One-Pot Arroz con Pollo

I bought a new cookbook to help kick-off my New Recipes for October campaign - any excuse to buy a new cookbook is a good excuse!!  One of the recipes I was really excited to try was this One-Pot Arroz con Pollo - I have no idea how to pronounce it but I knew Eric would love it.  I'm not a big fan of tomato-based dishes or of rice really (unless it's Fried Rice), but Eric loves both tomatoes and rice so I try to incorporate a few dishes for when I eat out or don't feel like eating dinner.  Even though it was supposed to be for October I made it a few days early, and since it made so much I have freezer meals to use next month! 

I have to say that I was surprised at just how much Eric liked this - I made it on Friday and he has already had leftovers twice (He said the leftovers were even better than the first night).  This dish made enough that I have 2 more meals in the freezer for him, which makes this a really cost effective meal.

The cookbook I got it from is The Mom 100 Cookbook by Katie Workman.  I will probably be sharing a bunch of recipes from the cookbook, but I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to try simple delicious recipes.

One-Pot Arroz con Pollo

3 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken thighs (I used 1 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast)

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1½ cups short grain rice (I used regular long rice)
1 cooked pork kielbasa (14-16 oz.), diced (I left this out)
1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes, with their juice
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I used half chicken broth and half vegetable broth)
2 bay leaves (oops - I forgot to get this so I left it out)
½ tsp. sweet or smoked paprika
¼ tsp. saffron threads
1 cup frozen peas (no need to thaw)
1 cup sliced roasted red peppers (optional) (I didn't add this , but I bet Eric would have liked it)
¼ cup chopped fresh italian (flat-leaf) parsley (optional)

Cut the chicken into chunks about 2 by 2 inches. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Using a large skillet with a lid, brown all of the chicken and set aside, using 1-2 Tbsp of oil as needed.  The chicken does not need to be cooked through.  If there is a build up of fat and pan juice pour it into a bowl and set aside as well (I didn't have enough to do this, but thought maybe it was because I used breasts instead of thighs).

Add 1 Tbsp olive oil and the butter to the skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion, shallot, carrots, and bell pepper until they start to soften, add the garlic and cook until you can really smell the garlic, about 1 minute.  Add the rice and the kielbasa (if using) and stir until the rice starts to turn slightly translucent, about 3 minutes.

Stir in the can of tomatoes and the broth, then add the bay leaves, paprika, and saffron. Stir well. Cover the skillet, and increase the heat to medium-high.  Once it comes to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium and let simmer until the rice has begun to absorb the liquid. 

Place the chicken pieces on top of the rice and drizzle any juices that have accumulated on the plate over the chicken. If you have any set aside, pour off any fat that has separated from the reserved pan juices and add the darker liquid from the bottom of the container to the skillet. Cover the skillet again and let simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through, the rice is tender, and most of the liquid has been absorbed, 12-15 minutes.

Remove the lid, sprinkle the peas on top, and drape the roasted pepper (if using) attractively over the top. Cover the skillet and cook until the peas (and peppers) are heated through, about 2 minutes.

I tried the chicken and it was really good!!  I think next time I will add the full amount of chicken so I can eat it as well.

 

Have a great day!

Beth

 

No TV!

My TV wigged out when we had a power outage about a week ago. My husband was super busy so he didn't have time to fix it. Last night it was fixed, we have a computer TV so it was an easier fix than going and buying a whole new setup. It still took hours and he had to upgrade the OS. We have a handy dandy program that records my shows. Unfortunately we had to pay for it with the new upgrade.

That's not what I really wanted to talk about. I'm a huge TV show fan. When I was pregnant I said I didn't want the same for my kiddo. He lit up when he saw a video and I couldn't help my self, I gave in and now he had a few shows that he likes to watch. I do however turn off the TV more than my parents did. I wouldn't change my upbringing for anything. I still love TV. What I learned from my week of no TV is that I got so much done around the house. My son also did pretty well with out it, there was less stress in the house. There's something to be said about removing the distractions, it works for everyone. I have enjoyed my no TV week so much that I have only set up 2 recordings to record every week. I will watch them on the weekends. I forgot I have set up some food shows, I count that as research though!

I have committed to deep cleaning a room a day, I took one day off on Saturday but I'm back to it. How I see it, when I have cleaned and organized everything it will be a lot easier to maintain. I was working way to hard before and I would get tired and give up.

