This Is How We Do Life

English Muffins Take 1

2011-10-24T11:49:00.003-05:00

For a little bit of a change I decided to make English Muffins for this Muffin Monday. One of the girls loved them and the other thought they were just okay. I tried to use the Alton Brown/Food Network recipe but we did not have the powdered milk so I tried to use no extra liquid and milk instead. I'd like to try at least once more to see if I can do better but this is how I did it this time:

First, I added 1 1/2 cups of milk with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of shortening, and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a saucepan until the sugar and salt were dissolved and let it cool down.

In a large bowl I added 1 envelope of dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons) and a pinch of sugar together, then added the milk mixture and lest it set until dissolved, about 5-10 minutes.

Next, sift 2 cups of all purpose flour, add to the liquid mixture, and stir with wooden spoon until mixed thoroughly:

Cover the mixture and let it set in a warm place for at least 30 minutes. I let mine set for closer to an hour so their would be as many nooks and crannies as possible (shown here by our lovely model, Audrey):

Next comes the fun part. Preheat a griddle to 300 degrees. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the risen mixture and beat thoroughly. You need to use something round and in a suggestion from another website I found that the canning rings are perfect. I took 1 ring, sprayed with veggie spray, and added to the griddle. Then, I spooned in the mixture until it was full and let it set for 1 minute. At that point the mixture is set just enough for you to remove the ring and add another muffin. By the time you have 5 down you are ready to flip the first one. They need to cook about 5 minutes per side:

I realized about halfway through my griddle was about 20 degrees lower than it was supposed to be. The second batch turned out a little better, cooking faster and having that outside ring you see on store-bought type muffins.So, just make sure you have yours at 300 and keep it consistent. The reason the English Muffin has a crisp outside and chewy inside is because of the time and temperature it is cooked. We were able to make about 12 muffins but next time I will follow the recipe exact and try again adding a little more batter to each ring also. This is the finished product:

Tasty, but slightly flatter than I would have liked. We will definitely try these again as Ella could not get enough. They weren't perfect though so I must try again....

Family Fun at The State Fair of Texas

2011-10-17T08:25:00.001-05:00

Sorry about last week. In all honesty, it is hard for me to get things done here in blog world when the kids have a day off. Last Monday was Columbus Day and Fair Day. We actually went to the Fair the day before since Corey could not get Monday off of work. Since that took up my whole Sunday I'll skip the muffins for this week and show you how the fair went.

The fair I'm talking about would be THE fair around here, The State Fair of Texas, known for a wide array of fried foods and anything goes when it comes to fried. This year some new fried treats included fried bubblegum and buffalo chicken flapjacks. Before going, we found a list of the 25 Best Eats at the Texas State Fair and decided which ones we would like to try. It's nice to have a game plan because the fair can get quite expensive if you don't. There are many things to do besides ride the rides and play games. Last year we loved going to the Women's Museum and there are a list of several others that we still have to go to. There are many pavilions and a massive car show inside the Fair, all for free or cheap.

Before getting to the food we found the car show. The Jeep section had a cool climbing wall for kids for free:

And you can sit in all the newest cars. Audrey and Ella tested out the trunk space of the new Fiat, which BTW is super cute but still a little too small for our needs:

Ella was begging us for food after walking around the car show for a while so we set out on our food tastings.

First off, we found the kraut balls in the Hans Mueller Booth on the east side of the Cotton Bowl. Our family favorite of the day for sure. I wish we would have gone back for more.

If you don't try anything else new but this it will be worth it. The booth was located in front of the Cotton Bowl close to the entrance of the Midway:

Next up, we found our way to the Coca Cola Food Court:

There are many, many booths with all kinds of foods but we were on a mission. We found the Greek booth and asked for a giant dolma.

We tried and tried but Audrey would not touch it. The above shot was not posed. This was her natural reaction to having the plate set down in front of her. The rest of us, however, loved it. This was Ella's favorite of the day for sure. The look can be deceiving on this one. We got a lot of looks from passersby. In case you don't know, a dolma is a grape leaf stuffed with beef, lamb, and rice.

We walked out of the Coca Cola Food Court in search of what I was really excited about, tamale balls. After a bit of searching for the Exhibit Hall we found it. I'll have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed. They were just okay. Too spicy for the kids and a little dry in my opinion. Oh, well, the rest made up for them.

At this point in the day it started to rain. We had stopped at Tar-jay before coming to the fair and picked up some ponchos because the forecast showed a high chance of rain. I'm so glad we were prepared. We asked others how much they were charged at the fair for ponchos and we were told they paid $7 each!

We stepped out into the rain and walked around for a bit and found the Museum of Nature and Science. What a great way to spend an hour while waiting for the rain to stop. Admission was only $1.50 and the kids loved it. Bob the Builder was even walking around that day. Now, my kids are a little old for it but all the little ones seemed to love him.

The rain subsided and we found the next item on our list, salsa balls:

These were good too. Audrey liked them the most. It tasted liked nacho cheese mixed with salsa with an outside layer of crunched up nacho cheese Doritos. Not bad. These were found in the Magnolia Beer Garden.

We let the kids ride a few rides at the Midway but several were shut down due to the rain. The most famous of all the rides, of course, is the Texas Star.

The last food we tried for the day, our dessert, was a Fried Latte. In reality, the ice cream is not fried, but it was so tasty it did not matter:

Cappuccino ice cream, drizzled with maple syrup and sprinkled with coffee flakes, atop a sopapilla. Great dessert to end our day of food samplings! And, I have no idea what THAT face was about. She was just being silly for the camera.

Our last stop for the day was a must. Have I mentioned that Audrey is OBSESSED with pigs. She would give anything to have one but our little suburban home just won't accommodate a pig, much to her dismay. So, we have to settle for occasional petting zoo piggies:

And Ella was happy feeding a baby goat, or kid, of course.

The petting zoo is also free with a small fee for the food.

We left having had a great, relatively inexpensive, day. I actually liked going during a rainy day. I think many people did not come because of it so the parking was good and the lines weren't bad. This is our 2nd time in 2 years to go as a family and I think we will just have to add this to our rotation of things to do every year now that we figured out how to do the fair.

That Ship is Bananas

2011-10-03T13:25:00.002-05:00

Good afternoon my lovelies. I have been saving this recipe for a while. I don't know why. Maybe just wanted to get those bananas at the perfect ripeness to make them. On a side note does anyone else sing that Gwen Stefani song when they spell bananas, as in that sh-t is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s. When Ella was little she loved that song so we told her they were singing that Ship is Bananas so that is exactly what she sang. Wish we could get away with that now. Whatever works, right?

Anyway, if you guessed banana nut muffins for today's treat you are correct, sir. Or madam. Whatever the case may be. So, I had so much going on this weekend I needed to go to my 'go-to muffin recipe'. This is actually a recipe for my banana bread in muffin form. I don't use wheat flour a lot in my baking but the texture of the bananas and cinnamon blends so well with the wheat flour that these muffins really benefit from the use of it.

