Potato Skins for the Big Pig Skin Game

Supposedly the Super Bowl is coming up soon, or something like that. So says the only person with more testosterone than estrogen in our house.

We make these potato skins all the time, and they would make the perfect addition to a Super Bowl spread. Should you be so lucky to be in-charge of one.

How to Make:

You just wash and cook your potatoes in the oven at 375 for about an hour or until soft. Then you take them out and let them cool enough so that you can handle them. Then just cut them in half and with a small spoon scoop out the centers of each half. I like mine to still have plenty of potato in them so I just do a shallow scoop deep enough to place topping. Then you lay them out on a baking sheet and brush them with a mixture of 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon chili powder with a couple drops of tabasco sauce mixed in. Then fill them with shredded cheddar cheese and top with already cooked and broken up bacon and chopped green onion. Place baking sheet in the oven and cook at 375 until cheese is completely melted and serve with dollops of sour-cream on each potato skin.

Cootie-Catchers

For Activity Days (the girls church group I am over) next week we are going to make secret message valentines cards. One will be an invisible message only revealed by spraying love potion on it, and the other will be a message only revealed by wearing special glasses that we will be making. Card ideas courtesy of Mrs. Martha. I thought it was something that 10 and 11 year olds would like to do, and different than just making regular old cards.

So I wanted to make something just as fun as the cards we will be making to invite them to the activity.

So I made cootie catchers with the activity info and valentine images on it.

Then I made a little tag to attach to it too.

I never thought at 28 I would be making cootie catchers let alone printing them off on my computer. The other thing that was scary was that my husband remembered how to fold them and I didn't.

Q: What smells like oranges and is grey and brown all over?

A: Me! After transforming a $75 old wood table from craigslist into the kitchen table of my dreams.

I knew I wanted a round kitchen table in this house before we even signed the papers. Like everything though my dreams exceeded my budget, and my husbands comprehension of what pretty things in this world cost. So I took things into my own hands to assure I got what I wanted. Also when you know you can do things yourself it makes it hard to shell out the dough for someone else's labor. Plus doing things yourself allows you to customize things to your own liking.

I first stripped the table, and to be honest this was the first time I have ever stripped anything. Usually I just rough it up with sandpaper, but since this table will be used on a daily bases and had a factory finish on it I opted to strip it. My dilemma was that I was going to have to strip it indoors since it is too cold in the garage and outside. So finding a stripper that was not harsh with toxic fumes was a must. I came across CitriStrip at my local hardware store. I was hesitant about how well it would work, but I gave it a try. It not only worked fantastic, but it made my whole basement smell like oranges. It is still very messy so you will want to put some plastic down. I also found that the plastic scrappers worked better than the metal scrappers on this project.

After all the stripping was done and the table was cleaned off I lightly sanded any rough areas with a fine sandpaper, and wiped off any dust with a lint free rag. Remember the lower the number the heavier the sandpaper. Then it was time to paint...

I wanted a grey paint and found a really nice color from Benjamin Moore called San Antonio Gray. I always get my Benjamin Moore colors mixed at Home-depot in Behr paint to save a little money. Most the time they have the formulas in their system so you just have to give them the color name. I choose a satin finish for this project. To paint the table I used foam brushes to get the smoothest application, and in-between coats buffed the table with crumbled up brown paper bags. If your bags have print on them make sure you do not use the side with print to buff. I did two coats of paint on my table. If you want it to be more durable you can do up to three coats. It looked great just like that, but I wanted something with a little more character.

So after painting the whole table I roughed up some of the edges and raised portions by sanding them down to the bare wood. This will give it an antiqued look. I also got a small scrap piece of wood and randomly pounded some nails through it and then in select places hit it against my table making little pin holes in the wood. Once I got the desired look I wanted I went on to the next step of glazing...

The glaze color I used is called Van Dyke Brown and is from a local wood furniture store called Wood Connection. They have beautiful furniture and offer both finished and unfinished pieces. They have both a showroom and a factory in Salt Lake (I have only been to the factory though). The people are very helpful and nice and I highly recommend buying from them. They have great how to instructions for different projects, you just have to ask for them. I thinned the glaze with a little water and applied it to the table in sections using a foam brush and then wiped it off immediately with a lint free rag. This process is a lot easier if you get a friend or hubby to help you. That way one of you can apply the glaze and the other can wipe. The glaze looks best if you brush and wipe in long stokes going with the grain of the wood.

Next I applied a stain to the sanded areas of the table. The glaze did not darken the sanded areas like I wanted so this is how got my desired look. I bought a little can of Minwax stain in Dark Walnut and simply applied it to the sanded areas with a q-tip and then wiped it off with a rag. The longer you leave the stain on the darker it will make the wood, but you really need not leave it on for any longer than a minute at the very most. Now my table was ready for the final step.

