Day 17 - Back at Home

I'm happy to say that I am back at home. My Living Like Martha project can officially resume.

I bought the following Martha craft kit: Barnyard Balloon Making Kit By Martha Stewart Create last weekend and I hope to make it for my toddler tomorrow.

For dinner we ate at the in-laws and I made some broccoli with cheddar sauce to go along with a pasta dish my mother-in-law made.

I went shopping and got some organic produce for dinners this week. I'll be cooking up a storm.

Day 15-16: Traveling

I've been in Austin at a business retreat the last few days, so I haven't really fully lived like Martha. I have been eating some great food, that I hope to recreate when I get home. In particular I had for lunch today some corn and green chile soup. Delicious.

Yesterday I ate some roasted tomato basil soup and vegetable enchiladas.

I'm hoping to put them in my upcoming cookbook - From Field to Table.

Will post recipes soon.

Day Fourteen - New Craft Supplies

It's been two weeks since I challenged myself to Live Like Martha. It's inspired me to cook more meals from scratch, to try to get organized and to spend less time watching TV and more time crafting and reading. I'm hoping that in the coming weeks I can spend more time getting my house in order, especially my office.

Today I went out and bought Martha Stewart craft supplies so that I have the tools on hand to make beautiful craft projects. Here's what I bought: precision scissors, hole punch, heart-shaped hole punch, craft glue, glue pen, glitter set, bone folder, craft knife (xacto), self-healing craft cutting board, black-eyed Susan crepe paper flower kit.

I'm looking forward to making some glitter crafts and making the flower kit. I'm thinking I'll keep the flowers in either the living room or kitchen. The crepe paper roses are on the dining room table.

Recipes
For dinner I made black bean quesdillas with red & yellow peppers. This is a quick & easy, healthy meal.

1 tbs. olive oil
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced
1/2 large red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tbs. sliced black olives
3 plum tomatoes, diced
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
2 tbs. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
4 large flour tortillas

Saute the peppers, onion & garlic in olive oil until soft. Stir in olives, tomatoes, red wine vinegar and oregano. Place 1/4 bean mixture onto half of tortilla, top with shredded cheeses. Place quesdilla onto pre-heated panini press. Cook until tortilla is lightly browned and cheese is melted.

Reading
Martha's blog - http://www.themarthablog.com

TV
Watched old episode of Martha. I'm looking forward to making John Barricelli's Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies from last week's show.

Day Thirteen - Rose Craft Project

Craft Project

Today I worked on my first "real" Martha Stewart craft project. I made a crepe paper rose, only 5 more to go. I think it turned out really well, but it was slow going. It took forever to really figure out how to get the floral tape just right so that it would hold those petals in place.

I got this craft kit at Wal-Mart - it was on sale for only $5. I might just have to buy another package so I can have some flowers for both my office and the dining room.

There are directions on Martha's site so you don't really need the kit. Check it out here.

Food
Tonight I took my husband out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant that we had never been to before. I had a great pasta dish with portabella mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic in a garlic cream sauce. I'm going to have to try and recreate the sauce it was delicious!

TV
Watching today's show about planting trees. I love the fact that you can watch full episodes from your computer. While out of town next week, I'm going to take advantage of that feature to keep up with my daily Martha goals.

Reading
Instead of reading a book or magazine today I'm reading articles on MarthaStewart.com. I'm searching for easy craft projects that I can do this coming week.

Here are a couple crafts I'm thinking of making:
Magazine Holder
Beach-Towel Tote Bag
To-Do List Luggage Tag
4th of July Ribbon Stars

Day Twelve

So far I haven't done nearly as many projects as I had hoped. I just haven't found time ... maybe I need to sleep less so I have more time. I've heard Martha say she only sleeps 4 hours a night ... if I could do that then I'd have 2-3 extra hours to craft, clean and organize! I'm not sure how my body or mind would put up with that little sleep!

