A Pinch of This and a Dash of That

Mini Pizzas

2013-01-12T08:52:00.000-05:00

I know I have been delinquent. Let's just pass right by that like it never happened. The other night I turned this:

Into this!

The were delicious especially for being so easy.

Ingredients:
1 can Pillsbury crescent rolls, I used reduced fat
Pizza Sauce
Pepperoni
Mozzarella cheese
Garlic powder or garlic salt

Spread the crescent rolls into triangles. Place pepperoni (5 large was what the recipe called for) on the triangles. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Fold the points of the triangle up and pinch seams. Sprinkle the tops with the garlic powder. Bake at 375* for 9-11 minutes. Serve with pizza sauce on the side. Easy dinner!

Hosting a baby shower without the guest of honor

2012-05-14T21:36:00.000-04:00

This was a real stumper. First thing is first. My mother in law and I had started talking about my sister in law's baby shower around January. After her extensive research we settled on a venue, Amore Trattoria Italiana. This also happens to be one of my favorite restaurants. All in all, this was going well for us. Mother in law, sister in law, myself, all very excited!

Cut to the day before the shower.

Josh (my husband) reading a text from his phone from his brother: "At hospital, not sure what is going on. Might need you to help with dog later"
Me: "That is totally a joke! They are messing with us! ha!"
Phone rings later, Josh answers.
Brother in law: "We are in the hospital, we don't know a lot yet but I don't think we'll be going home."
This is no joke people!
Extreme concern, panic, worry, emotion, disaster planning ensues.

Cut to a couple hours later when we know more about the situation. Mom and baby are doing well. Baby will be here early, may require some extra TLC, but everything is under control. (P.S. Thank you Spectrum Butterworth Hospital and Helen DeVos Children's Hospital).

Naturally, the question arises. Do we have the shower? Answer: yes. This was made very simple, the mommy to be requested we still have the shower. Meanwhile, I had Googled for advice from people in this situation before me and many posts said things such as "Why would you have the shower without the mommy to be?!" or "I would never do that!" Well folks, don't pass judgement on a situation unless you've been faced with it yourself.

So what do you do when your guest of honor will not be in attendance? You roll with it!

What we managed to pull off...

Gift bags

Who opened Baby Reed's gifts? Well, the grandma's of course! Another request of the mommy to be, and I liked it!

Cupcakes to match Baby Reed's monkey themed nursery. Thank you Buddy and Miss

Amore handled all the hard stuff including the linens, nice touch!

Play a little baby shower bingo to take the edge off.

Everyone laughing, having a good time.

Monkey cupcakes again

Oreo truffles for the favor.

Simple flowers

Facetime with Baby Mama so everyone can see she is doing well and she can still see everybody! (She will love me for sharing this photo with you). She handled this whole experience with grace and she is a wonderful mom.

Was it exactly what we wanted? No. But all things considered, I'd say it was a successful celebration honoring our mom to be and her little bundle of joy, and isn't that the whole point anyway?

I wrote this post to benefit people looking for advice similar to what I was doing on April 13, 2012. It is easy to wonder what to do while you're in the haze of many emotions. A little encouragement never hurts.

- We'd like to thank Uncle Josh for his assitance in the audio/visual department. He took pictures and recorded everything for Baby Mama. He also fought with the uncooperative WiFi to reconnect so we could see her pretty face! -

Cut to April 16, 2012 - healthy (little) baby boy - 4lbs 14 ounces!

And May 5, 2012 - Proud Uncle Josh!

Welcome to the family little guy, we're so happy you're here!

Chocolate Ritz Cracker Treats

2012-02-12T17:08:00.000-05:00

Wondering what these little buddies could be? They are so simple...

You will need:
Ritz Crackers
Peanut Butter
Chocolate Chips for melting
1 tablespoon of shortening (there's probably a "healthier" option here but come on, we're talking about peanut butter dipped in chocolate)

Put peanut butter on a Ritz Cracker then cover it with another to make a sandwich. Repeat for as many as you would like to make. Melt the chocolate chips combined with shortening in the microwave. Dip the cracker sandwiches in the chocolate and let stand until chocolate is set. I put them in the fridge for a little while. Serve and enjoy!

