Fridge Finds: What's (Really) Cooking, Part 6

I'm linking up today to the last of the Fridge Finds blog party posts.  The finale is brought to us by my dear friend The Strategic Homemaker - and she's got a week's worth of warm, yummy comfort food to showcase (can we hear three cheers for soups?!?).  I'm particularly impressed with her ability to reinvent leftovers, and go a WHOLE WEEK and only serve meat once.  Are you intrigued yet?  Go check it out here, you!

And, as a fun little recap, click through these other awesome Fridge Finds!

Week 1: Rhymes With Smile

Week 2: Homemade Engineer

Week 3: Down the Rabbit Hole

Week 4: The Whiteds

Week 5: The White Pages

Thanks for playing along, friends!

Fridge Finds: What's (Really) Cooking, Part 3

It's Tuesday, friends ... which means it's the Fridge Finds blog party day!  (Can't remember what that's about?  Check out the first week here, or last week's Fridge Finds post here)

Lucky for us, we get to hang out with Rebecca from Down the Rabbit Hole.  She's a modest friend, and quiet about her culinary prowess.  Don't be fooled when she talks about simple fare of eggs and kale: she is the kind of cook whose meals you remember.  I have eaten that exact dinner at her house - spontaneously, when our husbands had to work late, and we were both pregnant with our first.  I still specifically remember how I scraped the plate.  And her granola?  Stellar.

I met her, long ago - a mutual friend connected us because she and her husband were moving to our town.  We have a little bit of a culinary history together - this was an early meal that my mom and I delivered to her when she moved; we still laugh over this mishap together; this remains my favorite way to prepare sweet potatoes; a recent favorite soup recipe is from her kitchen.

So, don't wait another minute.  Check out what is going on in Rebecca's kitchen with this week's Fridge Finds post!

Fridge Finds: What's (Really) Cooking, Part 2

It's the Fridge Finds blog party day!  If you're missed last week's post about this curious blog party, catch yourself up by checking out my post from last week.

I hope you're as pumped as I am to get a peek into another REAL family's REAL fridge! I'm really excited to have Rebekah - aka, the Homemade Engineer - as the featured blogger this week!  I met Rebekah when she and her husband moved to Smalltown, Southwest Virginia for grad school (why else would anyone move there?), and got to know her through church, potlucks, and shared craftiness (though, I confess she's much better at sewing things exactly than I am.  Must be that engineer in her.)

She has some great food plans for the week.  And, as someone who's always looking for a new way to cook up beans, I'm pumped that she's sharing a lentil recipe ... because, really, one can never know too many ways to serve beans.

So without further ado, check out her post here, and let her know what you're excited to see in her fridge!

Fridge Finds: What's (Really) Cooking, Part 1

Do you ever wonder what other people actually have in their fridge?  Or what they are really planning on cooking up on a day-to-day basis?

I do.  I'll just call myself curious instead of nosy ... but I really do wonder about these things.  I think about food all day long - at breakfast I think about lunch, at lunch I dream about dinner, and in all those in between times I think about what someone else must be eating, or could be eating, or might be eating.  I know.  It's weird.  There, I said it.

I've been thinking about this so much (I'm not obsessed, really I'm not) that I'm joining up with a few friends with homemaker(ish) blogs for a BLOG PARTY!  Each week from now through early November, a different blogger is going to take a - for real - picture of the food in her refrigerator.  Then she's agreed to share a few menu ideas or recipe links, based on what's in there.

It's my turn first, so here you go.  Here is a picture of my refrigerator, fo'realzies.

Food to notice:

Top shelf: bacon
Middle shelf: loaf of bread, waaaaay too many eggs
Middle shelf drawer: 3 blocks of cheese, pepperoni
Bottom shelf: yogurt, flat of chicken thighs, tortillas
Bottom left drawer: celery, carrots, peppers, tomatoes (Don't know if you can see those)
Bottom right drawer: lettuce, limes

And here, my friends, is a short list of what's really cooking here at the Rhymeswithsmile household this week ... (it's way less glamorous than you might hope)

BLTs (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato) sandwiches - using bread, lettuce, tomato, and crispy bacon, with a possible addition of a fried egg (for me), sweet peppers (for Big Sister), and cheese (for the Mister).

Chicken Curry (with chicken, celery, and yogurt from the fridge, adding in chopped sweet pepper - other ingredients are in the cupboards)

Chicken Enchiladas with Mexican Rice and Cilantro Dressing (unfortunately, I forgot to pick up cilantro on my recent grocery run.  So I'll swing by the store next time I'm out ...)

Homemade pepperoni pizza using this dough in the bread machine.

Keep checking in on Tuesdays for the coming weeks, so that you can see what these foodie friends are really cooking up!

Rebecca at Down the Rabbit Hole
Rebekah at Homemade Engineer
Elissa at Winding Down With the Whiteds
Meredith at The White Pages
Andrea at The Strategic Homemaker

Friday Blog Party and Giveaway Winner

This week's featured blogger in the Simply Baby Furniture blog party is Kelley from Forever's Like A Dream.  She's working with transition to make a lovely, girly space for her 2-year-old.  Be sure to check out her post by clicking here.

