Recipes, projects & products that don’t suck.

This week on Facebook, my mom posted a photo of her mother and wrote, “My mom may be a little crazy, but that’s what makes her the BEST MOM!!!” The same is true of my mother. She’s a little crazy (let’s be honest, sometimes she’s a LOT crazy), but she sure can be a lot of fun. Her name is Sherry, but her alias is “Sharia Shriver” (Maria’s Shriver’s long-lost cousin). It doesn’t matter what it is, Sharia can turn just about anything (and I mean ANYTHING) into a full-blown news story. Just give her a microphone (a water bottle, hairbrush, fork, spoon, tiki torch, etc. will do) and a camera man–and prepare for drama and laughs. To say she’s entertaining is an understatement. She’s…

Several months ago, I decided to paint our entryway. Guess what color? Yup. Valspar Summer Cottage. Same color as the front door, the back of the hutch shelves and the pop of color on the living room wall. Now the entryway is bright and cheery (unlike the former dark olive green color). The only problem was that our entry table (a light blue dry sink cabinet) now blended in with the wall. Oops. Didn’t really think that through. At first, I considered painting it white. But it had never been a perfect fit anyway. It was too deep and not long enough to make efficient use of the space. I had a vision for something better. So I measured the space and drew what I…

During our mission trip in the Dominican Republic, I had the opportunity to teach an art project to some of the school children. I knew I would be doing this before we left, but I wasn’t certain what ages I would be working with. So I scoured Pinterest for ideas that would be suitable for ages 3 to 9. I finally settled on two projects – paper bag animal puppets and paper plate butterflies. Then I loaded up on art supplies to take along (and leave with the teachers). As it turned out, we only had time for one project, so I chose the animal puppets. I may share tutorial photos of the other project with you another day, though. The original source for this…

I’m not really sure which teams are in the Super Bowl. Well, now I am. I just googled it. 49ers and Ravens. While I love to watch college football (Michigan Wolverines, in particular), pro football just doesn’t interest me much. But I do look forward to the clever commercials during the Super Bowl. And sometimes there’s a decent halftime show. Mostly I just like that the Super Bowl is a great excuse to get together with friends and munch on good food while feigning moderate interest in the game. And by good food, I don’t mean Doritos and Cheetos. I mean Creamy Artichoke Spinach Dip, Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Treats, Hummus with Toasted Pine Nuts, Veggie Quesadillas, Fresh Guacamole, Vegan Buffalo Bites and Mushroom &…

(Don’t let the length of this post/recipe scare you away. It really is easy and fairly quick to make.) I am so excited to share my new-found love of socca, the chickpea flour crêpe/pancake/flat bread from Nice, France. It is very easy to make, yet I felt like an accomplished baker when I saw the end result – it’s beautiful! Don’t worry, if you don’t like olives, you can leave them out. In fact, traditional socca (also known as farinata or cecina) is merely garbanzo bean flour, water, olive oil and black pepper (naturally gluten-free and vegan!). When I found this recipe on Tasty Yummies, I was initially drawn to the recipe title cuz I’m a sucker for Kalamata olives. Then I saw the mouth-watering photo…