Bar Sitting

Before John and I bought our current house we redid the kitchen in his house. Man I loved what we did to that kitchen... when searching for a new home you can't always find everything you perfectly want... hence our current kitchen. Sure it's big with tons of counter space and cabinets... but it's kinda ugly, and it has this huge built in hexagonal table... I'd take pictures to show you... but then there would be proof that it really exists.

I find myself redesigning our current kitchen in my head all the time. Even to the point of picking out things like more bar stools to go around the new wonderful counter height island and breakfast bar I'd like to add. New more modern cabinets, stainless steel accents, maybe a bigger window. I mean look at how beautiful this kitchen is! (bonus it's pretty close to our current size/layout!)

Source: houzz.com via Julie on >Pinterest

Look at that kitchen! Seriously what's not to love? And you could put two cute bar stools right up to the island... >Ok these stools aren't at all modern but they would totally go in this space.

Source: morebarstools.com via stephanie on Pinterest

Love.

I'm totally in love with this kitchen too.

Source: decorpad.com via Jacqui on Pinterest

Unfortunately for us a kitchen redo is nowhere in the near future... said house had a ton of surprises we had to sink money into instead... darn you house!

Cymax is having a big giveaway on their linkedin account soon, you can head here to check it out!

If you could redo your kitchen what would you do? Do you daydream and shop in your head about what you would buy and what you'd redo? I need one of those redesign TV shows to show up at my house! Seriously! How do I make that happen?

PS. I am so sorry for the horrible spacing in this post. Blogger is doing something totally messed up and I can't make them go away! I delete them and then they show up even worse! Anyone else having this issue?? It's driving me batty!





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Melt Frosting - and a chance to win $500

If you've been around with the blog for awhile you know John isn't big on butter, he basically avoids it at all costs. He's also the inspiration for so many of the low fat recipes you find here. Enter in a new product Melt Buttery Spread. It's a butter substitute made of healthy cooking oils.

"Rich and creamy Melt is a butter alternative made of virgin coconut oil, flax seed oil, palm fruit oil and canola oil. It provides the good fats your body needs when you take out other fats in your diet. Melt cooks, tops and bakes just like butter, with good-for-you ingredients. "

Melt is organic, gluten free, cholesterol free, carb fee, soy free, and trans fat free, it does contain milk and tree nuts though so this isn't a product for my vegan or nut free friends out there.

Melt contacted me and asked if I'd like to try some for free and tell me what I thought, after looking over the ingredients I was totally on board to give this stuff a try! I happened to have some beets on hand and decided it was a chocolate cake kinda weekend. The recipe doesn't call for butter or oil, so I was looking to the frosting as a way to try out Melt. One of my favorite things about Melt is the texture, it's spreadable out of the fridge so there is no waiting for your butter to soften so you can cream it. Instant gratification!

The frosting creamed up just like butter but stayed softer and didn't really harden up, not a bad thing but just mentioning it. The taste was the same as when I make it with real butter, but this way it had half the saturated fat AND less calories! Double bonus :)


Now I'm sure you want to know how you could win a $500 gift card to host your own party for 10 friends courtesy of Melt right? (The best part, if you win, I win! Giddy-up to that!) To enter you need to head here and enter your name, email, and the blog that sent you aka stephchows.blospot.com

"One reader and the blog that reader came from will both win a chic, foodie night in with friends and use the gift card to buy cooking supplies, food, decor, a cute dress, and whatever they'd like for their party! (we'll also provide 3 packages of Melt) We'll also feature each winner's party photos and original recipes featuring Melt on our Facebook page and website! The Mingle With Melt contest lasts through October 31 and we're only working with select bloggers on this, and it's a blog-only contest."

Seriously go enter now!!! :D

Melt Chocolate Frosting
2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons Melt
5 tablespoons skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream Melt until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar.



I'm making banana bread or pumpkin bread next using Melt, I'll let you know how it turns out! What's the first thing you'd try making?

