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I've been asked to begin a blog that shows a "how-to" for the things that bring pleasure to my life. So, the intent of this blog is to share recipes, gardening, composting, sewing, crafts, art, everyday projects and even psychology tips to aid in healing wounds and living the life you're meant to live, a life with purpose!
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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Autumn & Halloween DIY decorating in my bathroom

I just love autumn. This time of year just gets to me. This is what I was up to today. ;-)
 Today I cleaned my bathrooms, but felt a bit frisky bc of the briskness in the air.
Apothecary Jars are great! You can do anything w them. Here I simply took dried grn peas, red beans and popcorn kernels and layed them in the jar. I added a candle to the inside and some burlap and a brown sheer ribbon tied around the outside. Done, too EasY! This arrangement will last the entire Autumn season, --through Thanksgiving.

I decided to have a bit of fun making some Halloween decor items in my clean bathrooms. These pictures are of our guest bath, that gets the most visitors. ;-) 

 My black kitty was "helping" me... he looks Halloween enough, lol, so I'm including his picture.
The Sink:
I simply cut a Casper ghost like shape out of blk paper, poster board would work too. I used double sided tape to adhere my shape to the mirror. EasY!
The Toilet:
Here I did the same thing, but on white paper. I had to draw the eyes in w a black marker. Now, if your toilet is white, then black paper would look better, and you could cut out the White's of the eyes, and cut out black circles for the pupils.   ;0)

I had so much fun w this idea that I thought I'd share... I hope you can "play" this Halloween too. Cleaning the bathroom used to be such a drag... now it is fun! Tee, hee... ;0)

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Easy Balsamic Roasted Chicken

Balsamic Roasted Chicken
Need something that is easy? Try this Italian dish tonight. ;-)
*Note Prep: It takes 15 minutes to combine your first six ingredients; then just leave the chicken in the marinade for 2 hours. Cooking time is 1 hour. Only about 15 minutes of actual work. ;-)

Ingredients:
1/3C balsamic vinegar ( I use Colavita brand for cooking)
3 Tbls dijon mustard (I use MaiLLe brand)
3 Tbls fresh lemon juice (I used all the juice from one juicy lemon)
3 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
3 Tbls olive oil (I use Colavita brand for cooking)
Salt and freshly ground blk pepper
4 Lbs chicken, cut into pieces (I used legs and thighs, but any kind is fine)
3/4 C low sodium chicken broth
2 tea lemon zest (good idea to zest your lemon of all it's peel before you get it's juice)
1 1/2 Tbls chopped fresh parsley leaves (I used flat this time, bc my garden was out of curly)

Directions:
1.       Combine first six ingredients into a gallon sized zip-lock bag.

2.       Cut up chicken into pieces if you are using a whole chicken, or if the leg is attached to the thigh, like mine were.

3.       Add chicken to bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to one day.

4.       Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove chicken from the bag and dump out the bag, arranging the chicken pieces on a large baking dish that is stove-top usable too.

5.       Roast chicken for one hour; check to see that it is cooked through.

6.       Transfer the chicken pieces w tongs onto the serving platter.

7.       Place the baking pan on a stove top burner. Stir the chicken broth into the pan drippings w a wooden spoon, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom or side of the pan and mixing them w the broth and pan drippings.

8.       Cook down until the mixture reduces in size. I poured the obvious grease off the top before using it as gravy. I use a grease separator too.

9.       Drizzle the gravy over the chicken. Sprinkle the lemon zest and parsley over the chicken.

10.   Serve.
Balsamic Roasted Chicken, Easy and Yum!

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