Banana Nut Muffins

3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup wheat flour (or you could use 1 1/2 cups white-wheat flour instead of the 2 separate flours)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
2 egg whites, slgihtly beaten
1 cup mashed banana
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.
Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl.
Mix eggs, banana, sugar, and oil in a large bowl.
Stir flour slowly into banana mixture just until moistened.
Stir in nuts.
Spoon equal amounts of batter into 12 muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

My Fall Color Palette

2011-09-29T11:19:00.001-05:00

My Fall Color Palette by pamela-s1 featuring a coral dress

Lela Rose tulle dress
$2,495 - net-a-porter.com

Lela Rose bow dress
$1,295 - farfetch.com

Oasis coral dress
$75 - oasis-stores.com

Ready For Fall

2011-09-29T08:52:00.001-05:00

I have been looking at so many great outfits lately I just had to make a set of my own. Here in Texas it has been in the nineties all week but we are FINALLY getting a cold front and I can actually start changing into Fall mode. Yay! Now, if I could only procure the money to afford all of these great looks. In real life (you know, outside the wonderful dreamy blog-life) I am super picky when it comes to buying outfits. If only it could be as easy as going online and putting things together like this:

That pop of red-coral is MY pick for color of the fall. It's so pretty! I picked up a steal on a mini-trench last Spring for Audrey at the end of the season that she is now wearing in this color, and it is an instant mood-lifter. Love it!

Happy Fall shopping everyone!

It's a Doughnut. It's a Muffin. It's Both!

2011-09-26T13:49:00.000-05:00

Oh Monday, my old friend. I have a genuine love and hate relationship with you. I love starting everything new each week with your presence but at the same time I can see the long list of things that have to be accomplished before you come back round again.

One thing I do not mind doing, however, is Muffin Monday. This week, I happened upon a good-looking muffin recipe while searching through Pinterest. You can see my own Pinterest page here. Anyway, it's a Doughnut Muffin. The recipe came from Once Upon a Chef & I just could not resist making them. What could be better, right. I know! We've got another winning recipe here. Everyone loved them. Corey did think they tasted a little 'off' at first but he snatched one right after I pulled them out of the oven and before the topping was put on. He said once the topping was on it straightened the taste up and was very good. I wouldn't know what they tasted like straight out of the oven because I have, ahem, self control. What? I do. Ok, sometimes I do. Here is picture of this double-duty muffin:

And don't skip that topping. It really does make it taste like a cinnamon sugar cake doughnut!

The recipe can be found at Once Upon a Chef. Check it out.

Feeling Crafty

2011-09-22T08:41:00.000-05:00

This is the best time of day for me, just after the kids are off to school and the chaos dies down a bit. The morning sun is casting the perfect light for beautiful pictures, like this:

I have a gazillion pictures of the sky, most in the morning, but not exclusively. Does anyone else take this many pictures of the sky? I just love natural beauty, hence why I have so many of the sky, of flowers, & of my girlies.

Here's a few more, just cuz I want to share the stormy sky and because we are finally getting some much needed rain here in Texas and the sky has been void of any clouds all summer that it just makes these that much more gorgeous.

So, anyway, I'm sitting here, wishing I could work on my goods for my Etsy store but need to start my regular work instead. So I put it off anyway and I go to order supplies and lo and behold everyone(!) is out of the tiles that I JUST discovered that are perfect for necklaces that I plan to sell in my shop: Pixie Feet Photography. I originally bought 4 squares and 8 circles to see how those would work. Turns out the squares are perfect but now they are nowhere to be found. Every resource I had found them on a few weeks back is out of stock for some reason and I cannot find them in any of the local big box craft stores. Poor me. I went ahead and ordered the smallest squares to see what I could do with them because I needed to get glaze anyway so I might as well get everything at once. So, crossing my fingers I can do something with those. Also, ordered another batch of photos I am excited to get. I wonder if someone else had the same idea I did and ordered those tiles all for themselves? Boohoo. Guess I'll start on the headbands, which is my 2nd idea. Here is a sample of what I'll be doing:

I have a huge collection of buttons that my grandmother collected over the years and am going to be adding them to the headbands. I believe they would count as vintage. She passed away in the late nineties and many of her buttons were still on the original strip, with copyright dates in the sixties. In this shot you can kind of see one of them. I am glad to use them for something pretty and useful and hopefully others will like them too.

So, on to boring work (bleh) and then hopefully I can squeeze in a little time to create!

Pear & Walnut Muffins...Hooray

2011-09-19T20:44:00.000-05:00

Whoa, so I almost missed Muffin Monday but alas I am here, just after 8 p.m. with no less than 1 million things going on at once. Maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but not by much.

After one crazy fun but busy weekend, the girls both started the many clubs this week that their awesome elementary school has, including jump-roping, running, dancing, and choir. I volunteered to help out with 3 of them so between an hour and a half today at their jump roping club and another hour and a half at Zumba (1 hour class & driving there and back) I had a big portion of my day taken away. Add working for 4 hours, getting the grocery list ready, dinner, and soccer practice and I'm one tired mommy.

But I did it! I got my muffins a-made! And, they turned out great. Corey said he liked them even better than muffins with apples which is a huge deal since he thinks apple pie is the greatest dessert ever invented and loves everything apple, except maybe I-tunes. But that is a whole 'nother story. Anyway, are the muffins:

And here is the recipe:

Pear & Walnut Muffins

Topping:

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

Batter:

2 cups flour 2 pears, cubed
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 pears, cubed
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

PROCEDURE:

Stir brown sugar & flour together. Add 2 tablespoons cold butter and, with hands, mix together until butter starts to break down into mixture. Put mixture in fridge until you are finished mixing muffin batter.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
In a smaller bowl mix eggs and milk.
Add pears and walnuts to the flour mixture, stirring with hands.
Add egg and milk mixture and melted butter to flour mixture.
Stir with wooden spoon or spatula until flour is mixed in thoroughly.
Fill muffin cups evenly that have been either sprayed or cupcake liners added to.
Sprinkle evenly with topping mixture.
Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy tomorrow's breakfast!

First Rejection

2011-09-14T10:30:00.002-05:00

Wow, yesterday was a tough day. Rewind to the 2nd week of school when my oldest was told of an opportunity for a district wide Honors choir tryout coming up in a few weeks. Only five from each elementary were allowed to try out. She was chosen as one of the five out of twelve from her school and we were very proud.

Two weeks and a lot of hard work and last Saturday the audition came and went by quickly. Two minutes and one song later she came out smiling. She is a confident child. Sometimes, too confident for her own good because she just assumes she has everything in the bag. She told me on the way home that she missed her queue but caught up quickly. First red flag. I tried not to think about it but it bothered me. Especially when I knew that there were 300 kids going up for around 100 spots.

not MY daughter

As you can expect from the first few hints, she got the letter yesterday that she did not make it and was devastated. This is the first tryout she has ever had and it ended in rejection and oh my, it hit us hard.

It's easy to say from an outside view that it will be okay and she will learn from it, no doubt she will. But, she is also a child that feels everything and it was just a very hard day. Hard for her and maybe even harder for me. Children have a way of brushing off and getting going pretty quickly. Adults know that certain events could be pivotal and remember what they went through as children. With that in mind, hopefully Corey and I reacted in a way that would teach her to let this be a lesson instead of it being something that knocked her down. It's a little better today but it still stings.

