Recipes, projects & products that don’t suck.

A vegan food swap? I know, how very hippie/granola, right? I feel so So Cal ;) I discovered this Vegan Food Swap (yes, there are others) while reading Pickles & Honey last month. This led me to VFS creator, Cat at The Verdant Life. Each month, fellow vegans sign up to participate in vegan goodie swapping. Since I’m still a vegan rookie, this seemed like a great way to get exposed to different products. And it was! Cat matched me up with two vegan peeps – one who would receive a package from me, and one who would send me a package. My awesome goodie box came from Shelby at Everyday Vegan Girl, who also included a thoughtful note, briefly commenting on each item… Eden Organic…

This one has been all over Pinterest. I wonder how many people who pinned it have actually tried making it. Turns out, the recipe is from RealSimple.com. As you would expect, it is easy and uncomplicated. In my opinion, it needed a little more salt and maybe a little cayenne pepper for kick. The lemon juice and chopped garlic noted as optional in the original recipe are a must. Otherwise, it’s a little bland. I used shallots instead of onion, added tomato and served it on whole wheat sandwich thins. Overall, this is a pretty tasty (and very healthy) sandwich! SERVES 4 *** STEP 1 In a medium bowl, combine the following: 2 15-ounce cans white beans, rinsed and drained* 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 1 tsp….

Our front door was neglected and had so much room for improvement. I’ve been trying to decide on a new paint color for a couple of months. First, I was sure it should be navy. Then black. Hubs wanted red (um, no). Then I was inspired by this amazing house. Can I please live there?! I chose Valspar’s “Summer Cottage” (you may recall my use of this same color for the pop of wall color). We actually used it on the door first, and I liked it so much that I bought a gallon of interior paint. I might use it for our bedroom. Or the bathroom. Or both. Painting the front doors (there are two) sounded like such a simple, easy, quick thing to do. But…

As I’m blogging tonight, I’m also watching the Olympics opening ceremony. I LOVE watching the Olympics. The athletes always astound me. My sense of pride in my country swells. Shoot, my sense of pride in my STATE swells a bit, too. Michigan Olympians to watch include the 17-year-old female boxer from Flint, Claressa Shields (this girl is no joke!). Gymnasts Jordyn Wieber, Sam Mikulak and Rebecca Bross all have Michigan connections. And of course, there’s Michael Phelps, who trained at U of M. And the list goes on. I’ll be cheering them on from my couch as they shock the world with their supernatural abilities. I have no clever transition. These two topics are completely unrelated. So, I’ve been toying with ways to add color to…

Let me begin by saying that I have no camera today {insert sad eyes and pouty lip}. It’s at the camera shop, being cleaned. I’m having issues with the auto focus and I’m praying it just needs a good cleaning. For now, I’m left with my iPhone camera and Instagram. I’m a gadget girl. My husband likes to tease me about my affection for anything gadgety. One year, for Christmas, he put this “Open It!” tool in my stocking. I use it just about every day. It has saved me from many a meltdown when trying to open an item enclosed in stupid plastic clamshell packaging. And the utility knife on the end has opened a LOT of boxes (mostly containing Stella & Dot loot)….