Painting, Painting

Well, this weekend was a weekend filled with painting!  I've resisted putting too many house pictures up because I want to document the transformation as best as I can.  The structure of our house is great but I don't think it has been painted in 20 years since it was built.  It is amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do! Tom could honestly be a professional painter.  I am amazed at how talented my husband is with house projects (he will probably get mad at me for saying that, but it is my blog, so I can write whatever I want, lol).  The way he repaired the nail pops, re-taped the ceilings and corners, not to mention the high ceiling in our entryway, he just continues to amaze me.  The rooms we've repainted have completely transformed them.  So far, we have repainted the loft, the living room, the dining room, and part of the hallway.  We also replaced the carpet in the loft and on the stairs to the loft.  So I will give you a preview of some of our updates so far! Honestly, I feel like this house is fulfilling all of our wishes and dreams together!

The Loft

Before

Look at that rough pink carpet!

   

Dirty walls

 

Tom's repair work

Ripping out that old carpet!

                                                                         

After (we are still decorating, but that is our new carpet and color scheme!)

The Stairs

Old carpet

No carpet

Ahh fresh carpet!

The Dining Room/Living Room

What color should we make that accent wall?

Before

Fresh paint

Dining room accent wall (it's hard to see the colors on here)

In terms of cooking, tonight I made the Pioneer Woman's chicken taco salad and olive loafs!  Both were so good!  The salad had a ton of yummy Mexican inspired ingredients with a salsa ranch dressing.  And if you like olives, you have to try these loaves!  I made a bit too much, so both dads will be sent a personal olive loaf, but they were really great.  I think I am going to make them as an appetizer at our housewarming party.

Chicken Taco Salad

Olive Loafs

I also made PW's pizza's on french loafs.  These were so easy and you can make any kind you want.  Tom and I had so much fun each making our own.  We made regular pizzas with sauce and cheese and then Greek salad pizzas that were so yummy!  For salad pizzas, only heat up the sauce on the bread, keep the lettuce ingredients cool and then top your bread, otherwise it will get soggy.  This was a really easy weeknight dinner!

Toppings Station

  

For dessert tonight, I made my mom's "Pineapple Nut Cake" with "Cream Cheese Icing."  Licking the knife after frosting my cake, made me feel like I was a little girl again in the kitchen with my mom.  She used this icing often, and it is by far my favorite icing in the whole wide world.
                                       

Pineapple Nut Cake
2 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups sugar
20 oz can of crushed pineapple (un-drained)
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
2 cup of chopped walnuts

Beat all of the ingredients together.  Pour into a greased 13 x 9 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Cream Cheese Icing
8 oz cream cheese block
1 stick of butter
1 1/3 cup of confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Beat until smooth and frost the cooled cake.


I also made 2 sets of muffins, chocolate chip and blueberry for a "secret meeting" to be disclosed at a later date.  They were Betty Crocker cake mixes, but they came out really good and I loved how the extras looked in my cake stand.

Tom used to swim on this rock as a kid

Lastly, my North Fork visit today was to Reeve's Beach.  

We brought Indy and we had so much fun!  Indy is still living with Tom's dad even though Tom is eager for him to move in with us.  The big problem is we need a fence which is so much more expensive than we had hoped!  We could probably do it, but it would take like our entire security deposit and tax return that we just got back, which would use up all of our renovation money.  Tom and his dad are ready for Indy to move, I've honestly been the hesitant one.  Indy makes me nervous at times, even though Tom says he is just being playful, but I am a lot less afraid of him than when I first started dating Tom.  My other "pet" peeve, literally lol, is how much he sheds!  I just hate dog hair all over the couch and people's clothes, so Indy is going to need a lot of grooming once he joins us!  Today though at the beach with him, was one of the first times where he almost felt like my pet.  I asked to hold the leash a lot and I really enjoyed walking him out there.  I told Tom, maybe we should get a second dog, one that will be mine and then I will become more of a "dog" person overall.  It is hard to bond with an animal that you didn't raise as a puppy, but because Tom loves him so much, and I love Tom so much, I guess by default I am going to have to grow to love Indy.

