Favorite Things: House Edition

As I was cleaning up the kitchen last night, I was thinking about some items that are staples in our house.  I love reading other blogs about products they love, so I thought I would do my own little version.

1.  Parchment paper.  I use this all the time.  It eliminates using cooking spray on pans in the oven and makes cookies crispier in the oven.  It also makes for easy clean up.

2.  Epsom salt.  This has unlimited possibilities. My chief use of it is for cuts.  I get very dry hands and then subsequently have a lot of hang nails.  You know those times where you have a really sore hang nail?  Heat up water, as hot as you can stand, and mix in a tablespoon of Epsom salt.  Soak the your finger in it and the pain and infection goes away.    No joke.  It's amazing.

3.  Borax.  I use this as a laundry booster.  It's all natural, fragrance free and revitalizes laundry and colors.  I put just a little in each load of laundry I do.  It really helps.

4.  Wool blanket.  Okay, so this one isn't necessarily a product.  My mom always put a wool blanket on our beds growing up in the fall/winter and now I do the same thing.  Amazingly, it adds so much warmth to our bed.  You might immediately think that it would get very scratchy, but the wool blanket is one top of our sheet and microfiber blanket.  Makes our bed so warm and cozy on those chilly nights.  Come spring, I wash it, dry it on my clothesline, and store it away for another year. 

What's For Dinner?

I could not wait to post these two recipes!  All throughout November, I have been trying out different/healthy recipes to see what we like and don't like.   I've had about 85% success.  A few tweeks to the recipes here and there and we've got a nice stash of new recipes!
Here is what we had for dinner last nice and it was delicious!  I am a big fan of coconut and broccoli, but B not so much.  We were surprised how much he liked both of these recipes!  We haven't done much with fish before, besides salmon and tuna, but it's nice to branch out.  **We didn't have Tilapia, but had Flounder, so that is what we used.  Enjoy!!

Coconut Crusted Tilapia

Ingredients: 6 Pieces of Tilapia, thawed
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup Whole Wheat Ritz Crackers, crushed
1/3 cup egg whites
olive oil spray
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Place foil on a cookie sheet and spray with non stick spray.
Combine coconut flakes, Italian crumbs, and crackers in a bowl. Put egg whites in another bowl.
Dip the Tilapia in the egg, then in the coconut crumb mixture. Then place them on a cookie sheet lined with foil.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until Tilapia is done. (Check Tilapia at about 15 minutes and watch it so it won't burn)


Roasted Parmesan Broccoli

Ingredients:
2 cups broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/3 cup fresh shredded Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Dump the broccoli into a large bowl and drizzle oil on top. Toss broccoli to coat with oil. Sprinkle garlic salt on top and mix to incorporate.
Spread broccoli on a large baking sheet covered with aluminum foil and bake for about 15 minutes, until it starts to turn golden brown (you want it to caramelize, but not burn!).
Dump the broccoli back in a bowl as soon as you pull it out of the oven and mix with cheese. Serve immediately.
Serves 2-4.

Calling all Chocoholics!

http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeid=337455170

If you are like me, sometimes you just need a little chocolate pick me up.  As I've gotten older, I've really come to realize that I am a chocoholic.  I really am.  Is that a good or a bad thing?  I don't really know :)

Well, so at a teacher meeting this fall, a teacher was talking about these delicious cookies she had made.  They were fairly low calorie and super easy to make.  Me, being kind of snoopy, listened in and went home and looked up a recipe that I thought was similar.  The ingredients are very simple, cake mix, pumpkin puree, chocolate chips.  Seriously!

We are trying to live a healthy life style, so these cookies fit right in.  Enjoy!

Fall Fun

I knew that as soon as school started back up, our poor blog wouldn't be updated as often! 

We have had quite a busy few months.  Almost every Friday has been taken by B. officiating high school football and now that the football season is winding down, it's nice to have him back on the weekends. 

Fall is such a fun season.  Here's some of our favorites from this fall:

-white pumpkins

-our wool blanket on our bed

-sugar cookie candles

-fleeces

-and of course...

Hawkeye football!

