- Refinish the walls, trim and paint (maybe put up wainscoting??)
- Install the laminate tile floor with grout. I think I'm going to stagger the tile this time - sort of a brick pattern
- Install ceiling tiles
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Bathroom Destruction
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Make me an offer... bench
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Pork Loin in the Microwave
- Use your favorite rub/ seasoning with a little oil and season it generously
- Place it in your DEEP COVERED BAKER
- Microwave with the lid on for 10-12 minutes
- Check the temperature with your digital thermometer - should read at least 160
- Let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes with the lid on again
- Slice and serve
Butterfinger Brownies
- Leftover meat for soups, quiches, pot pie, dips
- Chocolate chips or candy bars
- Vegetables (onion, peppers, celery, carrots, etc...)
- Nuts
- Homemade bread crumbs
- Oreos/ graham crackers - for crust
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Spinach Carbonara Pizza
- 1 pkg (13.8 oz) refrigerated pizza crust
- 6 slices bacon, divided
- 1 pkg (6 oz) fresh baby spinach leaves (about 8 cups)
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 oz grated fresh Parmesan cheese (about 1/4 cup packed)
- 1 cup jarred Alfredo pasta sauce
- 1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 2 cups (8 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- Additional coarsely ground black pepper (optional)
Preheat oven to 450°F. Unroll dough over bottom of lightly greased Large Bar Pan. Gently stretch and press dough to cover bottom of bar pan. Bake 10-12 minutes or until crust begins to brown; remove pan from oven to Stackable Cooling Rack.
Meanwhile, slice bacon into 1/4-in. pieces; cook in (8-in.) Sauté Pan over medium heat 5-6 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; drain on paper towels.
Place spinach and garlic pressed with Garlic Press into Classic Batter Bowl. Cover batter bowl; microwave on HIGH 2-3 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Carefully remove lid; press spinach to side of batter bowl using Small Mix ‘N Scraper®. Dab excess moisture with paper towels and set aside.
Grate Parmesan cheese using Microplane® Adjustable Grater; set aside. Finely chop half of the bacon using Food Chopper. Measure Alfredo sauce in (2-cup) Easy Read Measuring Cup. Add chopped bacon and black pepper to Alfredo sauce; mix well.
To assemble pizza, spread sauce to edges of crust. Top sauce completely with 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese, spinach mixture and remaining bacon. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese and additional black pepper, if desired.
Bake 7-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden brown. Remove from oven to cooling rack. Cut pizza into squares using Pizza Cutter. Serve using Mini-Serving Spatula.
I LOVE this pizza!! I even made a version of this with pasta instead of pizza crust because I was in a time crunch.
Pampered Chef - January Specials and Shows
I'd love to cook for you at your very own cooking show. If you're not interested in having a cooking show we can also get you some great tools by just having a catalog show (taking your catalog along to friends and family). Many of my friends and family have been cooking much more than ever because they have the right tools in the kitchen.
I am going to be placing an outlet order this weekend. You can view special outlet items by following these steps to my website:
Go to www.pamperedchef.biz/bridothager and follow these steps:
1. Click "SHOP ONLINE" (top right hand corner)
2. Select "PLACE AN ORDER"
3. Click "OUTLET SPECIALS"
If you'd like to host a show in January here's what you get - if you ask me it's one of the BEST months!
- 50% more FREE product - my average host gets $140 FREE so how does $210 FREE sound??
- Up to 2 Bamboo items for 60% off
- Up to 4 items of your choice for 50% off
- Any items you don't get are eligable for 15%-30%
AND you get 10% off any order you place for the rest of the year!! AND if someone books a party from your show you can get the host special the month they have a party. Really the rewards are amazing. I'd love to help you grow your kitchen and enjoy cooking more. Don't feel intimidated with cooking anymore.
Contact me to schedule your show or place an order - no matter how far away you are!
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Thank you all for following me or visiting!
**Also, I love to get comments - click on the "comment" label at the end of each post and let me know what you think.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
New Years Resolution
My resolution for 2010 is Love.
It sounds so simple and maybe to some of you a little hokey. Well it is simple, but don't we sometimes forget to do some of the most simple things in life sometimes?
We have been discussing many topics in our Sunday School class this past year. Each time a new topic is brought up I'm constantly drawn to think about the situation if more love were present.
We've discussed bitterness... judgementalness... anger...homelessness...complacency. How many of our circumstances/ issues/ daily life could be slightly different if there we responded with love?
Mark 29-31: Jesus said, "The first in importance is, 'Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these."
I love this song "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath
My prayer this year:
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
I'd love to hear what your resolution is.
A New Year - A New Room!
New
Old
You guessed right! I have a new chair. We went into a new furniture store after lunch today and it was one of the first I saw... loved... but really didn't need. It was a great price and just the right size and color for the front room. I had to rearrange the room. Don't you feel such a sense of newness when you just change a room around? My husband loves that it's free decorating... unless you count his back pain the next day.
The picture doesn't show the two buttons on the backrest of the chair. How cute!!! The color matches the armless chair perfectly. I love that it's both a neutral and interesting chair.
I would encourage all of you to take a room you are all too familiar with and try something new. Who knows... it might just feel like a new room!
The Tipping Box
Hummm what could the tipping box be? Is it about tipping people around the holidays? Not at our house. The tipping box is something we got on Christmas Eve on our long drive home from Aurora. This is how it goes...
We're driving down our street around 12:30am Christmas Eve night... early morning. As we pulled into the driveway I noticed I didn't see the mailbox. I turned around after waking from my 4 hour nap while Kolin drove home. What did I see.... the mailbox was flat on its side in the front lawn. I quickly jumped to conclusions... while we were away some kids must have had batting practise with our mailbox. I was totally irritated and just went into the house.
Kolin went outside to examine the damage while I went through the wet mail on the kitchen counter. He came inside to tell me that it was probably the way he installed the mailbox. See he didn't use any concrete. Maybe I should back-up even further... we moved to this house without a mailbox. The lack of a mailbox didn't even cross our mind until the Monday evening after moving day when neither of us got the mail. Anyway, the mailbox was a shotty installation and it needs to be reinstalled. That's not all the laughs that came with the tipping box.
The next day at Kolin's parents for Christmas we learned about their encounter with the mailbox. Kolin's dad had been bringing in the mail for us while we were away. One day as they were driving by then noticed that a man was pulled into our driveway. They drove to the house to see what he needed. The man was looking for the pastor that used to live in our home... this isn't the first time as another man woke us up on Thanksgiving morning with a pie for the pastor. My in-laws gave the gentleman directions to the preachers house and he was on his way. Then they proceeded to drive home. Just before the man turned onto the next street he made a U-turn back to our house. He stuck his head out the window and exclaimed that he did not run over our mailbox, but it was down when he arrived.
The day after Christmas Kolin went outside to try and get the mailbox up again. He jumped all over that dumb thing to get it standing in the ground again. I used my new iPod to take a video of him trying to get it standing again. I would share it, but it captures me laughing throughout most of it.
I hope you had a laugh at our tipping box- we sure did!