Projects

Well I did it again! I have let weeks slip by without posting and let things we have done just pile up. Hold on tight (if your interested of course ;)) to everything we have had happen in the last month!
Here's just a quick list:
  *Got offered the head dance coach position at Marshall High school (and accepted of course :))
  * Finished 5 DIY projects
       -Pallet Table
       - Refinished bar stools
       - Refinished wicker rocker
       - Repainted and recovered folding chairs (not pictured)
       - Firepit (not pictured)
  * Oakley is in t-ball and tennis
  * The weather is finally open and so is the POOL!!!
  * Father's Day
  * My flowers are blooming and garden is growing!!

So I am officially the new Head dance Coach at the high school and I couldn't be more excited! It's a lot of work, yes already, but I'm loving it so far and the girls are great. I'm excited for the season and for help of getting through these Minnesota winters quicker.

Jeremiah and I are very into repurposed and refurbished furniture and doing it ourselves. He loves American Pickers, I think if he could he would quit his job in a second to be one. He has always been a history buff. Of course there is always HGTV that we watch but one show in perticular is called "Flea market Flip", its a contest of flea market finds redesigned and restored. Who knows maybe you'll see us on there some day ;) So with that we have taken our picking to garage sales and have had quite the luck. Here are a few of the projects we found.

Jeremiah's parents were here for 10 days and his dad helped out with a bunch of projects! He built this wonderful pallet table for me and I painted it. I saw this idea, wait for it...not on pinterest (for once :)) but at the store downtown that I love called "Italy Ava". someone had made a coffee table and I thought a bar type table would be so great for outside and entertaining. I brought the idea to Jeremiah as to where I could get a pallet and he simply said "we have one out back" We also had the 2X4's that were left over from Jeremiah tearing out our basement. So I graciously put Jeremiah's dad to work and he did an AMAZING job! It's perfect!! Total Cost: Nails: $3 and Paint/stencils: $15 Clear Deck finish: $15.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garage Sale Find: Four solid iron barstools......only $25

All finished

Here is my garage sale steal!! New Barstools! They are a heavy, sturdy iron. I spray painted them and recovered the cushions. They fit perfectly on our island/bar. We now have a more casual place to eat as a family. 

       Ok, maybe this is actually my garage sale steal? A wicker rocker for $5!!


Father's Day spent on West Graham!!

Jeremiah and his dad planted the garden. It's starting to really come up! My flowers got planted and everything is growing! I love my peonies and my new rose bush!

Oakley chose to do t-ball and tennis this year. I was a little worried about Tennis since we had never done it before. And from our experience with basketball trying new things didn't work too well, but we did it anyways and after just one practice he is loving it and improving. Its fun to watch him. Of course t-ball he's a natural ;)

It finally got warm enough to go to the pool! I love being able to stay at home and do these things with them in the summer. They are my little sun babies :) (with lathered sunscreen of course ;))

Well, this is the short of the last month in events. I'm sure I'm missing some but can't take up all of your time. Gotta work on getting it closer together. This weekend.....no plans :) Hopefully relaxing!

Summer is here

Wow, I cannot believe how quickly time flies by. I would never be able to keep up with a daily blog. So my bi-weekly (tri-weekly;)) posts will have to be summed up into all the happenings around our household. I have been working a lot at the restaurant and picking up extra shifts where possible to get some extra cash so my evenings and cooking with new recipes have been minimal. We've been making some classics and mixing in some breakfast for dinner. Jeremiah's doing a great job of cooking lately and keeping the house under wraps. Callahan doesn't cry when I leave anymore, so its kind of bittersweet, but I know they love their daddy time. The nice weather makes all the difference in the world with our daily routines. The boys are behaving better and sleeping better. No complaints at all. Just had a little thunderstorm come through, but even that's more fun to me than snow so I can handle it. Was hoping to get my flowers and garden in this weekend but it looks like rain, so we're holding off until next week. Will definitely have pics of that!!

   Big event of the last week was probably Mother's day :) It turned out to be an amazing weekend. I did have to work but it didn't seem to dampen my spirits of the time I got to spend with Jeremiah and the boys. Jeremiah made me feel like a true mother and very appreciated. It was a day/weekend I've always pictured with my family. So thank you Jeremiah!

  Next up.....I finally made a name for my cake pop business and made it official with new business cards. The blog will be up soon as well like I promised a while back :) Very excited about it and getting some orders in.