Last but not least I applied 3 coats of top coat in a satin finish to the entire table. I bought this top coat at the furniture store along with the glaze. It is a self leveling top coat and is also applied with a foam brush. The key to this step is to not over brush, and to use long even overlapping strokes. This top coat process is to not be overlooked. It will make all the difference and give your project a truly professional look. It also makes your paint job and piece that much more durable.

I am so happy with my final product! It is just how I imagined. I was nervous about the paint color and antiquing because my plan all along has been to paint my kitchen cabinets the same as this table. Now I am more excited than ever to one day transform my kitchen with this same color and process.

Soon I will be buying this light to go over the table...

and possibly these chairs.

Now if I could just get rid of that carpet in there. That will not be for a few more years I'm afraid.

Note: Like always if you need help with a project or have questions about this one just send me an email or leave a comment.

Don't Play With Your Food

"Don't play with your food", may be what your mother told you when you were a kid, but it is just fine to do now that you are an adult.

I have a stacking recipe book that sadly I have only tried one recipe from. It is an awesome recipe though, and always impresses anyone I make it for. So when I want to feel like an amazing chef I just cook this up.

You even cook the final product in a pineapple can of all things, and make your own tortilla disks.

So have fun with your food. Don't be afraid to try the new or different.

If you would like this recipe to be posted just leave a comment saying so. I just didn't feel like typing that much this-morning. Thanks!

Winter Pot Roast

This winter pot roast with baby carrots and potatoes is just like your Grandma's pot roast she used to make for Sunday suppers. It takes just as much time to cook as your Grandma's pot roast took, but it is worth it.

I first set the oven to 375 and seasoned the roast generously with salt and pepper. Then I dusted all sides of the roast with a light coating of flour.

The recipe calls for a Dutch oven, but I did not have one so I double checked my pots and pans warranty info and found that they are oven safe, so I used my large stock pot instead. I heated up 1/4 cup olive oil in my pot on the stove and then browned each side of the roast. Once I was done browning the roast I removed it from the pot, poured out the oil and fat and then returned it to the pot.

Then I added to the pot a heel of celery, a quartered yellow onion, 3 bay leaves, and beef broth until it covered the roast (about 98 ounces). Then I place my pot with the lid on in the preheated oven for 3 1/2 hours.

After the 3 1/2 hours was up I removed the pot from the oven discarded the vegetables and bay leaves, and skimmed the fat from the surface of the broth. I then scattered my baby carrots, chopped celery, and baby new potatoes around the roast. Covered the pot and returned it to the oven to cook for another 40 minutes or until the vegetables were tender.

Then I just removed the roast from the pot, sliced it up and placed pieces in shallow bowls topping the meat with both broth and vegetables. It was the perfect Sunday Meal on a cold winter night. It made for great leftovers too, and your husbands will love the aroma in the house while you are cooking it.

Focaccia Bread

The other night I added a little something new to my homemade fettucini alfredo meal.

I made homemade focaccia bread. It took a couple of hours to make, so it was tricky to time it since it is best served pipping hot right out of the oven. I topped it with olive oil, parmesan cheese, course kosher salt, rosemary, and garlic. It turned out amazing! The top tasted just like the bread at Macaroni Grill, which I love. I served it with a plate of olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette too.

I love making bread because it is so rustic, and has been done since the dawn of time pretty much. I have made a new goal to learn how to make as many different kinds of breads as I can this year. So I am hoping that come this next New Years Eve I will be-able to make my own Sourdough bread for fondue.

Jackpot!

I hit the Jackpot yesterday at D.I.! For those of you who are not familiar with Deseret Industries it is both a nonprofit, vocational rehabilitation facility and a thrift store run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is my favorite place to find treasures, and today was my lucky day.

I found this cute metal chair that I thought would be perfect for my laundry-room desk, but it is a little on the short side. Not to worry though I will find a place somewhere for this little guy, or I will just not put it right at the desk.

Then I also found a great school desk for Jayna Berry. I have always wanted to find one and buy it, and the stars aligned yesterday for me to do so. I am planning on painting it and putting it in the soon to be craft-room of my dreams.

I picked up this rustic looking coffee table that is luckily enough the perfect size for my family-room. It did have glass, but I told the guy helping me to just take it out because I was not planning on using it anyways. My plans for this piece are to upholster a top for it and leave it the raw rustic wood.

I also picked up some cute plates that match my house colors. Almost all my dishes except for my everyday ware are from D.I. That may gross some people out, and it even grosses me out sometimes. That is until I give them a good hot scrub down and a heavy wash in the dishwasher. I do get a little worried now a days about the whole lead thing, but most of them I do not use regularly enough to get too paranoid about it.

