Lazy Owl Boutique: March 2012

Please pardon my prolonged absence! March has been flying by for me. My husband, an engineer, has been working turnaround at his plant. For those of you who haven't grown up around engineers, turnaround is basically a time where the plant shuts down and the engineers have to work 24/7. He is home and awake for about an hour or two every day.

This has left all the cooking, cleaning, and household duties to yours truly. And...if you know me, you know I don't cook. I don't really know how to cook honestly, so this month has been interesting for me because as a good wife I need to put food on the table for him to eat every night after a long day at work! Thanks to Pinterest, I've been able to find some recipes that even someone as kitchen-challenged as me can handle.

So, to sum up what I've been neglecting to blog about in March, here we go in photo form.

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

This was the first dinner I attempted. Probably not the best idea. It was a good recipe and I allllllmost pulled it off, but I have no experience baking chicken. I left it in there for the amount of time the recipe called for, but I apparently over-cooked the chicken. The crust was still totally yummy, but the chicken itself was really tough.

Broccoli cheese soup

This recipe was great. I've never made soup before (did I mention I've never made like...anything before?) So getting the flour base down and all that was a challenge. But the soup turned out great. I even heated a couple frozen pretzel rolls to go with it. Success!

I am also taking a beginner's sewing class this month. It's been very interesting, and not nearly as intuitive as I thought it would be. This is the pattern I've started out with. I had no idea it had so many pleats...and pockets...I'm still working on it. I have all sorts of dreams of making purses, dresses, etc. etc...

Blueberry Snack Cake

I made this delicious blueberry snack cake. It was pretty easy, even for me. Definitely yummy.

Essie nail polish in Tart Deco

I've also been really obsessed with coral lately. I got coral shorts, two coral tops, a pair of coral shoes, and finally this light coral polish from Essie. It's going to be all the rage this spring/summer I swear (I hope). See my coral treasury:

'A touch of coral' by LazyOwlBoutique

Coral Bracelet Coral Je... jewelrybycarma... $98.00	Salmon Pink Jersey Infi... IskraAccessori... $18.00	Vintage Coral Corning C... Madeinthe50s $20.50	Red, coral and peach sa... thepaisleymoon $12.00
Mini Ruche Bag in Sea C... jennyndesign $212.00	Coral Lattice Print Pil... MiCasaBella $78.00	SALE Salmon Wrap Bracel... CitrusMangos $24.00	Coral Ocean Beach Sea P... ZeppiPrints $48.00
Womens Clothing Top Cot... FineThreadz $32.00	Coral Rose Ring - Adjus... sweetie2sweeti... $5.99	Wristlet Clutch, Coral ... AppleWhite $27.00	Little Coral Chandelier... NestPrettyThin... $25.00
Dogwood Mother's Da... ThePaperMenage... $4.00	Salmon Coral Necklace -... WildflowersAnd... $44.00	Scandinavian door photo... JessPetersonPh... $30.00	1950s Skirt - Quilted F... ragsfeathers $45.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Moving on....

Chicken lasagna

This was big-time for me. Chicken lasagna! The recipe was actually not too difficult, just very time-consuming. I used a grocery store rotisserie chicken for it. I also did not use any of the low-fat versions of the 270 cheeses that went into this recipe, I went with the real deal. But the husband loved it! I will admit, I was pretty impressed with myself for pulling it off haha.

Turquoise and yellow chevron earrings

Over at Lazy Owl, I posted a new collection of handpainted metal feather earrings. They were really fun to make. I'm definitely into bright, happy spring colors right now.

Pasta salad

For some reason I've always been in love with the idea of pasta salad. Plus, a couple days after I made chicken lasagna, I thought a pasta salad would be nice and easy to make. I didn't realize it'd take me an hour just to chop up all the dang veggies. Also, I seem to have no concept of how much food a recipe makes in the end, so we ended up with about 2 pounds of pasta salad. Luckily, it turned out to be pretty good.

Oreo and peanut butter pie

Omg, the weekend after my husband's birthday, I made him this oreo peanut butter pie. It was seriously SO GOOD. And easy enough for me to handle. This was the first time I've ever made a homemade oreo crust, which was basically just melted butter and crumbled up oreos. I'm pretty sure I'd like a pie that's just all oreo crust. That was the best part...

Hunger Games Mockingjay inspired wire wrapped ring

I also bought my tickets to the Hunger Games yesterday; we are going on Saturday. Super pumped! I will admit to buying a few of the Capital Couture nail polishes as well...I'm hoping they come in before the movie.

Last night I attempted chicken, mushroom, and spinach quesadillas. Everything went fine until I put the finished creation into the skillet and attempted to flip it with a spatula. Disaster!! I cannot flip quesadillas. Most of the filling ended up on top of the tortilla. But it still tasted good!

Today I'm tackling sloppy joes! So as you can see, I've been keeping busy, and it's been all good. I've really enjoyed the feelings of creating and providing. It feels good to take care of someone (and myself). What have you been up to this month?

Today I had the honor of being selected as Handmade Louisiana's Shop of the Day.

Handmade Louisiana is a group of artisans and crafters from Louisiana. Even though I don't currently reside in Louisiana, it's been great to re-connect with that distinctive Louisiania "feel" via the internet.

The group consists of so many talented people! Follow us on facebook to see different shops and items being featured daily. You can also check out the HML blog.

Also, check out this awesome HML treasury inspired by my candy cane bunting necklace!

'Red and White' by TrappedInTimeDesigns

Inspired by LazyOwlBoutique's amazing Buntin Necklace

Red and white bunting n... LazyOwlBoutiqu... $24.00	Red House in Snow 5x7 (... magnesina $10.00	Mermaid Paper Doll - A... theFiligree $9.00	Vintage Red and White C... PageScrappers $50.00
Car Wash - Hand Spun Th... FridayStudios $31.00	Toy Leash Tether Strap ... JoshandTeo $10.00	Funky Earrings, Red Whi... WildWomanJewel... $18.96	1950's Vintage Dres... VintageFrocksO... $120.00
Big Top Ring - Red and ... WildWomanJewel... $13.43	Vintage 80s top t shirt... moonandsoda $29.00	Red and white leather C... Quistt $40.00	red and white .vintage.... thevintageclos... $125.00
Red, white, and blue ba... allthingsforba... $26.00	Bakers Twine Red White ... VintageThriftS... $26.50	Red Pillow Covers TWO 1... PureHomeAccent... $32.00	Set of ten red and whit... ratbeankat $12.00