Zinnias!

My Zinnias, that I started from seeds, are in bloom! They are such pretty flowers and are so easy to take care of. Just plant them in a sunny spot and water regularly. In a month or so they went from this:

to this:

Here's some close-ups of the flowers:

Veggie Burgergers

I got this Veggie Burger recipe from Vegetarian Times a couple years back; they called them "Hot Tamale" Burgers. The base of this veggie burger is brown rice, so eating them on a bun is kind of overkill. I eat mine like a lettuce wrap with Bibb lettuce and avocado on top.

Here's the recipe:

• 1 cup short-grain brown rice
• 1 1/2 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/4 cup)
• 1 small red pepper, finely chopped (I also add 1 green pepper)
• 3/4 cup fresh corn kernels (I use frozen white corn)
• 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, plus 2 tsp. sauce (I just use 2 jalapenos, chopped, seeds included)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup instant masa harina or yellow cornmeal (I use cornmeal)
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 1/2 tbs. fresh lime juice
• 3/4 tsp. lime zest

1. Bring rice and three cups of water to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 40 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is tender.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, peppers, corn, jalapenos, garlic, cumin and salt. Saute 2 minutes, then reduce heat to low. Cover and cook 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring once or twice. Whisk 1/2 cup of water with cornmeal in a bowl. Add to skillet mixture, cover and cook on low 10 minutes more, stirring once or twice (mixture will feel thick).
3. Remove from heat and stir in hot rice, cilantro, lime juice and zest. Cool 20 minutes. Wet hands and shape mixture into burgers. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
4. Brush burgers with olive oil and cook on the grill or in the broiler. Cook 5-7 minutes on each side or until browned.

Here are the uncooked burgers brushed with olive oil. I've also found that you can use olive oil cooking spray on each side.

Here is finished product made into a lettuce wrap with bibb letuce and topped with avocado:

Stenciled Pillows

This is a project I did in April that I'm just getting around to posting. I wanted to make another pillow after my pillow making class this past January and I had also been meaning to use the stencils Rick bought for me over a year ago. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and make a stenciled pillow.

The stenciling part was really easy. After cutting the fabric to the desired pillow size and ironing it, I used painter's tape to hold the stencil in place in the center of my fabric:

Then I used stencil sponge brushes and fabric paint (purchased at JoAnn Fabrics) and gently blotted the paint onto the fabric. I used a hair dryer to dry the paint after each of the two coats:

After the paint was completely dry, I carefully pulled the stencil off of the fabric. Then it was time to start making the pillow. Well, first I had to relearn how to use my sewing machine and then I started making the pillow :) I'm not very handy with a sewing machine, but I'm slowly learning. Making the first pillow was really frustrating however, by the time I starting making the next one, it was a piece of cake! I am proud to say that both pillows have zippers on them :) When I get around to it, I'd like to make a couple more in different sizes with different fabric.

I think the pillows turned out really cute:

Double Crunchers

 I think I found this recipe in Better Homes and Gardens - I tore it out of a magazine and cut around the recipe so I can't tell for sure which magazine I found this in. I've been meaning to make these cookies for over a year now and finally got around to doing it. They are slightly labor-intensive but they taste really good! Here's the finished product:

 Here's the recipe:

The recipe says it makes 3 dozen sandwich cookies, but I was only able to get 2 dozen out of the batch I made. I must have made the cookies a little larger than they're supposed to be:

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cornflakes, crushed
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 package (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon water
3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, cream together the shortening, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Add the flour mixture.
4. Blend in cornflakes, oats and coconut.
5. Divide the dough into two pieces, one twice as large as the other. Shape the larger piece into balls about 3/4 inch in diameter. Shape the smaller piece into the same number of balls (they will be smaller). Place the balls on a lined baking sheet and flatten them to a 1/2 inch thickness.
6. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes, until golden. Let sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.
7. Meanwhile, make the frosting: In a double boiler (I didn't have one of these so I boiled water in a small pot and placed a small frying pan on top of the boiling water), melt together chocolate chips, confectioners' sugar and water (I had to use more water, 3 tablespoons, maybe because I didn't use a double boiler). Off the heat, beat in the cream cheese.
8. Frost the larger cookies and top with the smaller ones.

Enjoy!

I fixed it!

I got the perfect lamp for the bedroom at the HomeGoods store for $40 which is pretty cheap for a lamp. I didn't realize until I got it home and cut the tags off that one of the birdies had a missing tail. I was able to fix it by forming a new tail out of clay. Once the clay dried, I painted and glued the tail on the lamp. It's not perfect but I'm happy with the results. Take a look:

Broken tail :(

New tail I made out of clay

Fixed Birdie on the left

Found this gem at Marshall's

On my weekly trip to Marshall's I found this cute shabby chic bird cage for $20. There were two at the store and I was very tempted to buy both of them. I thought they would look cool on each end of a credenza or buffet in the dinning room. I only ended up buying one since I don't have a buffet just yet. I'm sure I'll regret it later ;) but I think it looks good on the dinning room table. I'd like to get a little plant to put inside it. For those of you who have kitties that like to eat houseplants, this is a good way to keep your plants safe. Take a look:

Bedroom update - almost done

The bedroom is almost finished! We hung the tulip pictures this weekend and they look great. Take a look:

I'd like to get a smaller nightstand and maybe a headboard. I saw a cute wicker one at West Elm on sale. I also need to find fabric to make curtains. I'm thinking green ones to match the sheets would look cute. At any rate, the bedroom is really starting to come together :)

Plants!

