Sweet Tea and Buckeyes

Full of Hot Air!

2011-07-24T21:18:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I found out that about 30 minutes north of us there is a Hot Air Balloon Festival held each year. There is tons of stuff to do, but I was really interested in what they call the Balloon Glow. So, I dragged Jeremy along on another photo adventure.

We were supposed to pay $8 per car to enter, but apparently since we got there at the tail end of the evening, we got a free pass! Come to find out, they were worried they wouldn't be able to do the glow because of the winds. See, winds are great for flying a balloon, but not so much for making it sit on the ground, stationary.

This balloon was called the flying purple people eater....ala "One Eyed, One Horned Flying Purple People Eater....sure looks strange to me!" (Please tell me that song is now stuck in your head too)

I loved seeing the HUGE flames to create the hot air to inflate the balloon.

They had to do the glow when they could get the balloons up, so anytime anyone got theirs up and stable, we would count down and they would GLOW!

Almost all lit up!

This was one of my favorites and stayed lit for most of the show.

All 5 lit up!

Then at the very end, skydivers with pyrotechnics....fireworks in normal terms....on their FEET came down from the sky. Yep, as if skydiving wasn't enough of a thrill, they had to attach exploding balls of fire to their feet. Hmmmmm, wonder if I could do that tandem??? :)

Sprocket Spunky!

2011-04-29T18:12:00.001-04:00

I finally got around to making my sprocket pillows from this awesome site!
Something about the circle appeals to me in the way color wheels do....hmm there's an idea....maybe I should make a ROY G BIV version!

She was the inspiration for the quilt I just recently finished too. These pillows are pretty easy. The edge is sorta tricky (at least for my amatuer sewing skills) but I was pretty happy with it. I think I will make more.

The backside. I might have to do a double sided sprocket with multiple fabrics on both sides! So much fun!

Latest Project

2011-04-16T20:09:00.009-04:00

I finally finished my most recent project. Jeremy jokes (okay maybe he's serious), that I start all sorts of projects and never finish them. Well on top of all the house projects that I (and he) have completed this year because of putting it on the market, I also finished my first quilt.

I used a simple stripe for the backside.
I found a blog that I love! She has the most beautiful combos of fabrics and lots of fun ideas. They aren't even all quilts so check it out even if you don't want to quilt.
But anyways, this is her tutorial that I used for this quilt. It was not difficult but very time consuming.

I love the way it already looks worn in with the raw edges on the circles!

I learned how to stipple or free-motion quilt on my machine....not the easiest thing in the world.

Somoa even likes it! Just kidding, I totally staged this picture. I like to use my quilts but I am not letting her lay on this one.

I put a vintage filter on this photo and I love how fun the quilt looks in the tree.

Food Mood

2011-03-30T14:18:00.001-04:00

Its been a while. I have been cooking....just not blogging. We have our house on the market and so any time not spent on anything to do with that has been spent doing other things....outside. Except this week Ohio decided to plunge itself back into winter. Its snowing out right now....for realz!
I apologize....I somehow became a 14 year old there for a sec.
Anyways, here are a few things I have made lately

image from http://whatscookingmexico.com/2008/04/13/chorizo-and-eggs/

Huevos con Chorizo (Eggs with Sausage....mexican style!)
I bought some yummy fresh Mexican Chorizo at Findlay market. I finally got my husband to go. ( I had to go once I found out about it when I moved to Cincinnati....while he has lived here his whole life and had never been.) Now he's hooked! He loved it and even convinced his ma and pa to go down....I think they are hooked too.
Anyways, just cook 2 chorizo in a skillet (remove it from the casing and cook like ground beef.) In a separate bowl, whisk 6 eggs with a bit of milk. Move browned chorizo to one side of skillet and pour eggs into the other side. Scramble eggs and then combine with chorizo. I added a couple tablespoons of salsa here in this step.

This is the brand my store sells. Go with whatever you find!

I serve this with refried black beans....read again: black beans. Super super full of flavor and better than their normal counterparts for your waistline. So, back to what I serve this with, refried black beans, sliced avacado, sour cream, corn tortillas, cilantro and queso fresco. There are a bunch of different mexican cheeses that even Kroger now carries. They are usually in the Hispanic aisle refrigerated case.
This is an extremely quick, cheap and yummy meal.....and actually pretty healthy!

Chicken in Cream Caper Sauce
This is a modification of a recipe that a friend made for me coupled with an allrecipes recipe. I will tell you the modifications I made to the allrecipes version below.
I read a bunch of the comments and took different advice. Hopefully you can follow what I did.
Seasoned chicken with S&P and dill.....no lemon pepper.
Cooked in skilled according to AR( All Recipes)
Deglaze the pan with juice from half a lemon and a swish of white wine. (I don't measure much....sorry!)
Then begin to add the cream, but double it....every review said you needed more sauce for 4 pieces of chicken, plus its so yummy I wanted to put it on everything!
If you are impatient like me and you want to thicken the sauce quickly, remove about 3 Tbsp. of the sauce and add 1 tbsp of arrowroot powder or cornstarch...mix thoroughly and then add back to pan. (You must do this or you will just have lumps of cornstarch....YUCK!
In addition to the capers added at the end, I grated about 1/4 cup of Parmesean cheese into mine and gave another good squeeze of lemon at the end.
Served with Jasmin rice cooked in chicken stock and green beans......oh and the sauce went on everything. It's super yummy!

Blackened Mahi-Mahi, Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Quinoa and Green Chile Corn Muffins
I know what you are thinking....at least what my sister is thinking....brussel sprouts? Have you gone crazy!?
My parents gardened a lot when I was little and while I don't remember eating much of it, my sister does.....and they aren't always fond memories.
Not to mention the fact that when we got married, Jeremy wouldn't eat anything but meat and potatoes.....and by meat I mean red meat. I once tried to use ground turkey instead of ground beef. That brewed into an argument about how I was trying to poison him! :)
He has become such a different eater! He will try anything! In fact, he suggested the fish and the brussel sprouts!
Anyways, I just use the spices from this recipe and cook the fish for about 3-4 minutes a side in a cast iron skillet.(I don't use the recipe, just the ingredients)
The brussels were baby sized and super fresh. I cut them in half, threw them in a bowl with olive oil, lemon juice and S & P and tossed, put them on a baking sheet in the 450 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes. They get sweet, tender on the inside and have a nice crust on the outside.
I cooked the quinoa with 1/2 onion sauteed, 1 clove garlic, 1 tsp cumin and red pepper and chicken stock.
Green Chile Corn Muffins are a Paula Deen recipe that is naturally GF....it only uses corn meal. (No, Jiffy is not just corn meal...you wouldn't believe how many people think the corn muffins they are used to eating are just corn meal....they usually aren't!) Although, I had to add some sugar because we always had sugar in our cornbread growing up.

I saw a few new recipes today that I want to put on my menu for next week so I thought I would share them with ya'll!
Slow cooker Chicken Curry
Beef with Peppers Stir Fry

Cleaning, Crafting, and Chinese food!

2011-03-06T19:32:00.000-05:00

So after months of having our house on the market and being excited for people to come see it, we finally had a showing. (We had one a couple of weeks ago but it was a drive by, not a scheduled one.) Jeremy and I spent much of yesterday putting finishing touches on the house and cleaning up. We haven't heard yet how it went but are keeping our fingers crossed!

We had to run a couple of errands. One for some baby bok choy and other veggies to make this meal from my meal plan. I haven't done much home chinese cooking but they turned out really yummy and didn't take a lot of time....and they are pretty cheap! Only downside is that they made a lot of dirty dishes!

The other errand was to pick up some fabric to make this!

My friends just adopted their first baby and I was honored to photograph him last weekend. His room is decked out in argyle so I came up with this idea for sprucing up a plain gray hoodie. I didn't take a before shot, but it was an inexpensive hoodie from Target. With a little bit of fabric (could have used scraps if I'd of had any that I liked the pattern and color for) some interfacing and fun colors of thread, this is what I came up with!

Food Mood....spring is coming

2011-03-01T10:05:00.001-05:00

I don't have a whole lot of super springy meals this week, but I am leaning away from comfort food and towards using more veggies and stuff again....and the grill!

#1 Porkchops with Mushroom Risotto
I seasoned the porkchops with salt and pepper, basil, parsley, red pepper and coriander. Its a nice herb blend that is just a hint of flavor. Grill on medium heat for approx 7-8 minutes per side for a 1" thick chop.
The link for the mushroom risotto is above.
I also just steamed some green beans.....and cooked some crescent rolls for Jeremy b/c he says he never gets any "real"(meaning gluten filled) foods! :)

#2 Lasagna Rollups
These can be made from a bunch of different recipes online and also can be prepared and frozen to be cooked another night. BONUS!
I just brown 1 lb ground beef in a skillet with 1/2 onion and 2 cloves garlic. Mix into bowl with 1 container ricotta cheese. Add in any spices....we like Italian seasoning and red pepper. You can also add 1/2 package frozen spinach drained to this for some health benefit. While the ground beef is cooking, boil water and cook lasagna noodles till they still have some bite. Then simply roll up your rolls, putting some of the beef/cheese mixture into each noodle and placing seam side down in a 9x13 pan. Pour marinara sauce over the top and cover with Italian cheeses. Bake until bubbly at 350. About 20 minutes.

#3 Spinach Meatloaf & Potatoes
This is based on a meatloaf I saw the other day on some HGTV show. They used turkey, feel free to do the same, but we have lots of ground beef b/c we bought 1/4 of a cow back in the fall. Its all grass fed and hormone free so I never feel bad about eating it. You don't even have to drain the meat after browning b/c its so lean!

Mix together 1 lb ground beef with 1 egg, 1/2 breadcrumbs (GF of course), Italian seasoning, and 1/4 cup marinara sauce. Spread mixture on parchment or aluminum foil on sheet pan. Take 1/2 pkg of frozen spinach and drain (squeeze to get all the moisture out) spread over the meat. Sprinkle 1-2 cups of mozzerella cheese over spinach. Roll meatloaf up and place seam side down on baking sheet. Brush more marinara sauce on top. Bake at 350 until cooked through. Serve with oven potatoes or mashed potatoes.

#4 Egg Foo Yung
this is a new recipe for me so if you make it, let me know how it turns out and how you like it.

Monday what!?

2011-02-28T15:12:00.001-05:00

This is pretty much how I feel today....some of it for good reasons:

#1. I am super busy at work....always a good thing (because it means you have work to do),even if it is because you finished the directed work on time...even early...only to have someone change it 6 hours before it has to be mailed out to the client.

#2. We got a call that we have a showing on our house tomorrow.
   a. This is a VERY good thing
   b. This means I have to finish painting the ceiling in the office....tonight
   c. We need to clean b/c all I did this weekend was pickup and vaccuum. Dusting and mopping on the list for.....tonight

#3. We are completely out of food at my house and therefore need to make a trip to the grocery store.....tonight

#4 I don't have anything made for dinner yet....so add that to the list.

Is anyone seeing a pattern here?
Too much to do after work tonight.....but here's to hoping for a good showing and eager buyers!

Sugarcreek MetroPark

2011-02-25T18:49:00.002-05:00

...

Last weekend on one of the warmest days this season, Jeremy, the dogs and I set out for a new park....new to us anyways. While I miss hiking in the smokies, I have found some nice areas around here to go. This was no exception.....

The trails are very nicely marked and there is a lot of water running through the park, which is something I like...the sounds and the sights.

Somoa likes the creek crossings and almost always dips her feet in as she crosses.....Rosco on the other hand usually does everything he can to stay out of the water.

These ducks were quite intriguing...but way too shy of our pups!

This weird knot in this tree made me wonder what it had grown over.

I told Jeremy that I kept getting pictures of him without his eyes b/c he was looking down....not sure this goofy smile is what I had in mind....but then again, it is kinda cute.

This is the osage orange tree tunnel. Apparently back in the 1800's people planted these trees extremely close together to form a sort of fence. They have since grown over the trail and made an absolutely beautiful little tunnel. I want to go back to see this in the spring!

Rosco and Jeremy had to pose on top of this fallen tree.

Then Jeremy made me pose.....then I decided to never again take a photo with my hair all pulled back like this....I look bald!

This little fuzzy catepillar almost got nixed when Somoa decided to jump down the creek bank and then back up it. I think he was okay when we left.

This was a look down the creek....I am guessing Sugarcreek....since the name of the park and all.

These last two show Rosco and his true love of the water.

Jeremy decided to "take" him out into the creek. I realize that the first photo he kind of looks like he is enjoying splashing through the water....trust me, he's not.

The second photo is more characteristic....

Can someone help me get off this rock?

Clean out the Cupboard Meals

2011-02-22T19:44:00.000-05:00

This week I didn't really feel like making a real meal plan....and I had some random items on hand.....so here we have it. Two recipes (I call them that loosely) that you can hopefully make from leftovers in your fridge and pantry.

The first is what I ended up calling Enchilada Lasagna.
What you need:
Corn tortillas
1 lb ground beef
large can of refried beans
1/4 onion chopped
can of enchilada sauce
cheese...lots of it

I sauteed the onion and then added the ground beef in a skillet. Add the refried beans.Add a little bit of enchilada sauce. Heat remaining enchilada sauce in a small saucepan. When you have everything cooked in the beef skillet and heated in the enchilada sauce pan assembly goes like this.....#1 Dip corn tortilla in enchilada sauce. #2 Layer 6 tortillas like this in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. #3 Cover with 1/3 of the bean/beef mixture. #4 Cover with cheese. #5 Repeat from step #1 until the pan is full. Then pour remaining enchilada sauce on top. Bake at 375 for about 20-25 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and heated through.
We served ours with mexican rice (which was just instant brown rice cooked and then a can of Rotel added toward the end of cooking time.) and sour cream and fresh cilantro on top.

Recipe #2 Pantry Pasta

This is definitely a variation on the pasta rosa, tomato/cream, alfredo thingy that I love.
Here's the ingredients I used:
1/4 jar of Ragu left in the fridge from making pizzas
1/2 jar of Alfredo sauce left in the fridge from making pizzas
1 can diced tomatoes
3 chicken breasts diced
2 cloves garlic
the end of a block of parmesean
Italian Seasoning
Crushed Red Pepper flake
8 oz pasta swirl (or any other short cut pasta)

Sprinkle chicken with S&P and Italian seasoning and saute in skillet with EVOO. In the meantime, cook pasta according to directions just to al dente. Add minced garlic to chicken. Add canned tomatoes. Add leftover sauces and Red Pepper and 1 tsp of Italian seasoning. (If you had any leftover white wine that would be good here too) Once pasta is finished, drain and add to pan with chicken mixture. Allow to cook for about another 4-5 minutes. The pasta will finish cooking in the sauce and will absorb the flavors. Add shredded parm. Add fresh parsley to the top if you have any. (I did not, so I added some dried).

Pioneer Woman rides into Cincinnati!

2011-02-21T20:48:00.002-05:00

Please tell me you know who this is.....if you don't, I'll forgive you, but only this once.

See, this is my kind of celebrity. For the past month or so George Clooney has been shooting a new movie here in Cincinnati and many people are out trying to catch a glimpse of him....not me. I am after this chica!

I found her! In a bookstore in Rookwood! (Okay, she was there for a book signing and I had a line number and was only pretending to be the papparazi hiding behind the kiosk of windchimes....which is why there is so much bluriness in these photos....but still!)

Oh she isn't going to like that shot! Who am I kidding? She isn't reading my blog....but just in case, Ree, sorry about that one!

Not sure why once I got to meet her that I was afraid to touch her....and you can't see the fact that I am totally giddy in this photo. Oh, and, if you catch me wearing this outfit a bunch.....there's a reason. Ree said, "You look really cute! I like your outfit!" Yep, I was pumped! I mean, after all she is the queen of cute style, cooking, photography, and generally making everyday things funny.....not that its my everyday to have cow manure on my porch....but in her world it is, and its hilarious!

And this is my friend Allison, without whom I would have missed this glorious evening. See, even though I read the Pioneer Woman every day, somehow I missed the small detail that she was coming to Cincinnati. Luckily Allison was in the bookstore and saw the promotional banner and since her love for her basset hound Daisy gave her a connection to Ree right away, she was nice enough to get a line letter for me.

So, in case you haven't heard of her/(are living under a rock) check out her website blog....and her cookbook. They are fantastic! And if you hear of her coming within 100 miles of Cincinnati again, please call me to make sure I know!

