Winter Wonderland

Monday as we were leaving from work

it had been snowing for about 1/2 hour.

 

Boy was that FUN driving home in that!

 

NOT!!

 

It was a heavy snowfall that made the roads very slippery.

But we persevered and made it home safely.

 

And the next morning we woke up to this.

 We usually don't get this much snow at one time.

I know that to some of you this isn't a big deal,

but for us it is a BIG deal!

The snow had covered everything during the night,

and had turned it into a winter wonderland.

So I grabbed my camera, and attached my wide angle lens,

to see if I could try and capture the beauty.

 

This shot was taken from the dining room window.

(dining room reveal coming soon)

Then I stepped out onto the back porch and took a few shots.

The snow was beautiful on the trees.

 

 

 

 

 

This shot was taken from our master bath window.

These oak leaves will stay until spring when the new growth will push them off.

Then the sun came out!

 

These were taken from the kitchen window.

 



 

So that was our Winter Wonderland.

 

That's all for this week.

 

Until Next Time,

Veronica

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spaghetti Sauce & Meatballs

For years now I have been making my own

spaghetti sauce and meatballs.

When we were first married I

would buy spaghetti sauce in a jar

because I thought making spaghetti sauce

was really complicated and time consuming,

but I have always made my own meatballs, go figure.

 

I used to try different brands of spaghetti

sauce looking for the one that tasted like

TRUE Italian spaghetti sauce.

I just couldn't find one we liked.

They either had too much sugar,

or too much salt for our tastes.

Then one day I came across a recipe

called Italian Spaghetti Sauce.

***Sorry I can't remember where I found it from,
but I will post the recipe for the sauce & meatballs
at the end of this post.***

I always have a big batch of meatballs
in the freezer so that when we are hungry for spaghetti & meatballs
all I have to do is remove the amount of meatballs we want
and make up the sauce and pasta.

Let's make some spaghetti sauce and meatballs!

First up.
Mix up your meatballs and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Place meatballs uncovered in freezer for 3-4 hours, or until frozen.

After your meatballs are frozen, remove from the freezer and
place into a gallon size Ziploc Freezer baggie.
Don't forget to mark the date on the baggie.
You want to use these up before they get freezer burnt!

Now let's make this true Italian Spaghetti Sauce.

Trust me, this spaghetti sauce is super easy to make and tastes great!

First up, saute the onion, garlic and olive oil until onions are translucent.

Next, stir in the tomatoes, salt, sugar, basil and top with a bay leaf or two.
I typically use these canned tomatoes and paste.

Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 90 minutes.

Remove bay leaf.
Add black pepper, tomato paste and meatballs.
Cover and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.

Use on any type of pasta.

We were so hungry from peeling wallpaper and cleaning up our mess
that I forgot to take a picture of the plate of spaghetti!
Oops, next time.

Here are the recipes.

Italian Spaghetti Sauce

3/4 cup chopped Onion (about 2 medium onions)
5 cloves Garlic, minced
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 (28oz. cans) Crushed Tomatoes
1-2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. White Sugar
1 Bay Leaf
3/4 tsp. Dried Basil (only if you are using plain crushed tomatoes)
1 (6oz. can) Tomato Paste
1/2 tsp. Ground Black Pepper

In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onions and garlic in olive oil until onions are translucent.

Stir in tomatoes, salt, sugar and bay leaf.  Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 90 minutes.  Remove bay leaf and stir in tomato paste, basil and black pepper.  Add meatballs, cover and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.  Serve over pasta.

Italian Meatballs

1/3 cup Plain Bread Crumbs
1/2 cup Milk
2 Tlbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Onion, diced
1 pound Ground Sirloin
1 pound Ground Pork
2 Eggs
2 Tlbs. Dried Parsley
3 cloves Garlic, crushed
2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp. Dried Italian Herb Seasoning
2 Tlbs. Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes (optional)

In a large bowl combine the ground sirloin and pork until blended together.  Stir in the remaining

ingredients until combined.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

 

*Tip* Wet hands before and during while forming meatballs.  This way the meat mixture won't stick to your hands.

 

 Form meat mixture into balls and arrange onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Place uncovered

into the freezer and freeze for up to 4 hours.

