Project Month!

You are starting to read a long post. Good luck. :D

So at the end of February I was in a funk. In a bad way. All I did was sleep (if I was lucky), nurse Natalie, and try to keep Mikey and Adam from seriously injuring each other. I talked to Jake about it and we decided I needed a project! Well, cooking is typically my stress relief. It's a really good one for me because even if the food sucks, I have three boys that'll eat it haha

So, *drum roll* my project was to try 20 new recipes! And guess what world! I did it!

Here is my list of recipes that I tried with little notes about them. (I also included the links to the websites I found them on)

I didn't take pictures of them because I don't actually like to take food pictures. I am good photographer but food seems to be beyond my grasp- it doesn't work with you, ya know?

1. Stuffed Hamburgers- okay this one didn't have a recipe, but I found a website that talked about hamburger presses so I bought one. $6.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond

2. Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bars from Tasty Kitchen

3. Honey Mustard Mozzarella Chicken from Pia Recipes. This one was amazing! We have already had it twice. Try it, love it.

4. Baked Cheese Balls from Never Trust a Skinny Cook. These were unsuccessful- I am not sure what I did wrong but I tried so it counts.

5. Zucchini Parmesan Crisps from Blackjack Bakehouse. These were also amazing. We ate them with that seafood sauce that I can't remember what it's called. It was good though haha. (update- Jake just told me it's cocktail sauce.)

6. French Onion Chicken Sandwiches from Nature Box. They were good too. We are fans of anything that has cheese.

7. Calzones- we found a link on pinterest but when I clicked on it it redirected to some insurance sales website so we just winged it. And it was delightful.

8. PF Chang's Mongolian Beef Copycat from Damn Delicious. This is one of the best food blogs ever.

9. Mushroom Asiago Chicken from The Midnight Baker. We couldn't find asiago cheese so we used parmesan but I can't imagine it could've been any better than it was.

10. Chicken Potstickers- I can't remember what site I found this recipe on but I do remember that I used it as a loose guide. It was delightful- chicken, garlic, ginger blended together. Mm.

11. Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken from Damn Delicious. It was okay, a little heavy on the vinegar in my opinion but maybe people like it that way?

12. Homemade tortillas- these I found in a old ward cookbook. It was a little rough but they tasted right. Just weren't pretty at all.

13. Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas from The Cookin' Chicks. These were lick your plate delicious. We put mushrooms in them too and oh man, I thought I died. One of the best things I've ever cooked in my opinion. I used the homemade tortillas in this recipes and it was delightful.

14. French Silk Pie from Baking with Blondie. I thought this tasted like Cadbury Eggs. Translation: awesome. (Mine wasn't as pretty as Mandy's, and I used a pretzel crust instead. It was good)

15. Doritos Crusted Chicken from Spend With Pennies. This one I could have done without. It was dry. But if I could've fixed that it probably would've been pretty good.

16. Mini Banana Cream Pies from Girl versus Dough. These were pretty good. Later in the month, I made them again but with chocolate pudding and strawberries instead of banana and that was also delightful. There is a world of possibilities with this recipe. Any pudding with any fruit and it'd work out. Try it- the sugar cookie crust is delicious.

17. Quick and Easy Moroccan Spiced Chicken from Rock Recipes. This was pretty good. Once again, a little dry but the flavor was fantastic. We didn't try the lemon couscous but I plan on it next time.

18. Fajitas from my mind. Haha. I just used the random produce we had in the fridge but I did use this recipe for seasoning. Well as a loose guide once again.

19. Quiche. So I read this book this one time and it kind of walked you through a quiche recipe. So I sort of used that and I sort of used this one from Budget Bytes. I added mushrooms and sausage though because we love mushrooms and put them in everything that doesn't seem weird and we don't believe in meals sans meat. :D

20. Tikka Masala  from Mattawa Mum. After Natalie was born, a friend brought us some tikka masala and it was excellent. But we love spicy food so we wanted to try it ourselves and make it spicier. It was equally delicious.

Well part way through the month, I realized how much better I felt doing these projects so I came up with a list of other ones that I could do around the house.

I started with this wreath because it was relatively simple and I had some of the stuff I needed- I did make a trip to Walmart but that's okay, I love that place.

Jake picked the color scheme and then I did the rest and I love it. It took 2 episodes of Sherlock, but it probably could've taken only one but I was fighting an uphill battle with Natalie wanting to eat ALL the time, and Adam wanting to help.

 Next, I decided to paint the living room. I went to Lowe's one day and went to the paint counter and rather impulsively picked this blue. And I love it! I painted the one wall by my stairs and then a small little wall on the other side of the room because I am kind of intense about symmetry. I have realized that I am not a big fan of just one accent wall. I at the very least, need the color to tie in on the opposite wall.. or opposite-ish wall. :D

I saw this board on pinterest and I could buy it for $45 or make it at home for free... well ish. I used scraps from previous projects. :D It's not quite as cute as the one on pinterest but it's sure worth the difference in price! I painted the batman symbol and then use my cricut for the vinyl letters. Not bad right? I am proud.

 I put the batman board up in the boy's room and finally finished their room. I touched up the stripes, and painted over the crayon marks which were everywhere, in case you were wondering. FYI- painting over the marks? Way better than washing the walls. :D I liked it so much that one part of the window sill was real dirty- I painted it. haha. Housekeeper award!

 Their room looks good right?

And here is the one I am most excited about. I am finally painting the guest room which will soon be Natalie's room when we have no guests! I did it purple and I found this tutorial for painting wall paper.

I love it! I am obviously not finished yet but seriously, it's awesome. It takes forever and a day but I think it'll be worth it. I am only going to do one wall and I will somehow figure out how to tie the purple in on the opposite wall. I have a few plans but who knows.

I have two other projects in the works.. well three I suppose. I am going to paint a stripe in the living room to connect the two blue walls, I am going to make a terra cotta pot planter, and I am going to sew suspenders for the little boys for Easter to match an adorable dress I found for Natalie. It was $5. And so cute. I cannot wait for Easter! I'll post pictures of those other projects if I ever finish them.

Thanks for reading!