Alisa.wray

These Loaded Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Lime Crema are the perfect meal prep item, since they’re already pre-portioned and ready to go. There are a lot of options for toppings and seasonings with this recipe, so get creative, use up whatever you have hanging out in the fridge, and make it new each time! 

This recipe pairs well with Cilantro Lime Rice!

Loaded Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Lime Crema

Portions

The portion size for this dish changes quite a bit with the size of your sweet potato, and also whether or not you choose to use a whole or a half potato per serving. I used one half potato per serving, but if you wish to have a whole sweet potato per serving, you can roast them whole, making sure to add to the cook time so they are soft all the way through. The seasoning can be added after roasting, once the potatoes are cut open and mashed.

Add-ons and Substitutions

As you can probably imagine, this recipe is SUPER customizable. You can add anything to these sweet potatoes that you might like. Think about taco or nacho toppings for inspiration. Add corn to the bean and pepper mix, avocados as a topper, cilantro, or maybe even some crispy crumbled tortilla chips! There are lots of options. :)

If you don’t want a spicy chipotle lime crema, you can make my classic Lime Crema instead. And if you can’t find jerk seasoning, any number of seasoning salts would work in its place. You could use something like Tajín, Lowry’s, or even something like Tony Chachere’s.

Step by Step Photos

Begin preheating the oven to 400ºF. Next, make the Chipotle Lime Crema, so the flavors have a bit of time to blend. Zest and juice one lime, then stir together 1/2 cup sour cream with 1 Tbsp lime juice, 1/2 tsp zest, 1/2 tsp chipotle powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Refrigerate the crema until it’s time for it to be used.

Wash and dry two sweet potatoes. Use a fork to prick the skins several times. Slice the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, then use about 1 Tbsp oil to coat all surfaces of all four pieces. Season the cut sides of the sweet potatoes with jerk seasoning (or any other seasoning salt, Tajín would be great). Lightly coat a baking sheet with oil to prevent the sweet potatoes from sticking, then place the potatoes on the sheet cut sides facing down. 

This is the jerk seasoning I used, and I’m pretty sure I got it at Kroger. Any salted seasoning blend will work well. I like that this one also has a little sugar for a touch of sweetness.

Bake the sweet potatoes for about 30 minutes, or until they’re soft all the way through, the juices are starting to ooze out from underneath, and the skins look a little wrinkly. The total baking time will vary with the size of your sweet potatoes.

While the sweet potatoes are baking, prepare the toppings. Drain a 15oz. can of black beans, mince one clove of garlic, dice a red bell pepper, slice a green onion, and thinly slice a jalapeńo. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a skillet over medium, then add the minced garlic and sautè for about one minute. Add the diced bell pepper and sauté for another 2-3 minutes, or just until they begin to soften. Finally, add in the drained black beans, 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp salt, and the sliced green onion. Stir and cook until heated through.

Use a spatula to flip the baked sweet potatoes over, then use a fork to mash the flesh.

Top the sweet potatoes with the bean and pepper mixture, a few slices of jalapeño and a drizzle or dollop of the chipotle lime crema, then they’re ready to serve!

Dig in! :)

The post Loaded Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Lime Crema appeared first on Budget Bytes.

Here’s a little quickie for you today from week 1 of my 31 Day Vegetarian Challenge! These creamy and spicy Sriracha Chickpea Salad Wraps are super fast and easy to make, perfect for cold lunches to bring to work, and can be customized to include whatever vegetables you have hanging out in the fridge. #sweepthekitchen and leave no vegetables behind!

Sriracha Chickpea Salad Wraps

P.S. I jazzed my Sriracha Chickpea Salad up a bit with cilantro and lemon juice, but if you only have mayo and sriracha on hand, this still makes a really easy and delicious chickpea salad.

Step by Step Photos

Drain one 15oz. can of chickpeas, then add them to a bowl along with 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 1.5 Tbsp sriracha (or less to start, you can add more later to taste), about 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro, 1 tsp lemon juice, and 1/8 tsp salt.

Mash the chickpeas until they are fairly broken down and the dressing ingredients have combined.

Now it’s time to build the wraps! On each large tortilla place a handful or a loosely packed cup of spinach, a few thin carrot strips (or shredded carrot), and a few strips of bell pepper.

Add half of the sriracha chickpea salad (about 1 cup) on top of the vegetables.

Fold the sides of the tortilla in toward the center, then roll it from the bottom up like a burrito. Your Sriracha Chickpea Salad Wrap is now ready to eat! You can eat it immediately or refrigerate it for later.

The post Sriracha Chickpea Salad Wraps appeared first on Budget Bytes.

well, long time no post but I have a cool one this time!  I just completed designing and building an 8×10 large format digital video camera, the first in the world that I know of. LargeSense has some interesting tests with x-ray sensors (I think?) but this camera can be made for orders of magnitude less cost, and I don’t think they have yet made a fully working camera.  I get into how it works in the video below, but essentially its off-axis reimaging of a projected image.  you lose some light, but with advances in large aperture wide angle lenses (I am using an Irix 15mm f2.4 Firefly) and sensitive cameras (a Sony a7s in my case) this sort of camera is now a practical possibility.  it is a bit like IMAX, but waaaaay bigger

I used C4d virtual cameras to model the fields of view of the various lenses and ensure that the slider didn’t appear in the bottom of the shot, even at infinite focus.

if you have any questions or want to build your own, let me know! I am happy to share everything I learned along the building process.  expect to see lots more from this camera and ones like it from me.  light field version next, eh?

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend! I don’t have a meal prep for you this week because I’m about to go out of town and didn’t want to fill up my fridge just before leaving, but I did want to share these Streuseled Sweet Potatoes that I made this week. They’re a super simple dessert that is almost like a deconstructed sweet potato casserole. Because it’s so simple you can have them baking away in your oven as you prepare dinner on the stove top, then have a delicious treat to end your meal.

Honestly, baked sweet potatoes are so rich and delicious on their own that if you wanted to skip the whole streusel step and just slather the scored baked potatoes with butter, a quick drizzle of maple syrup (real maple syrup, not the fake stuff), and a dash of cinnamon, you won’t be disappointed. But hey, streusel is always fun, right??

Speaking of streusel, I happened to have chopped walnuts already in my pantry, so I mixed those into the streusel. You can absolutely do a nut-free version, or even use pecans if you have those on hand for holiday baking. Also, if you don’t have rolled oats, you can replace the oats with more all-purpose flour (same amount).

Streuseled Sweet Potatoes

Step by Step Photos

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Carefully slice open two sweet potatoes lengthwise. Try to get sweet potatoes that are about 3/4 lb. each for two reasons: larger sweet potatoes can be difficult to slice right down the center because they are so thick and dense, and this size is the perfect size for single portions (once cut in half).

Drizzle 1 Tbsp olive oil over the cut surface of the sweet potatoes, then use your hands to make sure that cut surface is completely coated. Flip the potatoes over so the cut side is facing down. This makes those cut surfaces get nice and caramelized as they roast. Bake the sweet potatoes in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes.

While the sweet potatoes are baking, prepare the streusel topping. Combine 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, 2 Tbsp rolled oats, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, 2 Tbsp butter, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a bowl (I actually forgot the nuts until I started mixing them together, so they’re not in this photo).

Use your hands or a pasty cutter to mix the ingredients together until it’s combined and crumbly. Refrigerate the streusel until it’s ready to be used.

Once the sweet potatoes are tender and a little browned and caramelized on the edges, take them out of the oven and use a spatula to flip them over. Carefully score the soft flesh of the sweet potatoes, then drizzle about 1 tsp maple syrup over the scored surface. Finally, pile the prepared streusel over top of each potato.

Return the sweet potatoes to the hot oven and bake for about 10 minutes more, or until the streusel is crispy. Serve hot!

I vote to end the reign of pumpkin as the queen of autumn vegetables and nominate sweet potatoes instead.

