Are Your New Year's Eve Eats, Completes?

Just in case you're looking for some extra special appetizers for your New Year's Eve party, I've put together a little collection of my favorites. These crowd-pleasers are so delicious, you may even get a kiss before midnight. Just click on the title, and away you go. Enjoy!

	Coquilles St-Jacques The kind of special occasion appetizer we used to enjoy before the dieticians and celebrity chefs ruined it for everybody.
	All-American Shrimp Cocktail There's something about dunking a jumbo shrimp in cocktail sauce that just feels like New Year's Eve
	Fancy Mixed Nuts Why the hell would anyone put out separate bowls of nuts, when you can go full mixed nuts? It's nuts.
	Potato & Chorizo Mini Quiches Originally a Super Bowl snack idea, these mini-quiches will work just as well on that fancy hors d'oeuvres buffet. They can be fancied up in an infinite number of ways.
	Oyster Rockefeller Any appetizer with "Rockefeller" in the name has got to work here. By the way, if you're under 35, you should call it "Oysters Roc-A-Fella." Trust me.
	Clams Casino It's not gambling if you know you're going to win. By the way, the house (that serves these) always wins.

Paint and floors! (mud room progress)

Well when I said I wanted to get my hands dirty again I meant it. I worked my TAIL off on the mud room yesterday! Seven hours straight – it feels like I’ve barely made a dent and like it looks like a whole new room all at once.

My hand is now a claw from gripping the paint brush so long, but there’s progress!

After I installed the new door trim my next step was to figure out what color to go with on the beadboard in the room. I shared the options I was looking into on Facebook:

I was deciding between a navy blue tone and a more peacock blue color and went with the latter – I’m a little obsessed with that color. I used it as an accent in the powder room, in the basement bathroom and I’ve used it in the living room too. LOVE.

Thing is – painting beadboard is a major pain in the tuckus. Seriously up there with the most tedious jobs ever. I start by using a roller over the whole thing, not worrying about getting into the grooves. Then I take a thick, angled brush and fill in the “beads”:

I use lots of paint, don’t be afraid to lather it on there. You have to go over it a few times to smooth it all out and get any excess paint out. THIS is why I feel like my hand is permanently in the claw shape. ;)

This time, for what I think may be the first time, I painted my trim before I installed it. What WHUT? Yep. I ALWAYS install first, then paint, and I ALWAYS complain about painting after the fact. I still don’t know if I’m sold on the painting before thing. It did make it a little easier – I didn’t have to worry about taping anything off.

But I still had to fill nail holes and touch up paint that I usually don’t have to worry about. Since I used such a deep color, I knew filling the holes would leave a white spot I’d have to paint over a couple times, so I mixed up a bit of my putty with some paint:

That way it matched the wall color better. Even after it dried it was still a little lighter:

I wiped it with a wet rag and then just touched up those small areas. So, the jury’s still out on the paint or install first, at least for me. I think it may be a bit easier to paint first though. Maybe.

So the blue color is called Reflecting Pool by Ralph Lauren. I’ve had an old paint deck for years from when they sold it at Home Depot (I would get it mixed in Behr paint). This time I took it to Sherwin Williams and got it color matched. I do love it but it’s more color than I’m used to, that’s for sure! When I’m in the room it feels deep and pretty. When I’m in another room and walk into the mud room it feels BRIGHT. :) But Lordy…I’m not painting it again for awhile so I’ll get used to it:

I did something a little different this time – usually the white is on the beadboard and the color is on the walls. I wanted to flip it around this time and I really like it! Now I’m not sure the door will stay that color though. It’s always trial and error for me – I just have to figure it out along the way.

It takes me eons to put a room together but that’s because I have to think through every bit of it:

I’ve had half of the walls covered with the beadboard for years, but never finished it up because I was too lazy to move the washer and dryer back in the day:

Next up I need to continue that around to the rest of the room that will be the built in bench and storage:

Those holes are where we had the dryer vent and heavy duty outlet – still don’t think I’ll even cover those with drywall since I’ll be covering it all with beadboard.

