Homemade Mac and Cheese

Last night the strangest feeling overtook me, and I decided to do some improvising in the kitchen! I pulled from a few different recipes because of the ingredients I had, and modified it a bit to be a tad bit healthier. So here it is, my somewhat healthy, homemade mac and cheese.

Homemade Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of butter

2 1/2 tablespoons of flour

2 cups of cheddar cheese

3 cups almond milk

Veggie pasta - I used Rotini because that is what I had

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan on low heat. Make sure to watch it because burnt butter is the worst. once the butter has melted add in the flour one scoop at a time. Add in a little extra to make it a nice thick mixture. I also started cooking the pasta at this point.
2. Add in the milk, pour it is slowly and stir the entire time you are adding it in. keep the heat fairly low, because again, burnt milk is the worst.
3. Once your milk is done, add in the cheese. I added in 1 cup at a time and really let it melt. I also turned the heat up a little bit to medium. I stirred constantly. 
4. After the cheese melted, I added a little more flour, because the almond milk was not getting quite as thick as I wanted. 
5. Then I put my pasta back into the pot, with the heat off. I added some shredded cheese in there, then poured the cheese over it. I put the heat back on low and stirred occasionally.
6. I then sauteed some mushrooms and put those in the pasta then enjoyed! 

It was fabulous! My suggestions for next time? I would add bacon with my mushrooms, then put it in a casserole dish. Top it with bread crumbs and cheese and then bake it for a while. Maybe 20ish mins on like 250? Just something to brown the top and give it some crunch. I would also experiment with additional cheeses. Maybe add a Parmesan cheese?

If you try the recipe, please let me know what you added so I can try it!  

National Book Lovers Day

August 9th is a great day for many, many reasons. August 9th is officially National Book Lovers Day! If the two towers stacks of books on my side of the bed is any indication, I do love me a good book.

So to help you celebrate the day in the way you love, I have compiled a list of crafts, events and books to commemorate the day.

Go to a local used book store.

There is something magical about entering a used book store, the stacks of books exploding from every crevice is homey to me, and if I was a horder if I chose a different path, I would want my house to be like that. Barnes and Noble and Amazon are fantastic, but on Saturday, go explore a used book store. 

My favorite one near my house is Hole in the Wall Books. It is the epitome of a used book store. So darling, I cannot wait to be a millionaire so I can spend all my time/money/life there and read. ALL THE TIME.

If you are in D.C. There is a great store near Eastern Market and another one in Dupont.

While I am all for supporting authors, and buying copies of books that they will actually make money on, don't forget about your local used book sellers, too!

DIY Book Crafts

If a DIY adventure is more your speed, check out some of these!

Cover books with pretty paper for decor!

Image via etsy

You can glue the sides of a book together, then with a heavy duty exacto knife, cut a hole. Then fill it with dirt and viola! A book planter!!

Want other ideas? check out my Pinterest board! (Because who doesn't have book inspired pinterest boards?)
http://www.pinterest.com/missmallory11/national-book-lovers-day/

Watch some Outlander

Outlander is my favorite book ever, and my newest obsession. If you haven't heard of it, then educate yourself. Now. I'll wait. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Outlander

You're back? Great.

Buy the books and read them now. They are fantastic.

Now guess what? Your dreams are coming true. They have made it into TV show on Starz. Not quite sold yet? Watch the full first episode on Starz right now for free.

The series officially premiers on August 9th, so get a Starz subscription and get on it.

Simply, read a book

If you want to adventure through the magic that is books, here is my reading list.

1. The Merchant Emperor -Elizabeth Haydon
2. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
3. The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
4. A Breath of Snow and Ashes -Diane Gabaldon
5. Quitter - John Acuff
6. The Game of Kings -Dorthy Dunnett
7. A Walk in the Woods -Bill Bryson
8. Magic's Pawn -Mercedes Lackey
9. Steelheart - Brandon Sanderson
10. Frances and Bernard - Carlene Bauer

Also! Don't forget to attend the 2014 Library of Congress National Book Fair on August 30th. More information here:  http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/



Enjoy your book weekend.

My DIY Weekend

I spent this past weekend DIYing it up! When I came back from my California trip our house was overloaded with awesome gifts. We were thrilled to have them, but unfortunately our small apartment can't comfortably hold big boxes and packages. So I spent the weekend cleaning up and trying to decorate our space.

I love decorating with books! They are so versitale and can work for so many different styes. I have a huge case of books at home. However it they are back on the west coast. I only have favorites and regular reads here in DC. I needed some older books that could be used only for decorating, that I wouldnt want to take down and read. 

