life with crosby

Well I haven't had a chance for many posts in the last month... and this cutie pie is a big reason why. Crosby has been keeping us very busy for the last month... actually, I can't believe it has only been a month that he has been home with us! I feel like he has been a part of our little family for much longer.

He is growing SO fast. When we brought him home on June 26th, he was around 12 pounds. By the time he had his first vet appointment just 5 days later, he weighed 14 pounds. And now, another three weeks later, he's up to 23 pounds! Looking back at these pictures from only a few weeks ago really makes me realize how fast our little pup is growing up! I won't be carrying him around for long.

Here's Crosby on his way home from us picking him up. He did great on the 3-hour ride home, except for getting car sick in the first 15 minutes.

Crosby with one of his favorite toys, the Wubba. 

He's always standing so proper, even at 9 weeks old. We've caught him pointing in the backyard a ton of times... at the obvious, birds, and also squirrels, chipmunks, and even spiders! haha

Exhausted after my first trip to the pet store! 

Meeting baby Weston...

And cousin Boss...

Playing with friend Murphy

Cuddling on the couch... his nightly bedtime routine. 

stationary set gifts

We went to Cleveland for my twin cousins Sarah and Kelsey's graduation party at the end of June. Some people think they look just like me... what do you think?

For their graduation party gifts, I decided to make them each a whole set of customized stationary. I've created stationary for people before, but this was my first time making complete sets with packaging and all. They turned out great!

It all started when the girls asked me to make them cards with their new address, emails, etc. at Bowling Green, where they'll head this fall, so they're friends and family can keep in contact.

I gave them some options to choose from, and once they'd each picked designs, I secretly went to work on matching stationary.

Sarah chose a fun polka dot design with Bowling Green colors and Kelsey choose a girly Asian flower design in purple.

Each stationary set consists of:

• 10 sheets of 8 x 10 inch linen stationary
• 20 sheets of 5.5 x 8 inch linen stationary
• 20 4.5 x 6 inch blank notes - with two variations
• Large and small envelopes
• Envelope seals
• Matching case to hold everything

Personalized stationary makes a great gift for anyone, and I promise you will pay a lot more for it from a stationary store then if you buy from me! So contact me at cmusicdesign@gmail.com or comment here if you'd like more information. 

what i'm reading...

I recently began another great summer read, "Water for Elephants" by Sarah Gruen. This book has been on my LONG list of books to read for a year or two, but now that it is being made into a movie (with one of my favorite actresses - Reece Witherspoon), I realized it is finally time to read it, before seeing the movies. As most people would agree, the book is always better than the movie. In addition to being on my list, it is also a number one New York Times bestseller.

Does anyone remember the HBO original series, Carnivale? I loved that show, and this book kind of reminds me of the show. I love the depression-era circus story.

...combines outrageously whimsical premises with crowd-pleasing romanticism... -New York Times

While I'm no expert on the book (I'm just two chapters in as a write), I already recommend this book. If you're planning on seeing the movie, at least give the book a go first!

father's day!

I'm obviously a bit delayed on posting this blog... but we had a great Father's Day celebration with my dad a few weeks ago. After he had a long ride, mom and dad came over to our house and we grilled out. This meal sounds like your typical grilling out and hanging out on the deck kind of meal, but everything had an Italian twist on it.

We started with a grilled romaine salad with a creamy herb dressing. Grilled salads are a hot food trend this summer, with lots of high-end restaurants around the country adding them to their menus. So I, of course, could not wait to try it myself.

Grilling the hearts of romaine changes this from an ordinary salad to something totally new. The heat brings out a sweetness in the romaine and you get a slight smokey taste, too.

And as for making your own salad dressings, every time I do this (probably once a week) I always wonder to myself, "Why don't I always make my own dressings?" because they really are so much better. I love the having the fresh flavors of herbs that were only picked 5 minutes prior! I usually just make vinaigrettes, but this creamy herb dressing was a perfect match with our grilled romaine.

After our salads we had burgers and pasta salad. Oh wait, it was not just burgers and pasta salad!

Our "Italian twist" burger patties were topped with thick shaves of parmigiano reggiano, crispy salami, and a spicy red pepper pesto. If you thought bacon was a delicious addition to your cheese burger, just wait until you try it with salami! Next time I think I'll try pepperoni, or maybe even get fancy with something like soppressata.

