Moving to WordPress!

I'm heading over to WordPress, come visit at http://seestephdostuff.wordpress.com/  All the old posts are there too, and hopefully even easier to find.  I've added some menus and categories.  It's a work in progress right now but feel free to stop by and comment!

-Steph Pin It Now!

Fresh Pressed Tomato Juice

    

 

About 20 small to medium assorted tomatoes, Roma and Early Girls, made about 20 oz of tomato juice.

I plan to use this batch (plus one more batch) of tomato juice to make this: Spaghetti and Meatballs from TheArtofDoingStuff!

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Easy Peesy Cheesy Quinoa

mmmm...I could eat a whole pot of warm, nutty, cheesy quinoa.  This stuff trumps a box of yellow Mac & Noodles any day.  My hubby even likes it..that says a lot!!  A complete protein, quinoa is like a grain, more like a seed, and can replace pasta or rice in many dishes.  I made a big batch of plain quinoa on Sunday and made a Pepper, Corn & Avocado quinoa salad on Monday, similar to this.  Now, on Thursday I'm making Cheesy quinoa.  Cooked, the stuff lasts about a week in the fridge.

To make your own batch of cheesy quinoa, gather some things:
1-2 cups cooked, plain quinoa*
1 or 2 laughing cow cheese triangles
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup shredded cheese of your liking (I used Mexican Blend-Kraft)
2-3 splashes of milk or half and half
1/2-1 Tbs butter
splash of jalapeno juice-optional but highly recommended

1. Combine all the ingredients in a pot on the stove on low heat (I cook a double batch, take some cooked quinoa out, then make cheesy quinoa in the same pot that I cooked it in)
2. Add some salt and pepper to taste and stir till the cheese and butter is all melty and gooey...and you're done!
3. Nom nom nom and Enjoy!

*To make the quinoa, follow the directions on the bag.  Or if you buy from the bulk container, wash off the quinoa, add it to a saucepan with a lid, about 1 cup dried grains to 1.25 cups water.  Add a pinch a salt and a bay leaf if you know you're using it for savory things.  You can even substitute some chicken broth for water if you like.  If you're going to eat your quinoa for breakfast or in a sweet dish, don't add the bay leaf...

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DIY Subway Art with Silhouette

I wanted to incorporate a favorite quote into some art for the new laundry room.  I had seen some similar art over at Pinterest and new I wanted to make some chunky letters on a canvas in grey/yellow/white color scheme, like so:

 (source here, here, here and here)

I really liked that last one, so I set out to make my own with a 22"x 28"canvas, some left over shelving contact paper and my trusty silhouette machine!  

I downloaded a new cursive font (blackjack) and set to work making each individual text box and made a pretty good rendition of my inspiration.  The silhouette software is fairly straight forward...or SO I THOUGHT!

After I made this, I thought it would be no thang to divide the words into three groups (the printer only cuts13" wide), cut out the letters, remove the negative space and slap on my canvas.  Oh, I don't think I've been more wrong!

The first half dozen tries the paper kept slipping around, and the blade would eat my paper up, cutting all wonky.  I would stop, adjust the rollers to keep the paper in place and go again.  By the 4th mess up, I had run out of wide sheets of the contact paper, now I'm using the narrower leftover scraps.  After hours of searching the internet, using the cutting mat, cursing at the machine, reading more blogs of people with similar issues...I finally realized one of my rollers was too far over and not holding anything down.  It has been this way since I took this machine out of the box...like months ago...(!!!!!)  I thought that roller was fixed in place, never to be adjusted.  No worries that I had ruined other projects before..I am so glad I figure that out.  

Fast forward to using even smaller scraps of paper, meaning each word was being cut out individually and then transferred over with the sticky contact paper.  At this point I have been working for 4 hours and have 5 words on the canvas.  Oh my good gosh.  Custom art miiiight not be worth it...

Last problem I found was the machine would randomly not connect a cut line.  It would cut, pick up the blade, then cut the rest of the word.  This happened so much that I had to use my exacto knife and fix almost. every. letter. Good grief!  After more cursing and more time, I found a fix, this little "Make" button.  When all the words are separate, sometimes the machine skips over those invisible text box lines.

 To fix, select all your words and hit "make" to group them as one object.  Hit "release" to get them back to individual words and hit "divide" to break up into individual letters.

Luckily I figured this out after I ran out of big sheets of contact paper, so I was stuck doing one word and sometimes one letter at a time!  After two nights of working on just CUTTING OUT THE LETTERS, I was done!  I should have picked a smaller project or less words for my first time cutting out the contact paper. Oh well, lessons learned! Fingers crossed, I'm a little nervous about painting..all this work I better not screw it up!!

Update: I painted it and it didn't turn out horrible!  There are a couple places where the paint bled through but overall it came out looking good.  

I used wayyyy too much craft paint, somehow I thought I was covering a much larger area.  I also bought this small roller to apply the paint but didn't like how splotchy it was.  I ended up making long horizontal strokes with a regular old craft sponge brush.