Aileron

2011-02-19T20:32:00.002-05:00

This is a bit different from my regular posts but since I actually work as an Interior Designer for 40 hours a week it seemed fitting to share.
About a month ago the design group from my office took a field trip just north of Dayton to a place called Aileron. Its difficult to explain but is basically a place to work but unwind from the norm. It was created by a man who used to own the Iams pet food line after he sold it and wanted to do something for businesses. We were there taking in the designs.

This is the main lobby (oh and Andrea is going to love me for posting this:) and then if you turn around...

you see these stairs leading to the lower lobby. The day we went was obviously during the winter and the outside was just a vast sea of snow, but during the rest of the year they have beautiful reflecting pools outside these huge expanses of glass.

and then this is the lower lobby with wood burning fireplace and all. It was very cozy on a cold day!

This is looking back up the fireplace wall. These are limestone bricks from what I could tell. Very soft to the touch and then inspirational words in place of some of the stone.

These next pictures were from the "dream" room. I would have stayed here all day. Three sides of the room are glass and the whole space is actually cantilevered off the building. (that means there is nothing holding it up like columns or a wall below for you guys that are looking at me like I am smart....I am not, I just went to school for this stuff so I can use big words and sound smart :) All of my large vocabulary relates to architecture.

The carpet is plush, the chairs are plush, the room is designed to feel like a cloud and even these curtains make me want to curl up and never leave. Look at all the fun nubbies!

There is a wrapping wall (no that's not a technical term but at least I didn't make up a word....just a term!) that is a cloud graphic with a chalkboard for ideas.

and I loved this ceiling detail

Okay, done with the dream room. This little piece was in a hallway and I loved the idea here. If you look closely, the log looks like it continues right through that pane of glass. In all actuality it is cut but what is neat is that at one point it was one tree but now the part that is outside is weathered by, well, the weather and the part that is inside is "weathered" by people touching it. Neat to see the difference! (Oh, on a side note, this place won a LEED certification. It sits on a lot of acres and most of the trees that were cut were used for construction. There are many other things that make it a LEED building but that pertained to this log that I was talking about and I can't get too far off topic!)

And this last picture you have to look far in the distance to see the "aileron" sculptures. I will leave it to you to google that word and find out what it means. These sculptures actually wave or flap when the winds are strong to imitate a bird in flight. Pretty cool!

Another pasta dish

2011-01-25T16:00:00.003-05:00

So I have a slight obsession with tomato, cream, spinach based pasta dishes, but roll with me here. I made this last night and while it isn't very different from some others that I have made, I still love it. Plus it helped clear out my fridge.

3 cloves of garlic
1/2 jar pasta sauce
1 can petite diced tomatoes-drained
3-4 chicken breasts (I use the 4oz portion ones)
1/2 pkg of baby spinach
1/2 cup heavy cream
Italian seasoning
Crushed Red Pepper Flake
Parmesan cheese
16oz penne pasta (GF of course!--Trader Joes is my favorite)

Bring a large pot of water to boil and add pasta. Cook to al dente.

While pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium heat with about 2 Tablespoons of EVOO. Dice chicken and season with S&P and Italian seasoning. Cook chicken until done in skillet, add garlic and saute. Add in can of tomatoes 1/2 jar of pasta sauce and spinach. I had this stuff around the perimeter of my pan so it cooked slower. You really just want to heat it through and wilt the spinach. Towards the end, pour in the cream and season to taste. I love spicy so we always add some type of red pepper but feel free to leave it out. Remove from heat and add tons of Parmesan cheese to your liking.

**Note: If you have an onion handy, chopping it up and adding to the pan after the chicken would add a lot, I didn't have one and wasn't going back out last night.

By the way, if any of you have made it this far and are still reading, congrats! Also, let me know what you think of the new fonts! I was excited to find out Blogger had some new ones, so I used them......opinions?

Taking a Break

2011-01-23T18:21:00.000-05:00

So after working on photo edits tonight I decided to take a break and reupholster this cute chair I found on Craigslist for $20. Usually that sounds a little high for CL but this chair was really in great condition....minus the one spot in the super ugly upholstery. (Sorry, no before pics but it was a marble-y maroon vinyl....uh huh.)

So, I found this fabric at Swatches, the cutest fabric shop and since they were having a sale this weekend, it was only $8/yard! I will probably shoot myself for not buying more because......oh well you will know in a minute.

See how the back of the seat cushion is rounded....not the front? Um hmm. Somehow after I took the seat off the chair I forgot this detail and proceeded to attach my cute little birdies UPSIDE DOWN! Good grief! Blonde moment much? I was so excited when I got all the staples in only to turn around and put it on the chair and see my mistake.

So I took it all back off, cut a new piece (because I had already trimmed the back and that piece would no longer work) and put it back on the chair.

So, my little "break" turned out to take a little longer.....but I still like my little birdies!

Pasta Carbonara

2011-01-17T18:31:00.021-05:00

This is a recipe I promised you last week and one of the first I have tried to photograph step by step. My favorite blogger/photographer/chef Ree inspired me with her step by step instructions. If you haven't heard of her, I dare ask...."WHERE IN THE WORLD HAVE YOU BEEN!" :) Okay, now that that is done, on with the recipe.

Oh and a sidenote, I just wanted to get these posted so forgive the slight yellow tint. I didn't want to take the time to edit them and since we are in the depth of winter.....sadly no natural light. :(

This was inspired by a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives episode and I wanted to try something without looking up on Allrecipes. Really with the ingredients I was failproof......bacon? cream? pasta? yes! yes! and yes! So here we go. (On a sidenote, I was making this for 2....in all honesty I could have eaten the whole pan but you may want to double depending on the size group you are cooking for....or your appetite!)

First, cut up bacon and put in pan on medium heat. Actually, before this put on a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cook bacon until crisp and remove to paper towel. Drain most of the grease out of the pan.

Dice up onion.(Oh and that is my new Fiestaware pitcher in the background....in case anyone cares!)

Once water comes to a boil add salt & pasta and stir once around the pot.

Add onion to pan and make sure not to burn.
Try to act like you are okay with your picture being taken by your husband as he walks in and asks what you are doing! :)

Okay, now add the garlic to the pan again being sure not to burn. Burnt garlic tastes icky.

Add white wine to the pan. (Yes I know the cap is on mine....yes I bought wine with a cap....I missed taking the shot the first time so I insisted on acting it out)

Add bacon back to the pan.

Add cream to the pan.

Add Parmesan cheese to the pan....oops! After you add the pasta back. Apparently I missed that shot. Doing step by step photography would be much easier if you weren't also cooking the meal!

Plate and enjoy!

Recipe for Pasta Carbonara for 2

1/2 onion

4 strips thick cut bacon

1/2 cup white wine

2 tsp minced garlic

8 oz penne pasta (or whatever cut you want to use)

1/2 cup heavy cream

5oz container of parmesan cheese shredded

salt and pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil for pasta. Cut bacon into pieces and brown in skillet. Remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate and drain most of the grease. Drop pasta in water. Add diced onion to bacon grease left in skillet. Cook until tender. Add garlic. Cook for about 2 minutes....be sure not to scorch. Add white wine and stir. Add bacon back to pan. Add heavy cream. Add drained pasta to pan. Lastly, turn off the heat and add cheese. Taste and adjust S&P accordingly.

REMEMBER TO DOUBLE OR TRIPLE THIS RECIPE IF YOU ARE COOKING FOR MORE THAN 2! (Trust me...I wanted to eat all of it.)

Also, I have to make mention of two fabulous pieces of equipment. My new tripod that my sister gave me for Christmas came in very handy for taking these pictures and my new spider strainer (which up until today I didn't know the name for.) that Jeremy got me for Christmas. I kept seeing Giada and other Food Network stars using them and he researched and found out what they were. Shopping at Williams Sonoma is no joke!

Food Mood-Snowed In

2011-01-12T16:43:00.001-05:00

So since moving from Knoxville to Cincinnati I have seen my fair share of snow. The weather is weird, its way colder here in the winter but hotter in the summer than K-town. Anyways, this week both towns have gotten dumped on with a significant amount of snow. The difference is that here in Cincy, life goes on....sometimes slower but people still go to work. Kids did get one day off. But! In Knoxville everyone is home! Not fair! Okay I am done with my rant....I guess I have to deal with it. So, in honor of the cold and snow, here are some comfort foods for this week.

#1 Butter Chicken
The name of this dish is very deceiving. Its Indian. There is a bit of butter. There are a bunch of other ingredients. Nothing about it would make me call it Butter Chicken. Its yummy! I didn't use Cardamom b/c I didn't have any and it was $12.00 at Kroger (are you kidding me?)

#2 Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
Make sure to use all the revisions of the first person that commented. Obviously I have to use GF Cream of Mushroom. Oh, and GF Noodles.

#3 Shrimp Fried Rice
I have made this before with chicken and decided to mix it up this week by using shrimp. Be sure to use GF soy sauce if needed. (LaChoy brand is GF)

#4 Burgers and Argentinean Potato Salad (Ensalada Rusa)
I had potato salad in Argentina like none I have ever had before. I think one of the main differences is that the mayo in Argentina is super yummy. It has a more lemon-y flavor and they use it for everything. It seems weird that there are veggies in this too but trust me, its good! I do use frozen veggies steamed instead of canned.

#5 Pasta Carbonara
This last one was inspired by an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives that I watched the other night. I am going to create this on the go and hopefully will let you know how it goes next week. Maybe even with pictures!

Food Mood!

2011-01-04T15:23:00.002-05:00

Okay so its been an entire month since I posted....anything. Its been even longer since I posted meal plans and to keep myself excited about doing that I decided to name these posts for 2011. Food Mood it is! So here's the first stab at a week of meals for 2011!

Day #1-Take out
This involved no cooking. I had dog training and am in the process of painting and redoing the home office so I felt like getting a pizza. Most of you think this is a normal thing but for gluten free folks, its a special occasion. I picked up a ham, artichoke heart and grilled chicken pizza from BJ's in Tri-County mall....because its yummy! After that I got my paint on and IKEA building skills.....pictures to come later in the week!

Day #2--Stuffed Peppers
This is actually tonight's meal because I just can't seem to get these things out at the beginning of the week.
Stuffed Peppers
Follow some of the suggestions from the people in the comments section. I also am not using tomato soup b/c I have this wonderful box soup from the organic section in Kroger that I am going to use up.
I have a friend at work who doesn't like the whole peppers so she cuts them up and bakes all of this in a casserole dish if your kids aren't big pepper fans!

Day #3-Tuscan Soup
I stole this soup recipe from my sister over the Christmas break which I am pretty sure she stole from someone so its all good!
8 cups chicken broth
1 onion-chopped
12 oz sausage-mild or hot if you prefer
3 large potatoes-chopped
10 oz pkg of fresh baby spinach-chopped (not sure I will go to the trouble..it cooks down pretty small)
1/2 cup mushrooms-chopped
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I can't read what it says so I am going with parmesean)

Brown sausage, add onion. Cook over medium heat. Add broth and potatoes. Boil until potatoes cooked...about 20 minutes. Add spinach & mushrooms. Continue until lightly cooked. Remove from heat. Stir in whipping cream and cheese. Season to taste.

Day #4-Chile Rellenos
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chile-Rellenos/Detail.aspx
This recipe came about because neighbors of our friends gave us a bag of jalapaneos and poblano peppers the other day and I hate to see them go bad. I haven't made these before but I am up for a challenge.
I will make them with rice and refried black beans.

Since the soup will make more than enough, we will probably have that for leftovers and this weekend is still up for debate. Jeremy is supposed to go hunting in Pike county but there is a chance of snow :(. (In our family, snow means work....which is great for extra money....not great for getting away for the weekend.)

Not as bad as the Griswolds....

2010-12-05T18:05:00.001-05:00

Every year I look forward to coming up with a cool idea for our Christmas Card picture. Our dogs are pretty good at posing so they usually get roped it to the picture too. In past years I have handmade all the cards we send out but I just don't have the time this year. I am going to use Shutterfly instead!
Its a hassle enough to just get Jeremy out for 10 minutes to do the pictures and with all other holiday stuff this year I decided to let someone else do the designing for me. ( I know, a rarity!) I am usually too picky, wanting to move something a little here or adjust colors there. But there are a ton of cute cards on here.
This one I like but I have to do a horizontal layout because of the way I took our picture. I can't show you which one I picked out but I am excited.
I also like these calendars. A friend of mine made them for her family and I might have to use that idea as well. Very cute!

Halloween Pups

2010-11-06T18:03:00.000-04:00

Somoa likes to chase squirrels so she decided to go incognito.

I wanted Rosco to be a banana split but the costume had a ton of pink on it....so he was a mounted moose head.

Isn't she a cutie?

Believe it or not these guys kept these on all through trick-or-treating....no, I didn't take them trick-or-treating. We passed out candy and they greeted all the kids. Rosco was often mistaken for a reindeer and Somoa got called a dolphin once...:)

House Week 8

2010-10-26T20:25:00.001-04:00

Okay, this is really really late, like three weeks I think. Last week Neil and Michelle only went up, the week before that I wasn't able to go, so yeah....three weeks ago!

Remember that weird trap door that is the access to the crawl space? Here it is tiled with handles for lifting.The handles had to be flush so the fridge could roll over it.

Front entry tile so you don't get the carpet muddy when you come in!

Pulls on the cabinets in the kitchen.

Front porch, fully equipped with a swing! I got this for a deal off Craigs List. (the new columns went up the next week)

New privacy fence

New garage door and remaining siding. (This got painted last week)

Unfortunately I do not have final pictures yet. Carpet is going in this week and we are having a block party on Saturday. We will be inviting the neighborhood, church, and anyone else who is interested. Come by, have a hot dog and see the end results! If you can't or aren't in the area, I will post final pictures after the block party.

Crock Pot Week-Meal Plan

2010-10-26T11:02:00.001-04:00

This week I wanted easy. I didn't have a lot of time in the evening so I wanted to come home to a mostly already cooked meal. So far, so good. I do have a disclaimer though....these are not meals for company. Since they are crock-pot...they don't look so pretty. But they taste pretty darn good, and that's all that really mattered to us!

Meal #1-Lasagna
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/01/super-easy-crockpot-lasagna.html
I highly recommend seasoning this pretty well. I didn't add much seasoning and it needed a bit more. It was fine with a little salt but definitely season. Oh, and this really isn't pretty but still yummy. I also used frozen chopped spinach (its cheaper). Just be sure to defrost and squeeze the water out of it.

Meal #2-Enchilada Bake
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/01/crockpot-enchilada-casserole-recipe.html
This is up for tonight so I can't tell you much yet, except to say there will not be black olives in mine. Yuck! We will garnish with cilantro, salsa, and sour cream.

Meal #3-Creamy Beef over Noodles
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/04/creamy-beef-over-noodles-crockpot.html
This just looks like comfort food to me. It will be our Wednesday so I can't tell you yet what I think. I might have to add some veggies on the side though.

Meal #4-Chick Fil A
Supporting my sis and her family for a fundraiser night

Meal #5-Gumbo
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/04/crockpot-gumbo-recipe.html
Now this is majorly lacking in the spice department so you will want to spice it up if you like traditional Gumbo. I will be.

These all come from a really cool gal who decided to use her crock-pot every day of 2008. She has since written a cookbook. Most of her recipes are on her website, but if you are like me, you just like to have the actual cookbook....and its very inexpensive. She usually does a "verdict" section where she tells you if her husband and kids liked the meal. Very helpful. Also, keep in mind that most of her meals are pretty low on the spice level for her kids, so if you love spicy stuff like me, you will have to add that on your own. Oh, and a bonus....they are all Gluten free!

MELTing over this restaurant!

2010-10-15T09:38:00.000-04:00

image from http://cincinnati.metromix.com/restaurants/eclectic/melt-northside/606028/content

Last night I finally got to go to dinner with one of my former co-workers and friends Nicole. We hadn't seen each other since the spring and that was way too long! We considered about a hundred restaurants before settling on MELT in Northside. I have wanted to try this place for a while as I had heard many good things. Let me just say......THEY ARE ALL TRUE! It is really worth a trip....especially if you are gluten free. Yes, its a sandwich shop (get it? MELTed sandwiches) but they offer gluten free bread. They also offer many vegan and vegetarian options. But don't let that deter the meat eaters out there. They had some quite tasty looking sammies with Roast Beef and other carnivorous options as well.
I wish I had taken pictures (not sure what I was thinking) but I didn't. :( Next time I definitely will. I ordered the:

Tuscan Chicken $8.50
pesto, caramelized onions, sun-dried tomatoes, chicken and romaine melted on focaccia

Yum-yum! Of course, mine wasn't on focaccia. I also got a side and chose the Rosemary Roasted Red Potatoes. I don't know what was on these things (besides rosemary of course) but they were scrumptious!
Oh, and when I ordered I noticed these beautiful little Flourless Chocolate Tortes they had in a display case. Yes sir, I will take one of those as well! If you have never had Flourless Chocolate Cake please please go try some this weekend. It was around long before us GF people were looking for good desserts, but man oh man, its the best! Especially with a couple of fresh raspberries on top like was served to us.
They have an adorable setup with only about 8 tables and a hand written chalkboard menu

Image from http://natinosh.wordpress.com/

And the couple (I think they are a couple) that was running the place was absolutely adorable. I think she was about 7 months preggo and easily one of the cutest pregnant women I have ever seen. Anyways, you have to go here....shoot, I have to go back here....soon! Its a great little secret (sorta) of Cincy.

