Cheesy, Delicious - Hash Brown Casserole

Hash brown casserole is SO yummy!  I'm sure many of you have a version of this recipe, but if you don't I think this is a tried and true dish that should be in everyone's cooking repertoire.

Hash brown casserole is a perfect side dish for any steak, chicken or fish dinner.  It is incredibly easy to make and can be made up to a day ahead of time and kept in the fridge until it is time to bake.  If you are looking for a dish to take to a pot-luck, this one is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.  This is also a wonderful brunch dish as well! 

If for some reason you have never tried this dish, please, please give this recipe a try - you will love it!!

Hash Brown Casserole

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen, shredded or diced hash brown potatoes (2 lbs.), thawed

1 onion, chopped

1 can cream soup (cream of chicken, mushroom, celery.....whatever you have)

1 8 oz. container sour cream (I use light sour cream)

1 lb. shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups crushed corn flakes or 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 cup melted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grate cheese (or you can use already shredded bagged cheese) and chop onion.

Then add your hash browns, cream soup, sour cream, cheese, onions, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl and stir until combined.

After all ingredients are combined, spoon hash brown mixture into a greased, glass baking dish.  Top hash browns with crushed corn flakes or seasoned bread crumbs (I used bread crumbs here) and drizzle melted butter evenly on top.

Bake for 35 minutes, covered.  Remove foil and continue to bake an additional 10 minutes.

Hash Brown Casserole - hot out of the oven!!

Serve with salad and Honey-Dijon Pecan Crusted Salmon (recipe to come!!)

Cottage Mama's Note:  To make hash brown casserole into a main dish entree, consider adding cubed ham or chicken and adding additional vegetables such as diced bell peppers, peas or broccoli.

weekend fun and more progress

this weekend my best friend stephanie and her boyfriend zach came into town for a visit.  before they came into town though, billy and i were working hard to try to get our guest bedroom somewhat put back together.  {working full-time doesn’t leave much time for getting my own personal projects completed.  that’s why our guest room has taken over a month and a half to complete so far.}  we started trying to install the crown moulding weekend before last but ran into a slight complication.  it seemed like a pretty simple task.  weekend before last i went out and bought the piece of crown moulding that we needed.  i measured, marked and billy and i cut.  i found out while trying to install it that i marked my angles and cut them while the crown was upside down.  when we went to fit it up on the ceiling it was too long and too short in the wrong places.  by the time we figured out that i had marked the wood wrong it was too late on sunday evening to start everything over.  so, the project went unfinished for yet another week. 

saturday morning was mine and billy’s last chance to get the crown moulding installed before steph and zach got into town.  we made sure that i had the angles correct this time.  we measured, marked and cut again.  when it came time for the install all was going well…that is until the guest bed that i was standing on BROKE!!!!!  i guess all of the moving we did to my grandmother’s antique bed wasn’t too good for the railing because it literally broke in to.  having a functional guest bed in our bedroom for our guests was much more important than getting the crown moulding up.  luckily we had an extra bed frame in our storage unit so we were able to disassemble the broken bed and assemble the new one.   unfortunately the crown had to wait once again.

once stephanie and zach got here we had a fun day of running around atlanta.  they had never toured the sweetwater brewery so we took them down there to taste some good beer and go on the tour.  it was so great to visit and catch up with them.  they had tickets to a concert last night so billy and i took it easy while they went to their concert.  today we all had brunch, and then billy and i got back to work on the guest room. 

i am happy to say that the after 2 long weeks of trying to get the crown moulding installed it is finally up!!  now i have a little caulking to do to finish it up.  well actually lots of caulking to do, but i’m just really happy that i’m one step closer to getting the guest room finished.

i promise that i’m going to post pictures as soon as it’s all complete.  i’ll also give a girl’s tutorial on how to install crown moulding.

how was your weekend?  anything exciting happen?

LiveJournal Tags: guest bedroom furniture,guest bedroom

Challenge Dress Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is "Savvy Saving Momma" who won with comment number 33 where she said;

"I follow your blog"

She also said in her previous comment, "I enjoy your crafting and sewing blogs! If I won I would love to get the Matilda Tutu dress!

So here it is, The Matilda Tutu Dress:

Savvy Saving Momma, I emailed you to your blogger account email, so hopefully you have received that so we can discuss where you would like me to ship this cutie patootie little dress.

Thanks so much to all of you who entered!  This was so fun, I will definitely do another giveaway soon!!

Happy Friday!

loving…

1.  this ikat rug from william-sonoma home.  so pretty.

2.  this cool wood-grain tool.  now you can i can faux bois whatever my little heart desires.  i saw this tool here and you can purchase it here.

3.  this blog called isabella & max rooms.  i stumbled across it earlier this week and can’t get enough.  there are wonderful pictures and plenty of great diy tips.  i’m loving her ongoing tutorial on how to make window treatment panels.  if only i had a sewing machine.  in my guest room i’ve been making my own but i’ve been cheating and using the no sew method.