Happy Valentines Day. I'm contemplating a red velvet cake. We'll see how far that goes.

Kitchen Remodel 2011: The Big Reveal

2012-01-31T20:25:00.000-05:00

Some of you probably recall The Kitchen Remodel of 2011. We shared our progress along the way. This project was not easy or clean. But before we knew it we had a blank slate. Then we started to rebuild.

I bring you the newly remodeled, fully functional, vastly improved, and energy efficient I might add, Reed Family Kitchen:

Looking from the kitchen into the dining room

Dining room

Looking from the dining room into the kitchen

The back splash and counter top

Granite sink

Window looking into garage

Door to basement, side cabinet, fridge, pantry

Door to basement, side cabinet, fridge

This picture was a bit of an after thought, not staged well (dog butt), shows the pantry

An eye test... Which do you prefer, #1 or #2?

Sometimes I forget how much I dont miss this.


Because I get to wake up to this instead!

Spinach Pinwheels

2012-01-29T18:07:00.000-05:00

By now you have heard me talk about dinner club plenty. Following tradition each year we have a Christmas gathering, this year hosted by the Grostic's. A fellow dinner clubber brought this as a dish to pass and I thought it was pretty darn good.

You will need:
10 ounce bag of frozen spinach, rinsed and drained
2 cans refrigerated Pillsbury Crescent rolls
1 tub Garlic and Herb cheese spread (I used Allouette)
Cookie sheet

Roll the crescent rolls out of can. Following perforation, split in half the long way so you have 2 rectangles (4 once you roll out both cans). Pinch seams together (well). Spread 1/4 cheese spread on each rectangle. Divide spinach evenly and sprinkle evenly on all 4 rectangles. You can modify this to taste by using less cheese or less spinach. Roll each rectangle and make sure all seems are well closed. Cut into 1 inch sections. Bake following instructions on crescent roll can (about 350 for 10-12 minutes depending).

Serve warm and enjoy!

Throw in a little Triple Overtime wine from our friend Igor Larianov and you have what I call a nice little happy hour...

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T18:07:00.000-05:00

As you may recall, every year I make my Christmas cookies and last year I tried to make ginger bread men as my fourth variety. Lesson learned. This year I decided to add truffles to the mix. Not my famous oreo balls but something a little different.

You will need:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2.5 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips + 1 cup semi sweeet bakers chocolate, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 package white chocolate melted, 1 package semi sweet chocolate melted for dipping

In a large bowl beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in sugar until blended. Stir in melted chocolate and vanilla until no streaks remain. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes. Shape into 1 inch balls and dip in the melted chocolate or vanilla. Sprinkle with crushed pecans, coconut flakes, or colored sprinkles to decorate. Refrigerate or freeze for 1 hour or until set.
I like to decorate with the opposite melted chocolate. I put melted white chocolate in a zip lock baggie and cut a small tip off of the corner. Squeeze over the truffles to create a pattern.

These looked very pretty on a holiday platter as my contribution to the party. I am told and also believe that they taste quite good, too.

Merry Christmas!

Griffin Wallace (right) with his friend Baxter Batson (left)

Would you like a hot apple pie with that?

2011-12-27T17:48:00.000-05:00

I'm back! And I brought with me this delicious apple pie! I am so proud of this creation. This was my first ever pie and it turned out so pretty, and it tasted good too. I brought this to Thanksgiving where I was in charge of desserts. I made something else too, but it obviously isn't as important.

I'd like to thank Grandma Ople (?) and allrecipes.com for this one. I did make some modifications. I cheated on the crust and went store bought, same for the lattice work topping.
Here's what I did:

1 store bought 9 inch pie crust
1 box of frozen pastry, thawed and cut into strips using pizza cutter
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced - I actually got 1.5 pies out of this many apples

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.
Enjoy!

You can see why I say 1.5 pies, the second one was not very full but was very tasty

For a first try, I think it looks pretty good.

Chicken Enchilada Pockets by Dashing Dish

2011-10-04T20:05:00.000-04:00

This is a recipe that I got from one of my favorite "lite" cooking blogs, Dashing Dish. The author of this blog does a great job turning some of your staple dishes into a more figure-friendly version. I recommend visiting her site and following her blog for some great new recipes.

