Pepper Paints

We Are Still Under Construction!!

Things are moving along–slow and steady! Let’s start at the back door. From here you can see the old back door has been removed and now the old hallway is open to the new entryway.The tile floor should be installed soon and I still need to paint that door going into the garage.

Today the baseboards in Molly’s room are being installed. All she needs is her rod in her closet and remove the tape from her ceiling and she is good start moving in!

Our bedroom is just about finished too. That carpet is like a terry cloth towel under my bare feet!! Apparently carpet on trucks involved in a wreck are super cheap—-awesome!! Really expensive, really soft carpet for super cheap–I like!!!

Here is my closet/dressing room. I am excited to make this my girly spot! ( Note the rosewater colored walls with the green carpet. Makes me think 70′s girls room!) I ordered a clothes rack and my Mom has a vanity for me too. My mind is spinning with possibilities for my very own space!

Teetery construction steps are gone and replaced with safe and sturdy stairway!

Here are the heartpine floors we ordered off of ebay! Another great deal!! I love them! So much grain!!

We have been painting our arms off! Here is a shot of the appliance wall just waiting for the cupboards that will be arriving this week–finally!!!

The painting has really sucked! It is so hard to pick out paint in a totally new, wide open space that has nothing in it!! Some walls have been painted several times because of last minute color changes (sorry honey!) I am still not totally satisfied but don’t think I will be able  to really choose the right colors until we are actually living and using this space. It was just way easier to paint pre floors and trim.

I do still love this color–but it needs a third coat—ughhhh

This weekend Joe and Jake tore out the walls between the kitchen and the family room.

It was a huge, dusty mess!! Now that it is all cleaned up and the plastic has been removed…Helloooooo long, open house!!!

Here is were the walls used to be–steps and electric to be removed next.

We were really hoping taking that wall out was going to make our family room bigger–but right now it just seems longer! I am hoping to find a lower sitting couch to put under the window seat wall. When we have some money to buy furniture that is!

So as you can see things are moving along. So many details take so much time!!

We Have Heat!!

Wow-it’s been so long I almost forgot how to update this blog! We have heat–luckily my husband spent the day at an HVAC/Electrical Class! He came home and hooked up our new furnace.  Or maybe I should back track a bit. Much progress has been made on our house addition since the garage demo post. Let’s see….

There was a back porch removed

There was lots of digging and hauling of dirt!!! Jake told me he felt like Mike Mulligan!

They dug for days!

Then there was pouring of gravel and concrete and building the foundation with stone blocks. And then came the framing and sheeting.

And then the trusses (this was truly beautiful!) I have a new love of architecture and hardware stores.

From there it was more framing and sheeting

Here is Ginger standing on our new pantry. This will eventually have railings and be a loft above the kitchen.

We have windows now too! And heat as of today–thank goodness!

Daytime view and night time view:

Sorry for the blurry photos–my auto focus is broken and according to my eyes with out glasses this WAS in focus! This is a shot of Ginger’s old bedroom (the green walls and carpet) now open to the new part. That was a small bedroom but now it looks even smaller!

New steps-horray!! Anyone who ever came to my door and tried to enter while carrying anything or happened to be greeted by the dogs or kids (which is everyone, always!) knows how awkward our old steps were and how awesome these will be!

Here we are at the bottom of the stairs, standing in the new super wide hall way looking at my old back door. To the left is my bedroom and to the right is another bedroom.

This is our new bedroom and below is a lucky kids new bedroom (luck is in the eye of the beholder because there is a war going on for my current bedroom)

We have hard wood floors and tile picked out and new appliances purchased. All I have to say is thank god for Pinterest and google!! I love you both beyond words! And more empty promises to update more often! Sorry!

Thursday’s Recipe Fail = Friday’s Kitchen Gadget Update

My Mom bought me this super shiny, huge pot for Christmas…ahh my love for kitchen gadgets and accessories continues….

