Foodie Friday: Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce

I often have the same problem when I get home from work. I'm too tired to make a gourmet dinner. I tried when I was first married to present hubby with lovely, multi-course meals. That lasted about 6 months. Now, I look for quick an easy. And that's where my handy crock pot comes into play!

I make this spaghetti sauce pretty often and can use it in many ways. Want spaghetti? Perfect. How about lasagna? Check out next Friday's post. Then there's that thing my husband called "goulash" for the first six months of our marriage that I finally figured out meant rotini or macaroni with sauce and cheese piled on. You can do that too.

Pull out your crock pot and gather your ingredients:
1 Vidalia or 3 small onions
1 pound super lean ground beef
2 large cans diced tomatoes
1 can mushrooms (stems and caps are fine), drained (optional)
2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1/4 cup Cinnamon
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

I cut up the onions and put them in the bottom of the pot. Since my family has no problems with onions, I keep the pieces big! Over the onions, I put in the beef and then break it up into smaller chunks.

Then I layer in the Italian seasoning, cinnamon and salt and pepper. The cinnamon gives it a sweetness that we love - it's the more Greek version of sauce. If you want a more Italian style taste, throw in a couple Tablespoons of garlic powder instead.

Here's the hard part, open your cans of diced tomatoes and mushrooms (drained) and throw those in. You can also put in peppers or black olives if you like them in your sauce. Then stir up the whole thing and cover your pot.

As for cooking, I usually cook this on high for 8-9 hours. If you anticipate being longer, you can cook it on medium for probably 12-14 hours. When I get home I find delicious goodness waiting for me as I walk through the door. I throw on some angel hair pasta and I have dinner in a snap!

Enjoy!

Inspiration Thursday! Stampington & Company magazines

It's inspiration Thursday again and this week I want to make sure all my creative readers are aware of a collection of magazines I always love thumbing through. They're published by Stampington & Company, and includes a variety of titles.

I tend to be drawn more to the jewelry and clothing lines, which are published under the name Belle Armoire Jewelry or Belle Armoire Art to Wear. I've found the clothing issues at my local Hancock Fabrics, but I'd bet you could pick them up at Jo Ann Fabrics too. The jewelry magazine I've found at Barnes and Noble as well as Jo Ann Fabrics.

Each issue has at least one, but usually many projects that inspire my creativity. They also have step by step instructions on how to make the featured projects - with photos! And if you're looking for supplies, they often include their sources in the articles too. If you've ever tried to track down an obscure supply, you'll understand how invaluable that can be!


If that's not your cup of tea, you can always pick up the scrapbooking, doll making, journaling, handbag, wedding or stamping magazines. OR you can look at another of my favorite Stampington publications: Where Women Create.





Since combining houses with my hubby, I've had to consolidate my supplies and my work area has gotten considerably smaller... stupid man furniture.... Wait. What? Did I say that aloud? What? Oh yeah... I dream about having a space of my own where I can store my supplies in an organized and accessible manner. It's a place where I can lay out my beads, or lace, or whatever and LEAVE them there without worrying Corgi girl is going to jump on it or hubby is going to be upset that it's still there three days later when I am finally able to get back to a project. Sound familiar?

Well Where Women Create is the place for you to dream - at least it's where I dream. Live on a house boat? Well, there's an issue with a woman who does and how SHE deals with lack of space. Have a lovely light filled room you can paint in soothing colors with space for lovely patterned boxes of supplies? Well imagine that, there's a woman who does. My favorite, however, is the woman who collects stuff like I collect stuff: in little tins and cigar boxes and irregularly shaped cabinets. As much as I want the clean sunshine filled room, I'm sure I'll always be the back room collector. It's just who I am.

The point is, there's inspiration enough for everyone looking through these lovely publications. Just thumbing through the layouts is a soothing exercise for me - and can be for you too!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go dream about my future studio....