This particular recipe is for Chicken Enchilada Pockets. You can view her easy step by step instructions by clicking here. Since this isn't my recipe I am not going to go into details here. I did make just a few modifications and observations.

1. Next time I make these I will pull the chicken instead of cubing it. I think it will make the mixture easier to spread on the triangles.
2. I added cilantro, one of our favorites!
3. The sauce mixture would make a great dip if you don't feel like going to the trouble of putting it in the pockets. We had some leftover sauce and ate it with tortilla chips and it was very good.

Make sure to enjoy all that Dashing Dish has to offer!

*Photo courtesy of dashingdish.com

September update

2011-09-25T21:02:00.000-04:00

I love September and I really enjoy fall: getting out all the decorations, changing up the wardrobe, red wine, college football, memories of tailgating, its all so lovely. The only part I dont like is what's coming later but I'm in denial and ignoring that for now. So its been a little quiet on the ol' blog lately, I owe you an explanation. I have been knocked down by the plague/black lung/bronchitis/insert awful illness here. Technically I guess its been called bronchitis but its been a long, slow recovery. Im feeling a little more spunky tonight after a weekend full of couchin' it. Maybe Im on the upswing. All that said, I have not really been interested in preparing foods for my loved ones the past couple of weeks. Coughing germs into a meal sounds less than appealing. So instead I have done some surfing on the internet - have you heard of or visited Pintrest? Don't do it unless you have an hour to spare. This site is wonderful! I really enjoy and I am collecting a lot of great ideas.

The one thing I did prepare was a Jalapeno Popper ~~Dip~~ Mishap. It was quite good I am told but I don't care to look at a jalapeno for a very long time. A friend at work has a garden and brought in some goodies so I took 3 jalapenos and then it took me a week to figure out what to do with them. I settled on making a version of a dip I read about on allrecipes. Here's what I did:

3 fresh jalapenos, diced (next time I will use a 4 oz can)
1 can diced green chiles (4 oz)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup mayo
Parmesan Cheese
Combine all ingredients except the Parmesan in a bowl and stir. Pour into an oven safe dish, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake at 350* for 20 minutes (or so). Serve with crackers or pita bread.

So why do I call this a mishap? Well, I was being very careful chopping the peppers but because I had this unpredictable illness my nose began to run. I picked up a paper towel from the counter to wipe my nose and continue. Turns out the paper towel had jalapeno seeds on it. Ouch. Awful awful pain in my nose. And on my hands. This lasted about one hour. I had to stop my preparations and have Josh Google ways to remove jalapeno oil while I held ice to my face. Turns out the home remedies include rubbing alcohol, olive oil, or lemon juice. Not at the same time. Im generally much more graceful than this. I will blame the illness for my inability to think clearly. Ive had a few other moments I'm not proud of in the last week or so, that is why I stayed close to home this weekend. I was unable to capture a photo because getting out the camera was the last thing on my mind.

Give the dip a try, be more careful than I was!

Another thing to love about September? ArtPrize!

Ramen Noodle Coleslaw Salad

2011-09-05T18:44:00.000-04:00

Happy Labor Day! I hope everybody had a wonderful weekend. We spent ours up north at Columbus Beach in Indian River with the Shaull family. You probably know how much I love Northern Michigan by now and this weekend did not disappoint despite the rain and 60* weather. Saturday we planned to play golf but it was raining so we postponed that until Sunday and instead got into a heated game of Monopoly. Aunt Terri cleaned up. I didn't lose. That's all I have to say about that. Then we went to lunch and by the time we came back the sun was shining so we headed out for a pontoon boat ride. We came home and made a delicious dinner - burgers on the grill, sweet corn, coleslaw salad, and all the fixins. I've made this coleslaw salad a few times this summer. It generally goes over pretty well and its really easy to make.