I've been a little plant crazy since moving into my new place! For the past five years I've lived in apartments that have no light making it very difficult to keep plants alive. So now that I have direct sunlight to work with I've bought a plant for every window. I think they make the perfect decorative touch. Take a look:

I Created an Etsy Shop

I finally did it! I've been wanting to create an Etsy shop for awhile but really didn't know how best to sell my product. I knew I wanted to sell my photos from my plastic cameras but didn't know what format to list. So I'm starting off small and selling 5x5 prints that will fit nicely into IKEA frames. I'd like to sell larger format prints - like 12x12 but I need to find a cost effective and safe way to ship them. Here's the link to my shop:

my etsy shop

I'd love to hear your feedback on this one.

Thanks!

New Duvet!

I've been kind of slacking with the posts lately, sorry. Just wanted to give an update on the bedroom situation. We got a new duvet cover from IKEA. Right now I only have a close up picture from my phone. I plan on taking more photos this weekend (when I'm around in the morning and the light is nicer). I also got new green and white striped sheets from West Elm. Lastly I framed the tulip prints to hang over the bed and plan on hanging them sometime this week. Just a quick explanation as to why I chose the tulip prints - I got green and white striped sheets and I thought the green in the pictures will bring the room together. Here's a picture of the bedspread - more to come soon!

2009/2010 Diana F+ photos revisited

I was going through an old stack of plastic camera photos and found quite a few that I must have overlooked the first time around. They were from 2009 and 2010. I just scanned them in today and posted to flickr. Take a look here.

Artwork for the newly painted bedroom

Choosing photographs to hang in the bedroom is proving harder than I expected. I want to hang 3 - 20" x 20" black frames in the bedroom - 2 over the bed and one on the right wall (when facing the bed). We've already hung this picture on the right wall:

Now the hard part is finding two prints that go together side by side but also compliment the stand alone picture. Here's what I was thinking:

                                                                                +

                                                                                or

                                                                                +

I'm leaning more toward the last two but I'd love to know what you guys think!

Before and After - Bedroom

We decided to repaint our bedroom this weekend. The walls were an advocado greenish color with tan trim. As much as I love green, these colors combined just weren't working. Our room doesn't get a lot of sunlight and it just felt like it was always gloomy in there. The room needed a lighter color paired with white trim to brighten it up and make it look bigger. Here are the before shots:

The color we decided on is a light greyish-blue - silver mist to be exact. Here are the after shots:

We couldn't be happier with the new color. It's like we have a whole new room! Now I just need some curtains, a new lamp, nightstand and some framed pictures for the walls. I was also thinking about getting a black and white bedspread (I saw a cute duvet at Ikea) and a new hamper (maybe a wicker one?). I'll be sure to post more pictures once the room is complete. Let me know what you think!

Vegan Cupcakes that taste good!

I have family with dairy allergies (not lactose intolerant but highly allergic to dairy!) and these cupcakes are a great treat that taste like the real thing. The secret ingredient: avocado. I found this recipe in Vegetarian Times. I used canned frosting on these (believe it or not, it's dairy free - but not very good for you) but I'm going to work on a frosting recipe with coconut milk - stay tuned!

Cupcakes (makes 12):

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 avocado, pitted and peeled
1 cup agave nectar (the original recipe calls for pure maple syrup - but it's sooo expensive)
3/4 cup plain soymilk
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Puree avocado in a food processor until smooth. Add agave nectar, soymilk, oil and vanilla. Blend until creamy. Whisk avocado mixture into flour mixture.

Spoon batter into cup cake tin. Bake 25 minutes. Cool.

Enjoy!

Things I like: old + new

Here's a peak of some things around my house that I like.

My most favorite are the things from my Grandmother, like these adorable canisters:

I also love finding things at bargain stores like TJ Maxx. These roosters were acquired on two separate trips to that store, both times found by Rick. We paid $5.99 for the red one and $2.99 for the blue one. I think they're adorable:

These owl mugs, which I recently turned into planters, were found after an all-day trip to Japantown in San Francisco with my friend Jaime. I think I paid $5.00 per mug:

While there my friend Jaime bought me these cute owl salt and pepper shakers for my birthday. I think the set was $10.00:

I will have lots more of my favorites to share soon!

The Kitchen

I just recently moved in with my boyfriend and I have really been enjoying decorating and adding to his decor. Luckily we have very similar taste and he shares my love of the color green :)

I'd like to share the transformations of the entire house (once that happens ;) ) but right now I think the kitchen is in a good spot and is so far, my favorite room in the house. I'm am so excited that the new place has a dishwasher, ice cube maker and brand new appliances - quite a step up from my last apartment!

There are still some changes I'd like to make. I think a white glossy brick back splash would look great by the stove and the sink and I'm contemplating changing the cabinet knobs to something a little more fun. I also want to make some curtains for the windows. I guess I have my work cut out for me! Let me know what you think!

Before and After

I purchased these two little duck candle holders from The Goodwill in Arlington Heights. I think I paid $4.00 for both of them. I bought some spray yellow spray paint from Joanne fabrics for $4.00 and two little succulent plants from Sprout Home for $3.00 each. I'm debating whether or not I should take the plants out of the plastic holders. Let me know what you think!