House Update-Week 7

2010-10-06T21:04:00.001-04:00

So by now, you know this is the front of the house. Neil and I wanted to keep the very cool original door but it had a broken pane. Josh and Neil fixed it so we are able to keep it! We also put the first bit of color on it!

The bathroom is really super close to being finished. Lighting is in (thanks James), grouting is done, and we even have a fancy granite top! (This was a deal that Neil got...we aren't that crazy to spend that much money!)

More new lighting in the hallway

and on the front porch.

Michelle washing brushes....we do a lot of this,especially at the end of the day, but today was especially chilly. It rained on us and the temps didn't get out of the 60's so we all went home and tried to warm up

Josh and Kelly replicated the old 8" base molding. Once this is painted it will look just like the beautiful stuff in the living room and other rooms.

Bringing in some new appliances

Working on the front of the garage. We had a few panels that were falling apart and really needed to be replaced rather than just painted over.This will be painted to match the rest though.

House Week 6

2010-09-30T20:35:00.002-04:00

Sorry it has taken so long for me to upload these. This week has been crazy! So, last week we really started to see the house change. Jeremy got some mulching done during the week and everyone got exterior painting done on Saturday.

This is the "aerial" view. ( I just felt like climbing a ladder in the yard to take a picture!)

This is close to one of the original views of the house with all the growth. If you go back to the first post you can compare.

Living room painted

Neil and I worked our brains (mostly Neil) to figure out the 45 degree angle tile laying in the bathroom. Oh, and the cabinets went in.

And the kitchen cabinets were installed on Friday, so it is really starting to look like a kitchen!

We actually have space for a dishwasher, stacked washer/dryer, stove and fridge.

Meal Plan-last week of September already!

2010-09-29T15:43:00.001-04:00

Sorry these have been MIA! This week promises to be the craziest week I have had in a while. I have something going on every night if not two things and 4 photo shoots this weekend....FOUR! I am thankful, but what was I thinking? :) So, I have some meals planned. I am not sure when I will make them all but here they are:
(Oh and FYI, this isn't the healthiest week I have put together.....sorry! I will be running a few extra miles and biking with a friend on Thursday so I won't worry too much!)

Day 1-Creamy Tomato Sauce Pasta with Chicken
This is a modification of the Pumpkin recipe from the last post. In all honesty, we never made it. Jeremy said it sounded "weird" and while he has improved 500% on his eating ventures from the early years of our marriage, he just didn't want that one. So I made this up instead.
1 container Marscapone Cheese
1 Can petite diced tomatoes
8 oz penne pasta
1/4 cup heavy cream
fresh grated parmesean
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Italian Seasoning
1 Onion, diced
2 Cloves of garlic, minced

Season both sides of the chicken with S&P and Italian Seasoning. Place in skillet on medium high heat with a drizzle of EVOO in the bottom of the pan. Turn down to medium heat and cook about 5-7 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Remove from pan. Add onions and garlic to pan.
In the meantime, get a pot of salted water boiling to cook pasta.
Okay, back to the pan. Once onions are translucent, add canned tomatoes. Then add Marscapone. I used the cream to thin the sauce back out a bit. Add in a heaping handful of Parmesean. Once pasta is cooked, drain and add to pan. Cube cooked chicken and add to pan. Serve with fresh Parm on top.

Day 2- Chili with Cornbread
I used to make my mom's chili, but have to modify it a bit to make it gluten free now. If you don't share my issues, use French's Chili-O Mix found in the seasoning isle. Its fantastic (minus the gluten part!)
1 lb ground meat (I am using Venison-very lean so no need to drain)
1 onion, diced
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans
1 can red beans
Spice Mix: 2 tsp Cumin, 2 tsp Chili Powder, 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper, 1 tsp Black Pepper, 1 tsp Coriander, 1 TBSP Cornstarch

Brown meat in skillet. (Drain if necessary) Add all ingredients except the spice mix into the crock pot. (You can also do this on the stove but I would cook the onions with the meat first so they aren't crunchy). Add two cans of water. Sprinkle the spice mix over everything and stir in. Cook on high for 2.5 hours or low for 4 (or until you can't resist the smell!)
I serve this with cheese and sour cream on top and hot sauce. I also make Bob's Red Mill GF Cornbread with the addition of 1 TBSP of sugar.

Day 3- Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
I think I have covered what I do with my Mashed potatoes in here somewhere before but as for the chicken....
Pound boneless skinless breasts to 1/4 thickness. (This is fun for getting aggression out!) Season both sides with s&p and paprika. Coat chicken with GF flour blend. Simply cook in a skillet with EVOO (just to cover the bottom of the pan, we aren't deep frying this stuff). Flip and make sure it cooks through. That is why I pound it thin, so I don't worry about the thick end getting cooked and the thin end getting dry.

Day 4- Roasted Vegetable Minestrone
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/09/roasted-vegetable-minestrone/
The only thing I am changing is cooking some venison steaks in the crock pot on low all day and adding that shredded to the soup.

House Update

2010-09-20T15:00:00.001-04:00

Jeremy went up today and mulched the newly cut flower beds and watered the new plant material. Bear with us as the pictures were taken with his cell phone camera.

To quote Neil, "Now just to get some grass seeded and get the portapotty outta there!" :)

Summer's End

2010-09-18T21:29:00.002-04:00

This summer has been a hot and busy one. We haven't used our backyard nearly enough but its been too darn hot! So Friday I came home from work to find Jeremy in the hammock with music going and the dogs enjoying themselves in the grass.

Oh, Somoa? She's really lonely....never gets any attention....

No one at this house loves her ......

And she certainly doesn't get spoiled! :)

Meanwhile, Rosco occupies himself with a stick. I think someone comes at night and soaks our sticks in bacon grease. I can't for the life of me figure out why my dogs love the sticks in our backyard so much. They don't just chew them....they EAT them! I guess its fiber!

Pretty girl!

Crazy boy! (See, another stick crazy face, maybe they are laced with dog crack!)

Mmmmmm. I also have about a hundred pictures with Rosco's tongue somehow positioned out of his mouth. Not sure why....I don't attempt to capture these moments....they just happen.

Yep, this is pretty much how I found him. We were so excited to finally have a Friday that we didn't have something planned that we both just chilled.....then we got really lazy and went out to eat (Los Panchos) and rented a movie. Nice!

Oh, and just for the record, this is what happens when you mess with me! Just kidding!
Actually Jeremy plays softball on Tuesday and Thursday and one of the teams on Tuesday is especially rough and likes to purposely hit up the middle (ie: at the pitcher) Guess what position Jeremy plays!? Yep! He caught a bounce ball off the bat right in the thigh! This is 3 days after the fact. The first day it was swollen to about double the normal size of his thigh! Yikes! Anywho, aside from playing with hockey pads on, I am not sure what is to save you from this so I guess he'll have to deal with it as long as he plays softball.

We are sad to see summer go but pumped about football, hayrides, pumpkins and fresh apples!

Week 5-House Flip Project

2010-09-18T20:55:00.001-04:00

This week actually started on Wednesday. Kelly was nice enough to come back out and start our first row of tile in the bathroom while I grouted the kitchen, Jeremy cut in the landscaping beds, and Josh and Neil painted the kitchen ceiling.

Kitchen is grouted! This means we can get cabinets in and start making it look like a kitchen!

Sarah and Caleb came out to help today! I never see this girl without that huge smile on her face!

Kitchen painting

Painting was the word of the day....inside, outside and everywhere inbetween!

Ceilings....Doors....

and up on ladders!

I was able to finish the shower tile and lay out the floor but we need a few more tiles for the floor.

All the new ceiling fans went up!

More living room painting

New plants in the front! Mulch will be put in on Monday. All of these are very low maintenance and lots are evergreens which means color all year. We also used mums for color right now!

Side landscaping.
We are really starting to see this come together. As Jeremy and I were leaving today a lady came across the street from another house. She just wanted to tell us how wonderful she thought everything looked. She owns the house across the street as a rental property. We told her why we are doing this and she offered to pray for us and the cause! Awesome!
Hopefully if you have been following us you can really start to see the house coming together. Please feel free to come up and help in the coming weeks. We will need all the finishing touches!

Week 4-LHC House Remodel

2010-09-15T14:26:00.002-04:00

We had a bunch of people finishing up the painting on the house and some started scraping the garage for paint.

The tile is now all laid in the kitchen. Grouting is next. We do have a tricky situation we have been calling the trap door. Over where you see Dave in this shot is the access to the crawl space...in the floor. We have to tile over it but keep it able to be opened. It was all kinds of tricky to figure out and we are still trying to figure out what type of handle to put on there.

The rest of the sheetrock and hardibacker is up in the bathroom. Guess its ready for tile now too!

Michelle showing us her painting skills! Way to make those window frames shine!

B dug out the rest of the landscaping junk that used to grow around the fence here just to the right of the door. He also took out a sawed off pipe that was sticking out of the ground that I was for sure to break my ankle on! Dale isn't pictured here but did edging around all the concrete to get the grass off the sidewalks!

Jaime and Daniel painted the second bedroom and looked mighty cute doing it!

Neil insisted on getting a picture of me. I informed him that is the reason I carry the camera around....so I don't end up in pictures. Oh well. This is the position I was in or standing up from most of the day....now I know why my back, knees, quads are so sore!

A few of us are headed up this week and then back on Saturday. Hopefully we will have even more progress to show then!

Meal Plans-Taste of Fall

2010-09-15T12:11:00.001-04:00

So Fall has officially invaded my mind. The recipes I came up with this week all have a bit of autumnal feel to them and it wasn't even intentional! Here you go!

1. Roasted Corn Chowder
Don't be intimidated by the long ingredient list. Its not a hard recipe.
2 T Butter
5 slices of bacon or turkey bacon ( I didn't have turkey)
1/2 cup Chopped Onion
1/2 cup Chopped Celery
1/4 cup Chopped Carrot
(little hint here, buy the Miripiox mix in the freezer section and you don't have to chop!)
1.5 T Chopped Garlic
3 ears of Roasted Corn on the Cob

1 cup White Wine
1 T Thyme leaf (fresh) if dried use 1/2
8 cups chicken broth ( i used reduced sodium so I can control the amount of salt)
1 T sugar (optional depending on sweetness of corn, I didn't use)
2 tsp Garlic powder
2 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp ground cumin
4 Bay leaves

Roux (to thicken) Equal parts of melted butter and flour mixed to form a thick paste over heat.

1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp pepper
Fresh Parsley

Roast corn on grill in husks. Rotate every 4-5 minutes until husks are black. Remove husks. Cut corn off cobs and reserve cobs and corn separately.

Melt butter in a large stock pot, add: bacon, onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and corn kernels. Saute until tender stirring occasionally. De glaze with white wine, add thyme leaves, bring to boil and reduce heat and reduce for 3 minutes. Add chicken broth and corn cobs, sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, bay leaves, and cumin and stir to dissolve. Bring back to simmer for 15 minutes to extract flavor from cobs. Remove Cobs, discard and add roux, 2 T at a time, ( I made a cornstarch slurry instead to make this GF). Continue simmering for 5 minutes. Add cream; bring back to a simmer for 8 minutes. Finish with chopped parsley.

2. Chili Dogs- Cincinnati Style
I realize this isn't really that fallish, but chili is.
All I am doing is cooking Nathans hot dogs and adding canned skyline chili, chopped onion, mustard and cheese. Jeremy will have his with buns. I will not. I will also steam some California blend frozen veggies for a side.

3. Pumpkin Sage Cream Sauce Penne with Grilled Chicken
Yield: 8 servings (I may half this!)
1 onion, chopped fine
4 large garlic cloves, minced
4 T butter
15 oz canned pumpkin
32 oz (4 cups) Chicken Broth
1/2 tsp dried sage
fresh sage for garnish
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1 cup heavy cream
freshly grated nutmeg ( I am using ground)
1 lb penne pasta
fresh Parmesan
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

In a large skillet cook the onion and the garlic in the butter over moderate heat, stirring until the vegetables are softened. Stir in the pumpkin, the broth, the cream, mascarpone, nutmeg and s&p to taste.
Simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. While the sauce is simmering, in a kettle of salted boiling water, boil the penne until it is al dente, ladle out the reserve about 1 cup of cooking water and drain the pasta.
Add the penne to the sauce, cook the mixture over moderate heat, stirring and thinning the sauce as desired with some of the reserved cooking water, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the pasta is coated well.
In the meantime, season the chicken with sage, s&p and grill.
Serve the pasta with sliced grilled chicken and fresh grated Parmesan!

4. Buttermilk Chicken and Spaghetti Squash

This is a great new blog I found the other day. So cute!
http://www.cheekykitchen.com/2010/05/grilled-buttermilk-chicken.html

You can add a plethora of stuff to spaghetti squash kind of like you would with any pasta. I may just add butter and fresh herbs and a bit of cheese. Here's a little tutorial on how to cook it. There are lots out there and good recipes on allrecipes.com for ideas of what to add to it.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2087338_cook-spaghetti-squash.html

Meals from last week, hopefully they can be yours for this week!

2010-09-13T11:25:00.002-04:00

Last week was a flurry of activity and I am still exhausted! Monday being a holiday and all, I don't think I cooked. Honestly I don't even remember! I have a horrible memory! I know our friends made us dinner of lamb chops and yummy potato salad either Sunday or Monday night. Anyways, on to the meals I did cook, sometime during the week.

Meal #1
Pizza Pasta-This was made out of necessity and what I had in the house. Just boiled rotini pasta. In a seperate pan cooked up 1 lb ground beef with 1 Tblsp Italian Seasoning and some fresh garlic. I chopped up a bunch of pepperonis I had in the fridge and added those too. I would have added mushrooms or peppers but didn't have any. After the meat is cooked I added a jar of Ragu ( I know, real fancy!) Then when the pasta was cooked added it to the pan and about 1 cup of shredded Pizza cheese. Voila! Dinner.

Meal #2
White Wine Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Bundles
This was actually what Jeremy wanted for his birthday. Its one of his favorite things that I make, but somehow we didn't make it that day.
Chicken
Boneless Skinless Chicken seasoned with S&P, rolled in breadcrumbs and placed in a glass baking dish. Bake for about 15 min at 350° . Pull out of the oven (won't be fully cooked) add 3/4 cup white wine to the baking dish and cover chicken with sliced muenster cheese. Cook for another 15 minutes or until cooked through.
Mashed Potatoes
I have no measurements for this, but about 3-4 Idaho potatoes uses about 3 TBSP butter and a healthy scoop of sour cream. I also add Tony Cachere's Cajun Seasoning.
Green Bean Bundles
First place 5-6 slices of bacon on a baking sheet with a rack. Cook for about 10 minutes (You do not want the bacon to be cooked through) Use fresh or canned Whole Beans and grab a handful making sure they are all parallel. Wrap a bacon slice around them overlapping the bacon and place back on sheet. Pour a little bit of Catalina dressing over each bundle and cook till bacon is crisp.

Meal #3 Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Found here on allrecipes.
I did make the following changes though. I substituted all box chicken stock for the water and can of chicken broth. There is absolutely no reason to precook the chicken. I put frozen pieces in there and they were fantastic! I also didn't use black pepper, I used cayenne b/c we like things a bit spicy!
Also, I was lazy so I didn't make my own tortilla chips. I had a bag.
Serve with cheese, fresh cut cilantro and a dollop of sour cream! Super yummy!
This was by far the easiest meal of the week. I think total time was like 15 minutes....and it smelled awesome walking in the door from work!

Week 3-House Flip Project

2010-09-08T21:04:00.002-04:00

Week 3 started off great! We had a great group out to help and the weather was beautiful and cool! The exterior is moving along quickly!