The post Streuseled Sweet Potatoes appeared first on Budget Bytes.

Here it is, the post we promised all about cutting the cable cord (and how much we’re saving as a result). As self-proclaimed TV enthusiasts, we’ve been known to collapse on the couch after some good painting/organizing/spackling and kick back with some tube. So in all of the hubbub about cutting the cable cord in recent years, we never really considered ourselves strong candidates – especially because so many of the channels Sherry likes (Bravo, Bravo, and also Bravo) weren’t always easy to get outside of a traditional cable package.

But after some recent frustrations with our cable provider, and an ever-growing bill (which went from $99 to $169 over the last 4 years!) we became even more determined to make it happen. It turned into a long and winding process, but we recently landed on a solution that has had only minor impacts on our viewing habits and BIG returns for our wallets – saving us around $950 a year (we’ll get to the detailed math in a minute). So here’s how we did it.

The Situation

First, you should know where we were starting from – both our cable set-up and our channel needs. We’d been on a Verizon Fios bundle for nearly seven years, meaning we had our cable, internet, and landline phone packaged together. We had been lured in by those $99/year deals they offer new customers and had even convinced them to renew it for us a couple of times past the initial period at that lower rate. But for the last year, our monthly bill was just pennies shy of the $170 mark. That didn’t include premium channels like HBO, but it did cover extras like their DVR service and an extra DVR box for our upstairs bonus room.

Although I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this, our viewing habits have narrowed quite a bit over the years. On any given day, you’d probably find these four things on our DVR:

• Anything on Bravo, which is Sherry’s soup du jour every jour (I’m exaggerating here… but not by a lot)
• Competition/reality shows like The Bachelor, Survivor, Shark Tank etc.
• Primetime dramas like The Walking Dead, This Is Us, Scandal, etc.
• Kids movies we had taped off of Freeform, FX, Disney, or some other channel that randomly airs them

What’s missing from that list is a lot of the random live TV we would watch here and there (like just turning on HGTV and The Discovery Channel randomly) as well as, and more significantly, Netflix. We’re not daytime TV watchers. We’re not big sports watchers. We’re not even big sitcom, singing competition, or nightly news people. So we actually thought: hey, we’ve got simple needs – this should be easy! Instead, we hit a few snags… as illustrated below with the help of some Real Housewives.

Hurdle #1: We Needed A Home Phone

The obvious answer to getting our bill down was to cut the home phone. Because, well, it is 2017. But cell service can be spotty in our little suburban pocket and since our alarm system couldn’t get a reliable signal on their cell network, a landline felt like a necessity. We tried hunting down a cheaper landline phone option but that wasn’t showing much savings either (the constant theme is that people overcharge for these things a la carte, so you stick to the bundle like glue instead).

Hurdle #2: Unbundling Isn’t That Much Cheaper

We initially called Verizon asking them to quote a phone + Intenet combo without cable. We thought removing a third of the bundle would remove at least a third of the cost. NOPE. We got varying quotes depending on who we talked to (yes, this took multiple calls) but it was looking like dropping cable would only save us around $20-$30/month. But once we added a cable replacement service like Hulu – most of which ran $10-$30 – we’d wouldn’t be saving very much, if anything at all.

Hurdle #3: Bravo

Given how Housewives-heavy our household has become thanks to my other half, the Bravo channel was a must-have for any new TV service. But popular cable alternatives like Hulu, Amazon, and Apple don’t offer it as part of any subscription services. You could watch some seasons after they aired and/or pay for them a la carte, but that wasn’t ideal. And happy wife, happy life amiright? Plus those options would probably end up being more expensive in the end. Why was Andy Cohen making this so hard?

This is pretty much where we were when we first mentioned our efforts on our podcast back in March (Episode #41). But thanks to some of your suggestions, additional research on our end, and one very helpful Verizon representative – this is where we ended up:

Cable Solution: Roku + Playstation Vue

We purchased two Roku 4 boxes to replace our two Verizon cable boxes. Roku is pretty much just that – a box. It is not a monthly service or a cable provider, so it comes with just a one-time fee ($90).  Its competitors are things like Amazon Fire, Google’s Chromecast, or Apple TV. At their core, they all do the same thing: deliver streaming content (like Netflix) from your Internet connection to your television screen.

We chose Roku over the others partly because (as noted in articles like this one) its interface is said to be a little smoother and less complicated. Also, because it’s not made by a company who also sells content, it’s more impartial about what you’re streaming (it’s not always driving you to get your shows from Amazon or iTunes).

We initially just used our Roku to stream Netflix. And before we canceled our Verizon bundle, we dipped into the streaming channel waters by adding some to our Roku home screen, which you can see below. Some of this content is free – like PBS Kids – but most requires you to login with your cable provider ID in order to access their content. So if we nixed Verizon, we’d no longer have a valid ID (in other words, we’d lose access to all of this streaming content). But then we found Playstation Vue.

Playstation Vue may sound like a video game console, but it’s actually a streaming cable service. So for $29.99 a month (via their most basic package, Access Slim) we could stream 45 channels of live TV (including Bravo!) and also access those channels’ on demand content as well. It’s similar to the Sling TV service that several people recommended to us, but we ended up trying the PS Vue free trial first so we were more comfortable with it. Sling does have slightly different (and cheaper) packages, so you may be able to save more depending on your channel needs, but Playstation Vue has been a great fit for us.

It did take some getting used to because this system is much more like finding a show on Netflix vs. regular cable. Or if you’re used to finding stuff through an On Demand menu, this should feel familiar. There is a “Your Shows” list you can build within Playstation Vue to help “collect” new episodes of your regular shows all in one place, but we haven’t gotten into the habit of using it yet. Instead, we’ve actually found that we don’t rely on the Playstation Vue interface a whole lot – but use our account credentials to access Bravo or HGTV’s own streaming channels from our home screen, just like we did before our Verizon account expired. Generally, we find it takes fewer clicks to get to what we want, and the channels’ own interfaces can be a bit easier to navigate.

Phone Solution: Ooma

This was probably the best suggestion we got from you guys – so THANK YOU! Ooma delivers your calls through your Internet connection, not a traditional landline. We had heard of similar services before (like Vonage) but all of their prices seemed to be on par with our landline options. Ooma, on the other hand, offers FREE unlimited nationwide calls and only charges you taxes and fees (which is $5.06 for us each month). And it works with the same cordless phone we’ve had in our living room for the last three years. Doesn’t feel like a change at all, except for all the money we’re saving.

Like with cable, it did require some upfront equipment. We got our Ooma Telo box for $80. It plugs into our modem and then to our home phone. Ours lives in the drawer under our TV where our cable box used to reside. Had we been a bit more patient we could’ve ported over our old phone number, but we just wanted to get things done. So now you can call us at 804-243… just kidding. :)

We also hunted down a new home alarm system that was able to establish a reliable cell signal, so it wasn’t a problem to ditch the landline after all. Phew!

Internet Solution: Verizon Fios 

With those two other parts of the bundle taken care of, our final task was just to get our internet cost low enough to see noticeable savings. This is where Sherry “The Negotiator” Petersik comes into play. At this point, she’d probably spent around two hours across multiple calls to Verizon and their only local competitor (Comcast) trying to figure out the best options. It was definitely an exercise in frustration until she figured out the best way to get the lowest price was to already have a specific quote from the competitor. In this case, she was quoted “a new low introductory rate” for 75 Mbps internet from Comcast to the tune of $59, which was the same speed we were already getting from Verizon.

So with that in hand, she called Verizon and got the NICEST woman who seemed determined to keep our business. So when Sherry told her that specific quote from Comcast for a specific Internet speed, having that comparative quote was THE KEY. Sherry just sweetly said that if Verizon could match it (or beat it), we’d happily extend our contract. The woman said they definitely didn’t want to lose us, and got us a rate of $54/month for two years, with an option to renew it for another two at that same rate. That, my friends, is what made all of this trouble finally worth it.