My favorite thing about reorganizing and deep cleaning, I will be able to have guest over. I love food even more so I love to serve food to the ones I love. I always felt bad about my house but would tell myself this is the way we live so hopefully they wouldn't think too bad of us. Well now I know I can do better, and I want to do better.

I hope you all have a great Monday!

Menu for October

 

I realized a few days ago that I dropped the ball this summer on doing monthly menus - oops.  It was a busy couple of months - and that meant a lot of quick meals (read - bad meals).  Well, I am making an effort to get back to real meals.  For October I decided I wanted to try some new recipes - so all of the Dinner options are new recipes, and quite a few of the sides are new recipes too.  Some are things I have made before, but with a different recipe - so I am counting them :)

 



Have a great day!
Beth

Korean Beef

So I made this dish hoping I would fall in love with it. Sadly I didn't, luckily my husband did so I will be making this if I'm not at home for dinner. I think I cooked it too long. I might pull it off the heat quicker next time.

Korean Beef

1 pound of ground beef
1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar (I used 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sunflower seed oil
3 garlic cloves minced
1/2-1 teaspoon crushed pepper, I actually used a pinch and it was great
Salt and pepper to taste
Green onions sliced to top
Cooked rice

Brown ground beef with oil and garlic over medium heat. Drain most of the fat, add brown sugar, soy sauce, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Let simmer for a couple minutes. Plate rice and scoop beef mixture on top, sprinkle sliced green onions on top.

Wasn't that fast? That's what made me want to make it. Wish me luck for next time!

Have a great week!

PS I couldn't upload the photo, I'll keep trying!

Psst - I added the picture :) Beth

Obsession or Good Planning??

One of the biggest goals I have had since we bought our house was that everything would have a place - or it wouldn't stay.  This is hard for my magpie (oh - this is pretty) personality - but I refuse to hoard things we don't need or have room for.  There are exceptions (like Eric's massive toy collection), but even those items will have a home eventually - I'm hoping to convince him to share them when we have kids lol.  Up until the last few months ago we hadn't even started unpacking anything but the necessities - and it's been THREE YEARS!!  Most of our 'fun' things are still packed in boxes in three of our mostly unused rooms - my craft room, the nursery and the guest room :/...
Well, now we are getting ready to actually work on and (hopefully) finish the kitchen!!  That means I have to get serious about where I am going to put things, which led to this...

Yep - I am crazy...but here's more...

It amazes me how much I own and use in the kitchen - I would say I already own about 90% of what I listed!!

Now, I just have to figure out how I want to organize the Pantry.  That might take a while - there is a lot that I need to store in there.  It will not only have all of our food storage, but it is the main storage for the entire downstairs living space (things like tablecloths, decorative knickknacks, candles, vases, ect). 

I am already on the hunt for the different things I will need to accomplish this organizational craziness - it's shocking how expensive some of these things are!!

Have a great day!!
Beth

Back to Normal...

Things are going very well this week. My husband is back from traveling in New York. My son is doing well with his schedule and is impressing me everyday. I figured out that I didn't have my sewing machine threaded right, from the help of my mom. Things are clicking into place for me. I hope this continues.

I have plans to do some baking this week. I really want to make some more of those pumpkin scones I made awhile back. They got great reviews. I have a request for Barefoot Contessa's outrageous brownies. They are amazing! I Pinned an Apple pie roll that is made with egg roll sheets. I think a drizzle of caramel will send it over the top.

Over the last weekend I tried this amazing casserole. Luckily they will be sending it to me. I've been trying to find it on the internet. It taste like chicken noodle soup but with rice instead. It had bell peppers and water chestnuts, which is not found in chicken noodle, it was a.perfect addition. I can't wait for the recipe, it was amazing. That kind of fall comfort food brings me joy!

I need to go make lunch for the hubby and me. Have a great day!

Finally!!

We found a rug for our dining room!!  We have been looking for something we both liked for 3 years and we happened to see it during one of our recent trips to Home Depot.  We have looked at a lot of different types of rugs - and I finally suggested we just get a solid color.  Even that was difficult because Eric likes small pops of color - not a giant statement.  So when we saw this rug, we agreed it was the right size and that it was the right shade of grey to match our walls.  It is a little different than a typical rug - instead of strands of yarn, it looks like it is made from strands of ribbon.  So it feels neat under your feet ;)