On to today's activities:

Food & Recipes
Black Bean Mexican Pizza
1 can black beans, drained
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. cumin powder
3 cloves pressed garlic
Dash of hot pepper sauce
Pizza dough
1/2 - 2/3 cup salsa
4 oz shredded cheddar cheese
4 oz shredded monterey jack cheese
1 red pepper diced
1/4 cup green onions, sliced (can substitute red onions diced)
Small can sliced black olives

Preheat oven to 425. Put pizza dough in oven for 7 minutes. While dough is cooking place first 5 ingredients in food processor and process until smooth. When dough is lightly cooked take from oven and spread bean mixture evenly over crust, then spread on a thin layer of salsa. Top with cheeses, red pepper, onions and olives. Bake until cheese is bubbly and crust has turned golden brown.


TV
Watched yesterday's show and have been inspired to learn more about beekeeping - to bad it's a little impractical. I loved the "snap" shirt idea. I think I might go to the fabric store this weekend to try it.

Projects
Starting on my crepe paper roses.

Day Eleven

So today was a very un-Martha like day. I didn't do any projects or really make any food worth mentioning ... but tomorrow is a new day!

Day Ten

Today my sister declared that I need a professional organizer to make order out of my chaotic office. So I've decided that I need to button down the hatches and bring a little Martha Stewart to my home office. I have unsuccessfully tried to clean and organize my office a number of times and in the end I only succeed temporarily. So I'm ordering Martha Stewart's Good Things for Organizing. I'm also going to read an article a day from the Organizing section of MarthaStewart.com. With a little Martha inspiration I know I can make my office more organized.

Food & Recipes
For breakfast we had some yummy Orange French Toast. To make it you use orange juice and orange liqueur (Triple Sec or Cointreau) with the egg instead of cream.

For dinner I made
Caramelized Onion Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Yellow Pepper

Ingredients:
2 Large Sweet Onions, thinly sliced
1 Yellow Bell Pepper, sliced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil
Portabella mushrooms
16 oz. ziti or rotini
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tbs. balsamic vinegar
Parmesan-Reggiano Cheese
Pine nuts

In large skillet, heat oil from sun-dried tomatoes over medium-high. Add onions cook about 20 minutes until onions are very soft and starting to brown. Add pepper and mushrooms and cook for 10-15 minutes. Add sun-dried tomatoes and vegetable broth. Cook until liquid starts to thicken, add balsamic vinegar. Serve onion mixture over pasta and top with a generous helping of cheese and pine nuts.

Variations:
I like to asparagus, roasted garlic, zucchini or roasted red pepper depending on what I have on hand.

Martha has a Caramelized Onion Pasta I'm going to try next time her recipe has only a few ingredients and uses thyme as the primary seasoning. Check it out here

Reading
Old issues of Martha Stewart Living looking for organizing projects for my office.

Projects
None today.

TV
TIVOed episode of Martha's Garden Week.

Day Nine

We needed lots of energy for today as we took four kids to the water park. So we started off the day with Sourdough pancakes made with organic cherry compote.


Food and Recipes
Cherry Compote (Sauce) -- Add 1/2 -- 1 cup of water to frozen cherries. Bring to a boil, add 1 tbs. cornstarch and 2-4 tbs. sugar. Stir, cook until sauce begins to thicken. You can use this same recipe for any type of fruit. Mixed berries and peaches work really well.

For dinner we ate Avocado, Tomato and Cheddar Cheese Paninis. Martha has talked about how avocados are a power food several times on her TV show. Here's a great article on Avocados from Martha's magazine Body and Soul.

Reading
I need a new mattress so I'm reading the section in Martha's Homekeeping Handbook about selecting the perfect mattress.

TV
Watched a TIVOed show from last week's Garden Week. I loved the recipe for banana cream pie. Can't wait to try it out sometime this coming week.

Projects
With guests in town I didn't have any time to work on any projects today.

Day Eight - Family Visits

Today I had to kick my Martha Stewart powers into high gear as I got the house cleaned before my trip out of town. So today there was a lot of housework to be done. I even referred to Martha's Homekeeping Handbook today.

Food & Recipes
For dinner I made baked ziti from my friend Jorj Morgan's first cookbook At Home in the Kitchen. I also made garlic bread using a recipe I saw from Jamie Oliver (Naked Chef) do on his TV show years ago and a large tossed salad.

