Simple card

Threw a simple blank card together yesterday -- more to come!

Why I Love My Panini Grill: Reason #23

A better Philly Cheesesteak!

(sandwich steaks, white american cheese, sauteed peppers and onions, little bit of mayonnaise, Italian roll. Even better with mushrooms!)

Why I Love My Toaster Oven: Reason #79

S'mores without needing a campfire!

Orzo Spinach Salad

This makes my taste buds do a happy dance! "The Cheese Shop" in Williamsburg's Merchant Square make something similar, and I love it so much I decided to copy it at home. As it turns out, I actually like mine even better. :) Here's how I made it. The amount of spinach I used is just a guesstimate here, it's possible I may have used more. I like it on the spinach-y side -- it adds flavor and it's healthy!

Orzo Spinach Salad

1 box Orzo pasta (cook, drain, and rinse with cold water)

3 cups FRESH baby leaf spinach (stems torn off, chopped one direction into "strips" -- don't chop too finely)

1 package Athenos original Feta cheese

1/4 cup pinenuts

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

*(I forgot! you can also add some fresh basil)

Rinse cooked orzo with plenty of ice-cold water until it's completely cooled off from cooking -- drain off excess cold water. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil to add flavor and keep from sticking. Combine spinach, and gently stir in feta and pinenuts. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Curtain-y stuff!

I'm getting ready to make some curtains for our in-the-works guest room (I'll cover that in a later post), which will hopefully get done next week (both the room and the curtains!). I decided to make my own instead of buying them this time, and headed over to Ikea for some fabric. If you don't live near an Ikea... I'm sorry. I live just a mile and a half away, so I'm a little addicted. ;) I found this design (seen below) and just love it! I'm a little nervous about using it, only because the design itself it so big -- it repeats every yard, and the two panels will need to line up "just so" to look good next to each other. That may not make sense unless you see the whole, big length of fabric opened up. Hopefully it'll turn out okay. Crossing my fingers!

I'm so in love with this fabric! It's sort of reminiscent of peacock feathers.

These are the fantastic clip-on curtain rings (Ikea Riktig) I got, because I thought they were so awesome (and my time is too precious to do anything else). The curtains are long, and the fabric heavy -- however, these clips feel super strong, so I'll report later on how well they work. I bought a total of 30 clips for just $9.00! Deal, huh?

The most delicious (and ugly) cookies ever

Don't let the picture fool you -- these are for sure the most ugly cookies ever, but the taste is out of this world! The best part is they are no-bake cookies. The original recipe says to just let them cool on wax paper, but I'm partial to eating them straight out of the freezer. They freeze to just the right chewiness and they are sooo good.

I got this recipe from a friend many years back and have since changed it around to my preferences -- Hershey's Special Dark cocoa, please! :>

Cocoa peanut butter oat cookies

• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 stick butter
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 heaping tbsp. DARK cocoa powder (please use dark! I used Hershey's brand)
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (you can also use creamy and just add some peanuts. Or stick with creamy and skip the crunchy stuff altogether)
• 2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

Melt butter, sugar and cocoa. Boil and stir for 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Stir in milk, then finally the oatmeal. Use a cookie scoop or spoon to scoop mixture onto wax paper, then freeze (or let cool at room temp) until firm (this step goes quickly).