Runaway October » Homemaking

Recipe: Zuppa Toscana

Katie — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 18:03:37 +0000

Some of you may have had this soup before. It’s one of Olive Garden’s most popular dishes.

This Thanksgiving we had an Italian theme and we brought this soup–it turned out quite yummy. It’s also quick and fairly inexpensive. A great choice for chilly nights.

Untitled by Divine Domesticity

Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden Copycat)

Serves: 6 to 8 people

Ingredients:

1 lb ground Italian sausage (Your choice on Sweet, Mild or Hot)
1½ tsp crushed red peppers
1 large diced white onion
4 Tbsp bacon pieces (I used regular bacon, though precooked bacon or even Real Bacon Bits would work)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
10 cups water
4 cubes of chicken bouillon *
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes **
¼ of a bunch of kale

Directions:

Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat for approximately 15 minutes or until the onions are soft.
Add chicken bouillon and water to the pot and heat until it starts to boil.
Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
Add the heavy cream and warm just until thoroughly heated.
Stir in the sausage and the kale, let all heat through and serve. Delicious!

* Conversely, you can omit the bouillon and the water and just use straight chicken broth.

** If you have left over baked potatoes, you can just slice them and toss them in. Cook long enough to warm them through and move on to step 5.

Image by bookgrl

Enjoy!

Do you have any favorite soup recipes you’d like to share?

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Shutterfly Christmas Cards

Katie — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:14:28 +0000

Every year I put off mailing my Christmas Cards until it’s almost to late. I hurry down to Michael’s and hope they have something interesting left. Sometimes I’m lucky, sometimes I’m not.

So my goal this year is to get a head start on things. I’ve been looking at some of the various photo christmas card offerings. Shutterfly has always been a superb company for me and my family. We’ve had mousepads, fridge magnets and beer steins made, among other things.

Check some of these gorgeous designs out:

I love this one because you have so many picture choices and your family monogram. I’m a sucker for monograms.

Simple and classic. Again with the monogram.

How’s this lovely for bright and cheery?

Flirty and fitting for my neck of the woods, or should I say desert?

Love the vintage-y feel and colors. Very classic layout.

I’m having such a hard time deciding! There are almost 750 designs in the Christmas stationary alone. Yikes! All cards come with envelopes and Shutterfly will either mail the cards to you so you can address and stamp them as you see fit, or they will address and mail them for you. Talk about a timesaver!

Don’t forget the personalized calendars too. You can add your own special dates and pictures. What a great gift for friends and family.

Throwing a New Years Party? Don’t worry, Shutterfly does invites too!

Full Disclosure: Shutterfly is providing me with 50 free Christmas cards for highlighting their products. As with everything else I post about, the opinion is mine and not swayed by anyone else.

Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

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On Being a Stay-At-Home Mama

Katie — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:32:20 +0000

“Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm.”

Peaceful by Joewong038

I’ll be the first person to admit that I dreamed about staying home with my kids. Homeschool, organic, nature walks, art projects, museums, a spotless beautifully decorated house, organized closets and more all floated through my head. I just knew that if I could work it out to stay home, everything would be perfect.

At the time, my husband and I were juggling our firstborn. I worked early early in the morning, and came home to trade off with Matt, who worked late at night. We thought that having one parent with Declan at all times was the best route. Except that neither of us were sleeping well and D wasn’t necessarily getting the attention he deserved. We were there with him, but not really. Many times I was so tired at work that I’d fall asleep on the phone with people.

Once I was pregnant with Rowan, we knew that we needed to do something. We got everything in line and I never returned to work after giving birth to Rowan.

That should be the end of the story right? Butterflies and homemade bread and rainbows.

Not really.

I struggle with staying at home.

Call me lazy, most days I don’t care if you do, but this is HARD.

Laundry is never done, dishes always pile up, the boys are always destroying something, someone always has a snide comment about people who don’t “work”, and there’s no monetary reward for doing it all.

It’s so easy to sit in front of the computer, revive those dying brain cells with random web browsing and just put it off for another day.

Or you can spend the day doing laundry, only to find out that while you were upstairs hanging business clothes, a 10 pound bag of flour was oh-so-quietly flung across the downstairs.

Or you can set out all the supplies for a craft project and be so excited to see what your kids make, just for it to turn into a brawlfest over one orange marker when there’s two others sitting right there.

Or it means trying to write a blog post only to hear a proud “I wiped my butt Mama!” come from the bathroom, where an investigation reveals that you need to dig half a roll of toilet paper out of the toilet. Again.

I’m not alone in this. I know I’m not the only one who has these days, or incidents, or chores. But most days and weeks, I am alone.

It’s hard to have friends when you have two little boys. Other families with kids are busy with their own issues and those without kids, well, don’t want to spend adult time dealing with someone else’s. I feel like a failure when I ask other people to watch my kids so I can run to the store, or have a date night, or just be alone.

