July 3, 2011

Out from under my rock…

So I know I’ve been a little MIA here lately. I have good reasons.

It’s been a little on the crazy side around here. And when things get super stressful for me, I tend to crawl under a rock until things calm down. I kind of just temporarily shut down. It’s a terrible trait, but I can’t help it. I have always been this way, I am a pretty classic introvert who probably has no business blogging, but I love it anyway. :) Pair that with the fact that I am a flaky artist and there you have it…

That said, I have missed the blog terribly, I have missed all of your blogs too! I will be catching up very soon!

The Artsy Kitchen is on the move!!

We are unfortunately and unexpectedly having to move and leave our beloved little house that’s next door to our best friends in the whole world, Josh and Alix.:(

Our landlord is having to move back into this house and can’t renew our lease. So we have spent a substantial chunk of time house hunting all around the Nashville area trying to find some place that was awesome enough that we wouldn’t be quite as sad about this situation.

We found it. I could have cried when we found it, I was so happy and relieved.

I am beyond sad to move away from the house we are in now, and  extremely sad to leave our friends, especially since Alix is pregnant now, and I was really looking forward to being here during that.

But I am trying to look on the bright side and be positive, and I am actually really excited about the new house and the new area we are moving to, so it softens the blow a bit.

It’s in the historic/artsy/trendy East Nashville area, it’s 5 minutes from my job and it’s a completely restored bungalow style house from the 1940′s. I have wanted to live in East Nashville in a cute little house forever, and never thought we’d actually get to. So even if it’s just for a year or two, before we really settle somewhere more permanently, we are looking at it as an adventure and we cannot wait!

The neighborhood we’re in now is wonderful, quiet, peaceful and beautiful, but the area around it is super congested, there is always traffic, and my commute is stressful, whereas East Nashville is the kind of place you can literally walk or bike everywhere and there are tons of little restaurants, pubs and coffee shops all nestled around the neighborhoods. And my commute is going from 45 minutes to 5 minutes.

It’s also A LOT closer to my mom and dad which makes me so happy.
We actually visited them today and picked blackberries and apples!

Oh, and Jeni’s Ice Cream just opened waaaay too close to our new house.
This is dangerous.


Peach Buttermilk ice cream!? Gimme.
They were closed when I took these pics, because it was like 9:30 in the morning is that too early for ice cream? I really don’t think so.

All of that to say we have been using every spare second to pack and get ready for the move. So the artsy kitchen will soon be coming to you from a whole new even artsier kitchen… with granite countertops… and honey maple cabinets… and beautiful 1940′s original hardwood. I will take pictures of the kitchen once I get it all set up. I’m in love.

Speaking of love. I couldn’t imagine adventuring with anyone besides my super sweet husband. Did I mention we have been married 6 years? I have no idea where 6 years went!!

Our extremely talented best friend, Josh shot an absolutely amazing anniversary session for us a while back, here are some of my favorites…

you can view the whole session here

I know this was a super wordy and totally random post and if you’re still reading, you’re awesome! As promised I’ll be back very soon with new kitchen photos and some recipes that I have been testing and perfecting and cannot wait to share! My posts may still be a little spotty over the next few weeks, during our transition but I will have lots to post about once we get all settled in! I am even mulling over a blog redesign! Exciting stuff ahead!

I will see you soon, friends! :)

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June 9, 2011

Smoky BLT Salad

Okay, so this is going to sound weird, but since we’re friends now and all, I think I should tell you… I don’t eat pork. Nope, no pork chops, no pork tenderloin and no bacon. Mr. Artsy thinks this is the saddest thing in the whole world.

Don’t get me wrong, I think pork can definitely fit into a healthy diet, but it just doesn’t work for me for various reasons. So it’s probably been about 4 or more years since I intentionally ate pork and I don’t really miss it.

However the other day, the strangest thing happened on the way home from my mom’s house. My mom had sent me home with a bunch of fresh goodies some of which included some really fresh crunchy romaine hearts and some really sweet grape tomatoes and I was driving home thinking about what I was going to make for dinner and I got this wicked craving for a BLT. I mean really, what goes better with crunchy lettuce and sweet ripe tomatoes than bacon? And mayo. Please.

So I had to stop at the store and grab a couple things before I got home and I actually had bacon on my list for Mr. A, when I stumbled upon a sheer miracle… beef bacon. BEEF BACON!!! Sorry for shouting, but I am still really excited about this. Turkey bacon is okay, but we all know, it’s nothing like the real deal. This is very much like the real deal, in taste, texture, heavenly house filling aroma, the whole shebang.

So I hurried home with my beef bacon in hand. I was inspired. I decided to make a BLT salad with a mayo based dressing. Oh, and I added goat cheese. Epic.