These ladies are reglazing the windows. Very interesting to watch but very tedious to perform! I admire them for their patience and perseverence!

More ladder work!

The kitchen floor is moving along nicely. Neil's neighbor Kelly (who happens to have installed tile for a living) came to help us lay out the floor and show us exactly how to install it. ( I didn't get a picture of him before we left, but Dave is showing us his mortar skills here!)

The inside painting is moving along nicely too! Jaime spent most of the day in the master bedroom!

New sheetrock and Hardibacker board is going in the bathroom so we can start tile in there as well.

There were some leftover stumps from the HUGE taxis bushes in the front. These guys worked on cutting the stumps below grade and filling the dirt back in. Landscaping will come towards the end of the project so we dont' trample it while painting and stuff outside.

Neil's dad even came along to help!

The roofing crew was laying shingles most of the day on the garage roof. Thank goodness it wasn't in the 90's but this is still hard work!

Backside of the house is almost painted.

More painting....starting on the trim on the front.

And to finish, a close up of that glazing work I was talking about!

I just realized I completely forgot to mention that both of the concrete stoops, front and back, look like new thanks to Josh's master concrete patch work! Not sure if there is a great picture of it but you can look back and tell the difference!

LHC House Rehab- Day 2

2010-08-28T22:08:00.002-04:00

Finishing up lunch....Before lunch on Day 2, August 28th, we tore the rest of the shed stuff out and cleared all the brush out of the backyard.

Tearing shingles off the garage roof

Cleaning off the trim on all the windows so we can repaint.

Don't remember what this was....part of putting a new hose bib on the back porch I think.

Taking out an old steel fence.

More shingles off the garage roof.

New tar paper on the garage roof

New sunny yellow paint going on the front of the house.

Here you can see the new yellow against the old color on the house.

Bathroom is cleared and ready for Hardibacker board, the stuff that goes behind the tile.

The kitchen hardibacker is down and ready for tile.

And cleanup on day 2. See you next Saturday!

LHC House Rehab for Missions

2010-08-28T21:49:00.002-04:00

Our church recently started work on a house flip. This is what it looked like to start with. What? You say you can't see a house? Oh yeah....keep reading.

This is the side of the house, its pretty hard to find too.

So here you can actually see there is a dwelling under all that growth...and its actually pretty cute!

And below is the side of the house.

The kitchen....

Living Room

1st Bedroom...

2nd Bedroom (Winnie the Pooh on th walls and all).....

Bathroom....

Shed dwelling....wait what? Yeah, they had turned the garage into another living quarters.....bathroom and all. But not somewhere you would want to live. So we are turning it back into a garage....for cars.

Side of the house Day 1 August 21st.

The guys working on tearing out stuff. That was the theme of day 1

Inside of the garage...walls removed. You can still see the paneling they had in the "bathroom"

Oh here's back to the real bathroom. Tile is coming off the walls nicely. If you read the rest of my blog, you will see its not nearly as big of a pain as our bathroom was! Thank goodness!

Taking down the old fan to make room for a new one.

Side of the yard minus the fence....poison ivy....and falling down shed patio roof.

Working on the kitchen. One layer of peel and stick tiles and thin wood layer gone. We will be going over the remaining floor with new tile!
So, demo was the word for day 1, August 21st.

Oh, and I apologize for the picture sizes. Usually blogger lets me change the sizes but its being finicky today.

Meal Plan

2010-08-25T16:01:00.001-04:00

I should be getting these to ya'll on Monday or even Sunday. But here it is mid-week again. Oh well, hopefully they can still be of use. On another note, I picked up a different Gluten Free bread this week b/c one of the bloggers I read recommended it (and she has really good taste!). Its Udi's!
Its fantastic! Even good not toasted. They also have cinnamon rolls....can you say yum! Well, I can't yet b/c Jungle Jim's was out of them (and they were on sale too dadgummit!) I have a substitute for Cinnabons on Christmas morning! Yep, my hubby goes and picks up Cinnabons on Christmas Eve every year for my sisters family. Then we go to his Grandmother's house where someone else brings them as well. Its crazy but a fun tradition....except that this year I had to make something else so I didn't starve! Yeah for Udi's!

1. Pasta Rosa -I have made this before and it is fantastic! I add grilled chicken to her recipe though. And be aware...it makes a ton and is super fast! Great easy weekday meal

2. Brinner- Cinnamon Coffee Cake (GF) Scrambled Eggs, Breakfast Potatoes and Bacon

3. Slow Cooker Pork Tacos-This is simple. Put a pork roast or tenderloin in the slow cooker with a package of McCormick Taco Seasoning (It's gluten free) and a jar of tomatillo salsa (the green stuff). Let it cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 3-4. Shred meat and serve with normal taco fixins. I also like to make up some refried beans. By make up, I mean open a can, put in a saucepan, add cheese and hot sauce to make them seem not so "out of a can".

4. Cajun Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans-Note to all: I am cutting the recipe in half....b/c its huge and there are only two people at my house. Also, for GF breadcrumbs, I save the ends of my Udi's bread in the freezer and put them in the food processor and then store in the freezer for recipes like this. If you don't have any you can also use Chex cereal (not the flavored ones) crushed up.

5. Grilled Lemon Chicken with Zucchini Risotto

Meal Plan for this week.

2010-08-19T10:44:00.001-04:00

1.Mini Meatball Pasta
2.Stuffed Portobellos with Roasted Potatoes
3.Marsala Chicken with mashed potatoes
4.Spicy Shrimp, Grilled Corn and Veggies
5.Garlic Fried Rice with Chicken

Well that was easy! I had links for everything today. Enjoy! Oh, and just for point of reference I bought all the groceries for this week for $57! The only thing I already had was 1lb of ground beef. Oh, and the Marsala, from doing the carrots last week.Yippee!

Mini Meatball Pasta

2010-08-19T10:31:00.002-04:00

So, my friend AJ (cook, gardener, IT extraordinaire) brought me some beautiful little cherry tomatoes from his garden the other day and that is what inspired this easy little pasta dish.

First, I made mini meatballs. I wanted everything to be close to the same size as the tomatoes. The meatballs consist of GF breadcrumbs, 1 lb ground beef, chopped garlic, red pepper flake, Italian seasoning and 1 egg. You have to get your hands in this stuff....no way around it. But keep these guys small. You should get around 24-28 from a pound of meat. Drizzle them with oil and put on a cookie sheet in the 350 oven for about 15-20 minutes.

Here's the cute tomatoes. Now, I cut them in half....I can't stand the explosion that happens when you bite one of these suckers whole. Maybe I'm weird....but if I am, its not just for that!

Here's the rest of the lineup. GF pasta swirls in the back. Jar of Ragu (I know, I am cheating), container of little fresh mozzarella balls. Be sure to get the tiny ones.
Did you know? The different names they give fresh mozzarella is just to denote the size!

I didn't take a bunch of process photos, but its pretty easy to put together. Cook pasta, drain and put back in pot. Add meatballs, tomatoes, sauce and mozzarella balls and toss. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Stuffed Portobellos

2010-08-18T20:08:00.002-04:00

First of all, I apologize for any weird colors in these photos. I didn't feel like editing tonight.
Ingredients:
1 pkg Italian Sausage
1 pkg frozen spinach (defrosted)
4-6 large portobellos or 10-12 smaller ones (as seen below)
1 8oz block of Neufchatel cheese (low fat cream cheese....hey I am trying to save a few fat grams!)
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
2-3 Tbsp white wine
Olive oil for drizzling

First of all, remove sausage from casing....just squeeze it out. Yes I know its gross but its better than having casing in your mushrooms. Brown in a skillet, breaking up as you go.

Meanwhile, cut up new potatoes and put in bowl. (No, my potatoes aren't green, that is the weird color I was talking about) Drizzle with EVOO and season with S&P and fresh herbs. I had Lemon Thyme growing on my deck so I used that. Toss.

Place on baking sheet and put in oven at 375.

Okay, here our sausage is done browning.

Put defrosted box of spinach (minus the box) in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze all the liquid out.

Combine cream cheese, spinach, parmesean, garlic, wine, sausage and chopped mushroom stems together in a bowl. (Notice I am using the same bowl I used for the potatoes so I don't have so many dishes!) Oh yeah, I take the stems out of the mushrooms and chop them up to add to the mix so I don't waste!

See, here in the front is our little mushroom with his stem and the ones in the back have been destemified.

Use spoon to fill mushrooms....overfill really....in fact, I had leftover filling that I put in a ramekin and baked alone.....trust me, you will eat it.

Sprinkle mushrooms with parmesean and drizzle with EVOO. Bake for 15 minutes with potatoes that have already been in the oven.

This is what your potatoes should look like when they are done. Crispy edges thanks to the Olive Oil.

And here's a plateful. These turned out awesome if I do say so myself.

Ch ch ch changing

2010-08-17T17:04:00.000-04:00

I decided to go with a more simple look and decided the blog needed a new name. I am not set on this yet but its a work in progress. Let me know what you think. First benefit....larger pictures!

Dessert of the Week

2010-08-17T09:20:00.001-04:00

Sometimes, not every week, but sometimes I get a wild hair up my patootie and decide to make a dessert I haven't made before. One week it was Key Lime Pie. This week it was this extremely rich, but extremely naturally gluten free chocolate dessert! Sorry in advance for the double spacing. I didn't feel like retyping it. Oh and its good cold the next day too....or you can reheat it, I was too lazy too!

Chocolate Panna Cotta with Amaretto Whipped Cream (Recipe by Giada de Laurentiis)

Makes 4-6 servings

2 cups cold whole milk

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 packet unflavored gelatin

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 (12-oz) bag bittersweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar

1 tablespoon almond liqueur ( I didn't have this but had almond extract so I substituted)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 2-quart casserole dish.

In a small saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups of the milk, the granulated sugar, and the vanilla. Bring to a simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat.

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining 1/2 cup of cold milk and let it dissolve for 2 minutes. Combine the cold milk and gelatin with the hot milk and sugar. Stir to dissolve the gelatin, about 5 minutes. (Heat the milk gently if the gelatin is not dissolving easily.) When the gelatin is dissolved, combine the eggs with the warm milk mixture, whisking constantly to avoid scrambling the eggs. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a large measuring cup or small pitcher.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate over simmering water in a double boiler. When the chocolate is melted, gradually combine the milk and egg mixture with the melted chocolate, stirring between each addition to create a smooth mixture.

Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the top with the almonds. Place the casserole dish in a larger baking pan or roasting pan and add hot water to the larger pan until the water comes halfway up the sides of the casserole dish. Place both pans in the oven and bake the panna cotta until the sides are firm and the center just jiggles slightly, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes.

Just before serving, whip the cream to soft peaks in a medium bowl using a whisk or electric hand mixer. Add the confectioners’ sugar and almond liqueur and whip to combine. Spoon the panna cotta into individual serving bowls and dollop the top with the almond whipped cream.

Meal Plan from 2 weeks ago....sheesh I am behind!

2010-08-16T21:19:00.003-04:00

Here we go again!

1.Grilled chicken and Califlower Gratin
I just marinated the chicken in Italian dressing and grilled.....no instructions necessary!
The gratin is a Giada dish and hers had broccoli, but when I got to the grocery, they were out of califlower but had broccoflower! I just used it.
(Adapted from "Vegetable Gratin" in Giada De Laurentis' book Giada's Family Dinners. Original recipe pg. 178.)
Ingredients:
3 T unsalted butter
salt
1 head of cauliflower, cut into large florets
1 head of broccoflower (or just two of cali or add in broccoli)
2 T all-purpose flour (any GF blend will do)
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 1/4 cups whole milk
6oz fontina cheese, shredded
1/2 cup plus 2 T grated peccorino romano cheese
freshly ground black pepper
2 T dried bread crumbs plus a tablespoon of dried oregano (Again, you don't have to use breadcrumbs if you don't have GF ones.)

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish with 1 T of the butter.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the cauliflower florets and cook for 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cauliflower to the prepared dish.
Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 T of butter in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Whisk in the cream and milk. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Decrease the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the cheddar, edam, and 1/2 cup of the romano. Stir until the cheeses have melted. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and toss to coat.
In a small bowl, stir the bread crumbs and oregano with the remaining 2 T of romano. Sprinkle over the gratin.
Bake uncovered until the topping is golden brown and the sauce is bubbly, about 15-20 minutes.
2.Cajun Burgers and Texas Oven Fries
This recipe comes to us from this great little Taste of Home Grilling magazine my MIL picked up for me a couple of years ago.....it is now stained and wrinkled b/c of all the yummy recipes within!

Cajun Seasoning Blend:
3 Tbsp ground cumin
3 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp paprika
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne (or more if you like it hot!)

Burgers:
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp cajun season blend (from above)
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce (franks or cholula is what we use)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried basil
1 garlic clove minced
1 lb ground beef
Combine all ingredients, but don't overmix. Make 4 patties and grill. Top with Provolone cheese slice and serve on bun or not.

Oven fries are just idaho potatoes cut to texas size, drizzled with EVOO and sprinkle with whatever herbs you like. I used dried thyme and garlic salt. Bake in oven at 400 degrees until golden brown.

3. Taste of Summer Chicken with Cheesy Spicy Grits
Again from the grilling magazine....I'm not sure this is worth the other ingredients....it was good but nothing special. I did add some grilled pineapple slices to the top though.

3/4 cup Italian salad dressing
3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
3/4 cup white win or white grape juice
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Combine all ingredients in a zippy bag and let sit overnight in the fridge.Grill chicken, discard marinade.Make grits according to package (instant or quick cooking) Once done, add 1 cup cheddar cheese and finely diced jalapeno pepper.

4. Rosemary Lime Pork Chops and Roasted New potatoes
This is also out of the same magazine (apparently I was lazy when it came to looking through cook books this week) and was originally intended for chicken, but I had some pork chops I got on sale.
4 pork chops
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth
1/4 cup lime juice
2 Tbsps mince fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Marinate all ingredients overnight. Grill chops. Yum! I would never in a million years have paired rosemary and lime but i have to say, its a yummy combo.

Cut new potatoes into halves, coat with EVOO and Garlic and salt and bake in the oven until outsides are golden brown and crispy.

That's all I have written down for that week folks (ie: my sister, b/c I really think she is the only one using these meal plans!)
I did create a new little pasta dish tonight that I will post tomorrow with some pictures. Just to get you interested....it involved little meatballs, small balls of fresh mozzerella and all sorts of yumminess!

Meal Plan for.....oh I forget!

2010-08-16T20:38:00.001-04:00

Its been a few weeks since I have posted these and my sister informed me today that she uses them and I needed to keep posting! (I am pretty sure she is the only one but here goes!)

1.Taco Night
Pretty self-explanatory.....I make taco meat with 1 lb ground beef and McCormick Taco Seasoning(its gluten free b/c they use Potato Starch instead of Wheat flour or MSG or icky stuff)
Corn Tortillas
Lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese...the usual suspects
Heat up some refried beans(check these for gluten ingredients too....I buy ones out of the actual hispanic section) add some cheese and hot sauce and keep on low

2.Chicken Cordon Bleu with Balsamic Glazed Carrots
Boneless skinless breasts-pounded out to 1/4" thickness
Deli ham and swiss
Dijon Mustard
Bread crumbs if you have them ( I freeze the ends of my GF bread when I buy it and process it in the food processor and keep the crumbs in the freezer)
Take chicken and place slice of cheese and ham in the middle and roll up. Put seam side down on a plate. Once all are completed, brush outside with Dijon mustard and coat in breadcrumbs.
Cook in tsp of olive oil in a medium skillet until chicken is cooked through or in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes.

Balsamic Glazed Carrots--I know the recipe calls for hazelnuts but I didn't want to buy those at the grocery so I skipped that step!

3.Asian Inspired Salmon and Quinoa
I honestly hope I remember what all I did with this one. I had a piece of nice salmon I got on sale so I just put some LaChoy Soy Sauce(GF) on it with about a tsp of ginger and then sprinkled brown sugar on the top. I let this sit while I got the quinoa ready.

I used the regular quinoa but red would work just fine. First, dice up 1/2 onion and a clove of garlic. Saute these until translucent, then follow the box directions. I used the package directions substituting Chicken Stock and soy sauce for water. DO NOT use more than 1/4 cup of soy sauce to 1 cup quinoa.....its wayyy too salty. Anywho....I also had a zucchini, so I diced that up and added to the mix at the end. I also cut some green onions on an angle and topped the whole dish with those.

The Salmon just got grilled until done.

