Fun, Fresh Ideas to Manage Work, Home, and a Gluten Free Diet!

Month: July 2015

Happy Birthday!! Room makeover for my 7 year old!

My daughter turned 7 last week and she asked for a room makeover… Well and an iPad, Apple watch, party with all her friends, Legos, dance music…. The list goes on and on…. Of course, yes! She could potentially  have ONE of these each year (maybe)…, but this year, I’m doing the room do-over. You see my daughters shared a room until February, when I converted the playroom into a sleek, modern, Preteen paradise! It was a great idea, but left the other room over crowded, dated, poorly coordinated and well, ugly. 

 


  

horrible, dark and crowded

a panorama of chaos

 The bummer of being divorced, as all divorcees know, is that sometimes, and sometimes for very special occasions, you are not with your kids physically. For me, that can be sad and difficult… especially birthdays and holidays…. But really anytime. I know they also need their Dad and I also know that I have them so much of the time… So I try to find constructive ways to spend the time that I’m not with them and deal with the strange emotion of celebrating the day I gave birth to an unbearably beautiful and unique human without being with her (I know… Wait a few more years and I’ll be lucky to get a phone call).

I put that energy to use! I go for a cleansing run or swim or clean the house from top to bottom, or work… But this time, I have a project… And honestly I’m worried that it will be hard to finish in a week!!! The room was a light moss green, but she loves pink, purple, pink and yellow and pink… 

So first… I settled on a trundle bed from Wayfair. As always, it arrived fast, and in perfect condition and was super easy to assemble! It was important to both of us to have extra space – without another piece of furniture or a room darkening bunk bed.

Before setting up the furniture, I painted the room eggshell beige (took 4 coats to cover the moss…). I chose a wall for chalkboard accent stripes in “raspberry” and voila!  

Remember, after placing tape, “seal” the tape lines with the base color to prevent the color from running

  

starting to take form!

 

Next I assembled an IKEA Micke corner desk (LOVE IT) and standing mirror (ISFJORDEN), and flower lights from IKEA’s past years. I decided to bunch the lights into a bouquet and paint a vase to help remind her to hang on tight to her “awesome”! I painted an accent flower over the headboard, and recoated some IKEA shelves with the same chalkboard paint. I picked up coordinating curtains and a rug at IKEA, as well!

its a little pink, right??

  

youre awesome… put it on your wall!

  

this was so easy! a canvas from michaels, a ruler and paint… done! I feel awesome, too!

  

coming together!

 
My arms are sore, but my heart is full… And I hope she loves it! 

    
 
That’s it! Now it’s time for a big plate of cheese and gluten free crackers!

Have a beautiful night!

❤️

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Easy, cheesy, beautiful… Tostadas! Meatless Monday is Here!

On call all weekend and now I want to have a nice family dinner. I have avocados that are ready to go… I’m pretending that I need a reason to cook Mexican…. 

Well, I don’t – and so its rice and beans and tostadas and sopes and Key Lime Pie! That’s right, Baby!

I know… I’m pretty psyched for dinner too… My daughter’s friend, who was here for a play date, took one look and asked if she can stay for dinner.  Yep… That makes me feel good!

So, this is too easy! Get your beans and rice on auto pilot. I bought vegetarian old El Paso refried beans, some premade tostadas and I’m halfway done with dinner!

What you need and how-to!

(See prior posts for rice and beans, key lime pie, and sopes)

 

dinner prep in action! sangria, beans, sopes, tostadas & key lime pie! oh YES!

 Tostadas- fry your own, or pre- made.

Old El Paso refried beans

1c shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

2 avocados

1 tomato

1 green onion

Cilantro

Warm tostadas in the oven on a cookie sheet, heat beans, spread beans on each tostada, sprinkle with cheese and then garnish with tomato, green onion and avocado.

Enjoy the easiest dinner EVER!! 

i just had to take a pic… now i can take a BITE!

  

looks good! easy, cheesy, beautiful… super cheesy, right?!

 

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Did you miss me? Nothing says Summer in Florida like Key Lime Pie! (Gluten free, of course!)

I’m back from vacation and it’s time to get cooking! I must admit… Since we got home I’ve been sticking to my favorites that I’ve already posted, but truly I’ve been craving Key Lime Pie. I had a little of my daughter’s maybe a month ago… It wasn’t gluten free… I only had a little of the “safe” key lime part… Well… The craving was put to rest… At least for a little while…. Nothing ends craving like worshipping the porcelain goddess..

Ok! For the good stuff. Now, by Key Lime Pie I don’t mean the green one… I mean the beautiful creamy, tart – but sweet- light yellow, makes my mouth water and my head spin with beaches and sunshine and palm trees and warm ocean breezes just thinking about it. One taste can transport me to vacation….ahhhhh. Yes. It is that good! Most like it with whipped cream. I like it with a scoop of Breyers natural vanilla. That light vanilla offsets that perfect sweet tart of the key lime. It may be the best EVER!

What you need and what to do!

Gluten free graham crackers (about 2 cups)

1/2 cup melted butter

3 T sugar 

1/4 cup pecans (optional) chopped

Dash nutmeg

Process, crush or squish graham crackers, mix in (with your hands works best) everything else

Save a little of the butter and apply liberally to the pie pan.

Press the mixture into the pan.

Preheat oven to 350

 

I found these at Whole Foods… pretty good!

  

little mixing hands work perfectly!

  

press it all down.. save a little for garnish if you like!


In a mixer, whisk 5 egg yolks until smooth and thickened

Add 1 can sweetened condensed milk – mix well

Add 1/2 cup key lime juice

1/2 tsp grated lime zest

Pour into crust and bake at 350 for 15 mins, then chill. You can use egg whites for meringue if you like. 

so yummy…. can you taste it?

  

if youre not using meringue, garnish with a little lime zest and reserved crust

  

this isnt breyers… because I ate all the breyers… but it was still good

 Serve it up and Be Happy! 

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