Oh I almost forgot about my FAVORITE part! The new floors!! Our flooring guy put them in for a great price again, $300 for labor. Now that I’ve watched him do it a few times I feel like I may be able to do this myself. But they make it seem so easy – they move super fast and just two of them had the floor laid in a couple hours:

I still need to add some trim over by the utility doors – I was more concerned with how they met at the transition piece to the rest of the house than over there. We went with the Jacobean stain and a satin poly like we have on the rest of the main level. After living with hardwoods for a couple years now I would use them in just about any space – even one that gets wet shoes. They’ve held up incredibly well! Any time we’ve ever had water stand on them at all they may cup up a bit but then once they dry out they’re flat again.

You may remember I installed the peel and stick vinyl tiles in here years ago – and they held up OK. Not great, but OK. The “grout” area between the tiles easily discolored, which I didn’t like. And I don’t feel like they’d be great for an area that gets moisture – the water would easily get between them. But the tiles themselves looked pretty darn good, even after years of use. I just didn’t care for the way the the grout areas looked after all this time.

If you had told me a few years ago we’d put hardwoods in both a bathroom and the mud room I would have laughed – but I’m a convert. :)

Next up – finish up the rest of the beadboard (I was waiting to decide on the bench configuration), then figure out the trim that will go around the top of the beadboard: Oh and paint the door trim. :) Yay.

THEN I can start the bench! I’m so excited about that! 

I can’t wait to make more progress in this room – and to create more storage! I’m stoked.

I’m just glad the bright yellow and black is gone:

It served us well but I’m ready for I’m ready for a change!

NOW I’m off to clean my entire house. When we’re all here 24/7 it’s so hard to keep up with it!! I want to start the new year with a clean slate! I’ll be back a couple more times this week, talk with ya later. ;)

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Utica Greens and Beans – Finding Good Fortune in Upstate New York

As many of you hardcore foodies know, there’s a southern tradition of eating beans and greens on New Year’s Day to help bring good fortune in the coming year. 

By eating “poor” the first day of the year, you supposedly ensure prosperity and good luck the rest of the year. I think I speak for all superstitious, Italian-Americas when I say, that totally makes sense.

Whether you believe in such things or not, you should still try this year’s edible good luck charm, Utica Greens. This delicious Upstate New York vegetable casserole comes in many forms, but usually contains some combination of bitter greens, usually escarole, pancetta or prosciutto, hot fresh or pickled peppers, and bread crumbs.

I’m adding some cranberry beans, so you all get rich in 2014, but that’s totally fine since the locals often add chunks of potatoes, and once you start doing things like that, all bets are off. Whether side dish or main course, this is a perfect winter vegetable magnet, and I hope you give it a try soon. Enjoy, Happy New Year, and most of all, good fortune!

Ingredients for 6 side dish servings:

2 heads escarole

2 tbsp olive oil

4 ounces pancetta or prosciutto, diced (You can drain some of the rendered fat if it looks like it's going to be too much. You want about 2 tablespoons total rendered fat pancetta in the casserole)

handful of sliced fresh hot peppers, or jarred pickled peppers

3 cloves minced garlic

1 cup chicken broth

12 ounce can cooked cranberry beans, or Cannellini beans, butter beans, white beans, etc., optional
salt and black pepper to taste
red pepper flakes

1/2 cup fine plain bread crumbs, plus more for the top

1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
drizzle top with more olive oil

I'm Back with a New Trick in My Bag!

That's right, I just flew in from New York, and boy, are my jokes tired. Wait, I think I've already used that one before...which I guess proves my point. Anyway, I've returned from Christmas break with the family, and looking forward to resuming normal production soon (for you newbies that's 2.5 videos every week!).

Technically, we're not supposed to work until the New Year, but it's been too long without a video, and I'm starting to get the shakes, so I'm going to film something today. By the way, the photo shows a very successful experiment I did cooking a prime rib "sous vide" style in a cooler. Now that I think about it, the title should actually be, "New Bag in my Tricks."

I got the idea here, and it worked beautifully! I don't think I'd be able to film, edit and post before New Year's Eve, but rest assumed this will be shared on the channel at some point. Stay tuned. I missed you all!

It was a good one

Hey. Remember me? My name is Sarah and I write a blog. You may have heard of it.

I didn’t mean to take so much time away but it was nice! I am now ITCHING to get going on something other than holiday decor, let me tell you. I have a list a mile long (I’ll share soon) that I want to tackle. I’m ready to get my hands dirty again (with something other than Christmas glitter)!

I’m also excited about organizing again. Since I purged most of the house earlier this year I feel more in control of our STUFF than I ever have. Now I just want to keep it going in 2014 by making the most of each space.

