bulgur salad with chickpeas, cauliflower and apricots

(I'm trying a new font / size. Any feedback would be appreciated! )

I love bulgur. It's one of those foods that I can feel actually scrape my colon clean! Today, I'm going to share with you a fresh take on the bulgur salad. If you like Indian flavors, you're going to love this! 

Bulgur salad with apricots, chickpeas and cauliflower:

Ingredients:

1-tablespoon olive oil

1 small yellow onion diced

a pinch of turmeric

a pinch of cumin

1 crushed garlic clove

1 cup of cauliflower

1 cup of cooked bulgur

1 can of chickpeas

3 fresh apricots

 1/4 of a cup cashews

1/8 of a cup cilantro

dressing:

a generous pinch of cumin

1 cup of yogurt (I prefer Fage)

mint leaves

lemon juice

It looks like a lot of ingredients, but I bet you can find most of these things already in your fridge / cupboard / garden. 

In one pot, make the cup of bulgur per the directions on the box. (If there are no directions add one cup bulgur to one cup water, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes with the lid on.)

In a pan, heat the olive oil and add the onion, stirring for about 3 minutes. Add the turmeric, garlic and cauliflower. Add a bit of water so the cauliflower steams, cover and let cook for 10 minutes. 

When the bulgur is ready, transfer to a bowl and still in the cumin. 

Mix the cauliflower mixture with the bulgur. Add the chickpeas. Slice up the apricots and toss those in as well. Now the cashews (you can break them up into smaller pieces or leave them whole.) Mix everything together and top with cilantro. 

To make the dressing mix all ingredients together. Instead of adding the dressing to the salad, I prefer to plate the salad and then place a generous dollop on top. 

Goes very nicely with a piece of warm naan bread! 

And on a side note: I just learned that the spice tumeric is NOT tumeric but turmeric....I've been saying / spelling it incorrectly my whole life!?!?

from lego chaos to lego calm

It's all about the Legos around here these days. The second the boys walk in the door, they're off and building, modifying, deconstructing. 

I love Legos! Not so much the step by step constructions, but I love when all the pieces from all the difference sets get jumbled together and new, unique creations are made!


We have a lot of Legos all over the place. And lemme tell you, those puppies HURT when you step on them barefoot!!

When our Lego collection began busting at the seams and stray Legos could be found in every corner of the house, I knew it was time to get organized. 


For a while, the Legos all sat in a bin which got dumped on the floor each morning (but rarely cleaned up).

Then, my dormant oc kicked into high gear and I bought a bunch of drawers, hellbent on organizing the Legos by color. I did a lot of the Lego sorting when I was out of the hospital on bed rest and heavily medicated. Apparently Vicadin and Lego sorting go nicely together. 


I grouped the Legos by color, red-orange-yellow, green-blue-purple, black-white, brown and grays in the big bin (we have a lot of gray due to all the Star Wars sets the kids have.) 

In another bin, I bought some smaller plastic bins and sorted the heads-bodies, accessories, dice and Ninjago pieces. 

I labeled the boxes and left one big bin free. This became the "to-sort" bin. I don't expect my kids to re-sort the Legos by color each time they're finished playing with them. But I do expect them to clean up after themselves. 


So when they're done playing, they use this little broom and dustpan to collect all the stray Legos and place them into the "to sort" bin. I go through this bin and sort them by color, usually the next time the kids are playing Legos. (without the meds, it's a bit more tedious, but equally as satisfying.) 

How do you organize your Legos?

Recently, Paula over at Living A Blessed Life contacted me to share how she followed my photo coaster tutorial to make some Father's Day coasters! 

Aren't these awesome! 

Thanks for sharing!

Have you made a project following one of my tutorials? If so, email me at meremadeblog (at) gmail (dot) com and tell me about it!!

we have a winner!

The winner of the Kenneth Jay Lane gold hoop earrings is Jessica who writes, "Stopping by from the Alexa hop :)"

Congratulations and I will be in touch shortly!

Holy Cucumbers!

I found some surprises in my garden! 

5 fat cucumbers!! (and three skinny zucchini!)

I sliced the cukes up and added some bulgur, feta cheese, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Delicious!

And who knew that cucumbers were so prickly?!? This gardener still has some green left in her thumb!

Tomorrow, the winner of the earrings giveaway will be announced!

easiest sarong ever tutorial

Sarongs are the best! They are light and fun and allow you to cover up anything you'd like to cover up when wearing a swim suit. 