  Oakley finished preschool this week as well. Can't believe another year has gone by. Although he won't start kindergarten for another year, the year he had was so great it is kind of hard to see it come to an end. His teacher was amazing, she loved him dearly and he learned so incredibly much this year. He can tell you information about almost any animal you ask him. He can draw almost anything you ask him. He can color in the lines of a coloring book and he can write any word you tell him to spell. I'd say that's a lot for a 4 year old in my opinion. I think he's a smart one ;) For summer activities we are hoping for t-ball along with many days at the pool and swimming. It's crazy how much we long for summer and then we look at our calenders and its filled up until next fall!! So my goal for the summer to just sit back relax and enjoy these boys in my life: Jeremiah, Oakley, and Callahan.

   Callahan will have some adjusting to do as well with Oakley home now, we did have a great Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine together. But he absolutely LOVES being able to go outside and follow and play with Oakley.

This recipe is one of our favorites and one I kind of forgot about and pulled it out last week:
Tamale corn cakes with rajas topping:
 Chipotle cole slaw
  4 cups cole slaw mix
  1/4 cup ranch salad dressing
  1 Tbsp Chipotle Rub (pampered chef)
Rajas topping
  1/2 rotisserie chicken
  1 tbsp vegetable oil
  1 medium onion
  2 poblano peppers
  1 Tbsp chipotle rub
 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
 Corn cakes:
  1 pkg corn muffin mix (gluten free)
  1 egg
  2 Tbsp melted butter
 3/4 cup milk
  1 Tbsp Chipotle Rub

1. Toss slaw mix with dressing and rub and set aside
2. shred chicken. Heat oil in skillet and add peppers and onions. Cook 4-5 minutes until tender. Add chicken; cook 2 minutes or until heated through. Add bbq and chipotle rub and cook about 1 minute; until heated through
3. Prepare corn cakes. Mix all ingredients cook on griddle turning once.
Note: I ran out of my Pampered chef seasoning so I started subbing in 1 fajita packet. I just porportion it out evenly and it tastes the same.

May Day

May!! My second most favorite month of the year. (Side note about me: July is my first and December is my third, only because of Christmas, not for winter and snow ;))

Well the amazing 70+ degree weather came and went last weekend and the forecast is calling for 40's the rest of the week but again warmer temps are to return by the end of the weekend. We were able to get so much done this past weekend as well. The warmer weather came with more energy to get things done. I finished the craigslist project I mentioned earlier (see before and afters below) we cleaned out the garage and opened up our 3-season porch! What a difference it makes!! Eating meals out there as much as we can.

Oakley and I did a tray of planters (we'll see if they sprout out). First year of ever doing this will be trial and error, right?? I have big visions for our garden and flower beds, we'll see if any of them come to be seen.

One new recipe we tried this week:
Definitely not the healthiest (fried in oil) but it was GOOD and we enjoyed ;)!!!!

Bang Bang Shrimp:

Ingredients

1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

For the sauce:

½ cup mayonnaise

4-5 teaspoons chili garlic sauce, such as Sriracha sauce

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

For the egg mixture:

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

For the breading mixture:

½ cup GF flour

½ cup panko breadcrumbs (used kellogs corn flake crumbs)

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon dried basil

For frying:

8 to 12 cups vegetable oil

 Serve over rice

 

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl; cover and set aside.
2. Combine beaten egg with milk in shallow bowl; set aside.
3. Combine flour, panko, salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and basil in another shallow bowl; set aside.
4. Bread the shrimp by first coating each with the breading mixture. Dip breaded shrimp into the egg and milk mixture, and then back into the breading. Arrange the coated shrimp on a plate and pop them into the fridge for at least 20 minutes. This step will help the breading to stick on the shrimp when they are frying.
5. Heat oil in deep fryer to 350 degrees F. Use amount of oil required by your fryer.
6. When oil is hot, fry shrimp 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on rack or paper towels.
7. When all shrimp has been fried, drop the shrimp into a large bowl. Spoon about ¼ cup of sauce over shrimp and stir gently to coat.

Got to finally go to the park!!!! Looking so grown up!

