Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Turkey Day Everyone!

 it's HUGE it fills my sink, it was 28 lbs!

now let's gather the family and eat, hope you have a great Thanksgiving with your family and friends

Finally getting new laminate countertops in kitchen

Oh yes, you just know how long I have been waiting to redo the laminate in the kitchen on the countertops, well the day is finally here!!

hubby cut to rough size, applied the contact cement on both the underside of laminate as well as on the bare wood of the counter top, then has to run the router along the edges to trim it up

(the box is to catch all the shavings that are flying around)

 the boys old enough to learn how to do all this stuff

it's a family job, lets all help lol

 hmmm I must have gotten too close with the camera, I seem to now have dust on the camera lens!

 starting to cut out for the sink

good job! now get the sink all put back together HA HA

 would you just look at that, it's done, and oh so pretty, no more hole in counter top where the stove top burners used to be

such a pretty kitchen now, I love it!!

Chimney building update

 Time for an update on the chimney we are building because we have installed a wood burner in the basement

moving right along, it's WAY up there now

yup, it definitely is up there, we are glad to have this done before winter, really want to use the wood burner this year instead of that old electric baseboard heating system

Calzone making & playin pool

Alright, I have to tell a little secret, we have been at the new home for a little over a year, and for at least one whole year we have had a cookout or deep fried a turkey or something every single month with the neighbors, heh heh heh selfish motives on my part truth be told, you see, we have a pretty handsome neighbor, and I have an equally gorgeous sister, both of who are very much single I might add (and they are gonna totally KILL ME for this) but oh well, here goes!

so trying to be discreet for a year hasn't gotten me too far, I see the little looks that seem to go on when one thinks the other isn't looking, yeah, really, I didn't miss it, I seen it happening but still - nothing, hmmm

so I decided it was about freakin time someone else stepped in, so after we got sis moved into her place, I called her up and said, hey, wanna have a get together? I will bring the makings for calzones and since you have a pool table, we can eat, hang out and play pool?

she says all excited  "OK that sounds great!" 

I calmly say "OK cool, I was gonna bring a friend"

silence on the phone

still silence on the phone

oh yeah, SHE KNEW who I meant, you KNOW she did

so I say "you know who I mean?"

she says "yes"

hmmmm

silence

alright already, she caved in, said ok go ahead and set it up, WOOP WOOP OK FINALLY!

so yeah, here we are all eating and playing pool, and for the first time I think in over a year, those two critters spoke to each other and realized they actually had tongues in their faces!!

and ya know what? everyone had a blast!

 heh heh heh there's the handsome neighbor critter on the left and my handsome critter of a hubby on right

heh heh heh and there is the sister!

 calzones!

little pool playin

so how about a recipe for the Calzones?

Pizza calzone

 

dough:

1 package yeast

1 cup warm water, I just let my tap run till it feels almost hot

2 tablespoons oil – I use canola, but any oil will work

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2-3/4 cups flour, plus extra for rolling up the dough

*any spices you want in your dough, sometimes I add black pepper, garlic powder, parmesan cheese, etc. extra flavorings depending on your mood. (special note, you can also skip making the dough homemade if you buy the pizza in the tube!!, for 4 of them you would need 2 rolls of crust, just unroll and cut into half, 2 rolls of pizza tubes would make 4 squares. so yes they can be square instead of round dough pieces!!

 

fillings:

1 large jar of spaghetti or pizza sauce, and yes, if you like a certain brand or say Prego with mushrooms and onions, by all means use that!! I use my homemade spaghetti sauce, its multi purpose for me LOL

anything you would like on a pizza will work, for me I use: mushrooms, olives, peppers, pepperoni, salami, ham slices, sausage cooked like for sausage gravy, and lots of mozzarella cheese, provolone works wonders in these as well, garlic, you name it, whatever you like on a pizza! you can add anything in the middle of these that you want!

 

 

for dough, dissolve yeast in warm water, I put mine directly into my big mixer and stir once, then add the sugar, oil, salt and 1 cup of the flour, and any other spices or seasonings you want to try in the dough.

Now mix in enough remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle, again, mine is in my old kitchen aid stand mixer, I mix until the edges pull away from the sides of the bowl, if it’s still sticking to bowl, I add a little more flour at a time until it decides to stick to the beater ha ha.

 

now turn out your dough onto a floured surface and gently roll in flour to coat the dough, knead maybe 3 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic like, now cover the bowl with saran wrap or a damp towel and let rest for about 5 minutes, it will rise some.

