Recipes: Creamy Shrimp Pasta

Here's another favorite apartment (and boyfriend) -approved recipe that's simple and pairs perfectly with the Texas Toast bruschetta I showed you. This recipe is based on another great one I found from the blog By Stephanie Lynn. It's her spin on Outback's Queensland Chicken and Shrimp Pasta (to die for). I've altered some of the ingredients, but you can add chicken to this recipe as well.

Ingredients:

1 pound of angel hair pasta
1 pound of cocktail shrimp (Peeled, de-veined and tail-off - you can buy frozen and thaw)
1 cup of milk
1 pint of heavy whipping cream
1 garlic clove diced
1/2 teaspoon of Mrs. Dash
1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon of onion powder
1/4 teaspoon of Lawry's seasoned salt
1 cup of chilled white wine good for cooking (I used Challis Lane Chardonnay 2009, but use any wine you'll drink so you can finish the bottle with dinner).
4 tablespoons of butter
Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. Thaw frozen shrimp in a bowl of cold water:

2. Combine seasonings in a small bowl or Ziplock bag:

3. Diced fresh garlic cloves:

4. In a medium pan combine the heavy cream, milk, and butter. Mix in half of your seasoning mixture, and reduce and thicken by simmering over a medium heat, stirring continuously. Don't let the mixture rise to a boil. Once thickened to your satisfaction, remove from heat and set aside:

5. Cook angel hair pasta, al dente.While the pasta is cooking, place shrimp, white cooking wine, diced garlic and remaining seasoning in another medium pan. Simmer on low:

7. Drain pasta and dish into pasta bowls. Ladle shrimp and thickened cream sauce over bed of pasta. Top with a generous helping of Parmesan cheese. Enjoy! 

Easy DIY: Accent pillow recovered

Since we have some cream colored pillowcases and sheets, I was looking for a way to tie those in with our new bedding and bedroom. I saw this great DIY idea to easily recover an accent pillow on an awesome blog called "Organize & Decorate Everything."








Luckily the boyfriend had an accent pillow from his old bed set that we could easily re-purpose without altering the pillow at all. The best thing about this DIY: No sewing, no gluing, no mess.

I went to Joann's on the hunt for the right material. I was looking for something pliable but sturdy with a light cream/off-white background and some character scrawl and colors to pull together all of the aspects of our bedroom. Our bedding and walls are mostly chocolate and variations of mocha hues, but we also have some black, white and colored accents.

Here's what I found:

For an accent pillow of this size (about 1.5' by 1.5'), 2 yards of fabric worked out really well. 

Step 1. Measure fabric to fold over long ways in thirds:

Step 2. Cut off the excess fabric (cleanly, because you'll find it handy later):

Step 3. Lay the pillow in the middle and fold down the opposite ends - opposite from the way you measured the fabric in thirds. If those ends were on the sides, you'll want to lay our the fabric completely and fold the top and bottom into the center of the pillow:

Step 4. Fold the corners of the sides into triangles like this:

Step 5. Fold both triangles into the middle of the pillow to cover the "seam."

Step 6. Squeeze and twist the ends together. Then tuck the ends in under the flaps. 

Step 7. Take your left over fabric strip and fold it long ways in thirds. Pull through the knot you have already created. 

Step 8. Tie a second knot with the ends of the extra piece of fabric to secure the first knot. 

Step 9. Twist the extra fabric so the knot is hidden and tuck in those ends as well. 

...and you're done!

Recipes: Texas Toast Bruschetta

This is the first of some apartment-approved recipes I want to share with you. This can be a meal for one person, or paired with a meal for a dinner for two. It's so simple and delicious. Feel free to adjust ingredients to fit your taste or preferences!

Ingredients:

Texas Toast (or any frozen garlic bread)
Tomato
Avocado
Onion
Pepper jack cheese slices

Step 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place garlic bread on a cookie sheet. Bake for 4-5 minutes.

Step 2. While the bread is cooking, chop your onion, and slice your tomatoes and avocado:

Step 3. Pull the bread from the oven and carefully top with tomato, onion, a slice of cheese and slice of avocado. (You can add the avocado last if you want them cool).

Step 4. Place back in the oven for 1 minute to melt the cheese.

Step 5. Plate and enjoy! Pairs wonderfully with any pasta.

Paint swap programs

It can happen to any unsuspecting paint buyer. It could happen to you.

You go to Home Depot or Lowe's and come home with too much (non-returnable) paint for that one 10' x 12' accent wall. Or maybe you just happen to have a half-full -or even better - completely UNUSED can of paint/primer, etc., laying around.

There are probably a few private paint/waste disposal companies in your city, but the best thing to do is look for your city or county's household hazardous waste program events or facility that will collect that paint, and possibly let you swap it for another color or shop for some other items that were dropped off at the facility.

Here's a list of some major cities and their local HHW programs:

City
Albuquerque, N.M.
Arlington, Tex.
Atlanta, Ga.
Austin, Tex.
Baltimore, Md.
Boston, Mass.
Charlotte, N.C.
Chicago, Ill.
Cleveland, Ohio
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Columbus, Ohio
Dallas, Tex.
Denver, Colo.
Detroit, Mich.
El Paso, Tex.
Fort Worth, Tex.
Fresno, Calif.
Gilbert, Ariz.
Houston, Tex.
Indianapolis, Ind.
Jacksonville, Fla.
Kansas City, Mo.
Las Vegas, Nev.
Long Beach, Calif.
Los Angeles, Calif.
Louisville, Ky.
Memphis, Tenn.
Mesa, Ariz.
Miami, Fla.
Milwaukee, Wis.
Minneapolis, Minn.
Nashville, Tenn.
New York, N.Y.
Oakland, Calif.
Oklahoma City, Okla.
Omaha, Nebr.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Phoenix, Ariz.
Portland, Ore.
Raleigh, N.C.
Sacramento, Calif.
San Antonio, Tex.
San Diego, Calif.
San Francisco, Calif.
San Jose, Calif.
Seattle, Wash.
Tucson, Ariz.
Tulsa, Okla.
Virginia Beach, Va.

Generally, the people who run the facilities ask that you leave the paint or other product in their original containers (no garbage bags, etc.)

Tip: If your city isn't listed above, try searching online for "paint swap program" or "household hazardous waste" in your city.

Grown up bed

We finally got the bed moved and set up with our new "grown up" bedding this weekend:

We were so happy (and relieved) to see how well the walls and accents matched. Now we can start adding wall decor and looking for window treatments. I wasn't a huge fan of the curtains that match this set from Bed Bath & Beyond, so we're looking for any great ideas!

Bedroom accent wall

We're now in the process of painting the accent wall in our bedroom. Yesterday we tackled the first coat. Boyfriend put me on his shoulders (and thankfully didn't die) to tape and paint the ceiling. We recommend you get a step stool or ladder instead!

We unscrewed and removed the plates for the electric plugs and painted around them with a small roller:

It's a good idea to put your painter's tape to extra good use and tape the screws to the plates so you don't lose them:

We laid a clear plastic drop cloth to cover the carpet, taped off the ceiling, walls we wanted to protect and the baseboards:

 











Then we rolled on our first coat...

And were so excited to do our second coat:

Tuscany style bedding

We visited BED BATH & BEYOND yesterday and picked out our bedding:

Then we hopped over to THE HOME DEPOT to pick our bedroom accent-wall paint. Here's the choices our apartment complex gave us and the one what we came up with: