Gotta love a bargain!

Don't you just love it when you find a great, unexpected bargain, or surprise? I sure do!

Check out these great LeCrueset bowls that I found recently at Tuesday Morning...I did not even know LeCreuset made mixing bowls. They are nice and sturdy. Oh how I just love my LeCrueset...:)



And look at this fun little 'locker' crate that I eyed at Target for weeks, before snagging it on clearance...sweet.
I found another great wire basket on clearance at Target, but I will have to share a picture of that in a future post (it is too dark to take a picture now, as it is on my front porch).

:)

DONE!!

It has been a while, hasn't it? :-)

I wanted to share this picture of the back of the house...we finally finished our paint job on the back of the house a few weekends ago. Phew!!

Comfort food

A cool fall day is the perfect time for comfort food. :-) The recipe below is delicious and perfect for a cool fall day. It is terrific left over, too. And that is exactly what I am doing. I made a big pot of this tonight for our dinner tomorrow night. :-) And a little apple crumb pie for dessert never hurt anyone!

Sausage and Lentil Stew (recipe courtesy of Katie Lee Joel, although I have made a few modifications)
3 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 small yellow onion
bay leaf
1 pound of sausage, casings removed, cut into bite size pieces
1 bunch of kale, washed and chopped
8 oz lentils
6 cups chicken stock
2 cans (28 oz total) tomatoes with juices OR (1) 14 oz can tomato sauce
3 slices of bacon
salt and pepper to taste

• Chop bacon and saute over medium heat until crisp
• Remove bacon from pan, and add chopped veggies and bay leaf. Saute over medium-low heat until soft, about 10 minutes
• Add chicken stock, lentils, sausage, tomatoes (or sauce) and kale. Turn up heat and bring mixture to a boil.
  
• Once boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour.
  
• Ladle into bowls and top each serving with crispy bacon pieces.
• Enjoy! :)
  

Have some soup!

Well, let's face it, there has not been much for me to post about lately in the way of home improvement projects. So, you are gettng a recipe post. :) I had a large amount of potatoes to use up, so I made 2 large batches of potato soup this weekend. The recipe below will make about 2.5 quarts of soup. Here is what I did.

1. Peel and cube 4 large yukon gold potatoes.
2. Add 3 Tbsp. of butter to a preheated pot, then add the potatoes, kosher salt and pepper, 4 chopped sage leaves and the leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme.
3. Sautee until the potatoes are golden brown, about 5 minutes.
4. Add 6-8 cups of chicken stock (depending on how thick/thin you like your soup).
5. Simmer over medium heat until the potatoes are fork tender, about 12-15 minutes. Turn the stove off.









6. Use an immersion blender (one of my favorite kitchen tools!) to puree the soup. If you like chunks of potato, just pulse with the blender several times, and you will have a creamy soup with some chunks.









7. Stir in 1 cup extra sharp cheddar chesse and 4 strips of bacon that have been pan fried (cut the bacon lenthwise, then into cubes before cooking to get a nice amount for the whole pot).

This soup turned out tasty, and it does not have any cream, so maybe it is a bit more figure friendly than regular potato soup (which leaves room for more bacon and cheese...LOL).

Enjoy! :)

All better

I just wanted to share a quick update on Chloe. She is doing great! It has been (knock on wood) 2 weeks since she had any accidents, etc. She looks better, is acting like her old self, and, as you can see in the picture, is even feeling feisty enough to spend some time on the deck outside. :)

I heart Ikea

After months of pondering about improved storage and organization in our kitchen, I finally went to Ikea last week and did something about it! First, I picked up this handy magnetic knife rack. Rob came up with the great idea to place it inside a cabinet door (so you do not come in the kitchen and see a wall full of sharp knives...a bit intimidating!). This freed up a nice chunk of real estate on the counter next to our stove, as the knife block I have, while really nice, takes up a lot of room! This is much better!



Onto the back of the kitchen...we had lots of usable wall space above our table and chairs that I was craving better function for. I picked up 2 more Grundtal shelves at Ikea to join the one we already had...and presto! More storage that was desperately needed! It was inexpensive and makes use of wall space that was going to waste!














I love the ability to use these shelves as shelves, but also the ability to hang utensils, etc. from them. So clever...I am so glad I got more of these! You may recall that I have one hanging over my window by our sink...it is a shelf and doubles as a curtain rod(http://kristinandrobs.blogspot.com/2008/10/idea-from-better-homes-and-gardens.html ).
I just love double duty solutions! :)

Chloe Miss

So, I have been MIA for a few weeks. Our cat, Chloe, has been having a bit of a hard time lately. I had her at the vet a few weeks ago, right before our vacation, for what appeared to be a UTI. Everything checked out normally, but the vet gave us a prescription just in case, which really seemed to help. But, over the last few days, we have had trouble with accidents outside the litter pan...again. Chloe (a.k.a. Chloe Miss) is 14, and so we think old age is setting in. Of course, I have read everything I can on cat behavior (I am a behavior analyst, after all!) and have made a few changes based on some suggestions I have found online. In the meantime, if you read this blog, please send a positive thought in Chloe's direction! We would really appreciate it! :)