While you're at it, check out what's going on with these other fabulous bloggers who I've been enjoying getting to know through the blog party:

Little Black Door- Elizabeth

Fancy Free Me- Elisa

Design Post Daily-Beth

Tiffany Leigh Interior Design – Tiffany

ScrappyLove -Cindi and Emily

Vivid Hue Home- Heather

And of course, now I get the honor and privilege of announcing the winner of the 300th post giveaway: Lauren T.!  It seems fitting somehow that she would win this, given that she's been with me since the beginning ... she actually commented on my very first post, ya'll!  What a sweet friend for long before the blog was even in place, and a faithful reader since day one.

Congrats Lauren!  And thanks to the rest of you for reading, sharing, and remembering.  And now, here's to the next 300!

Happy Friday!

Rhymes with ... Style! (Featured Nursery)

Hey friends - two things for you to check out today ...

First, if you haven't had a chance to yet, you can leave me a little love for making it to 300 posts, and enter my giveaway going on now!

Then, share my excitement because today's my day!  I'm the featured style contributor and guest blogger over on Simply Baby Furniture's style blog.  So check them out to take a peek at and hear stories about the rhymes with smile nursery.

While you're looking around, don't forget to connect with these other great bloggers and designers who've been a part of the blog party ...

Forever’s Like a Dream-Kelley

Little Black Door- Elizabeth

Fancy Free Me-Elisa

Design Post Daily-Beth

Tiffany Leigh Interior Design – Tiffany

ScrappyLove -Cindi and Emily

Vivid Hue Home- Heather

Happy Friday!

Blog Party!

Cindi and Emily from ScrappyLoveBlog are today's Blog Party bloggers over at Simply Baby Furniture.

Simply Baby Furniture Blog Party

Stay tuned for a few more weeks to see what these other bloggers have to say about nursery style:

Vivid Hue Home- Heather
Rhymes with Smile- me!
Forever’s Like a Dream- Kelley
Little Black Door- Elizabeth
Fancy Free Me- Elisa
Design Post Daily- Beth

I will award some rhymeswithsmile points* to you if you can spot my tiny little debut in today's featured nursery!  

*rhymeswithsmile points are redeemable for hugs, or possibly food.  Really, I just made them up right now, to encourage you to go look at the blog party today.  But I'm willing to negotiate.

Chicken Curry and a Blog Party

Recipe slightly adapted Indian Chicken Curry II from allrecipes.com
Serves 4

3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3-4 ribs celery, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. curry powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. paprika
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger root
1/2 tsp. white sugar
1/2 tsp. salt (more or less to taste)
1 lb. boneless chicken thighs or breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 c. plain yogurt
3/4 c. coconut milk 
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Saute onion until lightly browned.  Add celery and carrots and cook for 2 minutes.  Stir in garlic, curry powder, cinnamon, paprika, bay leaf, ginger, sugar, and salt.  Continue stirring for 2 minutes.  Add chicken pieces, tomato paste, yogurt, and coconut milk.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove bay leaf, and stir in lemon juice and cayenne pepper.  Simmer 5 minutes more.

We like to eat curry a lot, and I mentioned to a friend recently that I wanted to find a reliably good coconut-based curry dish.  I have been trying different recipes, but hadn't quite found the one that I had in mind.  I just really like the complexity of flavor that comes from the coconut and spices, and just could not replicate the dishes that I like to order in restaurants for myself.  But - aha!  I think I have it!  A million thanks to my kind friend!

Secret ingredients: coconut milk AND tomato paste!

Since this recipe requires adding lots of spices all at once, I combined them all in a little bowl so that I wouldn't have to measure and fumble with lids and small jars while trying to stir.  And, this happens to be my new favorite step in cooking - adding spices to the aromatics - because it toasts them and really brings out a deeper flavor than just mixing them in liquid does.

Please don't be intimidated by the long list of ingredients.  It's actually really simple to throw together!  You probably have most of the ingredients in your kitchen and pantry already.

Remember that today is Blog Party day at Simply Baby Furniture!  Didn't you love the nursery that Beth from DesignPOST Daily showcased last week?  I think my favorite detail of her little girl's nursery is her clothes storage - such a creative use of space (or lack thereof).  Check out today's post by clicking here.

Today's blog party post comes from Tiffany at Tiffany Leigh Interior Design .

And stay tuned for more Friday nursery inspiration from a few other folks!  Today's post by Tiffany will be followed in the coming weeks by posts from Cindi and Emily at Scrappy Love, Heather at Vivid Hue Home, Kelley at Forever's Like a Dream, Elizabeth from Little Black Door, and of course, yours truly ... 

Spring Blog Party!

Do you know what a blog party is?  It's basically what it sounds like - a party, centered around a theme, with hosts and guests and fun things going on.

I'd like to invite you to a blog party hosted by Simply Baby Furniture!  I'm thrilled that I get to be a style contributor for their blog one Friday coming up (I'll be sure and post details about it).  You should go check out their blog here, where Beth of Design Post Daily was featured today.

If you're planning a new nursery, looking for nursery inspiration, or know someone who is in that mode then this is the blog party for you.  Here are the other style contributors that you'll be seeing there over the coming weeks:
Tiffany Leigh Interior Design -Tiffany
Scrappy Love - Cindi and Emily
Vivid Hue Home- Heather
Forever's Like a Dream- Kelley
Little Black Door- Elizabeth
and of course, yours truly ...