I wasn't prepared for the magnitude that comes with your child being rejected for something but I'll just have to learn to toughen up for her sake. Our advice was this: It's over, it's the past already, there is nothing we can do to change it. You can be sad today but everyone that has ever earned something important has gone through some type of rejection. Next time you want something really bad think about how bad it felt to not get what you wanted and use that to push you even more. Wish your friends well that did make it and move on to the next thing.

I think she'll be okay. Me, on the other hand.....well, I'm still working on it.

Dear Ella, you'll get'em next time!

Cinnamon & Chocolate Chip Yumminess

2011-09-12T08:17:00.001-05:00

Good morning and welcome to Muffin Monday #2. I skipped last Monday because it was Labor Day and also the day after someone's birthday celebration and well, let's just say I, um, I mean that someone wasn't up to feeling like muffins that morning, or afternoon, or even that evening. Yikes! That was a rough morning if I'm being honest. Really felt all of those 30-somethin years.

Anyhoo, daughter #1, big E, Ella Bean as I call her, requested something with chocolate chips for this week's recipe. I only had about half a bag of mini chocolate chips available because we had gone to a pot luck and I made The Pioneer Woman's Cleta Bailey's Toffee Squares with the other half. Let me just say I have not tried a Pioneer Woman recipe that wasn't sensational. She is an inspiration!

So, I was looking for a recipe that didn't just have chocolate chips as a main ingredient. I decided to just mix it up a bit and came up with this Cinnamon & Chocolate Chip Muffins recipe:

Cinnamon & Chocolate Chip Muffins

Dry:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips (we used the mini kind)

Wet:
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400°.
In a large bowl, sift all dry ingredients together.
In a medium bowl, combine wet ingredients.
Add wet ingredients into dry and stir just until moistened.
Mix in chocolate chips.
Fill greased muffin tins or cupcake liners 2/3 full.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden.

Then, try not to stuff your face because these are scrumptious! Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins and Refreshing Rain for Muffin Monday

2011-08-29T15:46:00.003-05:00

Today we are starting 'Muffin Monday'. It's been too hot to bake lately but school just started last week so I decided since there are a million and one ways to make a muffin and we could start trying some out and have an extra easy breakfast idea for the weekdays. What comes to mind when you think of muffins? Blueberry of course. I searched through Foodgawker I found this one over at Cookin' For My Captain that looked like a good first choice to start with. Here's how they turned out:

Super easy to make.

Blueberry Muffins:

2 cups of flour

1 tblsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat oven to 400 °
Whisk flour, baking powder, & nutmeg together in a bowl.
In separate bowl, whisk eggs, milk, sugar, butter, & vanilla.
Add flour mixture just until mixed together.
Fold in blueberries.
Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Yields 1 dozen.

Hubby called me from work about an hour after he left for work this morning. He started out with "I do NOT like blueberries." but before I could tell him I knew that he probably wouldn't like these muffins he followed it with "but I LOVE these muffins!". I think they were a winner! Ella really enjoyed them too. Audrey still is not a big fan of blueberries but she is not the biggest eater so I don't gauge a food's success on her take at this point in her life yet.

And, OMG we had the coolest day of the summer today. At least this morning. My 5th grader, Ella is in safety patrol and just as soon as she was about to take off early to school to start her 'shift' it started raining! I was so happy to drive her with the windows down. Not just a few drops, actual RAIN. It didn't last long but after this summer's drought it was the greatest thing ever. I just stood with the door open when I got back home, while talking to Corey about the muffins, and inhaled that smell. I adore that smell. I wish I could bottle up that smell and light a candle that smells like fresh rain whenever I was feeling down. That has to be on my list of top 3 smells ever. Also, just-out-of-the tub babies and fresh baked bread! But these freshly baked blueberry muffins aren't far behind.

It Never Fails....

2011-07-18T13:31:00.003-05:00

I'm coming to the realization that I am my own worst enemy. Lately, many of my thoughts have revolved around what direction I want to be headed in. Not just career, but life's purpose. What will make me happy. I have figured out I have to have a creative outlet. Photography has been filing that void lately. I hadn't thought about why or where, but I am just doing and enjoying.

Unfortunately, here comes the logical side of my brain mixed with the seed of doubt that is trying to ruin the fun. It really never fails and I know I must have had some voice, in the form of a parent or a teacher, at some point in my life telling me why I can't and shouldn't. And, I'm finally realizing this is not my voice and I can tell it to shut up! I have been doing a lot of reading on the subject and of people that are successful at being creative. I just need to keep pushing on and shutting down that voice that asks why I would even try and that there are a million other people out there that are better than me. But really, who cares if there are. That means I have a million people to learn from.

And since pictures are where it's at here are a few of the latest from this morning. The first could be titled "What happens when you leave your camera in the hands of your 7-year-old". I was talking with a friend and had taken a few pictures of the girls so I checked the camera when I got home and found this first one. Love it!

This is one I took while waiting for my friend to arrive:

And one more I took after I told the girls they look so pretty even when they aren't smiling and they decided to make serious faces the rest of the morning:

As they say: Just keep swimming.....

New camera?

2011-07-17T13:15:00.002-05:00

Well, so I won't be using the camera much longer and now I have a choice of just not taking pictures or buying a good DSLR of my own. And, we will be going on vacation in a little over 2 weeks so do I go ahead and buy the new camera now? I think I've figured out which one I want, the Canon Digital Rebel XT. It has great reviews and I can pick one up under $500 all day long. So, do I want to shell out the money and have the camera for the cruise is the question? I need to make a decision and will be pondering that over the next week since I need to order one very soon if I decide to buy used or online.

Until then, here are some new photos. The first was taken in the school's garden. Again, since we have had 100+ temperatures nearly every day over the past month or so many of the flowers have died off but this is a pretty little yellow one with beautiful coloring:

One of the few here that still looks good. Most are on the way out:

A pretty cone flower that was in my garden but has since kicked the bucket:

I had to do a little editing on these. This is my BIL, Marcus and this whole scene just screams vintage look so vintage editing it is:

and one more shot with the vintage type screen edited in Picnik:

This shot was actually taken by our cheap point and shoot Sony digital but it was such a cool shot I had to edit it and include it. We found this bike sitting outside of a little strip of shops close to downtown Dallas:

This is the runner up on a shot I did for the MCP project 52 with the theme: Sweet Relief. The other shot that I chose to submit can be seen here. I didn't get chosen still as one of the top 10 but I did get some encouraging comments. That makes me feel like I at least am learning each week.

I may be getting my hands on Photoshop for free so that is really exciting. It makes the thought of shelling out the money for a nicer camera that much easier but still, I'm pretty frugal so I need to be sure this is something I will be getting my money's worth with so I am still a bit hesitant. I know this would be easy for most people but I just can't go out and spend money without thinking about it. I have to be absolutely certain that I will not have buyer's remorse. Right now, I'm about 70% on the side of buying one but will be adding a new post here when I make my final decision.

Lake, Storms, & a Drop-In Visitor

2011-06-25T14:51:00.004-05:00

I feel like this past week was kind of a bust as far as photography. I had a great idea to go to the lake, which is a few miles down the road and has a great trail around it. Problem was, by the time we got there the storms were bearing down on us somewhat and we only had about an hour.

I got a few good shots & experimented more with photo editing. I'm just using Picasa now but if I'm still interested 6 months down the road I'll probably invest in Photoshop.