 

Remove from freezer and place meatballs into a gallon size Ziploc Freezer baggie.

I hope you give these recipes a try.
They truly are Italian style.
ENJOY!

Until Next Time,
Veronica
 



Easy Chemical Free Wallpaper Removal

I dread removing wallpaper.

I mean REALLY, REALLY, dread removing wallpaper.

When we bought our current home a few of the

rooms had wallpaper.

I've never cared for the wallpaper in the

dining room, master bath and the downstairs bathroom.
This is the wallpaper in our dining room.
It's a gray, pink and white mixture with an odd design.

Shortly after moving in

we stripped the wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom,

since that was a small room, and painted it.

It took us FOREVER to remove

the wallpaper from that room.

That was 15 years ago!

So needless to say, we haven't stripped any

wallpaper since then!

But things change in 15 years.

 

Shortly we will be retiring!

Under 3 years!
It will be here before we know it.

So there are a few home improvement projects

that we want to do before we put our home on the market.
 

On the top of the list:

Get rid of ALL the wallpaper in the house!

 

We are HUGE DIYers.

Most things we can do on our own.

Those we can't, we definitely hire out.

 

I'm not crazy about using chemicals of any kind.

So I did a little research and came across this

for removing wallpaper.

I could either rent a wallpaper steamer for $30.00 per 1/2 day,

or I could purchase one for $50.00.

We decided to spend the $50.00 and purchased one

since we will be removing wallpaper from 3 rooms,

plus we didn't know how long it was going to take to remove

the wallpaper from one room.

We purchased ours at our local home improvement store.

Let me just say this,

this was the BEST $50.00 we EVER spent!

 

***I am not being compensated for this post.  When I find something that performs well

and makes projects easier to do I like to pass it along to others.***

 

Our dining room is 12" x 16".

We completely removed the wallpaper from the entire room in 7 hours!

We worked for 4 hours yesterday and 3 hours today.

  It only took 4 hours TOTAL to remove the wallpaper from the room.

The other time was spent gathering supplies,

moving furniture, curtain rods, shelves and décor from the room,

wiping down the walls after the wallpaper was removed,

and taking a couple of breaks.

The wallpaper steamer took 5 minutes to assemble

and was VERY easy to use.

 

Here is the beginning of the wallpaper removal process.

Our wallpaper is thick professional grade.

Hubby scored the wallpaper just below the crown molding

and just above the baseboard and started heating the wallpaper

at the top in sections for 10 seconds.

Once he got the wallpaper to start to peel, he was able to

peel the first layer off in sheets without heating the rest of the wall.



Once Hubby got a few sheets of the first layer off,

I started heating the second lay in sections for 3-4 seconds

and peeled the second layer off in sheets also.

We never had any problem with the wallpaper tearing off in small pieces.

We were amazed at how EASY and QUICK it was to remove the wallpaper.

Here is what the walls looked like after the wallpaper was removed.

There was NO residue left on the walls.

Since we will be painting this room, I decided to wipe

down the walls just to make sure the paint would adhere well.

There really is no need to do this because there really is NO residue left behind.

I'm just funny that way.

Hubby has already patched up the MANY holes in the walls,

and tomorrow he will prep the room to get ready to paint it next weekend.

 

If you need to remove wallpaper I HIGHLY recommend using

a wallpaper steamer.

Now I don't dread removing wallpaper.

Next up will be our master bath.

Speaking of master baths.

I thought I would share a picture I took out of our master bath window yesterday.

We got down to -9 degrees last night.

That's it for this week.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

 

Seeing Owls

Did your New Year start out with a BANG?

Mine sure did.

 

I woke up New Year's Eve with a bladder and

upper respiratory infections.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

I very rarely get sick so I'm not

  used to being knocked off my feet!

I'm still not back to my old self yet

but am getting better.

 

I just thought that I would pop in and

show you what I made for our DIL for Christmas.

 

She's an owl lover so when I came across this pattern for a knitted hat

with owls on it I just knew I had to make it for her.

 

Here is her new hat.

 

Do you see the owls?

 

I also knitted her a scarf to go with her new hat.

She liked them so much she wore them home!

 

That's it for this week.

Until Next Time,

Veronica