Oh By The Way...

13.2.11

I'm in Love...

... with everything about this picture.

I love that it's a Kate Spade campaign
with Bryce Dallas Howard
showing off the new spring line.

Love it all.

11.2.11

I've been trying to find the perfect pomodoro sauce...
and it hasn't been easy...

I've tried all kinds of recipes and techniques.

I would say for time, taste and effort... this recipe is my winner (so far).
The kids love it, the husband loves it and it's really quite easy.
I probably make this at least once a week.

It's so yummers and super healthy.

Here you have it...

I take a shallow casserole dish and spray it with cooking spray...

Set oven to broil

1 28oz Can of Stewed tomatoes
- I dice them in half above the can and drain out the juice and seeds (some seeds will evade you).
About five medium garlic cloves - crushed
Olive Oil
- I just pour it all around... if I had to guess... I'd say it's about 1/4 cup... I think... maybe? If the sauce seems dry while it's roasting, just add more...
Truffle Oil (if you don't have it... skip it)
- Maybe 2 tbsp.
Fresh Ground Pepper and Salt.
Sugar - I'd say about a tsp.
Tomato Paste
- 4 - 5 tbsp.

Broil away...
I don't time it, but you want all the tops of the tomatoes to be good and browned.
Maybe 15 min.?
Honestly just watch it... cause I really have no idea...
Once it's browning really nice,
I toss a handful of chopped fresh basil on top and give it a good stir.
Let it broil for another 3-5 min.
Once I've taken it out of the oven, I take a potato masher and mash down all the tomatoes...
if it seems a little dry add more oil.
Taste and add desired amount of salt/pepper.

I will often use 2 cans of tomatoes and adjust everything else to make a little more.

I like to put this with whole wheat thin spaghetti...
if you pick a good brand you won't even miss your old white pasta.
I often serve this with a pine-nut chicken recipe that I'll post sometime soon.

I know I'm T-errible at writing out recipes...
I'm trying to be better at paying attention to what I do.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do...

7.2.11

Scrap Paper Canvas

One of my favorite, easy, cheap crafts to do is scrap paper canvases.
I first made some when we lived in San Francisco for Maggie's room.

The other day I was decorating my shelves for Valentine's day and had some empty space.
I went through my craft dresser and found an unused canvas,
and decided that that would fill just enough space.

The first thing I do is sketch an idea...

Pick the paper scheme I want...

Cut and paste everything together...
Mod podge the cutouts onto the canvas...
Distress the edges and random spots on the canvas...
And finally I mod podge the entire thing...

The finished project... viola!

17.1.11

Tina Tina Bo-bina...

I caught all of 5 sec. of the SAG awards last night,
but in those teeny seconds I watched, Alec Baldwin won something
and I caught a glimpse of Tina Fey...

I mean... she's so funny,
she doesn't really have to be beautiful,
lucky for her it's just an extra perk.
I loved the dress.

We all know how I love me some red...

20.12.10

Christmas Movie Lovin'

We love ourselves some Christmas movies around here...
and Disney's short films are hands down our favourite.

My all time favourite doesn't happen to be available on a christmas DVD,
but you can find it in Walt Disney's Treasure Donald Volume 2 or just watch it on Youtube.
It kills me ev.er.y.time Donald comes racing down the hill again to destroy the boys snowman,
only to sadly discover they'd hid a giant rock behind their creation.
I love that he loses every stitch of hair on his fur coat from the wallop.

10.12.10

Easy Peasy...

Yet another thing I'd seen quite some time ago and thought "maybe I'll make that"...
months went by...
and then I got to thinking that I needed a new Christmas wreath.
One without little berries that will freeze and fracture.
This seemed like the perfect option.
It's super easy and super cheap
(like maybe $7 total (but obviously that's if you use synthetic felt))