Power Plant - We FINALLY have sprouts

Okay, so after a week I finally have some sprouts that have decided to live (for now).  Unfortunately, Boone  ate the paper cover that protects the seeds in the beginning stages, so I've had to come up with my own paper cover. 

My basil sprouted first, but then shriveled up and died. Luckily over the weekend my parsley sprouted and it looks pretty good now.

According to the directions, I'm supposed to add the humidadomes over the sprouts to increase their growth... we shall see...

The Taming of the Spice Cabinet

For years, my spice cabinet has a been a complete mess: doubles and triples of the same spice (cinnamon and ginger are aparently favorites of mine), expired spices, and spices that I have no idea why I bought them in the first place.  Kwille and I have been updating our kitchen and while I was prepping our cabinets for painting, I noticed that my spice cabinet is an absolute mess, plus it doesn't help having glass front cabinets but that's yet another project in my near future.

After doing a thorough inventory of my spices, I found really cute containers at Target and found some clear self stick paper.  Using Photoshop Elements, I created labels and printed them out on the self stick paper and cut each label out.

Then after washing all of the containers, I was ready to fill them up! They turned out really cute, I plan on keeping the ones I use more often out on the counter since and it turns out that the spice colors really go with our new color scheme in the kitchen.

The Day I Became Kwille's Wife

One year ago, on Sunday, August 30th, 2009 I officially became Kwille's wife.  We were married on Smathers Beach in Key West.

It's hard to believe a year has gone by already, and to think it all started back on February 13, 2008 when I finally met Kwille in person on our very first date. We had been in touch through the phone and emails and I had one photo of Kwille.

Here is that photo:

Our first date was great and we ended up having four dates right after another for the first week.   

I recently asked Kwille what surprised him about me when he first met me...

Kwille: Well, I was surprised at how short you were.

My response: Are you serious?

Kwille: Well you are really short. (long pause) What surprised you about me?

My response: That your picture did not do you justice and you were really cute. Your picture reminded me of the guy from Six Feet Under... good looking guy but you're much cuter.

Kwille: (says nothing, just smiles)

I really did think he looked like Eric Balfour!

Anyways, it all started with that first date and we've been inseparable ever since. Our first year of marriage has been an interesting one: we got our love child, Boone, we learned how to live with each other (that makes me laugh because living with your husband is not the same as living with a roommate during college!), and we began remodeling parts of our home (we are still working on our kitchen, but we will get it done someday). We also took our first trip to Europe, we went to Ireland and did a self-drive tour through Dublin and the southern part of Ireland. 

It's been a great first year and I'm very blessed to have Kwille in my life. I look forward to many, many, more great years with Kwille!

Herb Chicken with Gnocchi

I discovered Gnocchi at Lydia's a couple of years ago and was instantly hooked. This recipe is great with fresh garlic bread or my honey wheat beer bread.

You'll Need:

2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I use Pam instead)

4 Chicken Breasts

1/2 cup sliced onion

3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 cup diced carrots (this is not included in the recipe below since Kwille does not like carrots)

1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)

1 cup white wine (I use Beringer)

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

1/2 tsp dried tarragon

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tsp or more to taste of herbes de Provence* (see below)

1 package of Gnocchi

Steps:

1. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat the oil (or pam) over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until done.

2. Add the onion and garlic, saute until softened. Add the carrots and salt and pepper to taste.

3. *For the herbs de Provence, if you don't have it (I don't) it's a mixture of different herbs: basil, fenel, lavender, majoram, rosemary, sage, savory and thyme. Out of that list, I rounded up as many spices as I had and mixed about 1/4 tsp of rosemary, basil, majoram, thyme and sage together.

4. Add the herbs de Provence and the wine. Simmer until the wine is reduced by half.

5. Add the chicken broth, reduce the heat and cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. While you're simmering, you can boil the water for the gnocchi.

During this time, I also enjoy some wine...
6. Boil the gnocchi according to package directions, strain and add to the chicken dish along with the peas. Simmer for a couple of minutes.

Here is the finished dish! Enjoy...

    

Summer Trifle

I made this last week for a wedding shower and it turned out really good...Enjoy!

