Crostini Dijonnaise – Mustard-Infused Toasts for Extra Special Spreads

If you’re going to serve your pate or rillettes with toasted bread and mustard anyway, why not save a step, and just make mustard-flavored crostini? That’s the question I asked myself while making the potted duck spread we just posted, and this was the answer. 

For a first attempt I was very happy with the results. These had the same crispy crunch of traditional crostini, but also offered a fairly noticeable, mustardy zing.

I’m looking forward to trying some variations using hot mustard powder, maybe mixed into a little olive oil. Speaking of oil, my only criticism is that these needed a little more fat. Next time I’ll use a little more of the butter spread, and/or drizzle in some olive oil to insure we don’t have any dry spots.

That aside, I loved the color, and as we head into entertaining season, I think these would make a great addition to your appetizer arsenal, especially when paired with something as extra special as a batch of homemade rillettes (hint, hint). I really hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for one baguette:

1 baguette, sliced diagonally

4 tbsp soft butter

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp yellow mustard

salt, freshly ground black pepper, and cayenne to taste

- bake at 350 F. until crisp and golden brown

(Next time I may try to add a few tablespoons of olive oil, and a pinch of mustard powder to the mix)

High heat paint (and other tips)

Hey there! How are you on this lovely fall day? I’m back with a few more quick tips on sprucing up fireplaces – I shared how to open one up and clean the glass last week and wanted to share this info with you as well. Are you tired of seeing our fireplace yet? :) I swear this is the last you’ll see it till I get it finished – I’m getting there! Follow along on Instagram for some more updates today and this week.

Because our fireplace was in the corner before (shakes fists in air!!) the surround was very small just because we had limited wall space to work with:

It was smaller than a standard sized one but way bigger than we had before so I was thrilled. So when I tiled the surround I kind of overlapped the firebox a bit. If I hadn’t then those skinny parts on the sides would have been super thin.

The metal sides of the fireplace were a mess from that thinset and the construction and there was nothing I could to get it off:

It was around the whole thing – it’s harder to see here but you can see the white around all the edges:

I tried scrubbing and scraping and nothing worked. I had a solution in mind but didn’t want do it until I was completely done with all the tiling and grouting.

This high heat paint comes in a can and in a spray paint version:

I went with a can because there was no way I was chancing getting any spray on the new tiles. If I had planned better I could have sprayed it outside before we even put it back in place. That would have been smart. :) But I would have had to be be really careful with it during the rest of the process so this was fine.

This paint is oil-based so it is stinky and it is not easy to remove if you get it where you don’t want it. I taped off around the metal, careful to cover every bit of the grout. If it got on the grout it would have soaked right in. That part made me sweat a bit. A lot.

I used a cheapy throw away brush to quickly paint over just the metal where all the residue was:

I didn’t take pics of that part because I was sweating. But you get the idea. Thankfully the painter’s tape did an excellent job and there was no bleed through at all. But can you believe how much better it looks? You can only tell there was anything there if you sit right in front of it and take a photo. ;)

Here’s another tip – you know the long panels along the top and bottom of the glass? If yours gets scratched up you can just pull them right off:

They’re held on by magnets on most models I’ve seen:

Years ago I spray painted mine with basic oil rubbed bronze spray paint – it wasn’t high heat and it’s held up just fine. Mine did have some scratches so I took them off to spray them again but then decided just to leave them off. I’m not sure why they are there anyway – you really can’t tell the difference if they’re there or not, at least with our fireplace.

Oh, and one more quick little nugget. If you have a gas fireplace and have the gas main switch like we do, you can paint it to match your wall if you’d like. It’s just metal and a few coats of paint will cover it:

Or if you’d like to spray paint it’s easily removed – you just unscrew it. That was helpful when I was tiling too! I didn’t realize that you could take it off till someone showed me.

This baby has gone through quite the transformation over the past few weeks! Here it is a couple months ago:

And here it is now:

The big wall above the fireplace is what I’m working on now. In my head it’s going to look fantastic – here’s hoping. I can’t wait to get this all done! After that I just have some smaller projects to finish up and I’m DONE with this renovation.

Have you used the high heat paint on anything? I’ve got a can of it if anyone needs some. ;)

P.S. To see how I tiled the surround go here.
To see how I installed the metal sheeting on the doors go here.

Duck Rillettes – It Only Tastes Like Duck Butter with Extra Butter

Duck rillettes is one of the most amazing culinary magic tricks of all time. Even though most of the spread is made up of fairly lean duck meat, by emulsifying in a little butter, duck fat, and duck gelatin, you’ll swear the final product has the fat content of the finest foie gras torchon. By the way, I miss foie gras torchon.

The key here is to mash the large chunks of cold duck with the warm duck fat and gelatin. As the meat breaks down, the fat cools and turns the whole bowl into creamy duck spread heaven. Pack it in a crock, keep it sealed with a layer of fat, and you have an incredibly tasty snack that will last long into the winter months.

Some chefs prefer to let the duck sit overnight with the rub on, and “potpourri” in, but I skip that step, and instead let the duck cool in it’s own juices after roasting, and then sit overnight in the fridge, to continue developing flavor. Once made, it can be enjoyed right away, but if you can hold off a few days, it will really come into its own. Or eat right away, and in a few days.

I know it’s a little early for edible holiday gift ideas, but keep this one in mind. The only problem is, once you’ve given duck rillettes as a gift, you’ll never give a gift as good. Just a little heads-up. That aside, I really hope you give this preserved duck spread a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for about 3 cups of Duck Rillettes:

1 whole duck (about 4 1/2 pounds)

- For spice rub:

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 generous teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

2 teaspoons dried thyme

- For the potpourri:

12 cloves garlic

six 1/4-inch slices fresh ginger

3 bay leaves

peel from 1 orange (only orange parts)

1 generous bunch fresh thyme

- Roast duck at 250 F. for about 5-6 hours, or until meat pulls away from the bones

To finish:

cold pulled duck meat

1 tablespoon Armagnac or cognac or other brandy

2 tablespoons soft unsalted butter

2-3 tablespoons warm duck fat (add as needed)

2 tablespoons warm duck stock

2 teaspoons parsley

1 teaspoons chive

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
pinch of cayenne

Next Up: Duck Rillettes

Warm fall touches

HELLO! First up, thanks to those of you who emailed about my header missing. I noticed it Friday but thought it was just a glitch…but it’s still down. I’m checking in with the designer to see what needs to happen. I have a new design coming soon (finally!!) but it would be nice to have something up there till then. ;)

So a few weeks ago I was itching to bring some warmer colors into the family room. This time of year has me wanting to use more reds, browns and oranges – which I used to use EVERYWHERE but don’t anymore. In the warmer months I don’t mind our more neutral pallet but fall calls for some color!

I picked up these pretty napkins at World Market to make some pillows:

I’ve told you of my obsession with using table linens for pillows many times…the love runs deep my friends. So cheap and easy! But then I noticed I already had a piece of this pretty fabric in my stash:

It’s called Kalita Spice and I picked up some from Calico Corners over a year ago. I think it must have been a remnant because I had less than a yard – only enough to make one pillow. I fell in love with it all over again and knew I wanted to use this instead!

I checked in with CC but they didn’t have anymore so I ended up ordering a yard through Amazon (from Fabric.com) -- with our prime membership I avoided the shipping fee from Fabric.com. Whoot!

I dusted off the sewing machine and got to work. Here's the thing – I used to be so intimidated by my sewing machine but I PROMISE you it’s not that hard. I think the hardest part of using one is getting it set up with the thread and bobbin and all that jazz – after that all you do is plug it in and do your best to sew a straight line.

I measured the size I needed (my pillow inserts are 20 inches square but I make my pillows a little less than that) and started cutting – if you are going to do any sewing or working with fabric a decent pair of fabric scissors will save you a lot of frustration:

My cutting is never perfect, so after I lay the two pieces of fabric (face to face) together I do my best to get the edges to match up. Because my cut lines aren’t always perfect I use chalk and mark a line down the fabric:

It gives me a line to try to follow as I sew which I need. ;) And if your edges don’t match up this helps to ensure that you don’t end up with any holes in your seam as well.

A few minutes and four (somewhat) straight lines later and you have a pillow. Don’t close that last side up all the way though. You’ll need to be able to reach in and turn it right side out:

I use a marker – anything that’s skinny – to push my corners out. You’ll want to only sew up maybe half of that last side so you can get your insert in too. When you’re done stuffing it you’ll need to hand stitch it closed. My stitching never looks pretty but I promise you no one ever notices. As you know those who do get a cookie…and no cookies have ever been given:

The day that I found that fabric and decided to use it I went to HomeGoods hoping I’d find some other pillows that might work with it…and I did. That day. That never happens. I LOVE their pillows because most of them already have the feather inserts that I like to use.