Why? I don’t know. Maybe it’s Other Mom Syndrome.

Other Moms have perfect houses. Well behaved clean children. A spotless kitchen. Perfect outings.

But who are these Other Moms? Are you one? Can you please give me some pointers?

I can’t find motivation. Why do it now, if I just have to do it again with no thank you, no recognition, no reason?

Where can I find the motivation to do what I need to do without sacrificing myself?

My husband and I have somewhat regular date nights, but little to talk about other than running the house. The things that he gets excited about go over my head. I’ve been out of his industry for 3 years now, and who really wants to talk about decorating and potty training? He, understandably, has no idea what mitered hems are and what’s the best ratio of borax to Fels Naptha for the next batch of homemade laundry soap. We end up worrying about money, because there never seems to be enough and I get angry because Matt’s company has owed him a raise for a year now and the missing 10k is unlikely to ever be seen.

I try to find people to connect with on the blog-o-sphere, but am easily intimidated by their seemingly perfect lives, beautiful pictures and well-written, thought provoking posts. I can’t find a niche.

Occasionally, we’ll be invited to a party or event but by the time it rolls around I have so much anxiety about going that we don’t. Which typically leads to less and less invites to begin with.

I really want to go back to college, to do something taxing with my mind, to graduate, to have a career, to save lives, to be important. Financially and time management-wise, it’s impossible.

How will I ever find the patience to homeschool? Jeebus, am I even smart enough to homeschool these boys? I really hate math.

Should I just give up on wishing for that beautiful room and buy some plywood and cinder blocks to just get the clutter off the ground?

Unlike most mommy bloggers, I have no solution. I don’t have any encouraging links or action plans. I just really really need to hear from someone, anyone, who has the same doubts and issues.

As I get closer to wrapping this whinefest up, I doubt I’ll click that taunting little ‘Publish’ button up there. It’s just more proof for people to consider me a failure. But, ya know what? Whatever, I can’t hide who I am and the perceived issues I face.

So fire away. I know Momma M would just tell me to ‘Get Over It’, but it doesn’t seem to work like that, as far as I can tell.

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Before and After: Craft Room

Katie — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:19:06 +0000

Or the S.M.O.R as I like to call it — The Sewing Machines Operations Room.

Remember this sorry little 11’x11’ room?

Which was later cleaned and somewhat organized to look like this:

Well, it’s kind of finished now. It’s now a very workable space and I can actually complete projects somewhere other than the kitchen table. YAY!

I took at least 100 pictures today, and about 20 a few weeks ago. This room is very very hard to photograph.

I even tried to take a video with my fancy new Flip Video Camcorder from my Prilosec sponsorship, but it eats batteries like no other.

Of course I couldn’t find any batteries to replace them with.

Such is the life of a mom.

The project table is completely handmade by me and my dad. We used plans from Knock Off Wood. Here’s the top and the cubby sides.

I’ll go into it in a little more detail later.

I’ll have to slowly buy or make some pretty baskets on containers to go in here.

Love these stools from Overstock.com

Handmade string balls made by one of the boys.

There was two.

One of them bit the dust, or rather, the dogs water bowl.

The string ball, not the boys.

Well, okay, they usually assault the water bowl at least once a day, but they don’t melt.

Unless you count the dirt that melts off.

I should make some more. String Balls, not boys. Maybe a little girl but that’s a different subject.

Now maybe I can get these bad boys quilted and bound and in use.

And what craft room photo shoot is complete without a picture of a cat.

I used Martha Stewart Hydrangea flat paint for the walls. I also painted the ceiling and all the trim, but can’t find the names of them. They’re the same ones that were recommended on the paint chip palette. No worries about everything matching together. What a smart girl, eh?

I can’t seem to find a decent sample color online, so you’ll just have to squint and imagine you can tell the true color of everything.

I do hope to make some roman blinds or curtains for the windows. And the baskets I mentioned earlier. I definitely need some artwork and other pretties to hang up and keep me happy while I work. I would really really love a stereo or MP3 player of some sort in there too. I work so much better with music.

So, that’s the S.M.O.R.

What do you think?

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Crafty Catchup

Katie — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:22:13 +0000

I have a really bad habit of doing nothing during the summer. You might have noticed that the heat is a central part of my last couple posts.

It’s really a central part of our lives from Mayish to Augustish. Even in the house it’s just too easy to veg out and keep cool.

BUT! I have done some stuff lately. I swear. I have proof!

I made this clock for my brother a while back, for his birthday.

It’s pretty hard to photograph this, but oh well. I got lucky enough that a local BMX shop gave me the chainring, after I offered to buy one. Funny enough they had a similar clock displayed in their front window.