Summer Trifle
Ingredients:

• 36 Nilla Wafers (I used the Reduced Fat Nilla Wafers)
• 2 tbs orange juice
• 8-9 medium sized peaches - sliced
• 1 package of fresh blueberries (smallest plastic package)
• 1 package of fresh raspberries (smallest plastic package)
• 3 cups cold milk
• 2 pkg Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding Mix (4 servings for each pkg)
• 1 tub (8oz) French Vanilla Cool Whip, thawed and divided in half

Steps:

1.  Break the Nilla wafers up into a bowl and sprinkle the orange juice on the wafers. Add the wafers to the bottom of your favorite trifle serving bowl.
2. In a medium bowl, add the dry pudding mix and cold milk. Mix thoroughly and place in the fridge to thicken. (I waited about 15 minutes)
3. Fold 1/2 of the cool whip into the pudding mixture.
4. In your trifle serving bowl, place the peaches, blueberries and raspberries over the wafers.
5. Add the pudding mixture on top of the fruit.
6. On the top of the trifle, add the last 1/2 of the cool whip.
7. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnite.

Power Plant - In the Beginning

For my birthday, Kwille bought me a Power Plant (Indoor Plant Grower). I've tried 2 times to get herbs to grow and it just isn't working, so I thought I would try one more time and document it.  This product uses hydroponics to grow plants instead of soil.

I've decided to grow Parsley and Basil:

To prepare our power plant, we must first soak then ring out our nutrient sponge (this acts as the soil) in distilled water and the liquid nutrient provided by the company.

Next we add the seeds, at least one inch apart from each in the nutrient sponge.

Once the seeds are added, we place the sponge in the power plant.

Next using the rest of the distilled water/nutrient mixture we add it to the power plant until it is filled to the max, literally... make the little ball float to where it says max. Put the lid on and we're ready to grow... hopefully.

The instructions suggest an east facing window...I do not have an east facing window, so I'm picking the window with the most sunlight, my office window. Plug in the power plant to get the hydroponics started and cover the top of the power plant with their nifty paper cap that protects the seeds and I'm ready to go!

In about three days time, I should have little sprouts shooting up!!

To be continued...

A Dog with Many Hats

Growing up I always wanted a big fluffy dog, later in college I decided that I wanted a basset hound (love the ears). When Kwille and I made the decision to get a dog we compromised on the type of dog we wanted (he wanted a hound hunting dog and I wanted a basset), so we went with the bloodhound (hunts and still has those cute ears).

Now all through this time of daydreaming and compromising I swore that I would never dress my future dog up in any type of clothing... then Boone Warren came into our life. What a cute face, floppy,stretchy skin and those extra long ears, what could make this puppy even cuter? Add a festive hat of course!!

I'm not sure what got into me, but the first hat I bought him was just too cute and he made our 2009 Christmas cards a hit.

But why stop at Christmas? For Easter, Boone was our little Cadberry bunny.

Christmas, Easter... apparently not enough, for his first birthday I spent the dough to buy him his own birthday hat. He looks like a little wizard from Harry Potter's world.

While photographing these moments, poor Boone either sits there and looks depressed or tries to take off his hat. Do I feel a sense of shame that I dressed my dog up and that I can't stop laughing at him (queue: Kwille: "He knows you're laughing at him")?

Nope, he looks so darn cute and I'm sure he loves the attention that he gets.

Halloween is just around the corner... I'm looking for the perfect hat: pumpkin? maybe a bat?

Hello World!!

Well here goes, my very first blog... I hope I can entertain you bloggers out there or at least keep the haters at bay.

Here are few things I hope to entertain you with:

Fun Crafty Projects

Recipes

Interior Decorating Projects - my house has become the guinea pig for this

Tales of my life as Kwille's Wife

For starters, let me introduce you to my family...

Taken at a pub in Kilarney, Ireland of my hunk of burnin' love: Kwille

Kwille and I have been together since February 13, 2008.

We were married on August 30, 2009 on Smather's Beach in Key West.

Kwille and Kwille's Wife's love child: Boone Warren

Boone is our  1year old bloodhound/coonhound mix. I drove three hours to Northeast Missouri to pick him up on Halloween last year. Boone is named after Daniel Boone (Kwille's idea), I however think Kwille has a secret passion for Pat Boone (Moody River anyone?). Boone's middle name Warren comes from Something About Mary - you know "Franks and Beans" (my idea).

Random Thought: Something about Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go makes me want to jump up out of my cubicle and start dancing...

Peace out

-Kwille's Wife