You'll need:
1-2 packages of coleslaw
1/2 package of cabbage (purple) - this is my secret, it adds color and makes it look prettier. Use full package if you use 2 packages of coleslaw
2-3 bunches of green onion (3 bunches if you use 2 packages of coleslaw)
1 cup Oil - I do 1/2 canola, 1/2 olive
1/2 cup Cider Vinegar
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds
3 packages Ramen Noodles Chicken Flavor

Combine the seasoning packets from the Ramen Noodles (I use 1-2 packets), sugar, oil, and cider vinegar in a bowl. Whip until fluffy. Mix the Sunflower seeds, coleslaw, onion and cabbage in a large bowl. Combine the wet & dry ingredients. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Just before serving crush up the Ramen Noodles (I do 1.5 packets but you could do up to 3 if you used all of the coleslaw and cabbage). What I have found as Ive made this a time or two is that if you use too much oil it can create a pool underneath the colelsaw, and if you use too many ramen noodles it becomes more about the noodles and less about the salad. You can make this to fit your taste. There are many variations to this recipe. I like this version best of course.

On Sunday morning we went golfing and had lunch at the course. Then we packed up and headed home. Monday we spent doing chores and yard work. We are ready for fall! I can't believe I just said that.

Sorry I do not have a photo of this one... I'll snap one the next time I make it. Enjoy!

Girls Weekend in Chicago: Recipe for Fun!

2011-08-17T20:45:00.000-04:00

This is a break from regularly scheduled programming to bring you a post about girls weekend! Last weekend I spent 4 days in Chicago with three of my favorite girls: Mom, Aunt Rita, and Madison.

We picked the girls up at Midway Thursday morning and headed into downtown. We stayed at the Conrad Hilton (very nice).

Our first adventure was the Wendella Architecture Tour which was very fun and informative. Perfect sunny day activity. Actually our first stop was Bandera for some lunch on Michigan Ave, then the boat tour.

Naturally we did plenty of shopping!

On Friday we spent the day in Lincoln Park and did more shopping and a lot of walking! We had brunch at Nookies (highly recommend, all fresh and delicious) and then shopped on Armitage, and then walked all the way to the zoo and saw some of these guys:

For dinner we went to Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders, so very good. It is located across the street from the location of the St. Valentines Day Massacre.

On Saturday we went up to Nick and Nicole's new home in Buena Park and then had lunch with them in their neighborhood. Afterwards we came back and assaulted Water Tower Place. Success! Back to school clothes, a homecoming dress, and some jeans.

We began most mornings with girl talk in our room over coffee and muffins, we rounded most nights out with girl talk over dinner and dessert. There is something therapeutic about spending time with dear friends. I had a great time, thanks for making the trip girls!

Cream Cheese & Pesto Stuffed Chicken Breast

2011-08-15T21:38:00.000-04:00

This is a recipe I heard about from a friend at work. She tried it a few weeks ago and said it was definitely worth a try. It comes from eatingwell.com so I have the nutrition facts below. I made a modification which is instead of using the egg white, I made buttermilk (milk and lemon juice). Here is what you need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, (1-1 1/4 pounds total)
1 egg white
1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Cream Cheese-Pesto Filling:

2 tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese, (Neufchatel)
1 tablespoon basil pesto, (store-bought or homemade)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
Combine cream cheese, pesto and pepper in a small bowl with a fork.
Cut a horizontal slit along the thin, long edge of a chicken breast half, nearly through to the opposite side. Open up each breast and place one-fourth of the filling in the center. Close the breast over the filling, pressing the edges firmly together to seal. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts and filling.
Lightly beat egg white with a fork in a medium bowl. Place breadcrumbs in a shallow glass dish. Hold each chicken breast half together and dip in the egg white, then dredge in the breadcrumbs. (Discard leftovers.)
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts; cook until browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Place the chicken, browned-side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the chicken is no longer pink in the center or until an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F, about 20 minutes.

Nutrition
233 calories; 9 g fat ( 4 g sat , 3 g mono ); 81 mg cholesterol; 7 g carbohydrates; 33 g protein; 1 g fiber; 379 mg sodium; 351 mg potassium.

I served this with pasta with a little pesto mixed in. It was pretty good! Josh liked it, too. A little rich because of the cream cheese. This was prepared and we had eaten within an hour.

