Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Monday, October 29, 2012

Cooking Challenge...Pinterest Style: Nacho Jack-o-Lantern Cheese Ball

I'm back with another Cooking Challenge!  This time, it was for my sister-in-law's 3rd annual murder mystery birthday party.  When I saw the recipe, I was all over it like Kristen Stewart on her director.  It's basically like a Doritos Locos Taco from Taco Bell.  Sidenote: How fun is it to say "Doritos Locos Tacos" in a Spanish accent?  Just try it.  Fun, huh?  

Via Cooking Channel

So yes, that outer layer is crushed Doritos.  Click here for the full recipe.  It was super easy!

And if you're interested in how mine turned out....here she is!


In true Shari-fashion, I left out an ingredient.  Not kidding.  After I formed the cheese ball in a pretty pumpkin shape and I was cleaning up my mess, I saw the jar of salsa hiding under a Wal-Mart bag.  It was just 2 tablespoons of salsa so I wasn't about to reshape my pretty ball for 2 tablespoons of salsa.  Now...if I had left out the jalapenos, oh heck yes, I would tear that thing up faster than you can say Speedy Gonzales.

Using my rating scale:
1 - Dear recipe, RIP. Laters, Shari
2 - I'll cook it again....if I'm cooking for someone I don't like.
3 - Eh, if I already have the ingredients, I may whip it up.
4 - I like you, but I'm not in love with you.
5 - Get in my belly! 
I give the Nacho Jack-o-Lantern Cheese Ball a.......4
It had a great taste to it but I think it would be even better if it had salsa added to it.  It was a little hard but then again, I think it would have been softer if I added the salsa.  
 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

My Dream Coffee Table(s)

I have been so excited about telling you all about this post but I'm just now getting a chance to write it.  For....oh....18 months or so, I've been without a coffee table ever since I turned my coffee table into my TV stand.  Since then, I've been looking and looking for a new coffee table.  I didn't know if I wanted an ottoman or an actual table.  What I did know was that I wanted something that was easy to move in case I wanted to move it out of the way to work out in my living room.  Ok, ok....so maybe it wouldn't be moved that much since I haven't worked out in my living room in months....but just in case I got a wild hair.

For about a year and half, I've been eying this table from CB2.  But I was thinking about taking 2 of these tables and placing them about 12 inches apart and making that my coffee table.  Well, the bad news is....one of these tables cost $149.  So if I bought 2, I was looking at $300!  Ouch.


One Saturday, I had some bags to take to Goodwill so I dropped them off and thought Well, I'll just check out the furniture section but I'm sure they won't have anything cool since I always seem to miss out on the cool stuff.

I turned the corner and holy moly guacamole! 

No, your eyes are not playin' tricks on you.  Trust me, I thought someone was tryin' to play a trick on me too.  This is legit.  Kinda like Coach Mitchell at UK's Big Blue Madness.  If you didn't see it, google it!  You won't be sorry.


I'm sure you're just dying to know how much I paid for them.


Yep. 5 dolla and 50 cents....Holla!  So for the pair, I paid a whoppin' 11 bucks plus tax.  Big difference from $300!  When I saw the price on these babies, I couldn't waddle myself with a table under each arm fast enough through those tiny clothes aisles. 

They were covered in dust, cob webs and definitely needed a good cleaning.  My plan was to wash them down and spray paint then with Krylon's Looking Glass spray paint to give it that look of the table from CB2.  Well, I washed them down real good with ammonia and even started sanding one of the tables.  Then life got in the way....and when I say life, I mean TV shows so I didn't get a chance to spray them.  

They sat outside for about a week and when it was about to start raining, I brought them inside.  They were kinda in the way so instead of keeping them in right in the middle of the hallway, I thought I would put them where they actually belong.  And come to find out, I actually liked them just the way they were.  Gold and all!  


I think Tippy even liked them.


The main reason I was going to refinish them was because of the corners.  This is probably to worst one but you really can't tell unless you're right up on it.  


I've been on the market for a new rug....one that actually fits the room and fits under the sofa and loveseat but I think the gold really works well with the rug I have right now.  So until I get a new rug, I think I may leave the tables gold for now.  And if I decide to keep them gold for the long haul, then maybe I'll give them a fresh coat of gold paint to freshen them up.


Wouldn't you know!  The other day, I came across this picture on one of my blogs.  This room was designed by the man.  The myth. The design legend. The one and only Nate Berkus.  The picture is kinda cut off but there are two gold tables......just like I have! 

Via Elle Decor
Maybe I'll embrace my gold cube tables and not change them to silver. I mean, if Nate Berkus is including them in his designs, then why shouldn't I? 

On a side note....have you noticed that you get a better sense of what a room looks like when you take a picture of it?  I know it sounds crazy, but I really didn't see what my living room looked like until I looked at these pictures and it's made me appreciate my living room much more....especially since I got these tables which helped finished it off.  I'm really digging all of the different patterns, textures and finishes I've put into my living room.  It just makes it feel....cozy and ecclectic. As Nate Berkus says, you want a room to look like things have been collected over time and not like you walked into a furniture store and bought everything in the room display. Now the other side of the room is a different story.  I still need to do some tweaking but for now, I'm liking the side of the room where I spent so much quality time with Tippy and my remote control.  :)

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Tippy Tuesday

Apparently Tippy has a twin that made his appearance at her Daddy Rocky's house.


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Friday, October 12, 2012

I decorated for fall.....y'all!

Well, it's fall and I usually don't do much decorating except maybe a wreath.  This year, I thought I'd add a couple more things to my fall decor since fall is my favorite season.  Don't get too excited.  I promise I didn't go all out.  

