Twas the night before renovations...

One thing to note: Just so you know I haven't been pregnant for well over a year - I was pregnant at the time we started this renovation and lost that baby in January 2010. 
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One the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me - one widened doorway and two groovy open concept shelves.

It has been a crazy seven weeks since we moved. I've blogged a couple of times but not really opened up the personal side of things. My grandfather died about a week after we moved. He was in poor health but it was not really expected. My grandmother has Alzheimer's and is currently having some pretty significant physical problems as well. I would appreciate your prayers especially for quality medical care - it is harder to get to in the area they live (very rural).

I was really participating in unpacking, settling in and the renovation - then the nausea hit. Yep - we are expecting baby #3. So renovations have majorly shifted on the shoulders of my husband. Not only the renovat8ions but a lot of cooking, cleaning and children responsibilities. In spite of the overwhelming-ness of all that - he has made some huge progress on the kitchen. So without further ado - here are some pics of the progress.

Here's the way it was left after Thanksgiving: The gap in the cabinets is where the fridge used to sit. The mismatched lower cabinets are the the "repurposed" ones from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore (love that place!)







This is the kitchen from the opposite direction where we are widening the doorway to the pantry to insert out big deep freezer. No - having it hanging out in the middle of the floor is not permanent LOL!













Here is the doorway opened - just needing paint and we can move the freezer!












Here's my true love putting up the open shelves
- yay! And our little one admiring her Daddy's new miter saw (birthday gift from his parents/sisters).

Recipe or Concoction?

Last week we had an unusual opportunity to get some serious focus on this whole kitchen renovation. Since I had been to the market to pick up my CSA (love the Faucette Farms), I had a bunch of yummy veggies just asking for consumption.

The girls (who do not care for "stuff" in their breakfast) were happily at grandma's house eating their weight in homemade biscuits. So with only myself and Pete to please - I decided to have a veggie scramble breakfast. Aside: I told Pete I was jealous of myself for getting eat this delicious dish. He mentioned pridefulness - I repented.
Here's what I was on my plate: eggs, green peppers, roasted red peppers, leeks (I can't do onions), fresh tomatoes, spinach leaves, cheddar cheese and pesto sauce.

Wanna try it? Here's what to do (although I imagine there are several different approaches). Big hint: Get all your "parts" together and ready so you don't accidentally overcook the eggs.

1. Put a little olive oil or coconut oil in a big frying pan and heat to med high.
2. Begin sauteing peppers and leeks.
3. Add several beaten eggs (I used 5 between us I'm pretty sure) with salt and pepper added.
4. Scramble the eggs and veggies to get them partially cooked.
5. Throw in the roasted red peppers, fresh tomato and spinach.
6. When the eggs are done to your liking, remove from pan and stir in a little pesto sauce (I used half teaspoon to a teaspoon)
7. Grate some cheese over top. Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum Yum.

More renovation pics and stories soon!

Kitchen Reno - Before and During

Here I'm letting it all hang out. Here is my kitchen when we purchased the house. The next two pictures are photos taken three days ago. We are repurposing and finding materials. Habitat for Humanity Restore has been a great financial blessing (albeit an extra challenge for size and type).

We purchased two used kitchen cabinets that Pete will be resurfacing the drawers and adding doors. It has been fun to see how Pete and I work together. The last picture is showing the current "functional" cleanish kitchen as it is right now. It is quite a project and we would happily appreciate prayers for all the come together.




After the cabinets are created we plan to ceramic tile the top. This will likely be a fairly long process. And I'm already tired. LOL. I'll keep you posted!

Rice and Easy

I know I twittered that I was sharing sour cream. When I "tweeted" that, I did not realize that we would be without a working dishwasher for over two weeks! As I mentioned before, our new house is great but the one major area that is not updated is the kitchen.

For a lady who is passionate about natural cooking (that would be me), it has been challenging to have my kitchen discombobulated. My wonderful husband has worked on the old dishwasher, installed a free dishwasher from my uncle (which ended up not working), and now finally in the process of installing a new dishwasher. Yay!

So I wanted to share a little idea that seems to make our lives a little easier. We eat brown rice as our primary carb with meals. Okay - one hour is not that big a deal most weeks to cook some. However - I have been very oriented toward "easy" as we moved, traveled and have general chaos in our world.

So I made a big pot of brown rice then dished it out into muffin tins (no teflon - just a little olive oil to keep it from sticking). I froze it, then popped it out, lined zip bags with wax paper and stored in the freezer.

It can be heated directly or tossed into a pot of broth with some chicken and yeehaw - a meal :-)
I'll get back to the sour cream soon - I will do my best!