home sweet gypsy kitchen.

ok. so it’s no secret we kinda like to junk gypsy-fy spaces…and ummmmm….it’s probably also no surprise that we love to cook. (opening a restaurant is pretty much our back-up plan if this junk gypsy thing doesn’t work).

so it was super exciting when WHERE WOMEN COOK called wanting to merge the 2 things we love to do in one beautiful article. this summer, we are like totally stoked about being featured in WHERE WOMEN COOK magazine…a fantabulous print publication that features women in their spaces…and the recipes they love most.

it’s a culinary journey of food, stories, and creative ideas.

the icing on the cake, is that the pictures were taken by the one and only april pizana….which makes this article a feast for your belly and for your eyes.

the one little problemo about this photoshoot was that me, my husband, todd (a.k.a. t-smittY, and our son, cash baker had just moved into our new house a few months prior…anddddd like lots of loco-in-the-head business owners, we tend to put our own needs/spaces as the lowest priority. (i.e. we have decorated everythang in our lives EXCEPT our own houses). that said, the photoshoot was on the calendar and april was headed to round top in just a matter of weeks which put us seriously under the gun…which i always consider a really, really good thang…because mom, amie, & i always work best under pressure.

it took a few truckloads of fleamarket junk, a couple of really tall ladders, and lots of the essential elbow grease…but i think we pulled it together (thank you, mom & amie!…the family that decorates together, stays together)

and although no other room in the house was decorated at this point, at least the kitchen screams JG (which equals love in my book).

april arrived. and it was time to cook…

and of course…we wanted to incorporate the things most important to us. pizza, biscuits, and a real texas flair.

in case you’re new to our story…we grew up in the pizza restaurant business.

{tune in for more pizza throwing this thursday, 8/14 on JUNK GYPSIES on great american country!!}

thus i present to you our original recipe – fried GREEN tomatillo pizza with goat cheese & basil pesto…a little bit of tex-mex, a little bit of southern, and a little bit of italian.

featuring our homemade, hand-tossed pizza dough…

and of course, we can’t do a cooking segment without including dad’s homemade buttermilk biscuits…

which of course, mom then made into strawberry shortcake with mint julep whipping cream. (honey hush.)

yes, these recipes and so much more (including KoRIE RoBERTSON of duck commander and LynSEy KraMER of YONDER WAY FARM to name just a few) can be found in THIS ISSUE.

which you MUST have. you’ll keep it forever. i promise.

andddd for ALL the pics of my kitchen shoot…check out april’s blog, EAT*JUNK*LOVE, here!

now, let’s talk about those turquoise cabinets…

yes. turquoise cabinets. from the get-go i wanted turquoise cabinets…the only problem with turquoise cabinets was that i had never, EVER seen turquoise cabinets in a kitchen before. so it was a bit risky…i mean, if i committed to turquoise cabinets and then freaked out and hated them, the only fix would be to paint them. which i really, really didn’t want to do. i wanted STAIN, not PAINT. i wanted to see the knots in the wood. to really keep a natural element of rustic in them.

and did i mention that we have commitment issues?

but in the end i decided…

no guts, no glory.

operation turquoise cabinet proved to be a 547 step process…

on possibly the hottest august day in TEXAS in 2013

and just when my biceps couldn’t make another stroke, just when the volume of sweat couldn’t possibly get any greater. just when i thought i was broken. beaten. and defeated….then, and only then… the seas parted, the skies opened…and turquoise glory poured on out…all over my kitchen.

and i, am. in. LOVE. no really, i love those cabinets. they are perfect in every way to me. turquoise. knotty. rustic. and completely JUNK GYPSY.

in fact, i love the whole kitchen. it makes me happy. from my chippy, peely 20 foot restaurant sign i scored at antiques week to the old architectural store counter salvaged from THE PEOPLE’s store in lambertville, new jersey (both bought from mark dooley at EXCESS). from the tractor seat stools to the mason jar lights.

it’s my dream kitchen in every sense of the word and really it’s oh so much more. it’s happy. it is my home sweet gypsy kitchen…full of re-purposed, homemade, and fleamarket goodness.

it’s where we feed our bellies and our souls. god bless that gypsy kitchen o’ mine.

LOoK here to see lots of goodies i used in my kitchen!

and cliCK HERE for a SNEAK peek of tomorrow night’s episode!