The brick colored pillows go so beautifully with the new fabric – and the new pillows go together well with the blue/gray pillows I’ve had for a while:

I would never have put the blue and the brick pillows together but they all tie together nicely – I quite love it actually:

I’m still trying to figure out a color for that mirror behind the sofa – a few of you suggested an orange tone and I love that idea – I almost did it but now I’m thinking more of a brick color? And I just a couple months ago I wasn’t using reds in this room anymore. :)

I made another pillow for my “office” chair as well:

The comfiest office around, I’ll tell you what. :)

I know many of you have wanted to see more of the family room so I wanted to share this view:

The kitchen table is now behind the sectional – we were able to move that over because of all the space we now have in here.

The sectional now floats in the middle of the room:

The fireplace is to the left. This area really isn’t any bigger that it was before – we actually have less space between the sofa and the TV. It’s a long and skinny room but overall there’s SO MUCH more space now. We love it!

Now I just want to find one more of those brick colored pillows – not sure that will happen. ;) But I’m loving the warmer tones and this gets me excited to finally get some fall decor going!

Do you sew? If you're intimidated by it please don’t be! Each one of these pillows took me about 15 minutes to make and only three of those minutes were actually sewing. :)

Remoulade Sauce 2.0

I believe there’s a very old remoulade video floating around the channel somewhere, but after making some to go with our salmon cakes, I figured it was high time to share an updated version. Better known as tartar sauce, this easy and adaptable condiment isn't just for fish sticks anymore.

As I mentioned in the video, it was originally invented to go alongside meat, so it comes as no surprise that it’s excellent on everything from grilled pork chops to double cheeseburgers. And when it comes to sandwiches, as long as you have some of this sitting around (should last at least a week), no mayo should touch your turkey on whole wheat. 

Regarding the dried tarragon reduction at the beginning; this is an old-school step that many people will skip, but if you can find dried tarragon, I really think you should give this method to try, as the flavor is quite different than if fresh is used. With condiments like this, every single ingredient is “to taste,” so be sure to adjust according to yours, especially when it comes to the pickle combination.

If you’re going to serve with something on the spicy/tangy/savory side, you may want to include some bread-and-butter picklesfor sweetness. On the other hand, if you're doing something like fried scallops, which have a naturally sweet flavor, you may want to go with just dill pickles to balance the flavor. Either way, I hope you give this remoulade sauce a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for about 1 1/2 cup of remoulade sauce: 1 teaspoon dried tarragon

2 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoon anchovy paste

1/4 cup finely diced dill pickles

1/4 cup finely diced bread & butter pickles

1 tablespoon chopped capers

1 tablespoon minced green onions

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

salt to taste

Free fall printables

Hey all! Are you ready for a lovely fall weekend? I hope to get some more done in the family room and have some fun. I’m working as fast as I can on getting it all done in the family room by the way – I know many of you have asked to see the whole space. There’s still a lot for me to do – some of the walls still aren’t painted, there’s trim to be fixed…but it’s close and I hope to share it in the next week or two. Until then you can go here to see the progress along the way. And thank you for all the ideas on the kitchen table yesterday!

The official start of fall isn’t till next week but it certainly feels like it’s already started here. The weather here in Indiana has been GLORIOUS. Oh my goodness, I can barely stand it. To celebrate the official kick off of the season I gathered some free fall printables from around blogland to share with you. All you need to do is save them to your computer and then print from home or send them off to be printed. Either way pretty cheap – and these are all super cute.

This autumn banner is absolutely adorable – so many pretty details. The hardest part for you will be to cut them out:

 

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Of course that’s just the first two letters – there are more at the link. :)

The chalkboard look is still very much in and I love the printables that are done with that look:

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You don’t even need a frame really – this would be lovely just hanging on the fridge. ;)

I thought these tags were really sweet – they would be a great addition to a little something for a neighbor or a friend this season:

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I shared this fall printable last year:

I added to it but I think it would be pretty all on it’s own too.

I loved this one because it’s neutral and could really be used any time of year:

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But it sure does feel fall, right?

I’m not a latte girl but otherwise this one nails it for me!:

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So cute!

This one is a little more graphic and they would look really stunning hung in a trio:

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These are available individually at the link.

This one has more of a modern vibe – antlers are everywhere right now:

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That one would work for Christmas too. ;)

I thought this one was just lovely:

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And this one…Lucy is SO talented! Gorgeous:

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Isn’t that beautiful?

There you go! Ten lovely, free fall printables – make sure to visit each site to get the high resolution versions. I always like to print pieces like this off on good cardstock paper – if you use a coupon or catch them half off at the craft store you can get them for a great price.

As always, I ask that you pin these from their respective sites. (I can’t remove my pin in button from specific images.)

Have you started any fall decorating? It’s still felt too early for me but I hope to get a few things our this weekend. Have a GREAT one!!