Well that was a doozy. We finally put on our big girl/boy pants (respectively) and made the switch over to WordPress. I kicked and screamed the whole way and to be honest, I am sure that isn't completely over but we made it! For the past few months, Chris and I have been designing (me) […]
Hello e'rbody! Long time no blog. I've had a few questions asking about all the gluten in my cooking recently, and why we haven't been so strict on that. Well, because Jules has been so sick, her doctors told her to just eat whatever she could and they'd monitor her levels closely. For almost a […]
We never used a diaper bag before. An actual diaper bag, I guess. I've just never loved the look of them truthfully. My sister sent me a large red purse that I used as a diaper bag when Greta was younger and it worked well. It was simple (which I liked), but things did get […]
Over the holidays, Chris and I sat down on many occasions and talked about our goals for this blog in 2014. It's a little funny, because we have never really had goals for our blog. If you ever dive into the archives, you'll see this used to be a simple blog about our lives to […]
There are lots of ways to cook a ham. By far the most popular Christmas ham is a baked, spiral-cut ham with the bone in, coated with brown sugar and/or a range of spices. Why wouldn't this be the favorite? It's delicious. But for my ham this year, I decided to try something a little […]
Most people have things they want that they can't justify buying because they can get by with something not quite as good, that's still functional. Well, I use Christmas as an excuse to buy people the things they really want, not just the practical versions. So while browsing Williams-Sonoma's website the other day, I found […]
Before marrying Jules, I had never heard of Italian Wedding Soup. Julia's mom is full Italian, and there's a lot of heritage that comes along with that. Honestly I feel like I won the lottery when I married into Julia's family, but that's off topic. This post is about soup. And darn good soup. It's […]
Last Wednesday morning, at just over 20 weeks, we went in for our anatomy ultrasound for our little bebe. It happened to also be my birthday. Total happenstance. I always have my appointments on Wednesday morning, but what better day to find out if we would be adding a little boy or girl to our […]
Well here we are. The week of Thanksgiving. This is what we've been preparing for! I'm taking it a little easy this week, and getting stuff ready to celebrate my wonderful wife's birthday tomorrow, but I wanted to leave y'all with this quick little gem. Last month, one of our readers asked me for a […]
Well now that we all know how to properly clean and sharpen a knife, the last and possibly most important is storage. The way you store your knives will have a major impact on how sharp they stay, and how long they last. First, the bad. The worst thing you can do for your knives […]
Don't you hate it when people try to tell you, "You're more likely to cut yourself with a dull knife than a sharp knife"? You just want to smack them, I bet. That doesn't make sense, right? How can a dull knife cut you worse than a sharp one? It seems so obvious that sharp […]
Is it only Wednesday? This week has been insane and packed full of projects and deadlines that it feels like it could be a Saturday. I don't have any finished photos to share with you of all these said projects we're juggling, but I thought I would give you a run-down of what we're working […]
I'm a firm believer that the right kitchen equipment makes a huge difference in the food you're able to prepare, and the most important equipment is, indisputably, your knives. They are the backbone of your kitchen, and just as important as your oven and fridge. Even still, I have people often say things to me […]
Ok, so I realize it's Saturday and we typically don't post on weekends, but we had a question from one of our readers that I thought required a "quick" post. Here's the question, from Rachel: I've really enjoyed the recipes you've shared this week and really want to make some for the big day. But […]
There are a lot of pumpkin cheesecakes out there, and I love them all. The first time I had pumpkin cheesecake, it was more of a New York style, with the thick, dense filling. It was delicious, but also very heavy. When working up my own recipe for pumpkin cheesecake, I wanted to find a […]
My mom makes amazing rolls. It's actually my grandmother's recipe and they're famous in our family. Any time we get together, those rolls are always requested. They're buttery, fluffy, and a necessity at any of our Thanksgiving get-togethers. Unfortunately, the recipe I'm sharing is not her recipe. No, I'm afraid that recipe belongs to the […]
Ok, I'm not gonna get into a long shpeal about the importance of the turkey on Thanksgiving (also called "turkey day"). Everyone knows the importance of the turkey, and we also know it takes more than gravy to fix a dry, flavorless turkey. There's a lot to go over in this post, but we'll cover […]
I've never cared much for sweet potatoes, as historically prepared on Thanksgiving (marshmallows and all). I think my beef is that they are often overcooked to the point of mush, and lacking in the flavor department. And adding marshmallows, for me, only enhances the mushy mouthfeel. It's like I'm eating baby food, and I've always […]
Perhaps one of the least heralded parts of the Thanksgiving spread is the cranberry sauce. There it sits on a plate, in the middle of the table, oftentimes still retaining the shape of the can it was extracted from. Dinner ends, and it's still there. Maybe someone cut a piece out of the corner, but […]
I'm gonna try to make this post as quick to read as it is to actually make the gravy recipe below. If you're not a fan of Dijon, you can take it out, but I really encourage you to keep it in. It's not an "in your face" mustard flavor, and Dijon goes so well […]
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Welcome to our online community where we've posted home, DIY, style, renovations, and family since '09. Renovating our #cljmoderncottage in Idaho and headed for new adventures in Raleigh, NC. #cljfam #cljtransformations