It was a hot day, the sun was shining and salad sounded perfect. I tossed a couple of strips of bacon in my cast iron and got to work on my salad fixings. What ensued will go down in history as one of my most favorite home made salads… ever.

Smoky BLT Salad

serves 1 very happy individual

for the salad:
2 strips of bacon fried until crispy  - crumbled into pieces
I used Gwaltney Beef Bacon, but of course you could use pork bacon too
1/2 romaine heart – chopped
6-8 grape tomatoes – halved
1/2 oz. crumbled goat cheese I used half of a Trader Joe’s goat cheese medallion
dash of smoked paprika sprinkled on goat cheese

for the dressing:
1 tablespoon mayo I used lite safflower mayo
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons oil I used grapeseed oil, it’s very neutral
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika more or less to taste

Begin by frying the bacon because you’ll want to give it plenty of time to get crispy. Then you can chop the lettuce and slice the tomatoes, top that with the goat cheese and sprinkle the goat cheese with a little smoked paprika. When your bacon is done, set it on some paper towels to blot any excess grease off and then crumble over the top of the salad.

Whisk all your dressing ingredients together, pour over salad and enjoy!

note: the dressing is very tangy, which I LOVE, but if you’re not a fan of the tang, use less apple cider vinegar.

So, there you have it! Craving satisfied. This salad made me extremely happy. I hope you try it! Of course you can tweak the portions and ingredients to your liking, but you get the basic idea. Enjoy! :)

Is there anything that you generally don’t eat as a rule?

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May 23, 2011

SUPER Easy Roasted Chicken

do·mes·tic·i·ty/ˌdōmeˈstisitē/

1. The quality or condition of being domestic.

2. Home life or devotion to it.

So we just celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary yesterday, and for some reason I’ve been feeling particularly domestic this year.

For the first time in our marriage I actually put flowers out in the yard. I’m officially addicted to buying and planting flowers… I want lots more.  Oh, and I also do not exactly have a green thumb. I can see this turning into a problem. Let’s hope my yard doesn’t become the place beautiful flowers go to die…

I hung a bird feeder…

I’ve even been using parchment paper when I bake cookies (for the hubs of course). I never really saw the point until I started using it and now I don’t think I can bake cookies without it. It drastically changes the taste and texture, the bottoms don’t get overly browned and the cookies bake more evenly. Trust me on this. Use it.

Oh, and I roasted a chicken! It was delicious and oh so easy!

I used my crock pot. I am a huge fan of anything I can leave in the crock pot and come home to after a long day at work.

I started with a Trader Joe’s Free Range Organic Chicken (about 4.5 lbs)

A word about this chicken… the giblets are not contained in the standard bag, they are still attached to the inside of the chicken (major gross out). This was a major drawback for me and next time I make this I’ll most likely get another brand.

So the first thing I did was remove the giblets, then I rinsed out the inside of the chicken.

Second, I cut four square pieces of foil and rolled them into balls somewhere between the size of golf ball and tennis balls. These go in the bottom of the crock pot.

Then I brushed the chicken with melted butter and simply seasoned with salt + smoked paprika + cayenne pepper and sat the chicken in the pot on top of the foil balls.

The foil balls let the juices run off and the skin actually gets crispy and the chicken literally melts in your mouth. It’s every bit as good as an oven roasted or rotisserie chicken. You can season it any way you want, but the simpler the better in my opinion, this makes the leftovers more versatile. I can’t even tell you how good roasted chicken salad is.

I came home to this and the house smelled amazing! This was super easy. The only hard part was actually getting the chicken out of the crockpot because it just wanted to fall apart. I ended up using the big grill tongs and grabbing it around the middle and quickly transferring it to a plate.

So that’s it. Super easy. Delicious. Make it. The end.

And just because I haven’t posted any gratuitous Molly photos lately, I’ll leave you with one :D

I’m kinda crazy about this pup.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? Eat anything amazing?

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May 14, 2011

Hello Saturday!

I absolutely love saturdays. But who doesn’t?

A trip to Whole Foods this morning made my saturday even better because I found THIS!!!!!!

Cue angel choir. I almost cried when I saw it. I can make it with no sugar pretty easy, but I really really really missed ice cream. So when I found this as WF today I was pretty much ecstatic. I had to practice some self control and not pick up one of all the varieties they had, this is not easy on the wallet. So classic vanilla bean it was! And it was So Delicious! It was probably the best ice cream I’ve ever had… seriously. A little dramatic, maybe, but after two weeks with no ice cream I was feeling a little deprived and it tasted like heaven.

I also picked up two bags of these while I was there.

