACTLY what I want my room to feel like)

Amanda Carol at Home

Little Green Notebook

I told some of my friends yesterday at lunch that I didn't miss having little ones around. I feel differently today. I miss my little ones so much sometimes and I miss having all my kids at home. A lot.

I miss holding their teeny little hands and being able to make them feel better in ten seconds flat. I miss kissing boo boos and having them fall asleep on my lap. I miss knowing what they were doing all the time and not being afraid when they were with their friends. I miss the Lego's and the soldiers and the pacifiers and tiny little socks.

Where has the time gone?