Mixing it up!

 I'm not a great cook, but when I do cook I like to make my top 5 items or try something completely new. This was a try something completely different and new kind of meal. Everyone seemed to like sloppy joes. It's not something that we ever make, until I made it a few months ago. I still need to stop adding any sugar into the recipe as it's already sweet enough with just adding ketchup. I had a can of croissant rolls, so I bought another package and wrapped the sloppy Joe meat and baked in the oven. It was actually really good. Steve and I just ate it since Logan was working and Celina had zero interest in eating our meal. Steve also requested tater tots, so it was a very brown meal! 

On my new favorite TV show, the British Baking Show, they have been making meat pies. This is my easy, quick version of that. Maybe some day I'll make a hot water crust and actually make a veggie or meat pie. I've made chicken pot pies in the past, but would like to up my baking and try the full on meat pie and decorate it pastry to look pretty too. 

Another baking technical challenge was to make 12 lace hearts, all the same. I've been wanting to try this using crepe batter. I also added a bit of red food coloring to turn the batter pink. 

My last pancake was the best at the design. I loved making these heart crepes. Just not the easiest to put on jelly. The Brit's eat theirs with sugar and lemon juice. Ugh, no thank you! I'll stick with raspberry jelly! 

I made these crepes for breakfast and had left over batter. This was our after dinner dessert. I cooked up the rest of the batter to feed the birds. 

I want to switch out our porch lights. We have a ton of lights by the ceiling, going all around the room. 

They are outdated lights. Its pretty expensive to change out all the lights. I did find these single lights for $20 at Menards that I do like. Or we could leave the lights and just switch out the glass

Considering I need at least 2 for each light, I might as well replace with a light that I like at $20 each. I need 6 lights! It's not a project that I need to do asap. Just thinking about it. Plus, I'd need Steve on board with my decision since he's the one taking down the old lights and replacing them. 

On other news, Logan's friends are all testing positive for Covid. He gave a friend a ride home that was exposed to the friends who are positive. That friend has yet to get Covid, but we are now getting Logan tested. (He previously had Covid back in August) This time, we have to stay indoors since it's -12 outside. I'll be spending a ton of time in my room. Otherwise wearing a mask in the house. I'd rather just hang out in my room then wear a mask all day. I'd like to get him a rapid test, but seems like they are all costing around $100. Otherwise I think its 24 hours. He mostly is in his room, So not a big deal to wait I'm thinking! He has a Covid test at noon today. I just do my daily alcohol spray all the door knobs, light switches, frig etc.. Now I'll be doing it at night too and maybe at lunch. 

Saturday night!

 What do you do on a Saturday night when it's below zero and Covid? Stay inside, play cards by the fire! I put out a few candles to mix up the look and try to feel like we were out some where, not stuck at home. 

A few beers and drinks with cribbage is always a good idea for a weekend night in. 

We ate chips, salsa and guac for dinner Saturday, but Friday night we picked up a deep dish pizza from Pezzo's in Woodbury. We had the Lincon with added sausage! So delicious and a great left overs to eat for lunch the next day. 

I painted our office desk Friday, the first coat of primer and the 2nd coat on Saturday. I'll do one more coat of primer today and then will start on the enamel. 

I don't have black enamel, so I'll have to get a small can of paint for the top of the desk. Fingers crossed it will look good when I'm done! 

I made more some more ice sculptures yesterday and will un-mold them today to see how they look. I think they are turning out great so far! 

Deep Freeze!

What to do when stuck inside during a deep freeze? 

This is what I felt like doing, if only I could sleep as well! Zoey has the whole sleep any where, anytime thing down! 

I was in the cookie baking, decorating mood on Sunday. I tried making a new kind of sugar cookie using strawberry jello. Not exactly strawberry flavor tasting, more just really sweet! So probably won't do that again with jello! I did frost these using Royal icing. It's just confectioners sugar with powdered egg whites and vanilla. You add water for different frosting consistencies. I needed a thicker frosting to pipe an outline in a heart and then filled with a thin consistency to flood the cookie and a semi thicker frosting to pipe the letters/words. It took more time than I thought it would. Wasn't perfect for my first attempt. I'm sure my skills will improve the next time I decide to frost cookies that will set up. 

I gave away most of the cookies to family along with my ice heart sculptures. 

My attempt to make some candle ice sculptures. I had the best results just using a bunt cake pan and filling it up to the top with water. I tried filling a pale with water and added a container to make the middle to hold the candle. It was a fail. I couldn't get the plastic container out. So I left it in and just put in the candle. I will make more  in the bunt pan to put outside with some candles. Looked pretty! Looks like I'll have all week till next Thursday of sub zero temps to make more!

Celina made these pretty chocolate, caramel cream with a cookie bottom desserts. I did the spun sugar for the top. I've almost got this sugar making technique down! Just need to work fast and get the right consistency/temperature. 

They were good, but super sweet! 

And messy, by the look of Steve's face and hands covered in sticky marshmallow caramel cream! 

I wasn't really interested in watching the Super Bowl. It was on, but I was reading the news on my phone. I did look up a few times during the half time show. Now I know who and what the weekend is and sings. 

Steve made wings, I made a good salad and that was our super bowl food! 

We also Celebrated Zoey's Got Ya day. January 30th.. I thought it was the 6 of Feb, so we were a little late. She is 5! Cute puppy photo of her from the week we Brought her home. She definitely is a snow loving, ice cold water drinking outside dog! 

 

Thursday's Ramblings..