Coming Soon

Check out this "diamond in the rough" for our front porch!  A friend of our family was going to throw this chair away and offered it to my dad who offered it to me and of course was I going to pass it up?  No way! 

MN Vacation

A few weeks ago, my family loaded up the kayak (at that time my parents only had one...) and traveled 7+ hours up to northern MN.  We spent a little under a week at a beautiful lake.  The water and the weather were both glorious, however maybe a little bit chilly for late July weather.  The lake was clear, yes I said clear!  You could kayak out towards the middle and still see the bottom.  We spent the week reading, laying out, having camp fires, swimming, canoeing and kayaking and it was so relaxing!  We tried to convince my parents that they needed to buy a cabin that was for sale up the road from where we rented out cabin :)  Can we go back please??

The fam.!

You can just get a glimpse of our cabin behind A in this picture.

Yes folks, we even had camp fires!

1970s At Its Best!

So, here is the story of this bed.  Before I moved into my first apartment in college, someone from our church offered an old bed frame to my family.  It was from the 1970s (clearly) but it was functional and just what I needed.  I bought a mattress, a friend gave us their box spring and we were set.  This little old bed served its purpose for me, then "moved" out of state to go to college with A.  A got good use out of it and then the bed made its journey back in state to go to college with K last year when she moved into her first apartment.
 
Well, the nice thing about being a teacher is that we get summers off.  So, I decided this summer that after going to college three different times and after countless moves in and out of state, this little old bed needed an update. 
We painted it aqua that my dad had left over from another painting project, distressed it...because that's what I love to do, and set it up in K's new apartment.  It looks great!  Cost of the project?  FREE!!

Chicken Gyros

**You will have a lot of leftover tzatziki sauce if you follow the recipe as written, but I like to have it on hand as a dip for baby carrots and pita triangles, so I make the full amount!




What you'll need:
For serving:
4 pitas or flatbreads, warmed for 20 seconds in the microwave between damp paper towels
Diced tomatoes
Diced red onion
Dried parsley

For the chicken:
2 teaspoons garlic, minced (about 4 cloves)
Juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 heaping tablespoons non-fat greek yogurt (I recommend Fage)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
A few shakes of salt and pepper
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves

Combine all of the above ingredients except for the chicken in a dish, and whisk together to make a marinade. Add in chicken, and turn to coat. Cover, and place in the fridge for 1 hour to marinate.

Meanwhile, make the tzatziki sauce:
16 ounces non-fat Greek yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and very finely diced
1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons minced garlic (3-4 cloves)
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
Salt, pepper, and fresh lemon juice to taste

Using a thick stack of paper towels, squeeze the diced cucumbers to remove as much water as possible. Repeat if necessary. In a medium bowl, combine cucumbers with all of the above ingredients. Cover, and place in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

After the chicken is done marinating, place on a foil lined baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until it is cooked thoroughly and juices run clear. 99% of the time that I make chicken I use these. They are relatively small, cook evenly, and are done in 20 minutes flat. The ginormous breasts (heheh) that I often see at the store might need even longer. Make sure they're cooked to 165 degrees to be safe. (Can you tell I'm kind of neurotic about cooking chicken?)

After your chicken is thoroughly cooked, allow it to rest for a few minutes, and then slice it into strips.

Assemble gyros with chicken, tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, onions, and dried parsley, wrap in foil for ease of eating, and enjoy!

Benjamin Bunny

 

How can such a cute little guy be such a trouble-maker in my garden??

July Recap

B and my favorite "non-human" in the whole entire world, Taffy!

Had a great time at A and R's bridal shower, hosted by his family!

Started July with tackling our bathroom reno.  It's still continuing...

This year we got to see 3 rounds of fireworks.  I loved it!!

Had a "pre-fourth of July" celebration, complete with B and L grilling out!

Went to D.M. to celebrate my b-day and run in a Color Run.

Spent the evening of my b-day by having a picnic on a lake.

My family came up and celebrated my b-day.

Started painting A and R's room.  From an icky brown to a nice chic gray!

I went to a school conference in Minneapolis.  B had to "bach." it while I was gone.

Spent quality time with B's family!