Projects
Continuing to slowly clear out the clutter ... I think that would make Martha proud.

Day Seven - A Full Week

Today makes one week that I've been practicing to be a better homemaker like Martha Stewart. So far I've learned that it is far easier than I realized to carve our a little extra time to cook, read and watch Martha on TV. So far it's been as Martha would say a Good Thing. I need to find some easy craft projects to do this next week to get on track. Anyone have any suggestions?

I picked up her Crepe Rose Craft kit at Wal-Mart today ... going to try to make some tomorrow during my toddler's nap time.

On to today's activities:

Food
Enjoyed Coconut French Toast at my favorite breakfast restaurant, Wild Side Cafe here in Naples. Lunch was a Gardenburger. Dinner was a beet green salad with roasted beets and goat cheese. This is one of my favorite salads, I alter the recipe to go with what I have on hand. Today here's what it was:

Beet Greens with Roasted Beets, Oranges and Goat Cheese
4 large beets with beet greens
olive oil
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 toasted pecans, toasted & chopped
1/4 cup goat cheese
2 tbs. sweet onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup Mandarin oranges

dressing:
2 tbs. orange juice
1-2 tbs. cider vinegar
2 tbs. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Halve beets and coat with olive oil. Sprinkle on a little salt. Roast until beets are tender all the way through. Cool and peel off skin with a paper towel while still slightly warm.

Wash and chop beet green tops. Slice 2 of the large beets (save the other two beets for something else). Add the other ingredients to the beet greens. Mix the dressing pour over the top.

Serves two.

Variations I've made in the past:

• Tangerine or regular orange instead of Mandarin orange
• Dried Cherries instead of Dried Cranberries
• Feta Cheese instead of goat cheese
• Shallots instead of sweet onion
• Cherry Balsamic instead of cider vinegar and orange juice

Check out the article from Living May 2009 about Beets here.

Craft

Picked up the crepe rose kit ... hoping to make it tomorrow.

Reading

Living Magazine May 2009

TV

Will watch TIVOed show before bed.

Projects
Started organizing kitchen drawers

Looking forward to a Martha filled day tomorrow.

Day Six - Entertaining

Today I've been planning my menu for a playdate later this month.

Recipes and Entertaining
I'll serve some adult foods and some children's food. Here is my menu:
Brushetta on little garlic toasts
Tzatziki Sauce with Pita
Hummus with Pita
Watermelon and Pineapple
Pasta Mexicali (black bean and corn pasta salad)
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies


I've decided that I really like Entertaining and need to do it more often. Will have to read Martha's original Entertaining Book.

TV
It was a busy. busy day and I didn't get a chance to watch any Martha.

Reading
I've been reading old issues about vegetable gardening. It is too hot to grow anything right now in Sunny South Florida, but I want to be ready for the end of summer when I can start.

Day Five - Good Things Project

A friend asked why I am writing this blog ... so here it goes:

I have been a fan of Martha's for years. I have every Living magazine for the last 10 years categorized by season. I find Martha to be inspiring she makes me want to be more organized, cook more amazing meals, make neat projects for the home and live a life full of joy and beauty. Am I a rabid fan, no. Recently I've been too busy to even watch the shows I TIVO. As a working mom my life is full of chaos, so this is my attempt to rein in the chaos and bring more calm to my life. I hope by the end of this year I will be more organized, appreciate the little things, spend more time with my baby girl doing fun things and make even more meals at home.

So onto what I did today.

Good Things Project

In a recent issue of Living one of the Good Things projects was to create corner page bookmarks. So I figured this would be a quick and easy project. It took only minutes and I'm happy with the results. I will post the picture tomorrow. Basically I took a gift bag that had seen better days and I cut off the four corners. This created little triangles that can be slipped over a page as a bookmark.

Food
I ate Martha's fluffy pancakes for breakfast topped with organic peach slices. Lunch was some leftovers and dinner was a sandwich and tabbouleh.

Reading
I've started reading Martha's Homekeeping Handbook. It's a 700+ page bible devoted to running your house smoothly. It has everything from storing photographs to folding clothes to grooming your pets. I should have read this a long time ago. She's got some great tips in the book. When I have more time I'll post about my favorites.

