Step Away From Food: Bathroom Remodel 2

It should be noted for posterity that not a single contractor came to my house today.

- The plumber has a guy out sick and is behind (I really am trying to be nice and not hope he has swine flu)
- The demolition guys can't finish until the plumber caps the sink/shower
- The electrician can't come in until the plumber caps the sink/shower and the demo guys get rid of the sink/tub
- And most importantly...I cannot SHOWER until the plumber comes and hooks up our temporary shower in the basement.

I've become amazing adept at showering with a bucket of water and my loofah.

Harumph.

Step Away From Food: Bathroom Remodel

For those wondering what this looks like (*wave* hi beth *wave*) here is "before" (aka when we moved in Oct 2008) and day 1 of bathroom remodel.

Yes, yes I did shower out of my kitchen sink this evening. Thanks for asking.

Menu Mondays

I love having DH make our meats on the grill. To hell with those who say it'll give me cancer! :P

Saturday: We had friends over -- we provided german potato salad, hot dogs (with fixin's for chili dogs), hamburgers (lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, ketchup, mustard), and friends brought chips, drinks, and yummy dessert!

Sunday: no cooking -- out enjoying the weather, and picking up supplies in anticipation of my bathroom demolition monday morning. eek!

Monday: steak on the grill, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, rice pilaf

Tuesday: leftovers from the weekend grill-a-thon

Wednesday: oil and vinegar marinated chicken on the grill, potatoes (or potato salad, if we're still eating it by then), green beans

Thursday: spaghetti with meat sauce, salads

Friday: leftovers

"Ice Cream" Cone Party Favor

Aren't these adorable?? My mom had them for our Easter dinner, so I thought I'd share them with you. She purchased them from a woman who makes and sells them as little favors.

I don't have any instructions on how it's put together, but we dissected one and came up with the following:

Melt chocolate in a double boiler, or, in the microwave.

Dip a large marshmallow into the chocolate, and then place in a small, child-sized ice cream cone, chocolate side down (probably have to go to a restaurant supply for the cones..they're pretty small?). This will keep the marshmallo adhered to the cone once it's dry. Then, gently take your marshmallow that's uncoated, and coat with chocolate. Either by dipping, or drizzling over. Add sprinkles, and let harden.

Adorable!

The pen is to give you an idea of size...hope it works!

Menu Mondays

DH (finally!) got a grill this weekend, so in honor of him and his excitement for grilling, I've incorporated several 'grill nights' into our menu this week.

Sunday: lemon coconut bread for my co-workers, bread for DH's lunches this week, and a strawberry cream dessert DH requested

Monday: steak (on the grill!), cauliflower with cheese sauce, rice pilaf

Tuesday: spaghetti with meat sauce, salad

Wednesday: spicy honey chicken (grill?), herbed baby red potatoes, green beans

Thursday: burgers (grill?), waffle fries, baked beans

Friday: finishing up the inevitable pile of leftovers from the week

Trying new sauces...

My own homemade spaghetti sauce is good, but, DH isn't the biggest fan of it. I thought it'd be fun to choose a few from the blogs I read, and try them.

The first one I made was from smitten kitchen. I doubled her recipe, because she warned it didn't make a lot....but somehow ended up with 3 containers full of sauce.

So luckily, we liked this one -- because we'll be eating it several times!

I changed it from a spaghetti-and-meatballs recipe, to just a meat sauce recipe. I love meatballs, but sometimes it's just easier when the meat's in the sauce.

Spaghetti Sauce

(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

1 lb 80% lean ground beef (a little fat makes the sauce taste better)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cups chopped yellow onion

3 tsp minced garlic

2 pinches red pepper flake

1 cup good red wine (I used some tomato sauce because i dont like to cook with wine)

29 oz. can pureed tomatoes

29 oz. can chopped or diced tomatoes

2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 tbsp kosher salt

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Directions

- Brown beef in large stockpot; remove to bowl and set aside

- In same stockpot, heat olive oil, then add onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, 5-10 minutes

- Add the garlic and red papper flakes and cook for 1 minute

- Add the wine (or tomato sauce), and move heat to high, scraping up all the brown bits from the meat. If using wine, cook until liquid is almost evaporated, about 3 minutes. If using tomato sauce, just turn heat back down to medium and continue

- Stir in tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper

- Simmer sauce as long as you like...at least 30 minutes. I simmered it for an hour.