Have a great day!
Beth

Spending time with friends

My son and I are over at our friends house. This place has become a second home to us. They have a little trailer for us to stay in when we come over. I have joked about putting a sign up saying it's mine. Every time I come here she makes the bed and puts in fresh flowers, it's so inviting! Christie has been like a sister to me. She has 5 wonderful kids that I have seen growing up over the years. I like to come over here for Xander, my son, he gets a great dose of a big family. He comes here and just makes him self at home. Other than my home it's the one place I don't have to get worried that he will get into something he shouldn't. There are things like that here, he just knows not to get into certain things. She keeps her main room kid friendly which is where he normally is. Coming here for me is like a vacation, sometimes I come to bake or cook which is a lot of fun. We are preparing for her son's birthday party. We're keeping it simple which we have learned over the years. I still have some problems but I have dialed back some so there's improvement. When Christie and I were in high school we took a culinary class which resulted in us cartering. I don't know why I didn't realize that I love to cook then. In our class we worked on decorating cakes. I think we did well. Christie has the control touch. I bake really well so we thought we could someday own our own bakery, she make things look pretty and I'll help make them taste delicious. These kids birthdays are our practice for our bakery. My husband, Jerry, is traveling so it all worked out to come down here.

We'll we have to get back to things! Have a great weekend!

Sewing Day!!

It's a sewing day so I thought I would share the project I've been working on for almost a year and finally finished!!

I started sewing aprons as gifts for Jamie and Felicia and I'm so happy with how they've turned out!!  I took a regular apron pattern and made a few changes.  I used flannel so that the random strings would stick to it instead of falling on the floor (and well - I love the fabric!), and I added a "pillow" to use for gathering the needles as you remove them while you sew.

Now I'm going back to sewing - I wonder what my next project will be?!

Have a great day!
Beth

It's going to be a long day...

This morning my son and I dropped off my husband to go on a big trip to New York. We got up at 3:30 and I got my son up just before 4. He's been up ever since. He has preschool soon so hopefully he doesn't fall asleep on them!

I haven't had much sleep and my husband had even less. Hopefully he will get some rest after he gets settled. I however am going to keep going and get to sleep early tonight. I need to do some baking today which is fun and relaxing for me.

The end of the week I'm going to my friends house to celebrate her son's birthday. We are also going to work on our sewing crafts. I'm very excited. I need to do some cleaning upstairs still to make room for my new craft loft. So this sew-in we are going to will help inspire me to declutter.

I have to dig through all my stuff to find my projects. While the kiddo is at school I need to get my projects out and my bags for overnight stays. Wish me luck it's scary up there!

The Closet...Part 34

I was hoping that this post would have a picture of a completed closet, but obviously that is not the case...and yet there are clothes hanging up?!  Here's the funny story about that...

Originally, we were planning to finish the small bits and pieces of the closet on Saturday -so we could paint it all on Sunday.  Well, we weren't able to do any work on it on Saturday - bummer.  Instead, we ended up finishing those bits and pieces on Sunday.  When we were all done, we were admiring it from the bed and discussing how we wanted to paint it (because we changed our minds again).  All of a sudden we heard these funny noises - and at first we blamed the cat (who doesn't - our cat is crazy) but then Eric looked over and the closet rack we were using was slowly falling/leaning over and was about halfway to the floor!!  After 3 years it finally gave up and broke : /

So, we jumped up and moved all the clothes to the closet - which we had thankfully finished less than an hour before!!  (This should explain why they are all jumbled in there - they will not be staying like this lol)   

As you can see we hadn't even completely cleaned up yet, but I was glad I didn't have to leave them in a pile on the floor.

And about that change I mentioned - we were planning to paint the whole thing white, but changed our minds to this...

Closet from here.

It's hard to see from the picture of our closet but it is really nice as natural wood - and we were surprised at how much we liked it.  So we thought it might look pretty cool as a two-tone with the inside natural wood and the front trim white.  This picture actually made our minds up - so we are definitely doing this now :) (As an extra bonus it means less painting lol)

I'm excited to finish this project so I have something else to talk about - I'm sure you are too!!

Have a great day!
Beth

Soup and Bread, Bread and Soup

Last night for dinner I made a cheeseburger soup. I have made it before but I found a new recipe. I like this recipe a lot better. My husband likes to have something with soups and stews like crackers or bread. I picked up some delicious baguettes and sliced one into 4 pieces and put them in the freezer for times like this. I think I started to get more excited about the bread than the delicious soup.