Fortunately for me, my birthday was last week and we went to Outback on Friday. As for the other day.....I can't for the life of me remember what I made or if we just ate out. I think the latter might have been true. I've got another week coming though....not to mention this week, which I have to get to planning. Hitting the grocery store tomorrow night folks!

Meals for the week July 26-31

2010-07-26T16:18:00.004-04:00

Again, I don't designate one of these for each day, instead opting to decide that morning what we are having.....or even that night if I don't need to defrost something for the meal. This is actually the plan from a couple of weeks ago, but that way I can let you know what was good and what wasn't and how easy it was!

Meal #1-Burgers and Oven Fries
This one is pretty self explanatory. I didn't do anything special with these burgers. Seasoned them up with grill seasoning and Worstechire sauce and grilled them. For the fries I just slice up Idaho potatoes Texas fry size and drizzle a little EVOO on them along with some finely minced garlic and bake them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, turning a couple of times. They should get crispy and the garlic gets roasted. Yummy!

Meal #2-Tilapia Tacos and Spanish Rice
For these tacos I take a couple of fillets of tilapia and marinate in the following:
1/2 pkg of taco seasoning (McCormick is GF)
juice of 2 limes
Let that sit while you are making the other stuff
Combine the other 1/2 pkg of taco seasoning with 3/4 cup of sour cream
Dice up one mango
Make pico de gallo (or buy fresh salsa) and add one diced avocado.
Chop up fresh cilantro
Now place the marinated fish on a baking sheet and put in a 350° oven for about 15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.
Assemble some of each ingredient on a warmed corn or flour tortilla. I find that soft ones work better for this recipe.
Oh, and here's the spanish rice to go along with. Be aware this recipe makes a ton so you might want to cut it in half.

Meal #3-Blackened Chicken and Mashed Potatoes
Mmmmm blackened....no that doesn't mean burnt....its a combo of seasonings. Here you go!
Oh, and my mashed potatoes don't have measurements but about 3-4 Idahos, peeled and diced, boiled then mashed with 1/2 stick butter and 3/4 cup sour cream and Tony Cachere's seasoning should do it.

Meal #4-Salmon Patties, Quinoa and Green Beans
Salmon patties can be a pain when using canned salmon b/c of the bones. Just make sure you carefully pull the fish out and open it and you can usually get the in one fell swoop. If you want to use fresh, be my guest too. I just tried to make these like my grandpa used to. On that note, they taste so much better if you fry them in a cast iron skillet. I don't know why, they just do!

Quinoa is a fairly new food to me. If you want to read up on it, by all means do. It has:
More protein than any other grain
tons of fiber
and is GF!
It is very similar to cous cous except much better for you!
Here's a yummy recipe using it.

Meal #5-Breakfast Waffles

There isn't much of a recipe here, just making it from the GF package. I do add in vanilla and cinnamon to mine. I also topped them with fresh blueberries and syrup.
We also made sausage to go along with the sweet waffles!
Jeremy and I both like brinner (breakfast for dinner) and being that it is usually a quick and easy dinner, I usually make some form of it once every two weeks. Sometimes more. As long as you don't get carried away with the sweets and remember to add in fruit and protein, it isn't too bad for you!

Bathroom Before/After

2010-07-22T09:07:00.004-04:00

So, this was a very long drawn out process. I guess I will start. Makes me sick to my stomach to think back on all the headaches. Okay, really I am starting!
These are pics from our viewing of the house.

One of the first things was to tear out the icky moldy shower door. I am all for nice shower doors, but this thing was pnuemonia waiting to happen. Oh and that over the toilet thing had to go too.

I decided early on to try to work with the pink and burgandy instead of fight it. So pink flamingos it is! The yellow is a little "rubber duckie" but it worked....for a while.

But after a while, we decided it all needed to go....plus the faucet broke and we had no access to it. :) So started our month long adventure.

I thought tile would be easy, you know, just tap it a little and it comes off whatever it is glued to....just like on HGTV. Well, not in a 50 year old built to withstand hurricanes house. In our house tile is put up on top of 1.5" of concrete reinforced with metal lathe. Yep, I still have a scar on my hand from cutting myself trying to get this stuff off.

Oh, by the way, did I mention this is our only full bathroom in the house? We showered at the gym for a month. Fun! Now do you see why I get sick to my stomach thinking about this?

So anyways, here we have taken out all the wall tile. We think most of demo is done......wrong!

Oh this is just a fun "whats in your walls" shot.

I thought the walls were bad....the floor tile was on top of about 3" of concrete. Let me tell you, I can't say this house isn't well built! It was fun to pound on the floor.

So here we are.....absolutely cleared out. Oh, and see that hole in the floor? Its for the drain for the tub.....unfortunately, it also allowed all the dust, concrete, tile chunks to fall into the basement half bath. What....a....mess! I still find pieces of tile..2 years later.

Anywho....here is where we started putting up new greenboard....I know, its purple.....its called greenboard.....water resistant sheetrock.

And this is the durarock. the stuff you put the tile on. You do put up a moisture barrier behind this but I forgot that picture....besides this isn't a how to blog! Oh and I started the first row of new tile in this pic.

Skip ahead....all the tile is in....and yes, I have a plastic sheet duct taped around my window. It lived there for a while until I could get the edge pieces of tile in for the window. Something about them being backordered....blah blah blah. We used a stainless tile accent you can see better in a later shot.

This is the new floor tile. I felt like it needed to give a hint to the age of the house but still be neutral.

And here it is today. New Angela Adams rug and shower curtain, the smallest cabinet that HD carries without being special order and the new privacy window(that part we didn't do).

Did I also mention this room is only 5' x 6'6" including the shower space? Yeah, its tiny, but now its updated! And mark my words....I will never do this in a house that only has one shower again. I can't believe I didn't have a heartattack, or a hernia, or something stressful during this process.

Oh, and how can I forget! Remember me saying the house was built to withstand a hurricane? Well, I know we live in Ohio, but in the middle of this renovation, we actually had a storm that they called a hurricane. I think the wind was around 78 mph. I realize this is timid compared to stuff in Florida, but our trees (many of which are old) aren't palms. We lost power for about 5 days and lost our beautiful Bradford Pear tree in the front yard. Needless to say, it seemed like a cruel joke that this happened while we didn't have a bathroom. Haha, I guess at least I can laugh now!

Outside Before/After

2010-07-22T08:20:00.004-04:00

So, yesterday's before/after was so fun I thought I would start doing the rest of the house. This is the photo from our house's listing 5 years ago. Original windows, original siding(painted...I think it was dark brown(ick) originally, and 3 (yep 3, people) layers of shingles...4 at the edges!

So I think this was our first Christmas at the house. Not much has changed. We planted azaleas in the front bed but everything else was still the same. Oh, we did rip down the falling apart (ie: disintegrating) railing on the front stoop.

Again, I was not very good at taking inbetween pics on this one but this is last year. We had the roof redone in 2008 along with the gutters. Then last year we had the siding replaced and the windows and shutters. Jeremy and I took one weekend Sunday afternoon and tore out the landscaping timbers and replaced them with these stones. We also have changed the plants in the front flower bed twice now but I think these are staying.

And now this is the new front doors we had put in about a month ago. (Sorry this isn't a picture of the whole house.) Notice how much the lilacs next to the door have grown since the last picture (a year ago)!
I always wonder if my taste is a little crazy....even though I don't really care if it is. Most of the houses in our neighborhood are brick and have white siding. Again, from the previous post.....not a fan of white. So when I went waaaay out on a limb (sarcasm) with this khaki color and green shutters and then the orange door, I kind of wondered what our neighbors thought. Well, apparently they like it! We had a yard sale and had multiple people stop and tell us they have admired what we have done over the years to the house! Yipeee! But we all know I was happy with it either way!

Kitchen Before/Afters

2010-07-21T12:00:00.001-04:00

This is what our kitchen looked like 5 years ago when we bought the house. The dishwasher was tiny, the floor was awful and the walls were very very white. For those of you who know me, you know I am not a white wall fan.

I don't have a bunch of inbetween photos, but here you can see we painted (right after we moved in), then over the years we have added a bigger dishwasher, a new countertop, new floor and door pulls.

Well, I got a wild hair up my patootie and decided we needed a backsplash. I priced out tile but it was pricey and I wanted to be cheap (creative)!:) So we ended up with this. A painted gray with a travertine and glass mixed border.

Oh and because I can't do anything normal....the paint isn't just paint; its chalkboard paint! I found this company online that does chalkboard paint in about a bagillion colors. So, I can write my grocery list up there as I go and then just take a photo with my phone and have it when I go to the store!

I cut the final pieces today. I really liked how the colors went with the stone look countertops.

Oh, and yes that is the Pioneer Woman cookbook on my stand. I use it a ton....plus its one of the funnest cookbooks to look through!

Meals for the week

2010-07-20T07:24:00.004-04:00

Ever since going gluten free, one of the most common things I hear is "Isn't that expensive?" or "that seems like too much work." While I can't make up Hamburger Helper or just grab a frozen pizza (Actually Amy's makes one that is GF), its not as hard or pricey as it sounds. Here are our meals for this week.

In no particular order (b/c we usually decide what we want to make the day of):

1. Cookout Meal: Baked Beans with Ground Beef, Coleslaw, and Potato Salad
The nice thing about these dishes is that they can be made ahead. You can make them when convienient and then just pop the beans in the oven to heat up.

Baked Beans
1 lb ground beef
1 lb bacon
2 cans of Bush's Original (22 oz)
Medium Onion-diced
1/2 cup Montgomery Inn or favorite barbecue sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup brown sugar
mustard

Brown bacon and remove from pan. Drain most of the bacon grease. Add onion to pan and cook for 3-5 minutes, then add ground beef and cook till brown. Add in other ingredients with just a squirt around the pan of mustard. (I also add hot sauce) Transfer contents to a 9x13 baking dish and put in oven for 30-40 minutes at 350. You can also put in a crock pot. The longer this sits the better it gets!
( I only made a 1/2 recipe of this and we still had a bunch of leftovers)

Creamy Carolina Cole Slaw-from the Southern Living 2005 Annual Recipes Cookbook

1 cup mayo
1 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp hot sauce
2 (16 oz) pkgs of shredded coleslaw mix

Stir together everything but the shredded mix. Then add slaw and cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Bacon Potato Salad-from the Southern Living Cookbook
Note: I modified this b/c I already had so much bacon in the beans

6 to 8 medium potatoes, cut into small cubes
1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled (left out)
6 green onions
2 celery ribs (left out)
2 Tbsp. diced pimiento (left out)
3/4 tsp sale
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour cream
things I added: capers, fresh parsley

Cook potatoes and cool. Mix together all other ingredients and toss gently with potatoes. Cover and chill for at least an hour.

2. A Southern Gumbo Night

Southern Gumbo-from Allrecipes
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Southern-Gumbo/Detail.aspx

Cornbread- package of Bob's Red Mill Cornbread Mix + 2 Tbsp. of sugar

Key Lime Pie for dessert- Allrecipes ( I made this the night before so it had time to sit in the freezer)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Key-Lime-Pie-I/Detail.aspx

3. Pizza Chicken and Pasta

My friend Kim makes this and always tells me about it.

Bake chicken in oven until mostly done. Add spaghetti sauce ( I used Ragu) and any toppings you would put on your pizza. I used mushrooms and pepperoni. Top with shredded mozzerella and put back in the oven until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese melts.

We serve this with a GF pasta with butter and parmesean tossed in.

4.Lemon Thyme Chicken Wings

You can serve this with french fries and apple sauce or something healthier like a side salad.

5. Ham and Swiss Breakfast Pie-from Southern Living 2005

Because my husband loves brinner (breakfast for dinner) I usually make one a week.

1 2/3 cups water

1 cup whipping cream

2 garlic cloves, pressed

2 Tbsp butter

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2/3 cup uncooked quick cooking grits

1 1/4 cups shredded swiss cheese

8 large eggs

1/2 bl cooked ham, diced

4 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup milk

Bring 1st six ingredients to a boil. Whisk in grits vigorously or they will clump. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 5 yo 7 minutes. Add 1/2 cup cheese until melts. Remove from heat. Lightly beat 2 eggs and still into grits mixture and pour into a 10" deep dish pieplate.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, remove and increase oven to 400.

Saute ham and onions for 5 minutes. Layer mixture over grits crust. Whisk together milk and remaining six eggs; pour over mixture. Sprinkle remaining 3/4 cup cheese.

Bake at 400 for 35 minutes. Let stand 10 minues, and cut into wedges.

Serve with fresh fruit.

Sorry about the double spacing all of a sudden. If anyone knows why blogger suddenly started doing this please let me know! :) Oh and another thing, my grocery bill for the week, including some other stuff I bought for breakfast and lunches, was only $51.49. I did already have chicken from Sams, and a lb of ground beef in the freezer, but as you can see, you can easily do 5 meals for under $75 for the week.

New Entry!

2010-06-30T09:43:00.003-04:00

So I forgot to take a picture before they took out the old screen door. I probably have one on the blog here somewhere. Anyways, the purple people eater is about to go in this pic. The dent, the peeling trim around the tiny window....all going away!

The trim around this thing was horrendous. So glad to see it go!

Here's the new door coming in. The installer showed up at my house and I knew he would be good. His first words were, "Nice sticker on your car." Talking about the UT sticker in my back window. He had a UT hat on! :)

Here's the new door. It was white but I had to put some color on it.....and what better color? Actually, we had to do something lighter than the eggplant because it would cause the door to warp from the hot sun. I like it though!

(Ooops, I didn't stand out of the way enough to miss my reflection in the glass!)

Fun with Flowers

2010-05-13T21:53:00.001-04:00

Last weekend Nicole and I went to check out Rowe Arboretum. I had no idea what to expect and while it wasn't very large, they had the most beautiful rhododendrons in bloom! They happen to be one of those things that really reminds me of Tennessee.......
but I have never seen such beautiful orange ones! I wanted to take them home!

Then there's this girl! What a hoot!

Pretty purple

This was one area of a bunch of them!

Sunbathing in Siberia

2010-04-30T10:26:00.004-04:00

I have a Siberian Husky....at least that's what I am told. But give her a 75 degree day and the first place she runs is onto our very sunny deck....plops down....and probably wouldn't move until you made her. She LOVES to sunbathe. Seems a little odd considering how much fur she carries around (and sheds all over my house).

See here, I have made her sit up.....she's not happy about it. (Oh and yes we are restaining our deck this year. I know it looks awful!)

But, if she must get up....she will go visit the fishes while I feed them. I can't tell if she thinks they are funny or look tasty.....but no chance of her jumping in the water to find out.

Now, Rosco, on the other hand,

prefers to lay and stand in the cool shade of the back tree.

He's not too happy when I make him come inside either. Sometimes I hate going back to work! :(

Strolling on a Saturday

2010-04-11T21:35:00.002-04:00

This weekend was forecasted to be beautiful, so early last week I had my Saturday planned. Jaime and I went down to Findlay Market, one of my favorite historical places in Cincinnati. Its located in a very historic, but rundown, part of Cincinnati and is just a great place to visit and be a part of. Over the Rhine is currently in a state of Renaissance, with many new businesses coming in to revive the area.

Amongst the vegetables, fresh eggs (which I didn't need this time thanks to Jaime bringing me fresh ones from her parents casa), and even jewelry, there is this little place that sells gelato. Now, I haven't been to Italy, but from what I have been told (Kat!) this stuff is the bomb. Dojo makes the stuff in small batches and wonderful flavors like Honey Lavender and Sea Salted Caramel. I opted for a small which allows you two flavors....my picks?....Sea Salted Caramel and Turkish Coffee.......OH..My...Goodness!

(See all the lovely flavors and colors here!)

This is Jaime's bowl (with her cute red toenails in the background) Aren't these the cutest cups they serve in? I took mine home....yeah I am a dork. It was a #5 so I couldn't recycle it that way, why not use it again at home! By the way, the gelato was fantastic!

Here's a quick shot of some of the veggies. We cooked up some of them tonight! If you are ever in Cincinnati, especially during the spring/summer, stop by Findlay Market.....oh and if you live here and haven't been, you must, read, must go NOW! Enjoy local produce!

Gluten What?!

2010-04-03T07:40:00.004-04:00

Many of you know that I have been eating gluten free since last June. It started as a trial week. I have a friend who has Celiac's at work as well as another who is gluten intolerant. (I will get to the differences later) By the second day of eating gluten free I was noticing big differences. I had been putting up with stomach growling, bloating, and other unpleasant things without realizing I could be rid of it. I would come home exhausted every day from work and barely make it through making dinner and crash on the couch. But, once going gluten free, I would stay up looking for things to do at night......I'm not kidding, I had so much energy and was so excited that I did, that I was looking for things to do.