Vintage Wednesday: Collecting China

I would have to say my love for collecting china is really not my fault. Really, it's not. You see, I come from a long line of women who love china.

I guess my first realization of this fact came when visiting my great aunt Beulah as a teenager. Aunt Beulah collected six china patterns before she died - one for each of her children. The last I remember her collecting was Royal Albert's Old Country Roses. And when I say collect, I mean she had at least eight place settings (Mama says at least 24 place settings because her dining table served 24) and assorted serving pieces for each set. She was prepared for all those children and grandchildren to gather around her table.

My mother carried on the china loving tradition. I believe she too has at least six different patterns in various colors and sizes, though there could be some tucked back that even I don't know about. We found a complete set of Franconia's Millefleurs (above with the silver) in one of our antique shop expeditions. In another adventure, we were treated like queens while picking out her Spode Christmas Rose (above with the green border) at Replacements, Ltd. in North Carolina - a mecca for finding old china patterns if you happen to be looking. But I think the most recent purchase has her the most excited - it's an old, hand painted Haviland Limoges pattern made somewhere between 1888 and 1896 that includes things like a covered gravy boat, various platters and even butter pats (see below, so hard to find!). She's even bought a china cabinet just to showcase this particular collection!

She's spent hours researching the name of this china and has only come up with the name of the blank - Marseille - and some clues about the "family" and possible date (1880s?). But in her research she's also found that Haviland hired Impressionist artists away from Paris to create the designs for their china. It's rumored that even the great Monet visited the Haviland factory studio. David Haviland set up an artists' studio in his china factory for artists he hired from Paris to create designs - some of which were hand painted. Her china is one of the patterns from this era. How wonderful!

My china collection began on my 16th birthday. That was my first gift of china, but not my last and I've got several patterns to show for it. I have one that's my go-to pattern for most meals. It's a cream on cream pattern. I got the bulk of it at Replacements in my mid-20s. It's Rosenthal's Sanssouci White and it does well in any season for any occasion. I like it so much, I've collected service for 24 just so I can have it to entertain larger crowds - and I have!

A couple years ago, however, I was perusing Rosenthal patterns on ebay and stumbled across Rosenthal's Vienna. I immediately sent it to Mama exclaiming over it's beauty. And, of course, that was Mama's Christmas present to me that year - eight gorgesous place settings with assorted fancy bits (like cream soup and berry bowls!) to go along.

The gold and the flowers evoke the "Age of Innocence" - even though it was probably produced in the late 1940s or early 1950s. The roses pop on a scarlet table cloth, and the blues, purples, pinks and greens make it easy to create an accompanying floral arrangement for a formal table.

I'm currently banned from brining more china in the house (though I've managed to sneak in some new after a recent trip to WV - from Mama of course). I'm sure, though, as soon as we have a little more room in our home, the bug will re-assert itself and I'll find another pattern I can cherish and grow... along with another china cabinet to fill. And if history serves as an example, Mama will be a contributing factor to my downfall. Because we can't help ourselves. We love the stuff!

Working Tuesday: Nature's Call

You might have noticed I take a lot of photos that don't include people. Someone pointed this out when looking at a scrapbook of one of my vacations. I took over 1,000 photos on that vacation and had only 3 photos of people traveling with me - including pictures of me!

I think the answer to why this occurs is that nature and architecture inspire me. The order of architecture, the balance is calming to me. I love to see how curves are integrated into squares and vice versa. And the colors of nature teach me how color can come together in unusual ways. Look at the spectrum of green in one tree - from yellow to bluer greens.

I think, though, my greatest inspiration is the ocean. I certainly go back to those colors and textures. I love to use pearls and shells and my fingers itch to start sculpting sea creatures. The ocean too has variations in color. From far away it can look deep blue, but up close you see how light refracts to create greens and whites and blues. And sometimes, if you're in the right water, you can see the bottom of the ocean: sand, shells, sea creatures. Delightful!
This weeks projects reflect nature and the sea. One piece is the finished flower pendant I was working on last week. The other is a new piece using shell and diamond shaped pearls. I love how colors appear as the light hits that shell and those pearls. Pinks and blues shine through that creamy white color. Beautiful.