Indy is driving to the beach!

Two new best friends?  Maybe...

Overall, we had a great weekend!  Our painting was so productive and I am thrilled how the house is coming along.

Dishes, the not fun part!

New Meals & A New Idea

This week, I made a classic recipe from my mom, macaroni soup.  It is so hearty and delicious and I haven't had it in so long, that it really brought back memories from my childhood for me.  It is fairly easy to make, and so worth the effort it on a cold night.  Tom and I had it on one of the cold rainy nights this weekend, and it was delicious!

Macaroni Soup
Chicken (my mom always used a whole chicken cut-up, but since it was just Tom and I eating it, I used a few chicken breasts)
Soup macaroni (small pasta, like orzo)
2 onions
carrots
Salt
Pepper
Parsley
1 can of tomato sauce
Celery (optional)

Throw in all of the ingredients, except for the macaroni. Bring a big pot of water to a boil, then allow everything to cook for an hour on simmer.  Make sure that the chicken is cooked and that the vegetables are tender.  Cook the macaroni as directed on the box.  Cut up the carrots, celery, and onion on a cutting board and shred the chicken into little pieces.  Then, as you serve it, put a serving of macaroni in each bowl.  Mix in some of the broth, chicken, and vegetables and you are ready to eat!

I also made a super easy salad with a leafy green bagged salad and spinach mix.  I topped it with cherry tomatoes, chunks of fresh mozzarella, and drizzled balsamic dressing on top.  So easy, but so good!



I also made two Pioneer Woman recipes tonight.  I tried her Salisbury steak and garlic mashed potatoes.  The steak tasted like a combination of meatloaf and hamburgers, but Tom seemed to really enjoy the flavors.  The mash potatoes were so creamy and delicious and I loved using my dutch oven from stove top to oven!

For dessert tonight, Tom and I will be having chocolate chip cookie bars.  This is a classic dessert of my mom's and again I haven't had it in a while.  Can't wait to dig into one tonight!



Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

2 1/4 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup of softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a 13 by 9 pan with non stick cooking spray.  In small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.  In a  large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla.  Beat in the eggs.  Gradually, add the flour mixture and mix well (I used my Kitchen-aid mixer for this step, but my mom used to mix by hand).  Sir in the chocolate chips.  Bake at 375 degree for 20-25 minutes.

In North Fork news, Tom and I had lunch at the Jamesport Country Kitchen this weekend.  We both got fried fluke sandwiches and they were so good!  They tasted so fresh and the restaurant was set in a cute little yellow house, filled with cute little waitresses in yellow sweaters!  Definitely check it out, here's their website!

Jamesport Country Kitchen

Lastly, my blog readers, I have two questions for you!  Most of you know about the annual crochet sale we host to raise money to honor my mom and a portion of the proceeds are donated to the American Cancer Society.  This year, Stevi and I discussed including other crafts in addition to our crochet goods to offer more variety at our "Crochet for a Cure" event.  Today, I was thinking that I would love to sell a "Cookbook for a Cure" at this year's event.  My school did a cookbook fundraiser a few years ago and it was a lot of fun.  My thought is I could create a cookbook with classic recipes of mine and my mom's and also ask for submissions from family and friends.  I requested a get started kit from the cookbook company and am really excited by this idea.  The cookbooks would cost $10 each and I would give a portion of the proceeds to the American Cancer Society, just like we do with the crochet items.  The only issue is, I would need to place an minimum order of 100 cookbooks.  I hope they would sell because they are fairly inexpensive and I think people would enjoy them (especially people who submit a recipe), but I don't want to wind up with 90 of them left over.  So my blog reading friends, can you answer the following on my Face book page?

1) Would you consider buying one of these $10 cookbooks if I decided to have them made?
2) Would you be interested in sending me a family favorite recipe of yours? (I am thinking of including  a recipe request with our housewarming party invites, but more info to follow on that).

I would really appreciate your feedback on my "new idea!"  Thanks for reading!