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Last minute Halloween

Got a party to hit up this weekend? Hate to dress up? I've got just the thing for you... and it only takes a few hours to crochet up.

Seriously adorable right? (not me, the hat) Best news is the pattern is free! Just head over here and you can print out a handy dandy PDF. If you are making this for yourself you'll just need to increase a few extra rows until it's big enough to fit your melon (exhibit A above).

For the ladies grab some yellow yarn and attach some kick butt braids to the sides. Instant Helga the viking!

I actually made this last year for a gift, the little boy refused to wear any other hat last winter except this one... for that reason his parents were a little worried when they realized said hat got lost when they moved this summer. Don't worry, Auntie Steph will whip up a new one, just in time for his birthday, and for the days to start getting crisp.

PS. I'm participating in a Halloween bake sale this Sunday over at Running Ricig. All money raised goes to an amazing organization so make sure to stop by and bid on my boozy smore fudge!!

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Slaw

The first thing I think of when I have a head of cabbage in the house is coleslaw. I'm not a fan of cooked cabbage but serve it be me raw and I'm on board! Our household isn't a big mayo fan so we do a spicier route.

Celery carrots, red peppers, cabbage, red onion, apple cider vinegar, italian dressing, red hot, celery seeds, honey... the amounts... not a clue since John is the maker of this badboy in our house :)



He's also the one who "styled" the photo since tastespotting keeps rejecting me for composition... John said if he did it they would accept it... will keep you updated :)
What's your favorite way to serve up some slaw?

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Pumpkin Pancakes

More pumpkin! Well think about it, I only used 1 cup in the muffins, so I still had a cup left from the can... enter in pumpkin pancakes for dinner!! I'm all over breakfast for dinner, you should be too, easy, fast, delicious, what's not to love?!


Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes
1 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
dash salt
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 1/4 C. skim milk
1 C. canned pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 T. oil (I used canola)
1 t. vanilla
2 T. agave

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (whole wheat flour through cinnamon). In a separate bowl, whisk together milk through agave.

2. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until combined but don't over mix.

3. Pour 1/2 cup of batter into a hot greased pan and let cook until edges start to firm and bubbles start to show up, flip and continue cooking until done.

4. Serve with REAL maple syrup and enjoy!

Do you do breakfast for dinner? What do you love to make? My other favorites are crepes, and taylor ham and eggs! YUM!

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Pumpkin Muffins!

You know it's that time of year. Time to snuggle up under a blanket with a good book, and time to bake up a storm with my best bud pumpkin! What's the best things to start the season off with... of course muffins!!!


I found these over at my friend Sugarcrafter and knew I had to bake some up! Just a few changes from her also delicious as is recipe :)


Pumpkin muffins
recipe adapted from Sugarcrafter
For the muffins:

* 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (she used white whole wheat)
* 1/8 tsp salt (she used 1/2 tsp)
* 1/4 cup brown sugar plus 1/4 cup splenda granulated (she used 1/2 cup packed brown sugar)
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
* 1/8 tsp cloves
* 1 egg
* 1 cup canned pumpkin
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1/4 cup fat free sour cream
* 1 cup old-fashioned oats

She made a delicious streusel topping... I just used a mix of maple agave and oats to top mine!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a muffin pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and oats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, pumpkin, milk, and sour cream.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined.

Spoon the batter into the muffin pan, filling each one 2/3 full. Sprinkle with agave oat mixture

Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool at least 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 12 muffins.

What are your favorite muffins? Got a link? Let me see! I can always use another good muffin recipe!

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Owls

Owls have been popping up everywhere in stores, on fabric, in the trees outside my house...

I first saw the pattern on Billie Monster months ago and have been wanting to make this little cute thing ever since. (You can download the pattern over on Hammer & thread.) I finally had an excuse when I was invited to a friends baby shower recently. Can't sew very well? Don't worry, this pattern is super easy to cut out and follow. Give it a go and let me know what your little owls look like!