I don’t usually just link or post  a recipe on Thursday’s unless I have made it and it is actually worth sharing. This weeks plan was to share a Kale and White Bean soup. I made it but it was nothing worth sharing. So instead I planned to share my new and favorite kitchen gadgets but my poor daughter has been here all week

It is almost 10 am as I write this and she just woke up still sniffling and sneezing. My youngest germ is coughing in bed with her Dad who has been working all week until the wee hours of the morning. It’s been a rough week around here!

So that is why I am just getting around to Thursday’s post…on Friday morning afternoon.

With all the germs flying around the house, this week turned into soup week.  There was the mediocre kale and white bean and the cure all chicken noodle

Everyone has a version of chicken noodle soup. Mine is nothing special but it certainly hits the spot. I added some pea shoots to mine…soup and salad all in one bowl is a favorite of mine! There was also a beef vegetable that I made in my new lead free crock pot.

Yes, you read that correctly. I don’t know how I didn’t know that crock pots typically carry lead in there glaze but apparently they do. I did some googling and found that the Cuisinart brand is lead free as is Vita Clay. Both are expensive. I did a little more digging and found this Supentown Slow Cooker. And even better I found it on the cheap at Home Depot The crock is made of the same zisha, purple clay, that the Vita Clay cookers are made from.  Supentown website writes that it is not only free of chemicals but rich in natural minerals. Someday negative info may come out about this cooker too but I couldn’t find it anywhere for now.

I used my new slow cooker to make beef veg soup and all was good. It is a little bit smaller than my other crock pot but not much. But because the crock is not non stick there was a little sticking. It washed out easily and the soup tasted great. Just be sure when you store any small appliance you do not put the cord inside the pot because the soft pliable coating on the cords do contain lead…so wash your hands after use. I also read that there is lead in the coating of the heating elements in the outer part of slow cookers. I am done researching lead for a while. In other news I hear they are planning to take some of the fluoride out of our drinking water…gee thanks. it’s about time. Don’t breath or drink or eat…chemicals are every where!!! It becomes exhausting. Trying not to get too caught up in all of that!

I do know for sure that this is lead free…it is stainless steel

Also by Supentown and purchased at Home Depot this thermal cooker was way cheaper. I haven’t used it yet but can’t wait!! I have had my eye on these thermal cookers for a while but they are  very expensive and couldn’t really find a difference between the two that warranted the extra cost so we finally went with the cheaper one. I love the idea of making food and taking it with us for later, all the while it is cooking on the move with out being plugged in!!! Can’t get more energy efficient than that!

Take a look inside-a simple design!

I promise to use it soon and let you know how it works.

I love my Olympic juicer…especially for carrot juice

Last but certainly not least one of my favorite kitchen gadgets….I shared my love for this thermos before in my OUT WITH PLASTICS post.  During the winter i fill it it up with hot water so a cup of tea is only minutes away. I LOVE it!! Again no electricity used here!

What is your favorite kitchen gadget?

Thursday’s Recipe – Holy $hit, That’s Hotter Than Hell, Hot Sauce!(aka fermented hot peppers)

I LOVE hot and spicy food.  I saw a recipe for Fermented Hot Chili Sauce at Nourished Kitchen and thought it would make tasty gifts to share.

Holy crap–this is some hot, hot sauce!

I bought just about all the habanaro peppers at our grocery along with a few jalapenos and a couple of pablanos for flavor. I cut the stems off and threw them into the food processor with a few sweet onions, several cloves of garlic and a few handfuls of basil and salt and a little sugar. I mixed up the only living cultures I had-keifer starter-with a little water and threw that in too. I put everything into a mason jar–it took several tries as just inhaling the fumes were tough! I let it sit on my counter for about 12 days. There wasn’t much bubbling and not much liquid so I ended up just bottling it up seeds and all.

The brave decided to try it yesterday………….

I ate some on tortilla chips and yes it was hot but super tasty. I love the taste of habaneros!  I think it will be really good in a bowl of beans and rice topped with some yogurt! Mmmmm

The Nourished Kitchen blog is loaded with really delicious recipes!! Be sure to check them out.

Thursday’s Recipe – Super Easy, Home Made CrockPot Yogurt

The chef and I have been very busy in the kitchen this summer!