The tutorial is here. Mine is not nearly as cool, but hey I was working with what I had.

I also made a cover for my sewing machine. I figured that plastic one it came with wasn’t good enough for the new craft room. (More on that soon.) Also, the melted hole in it from the iron didn’t help any.

I just used the dimensions from the old cover, plus seam allowances, and threw together a rectangle with ties on it. I backed it with flannel, because it seemed like the thing to do. Isn’t that fabric gorgeous? I got it on a whim at a local mill end store. Kicking myself for not buying more.

Sewing Machine Cover tutorials:

Sparkle Power! — This is pretty much exactly what I did.
Sew Inspired
Chez Larsson

Last, but not least, a new ironing board cover. I love making these things. It makes me actually want to iron. Yuck.

This is also more fabric I picked up on a whim. This time from IKEA. Their upholstery fabric is the perfect length from regular ironing boards.

I always leave the old covers on, for padding. Sometimes I’ll throw a layer of fleece in between too if I have big enough scraps.

Here are a couple ironing board cover tutorials:

That’s it for now. I hope to have more soon. I ordered some goodies.

What are you working on lately, or do you have any interesting tutorials to share?

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How To: Grow a Jicama Vine

Katie — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:23:50 +0000

Step One: Find a lovely Jicama. One you fully intend on eating. Make sure it’s not irradiated — a Farmer’s Market of some sort is your best bet.

Step Two: Place Jicama on your counter and contemplate what to do with it. For a few weeks. Begin to worry what to do with it when it starts to sprout vines, kinda like potato eyes.

Step Three: Get creeped out when the vines get long enough to reach out and caress you while you’re cooking.

Step Four: Name it. Herbert is what I went with.

Step Five: Find a pot, mine still had some old soil in it. Partially fill pot with cactus soil, after reading on the Internet that Jicama needs really good drainage. Place the Jicama in pot so it’s top is a couple inches down from the rim. Put more cactus soil around the bulb. Realize you don’t have enough cactus soil and top it off with some compost mulch. Leave the bulb sticking out of a soil because you think it’s pretty.

Step Six: Put it in a sunny location and water sparingly. You don’t want the bulb to rot.

Step Seven: Worry when the vines start to dry up and die and notice that it has no real leaves yet. Decide that all the info that you read on the Internet was right and that Jicama is really hard to grow. Give up hope and leave it alone.

Step Eight: Realize that it’s starting to get really nice leaves. Feel your sense of accomplishment swell.

Step Nine: Allow your green thumb to take full credit of your awesome Jicama Vine. Decide you’ll worry about replanting it later, when it’s not so blastedly hot in AZ.

Notice: Jicama is highly toxic in most forms. The leaves and vines especially. I find mixed information on the toxicity of the pods. Apparently they’re fried and eaten in some cultures.

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Garden Catchup

Katie — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:28:42 +0000

Hey guys. Remember me? No? Dangit. I don’t blame you.

I have lots of excuses, but no real reasons. Maybe it’s my short attention span?

Summer is on full blast here in Arizona. When I say full blast I mean you walk out the front door and are literally blasted with Summer Heat. My poor garden has seen better days.

Today

Considering we get to plant sometimes as much as a whole season earlier than other parts of the country, I can’t complain. We ended up with more tomatoes then we knew what to do with. We made many batches of salsa and lots and lots of fresh tomato slices. I even experimented with ketchup, but it turned out way way too sweet and pretty much inedible. Boo.

The boys wanted in on these pictures.

This is one of a few big harvests. We basically ended up with a lot of squash, jalapeños and tomatoes.

Does this look like a zombie version of that guy from VeggieTales to you? Me too!

We also planted ONE “honeydew” plant and ended up with a few good sized melons off of it. It’s still going strong though. It LOVES the heat apparently. It takes up a huge amount of space still. It’s not a honeydew by the way, I’m thinking maybe a Crenshaw or Casaba melon.

Those leaves are about hand sized, for reference. In the bottom right, is my Spanish lavender bush. It seems happy to have a little bit of shade.

The heat is causing the jalapenos to be red and small from the start.

Some straggler tomatoes. About 70% of the cherry tomatoes ripen okay, the others succumb to the sun and shrivel up.

I’d say all in all, the garden was totally worth it. There’s nothing quite like finding your boys nestled in your garden filling up on tomatoes.

Some things I’ll do differently next spring:

Space out the tomatoes a smidgen more.
Cage them immediately, and continue to support them as they grow.
Read up on cucumbers. I think that by the time my pickling cucumbers came up, it was too hot. You can find itty-bitty inch long cumbers one day and the next they’re shriveled and gone.
Plan for sprawl more. The tomatoes overtook the green beans, dill and carrots. The one squash plant took out the lemon thyme, cilantro and most of the spearmint.
Possibly plant a week or two earlier. I don’t have to worry about frost much, but I do have to worry about the sun killing things right as the fruit matures.
Possibly some kind of shade cloth over the whole thing too.