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Teacher's Pet

Were you a good student? How about the teacher's pet? Yeah lets face it, I was. Front row, hand always shooting into the air... yup I was that annoying nerd... I couldn't help that I loved physics and books! Even if you weren't a good student I think you'll still love this skirt by Shabby Apple.

If you head over to Shabby Apple to see the skirt you'll notice it ends at the girls knee... that girl must be a giant, because as you see on my 5'4" frame it hits about mid calf. I was thinking I'd need to do a quick shortening so it ended at my knee like in the pictures on their site... but I'm kinda liking how it looks in these shots.. what do you think? Shorten it or leave it as is?

Yeah that's right I walked down to a cornfield to try and get a better picture.. John is still making fun of me for it. But back to the skirt! I love how flattering the high waist is! Seriously I'm so happy high waisted skirts are in fashion right now. Do you love them? Or do you still like the low ridding skirts of years past?

Short or long I'm in love with the pleats and stripes on this skirt!



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Full disclosure: Shabby Apple provided me this skirt for free, I would still love it the same even if I paid for it. Love it!

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Jam and helping a good cause

My heart will always go out to a good cause, and this one seems like a wonderful one. I could put it in my own words but instead I'm going to let Connie do it. Connie was an amazingly giving and caring participant in the jam exchange and if anyone is able to help in this cause please do. Very important note: your jam must be mailed by this Friday October 14th to make it there in time for the fund raising event. I know this is short notice but I will for sure be headed to the post office tomorrow morning to mail a box full!

Now I'll hand it over to Connie:

----------------
One of my dear friends, Judith Ann Parrotte, lost her battle with cancer this year.

This remarkable lady spent her entire life devoted to education - even teaching for 23 years at a correctional facility in New York. Because of her, many people developed a love of learning, reading and are better people. She taught countless children, and adults, to read and gave them the power to educate themselves simply by picking up a book and having the skills to comprehend the pages.

In her honor, her children Karen and Brian have started the Judith A. Parrotte Memorial Literacy Fund. This will be used to donate funds to local schools for literacy programs. They are also hoping to fund a GED tutoring program, as well. One of Judy's proudest moments is when a prisoner who had no education passed their GED. She knew they would have the tools to leave the system and be a productive citizen and stood a better chance of not coming back.

In order to help start the fund, her children have been raising money through memorial contributions and fundraisers. They are holding a HUGE fundraising Bake Sale on October 22, 2011 in Coxsackie, New York. Since I live in Utah, obviously, I can't buy anything. I will, however, be sending off a box of a variety of JAMS and JELLIES to sell! I even created one in Judith's memory.

So.... if anyone else would like to send a jar or two for the bake sale and to help further the mission of education and literacy for all, they may send contributions to:

Judith A. Parrotte Memorial Literacy Fund
c/o Karen Parrotte
PO Box 144
Coxsackie, NY 12051

I will be sending one of every jam and jelly I made so far this year, as well as a bunch of Judith's Special Pomegranate Jelly. :)

I hope other jammers would be willing to send off a jar to help the cause. How wonderful would Karen feel opening small packages of jam from all over the country in honor of her mother and her mother's dream of literacy for all! A note of encouragement for Karen would be a welcome addition to the package, too.

Packages should be sent NO LATER THAN OCTOBER 14th. Coxsackie is a slightly rural New York town, and mail can take a while to get there sometimes.

Thanks Steph and thanks to any other jammers who send a jar! Judy would be so proud of you!!


PS: If anyone would like to send a monetary donation, they may send one to:
The Judith A. Parrotte Memorial Literacy Fund
c/o Monica Kenny, esquire
PO Box 358
Cairo, NY 12413
(Monica is the attorney who oversees the Fund.)

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Adventures in GF muffins

I totally thought these muffins were a fail...