I also found these cute little tin buckets that I thought would be great for Jaynas' room when I do it. I am planning on using a similar shade of green for the walls.

Then I found two of these little black baskets that I am sure I will find a use for somewhere.

And this super cute globe. Everyone needs a globe. I will most likely, but this in the craft room too.

I thought this lamp was simple and cute too, so I picked it up. It looked lonely like it wanted to come home with me. I do not even know if it works, but everything is fixable.

I almost forgot about these barstools too. They were a great find, and I think I am going to spray-paint them later. They need to be cut down a little to fit at my island though so that may be a challenge to do.

The biggest diamond in the rough find though was this old gun cabinet. It is way sketchy, and needs a ton of work, but when I look at it I see an all white antiqued cabinet with bead-board-backing, little shelves, cute knobs, a little latch, and whicker baskets in the bottom where the drawers used to be. I had to get it because it was only $35, and usually things with glass like this fixed up are a ton more.

All in all I spent about $95 which may sound like a lot for someone to spend at a thrift store, but if you bought all these things finished at a home store it would cost you way more than that. You for-sure have to be willing to put in some additional money and elbow grease for some of these items, but that is the fun of it all. To see something and see it's potential and then make it happen.

I have to get moving on these projects though. I have a whole corner of the garage full of nothing but these projects. Chairs, more chairs, and night stands etc.

There is going to be a whole lot of stripping going on at my house, and it is not the kind of stripping that has anything to do with a pole.

Sweetie Bug

A crafty girlfriend of mine from back in the day has decided to try her hand at selling some of her cute creations she makes for children. You can check them out and purchase them from her blog

www.sweetiebug.blogspot.com

Jaime is a one of a kind girl. She is an amazing homemaker, and a true friend to all those she meets. She has two beautiful red haired little men in her life and I am sure they are the inspiration behind many of the things she creates.

Pound Cake with Blackberries and Blueberries

I obviously have food on the brain because I have been posting and trying a-lot of new recipes lately. Maybe I just didn't want to start out the new year with the same old recipes we always make. That and I did watch the movie Julie & Julia which I highly recommend. Just be prepared to want to cook a-lot after you watch it.

This is a great pound cake recipe out of a kind of interesting recipe book that has never failed me yet.

It is the Nordstrom Friends and Family Cookbook. You just don't normally associate Nordstrom with cookbooks. Now those of you that know me well know that I worked there for years, so it is not weird that I have one. I already have an amazing baked salmon and taco soup recipe that I regularly use from this cookbook. Now I have just been inspired to try the other recipes in the book as-well. So most likely all my future food posts will have come straight from this book. If you want a copy I believe you can still purchase them at Nordstrom in their cafe. I know they have two of them so don't get confused.

P.S. I promise I have some non-food related crafts and projects in the works to share with you.

Get Out the Tissues

Get out the tissues because I made a good meatball soup, and it has a ton of onions in it.

Ryan and a friend went up skiing this last week and this was the perfect meal to greet them with when they came home from a freezing day on the slopes.

If you would like this recipe just send me a quick email. If I get enough requests I will post the recipe later. Hope everyone is keeping warm this winter.

Go Fish!

At our house we have fish about once a week. We usually put a dry rub on it and pan sear it in a little butter, but this week we ran out of our favorite rub and decided to try something different.

I have never tried to batter and fry fish at home so I thought this would be a great time to experiment. Now I know this kinda defeats the whole purpose of having fish once a week, since we do so because it is so health for us, but you have to let things slide every now and then.

I found this really simple batter recipe online. In-fact I thought it was too simple to be any good, but boy was I wrong. These were the best fish and chips I have ever had!

We used swai fish fillets and they were just melt in your mouth. The fries were freshly cut potatoes that we laid out onto a sprayed cookie sheet and baked in the oven for 30 minutes or so. Then we sprinkled a little salt on them.

Batter Recipe:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 quart vegetable oil for frying

1 1/2 pounds cod fillets or favorite white fish

Directions:

In a medium size mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Stir in the milk and egg; stir until the mixture is smooth. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oil in a large pot or skillet to 350 degrees.

Dredge the fish in the batter, one piece at a time, and place them in the hot oil. Fry until fish is golden brown. Drain well on paper towel.

Hint: we cut our fillets into fourths and they fried a lot better than a whole fillet would

This was such a fun and different dinner. I will for-sure make this during the summer for family and friends.

My Life is Not All Pretty Cupcakes and Parties

If you only read my the Bird and the Berry blog you probably have a very skewed perception of me and my life. My life is not all pretty cupcakes and parties. In-fact it is more full of the other fun stuff life has to offer. So while I am doing and blogging about this....

this is also happening at my house...