Just~One~Donna

I decided a little over a month ago that it was time to refresh my three season porch.  You know what I mean.  All of a sudden the porch went from a place where I liked to spend my time to a place I never wanted to be.  It was time to fix that. My Porch Before All of the paint in the room needed to be refreshed.  I wanted to brighten the trim around the windows by painting it with Benjamin Moore's Atrium White (PM-13).  The previously white walls needed a little color.  I chose a light butter cream color called Palm Coast Pale (330) by Benjamin Moore.  I thought the sloped ceiling might benefit from a little color as well.  I chose Benjamin Moore's Spring Mint (2040-70). The Color Palette There was some water damage on the ceiling that had to be fixed.  I turned to YouTube for some how-to advice. Water Damage on the Ceiling I was careful and didn't rush the repair.  We also decided to add some trim work that helped to cover the worst of it.  Water Da

 Green Lunch Smoothie When I started drinking smoothies a few month ago I tended to favor the fruit smoothies.  After all, they are naturally sweetened by whatever fruit you are using and they look so delicious.  As I researched smoothie nutritional contents and looked for healthier smoothie options I discovered green smoothies.  Green smoothies are vegetable based.  I think of them as a salad in a glass. Green smoothies can be an acquired taste, especially if you have been drinking a lot of the fruit-based, yogurt enhanced smoothies.  I like my green smoothie because it is a surprise for my taste buds.  It contains half of a lime, skin and all.  It's the lime that adds that certain something that wakes up my mouth. As I have said before, a key to making a successful smoothie is your blender.  That is especially true with this vegetable-based smoothie because the vegetables really need to be pulverized to get the consistency you want.  One way to help your blender is to

Italian Cream Cake When Hubby had a birthday recently and I wanted to make him a special cake to commemorate his day.  I thought it would be fun to try a new cake rather than rely upon one of my tried and true cakes.  I've been saving cake recipes that look delicious on my Pinterest board, Let Me Eat Cake .  So off I went to see if there was a cake there that might fit the bill. There were two cakes on the board that I thought would tickle his taste buds.  The first was the Italian Cream Cake from lynn-southernwithatwist.blogspot.com and the second was a Coconut Cream Cake from life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com.  I showed Hubby the pictures of the cakes and read the ingredients.  He chose the Italian Cream Cake. I had never heard of an Italian Cream Cake before.  Have you?   An online recipe search for Italian Cream Cake revealed recipe, after recipe, after recipe.  Where have I been all these years to have missed this cake?  All the recipes I found were very similar.  It

Fresh Spinach Artichoke Dip Do you love spinach and artichoke dip?  Me too!  I enjoy spinach and artichoke dip as a cold spread for crackers and as a hot, gooey dip with pita chips or French bread toasts.  What I don't like is the messy process of making it with frozen spinach.  No matter how hard I try it always seems like I end up with pieces of the frozen spinach from head to toe. The last time I made a spinach and artichoke dip I decided to experiment using chopped fresh spinach in place of the usual thawed frozen spinach used in most recipes.  It worked beautifully with no mess.  Now this is my preferred, no fuss method of making one of my favorite appetizers. If you are growing spinach in your backyard garden this recipe is a great way to use some of your spinach bounty.  If you don't have a backyard garden just grab a bag of baby spinach from the produce section of your grocery store and you'll be good to go. Donna's Fresh Spinach Artichoke Dip Us

Have you gotten into the smoothie habit?  A couple of months ago I started drinking smoothies as a meal replacement once a day for four or five days a week.  Some days it is a breakfast smoothie.  Other days it might be a lunch smoothie.  Occasionally I replace dinner with a smoothie.  I  have three basic recipes I rely upon, each with approximately 300 calories, or less.  Each has a very different flavor profile, so I choose the one that suits my mood and taste buds that day. A Raspberry Banana Smoothie for Breakfast or Lunch This post contains affiliate links that compensate me for your purchase. My Raspberry Banana Smoothie I've researched smoothie recipes on the Internet looking for flavorful and healthy options.  There are many, many smoothie recipes online you can try.  You'll want to be careful, though, because it is easy to pack too many calories into a smoothie and that defeats the purpose of introducing smoothies into your diet. One key to enjoyin

Spring has sprung and when that happens I always start looking around my home for projects to freshen up the place.  Do you do the same?  Trouble is that I don't have much patience for disruption in my home.  The thought of a major remodeling project sends shivers up and down my spine.  As a result, I'm always looking for ways to refresh with as little disruption as possible. Our master bathroom is in need of work.  Truth be told, we should gut the room and start over.  I just can't bear the thought of it.  So, instead, Hubby and I decided to freshen up.  Here are a couple of pictures to show you what it looked like in the before state. The Master Bath Vanity This master bathroom is a small room and as you can see there is only one sink.  I bet you can tell which of us has claimed this vanity as her own.  There are many things I really like about this vanity.  I like that there as six drawers in total, flanking the central cabinet space that is primarily used for cl

Roasted Garlic Chicken Open my refrigerator and you are apt to find a roast chicken.  A roasted chicken is a staple in my refrigerator.  I learned long ago that having a roast chicken on hand is a wonderful time saver.  First, it is a delicious family dinner entree that is easy to prepare on a busy weekend.  Later, the leftovers become lunch in the form of a soup or sandwich or become a light dinner as part of a crisp salad. You can buy a prepared rotisserie chicken at any grocery store these days, and I do when I am really pressed for time.  Those store roasted chickens are just not the same as the chickens you roast in your home oven.  To me, the store roasted versions always seem over cooked and over seasoned.  That's why I prefer to roast my chicken at home. One of my favorite recipes for roast chicken is my lemon garlic roast chicken.  It is made with ingredients I always have on hand, so no extra effort is required running to the store for a missing ingredient.  One