Last Thursday was a slight devestation in our household.......We were planning on taking Oakley to see Scooby Doo Live in Brookings, when we went to print our tickets the concert was actually held on Wednesday....so we missed it!! Long story short the website said Thursday and tickmaster said Wednesday. So we still did an Oakley night. We ate bad by going to Pizza Ranch and then went to a little arcade play area. And yes, in the picture below it is a straight sugar stick Jeremiah is pouring in Oakley's mouth. It was his night I guess ;)

So excited that I can run outside now!!! I feel like I can do so much more outside than running on a treadmill feeling like a lab rat! Fresh air and open road.

With the amazing weather we could not get this kid inside! He came in only to sleep. He even ate every meal outside. He's just so cute! And big news......finally saying a few more words! It's coming..slowly but surely!

Everybody working for the weekend........

Go on sing the song to my post title, you know you want too. It's so true for Jeremiah and I this week. I think our weather channel app is the most used one on both our phones, we are clinging to the high 70's near 80's that is forecast for this weekend. Lets just say we are especially giddy and cannot wait!!!

It's been a pretty low key week for us, but I needed to share some recipes we've made before the list gets too long.

We finally tried Quinoa for the first time, not sure why we haven't had it sooner, but we will definitely be making it a staple in many upcoming recipes.

Here are all the new recipes and some pics of what I remembered to do :)

Quinoa mac and cheese

• 1 1/2 cups quinoa, cooked
• salt and pepper to taste
• seasoning salt to taste
• sprinkle of creole seasoning
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (plus loads more for sprinkling)
• bread crumbs for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook quinoa to packaged instructions and let cool slightly. Coat casserole dish with cooking spray. Whisk eggs, milk, and seasonings in a large bowl. Fold in quinoa and cheese. Stir until combined and cheese is melty. Transfer to prepared baking dish and sprinkle with cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until bread crumbs are toasty.

Buffalo chicken quinoa salad

Salad
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces (we used buffalo marinated chicken we already had in our freezer)
• 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles, plus more for garnish
• 4 green onions chopped, save half for garnish
Dressing
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup hot sauce (we always use Franks)
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 
  

Instructions

1. In a fine-mesh strainer, rinse quinoa well and drain. In a medium pot, combine quinoa and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn heat to low. Cook until all the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat, fluff the quinoa with a fork.
2. While the quinoa is cooking make the buffalo sauce dressing and cook the chicken and broccoli. In a measuring cup or small bowl combine the olive oil, hot sauce, and seasoned salt. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
3. Cook the chicken for about 5 minutes or until cooked through. Add 1/4 cup or so of the buffalo sauce and cook until the chicken absorbs the sauce.
4. When the quinoa is ready add the chicken and as much of the dressing as desired (I ended up using all of the dressing, but we like things extra saucy) toss well. Add the blue cheese and half of the green onions. Toss again and serve warm with extra blue cheese crumbles and green onions. I also had some ranch on the side, just in case ;)

Greek Yogurt Strawberry Banana Bread
(This one I remembered to get a couple of pics)

Ingredients

1 1⁄2 cup GF Flour

3 tablespoons GF Flour

1 1⁄2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt (optional)

1⁄2 cup Brown Sugar (or 1/4 cup honey)

2 large bananas

2 Eggs

6 ounces Chobani Strawberry Banana Greek Yogurt

1 cup Diced Strawberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Start by combining flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mash bananas with a fork until they are gooey and liquid-like.
3. Add eggs and sugar… mix thoroughly.
4. Add greek yogurt
5. Whisk until everything is well combined and there are no lumps.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.  At this point, fold in the fresh strawberries!
7. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and distribute evenly.
8. Put into the oven and bake for one hour, or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Transfer to a cooling rack and (try to) let the bread cool for at least ten minutes before slicing.

Note: Since going GF, every baking experience is a trial of how different brands and ingredients mix. In the picture you can see the brand of GF flour I used. I will NOT be using this again. It got extremely sticky and reacted the same as when I made the cream cheese coffee cake I made last week. I'll be going back to my usual stuff. 

April Fools

Totally appropriate post title for this crazy beginning to spring, right?? Well, with more than a foot of new snow last week I thought it had to be the end, but nope, one more round has come our way with about 10in! I need warm weather and sunshine very very soon! Forecast for next week shows 50's though so I'm gonna keep going! Our neighbor stopped by on Wednesday to let us know she was on her way to Texas and to see if we wanted to have her snowblower in our garage for the storm, I of course thought it would just be a few inches that would melt right away, guess I was majorly wrong. In the words of Jeremiah "Who turns down access to a snowblower with snow coming in Minnesota?" Yep, me. So the snow came and it came and it came and I felt guilty for not taking the snowblower so after taking 45 minutes getting the boys and I ready to go shovel the driveway I did it and I felt well accomplished, for my one and only time of helping with snow removal for the year ;) I even found a little piece of grass trying to come out. I know he wants sun and warmth more than me.