The Savings

So for your sake and ours, let’s lay out how this all adds up. Remember, our old monthly cable bill came in at $169/month before (not including Netflix, which has stayed the same so I didn’t include it below). When we rattled off the numbers on the podcast this week, we left off some .99s on a couple of prices, so the math here is corrected:

• Television (Playstation Vue): $29.99
• Phone (Ooma): $5.06
• Internet (Verizon): $54.99
• New Monthly Total: $90.04
• Monthly Savings: About $78.96
• Annual Savings: About $947.52

Of course, if I want to rain on my own parade a bit, I should remind myself (and you) of some of the up front equipment costs that went into this. Yours may be less or more, depending on your needs (how many TVs you have, if you need a home phone, etc).

• Two Roku 4 boxes: $180
• Ooma Telo box: $80
• Wi-Fi Extender**: $30
• New Equipment Total: $290

So yeah, that cuts into nearly a third of our first year’s savings (#sadtrombone), but the other way to look at is: in less than four months we’ll have saved enough on our monthly bill to negate all of the equipment charges completely! And then moving forward every dollar we save can be spent on something a lot more fun. No more equipment fees and no more crazy big cable / phone / internet bills. Seems like a pretty good deal when we look at it that way.

**Our wi-fi strength wasn’t great in our bonus room since it was the complete opposite corner of the house, so we had trouble getting a clear picture on the Roku. This device just plugged into an outlet upstairs and totally did the trick!

The Other Pro

Besides the savings, the other side-benefit has been the shift in our viewing habits. And by shift, I mean lessening. Some might not want to hear that cutting the cable could make you stop watching your regular shows, but for us it has been a welcome change. We mentioned on our podcast that relying on a DVR made it so easy to record shows that our queue often grew into what felt like a GIANT to-do list. With a click of a button we could see alllllll the shows that built up, and – as dumb as it sounds – we almost felt stressed when we were “falling behind.” It’s like TV FOMO when you’re reminded of all the catfights and renovation reveals you’re missing out on.

Now there’s not a singular list of our unwatched shows building up somewhere, so we put a bit more thought into what we want to watch. That moment of pause (and the couple of extra clicks to find it) has made us a little choosier about what we take time to tune into. There’s definitely a faster way to get to some of the programs we’re watching (like creating a “Your Shows” list on Roku – which functions like a DVR), but the extra work has made us realize how much we were watching out of habit or just wanting to “check it off” of our DVR list, not because we actually wanted to watch it.

Now, The Cons

As I mentioned, it did take a bit of adjustment to get used to the new system. No longer than a day or two (I think it helped that we were already accustomed to Netflix and On Demand viewing) but I’m still kinda dreading explaining it to our parents the next time they babysit. Not that it’s that much more difficult, it’s just different than your regular cable interface.

The Roku players also don’t have an infrared receiver port, so we can’t use our much-loved IR-cords to keep boxes hidden away like we used to do with our cable box. Fortunately, the Roku is pretty small and slim, so it’s not the end of the world to have it out for all to see.

Commercials are also back in our lives to some extent. We used to skip through them on our DVR, but a lot of the streaming content outside of Playstation Vue doesn’t allow that (when we access shows through the Bravo Now channel, for instance). At least most channels tell you how long they’ll be (“content will resume in 60 seconds”) so we sometimes use it as an invitation to go do something for that long and just come back. You know, like get a snack in the kitchen, put whatever is in the washer into the dryer, turn on the tea kettle, or let the dog out. If we wanted to truly eliminate commercials again, we hear that if we use the “Your Shows” feature through Roku, it can essentially act exactly like a DVR and tape things that we can later play (and fast forward through the commercials). So if commercials bum us out enough, we’ll probably switch to that viewing method.

Last, but not least in the con column, is CBS. Specifically, the show Survivor. You can even call it my Housewives. I recently fell back in love with it a couple of years ago after losing track of it post-college. CBS has its own standalone streaming service (called “CBS All Access”), which means it’s not available through ANY of the other providers. It’s $7/month for a commercial-interrupted version but it seems like a lot for just one show. I purchased the remainder of this current season on Amazon, but it may be getting voted off of our television island for good next season. If I can’t quite seem to snuff out my heart’s torch for it, it could cost $25 for a season’s pass on Amazon a couple times a year. But yeah, that seems like a lot.

The Verdict

Obviously, we’re excited to have found a solution after all that work. And while the annual savings may not seem all that life changing – it certainly could cover a pretty nice family vacation in a few years’ time. It also just feels good to have unshackled ourselves from the bundle. As people who increasingly felt “under the thumb” of two giant competitors, both of which felt like they were driving these rates up, up, up (and who sometimes felt like they cared more about getting new customers than keeping old ones) it is so mentally rewarding to be bundle-free!

And apart from our Internet contract with Verizon, none of these other services trap you into anything – so we could cancel at any time if our needs change or if we want to try something new. So if this upcoming YouTube TV thing might be a better fit or a lower price, we can always bounce over and try that. And who knows, maybe in a few years we’ll get tired of watching TV altogether and decide to go completely television free. BAHAHAHA – who am I kidding. That’ll probably never happen.

P.S. Looking for some other ways to save money? Here’s a bunch of other things we’ve tried.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Cutting The Cable: How We’re Saving Hundreds On TV, Internet, & Phone appeared first on Young House Love.

#EnchantedLove Sneak peek of one of the pieces I did for the art tribute for the #liveaction #disney #beautyandthebeast show, presented by @ohmydisney @gallerynucleus @disneystudios @cyclopsprints . The show will be up from 3/11/17-4/2/17 with opening reception at 7pm with complimentary food and drinks.#belle #beast #emmawatson #danstevens #rose #joeychou #joeychouartprints available online now

 http://www.gallerynucleus.com/detail/22351/

http://www.gallerynucleus.com/gallery/592/exhibition/

https://ohmy.disney.com/news/2017/03/03/exclusive-beauty-and-the-beast-gallery-nucleus/

#Beourguest, here’s another piece I did for#beautyandthebeast show for the art tribute for the#liveaction #disney #beautyandthebeast show, presented by @ohmydisney @gallerynucleus @disneystudios @cyclopsprints . The show will be up from 3/11/17-4/2/17 with opening reception at 7pm with complimentary food and drinks.
#belle #beast #emmawatson #danstevens #rose#joeychou #joeychouart

prints available online now http://www.gallerynucleus.com/detail/22353/

http://www.gallerynucleus.com/gallery/592/exhibition/
https://ohmy.disney.com/news/2017/03/08/enchanting-beauty-and-the-beast-art-from-our-gallery-nucleus-show/#slider_5

Okay, I’ll admit I just made this salad as a vehicle for the lime crema. It’s all about the crema. This stuff is seriously life changing and I haven’t been able to stop making it since my first batch. So, I just threw together a bunch of my other favorite ingredients, all of which happened to make a beautiful natural rainbow of colors, and ended up with this Roasted Sweet Potato Rainbow Salad (…with lime crema). 

This salad is great for meal prepping for the week. Just mix together the salad ingredients, but add the dressing each day as needed. You can top it with some grilled or rotisserie chicken, maybe roll it all together inside a tortilla, and you’re good to go! Another fun add-in that I thought about (but opted out of in favor of keeping things simple) is crushed up tortilla chips or tortilla strips. I think that crunch would be a really fun addition. And of course you could always add a bit of avocado or sliced jalapeños if that’s your jam.

Oh, also, if you have a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s in your area, you can make this salad even easier. They both sell frozen roasted corn, which you can use instead of my skillet charred corn. I went the budget route and made my own this time, but the pre-roasted frozen corn is seriously awesome (I think it’s usually cheaper at TJ’s than WF).

Goes great with: Baked Beef & Black Bean Tacos, Chipotle Portobello Oven Fajitas, Cilantro Lime Drumsticks, Weeknight Enchiladas.