Many of the symptoms of Celiacs and gluten intolerance are almost identical but the conditions are pretty different. Also interesting though, is that the fix is the same. A gluten free lifestyle! This is a good link to compare/contrast the symptoms for the two.

Now for those of you who aren't aware, gluten comes from wheat, barley, rye, and oats. For me, I first thought, but wait...aren't those good for you? Basically some people (this is becoming an increasing number every day) don't digest the gluten very well and it irritates the lining of your intestine. When this happens, you don't absorb the good nutrients from the rest of your foods well. (If you really want to get into the nitty gritty, look up what a good poop should be, floaters indicate low nutrition.....just sayin, I had lots of those!)

Okay, so what to do if you want to try this crazy eating habit? First of all, start reading labels....and get used to perimeter shopping. Huh? You know those rows of boxed premixed preserved for 2 years shelf food at the grocery store? Yeah, surprise surprise....its not very good for you, and it usually has gluten in it. I will go into this more in coming posts (I am hoping to make this blog a bit more about my GF adventures) but I do want to give you a few tips....

#1. Buy more produce, cook with it, learn new ways to cook it. Maybe you grew up hating veggies....try them again, your tastes might have changed.....and your digestive system will thank you for it.

#2. Eat more lean protein

#3. This seems obvious, but bypass the bakery and breads and pastas.

#4. Oh pasta you say!? I can't give that up! Well good for you there are wonderful rice pastas that I use instead. Look for them in the organic section of most stores. Some stores now have their own GF section too (Meijer, Trader Joes, Kroger)

I would recommend trying this first. Stick with things that are naturally gluten free, then you can venture into all the things that are out there to give you that bread/pancake/donut fix without giving you a belly ache. By the way, not all starches and carbs are off limits. Rice, Potatoes, Quinoa, and other grains are fine, just be sure to google them first. There is tons of info out there. Oh, and the Lipton Rice blends (the flavored ones like broccoli cheddar "rice" aren't rice!) They mix in Orzo pasta with the rice.....yeah, sneaky. Remember what I said above, read labels. Oh, and it won't say gluten. Look for these. It seems like a lot, but most of those you won't ever see, and after a week or two, you get used to it. You get a feeling for what foods are going to have stuff in them.

Oh, so by the way, some 9 months later, I have lost about 20 lbs, lost the bloat, gained better skin, more energy and even a better mood. All of which I would somewhat contribute to going gluten free. I am working out more often which I am sure helped with shedding pounds but I woudn't have had the energy before. But don't do it just for that. I can't begin to explain to you the difference in how I feel. Its awesome, and well worth giving up some hamburger buns!

Okay, so here in Cincinnati we have this wonderful store called Jungle Jim's. They have a huge GF section (amongst some of the best produce in Cincinnati) and I went in yesterday to get some flours. I am making carrot cake cupcakes for Easter. GF of course. I saw a new (to me) brand of GF bread. Oh....my.....goodness. Yummmmmy! Its got pockets of air, a wonderful taste and doesn't crumble. So, if you can find it near you, pick it up. I have already had 4 slices! Yikes!

My Research

2010-02-05T09:11:00.003-05:00

Since I hadn't purchased a new pair of running shoes in about 2 1/2 marathons, 2 triathlons and countless 5Ks (not to mention the training for all) and about 3 years ago, I decided it was time. In looking for some I started reading articles and research about running barefoot......What!? you say? Yep! Since most of these articles explain it way better than I do I will just give you the link. This one for example, talks about a tribe of Native Americans that are known to run over 100 miles (at one time people) barefoot! And this one has some great visuals about what our beautiful dress shoes do to our feet (and balance and posture). And just in case you don't want to take the time to look at these links, I am putting some of the pics on here too.

Ick! The feet look like shoes!

A little hobbit-ish but I bet this guy has great balance!

This is one that really made sense to me. I have horrible posture.....could it really be somewhat due to my shoes?

Here's the new shoes (yes I know they are not stylish with my velvet skirt) I got them in the mail at work and couldn't wait to try them on. The shorthand on the premise of these is that they give a barrier between you and the ground, that's it.....no padding, cushioning, orthodic arch supports....nada. This causes your foot to re-learn how to work properly. I am not someone with good feet either...no no. Flat arches, plantar facitis pain galore, joint pain.

So, last night I wore them to the gym. Their website gives you a plethora of uses but I heard all these benefits of running, so off I went. I was told to start slow. Not a problem since I am only up to 2 miles after my surgery anyhow. I decided to run 1 mile. Can I just tell you how bouncy my own feet felt?! It was great. Now mind you, the reason you start slow is because your calves are going to work harder than normal and mine did! You will also feel muscles in your feet you haven't felt in a while. I was sore last night....but muscle sore! not joint and shin splint (often a product of my old running style) sore. I will admit I have a small blister on the inside of my arch....I have always gotten one there, so no biggie. In all fairness most of my soreness is on my right leg....the one I had surgery on 3 months ago. So, I guess the verdict is that these puppies are pretty cool!

On a last note, I ordered mine online, but I tried them on in a store before. You want to make absolutely sure you get a good fit. Oh yeah and apparently my pinkie toe is so incredibly tiny, it doesn't like to stay in its little home, but it doesn't bother me!

Monday Night Roadtrip

2010-02-04T07:51:00.002-05:00

Monday was not my normal Monday night. I went with Andy and Marie to Lexington's Rupp Arena for the Flyleaf, Breaking Benjamin, 3 Days Grace concert. Roadtrip!

Marie's dad pretty much runs things around Rupp so he made up feel like VIP's....coming in the back door. Telling the parking attendant we were with him and him waving us through...and then as we are walking around in the basement we see Flyleaf equipment boxes! How cool! Her dad walked over to an office (to get us earplugs-no we aren't old...I will explain later) and there sat the setlist from one of their shows last week. I was sooooo tempted to snag it but instead just took a picture! I was very excited!

Okay so on to the earplugs....they are awesome! They drown out the background noise and let you just hear the music really well! Oh and that annoying eeeeeeeeeeee noise that you can't get rid of hours later when you are trying to fall asleep.....not there! We didn't have to scream at each other in the car on the way home. I think they are my new concert accessory!

Well, we sure did have a blast...oh and here's another Monday oddity....we had soft serve ice cream between two of the bands coming on to play.....no where else can I say I have done that! Awesome Monday!

Out of shape!

2010-01-31T18:59:00.002-05:00

So back on January 15th, I went back to the doctor and was cleared to run...in a straight line, haha. I have since been working out 3-4 times a week, running 1.5 miles or so each time in addition to some other stuff.

Fast forward to this weekend. My crazy husband has been in Nashville helping move snow around down there. Something like they use 50 trucks here when it snows and they only have 8 down there, 7" of snow and most of the parking lots have been driven on for the last two days and now have 2" of packe ice.....yikes! Anywho....back here where it is never pretty in the winter, it has been beautiful and sunny for the past two days. I decided the dogs would love to go to Winton Woods today and it was very nice b/c there weren't many people there.

We walked/ran the loop twice....only 3 miles.....and they were loving every minute of it. Until we got home......

They went outside.....ate dinner.....and then this.......

can we say.....out of shape much? I guess its my fault....they don't get to go to the YMCA.

First Time!

2010-01-31T18:43:00.005-05:00

So since going gluten free in June, I have baked very little....for obvious reasons. I have made a few loaves of bread and corn muffins from mixes but the sheer amount of ingredients in gluten free baking scared me. Marie to the rescue! Marie is my very baking talented friend who was sweet enough to make me a pre-mixed gf flour! So tonight....I went out on a limb!

I decided to make gingersnaps from this wonderful website.

I was supposed to make 1" balls which I thought I was doing but they all "melted" together and I realized maybe my cookie baller is bigger....oh well, it didn't affect the taste. They are fabulous!

She says on her site that she likes a little less spice and I would have to say I like more so next time I will probably double the ginger and cloves, but the texture of these things is amazing! They are chewy in the middle, crispy on the edges.....just like regular cookies!

Oh! and another secret I learned. All my life I have used cooling racks for cookies, which usually results in half the cookies falling apart or coming out with little cris-crosses on the bottom. Solution?.....Newspaper! Yep, put your cookies on newspaper to cool. Not only does it leave you with flat bottoms, it sucks some of the extra grease (ie: calories:) out of the cookies! I can't wait to make her chocolate chip cookies.....oh and I am determined to make my own gf Somoas....or Carmel DeLites....depending on what part of the Girl Scout country you live in.

Christmas Crazies!

2009-12-18T09:01:00.002-05:00

So, are you done with Christmas shopping? We pretty much are, mostly due to my wonderful shopper of a husband. Weird right? Heres the gist of it....

He doesn't like to shop the rest of the year but will go with me.....just if you ask any questions about how things look you always get the same answer so you might as well not ask.

He adores, no, loves....no, pretty much worships Black Friday. Its totally weird to me. Before we were together I hardly shopped that day at all. Our big day was the day after Christmas.

Two years ago he went with his aunts to an Outlet center 1 1/2 hours from here for their midnight madness Black Friday sale.....I stayed at home and slept like a normal human.

But honestly, most years he is out by 4 or 5am and I meet him around 9.

This year, with Old Navy doing their craziness, he was there at 2:30am. I still didnt' meet him till 10:00 am but we were out till around 3 or 4pm. That means he literally shopped for about 12 hours!

Are you jealous? I would be.....I mean, its the weekend before Christmas and I think we only have 2 more gifts to buy. Its a very nice situation.

Now, unfortunately, wrapping is still my job!

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge

2009-12-14T11:27:00.001-05:00

This week's challenge is Pets only and since I took this of my Somoa just over a week ago, I had to enter it! She's a great model and loves the camera but I absolutely loved how the colors and glow came out in this picture in front of our tree!

Dog Sleepovers

2009-10-19T21:13:00.003-04:00

Its been a couple of weeks now, but we had a Bassett Hound named Daisy stay with us for a few days. It was fun and interesting. Many of you know that Somoa thinks she rules the roost so we knew that we needed to watch her. She snarled a couple of times and showed her ugly side but all in all, it was a fun adventure.

While they were not fond of it, here all three of them are in our front doorway. It was a lot of sit and stay commands and notice they aren't all in focus. It was a good try anyways.

This is definitely Daisy's favorite spot......other than my couch! :) I usually came home to her waggin her tail standing on the sofa very excited to see me! She was way more excited when Jeremy came home though. Definitely liked him!

Oh and see, Somoa is lying peacefully next to Daisy!

I couldn't resist capturing a few classic Bassett Hound pictures. The ears, the feet, the sad sad eyes!

These feet are strong but unfortunately not long enough to keep poor Daisy's ears out of everything. She has a special water bowl for that but the week she stayed with us it rained a bunch and the grass would get her ears wet every time! I felt bad for her but I guess she is used to it! We had fun with her visit! She's a real sweetheart!

Changing times

2009-10-05T16:42:00.001-04:00

Okay not really I am just changing the look of my blog to a fall theme! Bear with me as I don't have the time to sit down and do it all at once so inbetween its going to look a little ugly and disjointed!

Blue Skies, Yellow Jackets and Changing Leaves

2009-10-04T21:14:00.005-04:00

In only 11 days I will be having surgery on my ACL so I have been doing a bunch of stuff I won't be able to do for a while. Unfortunately, fall is my favorite time of year and I have a feeling I won't be able to do a bunch for a month or so during the nicest part

Last weekend we tailgated for the Bengals game and then watched them beat Pittsburg at home for the first time in 8 years. Since it's fall, there were yellow jackets everywhere and I was lucky enough to tick one off! This is the remains, a week later. I forgot to take a picture a couple of days ago when it was purple! Apparently I am a little allergic! I looked like some kind of crazy between my knee brace and the bee sting on my other leg!

I have also been trying to do as many photo shoots this weekend and next before surgery. I am not sure how long I will be unable to do them. This weekend was just beautiful for them. Check out a couple of the shoots http://www.erinjacksonphoto.com/

I have also been thinking about getting another tattoo for a while. I had designed one that is inspired by my favorite Bible verse and my fascination with flying. The word soar comes from the verse which says "those who trust in the Lord will soar on wings like eagles" I wanted it to remind me that even though I might be able to get through my day to day life on what I think is my own, if I trust in my Savior, I can really fly.

So, I went in to check on sheduling and prices and stuff and well, long story short.....

here it is! Its not completely healed which is why it looks a little scaley. (Eww, scaley? why did I describe it like that?) Oh well! Its on my wrist if you can't tell from the picture. It hurt but I really like it!

So, I met with my doctor this week and he said I was looking really good for surgery so I guess we will be ready to go on the 15th! I can at least be glad to catch up on books and movies over my break!

MRI'S, ACL'S and Adventures!

2009-09-11T09:07:00.002-04:00

So, I know, I like to do stuff that some people consider "extreme". (ie: skydiving, wakeboarding, snowboarding, etc). I just consider them fun and there are plenty of people who do stuff waaaayyy more extreme than I do. But, I guess it caught up with me this time.

Saturday I went to use my gift card from my sister for Wake Nation, a really cool wakeboarding park. Google it, its pretty cool. Anyways, I had been there for an hour already and Wendy and Caleb showed up. I went back to get out on the water, got off the dock went about 30 feet and heard something pop! I went down and screamed! I dont' consider myself to be wimpy but this hurt! It swelled, we went to the ER, got a brace, crutches and went home. Stupid holiday weekend meant I couldn't get an MRI till Tuesday which turned to Wednesday. Then I went to the orthopaedic doctor yesterday.

He came in, moved my leg around and said, "Well dear, I'm afraid you don't have much of an ACL left, in fact its pretty much non-existant." What! Oh jeeze, I thought I read enough on WebMD to diagnose that it was only my MCL. Guess I need to go to medical school after all! Then he showed me the MRI stuff. I will explain it below.

These are all from the side of my leg. The large black things are my femur and tibia. The black band that is circled in this first shot is the Posterior Cruciate Ligament, or PCL, meant to keep your tibia from going too far backwards. My PCL is fine.

This slide shows a large white area that is where there should be another solid black line for my ACL. All the white stuff is swelling. Notice, no sign of any ligament! Nice!

This last one is what he said is textbook bone bruising from a ACL tear. The two white areas on the bone are where they banged together when the twist and ACL tear happened.

Hope none of that was too graphic for anyone. I think this stuff is cool so I thought maybe some of you would too! (I was given the CD of my MRI scans and have had fun playing with them on my computer!) I might have to make some crazy artwork out of them or something!

So, I have 3 weeks of Physical Therapy to reduce swelling and get mobility back in my knee before they do surgery. Another adventure!

I Heart Faces Entry

2009-08-24T15:02:00.002-04:00

This is the first time I have entered in a I (heart) faces blog photo. http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/. Nostalgia brought to mind so many entries but this is what I chose.

A young girl picking flowers behind Grandma's house. It could be me or my mom or her mom. (Its not, its actually my friend's adorable little girl) but what I love is even though she is picking flowers, she's got dirt under her fingernails, a sign of playing outside, not watching TV. Enjoying the smells of summer and the feel of the sun on her shoulders. It makes me want to go pick a few daisies myself!

My Birthday Adventure!

2009-08-19T08:42:00.007-04:00

Last Friday for my 27th birthday, Jeremy surprised me and took me skydiving! Okay let me go back a few weeks.

We hang out with a group of friends once a week. Over two weeks before my birthday Jeremy had my surprise planned and was telling everyone...except me! The thing is, I knew they all knew, which was torture. Well, through comments he made I figured out how much he was spending. I started doing what I do and trying to figure it out! I thought it might be skydiving until the day I asked him if the activity depended on the weather and his answer was no! Well that threw me for a loop.

Fast forward to last Monday before my birthday and he came home with a gift bag. In it I found 4 little toy parachute men! What a cute way to tell me! Yeah he was yanking my chain about the whole weather thing.

So Friday we drove up to Xenia, OH to Greene County Skydiving. Its in the middle of a cornfield but Jeremy told me highly reccommended by lots of people. We were the first people there being that it was only 9:30. We walked in and "Shaggy" gave us paperwork. He is apparently the resident DZ (that's Drop Zone) hangout. He goes on a plane anytime there is an open seat. He also packs the chutes and usually signs everyone in. They got me suited up and explained a few things, oh and I had to watch this hilarious video and sign my life away basically.