Then there's the "pasta salad." I've long-loved this pasta both hot and cold, and as a side or even a main dish. Lemon Orecchiette was the perfect fresh accompaniment to our Italian-twisted cookout.

After we had some time to digest our meal, we had a browned butter, chocolate chip & pecan "pizookie." What is a pizookie, you say?

A 'pizza-cookie', baked and served in a personal-sized circular tin, generally with ice cream on top. -Urban Dictionary

BJ's Restaurant and Brewery in Huntington Beach, California, is credited with creating the pizookie, a fresh baked cookie with vanilla ice cream, served in a pizza-style pan. -Wikipedia

To me, a pizookie is like a cookie that stays only partially-cooked in the middle, like one of my other favorite desserts, the chocolate molten cake. 

Well we were all so jazzed about eating our pizookie deliciousness that I didn't even snap a picture! Whoops!

And now for the recipes...

grilled romaine with creamy herb dressing
adapted from Cooking Light magazine
Serves 4-6

2 hearts of romaine, sliced in half lengthwise
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1/4 c. olive oil mayo
2 tbsp fresh herbs (I used basil, oregano, tarragon, and thyme)
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic, minced

• Brush cut sides of romaine with olive oil, then top with salt and pepper. Place cut side down on grill at medium heat and grill for 3 to 5 minutes. 
• Put salt, pepper, mayo, herbs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and garlic in a jar. Shake to combine. 
• Slice each chunk of romaine into 2 to 3-inch sections pour dressing over. 

lemon orecchiette

Serves 6

1 pound bronze-cut orecchiette pasta 

bronze-cut pastas have a much rougher texture, allowing it to absorb more of the lemon-y goodness!

2/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. shredded parmesan
3 lemons, zested and juiced
1/2 c. fresh basil, cut in chiffonades

• Cook pasta as directed in salted water. Drain and rinse. 
• Put olive oil, parmesan, and lemon juice in a jar. Shake to combine.  
• Pour over cooked pasta and fold in fresh basil and lemon zest.

browned butter pizookie
serves 6

1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 c. chocolate chips (I swear by using Ghiradelli chips. They're totally worth the extra $0.50 over Nestle)
1/3 c. pecans, lightly toasted and chopped

• Heat a skillet on medium heat. Add butter and melt, stirring often. Butter will foam up, then when foam subsides, small brown flecks will gather at the bottom of the pan. Stir continuously until the butter has turned to a rich brown color. Remove from the heat. 
• Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. 
• Combine browned butter and sugar in your stand mixer bowl. Add in egg and vanilla, and mix thourougly. Slowly stir in flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. 
• Scoop dough into ramekins, and sprinkle with pecans. 
• Bake for 11-13 minutes. The edges should be cooked and cracking, but the center should still be gooey. Top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. 

Our puppy!

We drove to northern Indiana two Sundays ago to pick out our new family member... Crosby! We got this picture from our breeder when the puppies were a few weeks old, but we weren't sure which puppy we wanted at the time.

So we decided to spend 6 hours in the car and pick out the pup for us by meeting them all in person. Even though being in the car that long is not the most fun, it was a great birthday present just to meet our puppy.

We were greeted by these six cutie-pies. Two of the puppies are girls, and we had already planned to get a boy, so the breeder got out the four boys for us to play with. After some careful consideration, and some kisses and heavy tail-wagging by one specific pup, we knew which boy was the one for us. We're bringing him home this Sunday. I can't wait!! 

50 posts!

The previous post was my 50th post to this blog. I've been at it since August 15, 2010. I've really enjoyed sharing my recipes, crafts, and other aspects of my life. Having the blog has gotten me back into photography, and also made me like writing more then I knew I did!

Where I've been

The 50 posts I've made so far fall within ten different categories. The graph shows how often I'm writing about each of these subjects.

When I started this blog, I thought it would mostly be about our house and crafting. I've always loved cooking, so after posting a few recipes, I began to realize I also love writing about cooking, and writing recipes. I hope you've been inspired by the recipes I've provided.

Where I'm going

a

I know that some of the categories in the pie chart will soon be occupying larger spaces and I also hope to add a few new pieces to my pie!