Roasted Sweet Potato Rainbow Salad with Lime Crema

4.8 from 18 reviews

Roasted Sweet Potato Rainbow Salad with Lime Crema

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

Total Cost: $7.93

Cost Per Serving: $1.32 (1.33 cups each)

Serves: 6

Ingredients

LIME CREMA

• 8oz. sour cream $1.00
• 1 fresh lime $0.50
• 1 small clove garlic, minced $0.08
• ¼ tsp salt $0.02

ROASTED SWEET POTATOES

• 1.5 lb. sweet potatoes $1.57
• 2 Tbsp cooking oil $0.08
• 1 tsp cumin $0.10
• Salt to taste $0.02

BLACKENED CORN

• 1 lb. frozen corn kernels, thawed $1.49
• 2 Tbsp cooking oil $0.08
• Salt to taste $0.02

SALAD

• 15oz. can black beans $0.99
• 1 red bell pepper $1.50
• ¼ red onion* $0.25
• ¼ bunch cilantro $0.23

Instructions

1. If you haven't yet, take the corn out of the freezer and allow it to begin thawing. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes, then cut them into a small dice (1/4-1/2 inch cubes). Place the cubes on a baking sheet, drizzle with cooking oil, cumin, and a pinch or two of salt. Toss the sweet potato cubes until they are all coated in oil and spices. Roast the sweet potatoes for about 30 minutes, or until they are soft and slightly browned on the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.
3. While the sweet potatoes are roasting, prepare the lime crema. Use a small-holed cheese grater or a zester to remove the thin layer of green zest from the lime. Add about 1 tsp of the zest and 1 Tbsp of the lime juice to the sour cream, along with the minced clove of garlic and ¼ tsp of salt. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust the lime juice as desired. Refrigerate the crema until ready to use.
4. Heat a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Once hot, add 2 Tbsp cooking oil and swirl to coat the surface of the skillet. Add the thawed corn and let cook until the corn is blistered and charred on the edges. Avoid stirring too often to allow it to blacken a bit. Let the corn cool slightly.
5. Finely dice the red bell pepper and red onion. Rinse and drain the black beans. Pull the cilantro leaves from their stems and then roughly chop.
6. Combine the roasted sweet potatoes, blackened corn, black beans, red bell pepper, red onion, and cilantro in a large dish. Stir to combine. Add some of the lime crema and toss until the salad is lightly coated. Add a little more lime crema on top just before serving.

Notes

*Use your leftover red onion to make pickled red onions, which go great with tacos and burritos.

3.5.3226

Step by Step Photos

If you haven’t already, take one pound of frozen corn kernels out of the freezer to thaw. If you are planning on charring them in a skillet like I did, they need to be completely thawed. Also, preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Peel and dice about 1.5 lbs. sweet potatoes (that was two small sweet potatoes for me, or one really large one). Place them on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 Tbsp of cooking oil. Sprinkle 1 tsp cumin on top and a pinch or two of salt. Toss until all the sweet potatoes are coating in oil and spices.

Roast the sweet potatoes in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until they are soft and slightly brown on the edges. Total cooking time will depend on how small you cut them, so be mindful. Let them cool slightly.

While the sweet potatoes are roasting, prepare the lime crema. Zest one fresh lime (I use a small-holed cheese grater). Add about 1 tsp of the zest and 1 Tbsp of the lime juice to an 8oz. tub of sour cream. Also add one small clove of garlic (minced) and about 1/4 tsp salt. Stir to combine, then taste and adjust the lime juice as you see fit. Refrigerate the crema until ready to use.

If you’re not using frozen corn that came pre-roasted, heat a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Once hot, add 2 Tbsp cooking oil and swirl to coat the surface of the skillet. Add the thawed corn kernels and let them cook until browned and blistered on the edges. Avoid stirring too often as this won’t allow the corn time to blacken. Season with a pinch or two of salt and let the corn cool slightly.

Drain and rinse a 15oz. can of black beans. Finely dice one red bell pepper and 1/4 of a red onion. Pull the leaves from 1/4 bunch of cilantro, and give them a rough chop. Combine the roasted sweet potatoes, charred corn, black beans, red bell pepper, red onion, and cilantro in a large bowl or dish.

Stir the salad ingredients to combine. If you’re meal prepping this salad, refrigerate it just like this without the dressing. If you’re going to serve it, add some of the crema, then stir until there is a light coating over the whole salad. Add more crema to the top of each serving. That pop of tart lime is more noticeable when you have some drizzled on top in addition to the light coating.

And that’s it! This Roasted Sweet Potato Rainbow Salad is SUPER FRESH.  

The post Roasted Sweet Potato Rainbow Salad with Lime Crema appeared first on Budget Bytes.

Chicken Avocado Pesto Stuffed Shells are a great way to use up that leftover chicken! With two types of cheeses, pesto, and creamy avocado, this chicken pasta dish is packed with flavor. The melt-in-your-mouth texture makes it the decadent, warm-you-up-from-the-inside-out dish you are craving this winter.

I always have leftover chicken hanging around in my refrigerator. Whether it’s from a rotisserie chicken I bought, a roasted chicken I made, or just some shredded chicken breast that I intended to put on a salad (no really, I did mean to….), there’s always a container lingering on my refrigerator shelves.

You end up running out of things to do with leftover chicken faster than you think.

This pasta has been my winter savior dish for the past couple of weeks (honestly I can’t stop making the dang thing)! It’s warm, filling and flavorful.  (more…)

The post Chicken Avocado Pesto Stuffed Shells appeared first on Cake 'n Knife.

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Artist Guillem H. Pongiluppi has envisioned what a Star Wars/Aliens mashup might look like and it is too awesome for this world. The first series was released last year, but he’s just updated it with a fresh round of illustrations. Drink it in because this is as close as we’ll ever get to this crossover.

You can check out more of Pongiluppi’s work on his website and Facebook page.

(via Ufunk)

If you and your friends are anything like mine, you’ve done all of the Escape Rooms currently in your city, and can’t wait for a new one to open. Well, luckily, we don’t have to wait anymore: you can now host an Escape Room in your own home! There’s no advanced prep needed and you can even participate.

I have to admit, I was skeptical. Would the Escape Room in the box give the same experience as the actual rooms? Would it be challenging enough for me and my friends? Would it be fun? So when I was given the chance to try out the new game, I jumped at the chance. And spoilers: It was even better than we were all expecting. It was fun and challenging, and I truly think Escape Room noobs and veterans alike will have a good time.

For those who haven’t done an Escape Room before, the basic gist is this: You must solve various puzzles as a group to get information that will let you through a (figuratively) locked door. There is a time limit, and it’s a fast-paced, kinda-stressful-but-actually-fun group activity. It’s exhilarating and gets your mind working. I’d highly recommend them.

This game comes with four different escape “rooms”, and each one is a separate 60 minute adventure. The skill levels vary, and if you go in this order, you can work your way up:

• Prison Break (2/5)
• Virus (2/5)
• Nuclear Countdown (3/5)
• Temple of the Aztec (4/5)

I decided to have us start with Virus, since my friends have done escape rooms before. And plus, it was the easiest to plan a party around. (Come on, it’s me.)

I made some laboratory-inspired dishes, like cakes in beakers (don’t use cotton candy thinking it’ll look like smoke. It’ll end up hardening and just looking weird. Lessons learned.) and an awesome “virus punch”.

Thank you to the fabulous Jenn for modeling the drink. And for willingly wearing a HAZMAT suit.

Put some green sherbet in the container of your choice, and slowly fill with lemon-lime soda. It’ll get all foamy and awesome looking! Easy and delicious.