 I made some delicious, no knead crusty rosemary, sea salt bread in my dutch oven baking pan. So easy to make and turned out perfect. I thought it was over proofed, because it deflated when I came back from skiing. I just spritzed the hot lid with some water and quickly closed the lid to trap in a little steam. Not sure if this was the trick to get the crust extra crispy or not, but it all worked great! Would Paul Hollywood approve? I think so!

I snapped a screen shot of this heart shaped desert. I must try to re-create and just keep in the freezer till Valentine's Day. I think it's just a cookie crust or thin sponge cake on the bottom, a light custard, sliced strawberries around the edges, topped with a thin jello. I think I can do this! 

I'm using my heart shaped pan right now to create a frozen ice sculpture. While skiing yesterday, I picked up pine cones and some pine needle branches to add into my water to freeze. I didn't have berries so I used some of my wreath foam red berries. So far, its not cold enough outside to freeze, it turned into a slushy mess since it's snowing. I'll probably have to re-do this once its below zero tomorrow. 

I've been wearing my Zoey picture socks while skiing. They aren't the best fitting socks, but they are cute and work. 

Off to ski! I have fresh snow today before the polar plunge tomorrow! 

I don't love it!

 I recovered our couch ottoman yesterday in black faux rabbit fur. I had to drive 45 minutes at a store that had the fabric in stock! I did check out other faux fur but decided on black due to already having many shades of gray in the room, floor, walls, rug and couch. 

I don't love the look of the ottoman. The rug also needs to be adjusted closer to the couch. It's done and can always be changed. I just figure, black won't show the dirt from the dog laying on it or our feet. I think white would have looked nice, but that just wouldn't last. I can always throw a white fur blanket over the top? The kids hate the look or maybe they hate the rug, tables etc. I just wanted a quick, cheap $29 fix for now. I'm not about to start buying more. It's good enough for now. I can always recover the ottoman as its super easy to do. Just needs some staples and a little trimming of fabric. 

Groundhogs Day is French Crepe Day for us. It was a semi fail with trying to use almond flour with almond milk for some of us who are not eating wheat or dairy. We still ate them, but I won't be doing the almond flour substitute for flour again. 

The back of my car all winter. I drive around with all the skis.

It's that time to make another Fitness Book. It will be book #19! I just print the cover and cut a bunch of white paper, bring it up to Fed Ex Printing and have a binder and a clear cover added on to it. It use to cost less than $5 and now is $9. Not sure why it went up $3, but I use it for everything and its worth it. I've saved every single Fitness book since I started with my weight loss journey and working out. I'm not sure why I keep them. Although, I sometimes do look back because it's my record of my life, like my blogs. 

Exercise and weightless?

 Well, I have the exercise part down now that I can cross country ski almost daily. Snow and weather depended on the conditions of both! 

Do you see Steve way back there? It's been 3 days in a row he has wanted to ski with me. Yesterday, he wanted to do the whole 3.5 mile route, so I just skied really s l o w! I'm hoping he will soon love skiing as much as I do. It's a nice way to spend time together out in the woods on the ski trails. 

Weight loss, hasn't been going so good. I have cut down and I do record what I eat and try to figure out calories. I've been staying around 1500 per day and burning at least 600 calorie a day from exercise. I was hoping to do a daily plank and my floor exercises with weights every day too, but I'm inconsistent on that part. Time to start making it part of my morning habit! 

This is quarter round trim. Steve finished putting the trim around the base boards in our 4 season porch yesterday so we were able to put back all the furniture finally! We didn't exactly set up the TV since we plan to replace that after the super bowl. Hoping prices for TV's will be even lower after the game on Sunday. 

I have an ottoman to re-cover today. My plan is to call around fabric stores to see where I can find some black faux rabbit soft fur to recover the ottoman. Wish me luck! 

My other project, to paint the office furniture, white! I am starting today or at least prepping the desk and book shelves by cleaning them off. 

A new project!

Since we picked up our new/ used couch from my daughter to use in our 4 season porch, I now need to recover our old couch ottoman. What ever I cover the ottoman with, it needs to go with the floor, rug and couch colors. 

There are many shades of grays. I'm thinking of just going black, fuzzy fur type covering. Kind of like the little ottoman we use in our kitchen. Weird, how the floor looks so brown in the photo, when in person its more dark grayish -brown. 

Here's the fabric/Faux rabbit fur that I used on our small kitchen ottoman. I think black would look best since I won't be able to match the grays in the room. I also noticed that this will help with it looking dirty after the dog keeps jumping up on it. I'm on the search to find fabric in the stores. I can get it on line but have to order either 2 or 6 yards nothing in between. I could use 2.5 to 3 yards and don't want to pay extra for more fabric! 

Once I finish this project on Tuesday, I'm moving on to my paint projects. Plus, lots of cross country skiing to get in some exercise. 

Steve and Celina both went skiing with me over the weekend. I finally remembered to wear my GPS, Garmin watch and its about 3.75 mile trail loop. Not as long 5 miles as the trails I usually ski, but it's a good 50 minute workout. I'll just add on the extra smaller loop to make it closer to 5 miles next time we ski at this park in Hastings. 

Since it's Feb, I took down the Christmas lights in the house that were around all the windows. No need to have up lights anymore since I wasn't turning them on. I can't say I'm sad to move on from January! Just need to get thought Feb which is another cold month and then the count down till green grass and spring! 44 days to go, but who's counting?? 

Speaking of spring! Time to up my diet plan. Fasting and low calories is my plan!