Upholstered Headboard

Oh friends, I am feeling lucky today!  I should buy a lottery ticket, that's how lucky I'm feeling! Okay, here's my bargain story... I have been in love with upholstered head boards for years.  Years!  I have poured over magazines filled with beautiful headboards, lusted after linen at fabric stores, thinking it would be perfect for a headboard, cut out pictures from Restoration Hardware catalogs, scoured CraigsList... Even obsessed over DIY plans and considered making one.  For. Years.

Last night I was searching FaceBook's online yard sale sites for some baby items we are still in need of, and I saw it.  The headboard of my dreams, listed for sale for $75.  Since the date posted was the previous day I assumed there was no way it was still available, plus it probably wasn't the right size, we have a Cal King bed, but I pm'd the seller anyway, and low and behold it had not sold.  And it was a Cal King.  It was like a golden light shone down from the heavens and violins struck a cord, that's how excited I got.

I offered to pick it up first thing in the morning and the seller agreed.  I planned to drop the kiddos off at preschool, take the car seats out of my SUV and head over to her house, which happened to be within a mile of my own, and swoop it up before the seller changed her mind and realized that it was amazing, beautiful and perfect and she must be insane to get rid of it!!

To further my good luck, the seller contacted me first thing this morning and said her husband thought it would be easier if he put it in his truck and drive it over so he didn't have to take the legs off to fit it in my car.  Um, yes!!!  Awesome! Anything to avoid taking the car seats out I'm down for. (You hear me moms, we know how inconvenient this is!)

Anyway, he promptly dropped this beauty off and I couldn't get it in my room and set up fast enough! What do you think???  I'm in love!

Whole Roasted Chicken

I'm There is just something about the smell of a whole chicken and vegetables roasting away in the oven that makes me think of fall.  Maybe it's the fact that I rarely roast a chicken in the summer because having the oven going when it's 105 degrees outside makes it feel like 100 degrees in my kitchen too. But, even though the days have been warm, there has been a chill to the air in the mornings and evenings and I couldn't resist the urge to roast a chicken this week.  

I served my chicken with some roasted butternut squash, carrots and fennel and we enjoyed every bit of it!

Ingredients:

1 Organic whole chicken (with giblets removed)

8 Sprigs of fresh thyme

2 Lemons and their zest

1/2 Stick of room temperature butter

Sea salt

Cracked black pepper

Garlic salt

2 Heaping tablespoons of Creme Fraiche

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove chicken from it's packaging and take out the "guts" from inside the cavity. Pat the chicken completely dry with paper towels and discard used towels, packaging and guts. 

While the oven preheats, zest your lemons and slice one in half.  Transfer your bird to a cast iron skillet, dutch oven or roasting pan. (You can just use a baking dish if you don't have one of these.) Salt and pepper the cavity and stuff with lemon and 1/2 of your thyme. Massage the outside of the bird with the room temperature butter.  Then season outside of chicken with salt, garlic powder and pepper.  Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh of the chicken.  When the oven comes to 425 inset chicken with legs pointing toward the back of the oven. 

Baste the chicken with the drippings every 20 minutes or so.  While the chicken is cooking add creme fraiche, lemon zest, juice of lemon 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper and thyme removed from stems to a bowl and stir until combined.  When the chicken reaches 150 degrees remove from oven and baste with creme fraiche mixture.  Place chicken back in oven and continue to cook until the thermometer reaches 165.  Remove and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes before serving.  

Best bird, guaranteed!

Soup Recipe for Fall

I am one of those people who love fall.  Pumpkin Spice, orange leaves, apple pie... Fall is my favorite season.  I especially love when there is a chill in the air and we get our first rainy days.  I know we're at least a few weeks away, but I thought I would share one of my favorite soup recipes with you tonight, as I thinking about the upcoming change in seasons...

Dice onions & carrots, mince garlic & roughly chop broccoli.

Saute onions & garlic in butter until translucent.  Add flour and stir until it turns into a thick paste, then slowly stir in the broth until the mixture resembles a thick gravy.  Whisk if there are any lumps from the flour.

Stir in the milk and add the rest of your veggies.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Add half and half and shredded cheese and stir until melted.  Use an immersion blender to lightly puree.  I still like a few small chunks of broccoli in my soup.

Serve with sour dough bread and garnish with more cheese.

Ingredients:

3 tbs. butter

3 tbs. flour

1 onion diced

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 large bunch of fresh broccoli without stems

2 small or 1 large carrot, diced

2 1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth

2 cups of whole milk

1/2 cup of half and half

2 cups of cheddar cheese (plus a little more to garnish)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large heavy bottomed soup pot (Dutch oven) over medium heat add butter. When melted add onions and garlic. When translucent add flour and stir for a minute or two until a thick paste forms. Slowly whisk in broth. Add milk and the rest of the vegetables. Simmer covered on med-low heat for 20 minutes stirring every few minutes. When the broccoli is tender add the cheddar cheese and half and half. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Use your immersion blender to lightly puree soup until it's your ideal consistency. If you like a chunky soup you can skip the last step. Serve with sour dough bread and top with more grated cheese.  Enjoy!

