Portuguese Pasta

Having a Portugese husband means linguica is sometimes on the menu... Being it was his birthday, he had the request of linguica sandwiches and macaroni salad. With that being said, we entertained 35 people with his dinner request. 

As an Italian, I don't know how to cook without having leftovers. Therefore, I cooked enough linguica for an army. Since I do not enjoy it as much as Anthony, I had to add a little Italian spice to the linguica and make a Portguese pasta. To my surprise, the pasta was delicious! 

This recipe was a great way to use up some leftover linguica without eating linguica sandwiches all week.

Ingredients

* 1 large chopped onion

* 2 tablespoons

* 1 pound linguica (Portuguese Sausage)

* 1 - 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes Italian Style

* 3 tablespoons soy sauce

* 1 pound cooked pasta

* 2 tablespoons of garlic salt

* 1/4 cup chicken broth

* 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

* Salt/pepper to taste

* 1 teaspoon of chili powder

Directions

1. Cut linguica into bite size pieces and chop up the onion. Place the linguica and onion is pan with olive oil and simmer. Cook for 5 minutes. Once the onions are cooked, add garlic salt and mix together.

2. Add the can of undrained tomatoes, chicken broth and soy sauce to the sausage mix. Cover the pot and simmer for one hour. Stirring frequently.

3. When the sauce has simmered about 45 minutes, add chili powder, salt/pepper and Parmesan. 

4. Put on a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cook pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain, and stir pasta into sauce. Let pasta and sauce sit for 5-10 minutes covered without heat.

5. Serve with fresh Parmesan on top and garlic bread.

Skywalk

This summer we have been busy with weddings, birthdays, playdates and other fun activities, but last Friday we went to Skywalk with a few friends and I now have a new favorite adult night out. The evening started with dinner at Wasabi on Fire. Wasabi is one of our favorite restaurants in Fresno and we were excited to try their new restaurant. They did not disappoint, as we had a delicious dinner. After dinner we headed to Skywalk for an hour full of fun. From the large foam pits to the obstacle courses, we were like kids in a candy shop! We had a night with great friends, lots of laughs and new memories!!!

DIY Kitchen Shutters

As I continue to remodel our kitchen, I came across the idea to add shutters to the kitchen window. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on shutters, I decided to build my own.

I love them!!!

To build the shutters I took the window measurements and headed to Home Depot and played around with different wood sizes. I came up with a design that included two different sizes of wood and three slats of wood on each shutter. While at Home Depot I had them cut all the wood to the length I needed. This left me with only horizontal pieces to cut at home. I allowed 1/2" in my width measurement for the hinges and it worked out perfectly!  I also allowed 1/4" for the height measurement, but had to go back and cut off an inch so they would fit correctly. There was enough wood leftover to create two horizontal pieces for each shutter.

I used butt hinges to attach the panels together. I used other hinders we had from previous projects to attach the shutters to the wall. The butt hinges I bought were not strong enough to hold all of the weight once attached to the wall.

All said and done, the wood cost $25 and I used paint and stain I already had at home. 

Interested in the same look??? Feel free to contact me!

Crockpot Mashed Potatoes

With the heat during summer, I love a great crockpot recipe! I stumbled across this recipe, but tweaked it to my liking. These mashed potatoes were full of flavor and SO easy. 

Ingredients

* 2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes

* 1 cups chicken broth

* 4 cloves garlic minced

* 1 ½ teaspoons salt, plus more to taste

* ¼ teaspoon black pepper

* 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
* 1 teaspoon of garlic salt

* ½ cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes

* 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, cubed

* 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

* 1 (8 oz) tub sour cream

 Directions

1. Place all ingredients into the crockpot and stir to combine.

2. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours, or until the potatoes are tender.

2.I used a mashed and left the potatoes a little chunky.

3. Re-season, if necessary

4. Serve and enjoy!

Jocko 2 Months

Jocko turned 2 months old on May 2nd and has sure grown in the last month! He weighs 10lbs 13oz and 21 1/2 inches long. He is now in the 25th percentile for weight, 5th percentile for height (short and fat) and wearing size 1 diapers. Jocko eats at 7, 10, 1, 4, 7, 8:30 and 10 and sleeps till 7:00. He now smiles back and loves to watch his energetic sister. Giada is still in love with her brother and mommies little helper when it come this feeding, changing diapers and putting his pacifier in his mouth. 

Two under two is keeping us busy, but I wouldn't change a thing! 

Happy 2 months handsome!

Farmhouse Friday: Galvanized/Metal Decor

I love all things Joanna Gains and the farmhouse style. As we have taken on a fixer upper of our own, I would like to introduce Farmhouse Friday! Please visit my blog for tips, tricks and DIY's on creating your own farmhouse look.

Today I would like to feature all things galvanized and metal. Adding a little galvanized bucket and metal accent pieces to your home will give it the perfect farmhouse look. 

Below are a few galvanized/metal looks I have added to my house! Click on the link for similar and reasonable looks.

Old Galvanized Bucket

Galvanized Pipe Desk

Metal Stools for Night Stands

Old Water Bucket

Metal/Wood Decor

                         

Mommy Monday: Tantrums

As I post about the exciting activities in our lives, I rarely take the time to talk about the struggles. For this reason, I wanted to share a glimpse into our three week rough patch. I know all moms experience the moment of defeat and therefore I hope you can relate and know we will all survive the hard days.