Warm Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

2011-07-13T22:15:00.000-04:00

These little sandwiches are the perfect size and recipe for a gathering. They are just the right amount of sandwich, taste great and are easy to prepare. They offer something a little different than cold cuts and bread. I'm a big fan.

Warm Ham and Cheese Sandwiches (makes 24)

2 packages "brown and serve" rolls

1 1/2 lb. sliced ham

1/2-3/4 pound swiss cheese-sliced

2 sticks margarine or butter

2 TBSP. Worcestershire Sauce

2 TBSP. prepared mustard

2 TBSP. poppyseeds

4 TBSP. brown sugar

Prepare sandwiches and place in large baking pan(s)

Next, melt butter and add the next 4 ingredients. Bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and pour the hot sauce over the sandwiches.

Let set for 2 hours (I did overnight and debated if they should be refrigerated or not, they went in the fridge).

Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes until bubbly.

I had great reviews at the Fathers Day party. The Shaull family is really a bunch of small people who don't eat a lot so maybe thats why it worked so well. I wondered as I was pouring the sauce over if I should have made more of it, but they tasted great with this amount. If I think of it next time, I will probably make extra. I didn't get a picture of the final product, but they looked great stacked on my Wilton Armatele platter!

Thanks to Katie for passing along this little gem! Katie and Pete by the way have the cutest new addition to their family. Meet Cosmo.

Oreo Truffles with a Twist

2011-07-13T22:03:00.000-04:00

A new twist on oreo balls. We're preparing for a baby shower this weekend, these will be the favors. Final photo to come along with all the other preparations and finished products.

These were pretty simple, we made oreo truffles and then put some white chocolate colored with a drop of blue food coloring in a ziplock baggie, cut off the corner and made fun designs.

Texas Caviar

2011-07-10T15:14:00.000-04:00

This one comes from my Uncle Jim and Aunt Terri. We had everybody over for Fathers Day and this was one of their contributions. It is very good and makes a nice alternative or addition to salsa. I did a bit of research and it doesn't appear this is so bad for you either.

Texas Caviar
Drain and rinse one 16 oz. can black beans
Drain and rinse one 16 oz. can pinto beans
1 can of white or yellow corn
1 sm. jar of pimientos diced
Dice:
1 c. green peppers
1 c. yellow peppers
1 c. celery
1/2 c. red peppers
Then:
Mix and boil (bring to boil/cool) the following:
1 c. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. salt and pepper
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. olive oil
Pour over vegetables and marinate overnight.
Drain in colander after marinating.
This is best served with scoops. Enjoy!

Summer time in Northern Michigan

2011-07-05T20:57:00.000-04:00

I have been M.I.A. for an embarassingly long time. I have a few new recipes to share, those will come soon. In the mean time, what have we been up to the past 6 weeks or so? Well, since you asked...

We still don't have a/c and we've had a couple scorchers this summer. We have a ways to go, last year we hit 95 I believe.

We have been enjoying our new dishwasher... sometimes squeaky fish needs a bath, too.

We've been battling injuries. This happens to be a mis-diagnosed foot problem. Initially believed to be a hip or knee problem. The cone does not go over well hence the sad face.

We watched our god-baby take her first steps (read: we taught her how to walk).

We went to a USA vs. Canada soccer game at Ford Field. USA!

We did some boating on Grandpa Bill's boat

And some boating on Grandpa Al's boat. Griffin took his first dive in the water which was a bit of a shock. Thank goodness for his life jacket...

We went to a graduation party with the Peters fam

And we went to a baptism

All in all, its been a pretty busy summer! 4th of July was awesome - we had perfect weather up north. We still have a lot to look forward to including wedding showers, birthday parties, a trip to Chicago for girls weekend, a trip to Tampa for our anniversary, another trip up north, and a few weddings! Sorry for my lack of sharing. Don't worry, I'll be back.

P.S. I started a new job, too. I now work for Amway as a project manager managing the development of new products. Its really fun! I'm about a month in. I miss my friends at Crowe for those of you reading. This is a great opportunity and I'm really enjoying it! I can't wait until Im a few more months in and know what Im doing :)

Happy summer!

Oreo Truffles

2011-05-18T21:14:00.004-04:00

This is a hiatus from blogs about the kitchen remodel. Everything was finally functional so I wanted to take the opportunity to make our friend Pete a treat for his birthday since we had dinner club* tonight.