DIY: Kitchen Cabinets

We always seem to be on a budget with our renovation projects, which means we have to be creative with the way we accomplish our renovation goals. We priced out new cabinets for one wall and refacing all the cabinets and the estimate was over $5,000. I don't know about you, but we don't have that kind of money laying around!

This is where the brainstorming comes in handy. Just down the road from where I work is a place called the Habitat Re-store. Builders donate cabinets, building supplies and assorted things they take out of construction sites they demo. We've taken quite a few things to the Re-store ourselves and my parents have picked up some amazing used appliances for their rental units at great prices.

So I stalked the Re-store for several months. Luckily, we have cabinets that were standard for builders in this area and quite a few people have been redoing their kitchens and donating their used cabinets. It took a couple months to find all four cabinets we needed, but we finally found all we needed.

Probably the most important thing about installing cabinets is finding the studs in the wall if you have drywall walls. If you DON'T find the studs, you'll have cabinets falling off the walls. The best way to find the studs is to get what's called a stud finder from a home improvement store. Basically, you move the stud finder over the wall and it starts beeping and blinking when you find the stud.

Before you start, you should find and mark the studs. You should also determine the space between the counter (or floor) and cabinets and mark what's called a plumb line to guide the placement of your cabinets. Mark them high enough that when you have the cabinets against the wall and ready to drill, you don't have to go hunting for the lines.

Gather up your drill and your screws - there are special screws made especially for this purpose that are long enough to anchor the cabinet to the wall. Don't be stupid, as I was, and get screws that are too long. Measure the length of the screws against the width of the wall and the cabinets so that you don't go through the wall and out the other side. Trust me on this. Not good. Creates a bit of a new mess to fix!

Next, you should either get a helper to hold the cabinet steady and in place or find a way to prop up the cabinet you want to put on the wall. We first tried the jack to our truck, but that didn't work very well. We ended up using a large bucket and building up height with various things laying around the house to get the right height. Very scientific let me tell you - especially when we pulled out the cardboard boxes!

Put the cabinet in place so that the bottom is right on your plumb line and in the right place. Pull out your screws and drill, find your studs and start drilling. After the second or third screw, you will be able to pull the prop. We were super careful and put in like 6 screws per cabinet - mainly because I have heavy things to store and want to make sure they're secure.

Continue with the next cabinet, propping and putting in the screws until you have all your cabinets in place. It's easier to accomplish all this with the doors off of the cabinets. When you're done, put the doors back in place!

When we finish the refacing, we'll post that as well!

Weekend Wanderings: Smithsonian Craft Show 2010

If you are in town this weekend, I HIGHLY recommend you take some time to go to the Smithsonian Craft Show. This is arguably the BEST juried craft show in the country. The show is open today and tomorrow in the National Building Museum just across from the Judiciary Square metro stop (right down from the Verizon center for those who drive).

Some of my first memories are sleeping under Mama's table at a craft fair in Ripley, WV. I was probably 3 years old at the time! She did juried shows from my childhood into my early adulthood and we spent most summers and breaks preparing for and traveling to shows. I've seen many!

The artists at this show use traditional mediums: clay, wood, metals, paper, fiber, etc. The difference is in the design. It may be traditional wood, but the design is fresh, sometimes quirky, but always amazing.

I particularly liked several of the sliver artists. Carolyn Morris Bach creates little people and animals in her work, which is displayed hanging from branches attached to a piece of cream silk with gold pins and then framed under glass! Michael and Maureen Banner have silver teapots that are a must see. The lines on these pieces are gorgeous. The quirky bird art of Jim Mullan is just fun to see - especially if you like art made from "found" objects. This really combines all the stuff I love to collect into one art piece and it caught my heart too! I especially liked the decoy bird perched on opera glasses. Wonderful!