Spaghetti Aglio et Olio

This is my new go to dinner when I need to throw something together last minute and don't have much in the fridge.  Since I nearly always have a box of spaghetti, some garlic and olive oil, I pretty much always have the ingredients on hand.  Since I happened to have a bunch of fresh parsley, I added that to the spaghetti, but even without the herbs, this is still delicious.

Ingredients:
4-5 cloves of fresh garlic peeled and sliced
1/3 cup good olive oil
pinch of red pepper flakes (if you want more spice add two pinches, less spice add less)
salt to taste
2/3 box of spaghetti
1/2 cup of pasta cooking water
fresh parsley (if desired)
fresh parmesan (if desired)

Directions:
Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to box instructions for al dente.  While pasta is cooking heat olive oil in a large skillet over med-low heat.  Add garlic and pepper flakes. When garlic begins to turn light gold, remove from heat and set aside.  Once pasta is cooked to al dente, reserve one cup of the pasta water and add the pasta to the skillet with the olive oil. Toss well and add reserved pasta as needed to loosen the pasta. Add pinch of salt and top with fresh parsley and parmesan cheese.

Peach Cobbler

I don't know about you all, but peaches are my absolute favorite fruit.  Now is the time to get them at the farmer's market or from your neighbor's backyard if you are lucky!  I'm not usually one to buy bulk fruit at Costco, but guys, I couldn't resist.  They smelled sooo good and looked beautiful and they made their way into my cart before I could blink.

Unfortunately, my husband stacked up some other goodies on top of them, and by the time we got out to the car three of my peaches had been smushed.  I knew that I'd have to make a cobbler and was excited to get started on it as soon as I got home.

This is no fancy dessert, just simple, delicious and easy to put together.

Ingredients:
4 large fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
1/4-1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon
2 tbs flour
pinch of salt
2 cups of bisquick
3 tbs melted butter
2 cups bisquick baking mix
2/3 cup of milk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. After all your peaches are sliced, taste one and see how sweet they are.  If they are super sweet, use less sugar, if they are tart, use a little more. Mix 1/4 cup (more if needed) of sugar with cinnamon, flour, and salt.  sprinkle over the peaches and toss gently.  
• Evenly layer the peaches in a greased baking dish.  In a mixing bowl combine the bisquick, melted butter and milk and combine.  Dough should be wet and sticky, not runny. (Add a little more bisquick if it is too lose.)
• Spoon dough over the top of the peaches until they are nearly all evenly coated with a little dough.  Sprinkle a little sugar 1-2 tsp over the top of the dough and bake in oven until dough is golden, about 20 minutes. Serve with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

I hope your family enjoys this cobbler as much as mine did! 

Summer Soba Noodle Salad

If you have not explored the word of the Asian Market, you are truly missing out.  I was first introduced to this experience when my husband, who is Japanese, and I got married.  Since then, I've become a huge fan! You can find so many ingredients at such reasonable prices, which makes it fun and easy to experiment with new recipes.  It's no secret that I'm a fan of noodles.  Whether we're talking about spaghetti, rice noodles, egg noodles... I love them all!  This Soba Noodle Salad is one of my experiments gone RIGHT!  It's delicious and very easy to make.  It makes a fantastic weeknight dinner, lunch or a potluck dish that is sure to impress!

Ingredients:
2 bundles of Soba Noodles prepared according to package directions
4 mini red/yellow bell peppers
2 cups of greens, shredded (I love using the Trader Joe's Cruciferous Crunch Collection lettuce blend)
1 cup (or big handful) of bean sprouts
Your favorite Spicy Peanut Salad dressing (Trader Joe's has a great one)
2 tbs of sesame oil
handful of cilantro
1/4 cup of roasted peanuts roughly chopped

Directions:
When your soba noodles have cooked, drain and rinse well in cold water.  Transfer them to a large bowl and add 2 tbs of sesame oil and toss well.  Add about 1/4 cup of your Spicy Peanut Salad dressing and toss again.  Add your greens, bean sprouts and peppers and continue to toss.  If you need a little more dressing, add a little at a time until the noodles and veggies are coated, but not drenched!  Transfer your salad to a  pretty serving dish and garnish with cilantro and peanuts.  Voila!  You have an amazing simple salad!

Tip: If you are serving this for dinner, add some diced rotisserie chicken or cooked shrimp!

Here's are pics of the salad blend, soba noodles and salad dressing I use.

And here are a few more of the finished product...

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!