Sea My Cabinets?

Photo from Rosanna, Inc.

After I painted my kitchen the Benjamin Moore Bone White, I really loved it, but with the yellow gone, there is no color in it now.  I started thinking, what if I painted my cabinets a pale sea blue, like in the photo above?  I know, I  know, but it is just a thought. I'm just throwing ideas around and not really sure if I will do it or not.  I love my all white kitchen and I can always use accents to color it with instead of doing something drastic like painting the cabinets.  I searched the internet trying to find a pale blue like what I am picturing and the photo above comes closest to it. I really love the creamy blues in the photo to the right. This photo of the bottles is sort of my inspiration of the blues that I like and would use in my kitchen.

Photo from 25 Beautiful Homes Magazine

The photo above would be a much bolder blue than I had in mind, but it still doesn't look bad at all.  It looks great with the butcher block counters, too!

Photo from Coastal Living

I have had the photo above in my inspiration folder on my computer for what seems like forever. I just LOVE this kitchen! I know the cabinets aren't blue, but I love the blue door. I don't have a pantry that I can do a screen door like this with, but I do have a door in my kitchen, which leads me to my next idea!

What about a bold blue door?

The door in my kitchen leads out to the carport, so it wouldn't matter if I went bold with it or not from the outside. Not many people would see it, but I was thinking of painting the interior of the door blue, too. My original plan is to get a french door like the one on the front of my house, so this is still up in the air, too!

Photo from Brian Vanden Brink

I love how the door adds just the right amount of color to the room.

Ok, so what do you think?

Keep the cabinets an antique white like they are now?

Paint them back white the way they were?

 Paint them blue?

Photo from House to Home

Or  just paint the door blue? Leave the door alone?

I sort of have a feeling of what I want to do, but wanted to hear if anyone else had any input, too. :)

And like I said, I'm not working on a lot of projects right now, especially compared to when I first moved in, but when the weather warms up, I'm hoping to get a lot accomplished!  

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

9 lasagna noodles, cooked (I used 8)
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
15 oz fat free ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
salt and fresh pepper (I used a little garlic too)
32 oz tomato sauce
9 tbsp (about 3 oz) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Ladle about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.

Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodle. Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 tbsp mozzarella cheese. Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts. Makes 9 rolls.

To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.


Recipe from Weight Watchers

Servings: 9 • Serving Size: 1 roll • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 6 ww pts 

Calories: 224.9 • Fat: 5.1 g • Fiber: 3.4 g • Protein: 13.0 g • Carbs: 31.5 

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This recipe was a lot of fun to make!

It is soooo much easier than it looks.

They rolled right up with ease, no fuss or anything. The hardest part is waiting for them to bake!

Right after I took them out of the oven.

All the ewy gooey goodness inside of them!

What a treat!!

Don't forget to stop by Lou's blog to see how her Lasagna rolls turned out!

This is from our Tuesday night dinner across the miles.

Lou Girl Plus Tea

This was really delicious! I would make it again for sure. I would probably make more filling next time so it will be dripping all out of them! haha

Just a Country stroll

Day 58

This photo is from the day I went snow tubing in West Virginia.

This is a view we saw when we were walking back to the car to go home.

Day 59

A motel in Virginia.

Just 6 miles north of the North Carolina state line off of the Andy Griffith Pkwy.

Day 60

This is a park I take my dog to a lot.

Look at the crystal clear water in that creek!

Day 61

Cute little calf! 

Day 62

From a bouquet of tulips I got for my dining table.

Spring already feels like it's in the air!

For those that don't know, these photos are from the 365 Day Project I'm doing.  I'm still hanging in there!

Panini!

I made a Panera Bread Turkey Artichoke Panini the other day, but I don't have a good photo of it. I ran out of the ingredients for it (I've been going a little crazy eating paninis lately), so I'll post that recipe for you later.

For my panini, I put...

Deli Turkey
Olive oil mayo and sprinkled some dill in it
Havarti cheese
Red onion
Spinach

Here's my new panini maker. I've been wanting one of these for a while, but just never got around to getting one. So Lou (who lives in FL) and I just went out and bought them. I wasn't able to post my Tuesday night dinner so this is what this is. My computer was down.