Giada went through a phase of being extremely fussy and only wanted me to hold her. She would try to communicate, but lacks the ability to actually share what she wants and we found ourselves frustrated each day. In addition, she had a slight case of the stomach bug, which enhanced the fussiness. She would wake up in the morning crying and the same thing would happen when she woke up from naps. Besides all this, she is 20 months old and finding her personality. On top of all that, she refused to eat and would only drink milk, which did not help with her attitude. Multiple times a day she would have extreme meltdowns and scream to the point of choking herself. I found myself almost in tears because I was exhausted and just as frustrated with the situation. In the midst of all this chaos, Jocko was not sleeping through the night and I was sleep deprived. (Thank goodness he is now sleeping from 10:30 - 7:00) I would count down the hours until Anthony came home from work to help.  I am lucky that I was able to hand Giada over to Anthony the second he walked in the door and take a moment for myself. The struggle of being at home with a newborn and 19 month old felt like a never ending battle.

As we made it through the LONG three weeks, Giada now feels better and her bubbly personality is back. However, the tantrums still come and go.

Some days the feeling of defeat is hard to overcome, but we move on and do our best the following day. I am still waiting for the baby/toddler manuel, but until then I will give it my all. Thank goodness for reality tv, girlfriends, wine and bedtime at 8:00.

With all the tears, screams, hitting and unanswered tantrums, being her mom is the best job in the world. I look forward to all the years to come and understand the "hard days" and disagreements have only begun. 

My Babywise Babies

The gift of sleep... Isn't that what every mom wants???

As I prepared to have Giada, I knew there was so much to learn. Thankfully, friends and family filled me in on the good, bad and ugly. Along with the good came the book Babywise. Not only does this book give moms the gift of sleep, it supports scheduling your baby. For anyone who knows me, I like to plan, have routine and know what to expect. On the other hand, Anthony is the complete opposite. Therefore, he was not a supporter. However, when he saw the results and how happy his daughter was, he changed his mind. Now, he would not have done it any other way.

Immediately after learning about Babywise, I headed to the book store and purchased the book. I began reading, highlighting pages and taking in all the information it provided. Once Giada arrived, I stated the schedule and fell in love. To this day, she is my scheduled child, slept through the night at 7 weeks, still loves naps and sleeps from 8-7. Coincidence, I think not.

With that being said, now comes Jocko. There wasn't a question as to if I was going to schedule Jocko. In the beginning, he was not as cooperative as his sister, so I had my doubts. However, I stuck with the plan and Jocko is now sleeping through the night. We have had three nights of full sleep!! In addition, I know when he eats, which gives me the freedom to run errands and leave him at home.

Babywise is not for everyone, but I would not do it any other way!

Wooden Headboard

Jocko is 6 weeks old and I am finally working in his room! The combination of our remodel, move and having Jocko fall so close together left his room unfinished. With that being said, I had several ideas in decorating his room, it was just a matter of time.

Before he was born I found a picture online of a wooden headboard for his crib. Conveniently, I had a distressed wooden mirror frame that I made for the last house. Simply, I took the frame apart and cut it into pieces. After rearranging the "puzzle" several times, I finally had the configuration for the headboard

Next, I started with the bottom row of wood and nailed the pieces on the wall. This step took some measuring to make sure it was centered and level. After mounting all the pieces to the wall, I began to add some character to the wood. The two deer horns are from Anthony and my dads first deer. I added a "J" for Jocko and two other decor pieces. 

Once again I saved a fortune on this project and spent a total of $4.

My Inspiration 

                             

My Headboard

Headboard with the Crib

Office/Guest Bedroom Desk

As the kitchen continues to receive updates, I am currently moving onto our office/guest bedroom. I have a specific vision for the room and look forward to bringing it to life!

To begin, I continuously see desk made with galvanized pipe that I love! The look is enough rustic/farmhouse/simple that I wanted to create my own for the office. After looking in the garage at leftover wood, I noticed we had an extra door not being used. The door was the perfect length to use for the top of the desk. Next, I began researching dimensions online. In coming across several tutorials, I decided to use a post from the blog www.designertrapped.com for guidance. Since I was using an old door and not slabs of wood (like the tutorial) there were a few adjustments to make. 

Next, it was off to Home Depot for piping. As I walked in the store with Giada and Jocko in the cart, I was dreading how long it may take to pick out the pipe. Luckily, the gentleman who helped me was beyond helpful and made our experience much better than I could have imagined.

Now, I was off to stain the door. I gave both sides of the doer a quick sand before any stain was applied. I used a combo of two stains on the top of the desk to get the look I wanted. After it dried, I took 00 steel wool and sanded the door. To finish it off, I took some grey paint (the same color as our walls) and applied it to the top of the stain for a white washed look. For the sides and bottom of the desk, I painted it white and sanded the sides for a distressed look once the paint dried. 

The final step was to assemble the galvanized pipe - pretty self explanatory. 

Once the pipe was assembled, I screwed the floor flanges to the bottom of the door. 

All in all, I am happy with the result and look forward to the completion of our office/guest bedroom.

Here are the dimensions of galvanized pipe which included the threading. Home Depot cuts and threads the pipe for you.

Pipe Cut List

4  - 8 inches

4 - 11 inches

4 - 14 inches

1 - 45 inches

6 - t-joints

4 - floor flanges

(Picture from www.designertrapped.com)

The overall cost for this project was under $80 which is great because all the desk I found online ranged from $500 - $1000. 

My inspiration

My desk

Now I am I search for the perfect desk chair and decor/organization on the desk. 

Jocko 1 Month Old

Jocko turned 1 month today and we had a great checkup at the doctors office. He weighs 8 lbs 1 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. Jocko moved from the 2 percentile to the 10th percentile. He eats every three house with a couple cluster feedings in evening. We are currently feeding at 3 AM and then again at 6:30/7. He has a melo temper and puts up with his sister poking and grabbing at him all day long. Giada plays mother hen, but absolutely adores her brother. 

We are so in love and look forward to all the memories yet to come!