The Friday Post: One Room Challenge + Mexican Quinoa

During the week, I spent some time organizing the blog and categorizing posts. Now, it should be easier to find posts about specific topics. The new categories are in the header menu. When I first started writing the chronicles of BHH nearly five years ago, I had no idea how to organize a blog. Chaos ensued. It feels good to tidy up this little space.

There are less than two weeks to go before the spring One Room Challenge begins. Remember this photo of Dale and me from last year?

If you just started reading the BHH blog, here’s the scoop. During the six-week challenge, the Street Side Front Porch project went from bad to worse, and we did not finish on time. My friend and neighbor Dale was such a help during the fiasco. Whenever I see that photo, it makes me laugh. Fortunately, we eventually finished, and with patience, it turned out better than I imagined.

For the fall One Room Challenge, we finished The Scary Bathroom. For some reason, that feels like a lifetime ago. The Street Side Front Porch feels as fresh in my mind. If you would like to take a walk down ORC memory lane, there is an entire category devoted to those projects in the drop-down menu under Respectful Renovation.

Will you be following along this round? I enjoy reading about everyone’s projects. If you always wanted to participate, but you were not sure if you should, please know that this challenge is for everyone. Shoot me a message if you have any questions, or you need a pep talk. I’m your gal.

In the meantime, I will be continuing to work on the floor refinishing project. In between sanding tasks, I have been trying to take new pictures of BHH. Taking a few moments to admire the artistry reminds me of why I do this work even though it is difficult. Craftsmen spent months on details like this intricate woodwork design, so I can suck it up and spend a few days on hands and knees with an orbital sander. BHH deserves my best effort.

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DIY Meal Kit Recipe: Mexican Quinoa

This week’s recipe is a hearty quinoa dish. It is flavorful and packed with vegetarian protein.

If you are unfamiliar with the BHH concept of DIY meal kits, please read this post first. The initial recipe post in this series is also helpful and informative. Note: Most of our recipes are vegetarian.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Mexican Quinoa

Recipe Notes:

• The recipe calls for cooked quinoa. Quinoa cooks quickly in a pan on the stove or the Instant Pot. However, you may also prepare it ahead of time.
• Although my version of the dish never got crunchy as the recipe suggested, it was still delicious.

Storage Containers

We use these Sistema KLIP IT boxes or the larger size (shown today) depending on our needs. We are also big fans of 1.3 cup Snapware* for small portions. They fit nicely in the Sistema Klip-it storage boxes. I also recently added these tiny lidded glass containers (intended for baby food, but they work perfectly for spices or small portions).

*This links to the plastic version, but we prefer glass. Unfortunately, the glass containers, sold in sets of four, seem difficult to find now. This 10-piece set includes the small Snapware containers we use as well as some additional, useful sizes.

Have a great weekend!

-Stacy