2012 Home Tour

We're constantly making changes. Here's a tour of how things look like this month.

{our new/old lucite coffee table we got off craigslist - originally from CB2}

{dining room/kitchen}

{our new puppy Watson! & the hallway}

 {the guest room}

{our 1 and only bathroom}

{our bedroom}

{our home office}

Biking, Blueberries, & Banana Beer Bread

Mmmmm! Blueberries are back in season & the best U-Pick farm is just 1 mile from our house. So close that I usually just ride my bike & try to fit as many containers in my basket as possible. I love snacking on them just plain or putting them in my yogurt in the morning! The last batch I got i decided to do some baking with. Go {here} for blueberry baking I did last summer. I searched online for a lemon blueberry cheesecake recipe and came across one on the Food Networks site - it was delicious!

{Graham crackers for the crust}

{blending the filling}

{before going into the oven}

They were so good I forgot to get after pictures because we ate them too fast! Sorry! but trust me they were delicious! Go {here} for the recipe!

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

Another recipe I tried was for banana beer bread. Adam found the recipe on {Deschutes Brewery's} facebook page & wanted to try it out. We had some extra ripe banana's so I whipped up a batch.

{from facebook post}

INGREDIENTS:
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2 medium bananas, mashed
1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
1/4 cup beer Twilight Ale, Black Butte Porter or Obsidian Stout

{I used Twilight}

PREPARATION:
Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a 91/4-by-5 1/4-by 23/4-inch pan. In a large bowl blend together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, walnuts, and salt. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until foamy before beating in the bananas, butter and beer. Combine the two mixtures, blending until the two ingredients are moistened.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean and the top is golden. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes before removing the loaf from the pan.

So good! I think next time I make it I'll add blueberries in it too ;)

More Strawberry Baking

Last weekend I rode my bike to the farmers market and met a friend. When riding a bike you're very limited to what you can buy, no more than what fits in your basket.. Well I ran into a deal too good to pass up. A whole flat of strawberries for $5! They were 2 day old berries so they were perfect for baking or jam, I had to get them! I didn't think I could use the whole flat myself so I split them with my friend, even better deal, $2.50 each! Already I had too much for my basket but I continued shopping and bought 2 baskets of blueberries, some green beans, & fresh cut dahlias. Since all of this did not fit in my bike basket I dropped it off at my friends car. After that Jaymee thought that she'd like to get another flat of berries to make freezer jam for gifts. So we walked back to the vendor selling the berries. To no surprise she was out of the $5 a flat strawberries, but she was shutting her booth down and offered us a whole flat of blackberries, for free! We accepted. We ended up splitting up the flats so we each got a half of strawberries and a half of blackberries - yum! Since all of this did not fit in my basket I ended up putting my bike in the back of my neighbors truck that was parked downtown and I got a ride home with Jaymee along with all my yummy and pretty purchases!
Now to the baking.. (Adam & I made 2 blackberry cobblers but I didn't take any pictures. We kept 1 for ourselves and gave 1 to a friend, use your imagination, they were yummy!)

With the strawberries I made another strawberry pie & a strawberry smoothie. I still had plenty of berries left and they needed to get used so I was trying to think of what else to make. That's when I remembered my friend Ashley's blog. She blogs about all the yummy and nutritious meals she makes for her cute little family! She posted weeks ago about about strawberry scones she made, yum! So I decided to give them a try.

and... They are delicious! & Huge! I cut each scone in half since they were so big.

{go here for recipe}

 

I still had quite a few berries left so I was trying to come up with something else to make. I went to

allrecipes.com and searched for strawberries and found strawberry muffins. Sounded good and easy. I followed the recipe but I also added poppy seeds, yum! They turned out good! The next time I make them I want to try using applesauce instead of oil & maybe adding another fruit like blueberries or banana! I still have a few berries left, I might have to make another batch. :)

Here's the recipe:

• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped strawberries
• {I added 1 tablespoon of poppy-seeds}

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place paper liners in your muffin tin.
2. In a small bowl, combine oil, milk, and egg. Beat lightly. In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Toss in chopped strawberries and stir to coat with flour. Pour in milk mixture and stir together.
3. Fill muffin cups. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes, or until the tops bounce back from the top. 

I love Summer baking! enjoy!

New kitchen faucet!

YEAH YEAH YEAH! This makes me really happy! It's the small things.. If anyone of you has ever used our kitchen faucet you'd known it's seen better days. It was leaky, wobbly, gross, small, and if you were lucky enough it would shoot water at you when you turned it on. Why did we wait so long to fix it? Well the thought was, we'll get a new sink, and when we get a new sink we'll get a new faucet. And if we're going to get a new sink, we should just re-do the counters while we were at it, then we'll fix it all at once... Well, we still have the same sink and the same counter tops, but the faucet could not get put off any longer! Adam and I went to Home Depot the other night and picked out the cheapest, most appealing one {in our eyes}. Here is before: YUCK YUCK YUCK

No matter what we are doing Ham and Charlie are always eager to help!

aw, so nice. No longer wobbly, no longer broken, and much more appealing! And I can fill a pitcher or large pot without having to use the sprayer!

 

and, while I am posting - check out my new pink {of course} coffee maker! I upgraded from a 4 cup pink Cuisinart coffee maker to a 12 cup. see old one here. Adam hated how small our old one was, 4 cups really only makes 2 normal coffee cups full so it was time to upgrade. We got a bargain too. It was $59.99 at Bed Bath & Beyond, used a 20% off coupon making it $47.99. Then Cuisinart had a $10 mail in rebate making it $37.99. Then we sold the old one on eBay for $20.00! So technically this beauty was only $17.99! I love a deal!

Recent Yard Sale Finds

I think I've found some treasures lately. This past weekend it wasn't raining so Adam and I ventured out to some sales. I found these fabulous metal patio chairs, only $5 each {wait till you see them made-over, coming soon!} This cute little dresser for only $7 {again, make-over coming soon!} These cute white vases, only $0.25 each! Last, but not least, this super fun metal tray that the vases are sitting on for only $1! I am most excited about my new patio chairs though. I have been admiring these, and even found some similar that were at a boutique in downtown Bend last summer. They were awesome, but over $100, each! I can't wait to share how fabulous they are looking now!
1 more find to share: My new, old, kitchen scale! I've been wanting to get a kitchen scale, but wanted an antique/vintage scale that was cute enough to leave out. Of course I wanted a pink one, but my only luck of finding a vintage pink scale was a baby one. I had been searching eBay for one and found this one. Perfect! Except I didn't order this from eBay, I found it at a local antique store for only $15! {The cheapest on eBay was about $18 + $13 shipping} Deal for me!