Turns out I'm just super impatient because once they cooled they popped out of the tins without any issues.

They were still pretty crumbly though, but nothing like the first picture. I have to say I was really pleased with the texture and taste of these muffins. John ate one up and it wasn't until after he said he liked them that I told him they were gluten free. I'm bringing some into work tomorrow for my good friend who is allergic to gluten, I'll let you know what she thinks :) --UPDATE: she loves them!! Woohoo!!!

The centers all did collapse, but I just see it as an excuse to put a glob of ice cream on top to hide it don't you?

Super easy to whip up and not a long list of specialty ingredients to buy either!

SPECIAL NOTE: these were made for someone with a gluten allergy not celiac's disease... if you are making something for someone with celiac's disease double check with all ingredient lists to make sure there are no trace elements of gluten.

Gluten Free Coconut Cinnamon Muffins
recipe adapted from The Joy of Clean Eating makes 11 muffins

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup sucanat (don't have any? try using 1/4 white + 1/2 brown sugar)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp apple butter
3 tbsp canola oil
unsweetened coconut to top (1/2 tsp per muffin)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl add in the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix well and set aside.
Beat together the milk, vanilla, apple cider and apple butter in a small bowl
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together. Do NOT over mix. You should have a very liquidy batter.
Place into greased muffin tins and then sprinkle 1/2 tsp of unsweetened coconut on top.
Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before trying to remove them.

Do you have any easy gluten free recipes that you love? (AKA make it so I don't have to buy 8 kinds of flours...) Share the link please! :)





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Never too old to play

Rochester has a ton of amazing places to visit, John and I played hookie for a half day last week and went on a daytime date to the National Museum of Play which is right down the street from where I work. It's more so a place for kids, but in all reality there is TONS to keep the parents occupied.. or two certain someones who don't have kids but still like to play like ones.

John picked me up at work and we headed for a quick lunch at the Owl House (sorry forgot to take pictures) I had the buffalo tempe sandwich and it was AMAZING! Then it was off to the museum to get our play on!

We really enjoyed the new football exhibit and I learned I had better balance than John, and our reaction times are the same. I did the sprint test.. John opted out on that one deciding not to look like a fool (I on the other hand have no issues looking like a fool in public) Just see exhibit A below :)

Yeah I'm pretty amazing and can crawl up walls... BUT I really suck at dance dance revolution

There is a whole room on weird angles so you can learn about perspective. Check out how big I look compared to John. Gotta love optical illusions! (for those who don't know us, John is almost a full foot taller than me)

There's also a room with everything on a tilt that you can walk through... It totally messes with your sense of up and down. Last time I went in it gave me vertigo and I fell over (then I noticed the sign saying not to enter if you easily get dizzy... whoops) The very loving wife I am I tried to trick John into going in, he went about three steps in and started getting dizzy and stumbled out. Yeah he wasn't too pleased with me as I laughed and pointed to the dizzy sign.

On a food related topic they have a kid size Wegmans (local grocery store) where kids can grab a cart and shop the shelves and then even use real scanners in checkout lines to scan their fake purchases, so much fun for kids! I LOVED playing with fake food when I was a kid. :)

Great day had by all! Although John did try to pick up this random super model looking chick... not cool husband not cool..

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Super Immunity - giveaway

Full disclosure: I received this book for free from TLC Book Tours. They asked for my honest opinion and I'm giving it. The scientific evidence is from the book, the opinions are all mine.

Super Immunity: The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body's Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free is written by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D. and on the cover it says "no shots" "no drugs" "no sick days" ... ok I'm listening... I'd like to be healthy without taking any wacky drugs, wouldn't you?


