Our House

Eric and I have been living in our home for almost two months now and we have been loving it.  It's been a lot of work but we haven't even scratched the surface. 

When Eric and I first heard about this house in July we walked through and, even though the house was full of stuff, we could see the potential and really liked it.  I took pictures on my phone back in July of the house and I thought I would share them on here. To show what we've been dealing with.

Look how beautiful and green everything is.  I really don't enjoy all the heat of summer but living in the middle of these ice cold temperatures I catch myself wishing it was summer and green. 

Here are some more pictures of the yard.  The yard is my favorite part of the house, it's on a half acre and has a little offshoot where we plan to fence off and have chickens and maybe other animals.  We'll have to see how long those dreams take to come to fruition. The yard really seems bigger than a half acre.  We thought about buying a different home that was on a half acre and it seemed much smaller than this yard but I haven't done any measuring so I really have no clue.

Partial view of the back yard

the offshoot

As I said, the house was full.  The woman who lived here before we did had been moved into a rest home three years previously and the parts of the house looked like she had just left and other parts looked like she was getting ready to move out.

Livingroom

Kitchen

Diningroom

Beautifully carpeted bathroom (grosses me out. a lot.)

bedroom

master bedroom

bedroom that we're planning to be the nursery

half of the basement

That basement has been really hard to get clean.  The previous owner didn't use the basement after her husband died in the eighties except as storage.  We were cleaning up 30 year old dust and cobwebs and it took a lot of work.  But things are looking more like a home and I'll post some pictures in a few days (mostly as motivation to blog again).

We are planning to tear out some of the awesome carpet in the house and put down tile and wood and repaint some rooms in the next month or so.  I think new paint and flooring will really change how the house look.  Hopefully we'll be able to get things done before the baby comes.  We are officially in the double digits with 99 days left.  He is coming soon and I am not prepared.

Lindsey's Yummy Rolls

Lindsey wrote this recipe down for me back when we were seniors in high school and I was collecting recipes for one of my personal progress goals.  This recipe is, hands down, the best roll recipe I have ever made, and I have tried quite a few different recipes.  Not because I was looking for something better but because I kept misplacing this recipe card and I would search futilely for a suitable replacement.  The last time I lost this recipe was a few months ago.  I searched through every one of my cookbooks, of which I have several, to see if I had slipped it in one of them.  I couldn't find it.  I tried not to panic until we had moved to our house thinking that I would certainly find it when we had moved everything and cleaned.  I still didn't find it.  So I searched through all of my cookbooks again.  Still nothing.  I gave up, heart broken,  not just because my favorite roll recipe was gone but because one of the last things I have of my dear friend was gone. It has been about a month since I gave up hope on ever seeing this recipe again when I suddenly found it.  I opened up my cookie and candy cookbook to get ready to bake cookies for Eric's work for Christmas.  The first page opened and out fell this recipe card.  I had searched through every page of that cookbook at least twice, probably more and never seen it and it had been in the first page all along.  I was over joyed.  And I decided immediately that I needed to post this online so that I will always have a copy of it somewhere.  I have also decided that I should probably laminate the thing, as she wrote the recipe in pencil and parts of it are already smudged and getting hard to read. 

So, without further ado:

Lindsey's Yummy Rolls

2 cakes (I don't know what cakes are) or Tablespoons yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 c. warm water. 
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs, beaten
4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 heaping teaspoon salt

Combine yeast and sugar in water.  Melt butter with milk in a small sauce pan.  Cool.  Combine flour, salt, and 1/4 c. sugar.  When butter and milk are cooled combine with the beaten eggs and yeast.  Stir, then gradually sift the flour mixture into the liquid.  The dough is very sticky but do not add more flour.  Let this rise for 1 hour then roll out.  You will need flour on every surface.  Cut the rolls into circles and fold in half.  I always put butter on each circle before folding in half.  Place on a baking sheet with the sides touching.  Let rise 20 minutes and bake for 12-15 minutes at 400 degrees.  Enjoy these AMAZING rolls!

Back and with a recipe

There has been big news all around for Eric and me the last few months.  We are having a baby boy in the middle of April and we just bought our first home and moved in about two weeks ago.  Life has come and swept us away after things remaining the same for so long.  Its been exhilarating and exciting and a little stressful and scary.  We are very happy about all of these changes and can't wait to see what else life brings.  I would like to blog just a bit more as well.  Which, as long as there aren't six months between posts, should be pretty easy.  I'm going to try to post pictures of our house next week, as things come slowly together. But today I am going to post a recipe that I tried this week.  It was really good and Eric has said it's a keeper.  I found the recipe on Pinterest.  I made a few little alterations so here is my version:

Picture from original recipe

Lime Coconut Chicken with Cilantro Lime Rice


2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6 tbsp oil
zest of 2 lime
 2 tsp ground cumin
1 Tbs. ground coriander
 4 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs. kosher salt
4 Tbs. sugar
 4 tsp curry powder
1 cup coconut milk
 1 tsp. cayenne
 2 small fresh hot chilies, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Fresh limes, cut into wedges

Trim fat from chicken breasts. I like to slice my chicken breasts in half lengthwise to have thinner pieces of meat.  It seems to make the chicken go farther, cook faster, and have more flavor throughout.  The original recipe has you nearly slice through the chicken and then pound each breast to an even thickness.  I did not do this, I was too lazy. 
In a bowl or zip lock bag mix all ingredients except the cilantro and limes.
Add chicken and marinate in the refrigerator for up to two hours.
This chicken would be great grilled but I just cooked it in a skillet with a bit of oil.  Place the breasts in the pan and cook, saving the marinade.  Flip the chicken over when the chicken is golden and cook on the other side. 
With the remaining marinade, (I made extra marinade than the original recipe because I just love adding sauce and we served this with rice and saucy rice is one of the best things.) pour into a small saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.  Boil for at least 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

While the chicken was cooking I made some cilantro lime rice.

1 1/2 cups rice
3 cups water
2 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs. lime juice
zest of 1 lime
1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Cook rice in a rice cooker with water and butter.  When the rice is done stir in the lime juice, zest, and cilantro.  Add salt to taste. 

When the chicken and rice were done I served the chicken on a bed of rice with the sauce poured over and cilantro and lime juice added.  It was so good and I am excited to make it again.