Slice o' pie that will grow:

• Puppy: We're getting our puppy on June 26th, and I'm already obsessed, so there will surely be more dog posts to come. 
• Food (excludes recipes): While I love cooking, sometimes I just need a night off! We have many favorite restaurants, and also love to check out new places, especially when locally-owned restaurants that use artisan, locally-grown, organic and/or fresh ingredients. 
• House: We had our 1-year house anniversary earlier in June. I haven't kept up on blogs for all the developments with our house, but hope to add more here. We're always doing something, and that will continue (forever, so I hear). 

Coming soon to my pie: 

• Gardening: Well, this sort of falls in the "House" category, but it really is its own topic. We've had more time this summer to do some gardening, and I can't wait to share these new developments with all of you. 
• Other subjects that I haven't even realized I want to write about, yet!

Stats about my blog: 

While the majority of my page views come from the United States (no surprise), I've got readers in Canada, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Denmark, Singapore, Columbia, and Japan. That BLOWS MY MIND! How did this happen?

Tell me, are you reading this from another country?

After finding out that 15 percent of the visits to my blog are from mobile devices, I've set-up a mobile viewing version of my blog for easier reading on your mobile device. Here's what it looks like.

Where do you access the music note from most often?

birthday dinner

My mom made me an fresh and delicious homemade birthday dinner on Sunday night. Jake, Elizabeth, and Weston weren't able to make it, but Mom, Dad, James and I had a great time!

Thanks for making this awesome dinner for me, Mom! Here's what we had:

drinks: white wine sangria & local beer from the bier brewery

caprese salads

tuscan grilled chicken with lemon and rosemary

roasted vegetables with balsamic

homemade focaccia bread

and the finale.....
molten brownies cupcakes
as you can see, I couldn't wait to take a bite, so this picture is after my first bite.

weston's baptism

Last weekend was Weston's baptism. I made invitations seen at the right for the baptism (and party!) a while back. Elizabeth wanted a preppy look with navy and green, so I created this patchwork plaid for the invitation.

Weston was calm (as always) through the whole mass and baptism. He didn't cry during the baptism as babies often do because he is a little fish! He wanted to get all the way in the water, not just have it on his head!

Then came the work for the party. I made water bottle labels, food cards that matched the invitations, and two signs for for party decorations.

For the first party sign, I cut custom stencils to match the font used on the invitation to spray paint pieces of burlap with "WESTON" and a cross on each side. I then strung each letter together with navy ribbon.

The second sign was made on my fancy-schmancy new sewing machine that I got for Christmas last year. Elizabeth found the patchwork fabric at Joann, so I luckily didn't have to sew all those pieces together! I created the white border around the edges with mitered corners - my first time with this technique! I cut a J, W, and a cross out of Navy fabric and sewed those on, too. I used kelly green ribbon to string it up. Then came the problems... since the sign was made of fabric, it didn't stay stiff and square when hanging by the bow... so I used a little spray adhesive and a piece of cardboard to make the sign nice and sturdy.

We had a huge array of amazing food after the baptism, but I can't take credit for any of these. Jake, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's mom Pat made each and every delicious morsel you'll see below.

Here's a great family picture from the church. My Grandma and Grandpa Riedy made the trip up to Indianapolis from Cincinnati for the weekend to come to Weston's baptism, too!

chili-cheese sloppy joes

Last year I was on a kick of creating new types of sloppy joes. This is not one I made then, but I was thinking it was time to make some of those recipes (and some new ones) again. Loose-meat sandwiches are quick, flavorful, and almost a blank canvas to try out a variety of flavor profiles on.

I love chili, but I don't particularly want to eat it on a hot and humid summer day. This sandwich satisfies the chili-flavor craving, but lightens and freshens it up a bit for a summer day. I serve it with a cold pasta salad packed with fresh, organic veggies.

chili-cheese sloppy joes

adapted from Bon Appétit
Serves 2


2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 c. red onion, diced
8 oz. extra lean ground beef
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 c. water
Salt and pepper
1 baguette
Shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped

• Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet. Add 3/4 c. onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add ground beef, chili powder, cumin, and garlic. Saute until beef is cooked through, breaking up with a spoon. 
• Add tomatoes and water, and simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 
• Slice baguette open, and hollow out a little to make more room for the meat. Top with cheese and broil for 2-3 minutes, or until bread is toasted and cheese is melted. 
• Top baguette with meat mixture, cilantro, and raw red onion. 

