Christmas at Foo’s – 2012

Has it really been over a month since my last post? Why yes it has. My days have been so over-scheduled, it leaves very few hours for me to do anything extra. By the time I am free to eat a meal, it’s dark, I have no energy to cook and I find myself going for easy over planning and prepping to create something fabulous. Soup, stir fry, salads, take out – lots of rinse and repeat going on in my world. Definitely not blog worthy meals. Sometimes I wish my blog wasn’t just a food blog, I miss being able to just write about anything. So instead of food, I bring you Christmas decorations.

I do have hundreds of photos waiting to be edited, recipes waiting to be posted and I’m hoping to get to them in the near future. My upcoming vacation might just give me the nudge I need to make some progress.

Lantern and Christmas Tree

Even though I’ve been busy with life, I have found time to get into the holiday spirit through decorating. It’s sure a different vision when you have a puppy to think about – an investigative puppy that basically gets into everything. Stockings need to be hung higher and getting a tree or not getting a tree becomes a topic of conversation. We decided to not get a tree and that made me realize just how much a tree gets me in the holiday spirit. I helped a girlfriend decorate her tree and she offered her second artificial tree to me to use this  year. I have always had a real tree, but I knew having the tree scent in the house would not be good with the puppy. He tries to eat all of the plants we currently have and he chews on bushes in the backyard on a pretty regular basis. I turned down the artificial tree at first and then called a week and a 1/2 later to borrow it.

Foodiddy Christmas Decor

I purchased some new items this year. I couldn’t pass up the red sweater tree and star from Target. I also fell in love with the red and white felted balls… they had a 4 pack for $2.

Foodiddy Chalkboard Decorations

I got some super cheap silver bells at a garage sale over the summer and added fabric loops to some of them. I used some chalkboard tags I already owned from my parent’s party and put Christmas sayings on those and hung them from vintage stair spindles that are used in my everyday decor. My old suitcase once again made an appearance. I just LOVE that thing and am constantly searching antique stores for more just like it. I opted to not put lights on all of my displays this year, hanging cords are too tempting for puppy teeth.

Magnetic Snowman Advent Calendar

We’ve had fun moving the magnet on our snowman advent calendar. I also filled my numbered mason jars with wooden candy canes I picked up several years ago. It’s a fun stop in the kitchen while making my morning tea. I’m still on a green tea kick.

Wood Cobbler Shoe Form Decoration

I even decorated my  wood cobbler shoe forms. I have been picking those up at antique stores over the past several years. I am fascinated by the different varieties. Add some greenery, a bell and felt ball ornaments and you have an instant Christmas display. The wood and hammered metal boxes were found at HomeGoods back in November.

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I added a berry wreath to my vintage door and hung some stockings on reclaimed wood and metal hooks next to it. So far so good with the stockings. No signs of Finn wanting to pull them down.

Foodiddy Felt Santa Decor

My entry way shelves are the perfect place to display some of the felt Santa and vintage bottle brush tree ornaments I’ve collected over the years.

Pottery Barn Shelves Christmas Display

Candy Canes 5 cents artwork

I found a new home for my 5 cent candy canes. I happened to find the Candy Cane art at HomeGoods over the Summer and I knew I had to have it.

Santa Display

Speaking of HomeGoods, I swear I don’t live there or work for them 🙂 … how cool is my new galvanized bucket? I actually ended up getting two – the Christmas tree farm one is in the first photo. The perfect containers for some of the over-sized ornaments and greenery I’ve collected over the years. The red and white snowflake yarn balls were found at Target last year. The two belsnickle Santas are part of my bigger collection.

belsnickle Santa - Foodiddy

My dining room table centerpiece also housed another belsnickle Santa. I quickly white washed painted the wooden snowflake to place under the glass dome I had found at an antique store for Halloween. A few felt balls for a pop of color and my table was simple and good to go for entertaining.

Christmas Dishes

Speaking of entertaining… I finally broke down and purchased Christmas dishes this year. I had done a google image search on Christmas dishes and found this particular pattern. There were sets of them on ebay going from $250 – $450 and I about gasped… there was NO WAY I was going to pay that much… but I just loved the look of them. A week later, I found a few at my local HomeGoods… $3.99 for the salad plates and $5.99 for the dinner plates – I about screamed in the store. What? It’s a Christmas miracle? SCORE. I then had to go to 3 different HomeGoods to get a set of 6.

Detailed Christmas Dish

I’m so excited to finally own Christmas dishes that I love.

Rusted bell christmas trees

The master bath got a bit of holiday makeover as well. The rusted bell Christmas trees were found at my local grocery store. You never know where you will find the perfect Christmas decor. I just placed them next to what I have up year-round, added some ribbon, jute, jingle bells and knitted stocking ornaments and I smile every time I walk into the room.