TV
I watched her segment from the Today show. She was promoting her new Cupcake book (which I bought this week at Costco). Check it out on Martha's Blog: http://www.themarthablog.com/2009/06/promoting-my-new-cupcakes-book-on-the-today-show-behind-the-scenes.html

Planning on watching a TIVOed show before bed.

Day Four - Yummy Food

Today was a very good day for Living Like Martha.

Food & Recipes
I started the day with an omelet with herbs and cheese. Since watching Martha make an omelet on the show many months ago, I have perfected the omelet.

For lunch I have a Avocado, Tomato and Cheddar Cheese Panini. Martha has talked about the virtues of Avocados before.

For dinner I had Butternut Squash Quesdilla with Red Peppers and Cheddar and Monterrey Jack Cheese. This is a great dish I modified from a recipe I found somewhere. And it is easy to make. Today I'll share my recipe:

Ingredients:
1 Butternut Squash (medium), peeled and diced
1/2 large sweet onion, sliced and quartered
6 whole large cloves of garlic
Chipolte Powder or Flakes
Olive Oil
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup Monterrey jack cheese
1 red pepper, diced
4 large tortillas

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place squash, onion and garlic is a 9x13 baking dish. Coat the vegetables with a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle with chipolte power. Back for about 30 minutes until the squash is soft.

Next put the squash, onions and garlic into a food processor. Process till smooth.

Spread 1/4 of the filling onto half of each tortilla. Top with red pepper and cheeses. Fold tortilla in half.

Then spray the quesdillas with a little olive oil on both sides and place on a preheated grill. Grill until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is toasty.

See pictures.

Daily Reading
For reading tonight I will read the Basics chapter in "Martha Stewart's Cooking School"

Projects
My organizing project for the day -- my pantry! It's amazing how much space there is when it is properly organized. Will have to post a picture.

Day Three

Today I accomplished many of my Martha goals:

• I watched a TIVOed Martha episode -- The Gardens Show. Made me want to go back to Fairchild Tropical Garden, I haven't been there in a few years.
• Had oatmeal for breakfast with organic berries
• Read a few more articles in the latest issue of the Living
• Started to clean my office
• Cooked all my meals at home

For lunch I had a delicious panini with portabella mushrooms, fresh mozzarella, tomato, pesto on roasted garlic bread. And I had a side of tabouli. I think Martha would approve.

Day Two

Today I was swamped with work so my quest for all things Martha hasn't gone quite as planned. Although I did manage to do the following:

• Have steel cut oats for breakfast -- using Martha's secret of soaking them in water the night before to speed cooking.
• Try to get more organized in the kitchen -- this is a tall task that will take weeks to really accomplish.
• Read 20 minutes of the latest issue of Living.
• Watch The Baby Shower Show that I TIVOed from last week.

Now that I wrote it all down ... maybe I have accomplished some of my daily Martha challenges ... I still have a long way to go!

More tomorrow ...

Day One - Living Like Martha Begins

I love Martha Stewart. I am a true fan so much so that I have decided to devote one year to doing something every day that Martha recommends on her show, in the magazine or in a book.

So for the next 365 days I will make one recipe from the Martha Show, Martha Stewart Living magazine or one of her books. I will watch her on TV for 1 hour a day, 5 days a week. It might be her daily show, something on the Fine Living Network or watching one of the DVDs. I will read something she has written every day for at least 30 minutes. And I will do 3-5 craft projects a week.

And I'll chronicle it all here, everyday.

So let's begin. Today is Sunday and I will be making Martha's Molten Mocha Cakes for dessert. You can get the recipe here:
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/molten-mocha-cakes?autonomy_kw=molten&rsc=header_6

I love that this desert serves two! One for me and one for my husband. It is rich and delicious and easy to make. And I have all the ingredients in my pantry so I don't even need to go to the store.

For reading, I am going to read this month's Living magazine.

It's Sunday so I'm not going to be watching any Martha on TV. But I will be watching Martha tomorrow.