Kitchen Makeover

I've been busy working on my kitchen (hopefully it will be ready to show-off soon).  I re-did our kitchen in our last house too.  Since it was before my blogging days, I thought I'd show you. Due to a stinky housing market we actually still own this house (we are blessed w/ great renters-so it's all good), but I figured I might as well get a post out of it.

This is what the kitchen looked like when I was house-hunting.  I know you're all wondering WHY I bought this house .  I think it's b/c I have issues. Some people bring home stray animals, and I buy ugly houses. I love a project and this kitchen looked like it was in need of some love.  Mint green paint, older than dirt appliances, wall paper borders, and world's ugliest cabinets (they are coated in plastic)-how could I not buy it?

The plan was to rip everything out and get a brand new kitchen.  However, despite passing inspection, we had to replace our roof a few months after we moved in.  With my budget demolished, I figured I would try and paint them, b/c they couldn't look worse. I took all the doors off the hinges and roughed them up w/ my sander. I used a gray tinted primer (Gripper).  I rolled on a few coats.  Then I used a Colonial Red paint.  I thought it was oil based, b/c it came in a little can, but it was acrylic.  I did a million coats on each side-it wasn't as much fun as it sounds. I coated them all w/ a few coats of polyurethane. I was worried that all the paint would peel right off, but they looked great 3 years later. (Hopefully they still do)

 Then I found all the hardware on clearance at IKEA! I think it was around $30 for all of it.  I also replaced the super ugly plastic light features with one's I got at IKEA and bought all new appliances and new counter tops.

TADAA!

It was my favorite room in the entire house.

I forgot to mention that I had actually painted the walls a lovely buttercream yellow immediately when we moved in, bc/ the green was too awful.  I though it would go great with the dark cherry cabinets that I planed on getting. Stupid Roof.  Anyway, after going with plan B and painting the cabinets red, my kitchen looked a little too much like McDonalds so I re-painted all the walls with some leftover white paint I found in the garage.  It was flat and didn't hold up to all our family's kitchen grime, so I repainted it a glossy white. Anyone else ever paint the same wall 4 times?

Now I've got to quit blogging and go finish my current kitchen.

Linking up here.

YW Manual 3 Lesson 21

The following are some ideas I have for teaching my group of teenage girls the lesson "Learning to Share the Gospel".

I'm pretty much following the lesson manual with a few additions. I really love the idea of bringing salt in for everyone to taste and then discuss when salt loses it's flavor-it's lost everything.

My mom would send us to Vacation Bible School every summer and we'd always sing, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine."  Such a simple sweet song with such profound message.  I'm going to talk to the girls about that song and what it means to "let your light shine".  We're going to talk about different ways to let our lights shine.

Ahead of time, I'm going to ask each girl to be prepared to tell an experience they have had in sharing the gospel.  I probably talk too much, and I wanted to give them each an opportunity to share.

Here is my handout.

To make you own, print out your bushels on tan paper (PDF for "bushels").  I used paper w/ a basket weave texture.  Then print out the back ground  (PDF for background w candle ) .  I folded down the edge of the bushel so that you could open it up and see the candle underneath. I glued on a piece of grass-printed scrapbook paper.

Here are some other of my ideas I've had while working with the Young Women.

If you have any ideas, please share in the comments below. I'd love to hear them.

Na-Na-Na Naan. Hey Hey Burritos

Sorry that song has been stuck in my head, and now it's probably in yours.

Naan (Indian Flat bread) is our new family favorite.  I bought some at the grocery store.  It was yummy, but it cost $3 for 2 small pieces. Being the cheapskate that I am, I went looking for a recipe.  I found this one here, but made some changes.

Directions:
Mix:
 1 cup hot water
 1/4 cup sugar  in a large bowl
Sprinkle 1 packet of active dry yeast on top and let stand for 10 minutes.
Add:
3 T milk
1 beaten egg
2 tsp salt

Gradually add 4 1/2 cups flour.  I mix it w/ my kitchen aid bread hook until it is smooth.  If you don't have one, you could knead it for 8-10 minutes on a floured surface. Place in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let rise for 1 hour.

Break dough into small balls.  Cover again with damp towel and let rise for 30 minutes.