4.  this mushroom wreath, new at crate and barrel. 

5.  this playful hopscotch rug from cb2.  how cute would this be in a kid’s room.

i’ve been in houston all week installing a model home.  it was a fun time but i’m ready to get home.  i’m heading home this morning and looking forward to the weekend and seeing my best friend.  she’s coming into town for a visit.  i’ve got a lot to do before she comes though.  hopefully my plane doesn’t get delayed. 

have a great one!

LiveJournal Tags: loving...,william-sonoma home,faux bois,blogs,crate & barrel,cb2

No-Sew Projects with Fabric

Now I know the majority of you that read my blog are sewers; however, I do know there are some that are not.  As you can see from my previous post, I LOVE fabric!  I think it is so gorgeous and just looking at it gets my creativity going.  But did you know there are plenty of ways to incorporate fabric into your home that does NOT involve sewing?

I thought I would show you a few no-sew fabric projects that I have around my home:

These are basic square frames purchased from IKEA.  I simply framed some fabric that I really loved that seemed to coordinate with our store-bought bedding.  Personally, I think it really adds a lot to the room and gives it a completed look.

Here is the framed fabric hanging over our bed.  And do you see the accent pillow on the bed?  Yes, that was done in my days before I had my sewing machine.  I made that using heat-bond and just ironed it all together!

This is the wall-art that hangs over my 7-month old daughter, Matilda's crib.  I purchased an inexpensive painters canvas from Michaels and covered it with fabric (I staple gunned it to the back of the canvas).  I then painted a wooden "M" pink and covered it with pretty floral wall-paper accents (found at Joann's).  I added a pink ribbon on the top and stapled it to the top of the canvas (and hid the staples with the upper flower......shhhhh....don't tell).

This was another way I incorporated fabric into my daughters room without sewing.  I covered a foam board with batting and then covered it with fabric (securing with straight pins on the back).  I added ribbons across the front and secured them in place with pearl straight pins (found in the sewing notions section of Joann's).  I added a hanging ribbon on top (secured by straight pins) and hung it on the wall.

Here are three pieces of wall art I created using fabric for my daughter Savannah's "big girl room".  I've shown these to you in a previous post (see here), but I don't know if you realized there was no sewing involved.  I simply covered the mats that came with the frames in polka dot fabric.  Then I deconstructed the animal templates and used different fabrics to rebuild the look of the animals.  All of the animals have a pearl as their eye (found in the scrapbooking section of Hobby Lobby).

Finally, this was one of the easiest no-sew projects.  This was a bookcase we purchased from IKEA to use in my daughters bedroom.  It came with a "not so lovely" cardboard backing to the shelves.  So, I decided to cover this with fabric before we put it together.  This is secured using duct tape on the back-side of the cardboard - gotta love that stuff!!

So as you can see, there are many different creative things you can do with fabric if you don't sew.  I always encourage my friends and family to start sewing if you have any interest in it - it's really not as hard as you think.  But if you don't have the interest or the time, you can still have fun with all the beautiful designer fabric that is on the market today!

Cottage Mama's Note:  If you have any questions about these projects I have described, feel free to leave me a comment or email me and I would be happy to go into further detail.

Now Don't Be Jealous......

.........but look what arrived in the mail for me yesterday!

Eeeeek - it's my fabric!!  I had ordered about 40-50 yards of fabric awhile back and it is finally here.  I will be using most of this yardage for items in my etsy shop.  I do have several item for my shop ready to go, I just need to get some good sunshine to take my pictures so I can list them.

I have had a lot of friends ask me where I get my fabric.  Well, I usually can find the best prices for fabric online.  The only thing about ordering online is you usually have to wait for it and you don't get to touch and feel it.  However, if you are familiar with a designer, then you usually will know what to expect.  I love looking in fabric stores, so sometimes it is best to browse your local specialty fabric store to see what the fabric looks like in person.  Many times the color of a fabric can vary online depending on your computer monitor color settings.  So if you plan to order a lot - check it out in person first!

The majority of the fabric I ordered is the new "Nicey Jane" by Heather Bailey (I love the fresh, clean look), with a little "Love" by Amy Butler (Gorgeous!), and a few yards of Sandi Henderson.  These designers are not found in your big-box fabric stores like Joann's or Hancock, so if you are looking for them in-person, best to check out the specialty stores.