I had gotten the recipe from a fellow bowling league member but promptly lost the paper she wrote it down on. I had to turn to my go-to, allrecipes.com. Sure enough, it was there.

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) package OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, divided
1 (8 ounce) package PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
2 (8 ounce) packages BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted

Directions

Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. (Cookies can also be finely crushed in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin.) Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1-inch in diameter.
Dip balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover chocolate can be stored at room temperature for another use.) Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.
Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.

I did make a couple of modifications. Instead of using 1 package of the same type of Oreo I used half of a box of regulars and half of a box of mints. I cut the cream cheese in half and mixed in separate bowls. I used 8 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate for the regular Oreos and I used 8 ounces of white chocolate for the mint Oreos. You could probably mix and match for whatever suits your fancy. To dip these I dropped them in a bowl and scoop them out with a fork. The toothpick method did not work. I also did not do the crushed Oreo garnish. And a tip I picked up from Barefoot Contessa - when melting chocolate in the microwave, only melt the chocolate part way and then stir it until it all becomes melted. This will keep the chocolate looking shiny once it dries instead of that frosty look.

These are rather sweet and rich for a treat but are pretty good! I gave some to Pete for his birthday and kept some in the freezer for a last minute get together. Easy!

*Dinner club is our weekly (at least we try to do weekly) get together with a group of friends. We rotate weeks, when it is your week you get to choose the place. Dinner club began with 4 members and has morphed over time. We also began with a rule that we couldn't go back to somewhere we had been and we couldn't choose a chain. We ran out of options quick so the rules have changed. We have been doing dinner club for 4 or 5 years now? I'd have to ask Katie she remembers everything. Many, if not most people who attend ski weekend have been dinner club members at some point in time.

It's been a while, what's the latest?

2011-05-17T10:19:00.000-04:00

This will be quick. We made some progress over the last week. We officially have a fully functioning kitchen! I haven't cooked anything yet though.

We still have a lot of details to tend to. Such as the ends of the countertops, finishing the floor near the cabinets, light switches, trim. We made progress last night on the backsplash... we picked out a few and brought them home. I believe this one is the winner:

That's all for now. Once we're all done I'll do the final reveal!

Can you tell what we did last night??

2011-05-10T15:23:00.000-04:00

If you said "added hardware" then you are very observant.

Kitchen update: What day is it?

2011-05-09T16:28:00.000-04:00

I can't remember where I left off. As of Thursday we had everything torn out. Friday after work we began our painting. We did a coat of primer, went to the hardware store (for the 468th time), had some dinner, and then painted our first coat of Milk Toast on the walls.

Somewhere around 12:30 or 1am we went to bed. Saturday morning we woke up around 7:30 and got ready for Uncle Sean who is the brains behind this operation.

After some careful planning, moving electrical outlets, and 2-3 trips to the hardware store the cabinets started going in!

Then more cabinets and counter tops...

This is where we stopped on Saturday.

Sunday was Mother's Day and we needed to get Griffin in Lansing. He spent the week at Grandma and Grandpa Brunmeier's (where he had an awesome time, he is still sleeping it off). We needed to do some other chores too: grocery shopping, mow the lawn, etc. Today is Monday, I took the day off to be available for Uncle Sean to stop by. He put in the last cabinet (we had 1 cabinet delivered in the wrong size so I had to pick up the proper cabinet today), worked on our sink and drain, put our fridge in place, and mudded some holes in the walls. More progress! Tonight we are hoping to get the hardware on, install some shelves in the tall cabinet, and finish painting. We're getting closer!

Dining room progress

Night #4: Demo complete. Could it be?

2011-05-06T10:55:00.000-04:00

It is now Day 5. We are totally sore and tired. Last night we finished tear out. Yesterday I had to work at home to wait for the cabinets and appliances to be delivered. I decided I couldn't focus knowing there was work to be done in the kitchen so I took most of the day off to paint the dining room ceiling, some beams, and begin priming. I only painted 1 thing that I wasn't supposed to. It's going to be fine, I have a plan. I have to say though, I am less than impressed with Lowe's Valspar ceiling paint. Hopefully the wall paint is a different story.