Recipe:

1 lbs ground beef
1/2 sweet onion chopped
3 cups of warmed beef stock
4 tablespoon butter, divided
4 cups peeled and diced golden potatoes, about 6-8
3 tablespoon of flour
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground beef in 3 quart sauce pan, drain, take out and set aside. In same pan melt 1 tablespoon of butter add onion. Cook until translucent, add warmed stock, cooked beef, and potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a small sauce pan over low heat, add flour and stir, cook for 3-6 minutes. Add to the soup, while stirring bring to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat season with salt and pepper and in small handfuls add cheese. Serve warm!

Enjoy!

Handles, Sliders and Hinges..Oh My!

As you might have guessed, I don't really have anything fun to talk about today.  I have been pretty busy trying to find all of the things we will need to start moving forward on the kitchen as soon as we are done with the closet.  And while the closet has been moving along - it doesn't really look any different than it did before unless you like looking at things like outlet cutouts (which just aren't that interesting). 

So, what have I been looking for...I'm sure the title says it all lol.  I need sliders for the pullouts on either side of the oven - we have to attach them before we build the boxes because 3" is not enough room to screw them in afterwards.  I need hinges for the 6 mini-cabinets on the islands, and since we want them to be soft closing like the other cabinets I have been trying to find them for a price that doesn't make me cringe (The cabinets came with the hinges, so it's included in the price, but when you look for them by themselves there is a little sticker shock).  Finally, I have been obsessively looking at pulls/handles for our cabinet doors.  I have looked at tons of them, but I think we have settled on the one above - 4" Liberty Step Edge Pull.  Now we just have to make sure we like it enough to buy - because pulls are not cheap and I need 60 of them.  Yes, I have 60 doors in my kitchen - crazy town!  I have to admit that when I was designing my cabinets, I never thought to worry about how many pulls I would need.  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have changed my plans but...

Anyone else have to look for handles lately?  It's not for everyone, but I spent at least 10 hours looking at them online over the last week.

Have a great weekend!!
Beth

Quick Sewing Craft

The weather is cooling down. I have a super quick sewing craft for you today to help keep you warm.  I made a pocket warmer. What's great is you can make any shape! I made a simple circle. You can make it easy on yourself and make a square, I will definitely be doing this! You can make a triangle, I think they would look so cute! Around Valentines day you can make a heart and put their favorite essential oil in the rice.

I picked out some cherry fabric, it's 100% cotton, I think you will want to stick with cotton since it will be going into the microwave. I wish I could use a super soft fabric but it could melt.

I grabbed a small bowl for the nice circle size. I used a fabric pen and traced the bowl on the fabric. You can have a different backing, I just doubled up on the cherry fabric. Sew right sides out, leave an inch opening. Mix 1/4-1/3 cup of rice and 2-4 drops of essential oils. Pour rice into opening and sew up the opening. Cut 1/4 inch around the sewn edge, clean up any threads.

To use, microwave 15-30 seconds depending on your microwave. You can also throw it the freezer to use on bumps, headaches or puffy eyes.

You can check out where I got the idea from here.

I hope you have a great day!

New Cabinet Plan

If you read my post on Monday, you already know that I had to redesign a whole section of cabinets recently (meaning in the last few days lol).  It is actually a pretty large area that needs to be redone, so I have spent a lot of time looking at pictures and figuring out what the best use of the space would be - I am trying to find a good balance between useful and pretty lol.  This is also the most challenging section of cabinets in the kitchen.  The major issue is the section on the left - the walls are an even depth, but there is a vaulted ceiling above the last wall section.  This happened because we removed a wall that seperated the old kitchen and dining room, which is now the entire kitchen.  Then we built a new wall to seperate the new dining room and kitchen which was built higher.  So where and how do we end the crown molding on this wall?!  I have gone through tons of different options (even before the change in cabinets) - frustrated hair pulling and all - and this is the one that I think will work the best...I hope!     

We are going to build a soffit to 'fill in' the area between the top of the wall and the ceiling of the kitchen.  I can't put a cabinet all the way to the top because the crown molding from the lower section would overlap, and if I put a cabinet below it looks funny with the two layers of crown molding.  Well, it looks funny in my line drawing :)

The middle section of cabinets is going to be 16" deep instead of 12" - this will allow me to use them for appliances.  So my microwave, blender, juicer, dehydrator and bread machine will have a home - and it wont include me having to move them to use them!!  You can see the difference in the depth of the lower and upper cabinets in the picture above on the right.  I was a little worried about 'losing' the counter space, but then I realised that not only do I have tons of counter space but when I open the doors to use the appliances the counter will be twice as big.

So, now I just have to find a range hood that we want to see all the time :)

Have a great day!!

Beth 

New Daily Grind

Yesterday was my son's first day of preschool. Poor guy was not too happy to be leaving me. He was fine though. We live in Cul-de-sac, by the time the bus was turned around he was slightly smiling and waving to us. He was a little nervous again today and only needed two hugs, good improvement.

My husband is a geek and is online late into the nights working so for awhile we got on board with his schedule. Wake up later, couldn't go too late, like 9. Now we get up at 7 am. Which isn't considered early for most households, for us it is. I'm really liking this new schedule. It has pushed me into making meals on a set schedule. He has too eat breakfast at a certain time so that he will eat lunch before he gets on the bus just before noon.

Earlier wake up times mean earlier bed times. This also lead to some bonding times with my husband. We have been on a crazy roller coaster ride with our son. I have a feeling we're nearing the end of our ride on. Of course there will still be roller coaster's in our future but hopefully not too long next time.

I have nearly 5 hours while my kiddo is at school. My projects right now are a bit boring. I have to declutter our house. We have a small house, in my opinion, so I have to make some hard decisions about what needs to go. Don't worry my books are safe! Once I declutter my husband is going to build me workspace for my crafts up in our loft. When that happens I will be working on my craft things durning those 5 hour free time.

I hope you have a great day, I'm off to clean!

New and Old Favorites

Don't these look amazing?!  Eric and I made these together - I made the baked apples and the cookie dough and Eric made the cookies :)

These are Snickerdoodle Thumbprints with Baked Apple Filling and they are as tasty as they look!!  All you do is bake apples with cinnamon until they start to soften, let them cool and add them to your favorite Snickerdoodle recipe (my 'old' favorite) by using your thumb to create a bowl shape.  Cook the cookies according to the recipe.  Even more exciting than having cookies is what I got to bake them in...my new oven (my 'new' favorite) :)

 

Sorry about the so/so pictures - the thing about trying to take a good picture of a shiny new object is that it is hard (at least for me).  I am so excited that we finally replaced the crappy range that we have been using (I was desperate to stop cooking outside in the middle of October so we bought the cheapest one we could find 3 years ago - at $300 you don't get much more than 'basic'). 

This range is a little more than 'basic' lol.  It's a Samsung Slide-In Electric Chef Collection Range with Flex Duo Oven.  It has 5 burners, which include a Fast Boil, Warming and Bridged options.  The oven is what really sold me - even though it is a single oven door there is an insert that you can use to create two different temperature areas so it has a double oven option!  It's also a convection oven - so I made all of my cookies at once and they all turned out just like the picture above - perfect!  The drawer below the oven is a warming drawer - not just the hold all your cookie sheets drawer, the window is really see-though when the lights are on so you don't have to open the door to check your food, and it came with a temperature guage that hooks up inside the oven and reads out on the control panel...I could seriously go on about this range all day :) 

Side note: Some of you know that this was not what was supposed to go here originally.  The plan was to have a real double oven and a seperate gas cooktop.  Unfortunately, due to some issues - that just wasn't going to happen anytime soon.  We were looking at around 3-5 years before we could even afford all of that.  I don't want to wait that long to have a completed kitchen.  So I compromised - to some it's a dirty word, but I think it is a reasonable thing to do.  I want to finish the kitchen (actually completely finish it) by the end of next year - which meant I had to re-evaluate what my priorites were.  While I know I would have loved the double oven/cooktop combo - I have never had it so it's not a great loss, and I am happy with my super cool range with the double oven option.  So now we can have countertops installed in a few months - instead of a few years :) 

So, back to the new range...I'm sure you can tell that there is quite a bit of space around the oven (for some reason you cannot get a 36" electric range - you can get gas ranges that size though grrr).  This actually turns out to be a good thing!  This gives me enough room to create pull outs on either side for utensils. 

Something like this - easy to reach and use! :) 

    

I'm still working on the plan for the cabinets, but hopefully I will have something to share soon!!

Have a great day!
Beth

Twice Glazed Pumpkin Scones

Our weather turned on us just at the end of August. So I pinned a bunch of soups and scones. Now it's warming back up and it sounds like it will stay that way throughout the weekend. I'm conflicted, I want fall recipes but pineapple or coconut sounds refreshing. I had planned for this scone so I went for it. I might just make a fruity drink for later this afternoon since it's getting hotter as well.

I have gained some confidence in my baking. I have read a wonderful new pie book and she gave some helpful tips on dough making that I applied to my scones. It worked really well.