But today I’m looking back at 2013 at my biggest projects, according to your responses. I have to start with one I’m most proud of -- mostly because I love it, but also because I’m so dang happy to have it DONE:

The downstairs powder room was a work in progress for about three years. Or more. I lost track a couple years back. I’m SO happy with it now, it was truly worth the wait.

I’m slowly but surely (I’m the tortoise of DIY if you couldn't tell) working on redoing our master bedroom. I sold our old bed and so far haven’t even come close to using the money I made from that to redo the space. There were a few popular posts from that room this year, including the new DIY king-sized headboard for less than $100:

And then the 80’s nightstand redo that didn’t cost me anything:

And finally those brass thrift store lamps that were made over into glossy navy blue goodness:

I have big plans for this room coming soon – I still haven’t even finished painting it yet. :)

After a lot of trial and error over the past (nearly) ten years in this house, I’ve finally figured out what works in our yard. In other words – I’ve stopped killing things. Our backyard is coming together as a beautiful oasis for us, and I gave you a tour here:

I was busy in the kitchen this year – some of it I splurged on, like our new sofa table:

And some I did myself, like this IKEA table turned farmhouse table:

The whole nook got a new look with the table and the new light:

It works SO much better in this space compared to our old round table and we can easily fit six around it to eat (even without pulling it out).

I was craving color earlier this year and tried out one of my very favorite chalk paint colors in our foyer:

I painted one of my favorite Craigslist dressers with it and it’s such a deep, gorgeous color. LOVE it!

Speaking of that beautiful blue -- another bathroom in our house that sat undone forever was completed this year too. I showed you how I installed the floating wood shelves in our basement bathroom:

And then later on in my no-spend August I finished up the room and used that chalk paint color again. You can see the finished space here:

I made a few simple changes in the family room this year that made a BIG difference. The first was to change out the old dark mirror that was over the fireplace:

To this lighter, brighter one:

This mirror is one of the top five things I get asked about – I got it at HomeGoods and still haven’t seen another one like it since! It made a HUGE difference in there. Seriously…big. (You can see more about the fall mantel here.)

I saved up and finally found a rug I loved for this space too. It truly transformed the room:

And finally – if you’re like me the last thing you want to see right now is more Christmas stuff, but my holiday home tour was a big one and I appreciated all your sweet comments there so much:  

As always, the posts that got the most feedback were those that just talk about life, and usually those are my favorites. :) You can read more about our mouse problem and how I dealt with that here (I wish I had read something like this before we had the problem), my new favorite place to visit here, a BIG change in our lives (and the love of my life) here, giving up my soda addiction here and a rousing discussion on the prices at Goodwill here.

It was a very good year. Probably one of the best. I am so, SO grateful to do what I do. I have you to thank for that. Thank you for coming back to see what I’m up to, I truly appreciate you and I value the connections I have with so many of you. I’ll be back next week with some DIY and my plans for the new year! Have a great weekend!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Luke 1:30-31 "And the Angels said to her,"Do not be afraid, Mary..for you have found favor with God. And behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

To all my beloved fans and esteemed customers.......I wish u all a Merry Xmas!!

                              

                                                             ......God bless you......

 

Merry Christmas Cookie Update

Just a quick note to say I followed a viewer's tip, and rolled the chocolate snowcap cookie dough in white granulated sugar first, before coating in the powdered sugar. I was told this would prevent the white tops from fading in brightness, and as you can see, that's exactly what happened (don't let the bad cell phone picture fool you). Thanks, anonymous YouTuber! Enjoy!

Crab-Stuffed Deviled Eggs – I Love to Say I Told You So

I love deviled eggs, and have probably had fifty different versions over the years, but these crab-stuffed beauties may be my favorite. The sweet crab is a perfect compliment to the spicy eggs, but above and beyond the delicious flavors, these just look extra special. Okay, that’s enough about the recipe…now, on to more important matters.

Considering the fact that we’ve done almost 1,000 uploads, we’ve had very few controversial recipes. And by “controversial, I mean videos that caused vigorous debate about whether the recipe actually works as shown. One such video was our “How to Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs.”

While most had no issues, a small but vocal group claimed the recipe didn’t work at all. Some went so far as to say the video was a hoax, as if the egg industry had gotten to me, and convinced me to trick my viewers into wasting eggs to increase sales. I’ll admit, it is a brilliant plan, but it’s not true.