Anyway, back to the game. We beat the “Virus” Escape Room in about 40 minutes, and we were all so jazzed by it, we wanted to do another right away. So we did Nuclear Countdown. (Luckily, if you end up going through a couple in a night, expansion packs will be coming out starting in 2017. And if you want to share the joy of the room with someone else, you can download anything you may have written on/folded/destroyed during the game from the Escape Room website.)

I unfortunately can’t tell you too much about the adventures themselves without spoiling them, but I can give you some peeks at what comes in the box and some tips for when you play:

The box does not come with gloves or glasses. We just wanted to be prepared for the virus. You understand.

The box comes with separate envelopes for each adventure, and a “Chrono Decoder” with a set of plastic keys. The Chrono Decoder acts as your timer, counting down the 60 minutes and letting you know when you can take a “hint” card. (Even if you think you don’t need it, it’s helpful to look at the hint. No one will judge you.) It’s also how you prove that you’ve solved the puzzle! You place plastic keys into the Chrono Decoder in a specific way based on the puzzles you’ve solved, and it will let you know if you can move onto the next level or if you were wrong.

The decoder also has actual decoders on the side if itself, which will come in handy throughout the adventure.

I would suggest having a couple of things on hand before you begin:

• A table or clear space to spread everything out and work.
• Blank paper and a pencil. You’ll need scratch paper and a way to take notes.
• A working phone. You may need to use it in various ways. Plus, you can use the Escape Room app on it, which has themed music for each adventure and a place to take and upload a picture once you’ve solved the adventure!

Basically, the Escape Room game is amazing, and should be on your holiday list. I’ll be bringing my copy to my family’s place and we’ll be trying the other two adventures down there! Pick up your copy from the Spin Master store. Have you done an Escape Room before? And which adventure in the Escape Room box are you most excited to try?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

*This post is the third in our Date Night In series with Chateau St. Jean. They (and we) believe wine and date nights are a great pair. This month we’re cozying up with their Cabernet Sauvignon with rich berry and soft spice notes that pair beautifully with my recipe for a Chocolate Tart with Poached Pears.

Recently I gave an interview in which I was asked something to the effect of “How do you avoid the stress of the holidays?” I understand that question, absolutely. There are so many extra things that make their way onto the already packed to do list and then there are all the things I feel like I ‘should’ be doing. Making crafts with the kids, bringing homemade treats to all the neighbors, buying the perfect gifts, saying a resounding YES! to all the parties, and decorating my home to rival that of a December West Elm catalogue. But mostly what I felt as I read that question was a pang of sadness.

The holidays and stress shouldn’t go hand in hand. I know, wishful thinking right? And completely naive perhaps. Money can be tight, family can be a burden to some and others may just not be particular into the holidays. I can empathize with that but what I love about the holidays, when they are freed up from expectations and ‘shoulds’, is that their purpose is to bring hope, joy and peace. What if we actively sought out those moments during this busy time? I wonder what I would say yes to and what would get a resounding NO! And can we all agree that we need to stop ‘should-ing’ on ourselves?

In seasons of great busyness our date nights are often the first to go. They quickly fall off the calendar to make way for another task we’ve deemed somehow more important than our own connection. This season I’m fighting valiantly to put joy above tasks, peace above stress, and a quiet date night with my husband above yet another trip to Target.

Now I realize this season is already a bit indulgent but I firmly believe that a quiet evening alone with your partner deserves a bit of fanfare in the form of deeply blushed pears and bittersweet chocolate. The enviable pears bath in a mixture of wine, cinnamon, star anise and sugar while hot cream turns a flurry of chopped chocolate into what Gabe deems “the best chocolate pudding ever”. The wine that dressed the pears in a stunning holiday frock reduces to a syrupy sauce for serving. Save any leftover sauce for vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Tart with Chateau St. Jean Cabernet Sauvignon Poached Pears

Serves 6 to 8 (makes one 9 or 10-inch tart)

Pair with Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot

1 recipe pie or tart dough

2 cups Chateau Ste. Jean Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot

1 cup sugar

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

1 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cups chopped semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate

salt

2 to 3 firm pears, peeled

Whipped cream, for serving

Chef 1: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch tart pan with the pie dough and bake until golden and crisp, about 20 - 30 minutes. Let cool completely.

Chef 2: In a small saucepan combine the wine, sugar, cinnamon stick and star anise. Add the pears then bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the pears are tender when poked with a knife, about 30 minutes. As the pears simmer gently spoon over the wine and rotate them every now and again so they poach evenly.

Chef 1: In another small saucepan warm the cream just to a simmer then pour over the chocolate. Let this sit for a minute, add a pinch of salt then stir well to combine. Carefully pour this into the tart. Let this sit until the chocolate is mostly firm.

Chef 2: Remove the pears from the wine and let cool slightly before cutting them in half. Carefully lay the pear halves on the tart. Drizzle the tops of the pears with the wine syrup.

Chef 1: Pour a couple of glasses of wine.

Chef 2: Serve the tart with a nice dollop of lightly sweetened cream.

Behold, the only stormtrooper figure that would look perfect displayed in a China cabinet. The white of the trooper armor is covered with blue floral patterns and an Imperial logo motif.

There’s even an AT-AT on the back of his helmet! I’m in love.

It reminds me of this gorgeous customized tattoo-style trooper repaint and I find myself hoping Hot Toys does a version of that. Check out more pics below.

Stormtrooper (Porcelain Pattern Version): $234.99

If you have roughly $2100 to spend on a collectible, this Half-Scale Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Wonder Woman Polystone Statue by Prime 1 Studio is definitely the kind of item that would make a great centerpiece for a collection.

Limited to 750 pieces, the statue stands approximately 40-inches tall and it features lifelike hair and translucent resin details that make it look like a mini Gal Gadot is just standing there waiting to kick somebody’s ass.

Definitely fits the demigoddess made from clay narrative. Check out more pics below.

Half-Scale BvS Wonder Woman Statue: $2099.99

You might be wondering, does this Baby Groot USB Car Charger dance around while my phone charges?

Hell yeah he does!

He’s also powerful enough to charge two tablets simultaneously. See him in action in the video below.

Baby Groot USB Car Charger ($39.99)

Fried Avocado Tacos are a quick and easy Meatless Monday meal that everyone will love! They are crispy, crunchy and packed with flavor – not to mention a chili lime dressing that you’re going to want to start putting on EVERYTHING.

I’m back on the taco kick! Big surprise, I know. This time instead of making guacamole to douse all the tacos in, I thought it was about time for avocado to make the star appearance in a taco.

When I went to Charleston to visit my close friend from high school and her family, her sister took me to this taco place right off the beach. They had these AMAZING fried avocado tacos that I honestly haven’t been able to get out of my head. I knew the moment I had them that I would absolutely have to recreate the deliciousness at home.  (more…)

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I am gonna be at Disneyland’s Wonderground again this Nov.  here’s the finding dory piece that will be released Nov. 5th
November 5: WonderGround Gallery at 7 – 10 pm

November 4 – 5: WonderGround Gallery, 7 – 10 pm

November 11 – 12: WonderGround Gallery, 7 – 10 pm

November 27: WonderGround Gallery, 7 – 10 pm

http://disneyparksmerchandise.com/events/artist-in-residence-joey-chou-2/?instance_id=

http://disneyparksmerchandise.com/events/artist-showcase-with-joey-chou-kristin-tercek-gregg-visintainer/?instance_id=

Want a full tour of our newly renovated kitchen in 4,390 words or less? Well settle in and sip some LaCroix, because this is the post for you.

Shall we begin with a few before and afters? You probably remember this view from our living room where you couldn’t actually see the kitchen.

Well, now it looks like this:

And here’s the old view from the other side, which is what you saw when you stepped in the door from the garage.

These days it’s looking a little different.

There’s obviously TONS of stuff to cover about this space, but today our main goal is to dish out lots of after photos and tell the story behind the major material choices that we made in the room (since we previously covered planning the layout and gutting & rebuilding). So let’s start with the cabinets.