Heat non-stick  skillet. Roll out dough balls flat and sprinkle (optional) with Parmesan cheese and garlic salt.  Place on skillet and cook a few minutes on each side. (The original recipe grills them, but our grill is broken).  I tried cooking them in the oven on my pizza stone, but we all liked them better from the skillet. I want to try to make flatbread pizzas out of them.

Filling
Mix:
2 diced tomatoes
2 cooked chopped chicken breasts
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 cup Feta
2 cloves minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and mix.

As I'm typing this, I think a little lemon juice, olives, and cucumbers would have been great as well.  The kids loved it!  Seriously it was met with enthusiasm usually only reserved for food that comes with fries and a free toy.

Hubby likes to dip it in hummus.

UPDATE:  I ran out of white flour, so last time I made it w/ 3 cups of white and 1 cup of wheat.  Not one of my very picky kids complained.  I may press my luck and go half and half next time.  Also rumor has it that Costco has Naan (10 pieces for $2).

Linking up HERE.

Spring Nook Update

So on what date is it weird to still have your Easter Decor up?  Yesterday, I decided that May 11th was probably a good day.  I heart pinwheels and found some cheery double-sided paper that I thought would look great with my S-P-R-I-N-G letter blocks. I cut out a bunch of perfect squares in various sizes.  I thought it would be fun to bust out my circa 1996 decorative scissors to make it a little more fabulous. 

I made 3 to go in this fame and hot-glued flower buttons in the middle.

 I made 7 more and hot-glued them onto BBQ skewers and put them in a vase to make a pinwheel bouquet.

Tadaa!

Check out my pin-wheel wreath.

Linking up here

What's Really for Dinner

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of FRESCHETTA® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I've posted some fun recipes on this blog and am hoping that some of you are under the impression that I spend hours each day creating culinary masterpieces for my family. I haven't yet posted one of our family's most popular weekly staples-frozen pizza and a big salad. Depending on how hectic our week and if I have any coupons we might even eat it several times a week.
Freschetta Rising Crust Pizzas are our family's favorite- especially the pepperoni.  Last week I thought we'd try something different and I bought a Harvest Supreme and it was really tasty.  It has all of my favorite ingredients: feta cheese, Italian sausage, red onions, and sun-dried tomatoes.
They've come out with some new flavors that I haven't tried yet as well:
* BBQ Recipe Chicken
* Vegetable Medley
* Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom
* Six Cheese Medley
I'm most excited to try the BBQ Recipe Chicken.  They've also introduced pizza by the slice, in case you're dining alone or everyone wants there own flavor of pizza.
Click here for a $1:00 off coupon.
  FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™
Check out FRESCHETTA® on Twitter at @FreschettaPizza and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/freschettapiz…

Name Brand Formula versus Storebrand

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of storebrandformula.com for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

I like to call myself thrifty, but if I’m being completely honest, I’m cheap.  I clip coupons and use store brands more often than not.  If I can get the same quality for less, I see no need in spending extra money just for a label.  However, when my kids were babies and we were poor struggling students, I always used name brand formula.  I felt that it wasn’t worth it to save a little money when it came to risking my children’s nutrition and development.

According to a recent court case, I should have saved my money.  The U.S. Circuit Court upheld a $13.5 million false advertising claim against Mead Johnson, Enfamil maker, PBM Products, Perrigo’s store brand infant formula business, successfully argued that their formula contained the same nutrients at the same levels as Enfamil.  However, Enfamil was using misleading advertising campaign’s to convince consumers that they had a superior product.

 “As the litigation history of the parties demonstrates, despite having twice been restrained from disseminating misleading advertising, Mead Johnson continued to do so,” Circuit Judge Andre Davis wrote. “PBM cannot fairly compete with Mead Johnson unless and until Mead Johnson stops infecting the marketplace with misleading advertising.”

"The Court has made it clear that national brand and store brand suppliers are entitled to fairly compete and advertising abuses will not be tolerated," said Perrigo Chairman and CEO Joseph C. Papa in a statement. "We also appreciate the Court's recognition that PBM could lawfully compare its products to national brand products."

If you are interested in learning more, please click here for more information

 

 storebrandformula.com

Summer Wreath

A while back my mother-in-law mentioned that she would like something patriotic for her front door for summer.  Here's what I came up with. I used ribbon and fabric, because I thought it would travel better than paper flowers.  Basically, These are all the same bows that I've attached to t-shirts, headbands and sweaters that you can find here on my fashion page.  (scroll down if you need to)

Linking up here.