Looks pretty good, right?

Last Saturday Jeremiah and I attended a hospice gala held at SMSU, Wells Fargo is a supporter so we had a table with some of his coworkers. It was a fun time. There was a silent auction as well as a live auction. The live auction was too much for our budget, but we were able to contribute to the silent auction and we came home with some great items. Jeremiah did a great job at playing the sheets as it was closing ;) I think my most favorite item we came home with was a gift basket of gardening items. I don't know if I've mentioned in previous posts, but I am beyond excited to finally have a garden this year of my very own. (I'm actually taking on nerd status at the excitement I'm having over it) But none the less this was perfect for me. Here's a photo of what it contained:

Sunday we made a crazy drive over to Brookings in yet another Minnesota snowstorm for a great craigslist item we found. It's a surprise, so be anxious to see photos. After picking up the item and killing some time in Walmart the weather looked like it was easing up so we made the drive down to Sioux Falls to do some shopping and of course a Target run! And we are so glad we did. It was a great day of shopping and great finds!

On Tuesday my dear grandma went to be with the Lord. I will miss her greatly and I know it will hit me even harder when we are not able to see her when we go to North Carolina in July. But I know she is in Heaven celebrating with Jesus and reunited with her husband and siblings so it's a much better place than here. Even though I grew up with her so far away I was able to have so many great memories of visits there and my summers spent with her. 

A couple of recipes I've made lately:
Cheesecake coffee cake
I used GF flour and it seemed to be too thick, so I opted to make muffins instead and they turned out great.

Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Chicken

In the oven before adding cheese

Steak and Cheese stuffed green peppers
This recipes website did not work, so I improvised with my own from seeing the pictures
2 large green peppers
1/2 lb. roast beef (from the deli
1 small container sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion
Worstshire sauce (too taste)
8 slices Provolone or Pepper Jack cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Cook mushrooms and onions, add roast beef and sprinkle in a little worstshire sauce. I think I used about 1 Tbsp. Cut peppers in half and remove seeds. Place one slice of cheese in pepper, top with meat and veggies, top with another slice of cheese. Do all four and bake in the oven for around 20-30 minutes. Your preference on how soft or crunchy you want the pepper to be.

March madness!!

WOW!! I knew I hadn't blogged for a while, but I did not realize it has been over a month! I'm a bit ashamed at myself yet I feel I have very good "excuses" :)

I, of course, don't have the time I would like right now to catch up and fill in everything that has happened over the past month. So I'm going to do a recap, throw in some pictures and be set.

The beginning of March came with a last minute trip my mom and I had to make to go out to North Carolina to visit my Grandmother, who at the time was very ill. She (praise the Lord) is doing well again, but there are never regrets for going out there. Jeremiah did an amazing job juggling work and transporting the boys from sitter to sitter and being a single parent for almost a week. When it rains at times it seems to pour and it seemed everything that could happen to him while I was gone did, but again he did everything without complaint and I came home to a clean house, well behaved children, and a smiling husband.

We had managed to almost get through all of winter with out any of us really getting sick. Again, I say, almost. About three weeks ago I came down with strep and had been out of it ever since then last week the stomach flu moved through the house starting with me and ending with Jeremiah just yesterday. Finally feeling well enough to take care of our house, which looked like it had been taken over by a hoarding family, I can now say everything is clean, disinfected, and ready for Spring!! At least when this snow storm is over.

Of course, I also have had some great new recipes over this month, I will work on getting links and pics on the next post.

Our dryer randomly stopped working for a day so we got to take a field trip to the laundromat. 

Made a trip up to the cities to visit our dear friends the Zimmerman's and made a concert stop at NWC where I got to see the beautiful Quinn Bos!!!

Oakley and I had a date night and we went to his first 3D movie "the croods"

Dinner and a movie with Oakley

Dyed a few Easter eggs...........well maybe a few dozen!

While I was sick with the flu Oakley took on some new responsibilities, he can now make his own sandwiches. This is our new lunch spot and his sandwich station.