This shot is one of the few flowers blooming down by the lake. Here in Texas it's been over 100 more days than normal so most of the prettier flowers have died as far as I could tell:

This is one of the shots where I tried to get that vintage-y look to it. It was pretty plain before but I think it looks neat now:

A palm tree base that someone apparently took down. You don't see a lot of these trees around here. I'm guessing it gets too cold in the winter for them:

In this one Audrey was trying to show me the tiny flowers that she picked and when I took a shot, Ella walked over in the shot. So, it looks like one of those shots where she's the same size as the flower. Or, I'm squishing your head:

The "I'm 10 and contemplating the universe" shot, aka the Mom thought it was cool for me to stand looking in the distance with the storm clouds rolling in:

Of course when we drove back home the sun was starting to set and this is the best shot I could get with the clouds & the rain in the distance:

A night shot & some fooling around in Picasa:

The day after the storms I was working at my desk and heard birds going crazy. My desk backs up to the back of the house where we have lots of windows facing the backyard. There were 2 birds chirping and flying back and forth between the house & our tree (the one in the picture above), and swooping down towards the dog, Ace. Here is the little guy on the roof:

And his friend in the tree:

When we ventured out after the ruckus we found a nest that had been knocked down and a dead little baby bird (awww) on the ground which I'm guessing came down in the very high winds we had the night before. The birds had flown away to make a new nest somewhere:

Good luck little birdies.

Crave?

2011-06-21T08:55:00.003-05:00

So, you see, over the last week this is turning more into a 'me learning photography' site. Just cuz. I'm mildly obsessed and I can't get enough. I'm reading everything I can and trying to get the difference between apertures, ISOs, and such.

Anyway, this was taken a few days ago. I seem to do the best at flower photos but I'm trying to at least get the hang of indoor and people shots. At least I have my little freckled one to practice on:

Don't believe that innocent look. She's guilty of something. *note the slight smear of chocolate on her mouth.

So, remember that online photo site, MCP Actions? Yes, well the theme this week is crave. I am really trying to think outside that box but I keep coming back to chocolate. I like this shot from the muffins Ella made for Father's Day. The blues are so pretty & I want to do something similar but it's zoomed way in and too grainy. We are going to head up to the store today to get more chocolate chips and make a 2nd batch. 1. Because they are hella good & 2. So, I can get a good shot for this week's entry.

So, Audrey's favorite pose as of late is this. I think her Aunt may have had something to do with this but I have at least 10 shots over the past week of her doing this. Could be that her mother's dorkiness is shining through too.

I had an idea for the crave theme with Ace dog & his birthday bone but he just looks too sweet.

This one was a little better but still not it. Any thoughts on cravings? I'm open & willing to make food to get a good shot. For now, I'll just go with the muffins unless I get a better idea.

TTFN.

E & Flowers

2011-06-19T10:43:00.003-05:00

Today is Father's Day. Ella made chocolate chip & oatmeal muffins for breakfast. While we were waiting for them to cook I noticed that our 2nd sunflower had fully opened up. Here is a nice majestic shot of it. It's probably a good 7 feet tall. I had to stand on my tiptoes to get this close.

Here is another shot of that Arizona sunflower from last time. Not the greatest shot but was trying to get that bee on the top.

Ella was just sitting on her scooter and I nabbed a few shots while she wasn't paying attention. This one has a soft focus :

This one is warmed up:

This is probably my favorite for the day. I played around a bit with the color palette available:

In sepia:

The look I got when she noticed I was taking pictures of her:

And then one more where I told her to stop looking at me and just play around:

Back?

2011-06-16T21:49:00.004-05:00

So, things got pretty hectic for a while. I'd like to say I'm back but I just don't know. The summer is upon us and I do have more time but let's just see where this goes. Over the last few weeks I started screwing around with my MILs camera she told us to play with and got some cool shots so this is what I've been up to & wanted to put them somewhere.

This was taken in my garden this morning. These flowers, Arizona sunflowers, are just so pretty. I love the colors and couldn't pass up this opportunity.

This one was taken a little earlier in the morning. I think because the background looks so dark it almost looks like the flower is giving off light:

I have several of these flowers in my garden to ward off pests:

I joined a group yesterday that has themes each week for photos and encourages everyone to join. It's called MCP Project 52. This week's theme was Make it Tasty. The picture below is one of the shots I took but not the exact picture I used.

Another pretty flower. I have lots of yellow flowers & I like to shoot my yellow flowers in the morning:

Ok, so sometimes I mix it up a bit with some purple. I'm a little picky. I like color schemes in the garden so I tend to pick blues, yellows, & purples. I love those colors together.

Here is a picture of Ella & her good friend, Meredith. It was a beautiful evening and they just finished practice. I wonder what they are talking about. Probably something about the crazy woman who won't stop snapping pictures behind them.

This is Meredith's little sister, Ava. She's so cute. Her hair reminded me of the roaring twenties so sepia seemed to fit. It almost looks like she is setting up for a day at the beach, doesn't it?

Well. That's all for now. I'll be out and about taking pictures and learning new techniques. We'll see where it goes.

Our Ikea Billy Bookshelves Update

2011-02-23T16:34:00.011-06:00

I totally underestimated how busy I would be over the last few months and just let the blog fall to the wayside. I had to let something go or I would have been stressed to the max. I'm going to update when I have time now instead of trying to force at least 1 out a week.

So, the last thing we worked on was painting our bookshelves and I just haven't had the time to write up what we did until today. We started with a basic Billy bookshelf from Ikea. We bought these about 5 years ago and they have served us well but this plain boring wood was not doing it for me anymore. I've been seeing blues EVERYWHERE lately, especially paint and interior design, so of course when picking out our color scheme that is what I thought of.

Here is a picture of the bookshelves before, stacked to the max of course:

and another bookshelf from Ikea on the wall diagonal from the one above.

We started out by taking the shelves out to the back porch and spraying it down with some TSP which is a heavy duty cleaner used before painting.

I wiped down all 5 units of shelving. Ace hung around and kept me company:

Next came the primer. The paint would have never stuck without priming first. Since this was a big job we headed on over to our local Harbor Freight (like Corey needs an excuse) and picked up a sprayer to use with our compressor. We used Flotrel which is an additive to add to paint to thin it out. The paint sprayer would have gotten clogged up had we not added it.

And we set to work....luckily it was an absolutely gorgeous day which allowed us to finish the priming and painting over the weekend. Corey is hard at work below.

and here I am, posing as if I am hard at work. I tried the priming but only got a few inside parts before we quickly realized Corey could do a much better, quicker job.

We primed on Saturday and painted on Sunday. The outside color is Baja by Behr.

The next week we had almost a full week of Snowcation 2011 so I decided it was the perfect time to start painting the backs of the bookshelves. I had chosen a peacock blue at Home Depot. I am trying to incorporate darker blues and some greens in the living room to break up the monotony of a room full of neutrals, so this is big start. The color is Peacock Tail by Behr. As you can see below, one coat was just the beginning.

But after 3 coats they came out beautiful! Here, they are lined up in the kitchen, all dressed up and ready to be stocked with books:

and back in the living room:

and 1 more with books. I love it! What do you think?

Carnitas, Taquitos, and DIY update.

