Breaking Ground in the Kitchen

After dreaming about a new kitchen since before we even closed on our house it's finally happening!  Once we got back from our honeymoon in October we started the process of figuring out where we were going to get our cabinets and who was going to do the work, us or someone else?  We decided to go with a company we met at a Home Show called Sunrise Homes that could do everything from soup to nuts in about two weeks.  Two weeks was a much shorter time period than most of the other contractors we spoke with and without a doubt faster than the DIY job Mike and I would have done.  Once we knew who we were working with we started making decisions on layout, cabinets, countertops, lighting, appliances, etc., etc. 

The work started last week and it's been so exciting to come home everyday to see the progress!  Here's some before shots (make sure you catch a glimpse of the lighting fixture in the center, it's a gem):

This picture above is from the day we moved in...we eventually removed the bar on the left and opened up the drive-thru window you can see above the bar to create a more open space between the kitchen and living room which you can see better in the shots below.

 And here's what we came home to after day one, a complete demo:

More pictures to come, it's starting to look really nice, I feel like our house is inching towards the millennium!

~Kelly

Our Last Meal In Our Old Kitchen

This morning big, burly men were banging on our front door itchin to tear our kitchen cabinets down.  We are more than happy to oblige.  This is the first day of our kitchen renovation!  To celebrate the last night with our old friend, I decided to make a recipe I've been dying to try from Whole Foods - Linguine with Red Lentil Sauce.  i have never cooked with lentils before, so was pretty excited.  The first step was adding Mustard Seed to a pot and heating them until they "Pop"

After the popping starts you add water, low sodium veg broth, onion, garlic and the lentils

The recipe said to simmer for about 20 minutes until the lentils are tender.  It took me more like 40, and I had to add more water 20 minutes in.  Regardless, you eventually end up with a "sauce"

You add this sauce to cooked, whole wheat linguine and add some spinach, artichoke hearts and lemon.  While I was skeptical, it ended up looking and tasting pretty good!  Can't wait to try it in the new kitchen!

~ Mike

We Broke Down And...

...finally bought a snow blower!  Mike and I grew up in New England and we've both seen our fair share of snowy, cold, miserably long winters.  But this winter is by far the worst I can ever remember.  Last winter we had two mild snowstorms and thought to ourselves we don't need a snow blower shoveling our driveway's a cinch. 

This winter has been a very different story.  We've been getting about one storm a week and have constantly found ourselves outside shoveling through the 80 inches or so of snow that's accumulated this winter.  Well enough was enough on Wednesday.  While we were both working from home as Winter Storm Ella blew in Mike put our mumbles about owning a snow blower to action and found one for sale on Craigslist in our town.  After a few phone calls and the generosity of our SUV owning friends we became the proud owners of our own Cub Cadet Snow Thrower.  The gentleman Mike bought it off of had only used it a handful of times the previous winter before deciding that he was better off hiring someone else to remove his snow.  So even though it wasn't our cheapest purchase I feel like we got a good product at a good price and our backs definitely thank us!

Here it is in action:

I still got stuck shoveling the walkway but since Mike and his new toy took care of the driveway I'm not complaining for a change.

~Kelly

Fit Test #2

For about six months now, I've been attending a Boot Camp class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:30am.  There is the occasional class on Saturdays.  It's called 4x4 Boot Camp.  I am in my best shape since about High School, and I've become pretty much obsessed with the whole thing.  From trying to beat the people that annoy me in the class, to setting new personal bests, the whole experience has been so rewarding. 

So 4 weeks ago, we did a Fit Test, which entailed 5 Rounds of the following (for time):

21 - Squat Thrusts
15 - Ab Throwdowns
9 - Thrusters (I did 95lbs)

My time was 13:14.  I was beat after, but it was a great benchmark.  So today was Fit Test #2.  The same as the first, but the idea was to improve your time.  I was dragging this morning so was worried I was actually going to do worse than my first.  Much to my surprise, my time this morning was 12:48.  That's almost 30 seconds better!  In 4 weeks we test again.  My goal is to get my time under 12:00. 

Stay tuned...

Mike's Newest Obsession

I love reading Men's Health.  My favorite column is always David Zinczenko's "Eat This, Not that!".  He tells you the smarter choices on menus at chains nationwide.  So you can imagine when I discovered he had published two books titled, "Cook This, Not That!".  Needless to say, they are now in my possession..

One of our favorite recipes already is Chicken Marsala.  It's a healthier version of the one found at Romano's Macaroni Grill - which packs a punch of 650 Calories, 12g Saturated Fat, and 1,790mg Sodium (Yikes!).  The recipe calls for 4 chicken breasts pounded to about 1/4" thickness.  I only do two because one is enough per person, and if I make four I'll end up eating two.  By the way, the pounding is the best part of the recipe...

After the pounding, each chicken breast gets coated with flour.  The recipe calls for a cup, but I find that's way too much, so I use about a half.  The flour sticks pretty well without any egg..

So after the chicken is coated with a thin layer of flour, it goes into a pan with about 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil over Medium/High heat.  About 5 minutes per side and they are golden brown..

Put the chicken aside.  This is where I stray from the recipe.  It calls for 2 oz. of prosciutto to be browned in the pan.  Although I'm sure that would taste great, I just don't feel it's necessary.  So I throw in some mushrooms, Marsala Wine and Low Sodium Fat Free Chicken Broth (1/2 cup each), and some Garlic Powder (my own addition).

Cook it all in the same pan for about 10 minutes and you're good to go.  We had a half a box of Whole Wheat Spaghetti so we cooked that up s well.  Quite delicious..

And now for the best part.  Per Serving (with the pasta): 490 Calories, 9g Fat (2g Saturated), 500mg Sodium.  You can probably now see why this has become a staple in our household.

A Good Bet

Mike's sister is pregnant (YAY!!) and I made a bet with my father-in-law and my other sister-in-law that the baby was going to be a boy.  Well they're having a girl (YAY!!!) and I can't think of a better bet to lose.  I paid up with a pizza party on Sunday and I thought it would be a great opportunity to put my new table linens to use.  I registered for Lenox Simply Fine placemats and napkins in ivory. 

Cute right?  I also registered for the napkin rings at Crate and Barrel.  I liked that they we're simple and could easily  be casual or formal.  The best part about the placemats and napkins is that they are spill proof so no harm no foul.  Here's the dining room table set with the new linens and ready for a pizza party...

A Masterful Transformation

When we moved into our house, we knew every room was going to need some serious attention.  Almost every room in the house was covered with dated, thick carpet.  Fortunately, two of our bedrooms didn't have carpet, including the master.  But all was not well.  The floor had seen better days and the walls were covered with PAINTED wallpaper...

The trim was a dark brown and the closet doors' louvred style was definitely not our style.  So we decided to refinish the floors in a darker, more contemporary stain and paint all of the trim white

We painted the walls a light blue and I changed out all the dirty, beige outlets and switches with new white ones (about $1 a piece). 

Next were the closet doors.  They were a dark brown louvred style.  For about $50, I bought a new set of primed, MDF doors and two brushed nickel knobs at Home Depot.  A coat of white paint and they really completed the room

So now that we had our beautiful, grown up room, we needed some beautiful, grown up furniture.  This is where we splurged.  We always wanted a king bed, and saw one on sale at Basset Furniture.  Two dressers, two nighstands and a mattress later, we had the bedroom of our dreams

Let me tell you, last night was one of the best nights sleep I have had in a long time.  Sweet Dreams..