chorizo & potato tacos

I love Mexican food. I love the idea of street food and authentic recipes. So of course, I love these Chorizo & Potato Tacos. The typical taco night in the U.S. consists of browning ground beef, adding some packaged taco seasoning, and topping with lettuce and an overload of dairy - cheese and sour cream. Authentic tacos don't include any of these things. While I am definitely a huge dairy fan, especially cheese, you don't even miss it from this meal. The homemade-chorizo, fresh red onion, and cilantro pack such powerful flavors into this DELICIOUS taco!

chorizo and potato tacos

adapted from Food & Wine

Serves 4

1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes

3/4 lb ground pork

1 tbsp sea salt

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp sweet paprika

2 tbsp chopped chipotle chiles in adobo

1/2 tsp coriander

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp cider vinegar

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

12 6-inch corn tortillas - choose an authentic mexican brand

Tomato salsa, red onion, cilantro, and lime wedges for serving

• In a large saucepan, cover the potatoes with 4 inches of cold water and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and mash, leaving some chunks. 
• In a large bowl, combine ground pork, salt, garlic, paprika, chipotle chiles, coriander, oregano, and vinegar. Fold in potatoes. 
• Heat half of olive oil in a large cast-iron or non-stick skillet. Add half of chorizo and potato mixture to the skillet and press into an even layer. Cook over medium-high heat until a crust forms on the bottom, about 6 minutes. Turn the mixture in sections and cook until both sides are browned and crusty. Repeat for second batch. 
• Serve on corn tortillas with tomato-based salsa, diced onion, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. 

key rack

I was over having our keys sitting on the kitchen counters, dining room table, or worse - not being able to find keys, so it was time for a key rack. You can find all sorts of key holders at home stores and on the internet, or could even just put standard hooks on the wall to hang out keys, but I of course was set on making something.

So I came up with this! I bought everything at Target for it, and got a lot of great deals. The entire project came in under $9!

Frame:   $2.95
Discounted because the glass had a crack in it. I didn't want glass anyway! Originally had a flower print in it.

Fabric:  $2.50
One out of a pack of 4 napkins ($9.99). I really like this print, and it helps to incorporate more yellow into the kitchen.

Hooks:   $3.09
Heavy duty towel and robe hooks. Two in each package.

american craft beer & national burger week

Wow two things I love have their very own "week" this week... well, I guess they are sharing this week, but that is just fine by me. Who doesn't love a burger and a beer?

Tonight we definitely enjoyed both. We had Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale, one of America's more popular craft beers, but delicious none the less, with a lightened-up Western-style burger.

We consider ourselves to be kind of beer-connoisseurs and rarely drink any beer that isn't craft beer, so this wasn't too out of the ordinary.

lighten-up! western burgers

Serves 4

turkey burgers
1 lb ground turkey - we use 96% fat-free
3 tbsp barbecue sauce
1/4 panko bread crumbs
Salt & Pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 slices low-fat cheddar cheese

• Combine all ingredients and form into burger patties. 
• Grill until cooked completely. Top with cheese and leave on grill until melted.

oven-friend onion straws

adapted from Ellie Kreiger's onion ring recipe

1 vidalia onion

1/2 c. skim milk

1/4 c. flour + 2 tbsp

1/2 c. panko bread crumbs

Salt & Pepper

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 
• Mix milk and 1/4 c. flour in shallow bowl. Set aside. 
• Mix bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in a separate shallow bowl. Set aside. 
• Slice onion in 1/4 to 1/2 inch circles, then cut each circle in half. Toss onion with 2 tbsp of flour to coat. 
• Working with 4-5 pieces of onion at a time, dip in milk mixture, then toss in bread crumb mixture. Place on sprayed baking sheet. 
• Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. 

assemble

We don't always have burger buns on hand, but I love to use whole-grain bread instead anyway. Toast 8 slices of bread.

Smear each slice with barbecue sauce. We used Ole Ray's Kentucky Gold Bourbon Barbecue, a yellow mustard-based barbecue that we picked up at the Indiana Artisan Market last month. The more common reddish barbecue sauces are tomato or ketchup-based. 

Top with onion straws.