2011-02-09T11:19:00.022-06:00

No school for nearly a week gave us time to get a few things accomplished. We made groundhog graham crackers, started some seeds, played in the snow, put up some decorations, painted, and baked, baked, baked.......Here are a few pics of some of the things the girls and I worked on during our 4-day surprise snow-cation, or as some were calling it 'Snowpocalypse 2011':

I promise you we are still doing DIY home projects. It's just that nothing has been at a good stopping point in a while so I wanted to wait until I could show some good before and afters. They are so much fun to look at, but no one wants to have to see the before and then wait until the after, right?

Anyway, we did a lot of baking and came close to finishing some DIY projects and I should get some good before and afters this week.

The basic recipe for this week is from Homesicktexan.com who adapted it from Diana Kennedy. (apparently this recipe gets around) There is so much meat leftover that I almost always wind up making a 2nd recipe of something. The recipe below the basic carnitas recipe is one I created myself. Below is the step by step, super easy way to cook the meat.

First, you want to take at least 3 pounds of pork roast. I almost always buy the weekly specials when it comes to meat. This usually determines my menu for the week unless we just have a huge craving for something. It just helps to have one less thing to have to figure out and plan.

This package was closer to 6 pounds so I cut up about half of the meat and froze the rest for use later. So, that 10.00 sale price is already cut into at least 2 meals at $5 each.

Cut up your meat into strips about 1" by 3" and add them to a stock pot.

Add 1 cup of orange juice and 3 cups of water, or enough to cover over the meat, and add 2 tsp of salt.

Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2 hours. After that time period, bump up the temperature to medium and cook another 45 minutes. This will really help those liquids soak into the meat. Just wait, flavor overload ahead...

And that is IT! You heard me. The hardest thing to do is cutting up the meat. So easy & so tasty. Corey didn't believe in me. He didn't believe when I first cooked this dish that it would taste as good as it did. In all honesty, at first the cooking pork is not the greatest smell in the world, but just wait, it gets better. I promise. With that first bite, he changed his tune. This is now a staple in our house and I got to give him a big fat 'I told you so'. OK, I didn't, but he knew I was thinking it.

Now, after this process and before the assembling stage, I like to take about a tablespoon of oil and fry the meat up on high a bit until you start to see some crispy bits. You don't have to do this. You can just eat it when it's finished cooking in the liquids, but you should. Oh boy is it good!

Then throw some of the meat on a tortilla, add some cheese, onions, or anything else you like on your tacos and you are good to go.

This is just a small portion of how much it cooks up. We usually have another meals' worth of meat:

With the leftovers you can either freeze them or save them for another meal later in the week.

Here's what I do when we have Carnitas meat left over:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Soft fry 10-12 corn tortillas.

Saute onions.

Take a tortilla, add 2-3 tablespoons meat, 1 tablespoon cheese, & 1 teaspoon onions, roll up and put a toothpick in them. Repeat for the rest of the tortillas.

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 25-30 minutes.

Viola, carnita taquitos! Enjoy with your favorite gauc, salsa, or queso.

The taquitos are perfect to take along to a potluck, or the Super bowl, which is what we did this past weekend. They are always a hit.

CARNITAS

ingredients:

3 pounds pork butt roast

1 cup orange juice

3 cups water

2 teaspoons salt

procedure:

Cut up pork into 1x3 inch strips.
Add to stock pot along with OJ, water, and salt.
Bring to a boil and then bring temperature down.
Simmer for 2 hours.
Turn up temperature to medium and cook for an additional 45 minutes.

Without further ado, the.....

WEEKLY MENU

Sunday: Fajitas at a friend's house for the Super bowl (of which we brought the above-mentioned taquitos).

Monday: London broil with French fries.

Tuesday: Sesame noodles with shredded chicken, broccoli, and cauliflower. (for a super quick dish you can cook up the noodles without the additions)

Wednesday: Baked Shrimp Scampi, jasmine rice, salad, & toasted baguette

Thursday: Sloppy Joe's, baked potato.

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Dining out.

Cream Puffs & Eclairs

2011-02-02T10:44:00.030-06:00

This week's post is just another reason I am glad I have a gym membership. BTW, if you haven't tried Zumba yet, it is fan-freakin-tastic. So much fun. You dance for an hour and just happen to burn calories along the way.

So, anyway, last week Corey brought home a recipe from a friend of his at work who has been reading our blog. Woohoo, we have a reader. At least 1. Well, 2 if the stats are right. I'm on a roll now.

Maria sent him home with a recipe she had from Family Circle magazine from 1983! Thanks Maria! Of course I had to make these Cream Puffs & Eclairs. Yum! And I knew there would be no protests from the family.

The recipe is pretty straight forward and most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry.

First preheat your oven to 400 °. Start out by bringing 1 stick butter (1/2 cup), 1 cup of water, and 1 teaspoon of sugar to a large saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.

Add 1 cup of sifted all-purpose flour all at once to the pan. Stir vigorously for 1 minute with a wooden spoon or until it forms a thick, smooth ball that leaves the sides of the saucepan.

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Add 4 large eggs, one at a time, and beating vigorously until it is shiny and smooth.

And no, my hand did not mysteriously shrink. That is Ella with an assist. She stirred while I added the eggs.

Next, add dough, by rounded tablespoons, 3 inches apart, on ungreased cookie sheets. I started with about a tablespoon but found that there was enough dough to add at least 2 tablespoonfuls to each piece. For cream puffs shape into a round shape with 2 spoons or even your fingers, but only if they are clean.

For the eclairs, shape the dough in a log shape about 4 x 1 1/2 inches. You should be able to make about 12 total of whatever shape you chose. I did 6 of each. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until light golden brown and cool on a wire wrack.

While the dough is cooking you can make your custard filling. It will take 2 hours of fridge time to set so you may want to start it before the dough.

Combine 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour and 1 cup sugar in a medium-sized saucepan. Stir in 3 cups of milk.

Bring to a boil while stirring constantly over a low heat, until it starts to bubble. Cook & stir 3-4 minutes until the mixture becomes thick and then remove from heat.

Beat 4 large eggs lightly in a medium bowl.

and add 1 cup of the mixture from the medium saucepan & combine with the eggs.

Then, add back the egg mixture into the medium saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes until thickened. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla and 1 tablespoon of butter and pour into a bowl. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Cream puffs:

Eclairs:

To assemble cut the tops off of either puffs or Eclairs with a sharp knife. Remove a bit of the soft dough from the center. Fill with the custard that has been chillin in the fridge for the last 2 hours. You can add powdered sugar (as we did below) or even a chocolate glaze.

For a glaze just melt 6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate pieces with 1 tablespoon of shortening in a small bowl over hot water to melt. Let it cool 2 minutes and spoon over your pastry.

And this pastry gets the Ella thumbs up, seal of approval! Good stuff for sure.

ECLAIRS & CREAM PUFFS

Dough ingredients:

1 stick butter

1 cup water

1 tsp sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

Custard filling Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3 cups milk

4 eggs

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of vanilla

Additional toppings Ingredients:

Confectioners' sugar

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon shortening

Dough preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 °.
Bring water, butter, and sugar to a rolling boil in a large saucepan.
Add flour all at once and stir vigorously for 1 minute or until mixture forms a thick smooth ball that leaves sides of saucepan clean.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Add 4 large eggs, 1 at a time, beating vigorously with each addition. It will become shiny and smooth and break away in strands.
Cream puffs: Drop rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet 3 inches apart. Eclairs: Shape dough into log form about 4 x 1 1/2 inches each.
Bake for 40 minutes or until light golden brown.
Cool on wire wrack.