Cabinets

You guys know we’re suckers for a white kitchen (we did one in our first and second house and loved ’em). So there wasn’t ever much doubt in our mind that it’s what we’d do here – especially since the trees in our backyard block a fair amount of morning light in here, and well: white cabinets = maximum brightness.

Side note: this week’s podcast, episode #20, is all about white walls (are they overdone? Played out? Still awesome? Only pretty in photos but stark in person? We interviewed two other bloggers about it, and weighed in ourselves). 

As we mentioned in our last kitchen post, we decided to order our cabinets through a local company called Chesapeake Bay Cabinet Company. We’ve worked with them on builder spec homes, so it made sense to collaborate on our own house since we enjoy working with them and love their finished product. We considered a few brands of cabinets that they sell, but ended up going with Quality Cabinets for a number of reasons: nice solid craftsmanship, soft close drawers that come standard, and being able to upgrade to a 5 piece drawer (one with a recessed panel instead of a flat front).

We also appreciate that their stock white cabinet color is a nice crisp white with only a tiny hint of gray. Sometimes stock white cabinets can skew more yellow or blue/gray than you might prefer, so bringing home a sample door to make sure it doesn’t clash with all of your house’s white trim (or your counter/tile selections) is always a good call. Even though we love a clean-lined shaker door, we went with a fairly traditional door style with a double beveled edge because it felt like it added a little something extra while fitting the character of our house.

We’ll get more into how we organized and arranged the cabinets in another post, but we went with A LOT of drawer bases. Almost the whole island is basically big, deep, drawers. I know. Hubba, hubba.

Some of you might be wondering why we didn’t do an Ikea kitchen. While we’ve used (and loved!) Ikea cabinetry in our laundry room & our bonus room, for such a big project where we’ve already mentioned that speed was a motivating factor, we thought these were our best choice. Our experience with Ikea is also that it takes some ingenuity to pull off some of the finishing touches (trim, filler strips, etc) to make sure everything looks balanced and fully fills the space you want it to fill (remember this?). So we just felt more confident working with our local guys to make sure we could pull off everything we wanted to do in here.

Counters

Having worked with several materials by this point (granite, corian, marble, laminate, and even concrete) we actually knew pretty quickly that we wanted to go with quartz. Quartz is a man-made counter that utilizes natural quartz to look and feel like real stone, while dodging some of real stone’s hassles (it’s less prone to scratching and doesn’t need to be re-sealed). It’s non-porous, so it stands up better to juice, oil, wine, tomato, coffee and other kitchen stains along with not holding onto bacteria, like raw chicken goo. So since we plan to be here for the long haul (and, well, #kids) it felt like the smartest choice for us. Plus you already heard how their 11ft super slabs solved our island size conundrum.

We were initially attracted to a Cambria quartz style called Ella, which is white-ish with some subtle movement that mimics marble (it looks sort of like Carrera) so it felt like a solid choice #counterpun. But then we came across a slightly bolder design called Brittanicca, which has a more pronounced pattern with a bit more contrast and wider, larger-scale veining.

Although the sample of it was surprisingly large, we knew it was too big of a decision to make without seeing a full slab in real life (we’ve been down that road before). So we went to a few local stone yards and fabricators until we could lay our eyes on a nice big slab of it. And when we finally tracked one down in person, we knew it was the one. We thought the thicker, larger-scale veining would make for a nice accent in the middle of the room. Especially when paired with a softer more concrete-like choice on the perimeter cabinets.

We also literally “went big” with the island and chose to do it triple-thick (3″ vs. the standard 1.25″ profile). With such a large island (that beast is 10′ long) we thought it might look extra cool with something more substantial on top. It’s one of those “special choices” that we initially worried wouldn’t register nearly as much as something more obvious and statement-y… you know, like a bold look-at-me paint color or a giant chandelier. So we had a few “will this choice even be noticeable?” discussions where we almost backpedaled and decided not to bother. But all that worry vanished as soon as it was installed. It’s one of our favorite things about the entire remodel, and it’s the #1 thing people comment on when they walk in.

The secret is that it’s not actually extra thick. Whenever someone asks how it’s done, we liken it to the lid of a shoe box. It just has side pieces around the edges that were mitered and glued to look as if it’s truly a super thick solid slab. And since they were able to cut all the sides from the same slab, the only extra cost was for fabrication – not extra material. You can also see from the photo below that it sits atop a big piece of thick plywood, which snugly supports the slab. And yes, it took SIX guys to carry it in. Not because it’s so heavy (well, it is heavy) but mostly because the original four guys that showed up were having trouble getting a good grip on the thicker edge, so they called in two more guys for backup.

Side note: the island veining is always harder to see in photos than in real life since it’s so shiny and reflects the white ceiling in pics, but that photo above, of the guys carrying it in, actually captures it pretty well. It’s definitely not mostly white looking. The veins are large and in charge and impossible to miss when you see it in person. 

Oh and the first fabricator we visited said we’d need a seam in our island, not because they didn’t have a big enough slab, but because they didn’t think it could be transported into the house. So we got a second opinion from a second local fabricator and they told us they’d happily send more guys to carry it if we wanted something without a seam. They also had an extra thick mitered counter right in their showroom, so we knew they could pull off the look. The lesson here? Don’t stomp on your dreams based on just one opinion. Also, in the ever-wise words of Selena Gomez: the heart wants what it wants.

For the perimeter counters, we liked the color of our previous concrete-covered counters so much that we decided to go with a quartz that mimicked them. So we brought some samples home from a bunch of different makers to see how they compared.

The winner was the bottom-middle one, since its warm undertones matched the warmth of Brittanica’s veining. It’s called Ice-Zement, by Compac. The cool thing is that it comes in a gloss or a matte finish, so we went with the matte one since it’s more like concrete and allows the shiny island to stand out in its own right. Oh and we ordered the perimeter quartz from a different fabricator because they were running a better deal on that color. So it’s just another reminder to shop around!

Hardware, Faucet, & Shelf Brackets

As popular as brass and gold are these days, we felt more confident that we’d like a polished nickel tone in here for the long haul, so we went with that for all of the “permanent” fixtures. And although I had pinned LITERALLY TEN MILLION BRIDGE FAUCETS, we ended up with a nice functional pull-down faucet with one handle, because John is the function police and he said it would have bugged him (and probably me) to have to use two handles to adjust the water temperature instead of one. In the end I love this faucet, so don’t tell him this, but he was right.

We also went with polished nickel shelf brackets and cabinet hardware, which both feel nice and weighty and solid. Polished nickel has a slightly warmer undertone than chrome (see the almost-gold hints in our shiny faucet above?) while chrome has more of a shiny-blue undertone that feels cooler. Both are pretty, but between the wood floors, woven blinds, and some of the warmer veining in the island, we thought some subtle warmth in the metal would be nice.

One thing we kind of agonized over was deciding which cabinets got pulls (handles) and which ones got knobs. We eventually settled on all the cabinets above the counter getting knobs, and everything that went below the counter getting pulls. And to make life somewhat easier, everything that earned a pull got the same sized pull.

We debated getting longer ones for the pantry and the hidden mudroom cabinets with extra long doors, but we worried they’d look bolder or more emphasized, so we’re glad we just stuck with keeping them consistent. For anyone who doesn’t know what the heck a hidden mudroom is (and why we wanted one in the corner of our kitchen), here’s a post with a lot more info about them.

Appliances

You may have noticed two pictures ago that we have a counter-depth fridge. We made this call a while back after our old dishwasher suddenly died on Christmas of 2014 (ho, ho, ho, womp womp). We debated replacing it with a cheap interim dishwasher from Craigslist, but decided it would be nice to take the plunge and replace everything so we’d have a matching set that we could enjoy for a while before the reno, as well as after it (years of living with a painted fridge, a black dishwasher, and an almond stove meant we were more than ready for appliances that were the same color).