I think I missed my calling… while I love graphic/web design and art in general, I have so much fun decorating my house. Guessing it wouldn’t be fun if it became a career, but I’d like to keep the hobby going by decorating other people’s homes… any takers? Your checkbook, my passion, ha! ha!

Rosemary Christmas Trees

I opted for fresh rosemary trees for the guest bath. A few pops of red and the room becomes festive in no time. The trees were really cheap at Trader Joe’s and they smell fabulous. I already owned the red pots.

Entry Way Christmas Shelf

I added wooden snowflake ornaments to the curtain rod drapery clips on the shelf above the entry way dresser.

Christmas Cheese Box

My cheese box obsession continues… I blame my friend Aaron for introducing me to the antique fair under the freeway. A few fabric candy canes and some artificial holiday picks and I was good to go.

Christmas Card Display

I picked up a wooden paper towel holder a few months back and decided that I would use the drapery hooks for Christmas cards this year.

Christmas Card Display

Each hook has multiple cards hanging off it. You can also see our raised artificial tree in the background.  I picked the tree up last weekend and got creative with placement to keep the puppy out of it.

Wooden Crate Christmas Tree Stand

I used crates and wooden boxes on top of a ceramic planter and absolutely love how it turned out. While I normally have a real tree, this one is beautiful at night and fit perfectly in the spot.

Christmas Tree and Crates

I gathered up items around the house to decorate it with. All of the ornaments were back up in the attic and we didn’t feel like digging them out. I did end up picking up a few things at Target, HomeGoods and a local antique store… some more rusted bells… I drew snowflakes in chalk on the wooden iPhone looking ornaments and I had some burlap ribbon left over from a few years ago.

Entry way Christmas Decor

The niche was filled with rusted bells and stars and I re-used some of the red and white felt stars and yarn balls from last year.

Christmas Chalk Board Snowflakes

I drew some snowflakes onto the entry way chalk board and filled the baskets with a vintage Christmas sign and star.

Christmas Tray

The wine bar got some garland, berries and rustic stars. The reindeer candle holder looked cool up against the vintage metal tray that stays up year-round.

German Santa Candy Holder

My German Santa candy container fit perfectly up against my numbered candle holders.

felted reindeer

My girlfriend Carolyn is going to teach me how to work with felt… this could be dangerous. In the meantime, I just love my felted reindeer and Target ornaments… I did pick up a felting book at Michael’s the other day and thumbed through it in the store. Pretty sure I’m going to turn into a felting machine once I start.

I’m very happy with my holiday decorations this year and while they aren’t as over the top as they have been in the past, they are definitely more “me” – I’m finding that my style is a combination of rustic, vintage found objects and craft projects all mixed in.

Merry Christmas from my home to yours. I plan to be back on a more regular basis,  I’ve sure missed my blog and my wonderful readers.
foo1120

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Thai Chicken Naan Pizza

I hosted a small girl’s get together and decided that the menu would include naan pizzas with different toppings. My favorite of the night turned out to be the Thai Chicken naan pizza with peanut sauce, red peppers, carrots, cheese and cilantro… the sauce was absolutely incredible!

I had searched online for recipes and came across several different Thai chicken pizza options. I really liked one from Cookin’ Canuck. The peanut sauce was one she adapted from a Cooking Light Magazine recipe years ago. I made a few changes to the ingredients, cooked my chicken differently and used my Advantium oven to cook the pizza.

I used 4 chicken tenders, organic veggie broth (It’s what I had on hand) and 2 cubes of Dorat crushed garlic)  – I placed my chicken in a pot with the broth and garlic and then brought to a boil for about 10 minutes. I then let the chicken cool before shredding it.

Peanut Sauce Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Toasted Sesame Oil
1/4 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter (forever a Jif girl)
3 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons Sherry Wine Vinegar
1 1/2 Teaspoons Water
2 1/4 Teaspoons Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 1/2 Teaspoon Canola Oil
1 1/2 Teaspoon Packed Dark Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons Minced Fresh Ginger
1/2 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

I used Stonefire Authentic Flatbreads – Tandoor Baked Naan (Original Flavor) – The extremely high heat during the cooking process produces big bubbles, an airy texture and the smoky flavor of an authentic Indian naan. Stonefire also has garlic, whole grain and sweet chili flavored naan. – My grocery store only carries the original and garlic, I’d like to find the others. I’m on the lookout for their pizza crusts as well.

You can bake them in the oven, grill them on the BBQ, toast them in the toaster or microwave.

For those interested in the nutrition facts – 380 calories if you eat the whole piece of naan – which is very easy to do with this recipe.

