a little inspiration and a free kitchen table go a long way…

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A little inspiration: I fell in love with this painting as soon as I saw it in my Elle Decor Magazine. I love the dark gray and simplicity of it. And I figured it’s just stripes, right? I can do that. I put it on my DIY list.

So when I picked up our FREE kitchen table last week (thanks again Andy & Laura Lynn!), I knew the perfect spot for my inspiration to take form, and I knew I wanted to make our kitchen cute and home-y. I’m also going to take the time here to put in a plug for Art Night at my house every other Monday. The next one is February 15th! You should come!

Anyway, here’s the before shot:


and here are the after shots:



Much improved? I think so!

Finance Friday: An Introduction

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Photo Credit: Personal Finance Blog

Hi, I’m LisaGrace, and I love personal finance.

I wish you could see my face light up when it’s time to balance our checkbook. I love forming our budget. I love figuring and re-figuring, until everything is just right. Some may call it a chore, I call it a wonderful hobby.

God created this passion within me, and one of my goals for 2010 is to dialogue all the more about it.

Specifically, I wanted to blog about it because I find it incredibly inspirational to read other financial success stories. Real people, dealing with real money, in today’s “I want it now” world-when there is success, it’s a cause for celebration! It’s also encouraging to know that everyone has a different story and a different way of doing things. I love to be able to pick and choose different methods and try them out for myself-and it’s so helpful to have a real example and experience to follow.

So my mission is to encourage, to offer our methods of handling money and to record our successes and our failures. I plan on posting a finance post every Friday in February and March. Let me know if you have any questions, or want to know more details about how Bryan and I handle our finances-I’m an open book!

Next week: The most Important Step to Financial Success

homemade chicken & spinach alfredo pizza

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As far as extremely delicious and slightly healthy meals go, we found a definite winner in the Alsbury household! I got the idea from Lauren’s Kitchen, used a homemade pizza crust from Money Saving Mom, and made a homemade alfredo sauce from Tammy’s Recipes. Yes, I love blogs.

This recipe caused Bryan to say, “This is greatest thing I’ve ever tasted,” for the second night in a row! (the first being when I whipped up some Grilled Panini‘s)


For the crust:

  • 1 Tbsp. Active Dry Yeast
  • 1 cup Warm Water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
  • 1 tsp. Sugar
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
  • 2 1/2 cups Flour

Dissolve yeast in water. Add remaining ingredients in and mix. Dump onto a floured surface. Knead into a smooth dough. Roll out and press down onto a greased pizza pan.

For the sauce:

  • 3 Tbsp. Flour
  • 1 Tbsp. Cornstarch
  • 1/4 tsp. Salt
  • 1/4 tsp. Pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. Dried Basil
  • 1/4 tsp. Parsley
  • 2 1/2 cup Milk
  • 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
  • 1/2 Onion, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. Oil
  • 8 oz Cream Cheese, cubed
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, all spices and 1 cup of milk. Set aside. Cube the block of cream cheese. Set aside. In a large saute pan, saute the garlic and onion in the oil. When the onions are translucent, stir in 1 1/2 cups milk and bring to a boil. Gradually pour the flour mixture into the hot skillet. Heat until thick and bubbly. Reduce heat, add the cream cheese and parmesan cheese. Stir until smooth.

*Note: This batch of alfredo sauce will make at least enough for two whole pizzas. Just store in the refrigerator and use on pasta later! Or better yet, see my time saving tip at the bottom!

For the Pizza:

  • 1 cup Chicken, cooked & cubed
  • 1 cup (or desired) fresh Baby Spinach leaves
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
  • Red Onion Slices
  • 2 tsp. Italian Seasoning

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Pour warm alfredo sauce onto prepared crust, spread evenly to edges. Add toppings in the following order: spinach leaves, chicken, cheese, onion slices, italian seasoning. Bake on center rack for 12-13 minutes

Time-Saving Tip:
Admittedly, this took me about and hour and a half to make everything from scratch, but it was so worth it!

To save a little energy later in the month, I made two pizza’s at the same time. It added nothing to my prep time. As I noted above, the sauce is more then enough to cover two pizzas, and doubling the crust is really simple.

I prepared the second pizza on tin foil (as opposed to directly on the pan) and stuck the pizza on a pan in my freezer for two hours. Then, I removed the pan, covered the pizza completely with saran wrap and replaced it in my freezer for whenever we feel like eating it again.