To prove my innocence, I’ve used the exact same method here, and once again, perfection. As long as you’re using a decent pot (as in not paper-thin), enough water, and can manage to successfully set a timer, I’m not sure what can go wrong. By the way, I used cold eggs, so that’s not an issue, as some surmised after the first tutorial. To summarize: I told you this works.

Regardless of how you cook your hard-boiled eggs, this would make a stellar hors d'oeuvre for any special occasion meal. You can be as frugal or extravagant as you want, and the garnishing options are pretty much limitless. Speaking of garnishes, that is a lemon, and not an orange! It's actually a Meyer lemon which have a much warmer color than standard lemons. I hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the bottoms:

*6 large hard-boiled eggs (makes 12 pieces)

2 oz fresh crab meat, chopped

3 or 4 tbsp mayonnaise, or enough to achieve desired consistency

few drops of Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp chopped tarragon

1/2 tsp hot sauce or to taste

pinch of old bay

salt and pepper to taste (don't be shy with the salt)

For the crab topping:

2 oz fresh crab meat, shredded slightly

1 or 2 tsp crème fraiche or sour cream

lemon zest of one lemon

Aleppo pepper to taste

salt if needed

Fresh chives

Cayenne

* I only made 12 portions, but this method will work with more. Just be sure your eggs are cover by at least an inch or two of cold water, and proceed as show.

Metal sheeting candleholders

Say that title three times fast.

Did you just say it? Me too.

Oh yeah, it’s about that time! The kiddo will be out of school in a few short hours and after that it’s staying up late, sleeping in, eating cookies, watching movies and all kinds of general holiday debauchery. Cannot WAIT!

This is my last project working with True Value this year and it’s one I’ve been wanting to try for eons. Seriously, I’ve walked by these metal radiator grates for years and years and always wanted to do something with them. They’re just so pretty! There are so many designs to pick from too.

I picked up the cloverleaf design at my True Value for this project:

(For you locals I go to the Pendleton, IN location.)

I had two projects in mind and started with the easiest one. The other one will have to wait but I think it’s going to be awesome. :) This time I made some pretty candleholders with it and I think they turned out pretty cool!

You can see the design on the metal sheet better here:

This one is a pretty brass/gold color but there are other finishes available as well. Isn’t that cool?

I used tin snips to cut through it but scissors work too (it’s very thin):

It’s a good idea to wear some hand protection (even SpongeBob gloves would work) while cutting – the edges aren’t crazy sharp but you need to be careful with it.

By the way, I held my glass holders up to it to see what size to cut it first. Don’t forget that part. :) I used some extra Goodwill cylinders (just like I used for the Christmas mantel) – I told you I had a ton of these! They are ALWAYS at my local GW.

When it was cut out I rolled it up a bit so it would start taking the cylinder shape – you need to kind of help it along:

Then I wrapped it around the glass to see where the back met up. I took it off and then used a simple line of wire to secure the two together:

I wrapped the wire at the bottom and the top of the metal to make sure it was going to stay put, and then just slid the metal “wrap” over the glass. That’s it!

I placed some simple votive holders with candles inside:

So pretty eh? I kept walking by them after I was done and oohing and ahhing to myself. They really are striking! I’m nuts over that metal design and the color. Of course you could spray paint the metal sheet any color you wanted too.

I think these look pretty for Christmas but they would work any time of year really:

Couple of things – if you have little hands around you may want to add some ribbon around the top or bottom if you think kids will try to handle them. Like I said, the edges can be a bit sharp (it really depends on where you cut them).

Also, you really don’t need to have the glass candleholders! You could just as easily just roll them up, secure the back together and then place a votive holder inside – you can’t really tell there’s glass there when all is said and done.

And finally, this metal sheeting isn’t cheap – I think $20-something each? I’m not sure. But I got three good sized holders out of it and had plenty left over to make another, so it goes further than you think it will.

Have you tried any projects with this metal? I’m planning my next one already…I’ll let you know if it works out!

I’ll be taking most of the next week away to be with family – I’m sure I’ll be back before the holiday, but just in case I don’t “talk” to you before then – I hope you have a WONDERFUL holiday season. Stay safe and enjoy your family and friends!

 

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own I would have done this project anyway and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.