I'm Chalked!

I went to the Benjamin Moore website today (because we're painting the exterior of our house, hence no projects lately to post here!) and they were advertising that they now have chalkboard paint available in ANY COLOR! Very fun! I'm envisioning a playroom with a colorful chalkboard stripe on the wall...

Photos courtesy of Benjamin Moore Website

Chicken with Coconut Lime Peanut Sauce Gluten+Dairy Free

I wanted to share this great recipe that I found through www.foodgawker.com (http://www.familyfreshcooking.com/2011/02/03/chicken-with-coconut-lime-peanut-sauce-recipe/). My husband likes anything Thai and anything spicy, but I am more of a mild girl, so this recipe was a great fit for the two of us. The Sriracha sauce was a good addition for someone who wants a spicier meal. This is probably one of the most filling chicken dishes I've ever had!
 It is gluten free and dairy free!











Coconut Lime Peanut Sauce
• 1/2 cup [light unsweetened Coconut Milk (Mine was from Trader Joe's)
• 1/2 cup natural Peanut Butter
• 1 tablespoon Thai Red Curry Paste (see in photo)
• Juice from 1 Lime (about 1 tbs lime juice)
• 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 2 tablespoons Fish Sauce (I didn't have any left of this to use)
• 2 teaspoons Toasted Sesame Oil 

• Pinch of the following:
• Cracked Black Pepper
• Cinnamon
• Cayenne
• Stevia to taste, or your favorite natural sweetener (I left this out)
Chicken
• 2 pounds Chicken Breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup diced Onion
• a few Garlic Cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon unrefined Coconut Oil
• 1 cup chopped Asparagus Spears, cut into 1 inch pieces
Optional Garnishes
• Chopped Cilantro
• Chopped Peanuts
• Green Onion
• Toasted unsweetened Coconut Flake 

Method

• In a medium bowl whisk together the peanut butter, coconut milk, curry paste, lime juice, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, sweetener & seasonings to form a sauce. Taste and change anything if you want to. Set aside.
• Heat coconut oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add onion & garlic cook until softened. Add chicken, cook until golden brown and cooked through about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally for even cooking. Stir sauce into chicken. Partially cover and simmer for about 5 minutes to let the flavors combine. Add asparagus during the last few minutes of cook time. Serve with spicy Sriracha sauce and garnishes mentioned above.

Coconut Jasmine Rice

 Because the sauce for the chicken only requires one cup of cocunut milk, I used the remainder of the can in my Jasmine rice, which uses a 1:2 ratio, rice:liquid. Bring the rice and water/milk to a boil then bring to a simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is fluffy and there is no liquid remaining. I made sure to stir the rice every 5 minutes in case the coconut milk scorched.

Serve with the Thai Chicken....delightful!!

Coffee Filter Flowers

I have to admit that I've already changed my mind about the design of my entertainment room. It occurred to me that the original idea of doing red and blue does not match the dark green carpet and black couch whatsoever. So what coordinates with green and black? GOLD. My red curtains, red pillows and red accents are now all in a box, and I am starting over. This was my first project of incorporating a golden tone to my entertainment room. 


My project inspiration was first seen as an extravagant wreath made from paint-dyed coffee filters. I wanted to try this project but not at such an extreme level. As far as cost, if you have hemp, coffee filters and teabags, this will cost you $0.

This is the streamer that I came up with. I'm sure I will create many more flowers in the near future!

Supplies

 

Step One: Drown coffee filters into black tea bag water. Three at a time, let stand for 10 minutes.

Step 2: Pull out wet coffee filters and hang to dry. Depending on temperature in the house, they could take 10-30 minutes to dry.

 Step 3: Take one filter at a time and clasp the center to create a flower. Then poke a hole in the center and thread onto string/twine/hemp.

 

Hang where desired. My picture is a little dark, but you can see how it turns out! These would look adorable with string lights.

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's never been my forté to be creative in the kitchen. I'm purely a go-by-the-recipe girl. It's just my personality - afraid of failure, afraid of letting my husband down. I'm sure it roots back to my pride, and if I better heeded Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall", I would not only sin less, but I might also plunge in and not fear cooking flops so much. Ah, well, perfect me Lord Jesus.

Being thrust into the world of gluten-free and dairy-free baking (by my own intolerances) has forced upon me some creativity with substitutions. Subs work so much better for me in GF cooking / baking than following a strict GF recipe. I don't have to worry about having specific flours or milks on hand, and I can use my tried-and-true standbys. And these cookies, with all sorts of substitutions, turned out to be melt-in-your-mouth, perfect-crumb-size beauties.

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Trader Joe's chocolate chip cookie package
Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/4 C Sorghum flour
1 C GF flour mix (my standby is below)
1/2 t xanthan gum (or 1 t if using a xanthan gumless flour mix)
1 t salt  update: I think I would reduce this to 3/4 t salt. The salt / sugar is a bit imbalanced because I cut the sugar by 1/2 C from the original recipe.
1 t baking soda
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 C shortening (I use Spectrum, as it's non-hydrogenated)
1 t vanilla
2 eggs
1 package dairy-free chocolate chips

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Combine flours, xanthan gum, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Combine shortening, sugars, and vanilla and beat until creamy. Add eggs. Add dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes. (I put one sheet high in the oven and one low, and switched them halfway through.) The trick to baking cookies is to take them out just before you think they are completely done, as they will continue to bake on the hot baking sheets.

This recipe is just as good in it's gluten-y and dairy-ful form. Just use 2 1/4 C flour instead of the flour mixes, leave out the xanthan gum, and use butter instead of shortening, if desired.


Gluten-free Flour Mix:
3 cups brown rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2/3 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
(I've found mixing in almond meal makes it extra yummy)

Six Dollar Spice Organization

I am not the most organized person when it comes to things that hide behind doors, like spices. Poor Jerod has had to listen to my complaints many a time when spices fell out of my cupboard and damaged my stovetop or fell into sauce baking on the stove. My spices are typically stored above or around my stove, but that's not the best place for them as heat will cause them to lose flavor. Light does the same thing, but sunlight is the most damaging. So my goals for my spices were:

• keep them out of heat and direct sunlight
• easy to reach
• free up cupboard space for chips and snacks and things that end up on top of my fridge
• pretty
• inexpensive as possible

The best place for my new spice racks is between my kitchen window and door. 

Before:

First thing on my agenda - paint the wall. It's the same color as my living room/dining area, since all the walls run into each other. An Olympic Premium color match to Benjamin Moore's "Fantasy Blue". After painting, (and well after it dried and cured) I re-hung my pot rack lower than my light switch, and marked off where I wanted my shelves with Frog Tape.

Determined to get my shelves straight the first time for once, I measured and marked on the tape where I wanted my hole to be. After putting my first screw into the bracket (brackets were $.50 from Ikea) I used my level to straighten the bracket before drilling in the second screw. (I know, the paint around my light switch still needs touch-ups.)

And on go the shelves, $2 apiece from Ikea.

Last time I was at Ikea I purchased new RAJTAN spice jars, $3.99 for 4. Such a deal! Here are my new pretty spice jars on my cheap-o shelves, and I love the look!

The shelves look crooked in the picture below, but that's just my poor photography skills! I'm working on them.

Total spent on shelving: $6.

DIY No-Sew Curtains and Fixing a Roller Shade

The window wall of Hailey's room has been looking a little plain since we moved in a year ago and painted. Her roller shades (that came with the house) are pretty shabby (as in, one of them is held together with packing tape) and the one on the left is a light-filtering shade, not a blackout shade. With these long summer days I needed her to have a darker room at bedtime, so the light-filtering shade had to go. So I took advantage of...hmm...a few spare moments? Not really, I guess I just tried my best to pacify my squirrelly girls before lunch while I rushed to complete the job before Hailey's nap (at which time I would need the shade completed). 

Since I had enough blackout shade on hand leftover from another project, I decided to alter my shade instead of buy one. First I detatched the old shade from the staples on the ancient wooden dowel.

I used the old shade to draw on the width to the new shade. The length of the old shade was quite long, so I made mine about 8" longer than the window to account for folding over the bottom, and to make sure the wooden dowel would be covered when the shade is pulled all the way down.