And today, I'm going to share this tutorial with you!

The first thing I had to do was find a fun print. I wanted a light linen and something beach friendly. 

I was thrilled to come across this swimming-pool-blue bird pattern. 

Cut material: 72 x 45 inches
(my material happened to be 45 inches wide, so that made things nice and easy!)

Fold the long sides 1/2 inch then iron.  

Fold and iron again another 12 inch.  

Sew down both long sides of material.

You are done datta!

Check out my dress form, Betty, as she models the various ways you can wear your new sarong. (I had to pay her overtime for this.)

Go Kings Go!

I'll have you know the words, "Go Dogs Go!" have come out of my mouth far more often than the words, "Go Kings Go"- however, I had the good fortune of being able to attend two of the final hockey games this past week - the second one being the final game when my Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup!!!


We had a little pre-game libations.....

Perhaps love of the game is in my Canadian blood (both my parents are from Montreal) or my sheer disdain for sitting and watching sports in the sun, but I LOVED watching these hockey games!

The players were incredibly graceful, the game was super fast-paced and it went by pretty quickly, unlike its cousin, baseball, which, I'm sorry to say tends to drag on and on.

My husband is a HUGE hockey fan and player and has been his whole life. He also happens to be a huge Sopranos fan, so imagine his sheer delight when his night consisted of:


a) going to game 6 of the hockey finals


b) sitting next to Tony Soprano himself! (the last time I asked for a celebrity photo was when I was 13 and posed with both Jason Priestly and Luke Perry - how embarrassing! But what a kick ass photo! I'll post it if I can find it!)

c) having the Kings win the Stanley Cup!

d) And the cherry on top was when Justin Williams threw his glove up at the end of the game and guess who caught it!


It was so much fun to see him having the best night ever!! 


And here's a newspaper photo a friend emailed us the next day! Can you spot us??

Kenneth Jay Lane Earrings: Giveaway!!!

Summer is here! Short skirts! Big hats! Cool accessories!


In honor of the beginning of summer, I'm giving away these awesome Kenneth Jay Lane gold hoops!!

Please note that these earrings are for pierced ears (although the photos below are the same earring in clip-on version.)

To enter: please leave a comment below AND follow my blog.


This giveaway will close on June 18th at 11pm et.


Open to US mailing addresses only. 

star wars t-shirts

Found these images over at I am momma hear me roar.

Uploaded them to my Silhouette program, cut them out, freezer stenciled them and POW!!!

....the boys each got a new Star Wars t-shirt!!! (I've got to start buying non-white t-shirt as they get trashed SO easily!!)

homemade playdoh

The kids have been really into pirates lately and requested some ocean blue playdoh.

  Here's a link to my homemade playdoh recipe from last year for your viewing pleasure! It's edible! (but I wouldn't recommend eating it).

weekend bread

I made this bread over the weekend by following a simple recipe found here. 

Instead of using half whole wheat flour, I substituted brown rice flour. 

Since bread is a hot commodity over here, I'm trying to bake more of it! Stay tuned. 

easy photo coaster tutorial

So, I made these for Mother's Day, but I think they would make the perfect Father's Day Gift as well! Or even a housewarming gift....Valentine's Day gift.....in fact, I can't think of one holiday where this wouldn't be a perfect present. 


Presenting an Easy Photo Coaster Tutorial:

Materials Needed:
Ceramic Tiles (I used 6) Mine were purchased for a mere 10 cents each at Lowe's! Bargain!

(I chose white, but I think colored tiles would be super festive!)


mod podge
foam brush 
sealant spray 
printed photographs


Step 1) Choose and print your photos
Since my tiles were a wee bit bigger than 4 x 4, I made my photos 4 x 4. You can make them any even size you'd like as long as they're a hair smaller than your tiles.

Step 2) Cut out your photos.

Step 3) Mod Podge your tiles and place each photo on a tile.  Let them dry completely before continuing. 

    

Step 4) Mod Podge over your photo. This will kind of feel like you're destroying the photo during the process. There will be white mod podge lines running all over the photos. Don't worry, they will dry and become invisible. 

Step 5) Let tiles dry completely. 


Step 6) Repeat Steps 4 and 5 two more times. 


Step 7) Once everything is completely dry, spray with sealant. I applied three different layers of sealant, waiting for the tiles to dry completely between each layer. The sealant is what will keep the coasters from getting ruined when water condenses from whatever drink you have on them. 

Step 8) Enjoy!