Refinish this Mirror!

Middle Eastern Chicken Wraps

I have really enjoyed eating these wraps for lunch this week at school… They’re light, fresh and full of unique flavors. I do have to confess I didn’t take a picture of the finished wrap because I was assembling them at school and couldn’t be a food photographer and a 1st grade teacher at the same time… I can multitask, but not that well 😉

From Slab to Framing and Dry In

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Wow! We’ve come a long way since my last post, which you can read right here. There have been some bumps in the road, but generally this phase of the journey has gone more smoothly than the foundation and site prep.

Sara’s Top 10 Pins of the Moment

I’ve been in a little bit of a writers block lately… I know its probably because the school year is starting and I’m so focused on getting my new (very difficult) class of kiddos under control and assessed and getting used to a new administrative team and a new room… so many things. But also, though I’ve been doing quite a bit of cooking and crafting at home, I keep looking at my creations and thinking “Ugh… I can’t take a picture of that and let the world see it…” I mean, I made a chicken marsala the other night that was to die for, but it just wasn’t pretty. In light of this, I’m going to try something new… A “my favorite pins” post.

If you’re like me, you can’t get enough of Pinterest. It has become my own personal cookbook, lesson plan guide, home inspiration… so here goes! Sara’s Favorite Pins of the Moment…

For the Home:

This DIY wine cooler stuck right in the middle of a picnic table just pulls at my heart strings. It looks super easy (its just a rain gutter!) and would eliminate the need for a centerpiece at an outdoor party. Check it out at The Kitchn!

How smart is this?! Now, this is a link to a “beach house” that is way too formal for my taste (I don’t really do “fancy”), and this particular bar is actually marble… But here in Georgia, we have a ton of 2-story homes, built in the 80’s, that have big decks off the kitchen. Most houses with this floor plan have a window right over the kitchen sink. Why not put a bar outside of it?! That way, when the weather is good, even if you’re still in the kitchen your guests can enjoy the sunshine and relax with a drink and you don’t have to miss out on the conversation. Or better yet, instead of having the kids running in and out, slamming the door and letting all the cool air out, you can just open the window, put some drinks and snacks out, and you’re done! You can find it at House Beautiful.

Now, this particular blog (DIY Vintage Chic) refers to this project as a “Vintage Wine Crate Coffee Table.” How fabulous! Psst…. I did the same thing on my porch with $8.00 crates from Michael’s 😉 Check out mine here.

As someone who bought a house less than two years ago, single and in her mid-twenties, this was a great read. It was everything from how to fix a leaky faucet, to what to do when a lock seizes, to how to dig a hole without risking hitting a power line. Smart, simple, and broken down for people like me who literally know nothing 🙂 Check it out at This Old House.

Ok, Ok… If this looks familiar, that’s because I made this. But really. Painting an old dirty natural fiber rug to make it bright and colorful and fresh?! I’m pretty proud of it, and sort of want to do it to every rug in the house now. Check out the post here.

For the Belly:

Now, this recipe is for big Lion’s Head meatballs in a spicy coconut curry sauce, but I actually make them much smaller and take them to parties in a crock-pot and they’re always a huge hit. They’re delicious, a change of pace, and full of flavor. Check it out at Recipes.com.

I made this yummy Apple Pie-Infused Bourbon for Christmas a couple years ago (and last year) for all the men in my life (don’t you judge me…I mean my dad and brothers!) and got requests for more the next week. You can make it more or less sweet to suit your taste, and if you look at the instructions from Southern Living, they also have free printable labels for your bottles!

Spinach. Artichoke. Grilled. Cheese. Does this really need more of an explanation? Its fantastic. I make the filling with that heavenly garlicky wilted spinach and just put a scoop on bread with cheese and grill it up for a quick lunch. The best part is, the filling can be used as a dip too, so you can also heat up a scoop as a snack and eat it with tortilla chips. Find it at A Couple Cooks.

This may be the longest dish name I’ve ever heard, but it leaves no question as to what it is: Easy Cheesy Spicy Creamy Chicken Bacon Broccoli Rice. It’s the easiest thing ever and you can adjust the spiciness to suit you by using Ro-Tel diced tomatoes, that come in mild (tomatoes with green chiles), medium (tomatoes with jalapenos) and hot (tomatoes with habaneros). Hop on over to Kevin & Amanda for the recipe.

These Chipotle Peach Chicken Tacos from Sugar Dish Me are really delicious, but the chicken itself is incredible. I made a large amount of it and put it in tacos, burritos, quesadillas, on nachos… its sweet, spicy, smokey: all my favorite things!

That’s all for today! Don’t forget, you can follow Biscuits & Burlap on Pinterest by going here, and you can follow Sara by going here!

Blogging 101 intro!

Mom and I are participating in this lovely blogging 101 class to learn more about blogging (we’ve been making it up as we go along up until this point) and the first order of business is telling the world why we’re here. So, here goes…

We said much of this in our “about me” section, but basically we wanted to document the recipes we cook (sharing with one another mostly) and the way we decorated for certain holidays or events so we could use that info in the future, as well as sharing different craft techniques with one another and our friends. I suggested creating a blog, to which Mom responded “you think people would really be interested in this stuff?” I told her, “Mom. We know shit. People want to know the shit we know.” So here we are! Hoping one day we’ll attract all those people I so adamantly believe “want to know the shit we know.”

Short version of who I am, since that was another part of the assignment:

I am a 26 year old single 1st grade teacher and new homeowner in Clarkston, GA. I love to play pool, cook and garden, go to festivals of all sorts, and am a complete foodie. I’m also working on starting a charter school in Clarkston geared toward the diverse refugee community here.

Welcome to Biscuits & Burlap! We hope you’ll stay a while, poke around, find something that interests you, and comment the hell out of it 😊

Why I’m Here…. Good Question

My daughter, Sara, and I started our blog together about the first of this year.

She is a first grade teacher, and was really getting a lot of good ideas from other teachers’ blogs.  My husband and I were about to embark on this huge task of building a new home.  I wanted to be able to share the homebuilding journey and Sara had teacher-things she wanted to share.

In addition, we both like to cook and generally “nest”.  I really get into tablescaping, do a little sewing and flower arranging.  Sara likes to garden.  So…. we thought we could blog mostly as a way of documenting our projects, and if someone else benefited or enjoyed that would be great.

Funny thing is, I don’t think Sara has done a single teacher-type blog.  And, I’ve only done two posts on the house project.  It moved along painfully slow for a while.

We have completed quite a few cooking posts, DIY projects, and a couple of travel, family-adventure type posts.

Even though we started our blog with the attitude we did, now I find myself wondering why we don’t get more activity in the form of comments, likes, visits.

So, I’m hoping this Blogging 101 course will give us some clues.