Here are these three designers websites if you would like to check out their lines of fabric:

Heather Bailey 


Amy Butler 


Sandi Henderson

I want to start sewing right now!!  But, my daughters 2nd birthday is next week and we are having an "Elmo Dance Party" so I better finish up things for her party first.  Hope you are all having a great day!

one kings lane and a special offer just for you

most of you who frequent the blog world have probably heard of one kings lane before.  we’ve mentioned them quite a few times because they are pretty awesome.  if you haven’t come across “okl” on a blog or found them some other way then you really should go and check them out.  onekingslane.com is like a private shopping club and they sell some of the best home products on their site at amazingly discounted prices.  here’s the trick though the quantities are limited and you only have a short window to buy them in, like say…72 hours.  if you are a member of okl then you get an email each day notifying you of the great sales events that will be going on that day.  their website also shows the current and future events going on so that you don’t have to wait for that email to come in.

one kings lane was founded by susan feldman and alison gelb pincus, two home enthusiasts that decided they wanted a to figure out a way to offer home decor and accents to the public at an affordable cost.  at the atlanta market i was fortunate enough to meet susan.  not only is she beautiful, but she was so sweet as well.  after talking with her about my blog she connected me with alison.  alison through out some ideas of how to bring a little piece of one kings lane to you guys.  we decided that instead of having a giveaway with one gift we would have a giveaway for everyone!!!! 

here’s the deal.  anyone who signs up to be a member of one kings lane on the charmhome sign-up page will receive a $10 credit.  as long as you sign up by march 10th on my sign-up page (click here to get to my sign-up page) you can use that credit to shop for any of the items on the okl site.  the $10 credit will expire on march 31st so you have to use it up fast. 

these are just a few of the great items out there on one kings lane right now.

archipelago candles

bliss studio pillows

hillary thomas bedding

 

bailey street tables

culinhome cutlery

simrin table linens

there’s much more to check out so if you haven’t signed up before hurry and sign up so that you can get your $10 credit and start shopping.

CLICK HERE to be taken to my sign-up page. 

HAPPY SHOPPING!!!

LiveJournal Tags: one kings lane,giveaway,hillary thomas,simrin,culinhome,bailey street,bliss studio,archipelago candles

Reusable Coffee Sleeve Tutorial

I love coffee.  Now, it is VERY rare these days that I allow myself to purchase a Starbucks coffee.  Being a stay-at-home Mom means being on a strict budget which, of course, is SO worth it being able to spend all day with my two little ladies.  However, I know many, many of my friends and family that love to have their daily coffee fix from their local coffee shop.

When you purchase your coffee it comes with the cup, the lid and the cardboard coffee sleeve.  My goodness - that is a lot of waste for one coffee drink!  So, I thought maybe we could help eliminate some of the waste by creating a reusable coffee sleeve.  Just a small little sleeve that you could slip in your bag or briefcase and use when you buy your coffee.

I have seen so many of these for sale on etsy.com.  They are super-cute, but they looked easy enough to make, so I thought I would try my hand at making one myself.  If you know someone who is a coffee-shop addict (or you are one yourself), make them one of these reusable coffee sleeves and help our environment by eliminating waste.

Reusable Coffee Sleeve Tutorial

Supplies:

1/4 yard (or less) scrap piece of fabric

4.5" elastic

Fusible Interfacing

1 button

Thread

Scissors

Coffee Sleeve (for your template)

Paper Coffee Cup (yes, I was FORCED to treat myself for this tutorial - I had a giftcard!)

Directions:

Here is your basic coffee shop cup with the standard paper sleeve.

Here is the paper sleeve.

Unfold the paper sleeve to use this as your template for your reusable one.

Place your paper sleeve onto your fabric (fabric should be folded in half).

Cut fabric (using the paper sleeve as your template).  Cut 1/2" - 3/4" wider than template.

Cut one piece of fusible interfacing (I use Wonder Under) the same size as your fabric pieces.

Place your interfacing (paper side UP) onto the wrong-side of one piece of your fabric.

Iron interfacing onto fabric (leave the paper on when ironing).

Remove interfacing paper backing.  Pin both pieces of fabric right-sides together.

Cut your elastic 4.5" long.

Place the elastic in between the two pieces of fabric and pin it pointing inward.  You pin it inward so that when you turn it right-side out, it will be going the right direction.

Stitch around three sides (both long sides and the side with the elastic) of your fabric - 1/2" seam allowance. 

Clip the corners and the curves so that it will lay nice and flat when you turn it right-side out.

Turn the fabric right-side out.  Then fold under (the side you left open) about 1/2" and press.  Once you press your fabric, this will fuse the two pieces together really well.

Pin the open end in place and then top-stitch around the entire perimeter - 1/4" seam allowance.

This is what your top-stitching will look like once completed.

Then stitch your button in place - the center of the button should be about 3" from the edge of the fabric.  I used embroidery floss just to make it extra durable.

And there you have it - your completed coffee sleeve!  This project only took me about 30 minutes and it really is so easy.  Not only is this great for our environment, but it makes your coffee cup super-cute too!!

Cottage Mama's Note:  You can embellish your coffee sleeve many different ways by adding trims (i.e. rick-rack, ribbon, rhinestones) and fun buttons.  Have fun and get creative!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to comment or email me!