I have to say, though that the piece that took my heart (and would have taken my wallet if I had the money) was a Scherenschnitte piece by artist Lucrezia Bieler. It's a fox dreaming of rabbits who chase each other around the sleeping fox in further proof of the circle of life. The detail took my breath when it first caught my eye. New details emerge as you study the piece: rabbits fighting under the trees in a mating ritual, tiny leaves on the trees, tufts of fur on the fox's belly! And the amazing thing is that the finished piece is somewhere around 2 feet square - remember ONE piece of paper!

Scherenschnitte is an art form in which artists use negative space to create an image. The trick is that they do it by cutting the image from one large piece of paper. Lucrezia demonstrated her art for us showing how she first sketched an image on the back (white side) of a black piece of paper. Then with tiny, tiny scissors she cuts out bits and pieces of the design to create the negative image. When finished, the black, cut paper is mounted on white paper. If I understood correctly, she started as an artist that drew botannical and animal subjects for technical books. She sometimes takes a year to plan and execute a design, and her love for animals definitely shines through when talking with her and in her work.

There are many other amazing artists in this show. As I said, if you get a chance to go this weekend DO IT. The artists love sharing their work and explaining how they make their pieces. This is better than a museum because you can TOUCH the work and hear the inspiration in the artist's own words. Go! It's worth the trip.

NOTE: All photos of artists work from the Smithsonian Craft Show site and are the property of the artists.

Foodie Friday: Capellini with Chicken, Tomatoes and Basil

I stumbled across a Barefoot Contessa episode the other day that caught my attention - usually a pan full of cherry tomatoes will go a long way in catching my attention. She was making Capellini with Tomatoes and Basil. It looked delicious, but knowing my husband I was never going to get away with a "there's no meat in this" dish.

So I set out to make a slightly different version of this that included chicken. I don't always have some of these ingredients on hand and my lack of yard keeps me from growing my own herbs, so I've gotten a bit creative using the items I have on hand.

To recreate, you'll need:
1 1/2 Tbsp. Olive Oil + dash for Cappellini water
Dash of Sea Salt
Dash of Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp. of Italian Seasonings
Handful of fresh basil, chopped
2 cups Grilled Chicken Strips
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1/4 c. Lime Juice
1 1/2 cups Parmasean/Romano cheese
1/2 lb. Capellini

I start the water boiling for the pasta first, because getting the water to boil always takes so long. Put in a dash of salt and a dash of Olive oil - to season the pasta and keep it from sticking together. Don't put in the pasta until the last minute because it cooks up in a matter of minutes.

If you think ahead, you can soak the chicken strips in the lime juice for flavor. I used the pre-packaged, pre-cooked strips from Costco, but you can also cut up your chicken breast and grill it in the lime juice with a little sea salt.

In a separate skillet over high heat, pour in your olive oil and then layer in your herbs and seasonings (sea salt, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, fresh basil). The oil helps bring the flavor out of the spices. Just a note here too, I pulled several leaves off of a fresh basil plant, lined them up and cut them into pieces with my scissors. If you like the color of the basil, you can save this until the end, but I like the added flavor of putting them in earlier rather than later.

Once your spices start heating up and smelling good, pop in your chicken with the remaining lime juice and let that cook off for a minute, then add your tomatoes. Once you get that cooking, you might throw that pasta into your pasta water, but be forewarned that it will be ready in 2-3 minutes. Don't forget to give it a stir after you first put it in to allow that oil to do it's job keeping the pasta from globbing together.

Get your pasta bowl ready because it comes together fast from here. Check your pasta to make sure it's done. Drain it and pour it into your big pasta bowl. Pour over your chicken/tomato mix, cover all that with your parmasean/romano mixture and toss it all together.

Viola! Dinner in minutes. Hubby had two helpings and actually ate the leftovers. Miraculous!