I started out with this measly little centerpiece.  I just dumped out all the balls, added some raffia, fake leaves and gourds and called it a day.  Nothing special.  I wanted to go out and find some cool branches but never got a chance to since I don't live in a forestry neighborhood.  


Moving on to the bar.  This is a new addition to my house.  I'm still on the market for a mirror above it and a tall, skinny lamp or maybe even a pair of lamps.  It's still a work in progress but I like the fall decor I added to it.  I already had the silver vase and the things coming out of it came from the Dollar Tree.....yep, el cheapo! 


If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you probably saw this one already.  I snatched this up at Kroger for just a few dollars as soon as they had their Halloween stuff out.  The best $4 I ever spent!


On the other side, I threw this pic of Tippy in a frame.  This was her first Halloween photo shoot and I'm pretty sure it's my fave.  She already had all of the makings of a bat: teeth, ears....black.  All she needed were wings and she was all set!  The photographers still talk about this costume!  


Moving on to outside.....I whipped up a wreath for super cheap as well.  I bought the wreath at Hobby Lobby and everything I added to it either came from Dollar Tree or I already had.  Yeah, everything probably cost a total of 7 or 8 bucks.  


Then I had to do something with my pots outside.  I absolutely love love love mums but since I'm not so good with that whole watering thing, I thought I would go easy on myself and buy some faux pumpkins at Hobby Lobby (at 40% off), glue them on top of each other, add some raffia and be done with it!



Easy enough!  Wow.  With all these fall decorations, I may have to go out and buy a storage bin specifically for fall decor!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Cooking Challenge...Pinterest Style: Baked Cauliflower & Chicken Tortilla Soup

I have given myself a new challenge.  With all of these delicious recipes I pin on Pinterest, I have decided to not let them just sit on my boards and, get this, actually use them!  Now if you know me, I'm about as coordintated in the kitchen as a drunk donkey in an etiquette class.  So now you know why I'm calling this a Challenge.  So with this challenge, I am going to use at least one Pinterest recipe a week and tell you how I screwed it up give my review. 

It's just Tippy Tuesday, and I've already made two recipes this week!  Ambitious, I know.  The first one was Baked Cauliflower.  I've seen so many recipes with cauliflower as a potato substitute or even a pizza crust and I have yet to try them.  Let me rephrase that.....I've bought cauliflower and the other ingredients several times but I've let it rot in my fridge because I was too lazy to fix it.  I should probably mention that I've never even tried cauliflower before.  Maybe that was my hesitation.  So when I pinned this recipe where she said her husband loved them and they tasted like french fries, I was all over it like powdered sugar on my funnel cake.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but this is the pic from her website.

Via Delighted Momma

They don't look half bad, do they?  Well mine looked quite a bit crispier...some pieces were pretty much burnt.  So here's where I went wrong...

The recipe called for 2 heads of cauliflower and I only used one since I was only fixing it for myself.  So even though I cut the cauliflower in half, I forgot to cut the other ingredients in half.  Remember that drunk donkey I was talking about earlier?  Did you know that 1 teaspoon of black pepper can be super hot on 1 head of cauliflower.  Now that I think about it....did I use 1 teaspoon....or was it 2???  After I turned over the pieces so the other sides could bake, I licked my fingers and my mouth instantly started tingling!  Then I rubbed my nose and my nose started burning.  Tippy even had a hard time taking a treat from me.  Yeah, it was that bad.  So the only way I got them down was by soaking each piece in ketchup.  But they were actually really good....they just need the temp turned down a bit. 

Other than the pepper, the only bad thing about it is it made my house stink.  Not so much of a cauliflower smell (because I don't know what that smells like) but a burnt smell where I let them get so crispy.  I mean, when you keep something in the oven for an hour, it's gonna get stinky. 

The next thing I made was this Chicken Tortilla Soup

Via Baked By Rachel
Since it required some chopping up, I chopped everything up while my cauliflower was baking, tossed it in a bowl so that I could just throw everything in the crock pot this morning before work.  Once I got everything in the crock pot, I decided to add some black beans.  I love me some black beans!  I turned my crock pot on high and it was ready when I got home for lunch.  I noticed that it was very "brothy" so I ended up spooning out a lot of the broth.  I think it was supposed to be brothy but I'm not much of a soup eater anyway and the only way I'll eat it is if it's more chunk, less thin stuff....kinda like my body type.  Then I thought it might taste a little bland so I added a pack of taco seasoning that I had on hand.  I'm not sure I can give you an accurate review because I burned my taste buds off. When will I learn to let my food cool before I take a bite?  Between the peppery cauliflower and the hot soup, my tongue has had a rough 16 hours.   

In order to accurately review the recipes in my Cooking Challenge, I've come up with a rating scale:

1 - Dear recipe, RIP. Laters, Shari
2 - I'll cook it again....if I'm cooking for someone I don't like.
3 - Eh, if I already have the ingredients, I may whip it up.
4 - I like you, but I'm not in love with you.
5 - Get in my belly!

So how did I rate my first two recipes?

Baked Cauliflower: 4
Chicken Tortilla Soup: 3.5

There ya have it!  Let me know if you try any of these recipes.  I'd like to know what you think.  :)

Tippy Tuesday

My mom told me over the weekend that Pupperonis are bad for dogs!  That has been Tippy's treat of choice for the last 4 years of her life.  Apparently it causes kidney failure in dogs, so if your furry four-legged friend eats Pupperonis, throw them out! 

I broke the news to Tippy that she couldn't have any more Pupperonis....and...she didn't take it too well.