I AM BLOGGING FOR THE HOME DEPOT.

Let that sink in.

Monica, from Beeville, TX, is going to be featured on the uber fab, The Apron Blog as part of The Home Depot’s Holiday Style Challenge.

Don’t believe me?

See below, 2nd to last row:

Pinch me, someone, please. But doesn’t my little face look cute?

I’m so honored to be alongside some pretty popular bloggers, um…hello, Mr. Goodwill Hunting.

OH MY GOSH.

Seriously. Stoked. But you guys…I think I need to lose those 75 pounds I’ve been “trying” to lose for over 4 years so I can have a super cute headshot. I WANT A CUTE HEADSHOT.

I pretty much tell everyone I know about me being selected as one of the bloggers, and I’ll probably continue yapping about this honor until 2015. This means the world to me. I puffy heart The Home Depot.

So, I can’t divulge too many details yet, but I was sent some gorgeous holiday décor to deck out the favorite room of my house. If you want to know the room, or see some sneak peeks, then follow me on Instagram. I swear I don’t post selfies often, because we all know people who do that, and well… yeah.

Once my post is live, you can bet I will tell you all about it in every single darn post so you can go look and share and send me virtual warm fuzzy feelings. It was a ton of work, I spent 3 consecutive weekends working on the project and I took 2 days off of work, but I couldn’t be happier, nor prouder, of the outcome. I can’t wait for you all to see it! :)

You all should definitely head over to The Apron Blog to see the other AHHHH-MAY-ZING bloggers who will be wowing you this holiday season with their creativity, style, and talents.

Be back tomorrow with a weight loss update and even more news. Smooches!

And also…I’m trying to update my blog design (I DIY it all, people!), so please pardon the dust as I transition to a new look.

I got over my fear of Asian food thanks to this campaign from SocialMoms. I am usually not the type to seek out Asian style entrees, but I am trying to be more adventurous with my food choices, and I am also trying to not eat out at lunch as much. I got some coupons to try out Tai Pei entrees, and at only $2.18 each, they are a bargain lunch for the working woman (and man!).

My lunch hour consists of about a 5 minute drive home, so I like to maximize my 50 minutes at home by trying to prepare lunch in under 10 minutes. The Tai Pei entrees I tried are ready in about 6 minutes, plus 2 minutes of cooling time. So, in those 8 minutes, I wash dishes, let the dog out, check my email, and then I’m ready to enjoy my lunch. My fave was definitely the beef & broccoli.

I loved that there are actual broccoli florets. and not just a bunch of stems. There was also a good amount of meat, but as always, I wish there was a tad more. The great thing is that you can just heat it up and eat—no plate required! I will note that you do not take off the plastic wrapper before you microwave it, so just a tip about that. My instinct was to remove the wrapper. The portion is great (not too much, not too little), and even my hubby loved the entrees. We both work at the same employer, so we come home for lunch together and Tai Pei Asian Foods provide quick, affordable, tasty meals for anyone that is on the go.

I know a lot of my readers are calorie/portion conscious, and these entrees come in at under 450 calories, plus you can always add more veggies. The sodium is a smidge high, so drink lots of water when you have these meals. Overall, I highly recommend the Tai Pei line of foods, and you should check your local grocery store to see if they have the Asian Garden entrees which are geared a little more towards health conscious folks like me. They also have appetizers that look really good, too. I’ll definitely be adding Tai Pei meals to my lunch meal options.

If you’d like to give them a try, you can print out a buy one, get one free (BOGO Free) coupon right over here: http://bit.ly/1aLwKkF

You can also view all the Tai Pei line of food products at www.taipeifood.com

What are your favorite Asian/frozen meals? What do you do for quick lunches during the work week when you’re busy?

This post/recipe are part of a sponsored campaign in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and The National Peanut Board.

I love when I get asked to create recipes—especially when they deal with a tasty, affordable treat that I eat almost daily…peanut butter! Peanuts and peanut butter are a great source of protein, and they give me energy to get through the day. A serving of peanuts has almost 7 grams of protein per serving, and I need protein to stay satiated and not eat a bunch of junk food.

I’m not kidding you when I say I literally have peanuts with me literally everywhere. I have peanut snacks in the car and peanut butter at work. You can put peanut butter on just about anything like oatmeal, muffins, crackers, celery, fruit. Or you can be like me and eat it straight off the spoon. I don’t judge! My 3 p.m. snack usually consists of a peanut butter and an apple. Growing up I had pan tostado (toast) slathered with peanut butter and strawberry jelly for breakfast or an after school snack. It was so delicious, and in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, I revamped my pan tostado recipe to a more fun, sophisticated dish that still marries together all those tasty flavors.