The panini maker above I got at Kmart for only $15.00.  It's actually called a sandwich maker on the box. It makes great paninis though and for only fifteen bucks, you can't beat it.

Here is Lou's panini she made. We both did different recipes. Hers sounds really delicious with coconut and ginger in it.  Tuna Melt Panini

It was delish Lou! I'm glad we got these!

Tobacco Box

I got this tobacco box at an antique store a little while back. I love it. 

I figured, since I have a tobacco basket, why not a tobacco box, too? 

The stamping on the side of the box.

I moved my coffee table out of the living room for the time being. 

It's been out on the carport for about a month.

I moved it out of the way so I could workout with my DVD's.

I keep my workout things in the box next to the tv with pillows in it.

Oh and I forgot to show a shot of the hallway after it was painted. 

Still not a good representation of the paint color it is now.

I have tried to adjust the white balance on the camera, everything I can think of!

I'm going to put photos all up and down the hallway some time this year, too.

Also still on the hunt for the perfect office desk so I can finish up my bedroom and the guest room.

Re-Painted Kitchen

I repainted my kitchen to a cream color. I decided to go with Benjamin Moore Bone White. I'm really sad that you can't tell from these pictures how it looks in real life. The photos look so washed out. I've never been able to get my camera to pick up the colors how they really look. I'm guessing it has something to do with all the funky florescent and incandescent and natural lighting all playing against each other in the room. I don't know?

I like the warmth of how the room looks now compared to the yellow.

I can't wait to redo my kitchen. I'm getting rid of that table, chairs and small hutch. I'll put a large hutch where the mirror is so I'll have more storage space.  Plus I'm adding an island.

It's just still not the way I want it to look yet.

Here is  how it looked yellow.

Shephards Pie - Light

Potatoes:

1-1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, diced

3/4 cup fat free chicken broth

2 tbsp fat free sour cream

salt and pepper

paprika

Filling:

1 lb 95% lean ground beef

1 tsp oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 celery stalk, chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced

8 oz mushrooms, diced

10 oz frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, corn, peas, green beans, baby lima beans)

2 tbsp flour

1/2 cup fat free beef broth

2 tsp tomato paste

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp freshly chopped rosemary leaves

1 tsp freshly chopped thyme leaves

salt and pepper

Boil potatoes in water until cooked and soft. Drain and mash with chicken broth, sour cream, salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400°.

In a large saute pan brown meat. Season with salt and pepper. When cooked, set aside on a plate. Discard any fat in the pan, add oil, onion and garlic and sauté on medium heat about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and celery and sauté another 3-4 minutes. Add flour, salt and pepper and mix well. Add frozen vegetables, beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, thyme, chopped meat and mix well. Simmer on low about 5-10 minutes.

Spread the meat mixture on the bottom of a 11x7 glass baking dish. Top with mashed potatoes, using a fork to scrape the top to make ridges and sprinkle with paprika. Bake 20 minutes or until potatoes turn golden. Remove from oven and let it cool 10-15 minutes before serving.

Recipe from Weight  Watchers

Servings: 6 • Serving Size: 10.5 oz • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 7 pts Calories: 290.5 • Fat: 11.1 g 

•Protein: 16.8 g • Carb: 31.5 g • Fiber: 4.9 g  

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Tonight was my night to pick the meal for Lou's and my Tuesday Night Dinner Across the Miles. (She's in FL and I'm in NC and every Tue night we make the same meal and post it on our blogs.)

It turned out really good, I ate about a forth of the whole casserole by myself! I can't believe I just told you all that! haha  I like that it's a whole meal and you don't have to add any extras with it. It didn't take very long to make either.

 Lou actually  made a different WW recipe by accident, that is similar to mine.  Hers called for chicken and spinach instead of beef and mushrooms.