We briefly considered doing white appliances (sometimes we hear whispers that the stainless trend is running its course) but we actually like the metal breaking up all the white cabinetry in here. Plus, some of the newer trendy white appliances were super ice-y looking… almost like a blue-white. So they looked kind of clashy with our door and counter samples.

The other reason we got the new set back in 2014 is that I found an awesome Whirlpool super-sale coupon that expired just a week later on New Year’s Eve. So we made some quick decisions and have been very happy so far… especially with the counter-depth fridge and our crouching-tiger-hidden-dishwasher (it’s so quiet you can’t even tell when it’s running).

At that time we also made the call to switch from an electric stove to a gas one. It was cheaper than we thought (a few hundred dollars) to extend the gas line from our fireplace to the old spot where our stove sat in the original kitchen layout, and even less than that ($50!) to have it moved to the new location later when we began our reno. We LOVE the look of the gas stove, we LOVE cooking on the gas burners, and we love that we got a slide-in range (see how there’s no metal “stove backsplash” poking up and overlapping our wall of tile?).

One thing we don’t love is that we’re still getting the hang of baking in the gas/convection oven. Fancy dishes that I make like crescent rolls tend to be a little on the crispy side. Can you tell that we bake a lot?

Everything is the Whirlpool Gold Series, so for anyone who wants specific links, here’s our counter depth fridge, our slide-in gas stove, and our dishwasher. We’re coming up on our 2 year anniversary with them and – apart from finicky baking times – have no complaints. And as a side note, it’s kind of nice to have separated the cost of new appliances from the rest of the remodel. Although remodeling around new-ish appliances was a little nerve-wracking at times (thank goodness for padded moving blankets).

Oh and we got a few questions about the under-counter microwave on Facebook & Instagram. We considered a few other spots, but after a lot of debate, this location won out. And after months of use we can say that we’ve been really happy with it. We’ve been fortunate that our kids don’t mess with it at all – although we hear they sell microwaves with number combos you press to unlock the door if you have that issue. We briefly considered buying one of those fancy drawer microwaves but already owned this one, and those can be surprisingly pricey ($800+ for a microwave!). So far, so good.

Also, I’m short. As demonstrated by this next picture. So reaching down around 18″ to put something in, and carefully lifting it back up to the counter isn’t really any more trouble than reaching up around 18″ to put something in and carefully lifting it back down to the counter (like I used to do with our over-range/upper cabinet microwaves). John, who is the opposite of short, reports that it’s not a big deal for him (“it’s not like I don’t bend down to load the dishwasher” says he). Also, what am I looking for here? My mind? Maybe it was my youth? Wait, I think it was my travel coffee mug. Yup, that was it.

Lighting

Adding several recessed lights was a no-brainer, since the previous three-bulb situation in the old kitchen wasn’t cutting it. Now there are three can lights running parallel on either side of the island plus five other “accent” lights – all on dimmers. We were tempted to add some of those cool metal sconces above each of the two windows, but our electrician said it would be tough to get an electrical box in (thick window header beams run behind there). So we added small spotlight recessed lights in the ceiling, which have been great. Subtle, but helpful for illuminating those places at the counter (or at the sink) that could have been blocked by your own shadow if the only light source was behind you.

As functional as all of our new recessed lights are, our favorite lighting additions are our three island pendants. They actually weren’t the original lights that we chose (we have a giant “mistakes” post in the works) but the short story is that the original lights we bought didn’t pack enough visual weight (they looked pinheaded over such a large island), so we designed some new ones through Shades of Light that work a lot better and feel more proportionate for the room.

We probably thought longer and harder than two people have ever thought about kitchen pendants (seriously, it was borderline ridiculous – after you make a mistake you feel like you need to spend THE REST OF YOUR LIFE overthinking things so you don’t fall into the same trap). We ended up combining a polished nickel rod (both to tie into our polished nickel hardware and to look tidier than the typical exposed cord or chain) and a nice large metal dome (14″ versus smaller 8″-10″ ones) that could be factory finished in any color. We went with this mid-toned “putty” hue that was deep enough to not disappear in the room, but light enough to not be overbearing. It also ties nicely into the veins of the counter.  

We didn’t just want to make them for ourselves, so Shades of Light put them into production and they’re available in 6 different colors (I love the light blue and soft pink ones – and that dark charcoal guy would look awesome in a room with dark lower cabs). They also can convert into semi-flush mount fixtures, so you could hang them in an office, bathroom, hall, foyer, etc.

Wood / Natural Accents

Admittedly, a lot of the bones of the room are gray and white. They’re warm grays and whites, but they could still risk veering the whole space into Starksville fast. So we wanted to add some more texture and contrast with lots of warm wood and natural materials. Obviously the wood floor throughout is a big help to keep everything feeling warmer and less sterile, but additional elements like the woven blinds, four wood stools, some cutting boards, and the woven trays were definitely an intentional choice.

We also opted for some open shelves, which were a fun DIY that we’ll break down another time – but it’s essentially some reclaimed lumber that we found locally and stained in a cool series of experiments. Like mad freaking scientists. Who were dying to make an amazing discovery. And also to have a kitchen again.

You’re also seeing the room in a somewhat “autumn” moment, where I basically went nuts at Target and bought all of their new gold accents (two vases, a little gold clock, and a gold frame) and sprinkled them around the room while impersonating Oprah. “YOU GET SOME GOLD! YOU GET SOME GOLD! EVERYBODY GETS SOME GOOOOOLLLLLLD!” Except I only had like four gold things, so that brought me back to reality real quick. Which probably was a good thing because John can only tolerate so much gold before he starts making Scrooge McDuck jokes.

That’s another reason why we love the light, neutral, and natural-toned selections that we went with for the permanent parts of the room: it’s a nice flexible backdrop where I can swap in different accessories whenever I get fidgety and want to festoon the kitchen with different vases and frames and planters and all of the other accessories of which I have “enough to operate a small gift shop” (says John, who tends to exaggerate).

Tile & Paint

We knew we wanted to go to the ceiling again with our backsplash tile (we loved that look in our last kitchen), so we intentionally left a seven inch “reveal” around the windows. That essentially means that we sized the cabinets so they didn’t crowd the window trim, and instead allowed an even gap around the windows so that the tile can be seen going all the way up to the ceiling.

We chose this tile – a matte, tumbled marble – because it’s a classic look that relates nicely to the brick fireplace wall in the living room that’s now visible just beyond the kitchen. Both add a subtle texture to each room without being too visually demanding.

We also sealed the heck out of it (three times, buffed on in three different directions to make sure we didn’t miss any spots) so we hopefully won’t have to worry about any staining. So far they have endured some pretty epic grease and soy sauce splatters (both the white grout and the tile).

Originally we just installed it on that big window wall, but we both separately came to the conclusion (while sitting on the sofa and staring at the kitchen) that we should continue the tile around the door too. There was this sort of “jinx! I was just thinking that!” moment where we both thought we were saying something intrepid and unique, but we were essentially just agreeing with each other. Adding tile to that wall around the door also helped the “mudroom” cabinets (to the left, below) feel more connected to the rest of the kitchen.

It also helped that door area feel more polished and took the focus off the fact that the door isn’t centered. It couldn’t be moved due to a metal structural beam in the garage that runs right beside it, and as much as my balance-loving brain wants to shift it sometimes, having that extra space on one side has made the mudroom function better. Like when someone (usually under the age of 7) leaves a mudroom door open (or three!) or a pair of shoes (or three!) out on the floor, the garage door doesn’t open into them since there’s extra room on that side.

Here’s a close-up of the tile next to the door (which is painted Lime Light by Behr). We didn’t get this color right on the first try. Actually took us three tries. If at first you don’t succeed… paint, paint again. And again.

Oh and we got a new door. We wanted to switch the swing of it so it opened towards the mudroom cabinets, so we took the opportunity to get a nicer paneled door than the flat metal one that was there before. Also, new doorknob. Polished nickel of course.

