It's spring & time to try a few new recipes...

I've tried a few new recipes over the last week. There have been a few I've wanted to try for awhile, & a few I've found on the spur of the moment. I'd make all of them again & thought I'd pass them along!

Honey Mustard Potato Salad (www.cuisinediva.net)

ingredients

1 tablespoon salt

1 pound baby red skin potatoes

1 red bell pepper - seeded and chopped

1-2 bunches green onions - sliced

1/3 cup honey mustard dressing (I used O'Charley's)

1 tablespoon stone ground mustard

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 package bacon bits

directions

1. Scrub the potatoes well.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

3. Add the salt to the boiling water.

4. Add the potatoes to the pot of water, and let cook for 15 minutes.

5. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the dressing by whisking together the honey mustard dressing, stone ground mustard and honey in a small bowl.

6. Drain the potatoes in a colander and rinse with cool water.

7. Add the cooked potatoes to a large mixing bowl.

8. Add the bell pepper and green onions.

9. Stir in the honey mustard dressing and bacon bits.

This was a quick & easy potato salad. I didn't have red bell peppers on hand, so I used celery & sweet onion along with the green onion. I also crisped the bacon bits by layering them on a cookie sheet & baking at 350 for about 3-5 minutes. It was perfect to throw together for a weekend lunch!

Italian Sausage Lasagna - with no boil pasta (AllRecipes)

ingredients

• 2 Italian sausage links, casings removed
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 4 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
• 3/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

directions

1. Crumble sausage into a small skillet. Add onion and garlic; cook over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Combine the egg, ricotta and parsley.

2. Spread 1/4 cup sauce in an 8-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. loaf dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Layer the uncooked pasta over sauce (overlap a bit as they will expand when cooking); top with a third of the remaining sauce, a third of the ricotta mixture and 3 tablespoons mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers two-three times.

3. Cover. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until lightly browned. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

The no-boil pasta was an exciting find for me! (Apparently, it's been around for awhile. I just happened upon it last Sunday in Kroger.) I've never made my own pasta (one day!), & boiling lasagna always leaves me with more broken, un-useable pieces. And it takes longer. This was a perfect solution. I even made it on a week night - after work, when we both had somewhere to go after dinner! A perfect & delicious time-saver.

Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake (Southern Living, March 2011)

(No, not my picture. It's Southern Living's. We ate/gave ours away before I got a picture. And theirs is prettier.)

ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
• 6 large eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup strawberry glaze
• 1 (6-inch) wooden skewer
• 
  

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add cream cheese, beating until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

2. Gradually add flour to butter mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition, stopping to scrape bowl as needed. Stir in almond and vanilla extracts. Pour one-third of batter into a greased and floured 10-inch (14-cup) tube pan (about 2 2/3 cups batter). Dollop 8 rounded teaspoonfuls strawberry glaze over batter, and swirl with wooden skewer. Repeat procedure once, and top with remaining third of batter.

3. Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour).

This was a great cake to make! We thought it was delicious with the strawberry but think it'd be a great plain pound cake without it. The cream cheese makes it rich & moist. I can't wait to make it again when strawberries are in season!

The moms came, & we did projects!

Last weekend, my mom & Todd's mom (the moms) came to visit. It was a great weekend - Friday night was gorgeous, so we ate outside at the sidewalk tables at the Salem Street Pub downtown. Then Saturday morning, we went shopping for fabric to recover our dining room chairs & materials to make a headboard out of a shower curtain. Saturday afternoon, we tackled the headboard, which - for the record - is not nearly as simple, quick, & easy as the 30-minute segments on HGTV make it out to be. Saturday night, we recovered our four dining room chairs. And along the way, managed to squeeze in a little more shopping time, decorating, rearranging (already!), & organizing. It was a fun weekend for all! (Though I'm sure the moms are looking forward to coming for a visit when we don't put them to work.) :)

The headboard started as a big piece of plywood at Lowes. We had it cut then brought it home to drill holes for the buttons & begin the covering process with foam, batting, the shower curtain, & finally, the self-cover buttons.

After borrowing the neighbor's staple gun (ours broke) & going to buy another staple gun (yes, 3 staple guns were used on this project), we completed the headboard & mounted it using heavyweight picture mounts & mirror wire.

It's perfect with the plum & white themed room!

We cut extra fabric off the side of the shower curtain & used the self-cover button kits from Joann's to make 6 buttons then pulled them through with a long sewing needle, upholstery thread, & secured them with small dowels on the back.

The chairs needed a little polishing & some fresh fabric for the cushions.

I found this neutral, khaki fabric with a little bit of texture & stretch at a fabric warehouse for only $7.99/yd! I want to find white & khaki color block panels for curtains in the dining room.

