EASY HOMEMADE SALSA

I have been in a cooking and baking mood lately, but a healthy one at least! Here is my homemade salsa recipe that is super quick, easy, and cheap to make (and fast to disappear around my house!):

EASY HOMEMADE SALSA

4 cloves of garlic
1 1/4C fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
2 14-15 ounce cans of organic peeled and diced tomatoes
1T Cholula sauce (or Tabasco sauce)
1t. salt
1t. lemon juice

Basically throw all of this in a blender and blend until it is the consistency you like. Throw in more Tabasco or peppers for extra oomph. We love it like this. Today I baked my own tortilla chips.....I would have photographed those too, but they have disappeared already!



XOXO, Steph.

ALMOND COOKIES WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND DRIED CRANBERRIES

As much as I try to fight against it, I simply love to bake. There is something relaxing about it for me. Here are some wonderful bar cookies that I've invented. It is hard to go wrong with three males in the house who will eat just about anything, but these were a definite hit! I tend to make more bar cookies now than shaped cookies simply in the interest of time. These would be great as regular cookies, though.

ALMOND COOKIES WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND DRIED CRANBERRIES

OVEN 350, Spray 9x9inch pan

1t. vanilla
1C butter
1 1/2C packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4C flour
3/4C almond meal (finely crushed almonds)
1/2t. baking soda
1/2C chocolate chips
1/2C dried cranberries

Bake for about 25 minutes. Enjoy! :)


I am linking to www.romantichome.blogspot.com

DESIGN INSPIRATION

*I am linking this post to http://romantichome.blogspot.com/ I have no idea how to attach the actual link thingy!*

Oh I have been busy! Working a 60% contract as a school psychologist and attending design school two days a week has been tougher than I had thought. Meanwhile, I am continually reminded that I am a mother to two boys (both in awkward life stages) as well as a wife. There's laundry to do, bills to pay, cooking to get done, and (continually) a kitchen to clean. Exercise, once an area of intense passion, has pathetically become near obsolete. When I do exercise (I have just returned from the pool!), I am reminded of how frightful my fitness has become compared to not-so-long ago. Ah well.

One nice thing about being a school psychologist is that SUMMERS are OFF!!! Oh it is a HUGE perk!!! I will be in school this summer, but it will afford me a bit more time to exercise and take care of things that have been neglected....like diet (won't talk about that one right now...).

For my BIG design project this quarter, I was given a floor plan and a random color by the instructor and I am required to use that color in 20% of my design. Today we worked on possible floor plans after completely tracing the blueprint given to us. Let me tell you....this is much harder than it sounds!! There needs to be 36 inches of clearance, a maximum of 24 inches from the furthest point of seating to coffee table, a minimum of 18 inches in between seating and coffee table, etc. My furniture arrangements were just not fitting within these criteria too nicely, but I will get there. I am on a HUGE learning curve. Many students have an art background, I do not. I merely know what I like. :)

So next week we need an inspiration piece for the room. My color is called Frozen Wave....and I am designing this house for a writer. I found this beautiful Roger Muhl painting that will be perfect inspiration for the space. I was freaking out about my color "selection" because there was almost too much I could do with it....very bold/modern, French Country, seaside shabby chic, and so on. But I am actually going with traditional. Go me! I finally made a decision.

So I start with the inspiration piece. We will see how I do!