Sometimes You Win Some and Sometimes You Lose Some

 With the temps in the upper 80's around here

I've been craving a nice cold dessert.

I know I'm late in the game but I was

craving something strawberry flavored.

To be more specific, I wanted a

strawberry cheese cake.

 I didn't want to heat up the house by turning

on the oven so I went looking for a no bake version.

It was an easy recipe that I found and whipped together in no time.

The hardest part was letting it sit in the freezer for 2 hours

before we could dig into it.

Hubby saw it sitting in the refrigerator as I was getting

ready to snap a few pictures of it and exclaimed,

"Oh my God you are trying to kill me."

I chuckled at him because

I'm used to him saying that to me.

My intent is definitely not to kill him

but to fulfill my desire to bake and be creative.

The bad part about it is he can't resist

anything I make because it looks and smells so good.

We had high hopes for this cheesecake.

I'll be very truthful though.

This no bake version didn't have much

strawberry taste. It was kinda bland.

It wasn't bad, it just wasn't

what I was expecting it to taste like.

 Even though I added a teaspoon of strawberry

extract to it, it was still lacking something.

I was expecting more

of a traditional baked cheesecake flavor and texture.

I think it would have been better had I used

fresh picked strawberries instead of store

bought strawberries. But, strawberry season

is over so I had to use what I had access to.

It sure looked pretty and smelled good though.

It just goes to show that,

Sometimes you win some

and sometimes you lose some.

Luckily the wins far outweigh the loses.

No sense stressing over it though,

just let it go and move onto the next creation.

That's it for now.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Catching Up & A Recipe

 Oh my but it's been quite a while since I posted anything.

Life happens and we tend to get sucked into it

and before you know it, it's a year later!

I ran into a few friends a couple of weeks ago and

they asked me if I was ever going to post anything

on my blog again. I was so shocked

that people actually read and follow along with my blog. 

And to think that what started as a creative outlet

for me actually brings pleasure to others.

I truly am humbled.

So much has happened since I last posted.

For one, the grandbabies have grown so much.

Our oldest grandson is 4 years old and will

be starting 4-K in the fall and

the twins just turned 3 years old this week.

3 YEARS!

It's hard to believe that I have been a full-time

Nanny Granny for 3 years already.

But our biggest life changer is....

We SOLD our house!

We weren't even going to put it on

the market until next March but our

Realtor approached us with an incredible

offer we just couldn't refuse. So we had 4 days

to clean the house and stage it to show. We worked

our butts off getting it ready. But it was SO worth it.

We were so grateful and blown away by the offer.

Everything happened so quickly after we accepted the offer.

First up on our To Do list was to find temporary housing

until next year when we plan to move back home to Pennsylvania.

Although we have lived in Wisconsin for the past 34 years,

Pennsylvania has always been our home.

Then it was packing, purging and selling furniture

 like there was no tomorrow.

We have always tried to keep

things organized and under control because both

of us hate clutter but it is just amazing how much

STUFF you can accumulate over the years.

Trying to find a temporary place to live during this

HOT real estate market was a real challenge for Hubby

but he was relentless and was able to find us a nice 

brand spanking new place to rent.

We are finally settled into our new temporary home

as best as we want to be. We can finally breath a little

easier now. Life is slowly getting back to normal to

where I want to start being creative again.

One thing I am very passionate about is

food photography. Food unites us.

I love cooking and baking then photographing the food.

It's always food that we actually eat.

I do it as a hobby, not as a professional.

A couple of weeks ago I had baked some potatoes

and only ate the insides but I kept the skins and threw

them into the freezer for another time.

For some reason I had a hankering for

Baked Potato Skins.

So I made these.

Oh my Land's End but these were DELICIOUS!

Such a simple food but oh how the taste buds loved them.

I hope you enjoyed hearing from me again and I will try not to wait so long between posting.

Until then here is the recipe for the potato skins.

BAKED POTATO SKINS

INGREDIENTS:

6 Potato Skins

1 1/2 tablespoons Butter

1/8 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/8 teaspoon Onion Powder

1/2 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

6 slices crispy cooked Bacon, crumbled

2 Green Onions, sliced

Sour Cream (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Melt butter in microwave. Add garlic powder and onion powder to butter and stir.

Brush butter mixture over the tops and bottom of each potato skin and place onto baking sheet.

Place into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Flip each potato skin and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and add cheese and bacon to each potato skin.

Return to oven and bake for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Top each potato skin with a dollop of sour cream and green onions. Serve immediately.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Trash To Treasure

 A few weeks ago Hubby was taking our trash to our local drop off site and

texted me a picture of a desk that was being thrown out and wanted to know

if I would be interested in it to refinish.

It is made of solid wood.