Gutted!

It's very echoey in here now.

It wasn't so easy to move the fridge, this is as far as we could take it...

Notice my handy work on the ceiling and the beams? No more throw backs to the 60's.

Tonight we will paint all of the walls. Tomorrow Uncle Sean and Jeremy (right brother?) are coming and we're going to install!

Night #3: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

2011-05-05T11:16:00.000-04:00

We knew we would have some challenges last night. Two of the hardest pieces to remove: the cabinet with the stove top in it and the cabinet with the oven in it. We had to first turn off the gas to each. Turns out, in 1964 they didn't put levers on the shut offs so instead you have to use all of your might on a little nubbin and try to get it perpendicular. Okay, so we figured that part out. I guess since all of the pipes have been screwed together for 40+ years they don't want to be separated, ever. We had to get crafty. To save any of you from worrying I won't go into full details but let's just say we got the appliances out and we didn't blow up our home or even get light headed.


Recall what we started with. You can see the oven in the back left corner and the stove top in the front right corner.

GONE!

More progress

Rust orange wall oven is no longer.

In case you are curious. Tappan wall ovens from the 60's are HEAVY! Josh was proud of me that I was able to help him lift it. I'm glowing with personal satisfaction. Now that we have the appliances out, the remainder of the cabinets should be pretty easy. We'll need to be patient with the upper cabinet that has the hood attached. There is some electrical there and we'll have a big hole in the ceiling where it vents into the attic. Haven't figured that one out just yet, might wait for Uncle Sean. And by the way Sean, our workspace is very clean, I do in fact vacuum with the shop vac and my regular vacuums every night when we are done. I also dispose of any waste we created.

I grew up doing projects with my mom, can you tell?

Night #2: Starting to get a little gross

2011-05-04T09:01:00.000-04:00

What kind of glue did they use in the 1960's

Sink removed, counter top off, 2 base cabinets gone

If you don't ever plan to remove your kitchen cabinets, do yourself a favor and don't think about what is under there. Gross.

Getting a little closer

The hardest part of last night was removing the cast iron sink. It fell through the hole which made lifting it a challenge. We are being very patient and after some trial and error decided to take the counter off to get it out. It may not look like much progress, but I tell you, this is a lot of work! We've put in about 5 hours on demo now because we just have the evenings.

I suppose I should admit that Josh had been working for a while to disconnect the pipes from the sink and remove the disposal. I walked up and poured my water down the drain. Which means I poured my water through a hole onto the floor. Good job.

The Kitchen: Before pics and night 1 progress

2011-05-03T14:04:00.000-04:00

Before

Doors removed, 2 upper cabinets GONE!

Exposing the lovely mint green paint

We have a long way to go people.

Monkey Bread "Lite"

2011-04-25T17:09:00.000-04:00

We need to face reality, rarely do you find a recipe that is just like the real thing when there is "lite" in the name. If you are a monkey bread fan who does not care about calories then move on to your next activity, there's nothing for you here. If you are a fan of most sweet things but are trying to watch calories, sugar, fat, etc you might be interested in this recipe. Josh actually found this blog site and sent it on to me. I think the author's husband is in a similar field as Josh and he found him on a site they both use. Anyway, I love Dashing Dish's philosophy and really appreciate her work to make healthier alternatives to the favorites. You might see some other recipes taken from her site in the future. There are two great things I like about this recipe. The first is that the portions are made individual sizes so you know exactly how much to take for a serving. Second is that it is made with alternatives and did not require many "fancy" ingredients that I don't know where to immediately find at Meijer.
Visit Dashing Dish to find the Monkey Bread Lite recipe.

This photo is from DashingDish.com (I didn't have time to snap my own, we were headed out the door for a family get together).

I made this to bring to Easter with the family. I warned everybody I had not made this before and that it was a lighter alternative to the real thing. They were a hit (thankfully)! I recommend making extra of the syrup/butter sauce because I ran out about half way through my tray of 12. The sugar free maple syrup I used was pretty runny, I think a thicker syrup would help this recipe as well. Definitely going in the cook book to use in the future!