The jump was awesome. I have no words to explain it. I have never felt that big of an adrenaline rush. Brandon was my tandem partner and Chrissy was the videographer, not from the ground, she jumped right with us! She actually hangs off that strut you see in the video until we jump! (By the way, still trying to figure out why the video is squashed and cut off on the sides.)

We did have a couple of funny/scary incidents! When Brandon pulled the chute I yelled up at him, " Are we good?".....no reply! yikes. I said it again...and then I could hear him struggling with the canopy. All of a sudden I felt it straighten up a bit and catch more air, then his reply, " Now we are! " Our strings or the canopy got a little twisted! Kudos to Brandon for fixing it! Then when we got down on the ground Brandon had me sign his jump log book and said, "I am glad I didn't look at this before we went, Do you know what jump # this was for me? 666! " HA! Just goes to show you God is bigger than a number!

All in all, the coolest birthday ever! I told Jeremy last night I am not sure how he is going to top that b/c that was pretty much the thing I wanted to do most! I love to travel and see places too, but I sure do love flying now! I will close with a couple of cool quotes. One funny and the last one that is now my favorite!

Saying you've flown because you've been in an airplane is like saying you've swam b/c you've been in a boat. Get in the medium!

"When once you have tasted flight,
you will forever walk the earth with
your eyes turned skyward, for there
you have been, and there you will always
long to return." -- Leonardo da Vinci

Meal Plan from a Week or So ago.

2009-08-07T14:24:00.005-04:00

This is a couple weeks ago but when I am looking for recipes it helps to have lots to choose from.

Meal 1: Porkchops and Baked Potatoes

The porkchops come from Sam's. They sell marinated pork loins...enough to feed an army. I bring them home, cut them into generous steaks and freeze two in a bag. I usually get 10-12 out of a pork loin. All you have to do is defrost and grill!

You can make your baked potatoes any way you like but this is how we do them. Poke a few holes in the potato, drizzle olive oil on the potato and sprinkle with kosher salt. Wrap up in aluminum foil and put on a medium grill for about 30 minutes. You will need to turn every 7 minutes or so. The olive oil and salt makes the skins crispy and yummy. Like momma always said, the skin is where all the vitamins are. So eat your vitamins!

Meal 2: Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf--Holy Moly

This looks like a heart attack waiting to happen but if your husband is as big a fan of meat and potatoes as mine, he is almost guaranteed to like this one.

I think we had potatoes of some sort with this and a salad. We did the meatloaf without the french's onions but you use your own tastes!

Meal 3: Greek Chicken- just like the Greek Wings but with a whole chicken. I can't for the life of me remember what I made with it. Try grilled zucchini. Slice the zucchini lengthwise into 1/2" strips, season with olive oil S & P and grill. Yummy and easy.

Meal 4: Grilled Sweet and spice Salmon & Corn

Combine dried oregano, seasoned salt, parsley, and brown sugar in a small bowl. Just a little bit of each, Sprinkle on the salmon. We use filets with the skin on but don't put the seasoning on the skin side. Grill skin side down for about 5 minutes. Bring in and finish cooking in a skillet, skin side up. The heat of the grill usually causes the skin to be very easy to just peel off by hand. The skillet sears all the herbs onto the meat. Be careful not to overcook. Fish doesn't take very long

The corn is another easy one. I put these out of order on here b/c I woudl start the corn before the fish. Buy corn in the husk. This is important....LEAVE IT IN THE HUSK! I can't tell you how frustrated it makes me when I see people shucking perfectly fresh corn. People, the best way to cook fresh summer corn is to grill it in the clothes it comes in! There's a reason God made it that way. Seriously, don't do a thing to it, unless there are a ton of the silks hanging out the top, I usually rip those out b/c they catch on fire but just rotate it every so often and cook on a medium grill for about 30 minutes. Just be careful when you go to shuck it after its cooked. Oh and by the way, don't worry if the husks get brown and crispy, that's how you should know its done!

Meal Plan Late!

2009-08-05T10:59:00.003-04:00

I know, its Wednesday. I had a meal or two left over so I didn't get this together on time this week and I only made it to the grocery store yesterday. So here goes:

Meal 1: This was easy, Grilled Sausages ( cheesy metwurst for Jeremy and Chicken, asiago, spinich ones for me) The ones I eat are from Sam's and are awesome! The package acutally says gluten-free, they have a ton of flavor and only 110 calories per sausage! Anyways, I digress. I just grilled these and cooked some french fries in the oven. Not a very healthy meal but it was quick.

Meal 2: I actually never got to the Chicken with Marsala Mustard sauce from last week so it made it to this weeks list.

Meal 3: Slow Cooker Pork Tacos

4 lb Pork Roast

5-7 Tomatillos, diced

1/2 vidalia onion, diced

1 Can of diced tomatoes

3-6 jalapaneos depending on how spicy you like it

1 pkg of taco seasoning

Chicken stock or water

Rub the pork roast with the taco seasoning and put everything in the slow cooker on low for about 6-7 hours. (mine cooks pretty hot so if yours doesn't you may want to adjust the time). Now I would say "shred" the pork but it usually just falls into pieces! Yum! I serve on warmed corn tortillas but if you aren't GF you can use flour ones.

Serve with rice, refried beans, sour cream, cheese and other toppings you like on your tacos.

Meal 4: Tilapia with a Shrimp "stuffing"

This one is going to be a trial. I will make pockets from aluminum foil to put the fish in. Probalby season with cajun seasoning. Chop up shrimp, oh and don't buy the expensive ones, the tiny ones will do since you are chopping them. Mix in GF bread crumbs and parmesean cheese and I will probably add some herbs. place that mixture on top of the tilapia. Put a dash of white wine in the packet and close up. Be sure to roll the ends up. Place on grill or in oven for about 15-20 minutes. Oh, the oven would be at 350 if you are doing it that way.

I will serve with yellow saffron rice and a veggie or a salad. Haven't decided yet.

Meal 5: Chicken Saltimbocca with seasoned potatoes

Meal Plans

2009-07-27T10:05:00.007-04:00

A friend of my sister's starting putting her meal plans for the week up on her blog a while back. I thought it was great but wondered how she had the time! Well, now that I have been eating gluten free for almost 2 months (more on that later), I have found that I have to be more prepared for dinners or I won't eat! I can't just run down to Wendy's if I don't feel like cooking. (Well, I can, but I prefer not to!) Anyways, I thought I would share my plans and recipes, and recipes I steal from others. Enjoy!

By the way, I dont' always follow the days to a "T". I usually end up feeling different and switching them around.

Also, I just realized this is an especially Italian heavy week. I think I watched too many episodes of Giada's show last week. I also have a couple weeks past that I will post when I get to it.

Monday-Portebello Parmesean (like Chicken Parmesean with Portebellos), grilled zucchini

For the grilled zucchini i slice the zucchini lengthwise, drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. I just grill them for about 5 min each side till they are a little mushy but still have a firmness to them. Feel free to sprinkle these with parmesean too! Pretty good and surprisingly good as leftovers. I thought they would be chewy but they weren't at all.

Tuesday- Migas from this fabulous web site. Fair warning, you may become addicted to reading her stuff, photography, cooking, farm life, this is a girl after my own heart. By the way, if you don't like brinner (read: breakfast for dinner) you may not dig this meal. Its not pancakes or anything but its a brinner meal all the way. These turned out great!

Wednesday- dinner out with friends

Thursday- Rachel Ray's Roasted tomato and garlic pasta (made with rice penne of course) and homemade meatballs. The link has her steaks, and feel free to make those too, I just couldn't find the recipes seperate.

For my meatballs, I use:

Ground chuck or ground turkey (1 lb)

About a 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (gluten free)

1 egg

handfull of basil, oregano, parsley

1 clove chopped garlic

1/2 tsp red pepper

salt and pepper

Combine ingredients with your hands, yes I said your hands. I have yet to find a kitchen tool that does better for meat stirring. Roll into 1" balls, put on cookie sheet and bake for about 30 minutes in a 350 oven. Please be sure to check for doneness, I don't promise my cooking time is accurate. Now, mix with pasta or cover with tomato sauce. Yum!

Yum, yum, and yum. I thought this dish was delicious. I added my meatballs to the pasta and sauce. The flavor was very sophisticated! Not at all like a normal tomato sauce.

Friday- Chicken with Mustard Marscapone Marsala Sauce This just looks yummy, no two ways about it. Not sure what veggie we will have with it. Maybe just mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. Yeah that sounds good.

Mashed Potatoes:

4-5 idaho potatoes cut into 1" or less cubes (this makes them cook faster, oh and you can leave the skins on if you like dirty mashed potatoes)

Sour Cream

Butter

Tony Cachere's Cajun seasoning

S & P

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water. Drain and add about 4 tablespoons of butter and 3/4 cup of sour cream. Again, I never measure this stuff so start small and add. Add in seasonings and mash to your hearts content. Sometimes I put cut up scallions and roasted garlic but I figure this chicken has too much flavor for that.

Branching Out

2009-07-24T14:26:00.002-04:00

I have been doing photography on the side very sporatically for the last 3 or so years. I love photography....always have, even since the days of my polaroid and the funky disposable underwater cameras that I would take on vacation.

I would like to think I have progressed a little since those days.....:) With a lot of help from a good friend, I have finally gotten a website up for developing this little side business.

www.erinjacksonphoto.com

Its really just a blog right now, but you can view galleries of work and keep up with the shoots I am doing.

Right now is a great time for all sorts of pictures but especially senior portraits. If you know anyone needing them please feel free to pass my name on! Thanks for checking it out!

Baby Blues!

2009-07-14T10:11:00.003-04:00

I photographed one of my friends and her beautiful family last night. Unfortunately I am at work this morning so I can't work on the edits yet, or so I thought. Our server is down so I couldn't resist at least posting one of the photos. Have you ever seen eyes that look like the ocean? Well here you go! (If you want to see them even closer up click on the picture!)

Greek Wings

2009-07-12T17:28:00.002-04:00

A couple more recipes!!

This first one is actually my friend Andrea's. I work with her and she cooks up some fabulous stuff!

1 bag frozen chicken wings

EVOO

Fresh Basil and Oregano

Garlic

Lemons

I made 24 wings at a time so modify however you want.

Place frozen wings in large bowl. Coat with olive oil. Chop up herbs and garlic and coat wings with those. Squeeze about 1 lemon worth of juice and turn to coat. I also sprinkled with salt and pepper. Place on half sheet pan or cookie sheet with sides.Cook in 350 degree oven for about an hour. Heat up grill and finish wings on grill. I like them crispy which is what the grill does for you. Squeeze another lemon worth of juice on them after you take them off the grill. I also used all the stuff in the bottom of my cookie sheet to pour over them.

Dipping Sauce:

1 container of sour cream

Crumbled Feta

herbs from before

Combine all ingredients. Dip wings. Eat!

Fries:

I bought frozen french fries and cooked them to the bags instructions and added herbs and Lawry's seasoning salt. They were good in the dip too! Now that I think of it some shredded cucumber would make that dip super good! It would be somewhat like Tsatziki.

I couldn't resist....I'm impatient

2009-07-07T22:13:00.003-04:00

I am completely excited about these photos. These two cuties got hitched last Friday. It was so beautiful and intimate with just a few guests.....and talk about photogenic. You can really see the love between these two. Enjoy!

Oh and PS. I am hoping to have http://www.erinjacksonphoto.com/ up and running this weekend but we will see. If you look at it now you will be dissapointed. Just wait, haha, look who's talking!

Panegyri!

2009-07-03T10:09:00.004-04:00

MMMM! So I am way behind in blogging but trying to catch up on this day off. Last Saturday we went with our friends Andy, Marie, John, and Amanda to Panegyri!

"Panegyri!"
"Panegyri?"
"Panegyri!"
"Idiot!"
"Did you call me an idiot?"
"No, I said, Dijieatyet?"

Hehe, that was a bit of the radio commerical they kept running for Panegyri, or Greek Fest.

So we went and had to get some gyros. Yes, this one has a bite taken out of it. I have been doing the gluten free thing for about 3 weeks and I went to find a fork and came back and opened what I thought was my untouched gyro only to find a gnawed off end! I almost went back to the booth! Until Jeremy and everyone else started cracking up. He took a bite and rewrapped it! Funny guy. I wasn't too worried though since all I was eating was the fillings.

It was really hot....notice my greasy hair! Yuck.

The bus back to the parking lot was a little crowded so Marie and Amanda got a little friendly!

Greek Fest was fun!

Brad and Dierks

2009-06-28T12:40:00.003-04:00

So its been a long time since I have posted anything. Work has been crazy and I have been busy so now I have folders full of photos to edit.
I finally used some of the Photoshop Actions on my photos instead of editing every one by hand. So fun! The one above of us I used the "Seventies" action from Pioneer Woman http://thepioneerwoman.com/
We went to the Brad Paisley concert last Friday. We didn't win the Pavilion seats from work so we had to sit in the lawn. Dierks Bentley was opening for him. Well, we have some super cool friends who had 3rd row seats and since he wasn't that intersted in Dierks, I got to go with her up there.
I should warn you that the following pictures are steamy! Haha, just kidding, it was about 95 degrees and about 85% humidity so they probably are. I was super excited to see Dierks up close. He was a great performer. Unfortunately Riverbend thinks my camera is too "professional" and won't allow it in the place so I had to borrow a point and shoot to take. I kept thinking how much better these photos would have been but it also goes to show you that you dont' have to have an expensive camera to get some good shots!

This is the Sepia action

This was a couple, I think I used the Seventies with something else.

Haha, no I was not this close.....at least to Brad. This was after I went back to the lawn with Jeremy and this was the screen. So basically I took a picture of a picture. I know, not as exciting. We had fun though!

Oh yeah, and I think I discovered that I am officially too old for the lawn. Between the mud that smelled like a cow pasture and the high schoolers looking for someone to buy them beer, I was over it! :) Music was awesome though

Canoe, Run, Bike.....Little Miami Tri!

2009-06-10T20:33:00.003-04:00

So one day Jeremy called me about a month ago and asked if he could use a large sum of money from our account. He usually only does this when he wants to buy me something. I told him I didn't need anything and he said it was for him. Well, anyways, later that night he said he wanted to do the Little Miami Triathlon with me. (I did it last year with my friend Sarah). I told him he didn't have a bike and he responded, "Yeah, that's what the money is for!" :)
Well, we found a used bike for him and last Sunday we were a team for this unusual Tri. It consists of 6 miles of canoeing together, then a 6 mile run and 18 mile bike ride that you can do alone, obviously (there's no three legged 6 mile run! ) Our friend John was doing it with his friend too we found out so we talked about it the week leading up. John and Amanda were nice enough to have us over Saturday night before the race for an awesome dinner of homemade meatballs and Tiramasu! Carb Loading!
So, the canoeing was the part I was most worried about. I thought we would kill each other. While the first 3 miles were a little rough (me yelling how to steer and Jeremy getting frustrated), we actually figured things out and worked really well together. The heat kicked my caboose on the run and Jeremy got out in front of me. The biking went much easier this year since I took water. Last year I guess I thought I was a camel and didn't take any water....I got sick....had to stop for a while, so anything was an improvement over that. Jeremy was not a fan of the biking. I think he needs a cushier seat. The boy will never have to worry about having too much junk in the trunk. That, however, is not a good thing on a bike! We only came in about 2:50 seconds apart. (Had I known that, I totally would have pushed it, after all, it would have been great to beat him! Who can blame a competitive girl?) We did great, finished and had a great lunch at the Country Kitchen.....yes I said that. Its definitley kept in business by the I-75 truckers.....and hungry triathletes!

See, doesn't he look so happy to be on that bike!

Oh now he saw Amanda with the camera and out comes the smile!

And a few minutes later, here I come

That clock was way kooky. I think our actual times were 3:46 and 3:49

Yeaaah for team Action Jacksons!

That's John minus his teammate. Chris had to go to flying lessons. I don't know how he had the energy, I just wanted to eat and sleep when it was over!

So, yesterday, after Jeremy talked about how much his butt hurt, he informed me that by the end of the week he will decide if he wants to do the LMT again in the fall. I think he will. He wants to beat his time......by 30 minutes! Crazy kid. I just want to finish again!

Memorial Day Ride

2009-05-25T14:28:00.002-04:00

This is Leroy. He greeted me as I drove up to the house. He looks and barks big and mean but he's a big baby. He also likes to lean, which at 150lbs + starts to become a problem if you aren't paying attention.

Betsy took me riding today. I was terribly excited since its been about 6 years and one horse kick since the last time I went. I think the horses were pretty excited too.

