Updating A Mirror With Paint

I have had this framed mirror hanging around my house in different rooms for years. Most recently it's been in the Dining Room. I really like the size of it, but I wanted to give it a new look. I used Black Acrylic paint with just a little water added, a brush, taped off the mirror. I put paper on the wall around the edges and painted it-right on the wall!  It took less than 30 minutes! Now my mirror...and my room, have a whole new look! 

~ Angie

Cooking Ahead for the Week

Wow - what a crazy busy week! I'm not sure if it's just me but it seems that the summer days are flying by! Busy schedules means projects are piling up! So I have decided I needed to get back on track. I started with a suggestion from my husband, food! I guess in retrospect I can't really remember what we ate for supper last week, but I'm sure we ate! During the summer, I'm sure I could live on yogurt, granola, veggies, and fruit, but it seems that my husband is asking for a little more than that - haha!!
Here are a few of my tips:

• For the grill: I always grill a few types of meat, fish or poultry at the same time. My usual routine includes 3-4 chicken breasts (enough for 3-5 meals), 2 buffalo burgers (enough for 1 meal), and a pound of cod wrapped in foil (enough for 2-3 meals). 
• My favorite side grilled dish: Wrap in foil: baby potatoes, zucchini cut in 1 inch chunks, red onions cut in 1/2 inch chunks, 2 garlic cloves diced, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with rosemary, oregano, basil, and fresh ground pepper. 
• I freeze the items that I won't be using within a few days. We love pasta meals so I slice my extra chicken breasts and freeze them after I grill them. Then when I am ready to make pasta, I take them out of the freezer and add them my pasta.
• In the kitchen cooking: Yesterday I made yummy goulash, roast chicken with vegetables, and penne pasta with goat cheese and vegetables. (Recipes coming later). We had chicken and vegetables for supper, the leftovers went to the freezer with the goulash and pasta dishes.
• Make a quick snack item such as the Healthy Energy Bites while your other food is cooking. These don't involve any cooking and are easy to put together. The kids love them too! 
• Leftover coffee? Remember to pour it into a quart jar (or container) and store it in the refrigerator. I continue to add leftover coffee for the week and use it for iced coffee or an iced vanilla latte.

Healthy Energy Bites

If you have some good ideas to share, we'd love to hear from you! Angie and I hope you are all enjoying your summer and making some great memories!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

The other day the Farmer's Market had pickling cucumbers and fresh dill available and I just couldn't resist, I ended up buying 4 pounds of cucumbers and a couple bunches of dill.  I found several recipes that I had used in the past and adapted a little from all of them to make these refrigerator dills. They were ready to eat about 2-3 days later. This recipe made 6 quarts of crunchy, delicious pickles!

What you need:

• Jars, I used Quart size
• 4 pounds pickling cucumbers or you can use regular cucumbers if that's what you have
• fresh dill, I used about 3 heads per jar(2 on bottom and 1 on top)
• fresh garlic, I used one clove in each jar
• one large onion sliced
• 1 Tablespoon of sugar per quart jar

For the brine:

• 12 cups water
• 5 cups white vinegar
• 1 cup salt, I used sea salt but you can use pickling salt also

Bring brine to a boil.

In each quart jar:
add 1 slice of onion, 1 clove of garlic and 2 sprigs of dill on the bottom, then put in the sliced cucumbers(I cut the ends off then sliced them the long way) and added another sprig of dill on top. Add 1 Tablespoon of sugar on top before pouring the hot brine over. (I used a funnel, be careful it is very hot) Put on lids and bands, let cool and then refrigerate (unless you are canning them, then they will keep longer).  If you aren't canning, they can be kept in the fridge up to 3 months. Once opened use within about 7 days.  I made 6 quarts but I packed my cucumbers pretty loosely in the jars and I did have some brine left over.

Enjoy!
~Simply Angie

Blueberry Muffins with Lemon Glaze

Blueberries and lemons are a great combination! I found this recipe (and made a few minor changes) at www.mybakingaddiction.com.  I served them warm...and yes, they are so YUMMY! 
Ingredients:
zest of 2 lemons (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup milk
1 1/3 cups fresh blueberries
Glaze:
3 T unsalted butter, melted
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325F, line muffin pan with paper liners.
• In a medium bowl, mix lemon zest and sugars together.
• I used a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and creamed together the sugars, butter, oil then added the eggs and vanilla, until all ingredients were mixed.
• Add flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk to your butter, eggs, and sugars dough. 
• Make sure everything is combined then add your blueberries and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon.
• I used a cookie dough scoop to spoon the batter into the muffin liners, fill them close to the top.
• Bake for 20-22 minutes or until they are pale golden brown.
• Whisk glaze ingredients until smooth.
• When the muffins have cooled slightly, dip the muffin crown into the glaze and allow the glaze to harden. You can dip them twice if you want (you already know I did!!)
• Serve warm or cool on a rack and store in an airtight container. I would store them in the refrigerator if you're not going to serve them within a day.  I also froze some of mine. Makes 18 muffins.

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi