Burrito Bowls

Chipotle is a favorite lunch spot of mine and the other night I was craving a burrito bowl so we attempted a homemade version of the fast food favorite.  And let me tell you they were delicious.  Dare I say it but they might have even been better. We made a grilled Chicken version but any meat option will do. 

Ingredients

for the rice:

3 cups cooked white rice

2 Tablespoons of cilantro

1 Tablespoon orange zest

1. Fluff in the combination of the cilantro and zest

We have the best rice cooker if you are in the market for a new kitchen tool.  It doubles as a veggie steamer and the rice is perfectly cooked each time we use it. 

Ingredients

for the Chicken:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 Tablespoons of your favorite taco seasoning

1. Use taco seasoning as a rub for the chicken

2. Grill chicken and slice into strips for each bowl

Ingredients

for the toppings:

Black Beans

Black Olives

Avocado

Pico de Gallo

Sour Cream

Green Onions

Lettuce

Fresh Tomatoes

1. Cut into bite size pieces

2. Start with rice and layer chicken

3. Top rice with your favorite ingredients

4. Garnish with green onions and sour cream

Building a Bowl.  

Enjoy!

-Megan 

Gallery Walls

I've been gathering inspiration from a lot of Gallery Walls lately, in hopes of creating one of my own. You can go so many ways, and incorporate so many different things with gallery walls. And they work everywhere! In an office, behind a couch, in an entryway, above a bed, even along an entire hallway. Here are some of my favorite gallery walls I have come across: 

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Creating a gallery wall takes time and patience, as well as some planning. I have a feeling this project could take me a while.

Here are a few how-to links to help with your gallery wall:

Design Crush

Apartment Therapy

Ciao, Chessa!

Young House Love

-Whitney

DIY Fabric Covered Flower Pots

I made these fabric covered pots as Mother's Day gifts, and I think they were a huge hit. I saw a few different covered pots on Pinterest (of course), and figured it couldn't be too hard. They would make perfect gifts for any occasion: Birthday, Housewarming, Get Well Soon, etc.

You just need a few materials:

Fabric

Mod Podge (they need to start selling this stuff at Costco!)

Terra Cotta Pot and Saucer

Brush (I have found the cheapo foam ones work best with Mod Podge)

Thumb tack

Lay out your fabric, and starting from one edge, roll your pot in an arch shape along the fabric from one side of the fabric to the other. While rolling, trace a line about an inch and a half from the top of the pot (you will need this extra fabric to fold over in the inside of the pot). You can kinda see my pencil line on the pic above.

Cut the fabric out along the line you have drawn. Your shape should look like the pic below.

Paint a small section of your pot with Mod Podge and, starting from the shorter side of your fabric, stick it onto the Mod Podge'd part of the pot, smoothing out the section that is now glued. Continue doing this with small sections to ensure no bubbles or folding, around the entire pot. When you get back to the side of the pot you started with, cut off the excess fabric and fold the end in, so you don't get any fraying, and glue that folded edge down.

Now for the top and the bottom: Cut 1 inch slits around the fabric on the top, and fold those pieces over into the inside of the pot, painting on the Mod Podge to adhere. The bottom is a little tricky, you may need to cut excess fabric off. Cut slits in the fabric, like at the top, and glue the pieces down as flat as you can.

Paint the entire outside of the pot with a coat of Mod Podge. Let dry, and paint another coat on if you would like.

Once my pot was completely dry, I used a thumb tack to poke a few holes in the bottom so that water could get through the pot.

Fill your fancy schmancy pot with herbs, flowers, or even use it as a fun container for your makeup brushes or pens and pencils.

-Whitney

Cheese, Green Chiles and Mushroom Stuffed Burgers

With grilling season upon us, I have been getting some good use out of my handy dandy Stuffed Hamburger Press from Williams-Sonoma. I got it as an Xmas gift and couldn't wait to try it.  My most recent stuffing, was one with cheese, green chiles and mushrooms, and it was fabulous! There is just something about having all your favorite burger toppings on the INSIDE of the burger!

Ingredients*

1 lb ground beef

1 tbsp fajita seasoning

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp dried, minced onions

6 slices of American cheese

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chiles, drained

1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms, drained

*Makes 3 large burgers

Mix together the ground beef, fajita seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, and minced onions.

Following the stuffer instruction, fill each side with some of the ground beef, pressing down the middle to form a small well in the center. 

Add a slice of cheese (i folded in the corners so it fit better), a small spoonful of chiles and mushrooms. Close, pushing both sides together firmly, to seal the burger. (If you don't have the burger stuffer tool, just make 2 thin patties of your own, put the cheese, green chiles and mushrooms on top of one patty. Then put the other patty on top, pressing down and sealing the edges, creating one burger).

Cook burgers on the grill for about 10 minutes on each side, depending on your grill and how you like your burgers cooked.

When they are about ready to be taken off the grill, add another slice of cheese on top. You can add whatever other toppings you like, we just did tomatoes and ketchup.

While this was probably my favorite stuffed burger so far, a few other awesome stuffed burgers we have concocted:

- Mix goat cheese with some fresh herbs (we used basil), and garlic salt. Stuff inside of burgers, and top with balsamic sauteed mushrooms and sliced avocados.

- Stuff burgers with Pepper Jack Cheese, and top with grilled onions and tomato.

What's your favorite stuffed burger recipe??

-Whitney

May Birchbox

The lil' pink box arrived this month and it was perfect timing for a few of the fun products we got this month.  This box was Gossip Girl themed and the products were all inspired by New York's most popular and glamorous events.  Have you signed up yet?

1.  BVLGARI Omnia Crystalline Eau de Toilette Spray 

2.  Birchbox Notecards (was the most perfect Mothers day card)

3.  Ojon damage reverse Restorative Conditioner

4.  Dr. Jart + Water Fuse Beauty Balm SPF 25+

5.   Stila Sparkle Waterproof liquid eye-liner

6.   Twist band Hair Tie

-Megan and Whitney

Tunes for Tuesday

Today's tunes are tracks from artists that we are all really excited about seeing live this summer.  A few will be at Lollapalooza and Scissor Sisters are going to be at Crossroads here in KC!

Santigold - Disparate Youth

Scissor Sisters - Only the Horses

Milo Greene - 1957

Rock on and hopefully some of these great artists are coming to a city close to you!

-Megan 

Bamboozled

I am on the hunt for a chair to go with my new desk, that I purchased at an antique shop a few weekends ago. I've decided I want a faux bamboo chair. As I started looking around, I found some great inspiration, and it looks like I need to start hitting up the Goodwill to find one in need of a good makeover. Here are some inspirational work spaces with amazing bamboo chairs:

-Whitney

Playing with Food and Fashion

They are doing something fun and different over at the bon appetit blog,

mashing up street style and recipes.  An outfit inspired by food or vice versa. 

Check it out !

The Softest Scramble

Schmear Campaign

The Smoothest Flan

Curried Egg Salad in Mini Pitas

Linguine with Calms and Fennel

Cherry-Almond Focaccia

White Bean and Tuna Salad with Parsley Vinigrette

Marinated Picnic Carrots

We had a potluck lunch at work that came up sort of last minute, and I needed something quick and easy to contribute. These marinated carrots are a favorite from the lake, and I knew they would be perfect.

Ingredients

2 lbs carrots (baby or large carrots cut in half and then into fourths)

2/3 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup oil (i find this to be a lot, so i use about 1/3 cup)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 (0.7oz) packet of Italian dressing (the powdered kind)

1/4 cup parsley, to garnish

Blanch the carrots for 5 minutes. (Blanching means to boil the carrots just for a short amount of time, and then pour them into a bowl of ice water, to stop the cooking, thus keeping the carrots crisp and tender)

Blend all other ingredients, except for the parsley.

Pour over the carrots and toss well. Refrigerate overnight. Top with chopped parsley before serving.

Enjoy! A great summer side for a BBQ, shower, or just a snack to have in the fridge.

-Whitney

Riding in cars with kids

Gotye style... These two kids loved this song so much they wanted to make their own video, and now they are YouTube Superstars.  I can't think of a better way to spend my commute to and from school, how fun!  

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-Megan  

Met Gala Gorgeousness

The Met Costume Gala was last night, and while we weren't too impressed by that many of the dresses, there were a few we loved. I also noticed a couple of trends:

METALLICS

Scarlett Johansson in Dolce & Gabbana

 

 Camilla Bell in Ralph Lauren

Lana Del Rey in Joseph Altuzarra

BRIGHTS

 Diane Kruger in Prada

 Solange Knowles in Rachel Roy

Dianna Agron in Carolina Herrera

What was your favorite dress from last night??

Tunes for Tuesday

The tunes today consist of a wonderful tribute, something brand new and a song that I can't get out of my head.  Jam out!

-Megan 

Pretty Penny for Hire

Its official! We were hired for our very first catering job.  It was a small lunch for twelve people but hey! a job is a job.  Our menu included a Strawberry Spinach Salad, Italian Potato Salad and Lemon Cookies.  Recipes are coming soon. 

 

Revamped Flower Pots & Stand

A couple years ago we painted some flower pots that we were going to hang on our fence. Well that never happened, and after two years the paint was chipped away, and they needed a face lift. So did our plant stand. Nothing a little spray paint couldn't fix!

We spray painted the pots with a few coats of off white spray paint, and the stand with two coats of Valspar's gloss spray paint in "Exotic Sea".

After painting the pots off white, I taped off the bottom half, and used the leftover "Exotic Sea" spray paint, and painted the upper half of the pots.

 

Then we planted a variety of flowers in the pots, using a trick I learned on Pinterest to keep the dirt from coming out of the hole in the bottom, a coffee filter. I didn't want the dirt dripping down onto the bottom row of flowers.

That was it! An easy way to revamp some garden accessories that we already had, as well as brighten up our deck!