When I lived in Simi Valley, CA there was an awesome $1 book store that I used to frequent. I needed a spot like that in Northern Virginia. I started doing my research and found an awesome little second hand books store called Hole in the Wall Books--check them out here--www.holeintheweb.com  It is so great! They have so many used books, and by that I mean, It has books on every single wall and stacked on the floors. Most of their classic books start at $3.50. I was so excited to have found a great little shop, but I wasn't looking to spend $3.50+ on books for decoration.

I decided last minute to ask the owner if there was a section of cheap books. I only wanted to spend $1 per book at most. It was a good thing that I did. I was able to find 3 huge boxes of books for $1 a piece. I got 31 books. I also found Gone with the Wind and another copy of Pride and Prejiduce! So $40 later, I had my books!

teehee this is one of my favorite books I was given for $1!

I came home, whipped out my scrap book paper and then got to work! Here are some of the results.

Love these books along with my pottery barn bowls!

I got a pretty holder for Kevin's Grandma's china from The Container store! This keeps it all safe until we are settled into a house!

1/2 way done with moving!

If you have been following me on Facebook, you know that we are in the process of moving. Moving is, in a word, sucky hard. The worst part of it is that moment when you are feeling good about the progress you have made, and then you go back to your old place and see all the other stuff you forgot, or need to still get. 

But, the great part of moving is that you begin to have a new space to dream in. If your like me, you get rejunvinated and inspired by the new quirks that your apt has. My space is a tad oddly shaped so we had some trouble learning how to place everything to make it look good!

We spent last weekend with out internet (Gasp!). It is supposed to be coming today, so that will be great! Here are some preliminary pictures of our new 1 br! 

Fiance, Kevin, is really excited to get painting! Can you tell??

We painted the bedroom Green and Blue, we need to get some pallets to tone down the blue and add my county rustic vibe that I am going for.

Here is our entryway.

 Gallery wall before and after!

Mini DIY Project

So I have been having major depression about my apartment. It is totally safe and secure which is fantastic, but it is just dreary. So I am on a mission to do some totally cheap renovations to satisfy my craftiness and my need for a semi nice house!

So I had two tables that we had bought that were just plain and a little drab. One was purchased at Ikea and one at Target. I think that they were about $10 each. Here is what it looked like before. Plus a cat.

Then I bought these Gold Corners for them on Amazon...here is a link to them. They cost me just over $9 including shipping, but they come with 8 corners and all the screws for it! Our house is decorated in black gray and yellow, so I thought that the gold would be a great addition to it!

Then I added the gold corners. I found that the Corners didn't fit perfectly on my table, so they dont lay exactly flat on the sides of the tables. But I made sure that they laid as flat as possible on the top. 

Here is what they looked like done! The whole project took about 20 mins, and cost me at the time less than $10! Just need to add some flowers on my side of the bed and I will be all set!

I would also like to add a huge shout out to Kevin, because there was a moment when I was about to chuck our screw driver at the wall from frustration with the tiny screws and he came and helped me whip it out!

Carnival Day

Soo how cute is this???

Bona Fide Bride is an amazing site. The author, Kristin is a planner too, and she has some links to some great stuff. My favorite find are these great labels!!!! I am going to use them for my animal cracker snack pack!! It is going to be so cute!! They are a totally free download, and they are so precious. You can type in your information and then use it for your business, wedding, or just a cute label in organization!!

My idea is to get those frosted animal crackers put them in clear white bags, and take white card stock with these labels on top stapled over. I will be posting pictures later this week. I am so excited about it!!!

Here is the link to download all the different types your self: http://bonafidebride.blogspot.com/2010/01/vintage-whimsy.html

The Lazy ship has set sail

Here is the thing, I have been so busy and it has been so hot that when I do have a moment that I am not working or babysitting, I just want to sleep. So I have slacked off seriously in my digital life. However my life is sorta changing a lot. My boyfriend of almost two years has an opportunity in DC so in a week we will start the long distance train all over again. He is going to do amazing over there and it really is the best thing for him. But it's gonna be a long four months.

I have three automatic ways to deal with stress.
1. Eating I have no money for new clothes or the plethora of food needed so that's gotta be out. Which leads me to...
2. drinking....well as my friends from Ireland will tell you sad mallory+alcohol =crying Mallory= worse situation then before. Plus no money.
3. Shopping. This is my personal fave, but as noted in #1&2 no money :(

Sooooooo what does this lead to? DIY projects!!!!! My house (and by house I mean apartment (and by apartment I mean room)) will be the cutest ever. I have so many ideas already, so this week I will be doing nothing more than some slight pouting and trying to spend as much time as possible with my boy, then it will be the start of many crafts for me. So if you are looking for some good home improvement ideas stick around and I'll give you some good ideas......hopefully.