So, that was our garden this year. Still debating on when to rip things out to prepare for the winter garden.

How did yours come along?

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Maybe this is why?

Katie — Sat, 08 May 2010 16:00:56 +0000

Maybe I’ve got a vegetable jungle because of Rowan’s green thumb?

He’s pretty proud of that garden.

Do you have any special helpers in your garden?

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It’s not a garden, It’s a Jungle.

Katie — Sat, 08 May 2010 13:00:58 +0000

Remember the planter boxes my oh so accommodating husband built for me? These guys?

And that this is what they looked like when I planted them?

Wanna guess what they look like now? No, really. Think about it.

This is Arizona, it’s hot. And as much as I hate to admit it, gardening is a never-ending ‘craft’. You can’t just plant it and forget about it, like you can with most of the crafts I do. I’m not so great at ongoing projects.

Which is why I’m quite tickled (and slightly overwhelmed) that they now look like this:

April 23rd, Box 1

Notice how they’re still pretty much within their beds and you can sort of see all the individual plants.

April 23rd, Box 2

Yeah.

Not anymore.

May7th

It’s a jungle.

Which is awesome, but Holey Moley.

How am I ever going to tame this thing?

I’m really hoping that we’ll get some veggies off of it before the heat makes them go dormant.

Also thinking about putting some kind of shade over it.

I learned awhile back that if the night temps don’t get low enough, it doesn’t matter what I do, the tomatoes will stop fruiting, so hurry hurry little tomatoes.

Heirloom Brandywine Tomatoes

Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes

Roma Tomatoes, possibly. Hard to tell in there.

Jalapeño

Crookneck Squash

Green Bush Beans

The cucumbers and honeydew are coming along nicely.

We picked some radishes the other night. I think they were crowded.

And there’s lot of herbs too. Cilantro, Dill, Lemon Thyme, Spearmint, Stevia, Chocolate Basil, Chocolate Mint (I can never seem to pass up all the chocolate ones).

There’s carrots buried in there too.

Maybe next year, I wont pack in so many tomatoes.

How does your garden grow this year?

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Recipe: Outback’s Shrimp Enfuego

Katie — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:40:49 +0000

Whenever anyone asks me where I’d like to eat for dinner, the first thing to pops into my head is Outback Steakhouse. I’ve had Prime Rib from many many places but I prefer it from Outback by far. I guess you could call me an Outback Prime Rib fangirl, I’ll never tire of eating there!

Not too long ago I decided I needed to change things up and order something different. I settled on the Shrimp En Fuego. It’s a lovely combination of Shrimp, Mushrooms and Tomatoes in a spicy cream sauce served over an open baked potato. Yum, huh? It seems that when we eat out, I almost always get something heavy in mushrooms since Matt refuses to eat them.

(Photo by Sarah Caron)

Since we don’t often eat out, I decided I’d try and wing it at home after finding a great sale on shrimp. The Internets weren’t so helpful for a recipe, so I gathered all the tips I could find about it and dived in. I can’t tell you how alike it is compared to Outback’s because I don’t have the option to try them next to eat other, but it turned out really good. Spicy.

Shrimp En Fuego

Serves 4, doubles perfectly

Ingredients:

4 Baked potatoes, preferably with the skin salted and oiled
1 jar Cheesy Ragu Classic Alfredo Sauce (I was lazy and didn’t make my own)
1 Tablespoon Chipotle Chili Powder
3 tablespoon Chili Garlic Sauce (Commonly called Rooster Sauce, and found in the ethnic food section of most markets)
1 pound fresh shrimp (frozen may be substituted, if thawed), deveined and tails removed.
1 pound mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
Salt and Pepper
1 package cherry tomatoes, halved.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Scrub potatoes and poke with a fork a couple times. Rub the outsides with olive oil then roll or rub with medium grind sea salt. Place in oven and cook until desired doneness.
When potatoes are almost done, combine alfredo sauce, chipotle powder, and chili garlic sauce in a medium sauce pan. Warm over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
If you wish, the amount of chipotle and chili sauce can be adjusted now. I had to keep the spices low or The Hubs and The Boys wouldn’t eat it.
My food photography isn’t very good, but you get the idea.
While sauce is warming, sauté shrimp, mushrooms and minced garlic over medium high heat until shrimp is pink and mushrooms are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
If you wish, you can add the sauce to the pan of shrimp and mushrooms, mixing everything together, or keep them separate. Place open potato on a plate, layer with shrimp and mushrooms, then sauce with halved tomatoes on top. (It looks better that way. For the ease of feeding my horde I mix everything together.)
Don’t forget to turn off the oven.
Enjoy!

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