Custard filling preparation:

Combine 3/4 cup sifted flour and 1 cup sugar in medium saucepan.
Stir in 3 cups of milk.
Bring to a boil, stirring constantly over low heat, until it begins to bubble.
Continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, until mixture is thick and remove from heat.
Beat 4 large eggs in a medium bowl.
Add 1 cup of flour-sugar-milk mixture to eggs and beat.
Add all of egg mixture back into medium pan and heat over medium heat while stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes. It will become thick.
Add 1 tablespoon each of vanilla & butter.
Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours.

To fill:

Cut tops of puffs or Eclairs and remove some of the soft dough from center.
Fill with custard mixture and replace top.
Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar or melted chocolate glaze, or both.

and, please don't ask how many trips to Zumba this will take to wear off, but I'm guessing at least a few 1 hour classes.

In other pressing news, our city (Dallas area) is all but shut down due to crazy 1-digit temperatures so no trip to the store this week. Luckily, due to stocking up we were able to scrape things together and it isn't so bad save for having to 'stretch' the milk a little. Hopefully, Thursday will have better temps to venture out but no promises so I'm making do.

A good way to stretch meat is to use shredded chicken, beef, pork in items like tacos & enchiladas, or on pizza as seen below. A little goes a long way when mixed with the other ingredients.

WEEKLY MENU

Sunday: Spaghetti with meatballs

Monday: Homemade cheeseburger mac & salad

Tuesday: Carnitas, corn, beans (OMG, these carnitas are so good & so easy)

Wednesday: Buffalo chicken pizza (basically taking this recipe for dip & putting on my homemade pizza dough. We had 2 boneless chicken thighs to replace the canned chicken in this recipe) Dessert of: Groundhog dessert cups but substituting chocolate mousse since we have lots of whipped cream & barely any milk

Thursday: Hot dogs on homemade potato rolls, baked red potato fries

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Eating out (or french toast if it is still too cold to get out since Corey stopped by the Ms. Baird's bread store & they practically gave away 2 loaves + donuts & I just made 2 loaves of bread on the same day)

Have a good safe week everyone. If you are snowed in like us, this is the perfect time to try some new recipes or experiment with ingredients you have. This also reinforces my point of keeping your pantries stocked. I could easily stretch our food for another week if I had too because of stocking up.

Panini Bread

2011-01-26T08:07:00.026-06:00

Sandwiches are so versatile donchya think? The panini is no exception. Its origins are Italy where they are known as panino. Panini is actually the pleural form of the word. Made popular in New York in the 1970s and 1980s, this type of 'flat bread' sandwich is now very popular everywhere.

I like a good challenge so this week I decided, what the heck, time to make my own panini bread. The slow winter time is starting to wind down and activities are picking up. Soccer practice starts this week and Little League will be following shortly. The Corey is now back in school (he started back to college last Fall BTW) Even though the bread takes some planning, injecting sandwich night into our rotation of dinners has certainly become commonplace on busy school nights.

First of all, you will want to set aside some time for this one. The "starter" needs to set out overnight, & the rising and baking combination will take around 5 hours once the starter is ready. One of my favorite sites to get bread recipes is King Arthur Flour. My search for panini bread didn't take long, as they had what looked like a great one.

If you haven't made any type of bread before this may not be the one to start with, as it is extremely sticky but if you feel comfortable gauging the stickiness factor then, well, go on girl!

So, they call the starter Biga, which if you are interested in the history of it, a quick jont on over to zee Wiki yields this definition. You don't really have to know what it is, I suppose, but I was curious.

So, start your Biga with 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour:

Add 1 cup of water & 1/8 teaspoon of instant yeast:

And mix it up until smooth. Then, cover it up and let it sit overnight. This will give your bread some layered flavor and help with the light airiness you'll want.

Being that I wanted to make the bread the same day I started my starter early in the morning and let it set out for 8 hours instead of overnight. It can set out for up to 15 hours, though.

Once it has sat out for a while you will add together the Biga, 1 teaspoon of instant yeast, 1/2 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour, 1 cup of white whole wheat flour, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 tablespoon of nonfat dry milk, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 1/4 to 1/2 cup water.

The website suggests that you use more water in the winter. As you bake more and more bread you will be able to gauge how much water to add to your dough to get the desired feel. Since it is indeed winter (sigh) I added 1/2 cup.

Next, mix it up on medium speed, about a 4 on my mixer as suggested, but watch out. You may want to start at 1 and work up to a 4, because if you start right into a 4 it will spray flour all over you. Ask me how I know.

So, wipe the flour off of your face, shirt, jeans and well, the dog already has it licked off of the floor so there's 1 less step. Where were we? Ah yes, mix it up with a flat beater until it clears the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes. If it's not clearing it keep mixing for another couple of minutes.

Switch to your dough hook and mix it up for another 3-4 minutes.

Put in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it sit for 2 hours in a warm, dry place. If you are around to punch it down after about an hour then go for it. Or let your kids do it. Because if you are like me, you want to keep them from punching each other, and maybe this will help. Parenting 101, by Pamela S.

After 2 hours of rise time, lightly grease a baking sheet. Divide the dough in half and shape each one into a 10 " log. Put dough on pan and spread out to about 3 " wide. When I tried to shape the log it was very sticky but able to keep the shape. I just laid the dough straight onto the pan and shaped it there because it stuck too much to the wooden board I usually use to roll out the dough. Cover with heavily oiled plastic wrap.

It starts out like this:

And, after 2 more hours of rise time, looks like this: I separated it with a knife just enough so it wouldn't bake together. The dough, at this point will have a consistency like Jello, very light, and wiggly.

In a preheated oven at 425°, bake the bread for 22-25 minutes.

After the time is up take the bread off of your pan, turn the oven off, and sit the bread on an oven rack, with the oven slightly ajar, and let cool like this (above).

Ooh, that looks good. It turned out pretty much just like it was supposed to.....so (in my best Borat impression) I would consider this a great success!

When you are ready to make your sammiches, just cut the bread in half and add your ingredients and cook em' up. I do not have room in my cupboards for such a specified appliance as a panini maker so I just took 1 pan, 1 smaller cast iron skillet and cooked them this way.

Just baste the outside of the bread with melted butter or olive oil or a mixture of both (that's the way we like it, uh huh, uh huh). Add the bottom piece of bread to the pan on medium high heat, add ingredients to the bread, and put the top of the bread on, smash down with your smaller skillet and turn once the bottom is browned up. Verdict: it was a hit! And very quick. (the meal itself anyway)

Panini Bread

Biga:

1 1/2 cups Unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1/8 teaspoon instant yeast

Dough:

biga
1 teaspoon insant yeast
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Instructions:

Mix Biga ingredients together and let sit, covered, overnight, for up to 15 hours.
Add all dough ingredients to mixer, including Biga, with flat beater, for 3 minutes on medium speed. The dough should be clearing the sides at this point but if not continue to beat for another 2 minutes.
Switch to dough hook and knead for 3-4 more minutes.
Transfer dough to greased, covered bowl and let rise for 2 hours, punching down once at about an hour.
Divide dough in half.
Transfer the dough to a baking sheet, about 8 x 13 or larger, and shape each piece of dough into a 10 " log. Then flatten out to 3 " across.
Cover the dough with a heavily oiled piece of plastic wrap.
After 2 hours put dough into a preheated 425° oven and bake until golden brown.
Remove loaves of bread from baking sheet, turn oven off, and put loaves back into oven, straight onto rack with door of oven slightly open until loaves are cooled.
Go make yo-self a sammich!