And now, I'm on the hunt for more (hopefully matching!) dining room chairs.

Room by Room: Master Bedroom & Bathroom

We are officially moved. Mostly settled. Loving it. :) The list of projects I had when we bought & moved continues to grow! We'll take each project, little by little, & continue to make our house our home.

Introducing... The Master Bedroom & Bath! (Still a work in progress.)

The master bedroom. We used all Valspar colors from Lowe's - this is "drizzling mist."

I found these wall hangings - they're painted, antiqued wood & wrought iron. I fell in love with them & thought they'd be perfect in our bedroom. This one is over our bed. There's another longer one that we still have to hang.

This is a vase I found - it's very wide but narrow. I liked the gray color & thought it was unique. I'm planning to put cotton stems in it to add height & texture!

This is our master bath. When we painted, we pulled down the mirror (the standard, big, builder's grade mirror). We replaced with these two tilting mirrors by Delta in an oil rubbed bronze finish to match our other fixture. The paint color is 2 shades lighter than the bedroom - it's called "silver leaf."

We have a house, & it's being painted!

Goodness I need to catch up! Here's a quick recap since last Wednesday:

1. We bought a house! We closed last Wednesday.

2. We bought a LOT of paint at Lowe's on Thursday - & have been back to Lowe's many times since.

3. On Friday, mom & dad came to town to lend their cleaning, wall taping, & painting skills. On Friday night, we washed walls & taped them to prepare for painting on Saturday!

4. On Saturday, the painting commenced. We finished the master BR on Saturday. The kitchen became a lengthy project - the previous owners had textured the kitchen walls, so we had to sand them then prime them before we could paint. Then we put one coat on the dining room.

5. On Sunday, Todd had to work but mom, dad, & I got a lot accomplished! Dad completed the kitchen, & mom & I completed the foyer & the laundry room. Mom had to go home, but dad's here through Wednesday!

This morning, Todd & dad will finish the dining room then move on to our master BA. The living room is the big project - higher ceilings & a much bigger room. That will be the afternoon-Tuesday project.

We are excited! I don't have all my pictures downloaded, but I've included a few I took on my phone. A work in progress - but I couldn't be happier. :)

Our house!

Dining room

Master BR (dark grey)

Kitchen

Kitchen

1 week away! And "thank you" in advance.

In one week, we'll close on our happy little house in Apex! I couldn't be more thrilled (neither could Todd - he just doesn't show it as much as I do). I love Apex & I love that house - but more than anything, I love that we're finally settling & putting down roots somewhere. And after the transition of the past year & the early moments when I wasn't sure what we'd done was right, I'm truly thankful that "somewhere" is here. :)

We'll have our townhouse till February 28, so we're going to take a week to paint then move bit by bit. I think February 12 will be our big moving day! I already know this will be one of those times when "thank you" is never enough for all the people who will give of their time, talents, skills, & muscles to help us. My dad is taking time off from work & will spend almost a week with us helping (errr, doing a lot of) the painting. Then Todd's mom & aunt will be in town to help with projects & packing. Then our amazing church friends & family will help us with the hoisting, lifting, & transporting. And my mom & Todd's mom will be back in town bringing the last few things we left in Orangeburg - a china cabinet, & the baby grand piano! (A side note, we crossed many houses off our list because that baby grand piano would not fit. Fingers crossed that the measurements are true & the intended corner for the piano will work!) And then, after it all, we'll be settled in our house & will make it our home.

So "THANK YOU!" in advance to so many people for all that you'll do for us in the coming weeks. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." :)

Why a blog? Why now?

"Never have so many had so little to say to so few." - blogging quote

I'm usually pretty terrible at making new year's resolutions. Mainly because there's a lot of pressure to keep them & make them work. So instead I like to keep a running list of things I'd like to do - not just in January, but always. Less pressure. The freedom to dream. The right to always add to "the list." It makes the whole process much easier.

A year ago, in January 2010, Todd & I found out we'd be moving to Apex. There's no need to rehash all the stories & emotions that came along with that move a year ago, but I'd thought of creating a blog then. To account for picking up & moving from Atlanta, Todd starting a new job, me transferring with my company (which may as well have been a new job), & starting our lives in NC. But I didn't. Partly because I didn't think I'd do a great job of controlling my emotions well enough for all to read, & partly because - let's be honest - who would want to read a blog about the Arants? But now - this year - I've decided we'll have a blog. We'll keep up with friends & family, I'll get to write & rant - no pressure to read it, but it's here if you want to.

I told Todd what I was doing - & the first thing he said was the quote at the beginning of this post. "Never have so many had so little to say to so few." It made me laugh. So here we are - joining the millions & writing a blog. We hope you'll follow if you want to. Remember - no pressure. :)

Cheers to the new year & new beginnings!