Lemon Meringue Pie

    

Pie Crust

Line a 9 inch pie plate with pastry for a single crust pie, using the recipe for (Nearly) Foolproof Pie Dough, your own favorite recipe or a prepared pie crust of your choice.

 

-Prebake the pie crust - first prick it all over, bottom and sides, with a fork, then 

place it in a preheated oven at 475 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes,
or until lightly browned.
-Remove the pie shell from the oven and allow it to cool.

-Prepare the pie filling.

Lemon Pie Filling
(adapted from “Better Homes and Gardens Complete Step-By-Step Cookbook”)

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons flour
dash of salt
1½ cups water
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
½ cup lemon juice

-Mix sugar, cornstarch, flour and salt in a medium saucepan, stirring well so that ingredients are thoroughly combined. Add water gradually stirring until all ingredients are well mixed.

-Cook mixture over medium high heat until thick and bubbling across the entire surface, stirring constantly, then cook and stir for another 2 minutes.

-Remove from heat. In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks. Gradually pour 1 cup of the cooked mixture into the egg yolks, stirring constantly. Immediately pour the yolk mixture back into the cooked mixture remaining in the saucepan and cook for two more minutes, stirring constantly.

-Add butter and gradually stir in lemon juice until well combined.

-Turn filling into prepared pie shell.

-Top the warm filling with Meringue That Won't Weep.**

-Bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees or until the top of the meringue is a golden color.

-Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Note: This pie is best served several hours after cooking, when the filling has had time to cool and set but before putting it in the refrigerator. In fact the pie tastes delicious served warm, but while it is still warm the filling will run.



**Meringue That Won't Weep
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
2 Tablespoons sugar
½ cup water

3 egg whites (preferably at room temperature)
6 Tablespoons sugar

-Place cornstarch, sugar and water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium low heat until clear. Set aside.
-Beat egg whites until foamy and beginning to peak. Add cooled cornstarch mixture.
-Continue beating the egg whites while gradually adding 6 Tablespoons of sugar. Beat until very creamy.
-Pile meringue on pie spreading it to touch the edge of the crust all around.
-Bake 30 minutes at 325 degrees, or until the top is kissed with a golden brown color.

Serve with confidence and enjoy!

For the Love of Your Neighbor

This is a public service announcement: 

Please folks, do not put wallpaper up in your house!

B working hard at scraping!

B and I are starting a bathroom renovation and spent a good portion of a week scraping off wallpaper.  Yuck!!  It's just not worth it! 
By the way, you can find lots of great stencils if you really want a pattern on your walls.

Before

Wedding Bells

The night they got engaged!

 

My younger sister, A, is getting married in August and we have spent the past several months getting ready for her big day!

Most recently we had a shower for A and R and I wanted to post some pictures from their shower day.  One of the games we played is called The Shoe Game and is hilarious!  The point of the game is really just another way for your guests to get to know the couple a bit better, but most of all, it's for laughs and comic relief.  Here are some of the questions we used (you can adapt them however you want):
1. Who is older?
2. Who has more siblings?
3. When you first met, who made the first move?
4. Who is the better driver?
5. Who has been in more car accidents?
6. Who studied the hardest in school?
7. Who got better grades in school?
8. Who is smarter?
9. Who is more creative?
10. Who is better at keeping surprises?
11. Who will be doing the cooking?
12. Who is more adventurous?
13. Who is more likely to get injured?
14. Who is more likely to get sunburned?
15. Who is more likely to be running late?
16. Who is the better dresser?
17. Who is better looking?
18. Who said I love you first?
19. Who starts the argument?
20. Who is first to say “I’m sorry?”
21. Who wears the pants in your relationship?
22. Who spends more money?
23. Who is going to pay the bills?
24. Who will be in control of the remote?
25. Who will be most likely to wake up grumpy?
26. Who is more likely to get lost?
27. Who is more likely to ask for directions?
28. Who is messier?
29. Who has the smelliest feet?
30. Right now, who do you love more than anyone in the world?

The beautiful bride in the middle, with 4 of her 5 bridesmaids.

We are very excited for their wedding and I think my dad and hubby are excited to have another man in the family!

Love you guys!!