The rest of the walls are painted Irish Mist by Behr, the same color that we used in our bonus room. We like how it’s just slightly darker than the white cabinets and trim, while also picking up some colors in the backsplash tile. It nicely falls away and lets other things steal the spotlight, like the tile, the pendants, the shelving, the hardware, the extra large sink window, and our veiny island.

Sources

I know I probably skipped over some stuff (so many pics! so many things to say!) but we’ll do our best to cover anything we missed in a future post. For now, I’m going to leave you with some mood boards and source lists, in the hopes of answering all those “where’d you get that?” questions that are hovering out there in the internet ether.

Also, since we get so many questions about mixing metals, this board is a good demonstration that it’s totally cool to mix finishes, we just try to limit it to 2-3 per room (more might look too crazy) and we make sure each one shows up a few times so nothing feels random or like the odd man out. There are some gold accessories and some polished nickel fixtures/hardware (along with some stainless appliances in the mix) and it all plays nicely together.

1. Pull-down polished nickel faucet
2. Veiny quartz island counters (and here are the gray quartz perimeter counters)
3. Counter height wood stools
4. Polished nickel shelf brackets (our reclaimed wood shelves were local, but they also sell these)
5. Metal dome pendants (they come in 5 other colors)
6. Gold clock (it makes me think the white rabbit might drop by)
7. Polished nickel hardware pull (here’s the coordinating knob)
8. Gold 8″ cylinder vase
9. Tumbled marble backsplash tile
10. Wooden cutting board
11. Gray diamond sisal runner
12. Minwax Provincial stain (on our oak hardwood floors)

And what’s another mood board? Here are some more room sources for ya, including my very favorite drinking glasses, dotted bowls, and gold frames:

1. Square cutting board (I silver paint-penned the copper handle)
2. Carats DOF glasses (podcast listeners already know they’re my drinking glass soul mates)
3. Emily Jeffords painting (we chose “whitewashed herringbone” for the frame)
4. This is here to represent greenery, which adds life to a kitchen (try: pathos, jade plants, succulents)
5. Polished nickel door knob
6. Thin gold frame (I keep going back and buying more for other rooms)
7. White dotted cereal bowls (I love leaving them out in the woven tray on the island)
8. Woven tray
9. Pretty faceted pitcher (I like putting one bloom from a grocery store bouquet in there)
10. Woven blinds (ours are from Home Depot a while back, but these are similar)

Some other items that I’ve liked adding are: a stack or two of books (we have some about vineyards, recipes, and beyond on our open shelves), personal photos (we have a framed favorite of the kids), cloth napkins that are easy to grab (ours are in that woven tray on the counter with the bowls), and some pretty enough salt & pepper shakers to leave out on the island full-time. Oh, and a few candles that smell good never hurt. It really is those little at-the-end touches that make a room feel like home.

There were also several of you out there who have similar room layouts and wondered if you could get dimensions from us to see if you can fit an island… so here’s a rendering for ya. We worried our island might feel tight, but it has felt open and awesome, most likely thanks to the shallower-than-normal cabinetry that we chose for behind the stools (14″ deep vs 25″), which ensures that there’s extra passing room, even if people are sitting in the stools.

And before we go… one more before…

…and after. This time we could step back a little more to take this shot, thanks to a certain wall being gone.

So thar she blows. The kitchen we waited years (and years!) to tackle, that took months (and months!) to complete, but managed to be shared in three posts. Internet magic I tell you. We still want to spill more details about how we organized the kitchen (what we store where), what mistakes we made (oy, the mistakes!), how we made/stained our reclaimed shelves, and how we constructed these new built-ins in the living room (one of my favorite parts of the entire project!).

So there are still a ton of pics and words to come… but man it feels good to show you guys this space. And to finally be rid of those faux-brick linoleum floors!

Psst – If you’re looking for paint colors and source lists for every room in our house, this page has you covered.

* This post contains affiliate links*

The post Kitchen Remodel Chapter #3: The Big Reveal appeared first on Young House Love.

As you can see from the image above, Rick and Morty is the perfect place to find meaning in an otherwise bleak existence.

Seriously though, Will Schoder actually makes great points in the video below, and you’ll probably come away feeling better for having watched it. Plus, it will give you a whole new appreciation for this brilliant show.

(via Laughing Squid)

If you’re planning to get married sometime in the near future and your significant other is a big Disney fan, you maaaaay want to keep the following news to yourself. Unless money is no object that is.

If you’ve ever dreamed about getting married at the Magic Kingdom in Disney Princess style, now you can with their newest wedding option, the Magic Kingdom After Hours Experience.

As part of this Wishes packages by Disney Weddings, your wedding can be held in the park after it closes complete with a Cinderella-style carriage and the exchanging of vows in front of Cinderella’s Castle.

Once you say “I do”, you and 300 of your closest friends can dine, dance, and have the run of the park (that’s my favorite part). From the looks of it, they pull out all the stops to give you a perfect Disney wedding.

Of course, it’ll cost you $180,000, but if you can afford it, I can’t imagine anything more magical. Check out more pics and a video below.

(via Cosmopolitan)

Weekend mornings, particularly in fall, were made for baking. To me, there is not much better than wandering around still in cozy pajamas able to open the windows just a crack to let in the crisp fall air while making something delicious in the kitchen. There is an excellent chance cinnamon will be involved. Doughnuts often seem like a huge ordeal because of the frying involved (ugh, frying), but really, they don’t require much more effort than other baked goods. There are several little breaks throughout the process making them an ideal weekend project. And in the end, the frying is totally worth it, because doughnuts! Apple cider doughnuts…with cinnamon sugar coating. Let’s make them already, okay?!

Though I generally prefer yeasted doughnuts, these are incredibly good cake doughnuts. I was very pleased with the texture and flavor, and they didn’t go stale nearly as quickly as I would have expected. Overall these were fun to make and even more fun to eat. I would love to hear how well you fare against that little unassuming bowl of doughnut holes because as it turns out, I was powerless to its presence. I wandered past that bowl so many times for so many “reasons”, and suddenly it turned up empty and me with cinnamon sugar all over my lips. I know nothing, I swear! Make some doughnuts this weekend, loves. You won’t be sorry.

Note: I learned from experience, this recipe halves beautifully. However, upon tasting the doughnuts, we all instantly regretted the decision to halve the recipe. Do so at your own peril.

Oh, alright then.

Usually when you see a mash-up of two different brands that seem like a good fit it’s a fan-made bit of work. Not this, though – the BBC have partnered with Penguin Random House to produce a series of Doctor Who-themed Mr. Men books that will roll out starting in the spring of 2017.

The books will be illustrated by Mr. Men creator Roger Hargreaves’ son Adam, and the first set of books will feature the First, Fourth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors—but the range will eventually feature a book for all twelve Doctors (no, sir – all thirteen! …Assuming they do the War Doctor, of course).

As well as the books, there’ll be merchandise featuring Hargreaves’ take on the various Doctors Who. So, uh, wave goodbye to your wallet, I guess. Check out the covers for the first four books in the range below.

(via io9)

Y’know when you see something super sweet and adorable and heart squishy and you want to show everyone? That’s me right now thanks to imgur user duffmanszalotofthings (oh yeah!).

He and his new wife are huge Harry Potter fans, so he created a Pensieve for her wedding gift. Now, he could have just used a bowl with water and done it as a nice gesture of love, but he went all out and created one of the most perfect things I’ve ever seen. He made the wand and the bowl himself and packed the glass vials with notes that recall “a memory of her that makes me smile”. The bottles can be picked up with the wand thanks to the addition of magnets. *Sniff*

Check out more pics in the gallery below.

(via Mashable)

Gratin’s are usually loaded with butter and cream, this lightened version is healthier and flavorful, you won’t miss all the cream! A perfect side dish for Turkey or Roasted Chicken.

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