Other than the long legs being a little loose and the top was scratched,

all in all it was in pretty good condition.

I started off by sanding down the top to the bare wood.

After seeing how pretty the top was I ended up sanding the rest of the desk down, except for the legs.

I just wasn't loving the mid century look of the legs and knew that I wanted to swap those out and make the desk a little sturdier.

This little desk went from being thrown out in the trash.....

to this new and improved treasure.

Hubby helped me add an apron front and new legs to make this little desk sturdier.

A view of the new legs and support.

The color is called In The Navy by Sherwin Williams, which I had mixed at Home Depot.

The top is stained with a mixture of Minwax Special Walnut, Dark Walnut and Weathered Oak.

New drawer pulls were added in a pretty gold tone.

I added a little surprise to each drawer bottom by painting them in blue and white stripes.

To seal the desk I applied 3 coats of Minwax Polycrylic in Satin.

What a  cute little desk this will make for our oldest grandson.

Until Next Time,Veronica

Mouthwatering Burgers

Happy Independence Day Everyone.

Were you able to spend the day

with family and friends,

all while social distancing of course.

We usually choose to stay home

during the 4th of July and just

chill and grill up some burgers

on the grill.

Have you ever had a gourmet burger

from Red Robin?

We have tried numerous gourmet burgers

from there and have liked them all

but our all time favorite burger is

their Prime Chophouse burgers.

These burgers are bursting with

so many different mouthwatering favors.

I'm salivating just thinking about this burger.

Sadly, Red Robin has changed their

menu and have removed their

Prime Chophouse burgers.

I wasn't willing to let these burgers

simply disappear from my life.

What on earth was I going to do?

I decided that I would try and recreate

these mouthwatering burgers for our

4th of July cookout.

Don't these look mouthwatering?

Yes, those are our burgers I recreated.

Perfectly mouthwatering and bursting with favor.

Hubby said that these were the BEST homemade

burgers he has ever had.

Hands down the BEST.

These burgers are topped with sauteed mushrooms,

provolone cheese, homemade crispy fried onion straws and

topped with a special sauce mixture of steak sauce,

Dijon mustard and horseradish.

Am I making you hungry yet?

The 4th of July just wouldn't be the same

without a mouthwatering burger.

You can't get much more Americana than that.

Stay safe and Happy 4th of July!

Until Next Time,

Veronica

A Spicy 4th of July

Do you have big plans for Independence Day?

Hubby and I plan on staying home

where it's nice and safe.

I'm looking forward to having a nice

quiet 3 day weekend and

sitting on the deck reading a good book.

Hubby will be grilling up some burgers on

the grill and I will be making some

Homemade Restaurant Style Salsa.

This salsa recipe comes together quickly.

No slicing, dicing or chopping by hand.

Make it mild

or spicy, which we prefer.

This salsa is so much better tasting

than store bought salsa.

Hands down the best I have ever made.

It is the BOMB.

Do people still say that or am I dating myself?

Anyhoo, if you love salsa you have to make this recipe.

The secret to this salsa tasting so great is using

Fire Roasted Tomatoes.

HOMEMADE RESTAURANT STYLE SALSA

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 jalapeno seeds and ribs removed, chopped 

10 ounce can diced tomatoes with green chilies (I use Rotel original)

14.5 ounce can crushed fire roasted tomatoes

pinch of sugar, optional, it helps balance the acidity of the tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro

juice from 1/2 of a lime, or more to taste

2 - 4 tablespoons white vinegar, start with 2 and add more to taste

Instructions

Add the peeled onion, garlic and jalapeno to the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times

to chop until desired consistency.

Drain off the liquid from the can of diced tomatoes with green chilies and discard the liquid.

Add the tomatoes and chilies from the can to the food processor, pulse until the salsa reaches

your desired consistency.

Pour the salsa mixture into a large bowl.

Add the can of crushed fire roasted tomatoes with the juices from the can into the bowl of

the salsa mixture. Stir to combine.

Add the remaining salsa ingredients and stir to combine.

Taste salsa with a tortilla chip and adjust the lime juice, vinegar, salt, or sugar as needed.

*This recipe makes a medium-spicy salsa.

**For a mild salsa, omit the jalapeno and substitute a can of regular diced tomatoes without green chilies.

***For a spicy salsa, add the whole jalapeno with seeds.

Recipe adapted from: kristineskitchenblog.com

Whether you plan on having a mild or spicy

4th of July, we hope that you

enjoy your day and have

a safe holiday.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Crystal Ball Gazing

Hello there.

How is your part of the world looking?

Our's is starting to look up.

We still can't get out and do much,

as for being in public places, but

we are able to get outside and enjoy

our beautiful weather.