Have you tried the Whole Foods 365 brand of frozen blueberries? They’re amazing and they’re cheaper than the frozen blueberries I was getting at Kroger. You can’t beat $1.99 a bag. I don’t know what the difference is, but these blueberries taste SO much better than any other frozen brands I’ve tried. They are super sweet and tart. I’ve been eating them for snacks with a little almond milk and shredded coconut on top… mmmm.

Also, this breakfast was so delicious I had to share it with you. Veggies before noon? Yes. Don’t judge.

Leftover steak sauteed in butter with spinach, onions and asparagus and a scrambled egg on the side.

Why can’t every day be Saturday, and every meal be breakfast? With ice cream for dessert of course.

Well, today does have one little drawback, the water is being worked on in our subdivision today, so they’re shutting it off for 8 hours.

I filled up a few pitchers just in case we needed it for anything.

I’m off to go try and find waterless things to do. :) Maybe I should put up the clean laundry that’s been piled up in our bedroom since the beginning of the week? Nah. That sounds terrible.

What are your plans for the weekend? Anything fun?

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May 11, 2011

Lemon Rosemary Coconut Macaroons

Sometimes you just need a cookie. Sometimes you don’t want a ton of sugar. These cookies are perfect for those times :) I am avoiding sugar for a while, so I used stevia in these, but you can use any sweetener really.

Lemon and rosemary were made for each other, kind of like orange and fig. So I thought, it’s such a great combo, why reserve it only for savory dishes, why not use it in some sweet treats.

As these were baking in the oven, I thought, these are either going to be really good, or really bad. Luckily they were really good! Really! Trust me, m’kay?

The idea for these came to me in the middle of the day yesterday and I rushed down to the kitchen to make them immediately. Then I proceeded to devour four before they could even cool off.

Most coconut macaroons call for egg whites, but I was thinking if I used the whole egg, the yellow would give them a nice yellow color which would actually go nicely with the lemon flavoring. So I did, and it turned out beautifully!

Lemon Rosemary Coconut Macaroons

yield: 16 macaroons

2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

1/4 cup almond meal (or flour of choice)

2 medium sprigs of rosemary

2 whole eggs

zest of half a lemon

juice of half a lemon

2 tbsp. butter (or coconut oil) melted

1/3 cup sugar (or in my case, I used 5 stevia packets)

directions:

preheat oven to 350

combine coconut, almond meal, sugar or stevia, and lemon zest in a bowl.

strip rosemary from the stem and cut into small pieces, add to the rest of the ingredients

add eggs and lemon juice

stir until it’s all well combined

form into tablespoon sized balls and drop onto cookie sheet

bake for 10-12 minutes until the outsides begin to brown

So, let me explain why I’m staying away from sugar for a while. This was actually the suggestion of my chiropractor. Last time I visited him it had been so long since I had been adjusted I needed pretty much a complete overhaul, and after a consultation, he suggested I make some temporary dietary changes for a while to resolve some issues. And these changes included cutting out sugar completely and also staying away from gluten for a while too. So I’ll just have to be creative for a little bit. Good thing creative is my middle name ;)

I realize this is ironic since the last thing I posted was a sugar filled cupcake recipe.

But I have actually enjoyed this sugar free adventure! I have been doing it for a little over a week now, and here are just a few of the benefits I have already noticed:

My energy levels are great, and they are consistent throughout the day.

I am sleeping better, and waking up feeling more rested.

I am starting to see muscle definition where I didn’t before.

My jeans are fitting better. Ever since Christmas and all the indulgences that came along with it, I’ve been having to shimmy into my jeans a little, but cutting out sugar for just one week seemed to solve that problem!

No complaints here.

I’m not saying that sugar is the devil, I think it’s fine in moderation, but it is good to take a little break, and maybe when I do start eating it again I’ll be a bit more mindful.

I know I’ve been a little MIA from the blog here lately. The truth is work has been kind of stressful lately and some days I can’t even bring myself to crack open my laptop when I get home. But here are some of the things I’ve been up to:

Farmer’s Marketing

Flower and plant shopping

Making Salsa

Adding curry spices to pretty much EVERYTHING.

In case you’re wondering, that’s curried brown jasmine rice. It was yummy. Recipe to come.

Do you ever have days, or weeks where you just cannot bring yourself to open your laptop or get in front of your computer? Or is it just me? 

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April 28, 2011

Rainy Day Cupcakes for Two

Hi friends!!

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter!

It has been SUPER rainy/dreary/yucky here in Nashville. We are supposed to have some beautiful weather this weekend and I cannot wait!! But what’s a girl to do in the mean time? Make cupcakes of course! I saw these cupcakes for two a while back on Jessica’s blog and today seemed like the perfect day to make them. I made a couple of adjustments and I also made mini cupcakes. I have a slight obsession with miniature food. I was also pleasantly surprised that this recipe yielded 6 mini cupcakes, I only expected 4.

