Weekend DIY: The Results are in...

The results are in, we repainted the kitchen and dining room this weekend!  The guest room will have to wait for another day, our feet were too tired to even keep us standing long enough to tape off the guest room.

Take a look at our pictures below!

Dining Room

As you can see, the dining room was a mustard gold color.  Here is a photo of Mr. bear in the process of painting the first coat.  Boy were we glad do see that gold go!

We need to get some decor on the walls, but this was the best photo I had that showed the true color of the dining room.  We did the dining room in a flat paint finish.

Kitchen

Here's a photo of the kitchen with the Garden Spot green.  Ironically Valspar paint has a similar color called Dill Pickle.  Mr. Bear HATES pickles, so we will continue to refer to this as "Garden Spot" green.  We did the kitchen in a semi-gloss finish since we don't have a full back splash, it makes for much easier cleanup.

Last night we bought some puck lights to go under the cabinets to light up the space around the stove a bit more.  We are still working on their installation, but I think they will look really nice.


So what do you think?

-Danielle

Weekend DIY: Let's Paint the Town...Gray?

I can't believe it is once again Friday!  This week zipped by and we're already on the brink of the weekend!

Mr. Bear and I bought our house in September 2012 (we put in an offer the week we came home from our honeymoon!).  We've been in it for almost 8 months and still have not painted a single room.

The main problem had been agreeing on a color.  I like colors with warmer undertones while Mr. Bear prefers cooler colors.  Our childhoods have greatly influenced us.  My parents ALWAYS had warm colors (reds, golds, browns, warm greens, warm beiges) while his parents' house is varying shades of blues and bluish greens.

This week we finally agreed on colors for our kitchen, dining room and guest room.

We are planning to begin painting tomorrow, but boy am I not looking forward to the prep work.

Several years ago, my parents bought a new house.  This was the last time I've painted so much as a speck of anything.   What I do remember, however, is how much I hated taping and tarping everything in the room.  Anyway, we are planning to go buy the paint tonight.  These are all Sherwin Williams colors.

Kitchen

Our kitchen has beige granite, and floors, white cabinets with nickel pulls and we have stainless steel appliances.  Here's a photo from the previous owner's MLS listing:

For now, we've settled on Garden Spot for the kitchen

Dining Room

We recently purchased a dining room set, Ashley Furniture's Hayley table, chairs and buffet.  I plan to get some funky accent chairs for the head and foot of the table.  I really want a gray room in our house, and thought the dark wood in the table would look great with the gray.  I may re-upholster the chairs with a different fabric, but they are pretty neutral right now.

Essential Gray for the dining room:

Guest Room

As you can see from the MLS photo, our guest room is a lovely shade of pinkish lavender.  Not seen in the photo, there was even a shrine to Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez!  While it was lovely for the little girl who lived there, we are looking for a more updated and modern look.  We've decided on a light/medium beige large stripe for the guest bedroom (something like this from Pinterest).

I'll post later next week with a final update on the paint.  I'm excited to finally start making our house our own!

What do you think of our picks?

-Danielle

Weekend Recipe: Creole Lime Shrimp

Earlier this week, Mr. Bear was out for the evening with his brother.  Mr. Bear is a bit pickier than I am when it comes to food, so I decided to test out a new recipe while he was out.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, I'm looking forward to grilled dishes.  Shrimp just screams warm weather to me, so I decided to go in search of a delicious recipe.

After perusing several of my typical recipe sites, I noticed that the most common recipes included lime and/or cajun seasoning.  I didn't have any cajun seasoning on hand and didn't really feel like making my own, but I had some Zatarain's Creole seasoning that I felt would be a good substitute. I took an amalgamation of a bunch of other recipes to come up with this marinade.


I loved this dish because it was only 4 ingredients!

Ingredients:

2 heaping tsp. Zatarain's Creole Seasoning
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 lime, juiced
1lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used 21/25 shrimp which means there are 21 to 25 shrimp per pound aka "Jumbo" shrimp.  I also prefer it with the tail off, but it is up to you)

The Zatarain's seasoning is pretty salty, so I only used 2 tsp. and it gave it a really good flavor.  If you are using a cajun or creole seasoning that is less salty, I would recommend upping your seasoning, with a maximum of 3 tbsp.