I normally make my scones big, so with out thinking I did the same thing. The recipe I have has you roll them out, you get more pieces and there's more surface for the glazes. Oh darn I will need to make more now!

Turn your oven on at 400 degrees Fahrenheit and get out a half sheet pan.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, 1 stick, cold, cut up into cubes
1/2 cup pumpkin purée
3 tablespoon milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 teaspoon vanilla

In a big bowl, add flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt, stir until combined. Add cubed butter and mix in with your hands or pastry blender until you have mostly small bits of butter. In a small bowl add, pumpkin, milk, egg and vanilla. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and mix until a soft dough forms. Flour a work space and flour your hands. Knead the dough 3 to 4 times. Dived the dough into two pieces and shape each into a ball. Cut each in half and then half again, you should have 4 scones in each ball. Put scones onto baking sheet spacing them out evenly. Bake for 18-24 min. If you follow the other directions they cook a lot faster another reason to make them that way.

Glaze recipes

In a small bowl mix 1 cup powdered sugar and 3 tablespoon of milk adding more milk if it's not runny enough, you want a nice steady stream when you put a spoon in then pull it out.

In a small bowl mix 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, and 2 tablespoon milk. I added more milk, in fact I added too much it was still delicious!

When the scones are done, I let them sit for about 10 minutes before adding the glaze.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Trying Something New

I am so excited that my tomatoes have started to ripen!!  I have been waiting to make my own spaghetti sauce since I planted them.  Now I just have to figure out how to store the ones that are almost ready, while I wait for the rest to catch up!  I am excited to make the sauce from fresh tomatoes instead of from a can or jar, but I'm also worried that Eric will tell me he doesn't want to eat any other kind from now on lol.  I don't have any family recipes (that I know of), so I searched online and thought I would give this one a try.  I am intrigued by the carrot and honey additions - guess we'll see how it goes.  Now I just have to figure out how many tomatoes I need...

Have a great night!!
Beth

Time for relaxation!

I'm off to get a massage here in a few moments. I haven't had one in quite awhile. I'm really looking forward to it. My wonderful husband suggested it. We have a huge build up of a prepaid membership and we need to start using them so that we can cancel that unneeded expense. Oh darn, right! I'm more than happy to help out. My son is starting up preschool here soon. I will have to plan some massages while he's at school too.

Just before I started writing my favorite frozen food delivery guy came and delivered my order. Luckily just in time for lunch. I love those little pot pies! I told him I will now be home on the delivery days so he needs to start coming by again. We were off going to so many different sessions I couldn't get any deliveries. It will be so nice being at home more. I have so many things I need to work on.

You will be able to look forward to more crafty ideas from me. I know I post a lot of recipes and I still have some recipe post's. I'm looking forward to also posting about home stuff, like organizing and cleaning recipes.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Lighting for the Kitchen

I am sure it is pretty obvious what we need to do to 'fix' the pendant lighting at the other end of the kitchen - it's about 12" off center.  Moving the light will be pretty easy (at least that is what Eric says), but first we need to find a new light - the gold and glass builder special just isn't doing anything for me!!  It's hard to visualize exactly what we want because the kitchen is only half built, but hopefully we will end up with something we love when it is all done.  If not, we can always replace it sometime down the road.  I have looked at hundreds of lights for this space over the last two years - I wish I was exaggerating - and I have seen a lot of lights that I thought would look good.  However, Eric and I have two very different ideas of what we like - especially when it comes to lighting!!  So now we are trying to change this light out in the very near future - and we have to make a decision we can both agree on :)

Here are the two we are deciding between:



 

Industrial Pendant from West Elm

This pendant light from West Elm is great.  It is simple, modern and comes at a great price.  The problem is it's only 11.5" wide - I am worried that it will look like a tiny light in a too-big area.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but the area with the shorter island is pretty big (I would say it is around 8'x10' and it has a sloped ceiling - the island will be around 36"x36").  So my thought is that it would look better if we either did a group of 3 lights hanging at different heights or 2 lights in line with the island - this will help increases the amount of area that the lights take up.



George Kovacs Families Collection

 This light is a little larger at 16" - I think we would only use one light and it will be fine.  It's a little more expensive, but still within my budget, and it is kind of a traditional shape with a little modern texture/look to it.

So now, we have to agree to stop looking and decide which one to get.  Who knows - we may end of with something completely different. Lol

Oh yeah, we also have to find light(s) for above the sink that will work with the larger

pendant light that we choose...guess I have more lights to look at :)

Have a great day!

Beth