Weekly Menu:

Sunday: Carnitas taquitos (my own recipe with base carnitas at Homesick Texan), Mexican rice

Monday: Mongolian beef, jasmine rice, egg rolls (so good)

Tuesday: Ham & swiss Panini with roasted red potatoes (bread as above)

Wednesday: Garlic oven-fried chicken breasts, roasted cauliflower and broccoli, Mac & cheese

Thursday: Italian sausage with bow-tie pasta, veggies, and fresh parmesan, salad

Friday: eating out

Saturday: leftovers

Homemade Chicken Broth

2011-01-19T08:22:00.016-06:00

Oh man! The crud has really hit our family hard this week. It seems we are not the only ones, as 48 kids were out at our small elementary school yesterday, my youngest being one of them. So, soup is a big must-have this time of year. Even when we aren't sick, we have hot soup to warm us up from the cold Januaryness about once a week.

A good base can make a soup that much better. We use chicken broth like crazy around here so I decided to learn how to make it. I still pick up a can at the grocery store every time I go but when we have roasted chicken for dinner it is a given that the next few days will yield some homemade broth. You have to try it. It is so much better than the canned stuff. It does take a little bit of time so read through and plan accordingly.

So, you want to start with a whole chicken. Save the giblets from the inside. I also pull the neck bone out and save it with the innards. Just put them in a bag and store in the fridge until you are done cooking your chicken & ready to make the broth. Don't be intimidated! There are tons of great, easy recipes for roasting a chicken. Like this one , or this one, or this one. I prefer slow-roasting it in the oven but you can also do it in the crock-pot if you'll be out of the house all day. Once you are done, don't throw away that carcass! (that sounds lovely, eh?)

You will need a big stock pot. Now, throw what's left from your lovely chicken dinner into the pot. Like this:

Add 2 large onions, cut up in large pieces. Leave the skin on. You are going to strain off all of the whole pieces later on.

Wash 2 large carrots and add to pot.

Cut 2 large stalks of celery in half and add.

Add 10 peppercorns.

1 head of garlic. You don't have to peel these either but break them up a bit.

Add 2 tablespoons of salt. I prefer kosher.

Now add enough cold water to cover all of the ingredients.

Put your pot on the stove, cover, and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil turn down to a simmer and simmer for 4-5 hours.

After 4-5 hours, take the pot off of the burner and let it cool. Once cool, put in refrigerator overnight.

The next day take out the stock pot and remove any fat that has formed on the top. Heat up just until warm and then remove all of the big parts of chicken, bones, and veggies. It will be all squishy like this:

Next, strain the rest of the broth to get any smaller pieces out, and you are left with your lovely broth.

I can usually fill about 3 of the containers below, which holds 5 cups each.

If you are using the broth within the next few days than keep in the fridge until you are ready. If not, then freeze it.

When you are ready to use, just pop in the microwave and defrost slowly, or in a sauce pan. Now you are ready to make your favorite chicken noodle, chicken tortilla, or even your favorite Italian wedding soup!

Chicken Broth

1 large chicken carcass & chicken pieces from inside of chicken

2 large onions, roughly cut in big pieces, skin on

2 large carrots

2 large ribs of celery, each cut in half

10 peppercorns

1 head garlic, skin on, broken up

2 tablespoons kosher salt

water

Add all ingredients to pot & cover with water.
Cover and boil.
Reduce and simmer for 4-5 hours.
Cool to room temperature.
Put in fridge overnight.
Take out of fridge & remove fat from the top of the broth.
Warm on oven so it is heated thoroughly.
Remove from oven and remove large pieces of chicken, vegetables, and chicken parts.
Strain into another pot.
Use within the next few days or freeze.

WEEKLY MENU

Being as the whole family was sick this week I'll just include the menu here as it was written out on Sunday. It turns out we ate a lot more soup so far this week (Yay for soup) and skipped a few of these:

Sunday: Grilled Brats & Mac&cheese

Monday: Balsamic Glazed Salmon, rice, & green salad

Tuesday: Hamburgers and fries

Wednesday: Cheesy Enchiladas, rice, & beans

Thursday: Tortellini soup, crispy bread, & salad

Friday: Dinner out

Saturday: Leftovers

Getting Our Paint On

2011-01-16T13:21:00.013-06:00

I learned 2 things while painting our hallway. First, our camera stinks for posting blog pics & 2nd, a little paint can make a big difference. Last year we painted our kitchen and bedroom/master bath and I loved the color so much in our master bath that I had to use it again. The color is Ethiopia from Behr. The swatch looks like a brown but up on the wall it looks like a muddy grey. And I love it! So, here we go.....

First, Corey had to fix a few problems spots on the wall. Between 7 years of kid use & a lab/aussie mix dog chewing on everything, the edges were looking pretty beat up. A little spackle and we were good to go.

Here is a nice before shot, including that hideous sconce we had up. If you remember, we just scored some cool-ass sconces off of Craigslist for $20! I love a good bargain. So, if you walk into our front door, and turn to the right, this is the view into our hallway, or was anyway:

This is the view looking out from our bedroom into the hallway (end of the hall compared to the last shot). That is the same sconce that we just can't wait to get off the wall, and some of our painting supplies ready to go.

Ella just loves helping out and since Corey is not the biggest fan of painting she was a huge help. I did the cut in and Corey did the in-between, bigger sections. Ella was my spot painter & general helper outer. Like, hey Ella go turn the radio on. Hey Ella, go get me a glass of water. Hey Ella, quick, grab a paper towel with water. You get the picture.

Here's the front hallway painted:

And here's the hallway from our master bedroom.

Here is the view from opposite direction looking towards the front entrance pathway.

On 2nd thought, I guess I should have put that there were 3 things I learned when painting the hall. The 3rd being that new paint on the walls really accecentuates the fact that our door frames and baseboards needed some upgrading too. So, we taped up the whole area, as seen here looking at the door leading to our bedroom.

And, here is the picture of the new sconce up with freshly painted walls, doorframes, & baseboards. Nice, eh?

Here is a better shot with the new sconce. The baby gate is up for Ace, our dog, who would wreak havoc if he had access to this hall and into the bedrooms.

And, 1 more shot from the front entryway looking down towards Ella's room.

I have a few more ideas for the hallway that we will be adding shortly but whoa, I'm really happy with the results of our paint. And we are just getting started....

Weekly Menu

2011-01-12T08:04:00.013-06:00

Menu time again.