Directions:

1. Mix together the seasoning, lime juice and vegetable oil in a resealable plastic bag, or bowl with a lid.  Add the shrimp, coat with the marinade.  Marinate in the fridge for up to 20 mins. (I was in a hurry this past time so only marinated for about 10 and the flavor was still good)

2. Preheat grill for medium heat and lightly oil the grate (I used PAM for grilling on my indoor grill).  Remove the shrimp from marinade and shake off excess.  Discard remaining marinade.

3. Cook shrimp on the grill until they are bright pink on the outside and the meat is no longer transparent in the center.  This was about 2 minutes per side for me, but I went a little longer because I like to get a nice brown, crunchy outside.

I served with broccoli and a side of rice.  It was delicious!

Tips:

1. I cooked on an indoor grill because I was just cooking for myself.  If you are cooking on an outdoor charcoal or gas grill, I would highly recommend rubbing the grates with oil instead of using PAM.

2. Also, if cooking on outdoor grill, I would recommend using skewers on the shrimp to make sure they don't drop between the grates.  I recommend metal skewers, but if you are using bamboo skewers, be sure to soak in water before use so they don't burn on the grill.

3. For a bit of a margarita flavor, you could add tequila to the marinade!

4. Be sure to start with defrosted shrimp.  I forgot to pull some out the night before, so I did the quick defrost method of putting the shrimp in a colander and letting COLD water run over them for about 15 mins. NEVER use hot water, you could introduce bacteria.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do, It is a great summer dish, and the shrimp would also be excellent on a southwest style salad!

-Danielle

Weekend DIY: Review of Scotts® Snap™ Spreader

Does anyone else have a case of the Mondays?  I certainly do and the weekend went by way too fast.

Mr. Bear and I are usually "Weekend Warriors" when it comes to keeping up with the house.  This past weekend, I was determined to get some fertilizer on our lawn for the spring.  We typically don't buy into the hype of new products, but we were at Lowe's a few weeks ago picking up a few things and they had the Scotts® Snap™ Spreader out on display.  It was about $20 cheaper than a standard spreader and we purchased 2 accompanying packs of Weed & Feed to cover our lawn.  The grand total came in at about $10-$15 less than a standard spreader and weed & feed.

Saturday morning, I woke up and used our weed killer spray on a bunch of weeds in our garden beds that had cropped up in the last week or so with all of the rain we had been getting.  They were only expecting a 30% chance of rain on Saturday and we had just had what seemed like a monsoon the day before so I figured it would be the perfect day to fertilize.  As soon as I had finished spraying the last set of weeds in the gardens, it began to sprinkle.  I didn't know if it was going to be a full-blown rain so I held off on the fertilizer.

I ended up getting out later in the day to spread the fertilizer, and I was actually really happy it rained because I had read several reviews for Scotts that indicated you should start with a soaked lawn.  Some even recommended applying with the Snap Spreader in the rain, although I don't like getting soaked on a 45 degree day.

(image courtesy of Dave_HD_OC on the Home Depot community boards)

First, I have to say that the bags that we purchased to go with the spreader were very easy to snap in and get ready for use.  My only complaint is that the spreader and bag could use a bit more of actual instructions as to how to use.  Maybe our label had fallen off of the spreader, but I didn't find any instructions for use.  The setup was pretty intuitive though so even a few pictures to make sure you have the spreader unlocked before trying to put the bag on would probably have sufficed.

Second, spreading was a breeze!  You just clamp down on the handle and can adjust how much you are spreading by how quickly you walk behind the spreader.  I had to hit the bag of fertilizer a few times because it would get clumped up inside the bag and you could see a deterioration in the amount of fertilizer that was spread.  A few taps on the bag with the heel of my hand freed up the clumps.

