Avery's Big Girl Furniture

    With my kid's rooms I wanted something "one of a kind" and creative. With Avery, I did find a crib set that my husband and I both liked. The set is "Cherry Blossom" by Migi. I liked it because it was girly but sophisticated and not over the top with frills & nonsense.

       Av used the set till we got pregnant with Mark. She was still using the crib as a toddler bed, along with the dresser and changing table. But since the clock was ticking away, to a deadline I couldn't set back, I had to find new "big girl" furniture for cheap and with a quickness.

      By some stroke of luck, my neighbor had decided to throw out an old full sized spindle bed, along with a matching vanity. It was all maple and in great shape, but someone had tried to refinish the vanity, and did a terrible job at sanding. My mother in law also had a twin bed in storage, that was in perfect condition, along with an old dresser. (I'm saving the spindle bed for later.)

This is after I sanded the hell out of it, to fix all the gouges left from improper sanding. Beautiful, right?!

      While I was pregnant with Avery, I saw these pillows and absolutely loved the pattern. I had to have them!! They sat in her room for forever, not really having a place, then it occurred to me that I had the perfect opportunity to really create the perfect bedroom for my little doodle bug!!!

      To the left is my inspiration piece.

      I made a stencil of the pillow pattern by tracing over it, cut it out (which was miserable, but worth it) After painting the base and top coats to the  dresser & vanity, I stenciled the pattern in coordinating colors and sprayed a coat of polyurethane to protect from scratching.

      Please excuse the terrible quality of the photos, I took them with my iPhone.

      The base is a warm metallic brown, the flowers are actually a metallic silver, the leaves are a matte grey. I used Martha Stewart's metallic paint. You have to use a nonmetallic base coat in a similar color!! The metallic paint doesn't cover very well, but the effect is amazing.

      To the left is the side view of the vanity and below is the dresser.













      I still haven't found a comforter that I like, but the room is still a work in progress.






xoxoxo,
:0)
Cel

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

    I have 2 kids under 2, I'm a stay at home mom, & my poor poor amazing husband works like a dog. I try, like hell, to do things in a way that makes my life easier. "Work smarter, not harder", as Benjamin Franklin would say. So, I do things like group recipes together, when I make up a menu for the week, that use similar veggies or meats or what not. I do all the prep at once, during nap time or whenever, and then VIOLA, a dinner that would generally take me an hour to prep & cook takes 20 minutes. It's worth the effort, for me.

    That being said, once or twice a week, I boil a chicken & shred it to use in any chicken dinner under the sun, from chicken stir fry to fajitas, from chicken salad  to chicken wraps. It's already cooked so you just throw it in at the last minute to warm it up. Easy peesy lemon squeezy!!

    Now, I wish I could take total credit for this recipe, but I actually got the initial idea from mad hungry & kind of then made it my own. I like the idea that she uses a whole chicken, dumps it into a pot of water, with a few veggies (washed but not peeled or chopped) & an hour later something magical happens. You end up with 4 lbs of cooked chicken, homemade chicken stock & dinner and lunch for a few meals.

    I generally use a whole chicken, carrots, celery & an onion, just because its always cheap and what I have on hand. I throw it into a large stock pot, fill the pot till the chicken's covered with water, cover with a lid & let that puppy boil away for an hour. It's really a no fuss way of cooking chicken. Just make sure that the chicken is at least mostly defrosted, if previously frozen.

The byproduct of a perfectly tender juicy chicken is this amazing homemade chicken stock! And it was done for a fraction of the cost!! The stock can be used immediately, for chicken soup or chicken & dumplings or you can freeze it in ice cube trays or freezer bags to use another day!!

Tips & tricks -
Premeasure how much liquid a cube in your ice cube tray holds. Once you freeze the stock, place the premeausred cubes in a freezer bag to store & write on the freezer bag how much each cube holds. Fast and easy, no defrosting to measure & no extra dirty dishes, just plop them into what ever is it your cooking & let them melt away!!

I also saw this amazing idea in In this Crazy Life's blog on how to shred chicken using a Kitchen-aid mixer. Haven't tried it yet, but I plan on it!

Recipe-

3-6 lb whole chicken, gizzards removed (fryer or roaster chicken doesn't matter)
3-4 medium sized carrots, washed (you can peel if you can peel them if you like,
        I don't)
3-4 medium celery stalks washed
1 onion cut in half, papers & roots removed
pot of water
1 Tbls kosher salt

Place chicken, carrots, celery & onion into a large stock pot & fill with water till chicken is covered.
On medium high heat, bring to a boil.
Once a rolling boil is reached, cover & reduced heat to simmer & cook for 45-60 minutes.
Check for done-ness*.
Remove chicken from pot & place on a carving board or a large bowl (juices will obviously leak from the   
      chicken) to rest and cool.
While chicken is resting, remove vegetable solids from stock & discard. They've done their job.
Add salt to your chicken stock & bring back up to a boil and boil for 20-30 minutes. (This concentrates the
        broth, which would otherwise taste diluted).
Remove broth from heat and let cool to room temp or use immediately for your dish. Please don't be an
       idiot, like myself, and forget about the chicken stock!! I have done it hundreds of times & curse myself
       when I remember it after its been sitting out for way too long.
After chicken has cooled enough to handle, shred away! Rachel usually sticks hers in the fridge till the next
      day to shred or cut up or whatever.
Once broth has cooled, you can freeze it in any kind of container you like. Ice cube trays really work great!

*To check for doneness - pull at a chicken leg with a set of tongs, if the leg moves around freely, its done. If it slap comes off, its definitely done.

Enjoy!!
Cel