Lou said she tried to make this once before but it came out soupy, so she was willing to give it another go. We decided we weren't going to put as much broth as it called for so it wouldn't be soupy. The original WW recipe called for 1 cup of beef broth, but I only put 3/4 of a cup in mine and I think it was still a tad too watery, so I changed the recipe to only put half a cup of broth in it. I would definitely make this again. I may experiment with turkey instead of beef or something else next time. Lous didn't turn out as watery this time either. I'm not sure why all the WW recipes call for so much broth or water to be added to it.  We tweaked it to fix the problem.  :)

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2 CUPS WHOLE-WHEAT PASTRY FLOUR
1 CUP ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR
2 TEASPOONS BAKING SODA
1 1∕2 TEASPOONS GROUND CINNAMON
1 TEASPOON GROUND GINGER
1∕2 TEASPOON GROUND NUTMEG
1∕2 TEASPOON KOSHER SALT
1 CUP LIGHTLY PACKED BROWN SUGAR
1∕4 CUP CANOLA OIL
2 EXTRA LARGE EGGS
1∕2 CUP PLAIN YOGURT
1 POUND CARROTS, GRATED (ABOUT 4 CUPS)
1∕3 CUP GOLDEN RAISINS

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside. With an electric mixer, beat the brown sugar and oil for about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the yogurt, carrots, and raisins. Mix in the flour mixture until just combined.
Using a 3-ounce ice-cream scoop or a 1/3 cup measure, spoon batter into paperlined muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

I found the recipe for the cupcake part from Katie Lee.

For the frosing:

1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
8 oz of Philly cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 With an electric mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes on medium speed until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
2 Add the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness and thickness.
3 Either spread on with a blunt knife or spatula, or spoon into a piping bag to decorate your cake or cupcake.

Walnuts to sprinkle on top.

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This is the first time I ever made cupcakes from scratch!

I am not a big sweets eater, so I figured I would try to do a healthy version of a cupcake.

These are my cupcakes straight out of the oven.

I forgot to let my cream cheese and butter sit out at room temperature, so these sat for a while before I was able to put the frosting on.   Make a mental note if you're going to make these to set this stuff out ahead of time before making these!  Now I know! lol

My little carrot cake secret...

I love carrot juice and drink it all the time.

Since I got my Jack Lalanne juicer for Christmas, I've experimented with a lot of different drinks.

This one is just pure carrot juice and nothing added. It takes 5 large carrots to make one glass or if you can't find large carrots, you can get a bag of the regular carrots, stores should have them for about .99 cents a bag. You can juice the whole bag, which is roughly between 8 to 10 smaller thin carrots.

Anyway, here is what the pulp looks like that is left over from the juice.

Then you can store it away in a baggie in the freezer until you need it. 

Which is where my secret comes in, I made my carrot cupcakes with the leftover pulp I froze from my carrot juice.

Amazing something like that can turn into something so delicious and  yummy like this!

I know my blog looks like it's turned into a recipe blog instead of house decor blog. Sorry about that! I'm just not really working on any projects right now.  Hopefully I will get my kitchen painted soon.

Sweet and Tangy Scallops

2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Pinch crushed red pepper
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup reduced-sodium vegetable broth
1/4 cup dark raisins
1 T lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 pound sea scallops (about 24)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1.  Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and crushed red pepper.  Cook, stirring until the onion is softened, about 3 minutes.  Add the bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes.  Add the broth, raisins, lime juice, and salt; bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer about 5 minutes.

2.  Add the scallops to the skillet and simmer, covered, until just opaque in the center, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the cilantro.

Serves 4
Per serving (about 6 scallops and 1/2 cup broth with vegetables); 136 Cal, 3 g Fat, 0 g Sat Fat, 0 g Trans Fat, 32 mg Chol, 580 mg Sod, 13 g Carb, 1 g Fib, 14 g Prot, 98 mg Calc.  Points value: 3.

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Lou picked the meal this week.  She got it from her Weight Watchers cookbook. This is our dinner across the miles we do every Tuesday night.  

The dinner was delicious! Thank you, Lou, for the great recipe!  You can go see Lou's dinner she made here.

Lou Girl Plus Tea