Applying such a thin layer, the paint dried very quickly and I used the point of my exacto knife to peel up the letters while the paint was still damp.  Welp, she's done and I had fun doing it, I'll have to show you where I hang it :)

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Mud Room Renovations-Part I

Let's take a trip down memory lane.  Mudroom Before...

Yes, got to love peeling paint, dirty walls and random blue cabinets...Now for the During!!

 And the Afters!  The room is about 90% complete.  Only thing left is to paint the cabinet, paint the door trim and add some hooks and hang some artwork, and maybe a mirror over the sink.

 The floor is a two part epoxy garage floor by Rustolem. It was very easy to roll down, the hardest part being all the prep work.  We removed most of the chipped floor paint when we first moved in, but this time we had to clean and de-grease then etch the bare concrete so the epoxy could have good adhesion.

The wall color is Passive by SW, we got it in Behr Paint and Primer in One and used two coats with a spray gun.  The paint went on really smooth and was worth not having to clean the gun when switching from primer to paint.

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Pork Lettuce Wraps

pic source

These little puppies are like the trail mix of the dinner world. You get a little bit of everything-- salty, tangy, crunchy, sweet and spicy--and you can eat it with your hands! These wraps have all those classic Asian flavors as well. Asian food is one of the best cultural cuisines in my opinion, Vietnamese and Thai food are tied for my favorite of all time. Anyways..on to the recipe if you'd like to make them as well. I would make them if I were you..they are good eats, and great left overs!

The laundry list of things on the cooklight light recipe is a bit daunting, but I had 99% of the ingredients in my pantry or fridge. I also left out some things..like powdered ginger for fresh (forgot to buy it at the store). I also omitted the peanuts because I felt like I already had lots of toppings with the cilantro, bean sprouts, and cucumbers. But whatever you have and enjoy eating will work.

I'd like to comment on the lettuce. The recipe calls for bibb lettuce and I thought, "oh, i'll just get regular old romaine or red-leaf" and at the last minute standing in the produce aisle, I paid the extra dollar and bought the real bibb lettuce. What a difference! I really like it and it made the wraps much more crunchier and easier to fold. So yes, there is a difference to types of lettuce..I can hear some people laughing already!
So, longest pre-recipe post ever..here's what you do:

1. Get your pork

Which pork you ask? Tenderloin or thin boneless chops will do, cut into medallions and either skewer or leave alone, depending on your preference. I used thin boneless chops, trimmed of fat and cut in half, for about 14 palm sized pieces.

2. Marinade it!

In a small blender/food processor chop:
2-3 clove garlic
1/2 inch fresh ginger
2 Tbs white sugar
black pepper
4 inch piece lemon grass (I used 1 pinch penzy's dried lemon grass)

Once this looks like a paste, add 2 Tbs soy sauce, 1 Tbs fish sauce, 1 Tbs olive or canola oil.
Add the liquid to a plastic zip top and add your meat, turning occasionally, let marinade in the fridge for an hour or two.

3. Pickle your carrots

This step is worth the extra two minutes to do, adds the tangy and sweet flavors.

In a small bowl, grate some carrot about 1/2 cup. Add 2 Tbs sugar and let them hang out for ten minutes. Then add juice from a lemon and about 1/4 cup rice vinegar. You can add minced garlic and sliced chilies here as well, but I didn't. Taste and adjust sugar/vinegar to your liking.

4. Gather your toppings

Wash and pat dry the bibb lettuce and cilantro, basil, and mint (I only used cilantro). No one likes eating dirt. No one.
Chop some cucumbers, I liked them diced, or even fat matchsticks so they fold up nice in the wrap
Put some bean sprouts and lime wedges in a bowl for later as well. If you want peanuts, chop and dry roast them now too.
Lastly, boil some vermicelli or Asian noodles with no fat or seasonings. Cool till your ready to eat. I liked the noodles in the wrap, but if you don't have any, don't sweat it.

5. Assemble!

So, first grill your pork about 3 minutes on each side. Use a really hot grill to get some nice char marks. Don't over do it, they cook fast.
Let the meat rest for 5-10 minutes while you set all the toppings out.
Cut the meat into strips and build your wraps:
lettuce-noodles-pork-carrots and juices they are in-cucumbers-bean sprouts-cilantro-lime wedge squeeze-two tiny drops of Sriracha Chile sauce



Wrap or fold however you can get this creation in your mouth, and Enjoy!!

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Thai Chicken & Peppers

I've made this dish twice and love it every time.  I love it so much I wonder why I don't make it more.  A handful of key ingredients come together for a quick and filling supper.  I like to use the plain frozen brown rice that cooks in 3 minutes in the microwave bag, makes this dish even easier.  I give full credit to the wonderful Rachel over at Rachel Cooks Thai for her recipe and inspiration.  If you like Thai food, check her out, she has lots of good recipes for cooking Thai food in America.  Thank you to Karla and Megan for showing me her blog!!

 nam prik pao--imported all the way from Bangkok in my suitcase :)

 stir fryin' in my Scanpan!