The Pizza:

4 Pieces of Naan Flatbread
4 Cooked Boneless, Skinless Chicken Tenders – shredded
1 Red Bell Pepper – cut into thin strips
1 Large Carrot – peeled & cut into matchsticks
1/2 Cup – 3/4 Cup Grated Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 – 1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 Cup Minced Cilantro

If you are vegetarian, you could easily omit the chicken and this pizza would still be amazing!

Baking Instructions:
I used my Advantium oven that has a built in “pizza” setting, but I realize not many people have that option. In a regular oven – preheat to 425 degrees F. If using a pizza stone, heat the stone in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes and then transfer the naan with toppings to the stone. Bake until the cheese is melted and the naan bread is golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes.

I placed all of my sauce ingredients into my blender. Toasted sesame oil, creamy peanut butter, light soy sauce, sherry wine vinegar, water, seasoned rice vinegar, canola oil, brown sugar, ginger and red pepper flakes. I blended until smooth.  It was my first time putting peanut butter in my blendtec and wow, that was a tad messy.

I put a generous amount of sauce on each naan (about 2-3 tablespoons). I honestly didn’t really measure any of the ingredients from here on out. I just divided it up and actually had quite a bit of peanut sauce left over, which I didn’t mind at all. I also had enough toppings to make two additional pizzas the next day.

I added my chicken, cheeses, carrots and peppers to the already sauced naan.

My oven cooked it to perfection… I added the minced up cilantro as a garnish and drizzled a bit more sauce on top of the entire pizza before cutting.

My favorite photo included my little 4 legged friend’s nose in the background…

I’ve already made the pizza’s two more times since the get together and it must be noted that Dan was a huge fan! I think I will try the sauce on soba noodles with veggies next.

Other naan pizzas that night included whiskey caramelized onion, spinach and mozzarella with a red sauce and grape tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil (mashed together like bruschetta) with ricotta cheese and a little mozzarella. All three pizzas were a huge success.

And now I’m craving pizza…

 

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Happy “No Recipe” Halloween!

I baked sugar cookies from a package, woohoo! Just add egg and butter. I used store bought white cookie icing and I added food coloring gels and sprinkles. Done and done. I sent the hub to work with 3 dozen and I kept a few ghosts, a bat, a pumpkin and some Go Giants! orange and black sprinkled rounds to consume at home.

I was told they got gobbled up. On a side note – I learned that Finn isn’t so patient when it comes to cookie decorating. Higgy used to sit quietly under the table and investigate every once in a while. I think Finn tried to catch every rogue sprinkle while balancing on his back legs, simultaneously trying to pull cookies directly off the cooling racks. Not to mention the times he tried to jump onto the dining room chair to get at the bowls of colored frosting.

It is for this very reason that I went light on Halloween decor this year. Too much for a puppy to investigate and destroy. I will sadly be doing the same for Christmas this year… or better yet, my house will be decorated from the waist up. There will be no low hanging Christmas fruit. Sounds kinda bah-humbug… but it’s really for Finn’s digestive track and my sanity.

Yes, our house is “officially haunted” according to the cool wooden sign I picked up this year. I also got a bunch of spiders at a street faire last month.

I had a black and white witch theme going on top of our entertainment center.

The witches came in 3 different sizes and I used them throughout the house in different spots, along with a “The Witch Is In” wooden sign. Very appropriate for my personality this week.

Mouse critters were randomly placed throughout the house. This one is sitting on some pearled cake sprinkles. I thought the use of white as a base really made Mr. Mouse (yes, I named him) pop.

Mr Mouse II decided to clean out the Kraft cheese box while hanging out next to the giant linen and twig pumpkin.

I picked up some small white pumpkins at the grocery store and placed those on my dining room table with more spiders and some black crows.

I loved the addition of Spanish moss. Another Finn magnet. I used to have it in the base of my house plants… Hoover Finn took care of that for me. Now it’s just dirt. Thankfully he is letting the plants keep their beloved dirt.

More black crows… and a skeleton or two next to that.

Several months back I noticed a really cool old frame in my Dad’s workshop. It used to belong to my great grandmother. I asked my Dad if I could have it. He helped me cut a piece of wood to the size I needed. I then picked up some chalkboard paint and created an entry way masterpiece. I’ve had fun with it over the past couple of months. One last Finn story… about 30 minutes after I quickly drew my ghost, we caught Finn sitting in the entry way barking at the chalkboard. Apparently chalk ghosts are pretty scary for a mini schnauzer puppy.

I hope you have a fun Halloween this year. My plan is to handout candy which will probably translate into me screaming Finn!, No!!!, Stop Barking! every single time the doorbell rings. I can’t wait!

Happy Halloween!

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