I have a new obsession.

I know, I know.

How can she possibly have another obsession?

It's true though.

It's called lensball photography.

It's basically taking pictures

through a crystal ball.

Since our weather was so beautiful

this weekend I thought I would get outside

and play with my new obsession

and try to snap a few pictures.

Welcome to our little part of the world.

How cool is that!?

So I starting walking around our yard

scoping out cool images to snap.

Our spring this year was a little cool so our peonies

didn't produce as many buds this year but I was

able to capture a few images.

Our clematis.

I believe that this is a jasmine bush.

Not really sure because it was here

when we moved into our home.

These next 2 images are of our hanging basket of geraniums.

One of our potentilla bushes.

I hope you enjoyed gazing into our crystal ball.

That's it for this week.

Stay safe.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

How to Transform a Dresser

Last week I showed my latest dresser transformation.

BEFORE

AFTER

This week is all about how I transformed this dresser

and what products I used.

This is not a sponsored posts. I wasn't compensated

for any of the products that I used. All of my

opinions are my own and unbiased. Some of the

products that I mention are ones that I have used

numerous times and some are new to me that I

was impressed with the quality and ease of use

and thought that they deserved being mentioned.

Before I start, I want to mention that I didn't

take many pictures during the transformation

process. I tend to get caught up in the moment

trying to figure things out

and forget about taking pictures. Hopefully,

you will be able to follow along anyway.

So, lets get started on this transformation.

Once I started working on this dresser I realized that the sides

were just a piece of 1/4" wood veneer 

and the top piece

was pressed board with a layer of  wood veneer over it.

All of the veneer was removed from the dresser.

The sides and top piece were completely removed and

Hubby and I created new ones with

pieces of solid birch wood.

After removing the damaged veneer from the

drawer fronts I discovered a big chunk of the

wood was missing from the 2nd drawer.

Dang it!

I couldn't just sand the drawer fronts and

be done with them.

I filled in the hole with wood filler, let dry,

and sanded it smooth.

New wood veneer needed to be applied

to each drawer so that they would all

have the same wood grain finish.

I knew that I wanted to stain this dresser and not paint it.

I had to order new wood veneer for the drawer fronts.

Each drawer was sanded and cleaned and ready

to apply the new wood veneer.

When the new veneer arrived for the draw fronts

I was surprised that it came

in a box rolled up. I was expecting it to be a flat sheet.

This is the wood veneer that I used for the drawer fronts.

If you're not familiar with what wood veneer is,

it is paper thin cuts of natural wood

that is applied with glue and can be

stained or painted.

I had never used wood veneer before and was a

little intimidated by it. I pulled it out and unrolled it

and laid a sheet of plywood on top of it for a few

days to try and flatten it out. I really didn't have to

worry about flatting it out. This veneer was so

incredibly easy to cut and apply.

It adhered so smoothly without any cracking or bubbling.

Using a utility knife I cut out each drawer front and applied.

Super, super easy to apply. I was very impressed with this veneer.

Here is a close up of the drawers with the new veneer applied and stained.

You can't even tell that there is wood veneer on this dresser.

To create the new sides

Hubby used (2)  2' x 4' x 1/4" sheets of birch plywood

and roughly cut out the leg opening.

The sides were then adhered using wood glue and set to dry overnight.

Once dried and secured I was able to sand the leg opening

smooth to match the leg shape.

The top of the dresser was created using a piece of

3/4" 2' x 4' piece of birch plywood. I wanted the top

of the dresser to be a 2 inch thickness. In order to have

a 2 inch thick top Hubby built it up using scrap wood.

To finish the edges of the top to look like a solid piece

of wood I used this veneer edge banding.

Can you tell it's not a 2" thick piece of wood?

The final step was to apply the veneer edge banding around the front of the dresser.

Using the same edge banding, I applied it then trimmed it down to size using

a utility knife.

Once all the veneer had been applied, I lightly sanded the entire

dresser down and applied the stain. I combined 2 different

stain colors to achieve the look I was going for.

I first applied 2 coats of Minwax Special Walnut.

The color was a little too red for me so I then

applied 2 coats of  Minwax Weathered Oak.

By applying the weathered oak it knocked down

the red tone to a nice warm brown color.

Exactly what I was aiming for.

Minwax Special Walnut and Weathered Oak.

To protect all of our hard work,

I applied 3 coats of water based Minwax Polycrylic

in Clear Satin to the entire dresser.

Hubby drilled new holes and added the new

handles (which I ordered off Amazon)

and just like that, we were done.

By investing a little bit of sweat equity

we now have a beautiful new dresser.

How appropriate is my sign that I made 2 years ago?

That's it for now.

Until Next Time,

Stay safe.

Veronica