Kitchen Progress

Back in July we started on our long term kitchen reno. It involved opening up a walkway from the old computer room to the kitchen, then a wall being taken down, a patio door to be installed, a finished patio, new kitchen cabinets, closing up windows and doors, moving appliances, new counters, etc etc.

Our first step was creating an opening where the fridge used to be. Here is the kitchen when we moved in, and the computer room on the other side.

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And the kitchen right before opening it up after we moved the fridge out of the way.

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And the computer room

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After the opening

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On the other side, the window and door were taken out

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Meanwhile, Charlie was busy doing this..

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Eventually, the openings got patched up

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Which proved to us how much our natural light was cut down in the new kitchen with pass-through to the new “dining room….”even WITH the new patio door letting some good light in.

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So, we decided to take down the wall between the rooms.

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Down the cabinets came.

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So, with the window all patched up, we were ready to put up some cabinets.

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With our project manager keeping close eye..

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We had a contractor install the patio door, take the rest of the wall down, skim coat in the new dining room, and close up the window and door. Because were doing the rest of it ourselves, were going with IKEA cabinets for the affordability and customer satisfaction.

Present day: the walls are primed, painted, and ready for the board and batten wainscoting and crown molding we will put up, and we have just a few wall cab’s (we buy and put up a cabinet or two each month).

next on the list: moving gas line for the stove to the other wall (there will be a peninsula where the stove is now), running plumbing to the other wall for the dishwasher, adding lighting and outlets, new sink and faucet, new countertops and tile backsplash, add floating shelves.

when its all said and done we will have more than doubled our counter space and cabinet space, I cant wait! But for now, we live in limbo.

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The best kind of new years eve

is one spent with my family.

We spent the day lazing around, playing in the bouncer, and watching the pups.

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We got dolled up (anything other than sweats is dolled up ;] and stopped by our friends for an hour or two

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When we got home, we got started on our “new tradition” of homemade egg rolls and lettuce wraps.

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Lettuce Wraps:

pound ground turkey, can diced water chestnuts, shredded carrots, zested ginger, salt, pepper, garlic powder, rice vinegar, sesame oil..wrapped up in lettuce with peanut and hoisin sauce for dippin’.

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Babe testing out the deep fryer ;]

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And babe set aside somewhere safe while daddy works the deep fryer

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Addie didn’t seem to mind.

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Egg rolls:

1 pound ground pork, salt, pepper, zested ginger cooked in a pan, then set aside. 1 head shredded cabbage, a couple of shredded carrots and a drizzle of sesame oil and rice vinegar in a pan, heated through until cabbage is soft but still has some crunch.

place a handful on an egg roll wrapper, and roll up!

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deep fry in peanut oil until the wrappers are a nice golden color. Or, pan fry in oil on the stove.

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Ladies in the kitchen can stand back, look cute, and watch.

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And the finished product! yum.

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After we filled our bellies with homemade yummies, we snuggled on the couch. Babies eyes closed at 11:59—can you believe it? She missed it by 1 whole minute.

New years morning we woke up late, and moseyed into the living room for some tummy time.

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Daddy and Mommy are off tomorrow morning too. I suspect more lazing around, don’t you?

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One Pot Wonder

Today was another easy meal that I was able to put together in about 20 minutes and let simmer for the day until it was dinner time.

split pea soup!

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32 oz bag of dried split peas, goin for a soak and rinse. While that was happening..I chopped up 2 white onions, 3 ribs celery (did you know “stalk” refers to the entire celery bunch? I didn’t :) , and 4 carrots.

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And into a hot stock pot with some olive oil until onions are translucent. I used my brand new cast iron one..thanks mom! I love it.

Add split peas, 1 bay leaf, a couple of cloves of minced garlic, a ham hock, or any ham on hand. I used a ham steak cubed up. Salt and pepper.

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Add 6 cups of chicken broth and simmer for a few hours on low, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t burn.

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Served with bread and side of baby.

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Nice and hearty and chunky. And just one dish to wash :)

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