The spreader has a feature they call EdgeGuard. that essentially sprays the fertilizer to the left so that a straight line can be created along the right side of the spreader.  This is supposed to be used when walking along the edges of your lawn.  I wish this feature had been controllable.  It was great when walking along beds, sidewalks and the driveway, but it was annoying to figure out if a portion of the lawn had already been covered when going back and forth.

Overall, I was able to fertilize in about 15 minutes on our 1/3 of an acre with about 1 bag of their weed & feed.

All in all, I really liked the spreader, especially not having to deal with dumping the fertilizer into the hopper of the spreader.  I usually find the bags to be awkward in size and weight and end up dumping part of the product on the ground.  This spreader was easy to use and it was very easy to control when the spreader actually dispersed product.  I also liked the shape of the spreader (being on 2 wheels in a "dolly" format instead of the traditional).  As a shorter female, I was able to see where it was spreading much easier than the standard spreader.  Finally, I liked that the fertilizer was all encapsulated in the sealed bags and I didn't have to touch any of it.

It does create a lot more packaging than the standard spreader, but for me it was so much more convenient.

I am still waiting to see the results of the fertilizer itself, so I'll have to update the post in a few days.  I hope everyone is getting in the swing of spring like I am!

-Danielle

Weekend Recipe: Chocolate Scotcheroos = The Best Rice Cereal Treats You've Ever Had

The weekend is finally here!  What a week!

Yesterday was a friend of Mr. Bear and mine's birthday.  We are celebrating by going to a baseball game tonight!

Although I won't be able to bring any treats into the stadium, I wanted to share a recipe I've made for our friend in the past.  He was recently diagnosed with celiac disease so I always try to make something gluten-free, but ever so delicious.  Dessert is usually the most difficult since SO many desserts have flour in them, but do I have a dessert for you!

I introduce you to the Chocolate Scotcheroo!

(Image courtesy of ricekrispies.com since I didn't get a chance to take picture of them the last time I made these delicious morsels)

The Chocolate Scotcheroo is like a Rice Krispie Treat taken to the next level.

When I was a kid, my mom ONLY made her rice cereal treats this way.  I was later disappointed to find out that not everyone makes such delicious rice cereal desserts.

The recipe contains corn syrup instead of marshmallows (which is good for gf followers since some marshmallow brands can be subject to gluten cross-contamination).  It also contains the 2 secret ingredients that make them ever so delicious, peanut butter and butterscotch.  Even if you don't like butterscotch, you will love these!  The peanut butter, chocolate and butterscotch blend together so nicely into an ooey gooey goodness, you'll blink and they'll be gone.

Chocolate Scotcheroos

  Ingredients

Original recipe makes 24 bars

• 1 cup Light Corn Syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter (can use crunchy, but I prefer creamy)

• 6 cups crispy rice cereal (If making gluten-free, be sure to get the gluten-free Rice Krispies.  Traditional Rice Krispies contain malt which has gluten)
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

1. Cook corn syrup and sugar together in a large pan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Bring mixture just to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter; mix well. Add cereal; stir until evenly coated.
2. Pour into greased 13x9-inch pan and pat into place.
3. Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together in saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread over cereal.
4. Cool at least 45 minutes, or until firm. Cut into bars.

• PREP 20 mins
• COOK 10 mins
• READY IN 1 hr 15 mins 

 

Tips:

• Make sure to just bring the sugar and corn syrup to a slight boil.  Do NOT boil for a long time.  If you boil for any length of time your bars will be very hard to eat once they cool. 
• In the summer it can get hot, and the chocolate can melt if left out.  You can put these in the fridge for a short period of time to re-harden the chocolate on top, however, be aware that the corn syrup hardens too, so make sure you let it warm up a bit after pulling out of the fridge so you will be able to chew. :) 
• Spray cooking spray into measuring cup for adding corn syrup, that way the corn syrup slides right out of the measuring cup

**Update**

• If making gluten free, make sure to use gf butterscotch chips.  Nestle's is NOT gf but Hershey's is.  I almost contaminated a whole batch because I bought Nestle's instead of Hershey's.  

-Danielle