The blackout curtain I pulled out of storage was quite wrinkly so I used the iron on the "cotton" setting, ironing the fabric on the non-plasticky side. It didn't smell great, but no plastic melted off.



I folded the bottom of the fabric over the wooden rod I pulled out of the old shade, and ironed it so I would know where to sew.


I don't mesh well with my hand-me-down sewing machine, mainly since I don't really know how to sew, so I kind of grimace and close one eye as I turn knobs and sew as fast as I can before one of the girls has a crisis.

And the wooden piece fit in the new pocket - success!

The final step was to staple the curtain to the wooden dowel, using my handy staple gun I bought to reupholster my wingback rocker. And yes, when I set the staple gun down and turned my head for one second my 3-year-old fired off the staple gun (which comes with a locking mechanism so things like this won't happen. But at 12:15pm and lunch is not ready, I don't think about things like locking mechanisms). Thankfully the staple missed her flesh!

And this is what happens when you forget to check which way the fabric should actually attach. I'm such a DIY-klutz when I rush.

Next Hailey got new curtains. I found this fabric on the remnant table at Hancock Fabrics. It was only 4 yards and I wanted 5, but I decided at $5/yard, I would add a contrasting fabric to the bottom down the road.

I cut the fabric along the pattern because I like to do things fast like that, and it worked perfectly. Gotta love geometric patterns!

I ironed the hems using stitch witchery, while watching Marple. How have I not discovered that show before? Probably because my husband would be adverse to watching. But I love Agatha Christie. 

After attaching some of these clips (they were 40% off at Jo-Anns, making them $6/package of 10 clips and I needed two packages). 

And hung the new curtains on a curtain rod I had sitting around. You can see on the lower right that they don't go all the way to the floor. I don't mind that for now, but I do love the look of how floor-length curtains hang. So I plan to sew those panels on the bottom. 

And here is the new blackout shade at work. So far it hasn't helped the 3-year-old to get to sleep, I think she isn't used to it yet, at least that's what I'm telling myself.

This shade might need an embellishment and a pull, but it's good for now. The tattered shade on the right still needs some love. 

I've also seen roller shades replaced with fabric, which I love! Let me know if you have successfully tried that, I have a few windows that could benefit from a cute shade.

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

Both my sisters (Anna and Laura) and I have issues with tolerating gluten and dairy. Since we love food that tastes good and enjoy the stuff we grew up eating, we have had to get creative with substitutions. This recipe is the peanut butter cookie recipe my mom made for us growing up, converted to be gluten- and dairy-free. Even though some of my substitutions were not ideal, they turned out yummy! My 3-year-old especially loves them.

My recipe begins with my gluten-free flour mix, which is great for substituting in any quick bread or pastry recipe that doesn't require a lot of rising.

Gluten-free Flour Mix:
3 cups brown rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2/3 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
(I've found mixing in almond meal makes it extra yummy)

Mix until all flours are incorporated.

To make the peanut butter cookies, place in mixer: brown sugar, creamy peanut butter, Smart Balance Light (next time I would use Spectrum butter-flavored non-hydrogenated shortening, but I was out), non-dairy milk (or water, if you are out of milk like I was), and vanilla.

Beat on medium speed until well-blended.

Add 1 egg, beat until just blended. 

Mix together in a separate bowl: flour, baking soda, and salt 

Add the dry to the wet, and mix until just blended.

Drop 2 tablespoonfuls 2" apart, and bake at 375°

Mom's Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

Preheat oven to 375°. 

1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup shortening (I prefer Spectrum non-hydrogenated butter-flavored shortening)

3 tablespoons non-dairy milk, like coconut milk or rice milk. In a pinch, use water

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 egg

1 3/4 cup gluten-free flour mix

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

Combine in a large mixer bowl: Brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening, milk, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until well-blended. Add egg, beat until just blended.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture at low speed, mix until just blended. Drop in tablespoonfuls 2" apart, sprinkle with sugar if desired. Dough may be quite sticky and runny. Bake 375°F for 9-12 minutes until brown around edges. Cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet, remove to foil to cool completely.