This is Faith. I rode her. Sweet girl. Lucky for me, she doesn't like to be dirty so I didn't have to brush her too much.

Faith getting her reins on.

I took a picture of Lou too, which is the horse Betsy rode today but dagonit I still need that new lens! It was a little too dark. So instead we have this picture of Betsy!

We had lots of fun and are planning to drag the boys out to go with us sometime soon. The horses got some apple treats and a wet rubdown when we got back. The apple treats smelled so good I have to admit I was tempted to try one myself! Next time I will take the camera on the ride because the trail we went on had some beautiful scenery and wildflowers. Happy Memorial Day!

April showers bring......this stuff!

2009-05-24T21:34:00.001-04:00

These are new iris bulbs that were an anniversary gift from mom.

You just have to love all the blooming stuff out right now. We must have had a great spring because everything is busting out.

I was kind of bummed the other day though. We did our annual cleaning of our pond and our frog, Frieda (yeah we named her, look further down the blog in the April section and you will see her) got freaked out and we didn't see her for days. Well apparently she hopped two yards over to our neighbors that have a pond also. He cleaned his yesterday and low and behold, Frieda suddenly appeared back at ours.

Now, last night we thought she was gone again because we had a bunch of friends over and Brad brought his sweet pup, Balen. Balen happens to be a lab. Our pond happens to be full of water. Do you see where this is going? Yeah, he went for a swim. But alas! Frieda was still here today. She must not have been too traumatized!

Hope all of your flowers are blooming like crazy. Enjoy the pics!

Somoa's eye

These will be tall Bengal Canna plants in a month or two. They are tropical and splits from AJ's plants. I love the blue pots!

These are my peonies. They smell divine and look so soft!

Little bitty bug on the peony bud

Goslings near my office.

More goslings

Curious ducks

Home Renovation

2009-05-21T21:19:00.001-04:00

I have been meaning to post some pictures of all the stuff we have done to our house over the 4 years we have been here. This won't be all of it but here's a start. Before and afters

Master Bedroom

Fish Pond

After:

Outside front:

After:

Kitchen Before:

After:

Bathroom Before:

After: Bear in mind that its small and hard to photograph

Living Room:

After from a few views:

Just a list of stuff we did:

New Roof, Windows, gutters, shutters, siding

Completely ripped out the bathroom and put all new everything

New paint in every room

Tore out carpet in living room to reveal hardwood

New floor, bigger dishwasher, new countertops in kitchen

Completely redone landscaping including retaining wall in front

Other miscellaneous things.....more pictures of other rooms to follow

Dinner Last Night

2009-05-20T07:35:00.000-04:00

I decided to photo one of my recipes. Here goes!

This is something I call Smoky Mountain Chicken. Not really sure why, I think I had a similar thing at a restaurant back home. Anywho, its a really great taste and not much skill required!

You need:

2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (depending on how many plp you are feeding)

Bacon

Bar-b-que sauce

Shredded Cheese ( I use a colby jack blend but whatever you like will do)

Scallions or Green Onions

Tomato

I simply season my thawed chicken with a poultry seasoning. This one is from Sam's and you will start to use it on everything. Its yummy!

Then go outside and turn on your grill. I mean, fire up the charcoal, nah who am I kidding, I use a gas grill. I put it on high heat. Then right before you put the chicken on turn it to medium or low. The point is that you want the grill to be screaming hot but then cook the chicken slowly.

You also do not want to go back in like 2 minutes and turn them. Unless you like chicken stuck to your grill. I hardly ever use oil on my grill. Basically, when the meat doesn't stick any more, its ready to turn, then you get these nice grill marks. Okay, while that is grilling, start cooking your bacon. Then put it on a paper towel to drain some of the grease off.

You can also go ahead and cut up the tomato and green onions. I cut the onions with kitchen shears. Its easier.

Once you flip the chicken you will baste that side with bar-b-que sauce. And say hi to your cute husband watering flowers. Such the landscaper! Oh and he loves having his picture taken, can't you tell?!

As I take the chicken off the grill to my plate, I pour a little more sauce on it and cover with the cheese. That way, your grill doesn't get all messy but the heat from the chicken melts everything together.

Then cover the chicken in the crumbled bacon, (oh yeah, crumble the bacon), green onions and tomatoes. I served mine with zucchini cakes from here. I love this site. I actually made her strawberry shortcake cake last night too! It is out of this world. Possibly my new favorite cake.

Hope you enjoy!

Inspired

2009-05-14T21:06:00.000-04:00

Okay, I have really gotten into blogs and I have always loved dogs and photography is one of my favorite hobbies, hopefully one day to be a source of income. So, what do all these have to do with each other? Well probably not much but that is until I saw this the other day.http://www.erinvey.com/bark/ I absolutely adore her stuff. So, along with doing a few portraits on the side I decided to start my dog part of that adventure with my own pooches. They are so photogenic after all!

This is her normal position

It was raining and Rosco wanted to go outside....but he hates rain.

I dont' even know what to say to this one.

peek-a-boo! Look at all that extra cute wrinkles. How come that is only cute on dogs?

Last one, really close up!

Hopefully soon I will have some of these of Ziggy, my friend's goldendoodle.

You can take the girl outta the South......

2009-05-14T17:51:00.000-04:00

Okay you know the rest of this saying right? "but you can't take the South outta the girl". Its also imperitive that you spell it outta, not out of.
I had to drive to Ashland, KY today for work, which I realized after I got there might as well be in West Virginia. Lucky for me most of it wasn't on the highway, which meant I got to feel like I was back in the country. Beautiful rain this morning and then sunshine on the way home. I also ate lunch in Katie's Corner Cafe and had homemade chicken and dumplings and Sweet Tea and when I say Sweet Tea I mean Syrup with Tea and Lemon! Yowser! It was good. Anyhow, I took a few photos. I do not in any way condone or encourage chewing tobacco but that barn was too cool not to take a picture of.

So, it was a nice day out of the office. Then I got back and had an email saying we are going to have a kite day at work! How fun is that?

I hope I am not Dumb now!

2009-04-24T15:27:00.000-04:00

Well, I am officially free of any wisdom attributed to my teeth. My last two wisdom teeth were pulled this morning. Yes, I said pulled. Apparently they were super easy for the doc and didn't even require cutting or stitches. They did knock me out though so I am sure Jeremy got some laughs. The only reason I had chipmunk cheeks was from the gauze. I spent the day relaxed on the back deck in the b-u-tiful weather and working on my tan. I don't even have to go back for a check up appointment. Very cool! I love when things go better than they are supposed to. Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous out too so I will hopefully be out here again. Oh and on another note, those of you who know about our home repair drama, they finally officially finished the shutters on the house. I will try to do a before and after blog sometime soon. They came today and fixed the wrong color, crooked, wrong size, incorrectly drilled shutter. yes, this is the 4th or 5th time they have had to come out b/c they screwed up. Yikes! Oh well, I signed the COC so I guess they are done!

I Declare War!!!!!

2009-04-23T20:25:00.000-04:00

Okay some of you may be familiar with the big boy toys called air soft guns. Not sure why soft is in the name. They shoot hard little balls of plastic. Jeremy has one....its broken. We do however have a large container of 4500 of the little pellets from Satan. Not only have I been hit by one of these things and not happy with that but tonight I officially declared war on them.

I went to my hall closet to put away a jacket and the container of pellets fell in the floor cracking the lid allowing the little guys to run allllllll over! This picture was after I picked up half of them. They go everywhere. In addition, they are probably useless now. See since I have two dogs and wood floors all the fur that can't be picked up two seconds after it falls off the pups slowly rolls in little tumbleweeds under closet doors. So once I got them back into the container at a rate which seemed to be two by two, there was quite a lot of fur in the container too! Yikes. They even invaded my shoes.....but alas! they are all back in their little container. Battle #1 Victory Erin

2009-04-23T08:31:00.000-04:00

So today is actually Friday for me since tomorrow I am taking the day off! Hooray! Oh wait, its to have my wisdom teeth removed. Oh well, at least I have an excuse to eat ice cream and be lazy all day.....and its going to be in the 80's and sunny all weekend!

On another note, does anyone else have super weird dreams? I do....all the time...since I was a kid. I think its just another sign of my creative brain. Jeremy thinks its weird. :) I don't usually remember most of them but one time in high school I had a very vivid one. Here goes:

It all starts when I was washing dishes in my house. I could see into the backyard through the window above the sink and much to my surprise there stood a man with a gun pointed at me. I freaked...ran upstairs into my bedroom and sat in the middle of the floor. Unfortunately the whole back wall of my bedroom was glass (in the dream, real life would just be weird) and I could still see the guy, which means he could see me. I ran downstairs again and told my mom about the creep to which she replyed, "Oh, that's nice honey!" What? No, its not nice. What the..... So I proceed to call 911 and the operator informs me they will have someone there in a couple of days. Great they will be there in time to pick up my body before the wild animals come! Maybe overreacting a bit. At that moment I hear the front door open.....oh no! he's coming inside. I peek around the corner and he says, "Hey, do you guys have any pretzels?" Of course, this makes no sense but I throw him a bag of pretzels to which he says, "thanks!" and promptly leaves.

Really, that is the kind of dreams I have. Totally and completely weird. Oh and by the way, I had pretzels in my lunch for about a month before that dream. I think I was tired of them. :)

Frieda and Lots of Brown Eggs

2009-04-20T14:15:00.001-04:00

So its been a while since I have written anything but I have more fun reading everyone else's blogs. I have been trying to relive my childhood for a couple of months by finding a local farm that I could get brown eggs. I know, Kroger sells them. I don't want Kroger eggs, I want farm eggs! So, off to Findlay Market I went this weekend with my nephew Caleb in tow. We found a great dozen of brown eggs, paid for them and a beautiful orchid and set for home. Well, much to my surprise my mom also sent back an assortment of eggs with my sister. I now have 2 dozen eggs including guinea and bantam eggs. Looks like we are eating brinner a couple of times this week!

Also, I am dying to clean out our fish pond. I did it way too early last year and shocked all the fish which then killed them. Jeremy is making me wait. Till memorial day! I can't do it. I have to get my wisdom teeth taken out this week though so I guess I can't do it this week. Anywho....we have a frog. Not sure where she came from but we started seeing her last year. Yes, I said she. I looked it up. SHE is a Northern Green Frog and the circles next to her eyes are the same size as her eyes which makes her a she (the boys are bigger) hehe, snicker. So my friend Andy decided she needs a name....thus dubbed Frieda. Frieda the frog. Its awfully close to being fried the frog. Yikes! Maybe I should consider a name change!

Quaker Steak and Lube--Going to change my oil?

2009-03-11T15:45:00.000-04:00

Nope, its official, Quaker Steak and Lube has opened a location only a mere 6 or 7 miles from my house. I know it sounds like a place you would take your car to get worked on but, no! We love this place for its super unhealthy food like fried pickles (mind you I don't even like pickles, but these are the bomb!), and yummy wings. We are going tonight with a bunch of friends. Yeah!!!! Also, on tuesdays, they have all you can eat wings. What more could a girl want? Okay I can think of a lot of things, but its super fantastic when you have a wing craving, which I get often. Its way better than BW3's.

What sound does a Buffalo make?

2009-03-09T16:10:00.000-04:00

Not the hot wing kind. Okay I know, two posts in one day is a bit much but this was too good to pass up. I was working on a graphic today for a branch in Kansas and we are using Buffalos, also known as American Bison, in the graphics. Someone asked, "What sound does a buffalo make?" I just had to find out. So here you go!

Buffalo Sounds

Breathe Right, Pizza and Burgers

2009-03-09T08:44:00.000-04:00

Not all together mind you!
Jeremy and I have been attempting to try all these restaurants on Mo Egger's top 10 list. He's some radio guy that Jeremy listens to here in Cincinnati and they aren't the snobby top 10 but just good hole in the walls or good food. We have been to Terry's Turf Club and this weekend visited two more. Fat Burger in Oakley where, if you feel like having a heart attack on the way home, you can get the Triple Kingburger (1.5lbs of meat on a burger). You can even top it with chili and an egg. An egg? Really? Breakfast combined with a burger. Well, each to his own.
The next place we went was Aponte's pizza in Mason. Really good thin crust New Jersey style pizza. Really good!
Now, for my new favorite thing....Breathe Right Strips. I bought them for Jeremy thinking it would help quiet his snoring. I decided to try one myself b/c it looked funny. Oh...my....goodness. I have known for a while that I don't have the most efficient nose as far as breathing goes. I am pretty sure I am the next Marcia Brady b/c I think I have broken my nose as many times as she did. The noises that the crooked canals of my nasal cavity make drive Jeremy crazy. (He is a little particular about mouth and apparently nose noises :) So, anyways, I have just gotten used to breathing through my mouth when I sleep or run, running especially. I just can't get enough air through my nose. I thought everyone had this problem! Little did I know that the nose can be used for inhaling! I put that little strip of adhesive and flexible strips on my nose last night....and ....could you believe it? I could breathe! Yeah, so I was totally excited and can't wait to run with one on. I know, I may look a little dorky so you can laugh if you see me running, nose strip in place, two dogs beside, but I will be breathing easily! Now if they could combine the Breathe Right strip with those Pore cleaning strips......hmmmm. I might be on to something here.

Customize!

2009-03-06T19:52:00.000-05:00

Yeah! So I am terribly excited about the fact that I figured out a little tiny bit of how to customize my page on here. Forgive me for my overexcitement but I am totally a girl that doesn't want anything I do to resemble someone else's. I drive an aqua car for crying out loud.
So today is Friday and you ask, "Why am I at home and not out enjoying the weekend?" Well, I am also very excited about my plans tonight. Can anyone say karaoke!?! Yeah it doesn't start until 10 so I am killing time until then. But hey, I got a new layout out of it.
So since I am new to bloggin', I thought I would explain a few things. Jackson Five is that for the simple reason that I have two dogs and a cat....oh and my husband, so that's five. No kids yet. Really it should be the Jackson 45 because we have a pond full of fish but that's not as catchy. Anywho, we tend to treat our pups like kids, so it works out okay. I live in Cincinnati now but grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee so you will probably read a lot about that. For instance:
Last weekend we drove to and back from Knoxville and one of the things I just had to pick up was a 12 pack of Cheerwine. For those of you from the south, you probably know what I am talking about, for those who don't, don't assume I am an alcoholic! Cheerwine is not wine, it is only the best soda ever! Unfortunately it is made in NC and isn't sold here in the state of Ohio. The name has always baffled me, however the taste is fabulous!
That's all for now. Off to sing my heart out to a little screen of words!

Smiles!

2009-03-05T08:33:00.000-05:00

I posted this on my notes a few days ago and thought I would add it here.

Okay I will definitely say that I am not and have never been a writer but there is something that struck me this weekend that I felt compelled to share and possibly liven your day.
Jeremy and I went to and from Knoxville on Saturday. I always enjoy going "home" and seeing other southerners and the beauty of the area. Unfortunately it was pretty rainy but we could still see the daffodils popping out and the rivers and mountains. This brings me to part of what I wanted to say. When we are heading through Kentucky you rise over this hill and get the first peak of the mountains in view. It always makes me smile.
So we also went to eat at this fabulous hole in the wall between Clinton and Oak Ridge. One of the first things that struck me when we walked in the door was the smile and honest cheer in the girl's voice that greeted us.
So, here is my point. There are thousands of things out there to keep us down and depressed, especially as of late with all the layoffs and economy. Many of us let these things change how we look at each day. I was reminded this weekend that even though those things might be what we hear on the news every morning that there are still numerous things out there that make me smile. A true genuine smile. The things that make life good. The fun part is that like the girl at the restaurant, I can impact someone else's day with my smile.
So, as weird as it may sound on a Monday, I want to tell you to smile. Not to fake a smile, but think of something that really makes you happy. It can be something you are looking forward to doing or something that is great just in its being. But think of that and I bet you will find a grin popping up on your face. I know that Tennessee is going through the same economic hardtimes as we are in Ohio, but sometimes it would be hard to tell from the faces of those you encounter. I saw the same phenomenon in South Africa and all I can attibute it to is that those people focus on the great things they HAVE in their lives and not the things they DON'T HAVE.
Have a great week!

New to this Bloggin World

2008-09-22T15:28:00.000-04:00

Howdy all! After being inspired by my dear friend Kat, I decided to set this up. While I will not have near the hilariousness she does in her writing, I will make up words and frequently use what my Ohio friends like to call "Southernisms". I don't have kids yet so I will be writing about my all exciting adventures with my pretend children, also known as Somoa and Rosco (my pups). Enjoy!