Stock Up

I want to start by talking about stock items. These are items that you pick up every week at the store. With these on hand, you will have a good start to many different meals. If there is a time, and we all have them, where I am unsure of what to make I know I can always pull some of these items out and whip something up pretty quick. Other times, what you had planned on your menu was just not your mood or you need to get out the door quick, worked late, not feeling well, etc, these basics can help you . Here are my top 10 stock items:

Diced tomatoes
Chicken broth
Pasta (any kind, but spaghetti and fettuccine are tops for us)
Cream of mushroom/cream of chicken
Milk
Fresh garlic
Eggs
Shredded cheese (cheddar & mozzarella are regular visitors in our house)
Rice
Butter

These are the things that are always in my kitchen. I have many more, of course, but these are my top 10. Your stock items may be different but just keep in mind what it is you use on a regular basis and make it a habit of checking for these things before you leave for your grocery shop each week to replenish any of your items that are dwindling or gone. Start off by adding them to your list and you may find that after a while it will become second nature just to pick them up during your shop. Try to buy more when they are on sale. Butter & cheese can be frozen. I hear milk can too but my freezer does not have that much room so we just go week to week on that one.

Part of the beauty of the menu & stock shopping is putting your brain on auto pilot. There are so many important things in your life going on that grocery shopping is probably not at the top of your priority list. So, getting your brain trained to pick up just what you need, and having these items when you need them, already bought, and ready for you in your home, is a step in the direction of simplifying your life.

Here's my menu for the week:

Sunday: Carnitas and refried beans
Monday: Pork Schnitzel & German Potato Salad
Tuesday: Blackened chicken Po Boys and dirty Rice
Wednesday: Chicken noodle soup with garlic bread made with leftover bread from Po Boys
Thursday: Chicken Alfredo with leftover blackened chicken and red leaf Caesar salad
Friday: out to dinner
Saturday: out of town for Camp Tyler (jump rope camp for the girls. Go Bobcat Ropers!)

And yes, I do realize we are having chicken 3 days in a row but the family really wanted the chicken noodle soup & we all decided it was fine since they were all 3 very different dishes.

**Tip** Get to know the people that work at your regular store or stores. You don't have to ask about their life story but say hi, smile, and be friendly. I noticed this at Kroger & again today at Target that the regular workers will point out deals when they recognize you are a regular customer. The regular produce guy at Kroger always points me in the direction of the "good stuff". Last week he showed me some cool Cara Cara pink navel oranges marked to $1 for a bag of 4. He knew that my girls liked to try different types of fruit and thought they might like them. He once brought me 2 pounds of bananas marked to 10 cents when I told him I was making a huge batch of banana bread. Today at Target, I got 2 packages of salmon for 1.99/lb plus each package contained a 50 cent coupon, regularly marked 9.99/lb. The catch (get it catch, salmon, OK that was lame) is these items are usually about to expire. If no one buys them, they cannot sell them so even selling them this much lower is better than throwing them out. In our case, fruit gets inhaled at our house so it doesn't get thrown out. With the meat or fish, either use it the same day or freeze it. You may want to buy freezer bags to make sure the food is stored properly, and if anything ever smells 'off', chunk it. Otherwise, you can save a lot of money this way. I have never gotten sick on meat or fish from a store (knockin on wood) and I buy the marked down stuff pretty regularly, especially when it saves me 8.99 per pound.

Homemade Honey Wheat Bread

2011-01-10T12:47:00.010-06:00

I've come to realize that smells are very important to me. Smells of old books remind me of the many hours I spent in my home town's tiny library. A certain scent of Glade Plug-Ins will always make me a little nauseous because when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter it was the scent we were using when I had terrible morning sickness. The scent of apples and cinnamon and crisp air lets me know that Fall is arriving (my favorite season).

So, my first recipe just had to be one of the most wonderful smells in the world IMO! Fresh baked bread baby. Yum. Who needs fancy candles when you can fill your home with this?

First off, you need to start off with the ingredients, the easy part. I always like to pull mine out and set them together to make sure I have everything I need. Nothing is worse than starting a recipe and realizing you have 1 ingredient missing.

The ingredients for the bread will include warm water, milk, oil, honey, brown sugar, butter, salt, all purpose flour, whole wheat flour (or a 50/50 mix of white & wheat flour), and instant active dry yeast.

Add 1 tablespoon of milk, 2 tablespoons of oil, 2 tablespoons of honey, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of salt into your mixer and stir.

Next add 1 cup of each type of flour (or 2 cups of the 50/50 mix) and the yeast.

Use a dough hook on your mixer and mix up the ingredients listed above. Once the ingredients are mixed up, this is where things can be changed up a little. Different climates and temperatures can yield different results. The end product you are looking for here is soft to the touch, but not so sticky that the dough comes off on your finger when you touch it. At this point I usually add 1/4 cup of each type of flour at a time, letting the flour mix in, and continuing to test it by touch until is the right consistency. Once it is mixed well, and soft, continue at a low speed for 7-10 minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic looking.

After you have mixed the dough put it in a lightly greased big bowl, turning once to coat outside of dough. Put it in a warm spot and cover with a towel for at least an hour. You want it to double in size. In the warmer months, it's easy to find a warm place, but in winter I usually turn on my oven while I'm mixing the dough and set the bowl on top of the oven (not inside, you don't want it to cook). Turn the oven off and let the bowl sit on the warmed up oven. So it goes from this:

To this. Yay, magic!

This is where my youngest, Audrey, comes in. She loves to punch it down. So, punch it down, or let your kids do it, and let it sit for another 10 minutes.

Then, roll it into a rectangle shape as my lovely assistant, Ella, shows us. If the dough is sticky, add some flour to the surface where you are rolling it out.

Once it is in the rectangle, roll the dough into a loaf shape, pinching the edges together and putting into a greased loaf pan, edge side down. If the edges will not come together easily, add a bit of water to your fingers.

Cover, once again, for about 30 minutes or until the bread rises to just over the top of your loaf pan. Then, it is time to turn the oven on and get cooking. You will want to turn your oven on to 350° and bake for 30-35 minutes. If it is browning more than you like, tent a piece of foil and add on top. After the time is up, remove it from oven and let it sit for a few minutes in the pan. We like to add melted butter to the top as shown below.

After about 10 minutes pop bread out on to a wire rack. Now, you can enjoy the bread warm or wrap it up and save it for later. You can also freeze it. I like to double the recipe and make 2 loaves at a time and freeze 1.

If you are like me, I don't like to eat the ends, so I usually save them in a bag in the freezer or a few in a separate bag and use them for croutons or pop them in the food processor for breadcrumbs. Don't let that yumminess go to waste.

Honey Wheat Bread

1 cup water

3 Tbsp butter (2 in bread, 1 for top)

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp milk

2 Tbsp oil

2 Tbsp honey

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups wheat flour

2 1/4 tsp instant active dry yeast

Combine 1st 7 ingredients & mix well.
Add 1 cup of each type of flour and yeast and mix with dough hook. Once combined, continue to add flours, alternating 1/4 at a time and letting flour mix into dough to get a soft, not too sticky consistency.
Once mixed to right consistency, continue on low speed for 7-10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.
Add dough to a lightly greased bowl, in a warm spot, and cover for at least 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Punch down and let rest for 10 minutes.
Roll out into a rectangle shape. Then, form into a loaf and pinch ends together. Put in lightly greased loaf pan.
Let bread sit in loaf pan for another 30 minutes, in a warm place, and covered. Let rise until slightly above edge of pan.
Preheat oven to 350° and bake bread for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and add melted butter. After 10 minutes transfer to wire rack and let cool.