 

When ready, divide dough into 4 equal chunks, roll into circles, usually around 10 inches or so, not really thick, but not too thin either. you just need them big enough to add your fillings to one half of the circle or square, depending on how you did your dough. Make sure to keep it on half of the dough, because you will be folding the other half over top.

I start with some sauce, all my meats and olives and such, then add a ton of cheese, my favorite cheese for inside these would be hot pepper cheese, but I like my calzone to be a cheesy gooey hot mess!!

 

once you get all the fillings on it, be sure to add plenty in there or you will be disappointed when you got more dough than fillings HA HA

gently pull one side over top of the fillings, I wet the edge now a little bit so the dough sticks good around the edges, take a fork and kinda pinch or seal the outer half edge.

 

I put the extra sauce in a saucepan, turn on to simmer just to get it warm, I dump this over top of calzone when done cooking or use for a dipping sauce.

 

Preheat your oven to 375.

Place your calzones on cookie sheet or on parchment paper on cookie sheet (easier cleanup this way).

I brush melted butter over the top and put a few slits on top so steam can escape, just a couple though or your good cheese will sneak out.

cook for 20-30 minutes, depending on how brown you want the outside, usually for us here it’s around the 20-22 minute mark. Don’t go too long or the bottoms get a little hard.

 

when done, I serve mine with the extra sauce dumped over the top of them, also the kids like to sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top of their sauce, anyway you make it is good, as long as it’s what you like inside!!

 

ENJOY!!!

Sis is moving - time to transplant her plants

Oh Happy Day! Sis is moving, so I spent the day digging up her plants from the rented house, and now we have to head over to the new house to get them planted!! 

oh yes! we had that pickup loaded down now! I followed her and could NOT resist snapping a few photos along the ride there LOL

winding through amish country

that poor truck was a workhorse, but I tell you what, we packed them in so good we had it squattin'

HA we made it, and we didn't lose a single plant WOO WOO

meanwhile back at our place the guys are putting in the chimney, we have installed a woodburner in our basement and needed to build a chimney!

 lots of block

and the handsome son mixing concrete

 a good friend is a master of everything is doing the masonry work for us

time to make more coffee, will have more updates when we get more done!

Seed gathering & storing

We have hit October and still have some very pretty fall weather here, the Japanese morning glories have just about put on their last showing, the seed pods are getting big, some are turning brown already, this means it about time for seed picking and storing to grow next year!

just look at all of those seedpods!

 yes they WERE pretty, however they are not now, I am ready for them to be gone, it's cleanup time

and wow, there is the pond LOL as each of the different variety of vines had ripe seedpods, I would pick them, label them and yank the dead vines, have to keep up with them!

If you want to save your seeds, just pick when ripe, I put all of mine into brown paper sacks until they are dry, then I just shake the bejeebers out of the bag to release the seed from the dried pod, then I still have to pick the seeds out after I am certain they are completely dry, then I get teeny tiny ziploc baggies to store the seeds in over the winter, make sure you label what they are, don't think "oh I will remember what these are" because NO YOU WON'T lol play it safe and tag them!

there are still a few giving me pretty blooms

but as soon as these seedpods are ripe, they are going to be yanked and no, I don't think I will grow them there again, they were soo messy!

even the black eyed susan vine  thunbergia alata is putting on a show yet

Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup Recipe

Today I wanted to share an easy homemade veggie beef soup recipe

I love to make this in the fall months

We grow our own vegetables, then I freeze or can everything, sauces, you name it, so my recipe is strictly from vegetables we have grown, if you don't have fresh or canned, use frozen or store bought canned ingredients. Our beef is from the farm next door.

HOMEMADE VEGETABLE BEEF SOUP

1 quart jar of stewed tomatoes

1 quart jar of tomato juice

2 carrots cut into chunks

4 celery stalks cut into chunks

4 medium potatoes cubed, diced or sliced

1 onion sliced or cubed

half stick butter

pint peas

pint beans

pint corn

3 chicken-tomato bouillon cubes (or whichever you prefer)

stew meat bite sized pieces

salt & pepper

garlic minced up (tablespoon)

start by heating up your dutch oven, add a pat or two of butter

stir in your carrots, celery & onions and saute until cooked

(or like I used this time a HUGE stock pot because I doubled recipe)

dump all the rest of the ingredients into the dutch oven.

simmer until done

*note* I use my fresh garden vegetables that have been blanched and frozen and sealed in FoodSaver storage bags, you can either use fresh, frozen or canned in yours.

       I say quarts and pints because these are things I have canned or frozen from my gardens.

Remember you can use store bought and it will still be just as yummy!!

I always make BUTTERED ROSEMARY DINNER ROLLS when I make this soup