I'm a nerd and always read the introduction as opposed to skipping right on to chapter one. If I had been in a book store and just read the intro to get an idea of the book I would have put it down and walked away. In all truth it reads like an infomercial and made me on guard to not listen to anything the author had to say. (apparently I'm experiencing a defiant teenager point of view lately)

Since I already said I would read and review the book I knew stopping here wasn't an option, so I went on, still very skeptical, and continued reading. (I'm glad I did)

The first part of the book is teaching the reader about macronutrients vs micronutrients. Macronutrients are the things we all learn about in school, carbohydrates, fat and protein. These are also the things we should be less worried about. The things we should be worried about are micronutrients, which are things like vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and enzymes.

He then goes into talking about how void most of our diets are of micronutrient rich foods which leads to a poor immune system, thus leading us to getting sick. He even sites examples of people curing illnesses and even cancer by simply changing their diet. (this part got me a little skeptical again). In theory it made sense what he was saying... but it's still hard to think eating greens would cure every cancer patient. I mean if it did.. wouldn't we be serving up greens instead of chemo? At the same time maybe that's the whole point of this book, getting people to reevaluate what "medicine" they should be taking?

Next Dr. Fuhrman talks about what foods we really should be eating. To make it super simple for you my main take away was to eat mushrooms, onions, and leafy greens like kale/spinach every day. He has a full list explaining what foods are the most filled with micronutrients and essential to staying healthy AKA giving you super immunity. The book also has 60 or so pages in the back dedicated to immune boosting recipes that I will for sure be trying and posting about.

In the end I'm not going to totally change the way I eat. Dr. Fuhrman equated a piece of chicken breast to being equally void of micronutrients as a cookie. (I can't say I'm totally down with that logic). But I will say that the book got me thinking more about including greens into my diet daily, along with more beans, seeds, and nuts. Am I going vegan or flexitarian anytime soon? Nope. Will I be making John and myself eat more leafy greens and beans. Yes :)

TLC Tours wanted me to also tell you to text “SUPERIMMUNITY” to READIT (732348) for bonus content not included in the book.


GIVEAWAY
Hey you made it all the way to the end! You should get a prize! Want to win a copy of the book!? Leave a comment here answering any of these questions for a chance to win:
What's your take on all of this? Do you think you eat healthy? Do you think you have to eat raw greens daily to be healthy? Do you think your diet and your immune system are closely linked?
For bonus entries, FB or tweet about the book/giveaway and then comment here. Example: Learn more about Super Immunity and win a copy of the book http://stephchows.blogspot.com #giveaway @steph_chows @drfuhrman

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Green Monster

We're not talking about a green eyed monster here, we're talking about green monster smoothies!! I first heard about them on Oh She Glows and was scared. VERY SCARED.

I closed my eyes and down it went... I waited for the grassy disgusting taste to hit me in the face... but it never did. Opening one eye at a time I did indeed drink the green monster, but it didn't taste green? It actually just tasted pretty darn good! I've been against trying one of these for what feels like years now but I finally decided to try it for the better of my body. I'll explain more tomorrow, I was sent a book to review and although I went into it 100% skeptical it kinda got me thinking... and changing up a few things... enter in the green monster. Tune in tomorrow(here) to hear more about it :) But for now... go try a green monster, you actually just taste the sweet of banana and milk, nothing green or grassy about it. Believe me, I was TOTALLY skeptical about these, but John and I have been drinking them every day the past few days and loving them. We've tried adding some different berries/ nut butters as mix-ins too. Delicious!



I never would have guessed John would be drinking one of these with me, but I'm glad he is, if I'm going to be staying healthy and living a long time, he sure as hell better be along for the ride with me :)

Have you tried a version of the green monster? Think you will now? If you want to come over I'll make you one to try :)


Green Monster
Recipe via oh she glows
makes enough for 2 people

2 cups baby organic spinach
1 cup milk of choice (we used fat free milk but I want to give it a go with almond milk soon)
1 Tbs ground flax seeds
1 banana
ice

Layer in a blender, spinach, then flax, then banana, then milk. Blend until spinach is totally liquefied. Add ice and blend some more. Drink immediately, if you let it sit it will separate into layers and then it looks weird.

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