Summer Cooking: Philly Chicken Sandwiches to the Rescue

I like cooking, but I don't like cooking in the summer. It's just too hot, and there are other things I'd rather be doing. Sometimes this means we end up scrounging around and dining on culinary delights such as cereal or yogurt parfaits (which are actually quite tasty). Other times we might get really lazy and just go out to eat (although I hate spending money on that). 

This weekend I decided it was time to be a responsible adult and make an actual meal. Since I refuse to turn on the oven in 90+ degree heat, I turned instead to my Pinterest board just for crockpot meals. My interest was sparked by a recipe I had recently pinned for Philly chicken sandwiches. It required tossing only 5 ingredients in the slow cooker, so how can you go wrong?

Well, you can't. It's that easy. And that good. Which is why I felt compelled to spread the Philly chicken goodness and share it with you. 

In fact, in re-reading the recipe a little closer right now, I realized that I used dry steak seasoning instead of the liquid steak seasoning that was specified -- and it was still delicious. I also used Swiss cheese instead of mozzarella.  And, I even got crazy and toasted our hoagie buns by spreading butter on them and putting them on a griddle for a few minutes. Totally not necessary, but I think it made the end result even better.

I managed to snap a picture before I scarfed it down 

(because I'm also an obsessive Instagrammer now).

My husband even raved about these sandwiches, even though he usually gives me a hard time for making too many chicken dishes and not enough steak (he's a red meat kind of guy, aren't they all?). The chicken mixture had great flavor, and it was just as yummy left over the next day. Would Philadelphians approve of this non-steak version? I'm not sure. But if Philly chicken sandwiches are wrong, I don't wanna be right.

I would definitely try these sandwiches out if you're looking for an easy meal this summer (or anytime). Check out the recipe from Cat at Food Family & Finds! Oh, and I haven't tried it myself, but I'm willing to bet that if you weren't in the mood for a hoagie, this would make a pretty tasty Philly chicken pizza, too!

Basement Inspiration: Part II

Last week, I decided to start sharing some ideas that I have for our future finished basement (partly to help keep myself motivated as we DIY our way through this looooong process). Well, it turned out I had quite a few ideas and had to cut my post short. So now I'm picking up where I left off!

{ via custommade.com }

As I mentioned last time, we'll have a small room that will serve as our office (and/or my craft space). We've framed out a door opening for it with something like the photo above in mind. 

Basement Inspiration: Part I

Can you believe it's officially summer already? The temperatures around here definitely tell me that it is, but this year is just going way too fast. We haven't really done any big projects lately, but we manage to stay plenty busy with the usual everyday things--especially now the lawn & landscaping need a lot of attention.

So, since I don't have any completed projects to share this time, I thought I'd daydream blog about an ongoing project in the works: our unfinished basement (cue dramatic music). We're DIY-ing everything as much as we can, but I'm about ready to fork over the money and pay someone else to take over. Right now we have most of the framework finished, as well as part of the plumbing. We still have to finish putting insulation up on the ceiling and outer walls (a tedious task that neither of us is motivated to do), then electrical. None of this is very exciting to me.  I just want to get it done and get to the fun stuff quicker.  
Which is why I've been saving design ideas for our future finished basement (thank you, Pinterest). In case you're curious, the layout will include:
- 1 bedroom
- Office (or hobby/craft room)
- Living area
- Wet bar
- 3/4 bath
- Laundry room

Time for some pretty pictures now, yes? Here are just a few of the ideas I'm loving and may have to put to use in our own basement!

Easy Kitchen Update: The Faucet Factor

Although I'm not a huge fan of our kitchen sink (or countertop… or cabinets…), there have been other more important things on our project priority list around the house. It's not like our kitchen is out-of-date or anything like that, but let's just say that if time and money weren't an issue, I'd love to give it an overhaul. 

Anyway, recently an opportunity to make a small change presented itself, and we couldn't turn it down.

Here's our current faucet... nothing special here, folks. 

Just your standard chrome fixture.

DIY Jumbo Dog Bed Under $30

My latest DIY project was one born of necessity, not just the urge to be crafty. And it wasn’t even to benefit me – it was for the fur-kids.

We have a boxer and a big mutt (I say that with love), and at about 45 pounds and 75 pounds respectively, they require a sizable dog pillow. In fact, up until recently we had one 30” x 40” pillow for each dog, which took up a lot of space on the floor of our small living room. And half the time, they just ended up squeezing onto the same pillow anyway (they love to snuggle).

Overall, our dogs are pretty good about not chewing things up. But something must have gotten into them because they started chewing on one of the corners during the day while the hubby and I were at work. And once they discovered the stuffing inside, it was all over. We would come home to pillow guts all over the living room. Not good.

Fun with DIY Mercury Glass

Whew! It's been a busy few weeks, but I finally found some time to sit down and blog (before I fall asleep on the couch, probably). 

This is a project I actually did awhile back, in an effort to dress up my new display shelves in the living room. I'd seen the DIY mercury glass idea all over Pinterest and thought this would be the perfect excuse to try it out for myself. The only thing I had to go buy was the Krylon Looking Glass spray paint. 

It's a little pricey, but the cost was outweighed by my intrigue of the mirror-like effect it promised. Since I had several cheap little glass vases, I though I'd better test it out on one of those first.

Shelf Display #1: DIY Decorative Vase Filler

A couple weeks ago, I revealed our new (albeit empty) floating shelves in the living room. Well, they're slowly filling up with a combination of DIY projects, travel souvenirs, and yes, even a couple of items that were just bought from the store (gasp). So I thought I'd go through shelf-by-shelf and give a closer look at each display, starting with this one:

As you can see, the glass vase contains some decorative balls, which is a project I've been wanting to try ever since I found it on Pinterest several months ago. Depending on where you go to and what they're made out of, store-bought vase fillers can run anywhere from $5-10 a piece, which can add up pretty quickly if you have a big container to fill.