My peanut butter stuffed French toast brings together creamy, salty, sweet peanut butter with strawberries, bananas, and thick Texas toast. The result is a quick, impressive dish that is sure to please the entire family. I love a hearty, gourmet Sunday breakfast, but I am also really busy and don’t like spending hours in the kitchen. This peanut butter infused breakfast packs fruit, protein, and decadence and is ready in under 20-25 minutes. Plus, it’s a cheap meal for a family of 4.

Peanut Butter Stuffed French Toast
MonicaWantsIt.com
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 8 slices of Texas toast (thick sliced white bread)
• 1/2 pint of sliced strawberries
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter with honey
• Dash of salt

Directions:

1. Slice strawberries and bananas thinly. Keep them in a bowl until ready to top French toast.
2. In a bowl, use a hand mixer to beat heavy cream until it forms soft peaks and you have whipped cream. Add in 1 tsp of vanilla extract + peanut butter and whip until it becomes peanut butter whipped cream. Resist all temptation to eat all the whipped peanut butter.
3. Preheat a non-stick pan or griddle to get ready to cook French toast. (Medium heat works best)
4. In a pie dish or shallow baking pan, whisk together eggs, milk, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. Soak slices of Texas toast in the mixture (make sure to soak each side). Cook on each side about 2-3 minutes, or until golden brown.
5. Place one slice of French toast on a plate, top with a heaping tablespoon or 2 of peanut butter whipped cream, then place other slice of French toast on top. Top with a generous serving of strawberries and bananas, and dust with powdered sugar, if desired.
6. Eat and enjoy!

Strawberries really go well with the peanut butter because they’re sweet and tart, but the real star of the show is this peanut butter whipped cream!

The peanut butter whipped cream becomes so light and fluffy, so it simply melts into a frothy delight all over the plate. It’s like peanut butter syrup!

I swear to you…it’s as AMAZEBALLS as it looks on here. And I have to thank my amiga Lindsey for coming over to help me create and taste test this dish! We couldn’t get enough.

I thank Latina Bloggers Connect and The National Peanut Board for choosing me for this awesome campaign. You can view more peanut butter info, recipes, and nutrition facts at http://bit.ly/19x0OOp.

What are your favorite snacks or treats that incorporate peanuts or peanut butter? Will you try out my recipe?

I get many e-mails about my honey oak to espresso staining tutorial, and most of the questions are recurring ones, so I’ve started an FAQ (see below). I update it as needed, so feel free to bookmark this page.

1.) Have you done your kitchen cabinets yet? I’d love to see them!

-Nope! We’ve been focusing all of our effort on finishing up the office/dining room and getting the darn bathroom renovation done. I am planning on tackling our beast of a kitchen sometime in 2013.

2.) What kind of sock? Really? Why? Are you sure? The white kind?

-Bottom line: men’s cotton athletic socks, Hanes or store brand doesn’t matter, and it’s because it simply works. If you want to use something else, that’s cool.

3.) Why General Finishes? Why can’t I use <insert other stain brand here>? Does it really matter?

-Well, this stain works well, is easy to work with, has excellent coverage and I love it. I haven’t had luck with other stains. If you have and want to use something else, that’s great. I only will recommend General Finishes for this specific project. Because it works. So yeah. :)

4.) Does the stain have bad odor or fumes?

-Not that I can recall. I did all my staining in a tiny bathroom space with no windows and am OK.

5.) What kind of poly did you use? How long did you wait between poly coats?

-General Finishes poly in satin. I wanted a non-high gloss finish. If you can’t find this poly, I would recommend any water based poly and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for drying time. I also applied it with a sock.

6.) Has the stain held up?

-Granted I don’t have kids, but the stain has held up to me scrubbing with a Lysol wipe and no issues.

7.) Should I stain my cabinets?

-Up to you! It’s easy. :)

8.) Does this work on bare wood? Why not? Wouldn’t it? Do you know how to make it work on bare wood?

-Personally, I tried this method on bare wood, and I hated the color it came out. However, if you’d like to give it a shot, be my guest, but I truly have no advice for you. Sorry! :-(

9.) Will this work on my white cabinets (or any other color)?

I think it'll work on white paint as long as you're ok with 2 things:

1- you likely won't see a ton of wood grain

2- it may take more coats

Other than that, the process is exactly the same. Again, I’ve never tried it, it’s just what I think. I make NO guarantees.

10.) Do you have any photos showing your vanity completely finished?

-See below:

11.) Amazon is sold out. Where else can I buy it? What if I live in Canada or the moon and can’t find it?

-www.woodcraft.com and of course, www.google.com

12.) How long did you wait to put on the hardware?

-1 full day after my final topcoat.

13.) Will this work on <insert other random piece of furniture here>?

-Why wouldn’t it? Yes, it would. Stair rails, dressers, beds. Stain away.

14.) What if it’s particle board/laminate?

-Treat it the same way. You’ll be fine.

15.) OMG I think I screwed up my cabinets.

-You likely put too much stain. The solution isn’t to put more, it’s to let it dry completely, put less next time, and move on. :)

16.) Are you SURE I don’t have to chemically strip my <insert piece of oak furniture here>?

-I’m positive. People, I am not lying. I see your pins on Pinterest, “I love this makeover! Wonder if it works…?” Um. Yes. It works. I just proved it did. Don’t over think it! :)

If you’d like to see the full tutorial on how to get these results, go here.

If you’d like to see my inspiration for doing this in the first place, go here.

And lastly, I’m totally being sarcastic in a funny way with these FAQ’s, not in a mean way. So please know I am on your side, rooting for your project to succeed. Smooches!

Now, I will also add that as a blogger like myself…I do these tutorials to share knowledge, experience, etc. I don’t get paid to write them, some take me hours upon hours to do (plus take photos, edit photos, write the tutorial, edit, publish, promote) which I know is totally my choice. However, I’ve always been the type to want to share what I know and give my reviews/steps for projects, soooooo…If you read my tutorial and like it/use it/pin it, please leave me a comment. Comments let me know that my content is being read, appreciated/valued, etc. But either way, please remember that bloggers everywhere work really hard to produce their content, so leave us some love. :)

And most of all, happy staining!

As part of a shopper insights campaign for Collective Bias, I was tasked with creating latte art using Gevalia’s new café-style K-Cups. You can view my shopping journey over on my Google+ page. It was harder than I thought it was going to be, but I’ll delve more into that later.

The new Gevalia café-style K-Cups come in three varieties: Cappuccino, Caramel Macchiato, and Mocha Latte. I chose Mocha Latte because I love mocha/chocolate inspired drinks. These new K-Cups are pretty awesome in that you can have that rich, foamy, coffeehouse style drink at home in under 2 minutes using your Keurig. Although it’s a 2-step process, it’s not complicated at all, I swear. You first take the froth packet (see below), and pour it into a mug. Step 2 involves putting the mug under your Keurig spout/dispenser and brewing the Gevalia Mocha Latte K-Cup over the froth in the mug using the 8 oz. setting on your Keurig, and you pretty much have a delicious, gourmet latte from the convenience of your own home. And the calories are only 80 per serving, so it’s a treat that I can have daily without stressing. It is delicious!

So, something I failed to think about before attempting latte art was how dark mocha drinks can be. I tried powdered sugar and a stencil…no luck. I tried the toothpick trick to bring the liquid through the foam and make a design…no luck.

I was stumped on how to make simple latte art. Then I thought of a super easy idea that anyone can do. Cookies!

These are thin shortbread/wafer type vanilla cookies. They go well with anything, and they are a blank canvas. Then I thought, well, how can I decorate them and amp up the flavor of the Gevalia Mocha Latte drink?

Caramel! I poured some caramel syrup into a squeezy bottle, and drew a cute heart on the cookie.

Pretty easy, just go slowly! You can also make initials, draw a flower, happy face, etc. Plus you can really use any syrup that has color to it and a flavor profile that will complement your drink.

Then you gently place it onto the foam of the mocha latte and enjoy! These may seem like an extra step, but it’d be so cute to do this sort of thing on Christmas morning, right?

It’s so simple, and who doesn’t love cookies with their coffee? I found that if I just used a spoon to scoop the cookie out, and I had a tasty treat to munch on with my coffee. I also found that just letting the cookie sit in there makes my mocha latte heaven in a cup. The gooey pieces of mocha-soaked cookie swirling around are AMAZING. But, just so you know, the foam holds it up well enough that it doesn’t get soggy instantly.

There you have it! A super quick latte (with art) thanks to new Gevalia café-style K-Cups. You can find a coupon for $1.50 off these new K-Cups over here. If you want to learn more about the Gevalia product line, check them out online/social media. They often do free samples, so it’s worth it to follow their streams so you can get deals and samples.

• Gevalia Website: http://www.gevalia.com

• Gevalia Twitter: @Gevalia  https://twitter.com/Gevalia

• Gevalia Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GevaliaCoffee

What is your favorite K-Cup? I’ve only had my Keurig for 2 months, and I’d love to hear about which products you love!