I have always wanted to make my own yogurt but never found a recipe that looked easy enough. Until now!!

This is the recipe I followed.

It was ridiculously simple.

Because this is unsweetened I have been using it like sour cream as well as yogurt. Over the top of grated cucumbers with lots of salt and pepper Mmmm-In smoothies, over fruit with a little maple syrup. Oh boy-a half gallon of milk’s worth of yogurt did not last long around here!!

Are there any home made yogurt experts out there that could answer some of my questions??? Like in addition to starter can I add more probiotics to make a super cultured yogurt? I am not sure if they would grow. I am also interested in making some non dairy non soy yogurts…Oh the possibilities!!

Thursday’s Recipe …. Countertop Sour Pickles

My kitchen has been smelling like a deli this week! It brings back fond memories of the years I spent hanging out at Bernie’s!

I shared on my twitter and face book about how great my countertop pickles tasted and was then asked by so many people for the recipe–So here it is!

I belong to an organic produce co-op. One of the other members spoke of her counter top pickles and was also asked by many of us for the recipe. She referred us to Wild Fermentation.  I linked to this website back when I made fermented carrots and sauerkraut.

Basically this is what I did–Because these were not just picked out of my garden -I soaked my cucumbers in cold water in the fridge for a few hours to crisp them up. I had regular old large cucumbers not pickling ones so I cut them in half and then quartered them. I dissolved 1 Tablespoon of salt for each cup of water. I think I did 8 cups of water for the 3 large cucumbers I had. I did not have a large enough jar so I used the inner crock from one of my crock pots. Perfect!!

After stirring and stirring to dissolve the salt I gently crushed several heads of garlic-say 4 or 5 with the back of a spoon-just to crack them open and threw those in the water with a small handful of peppercorns , 4 heads of flowering dill and a small handful of fresh dill and 2 freshly washed oak leaves from the big tree. The oak , grape, sour cherry or horseradish leaves are to help keep the crunch.

I mixed all of that around and placed a plate on the top to keep the cucumbers submersed in the brine.

I then put the lid on very loosely–leaving it slightly cracked open on one side.

The next morning I noticed a few bubbles–IT”S  ALIVE!!! Then there was a film that I scraped off over the next couple of days-then we tasted on day 2–delicious!!  Actually we ate several!

It has been really hot here so the fermenting went quickly! I left them 1 more day and then moved them into jars (that I have been saving from our Bubbies pickles) and put them in the fridge to slow down the process.M more were eaten this morning as I moved them into the jars–lucky I ordered several more pounds of cucumbers this week!

We might need to add some Rubens to the menu!!

Our Mud Pie Kitchen

While clicking around in the  Summer edition of Rhythm of the Home, I came across this awesome idea!! As soon as I saw the photos  my heart skipped a beat and I started making a thrift store list for our own mud pie kitchen!!

It didn’t take us long to find just what we needed!!

First, I picked a nice shady spot in our yard. Not too far from the hose and close to lots of dirt and sand, sticks and leaves. All the essentials for good, messy fun. Something my kids love!

Next,  we headed to the thrift store to stock our kitchen—think little and cheap. Pots, pans, muffin tins, cups, bowls, silverware…..

These make the perfect little molds and were only 30 to 50 cents a piece! Besides the fact they are pretty and shiny!!

More pretty, shiny, cheap staples that every kitchen must have… a beautiful bright yellow tea pot and pitcher.

The appliances were a little more tricky to find. It took a second trip to the store–but we totally lucked out and found the black shelf marked $5.00 and the little book shelf marked $2.96 and both were half off.

Let me tell you– this has been a bustling kitchen… breakfasts, coffee, lunch and dinner and don’t forget dessert–lots and lots of desserts!!

Oh …and lots of soup

All served on a table the girls made out of some scraps of wood they found above the garage— and then painted with glitter paint. Yes, they are my girls!!

And when the meal is over….you must wash the dishes!

If you need any recipe suggestions, Ginger highly recommends this cook book

What’s cookin’ in your mud pie kitchen?