Cupcakes are one of the few recipes you will see me use white flour in. I am ALL about “healthifying” recipes, but cupcake recipes are not to be messed with, you definitely want a light airy cake. I could have made them gluten free, but I was fresh out of my usual blend of GF flours, so I just rolled with good old all purpose. These also contain your daily allotment of butter and sugar. I never shy away from butter, but I do try to only eat sugar when it’s really really a worthy treat, and these definitely fit the bill!

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting

slightly adapted from How Sweet It Is

1 egg white

2 tablespoons sugar (I used raw sugar)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

contents of 1/2 vanilla bean (if you don’t have this, just use a whole tsp. vanilla extract instead of a half)

1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/4 heaping teaspoon of baking powder

pinch of salt

1 1/2 tablespoons milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a mini muffin tin with 6 liners, or a regular sized muffin tin with 2 liners.

In a glass mixing bowl, melt your butter until just soft, add egg white, sugar and vanilla extract whisk until well combined, scrape contents of vanilla bean and whisk again. Add flour, baking powder and salt, whisk until smooth, stir in milk. Divide batter equally between cupcake liners. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely before adding the frosting.

Maple Buttercream Frosting:

This is kind of an eyeball it thing: but basically I combined about 1 1/2 tbsp. softened butter with approximately 3 tbsp. powdered sugar, about 1 tbsp. half and half or milk, and 1/4 tsp. maple extract, and I used my hand mixer with the whisk attachment to combine. You can add more powdered sugar as needed if you see that you need it to thicken the frosting, and also more half and half or milk if you need to thin it out a little.

I’m not going to lie, the maple buttercream frosting was my favorite part. I may or may not have licked the mixing bowl I made it in…

Okay, I totally did.

I also was thinking that something sprinkled on top would be fun, so I hit them with a little turbinado sugar. My favorite dessert decoration, it’s so rustic.

These were the perfect weeknight treat. They came together so fast, from start to finish they took me about 20 minutes, minus the waiting time for them to cool down so I could frost them, but I couldn’t believe how dangerously easy and quick these were to make! And I do mean dangerously. Thank goodness this recipe only makes 2 servings. Go make these now. In 20 minutes you could be enjoying cupcakes!

These were the absolute perfect way to brighten up our rainy day!

What’s your favorite cupcake/frosting combo? Mine has got to be the classic Red Velvet Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting, you pretty much can’t go wrong with that.

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April 19, 2011

Best. Birthday. Ever.

Hi friends! Thanks so much for all the sweet birthday wishes on my last post!

This was probably one of my most favorite birthdays. It couldn’t have been more perfect.

We spent it at our most loved restaurant with our most loved friends.

We drove out to a little town called Santa Fe with our best friends, Josh and Alix, to our favorite little out of the way spot, Papa Boudreaux’s Cajun Cafe. We found this place a while back and fell completely in love with it. Everything about it is magical. It’s way out in the middle of nowhere, nestled in some beautiful rolling hills in the country. On our drive out, we literally saw a goat, just roaming around eating grass on the side of the road. There are so many factors that contribute to the charm of this place, the food is AMAZING, but the atmosphere is equally alluring, almost ethereal and it’s the reason we happily drive an hour out there and each time we go, we count the days until we can go back. So naturally, this was where I wanted to go for my birthday!

How do I love Papa Boudreaux’s? Let me count the ways…

Live music.


eclectic, funky vibe.

ridiculously. amazing. food.

BYO wine. Love.

chocolate. bread. pudding.

Mr. A and I always get the Etouffee with a traditional butter roux and a big piece of Red Fish on top and split it, the portions are HUGE. I really don’t have words for how good this is.

There is absolutely nothing healthy about this food, but it nourishes my soul, so I say it’s a totally worthy splurge once in a while.

And of course we always save room for the chocolate bread pudding. I don’t even love bread pudding usually, but I dream about this bread pudding, I don’t know what they put in it, and I don’t really care. It’s ridiculous. The perfect ending to the perfect evening.

And as if that wasn’t good enough, Mr. A and I got up Saturday morning and enjoyed breakfast together. That never happens. It was a small miracle. It was also a small miracle that I even woke up hungry after the copious amounts of food I ate the night before, but true to form, I woke up ravenous, and waffles sounded really good. He ate his with syrup, and I had mine with some local strawberries… mmmm.

I’m trying to perfect a spelt waffle recipe, once I do, I’ll post it. They’re not quite there yet, but still pretty delicious. We enjoyed them. :) A lot.

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