I made Red Velvet Cheesecake for Easter dessert. Jeremiah said it was the best thing he has ever eaten. :)

**Callahan is 2!**

All right another week has come and gone. I think it's starting to be my Monday tradition to catch up on laundry and do my blog ;)

Callahan's birthday was a success! 

 

 We had so many friends and family. It made it a great day. I'd say he made out pretty well on some very generous gifts from everyone who loves him so much and not that a two year old says too much, but I think he enjoyed it all as well. Big brother Oakley handled all of it very well too. Callahan has been an avid little people fan pretty much since he started playing with toys as well as a ball lover, however, lately he has been obsessed with basketball and baseball and football, oh and I guess soccer.......that pretty much covers close to every ball sport. So yes we think he's going to be quite the little athlete. He got some great animals to go along with his little people zoo, he's already lined them up a couple of times to show them off as well as a huge little people little wheelies race track, with music and movement it's right up this kids ally! He got balls of course and a great bucket of mega blocks that hes obsessed with as well, and a bubble leaf blower. I think he's set for entertainment for quite a while! Finally, Jeremiah and I bought him a basketball hoop. It is the ticket item in the house every evening. Sharing has thankfully become second nature with only one "original" basketball for the hoop. I'd say both boys are doing very well. It's so fun to watch them interact like this finally and play with each other more and more.

I also found myself continuing to apologize for my lack of display and effort in decorating and making goodies, as I often consider that my "thing". Entertaining, cooking, and baking, but finding that being in a small town the things I once so easily had access too is now a little bit harder and need to be more planned out. BUT bottom line is,  I feel everyone thought it was a great time and a wonderfully party. All that matters is the birthday boy enjoyed it and time was spent with the people closest to us! I can't say thank you enough to all the people who love him and us so much. It's a huge blessing.

 Now onto some food and recipes!

My latest obsessive snack......Spicy Baked Chickpeas!!! They are so amazing and nothing but healthy! I posted it on facebook and had quite a few responses from people wanting the recipe so here it is!

Dried and ready to bake

All done

Spicy Baked Chickpeas

2 cans (14oz) Chickpeas

1 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Spice Mix

    2 tsp Sugar

    1 1/2 tsp Cumin

    1 1/2 tsp Paprika

    1 tsp Garlic Salt

Drain and Rinse chickpeas. Spread out on a paper towel or towel to dry, place another towel or paper towel on top and rub gently to help dry. Some skins may peal off, you can throw these out or keep them, I kept mine.  The dryer they are the better. Preheat oven to 425. Place dried chickpeas in a large bowl and pour in Olive oil, stir until they are coated. Add Spice mix stirring to coat chickpeas. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper, place chickpeas on pan and bake 40-60 minutes, stirring half way through. I set the timer for 21 minutes then stirred and baked for another 23 minutes. They can burn quickly between the 40-60 minute time so watch them closely, I'd say 45 is safe. They will get crunchier as they cool. I like to have a mix of burnt, perfect, and soft, preferably myself.

I also made everything for Callahan's birthday gluten free. We had spiced apple dip with apple slices, taco layer dip with chips, GF sugar cookie bars, GF candy dipped pretzels, GF white cupcakes (Betty Crocker mix), Black bean cupcakes, and BBQ little wienies. You can follow the links I have for the food by clicking on them if you want the exact recipes, otherwise my versions are below. I also added a couple of tablespoons of GF flour to the black bean cupcakes. Last time I made them they seemed to come out pretty flat and I like them to have a little raise so this seemed to solve that problem. 

Party favors

Spiced Apple Dip

8 oz Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 c sugar

1 C brown sugar, packed

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp spice mix (below)

1. Cream the cream cheese and sugars, so the sugar is almost dissolved and you can't taste the grains when eating it.

2. Mix in vanilla and spices

Spice Mix

1/4 c cinnamon

2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp all spice

1 tsp ginger

Baked Sugar Cookies

21/2 C GF flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C butter, softened

1 C sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tbsp sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

1. preheat oven to 375, 9x13 pan

2. Mix flour, powder, and salt, set aside

3. Cream butter and sugar

4. Add egg

5. Add sour cream and vanilla

6. Slowly add flour

7. Gently press in pan

8. Bake 17-20 minutes

Frosting

1/2 c butter, softened

4 C powdered sugar

1/4 c half and half

1 tsp vanilla

Food coloring

Cream butter, sugar, and half and half. Stir in vanilla and color to desired color.

Tonight: Got a Surprise Date Night! Very Excited!