  

 Makes 3 servings

Gather:

1 cloves garlic, chopped 

2 cup chicken, sliced in strips or cut into chunks

2 Tablespoons roasted chili paste (nam prik pao)

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1/2 cup red and yellow bell peppers, sliced in strips

1/2 cup Thai basil leaves (or regular Italian basil)

roasted chili flakes 

Instructions:

Saute the chopped garlic over medium high heat until fragrant, 30 seconds.

Add the thinly sliced chicken, roasted chili paste, and fish sauce.  Mix together and cook until the chicken is almost done.

Add the bell peppers and continue to cook until the chicken is done and the vegetables are cooked but still firm.  

Add the basil and if you like some heat, the roasted chili flakes.  Take off the heat and serve with brown rice. 

I used the Thai basil growing on my patio, that I got at Lowe's.  Someone just had to check it out...

what's this..smells good..

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Eat, Drink & Sun in Hawaii

Although I was there for work, I did get to have some fun while in Hawaii for two weeks.  I stated near the Honolulu airport at a hotel I would not recommend, but it was close to all the rental car places.  Getting a rental car is something I would recommend if planning a trip to Hawaii.  It wasn't necessarily easy to get around, but having a rental car gets you away from the mega-tourist places and lets you explore some of the beautiful off the beaten path places.  The locals are rather friendly drivers, everyone on the island seems in no big hurry to get or do anything.  That is true everywhere except from 7-10am trying to get downtown Honolulu.  Try to avoid that time, its rated as the top worst traffic jams in America.  But back to the fun stuff, here is my top list of things to do and see while in Oahu, hopefully I can plan a trip back and do more than one or two of them!!

1.  Go Surfing!
I had an absolute blast learning to surf.  It was my first time on the board and taking a surf lesson was definitely worth it.  My friend and I used the Waikiki Beach Services in front of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach.  Our teacher took us out to a sand bar with waist high water and we caught some easy waves.  Waikiki as well as White Plains Beach are known for easy beginner waves.

2.  Remember Their Sacrifice
You can spend a couple hours at the Pearl Harbor Museum.  You can take a tour of a submarine, the USS Bowfin, watch a movie and take a ferry boat ride out to the USS Arizona Memorial, as well go across the bay to Ford Island to see the USS Missouri Battleship and another memorial.  It's better to get their early because the tickets to see the movie and the USS Arizona Memorial are free but given out first come first serve.

USS Bowfin

Ferry ride to USS Arizona Memorial

Memorial

USS Missouri Battleship

3.  Try some local joints!
I really enjoyed the Koa Pancake House for their breakfast and lunch plates.  You can get some interesting local stuff like banana pancakes and Portuguese sausage or even mahi mahi for breakfast!  Also, the plate lunch is popular in Hawaii, usually rice and some sort of meat or fish.  I had a plate lunch with spicy tuna and a side salad from Ninja Sushi.  Very good and fresh.  Check out Dixie Grill for some great BBQ, crab and drinks, especially their signature 34oz Mai Tai's!

Breakfast of champions

Plate Lunch

Screamin' Mai Tai

4.  Find authentic Shave Ice

Not to be confused by "shaved ice", Hawaiian shave ice is fluffier than traditional snow cones and very good! There are options to get sweet beans or ice cream at the bottom of your ice, I went with ice cream and it was delicious!  The syrup comes in tropical flavors like pineapple, coconut, mango and guava and is perfect on a sunny day.

5.  Enjoy a drink on Waikiki Beach
Although a tourist hot-spot, Waikiki Beach is picturesque and a fun time.  There are many restaurants to choose from as well as high end shopping up and down the main drag.  Duke's Grill, named after the Father of Surfing, is a classic place to grab a fruity drink and enjoy a meal overlooking the water.

Sunset

6. Snorkel at Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve
I didn't get to make it in the water, but I have it on good authority that Hanauma Bay is the place to be.  It has great snorkeling where you can see turtles and lots of fish.

7.  Drive the coast
We took a drive around Oahu on Hwy 72, stopping at Halona Blow Hole first.  There is a place to pull over and people stand by the rail watching the waves crash under this rock formation.  When two waves crash against the rocks close together, water is forced through a small hole, spraying water just like a whale would.  It is fun to watch and take in the sun.  Also we stopped at another scenic overlook further down Hwy 72 to take in the beautiful views.

Looking out to Sea Life Park (where 50 First Dates Adam Sandler's character worked at)

Blow hole rock

Look out positions carved up the mountain, Marines would hid in their to protect the land during WWII

 8. Visit a Japanese Temple

Take an hour or two and visit the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park to see a Japanese cemetery and temple.   The Byodo-in Temple is a replica of the 950 year old temple in Japan.  You can even take off your shoes and go in the temple and see the Buddha.

Ringing the gong

Feeding the swan

I'm sure there are other fun things to do on Oahu, but these are a few of the places I hit.  Can't wait to go back!!

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