an update

So, I promised an update, and as we have been making semi-regular trips to the thrift store to drop things off, it seems like now is as good a time as any to do one. We are still not even close to done, but Easter's not here, either. Let's see, what have we accomplished in the last week?

I started on my fabric, but did not get very far. Currently, I keep all my fabric either extremely neatly folded in under-bed plastic storage drawers or balled up unfolded in a pile in a corner of the bedroom/on the loveseat/living room floor. When I do get around to organizing, it has to be just right, which is probably one of the reasons why so much is not organized- the very thought of that much work either exhausts or intimidates me. But, I'm conquering that and working on it anyway, which is why I picked out a bunch of fabric from various house piles and started neatly folding and sorting it. I'm getting to the place where I can actually sort cottons from canvas and almost two of the drawers are folded.

We also made some headway in terms of laundry. The sweaters will likely get done this weekend, as we had three days in the high 70s/low 80s this week (crazy, wonderful weather), but the tanktops, pajamas and socks/unmentionables were completed. The t-shirts are very neatly folded and all fit in one drawer but still must be pared down (with Mark's help).

neatly organized but still too many.

I tackled above the fridge and the freezer in a cleaning frenzy last week and am very pleased with how both have turned out. Similarly, Mark worked through his music binder (although he needs more page protectors to finish the job). Still, I think that can be crossed off the list. 

spice jars in background will be repurposed for sand. new spice jars are just a little too large for our current rack!

Our sand and spice collections are linked projects, as the plan is to purchase new jars for the spices (*we* have broken several since we got married), and recycle the old spice jars for the sand collection. We ran into a snafu, however, when we realized that the new jars we bought did not fit in our old spice racks (which I hate anyway). This has been an area of much discussion/internet research, as our kitchen is T-I-N-Y, and the spice racks have to hang on the walls (but we have cinderblock walls and cannot install anything heavy). I am fairly certain that I want to now build a new spice rack (and I'm liking this one), so perhaps we can look at this over the weekend.

All in all, we are well on our way.

1. bathroom medicine cabinet
2. underneath the bathroom sink
3. Moses' toys & treats
4. tea 
5. cloth napkins
6. cookbooks 
7. media cabinet 
8. DVDs
9. important papers drawer 
10. magazines 
11. tanktops
12. pajamas
13. T-shirts
14. fabric... dun Dun DUN
15. silverware drawer
16. notepads/journals/notecards
17. under the kitchen sink
18. unfinished projects
19. sweaters
20. books
21. dishes/kitchen cabinets/above the fridge
22. pantry
23. socks/underwear
24. paperwork: filebox
25. shoes
26. the massive mound of sewing stuff eating our loveseat
27. holiday decorations
28. camping gear
29. patterns
30. ribbon
31. sand
32. spices
33. our cars
34. jewelry
35. Mark's music folder
36. medicine drawer
37. towels
38. tool box
39. china hutch
40. freezer

chicken spiedie's

I had never heard of spiedie's before I was introduced to Mark's family (although, because I met Mark through his brother Josh and Josh's wife, Ashlinn, I was introduced to spiedie's before I met Mark), but it is some good stuff, people. Basically a bottled marinade used to flavor meat (but especially chicken breast), and eaten on buttered bread, or as we like, buttered rice, it's easy to make and impossible not to enjoy.  We included this in our wedding menu and when we visit Mark's family I am always sure to pick up a few bottles. Actually, last time we were there, we loaded up so that Santa could bring some to Texas for my family to try.

we let them get nice and dark on one side.

There are many varieties of spiedie's, although before this week I had only had the original and the Italian. We decided to try the buffalo flavor, and made a large batch of it so that we could have buffalo chicken & blue cheese salads.

doesn't this photo make your mouth water?

Preferably, these are skewered and grilled, but we don't have a real grill, and while we technically could have done these on our griddler, we opted for the faster, cleaner broiled method and were not disappointed.

Our salads were phenomenal, although the original spiedie's still reigns supreme in my opinion. If you ever get the chance to get your hands on a bottle of this marinade, seize the opportunity! An example of regional 'flavors' at their best (spiedie's is definitely an upstate New York thing)!

just to feel productive

When I'm in the midst of big projects, or I've got little time but so. many. ideas, sometimes I'll whip up something easy to finish for that "winning!" feeling. Well, I'm working on a big quilting project right now (back-logged from Christmas 2010, ahem), and I'm not going to finish in a day or two.  So today, I decided to whip up some cloth napkins (I've been thinking of them since my friend Diana and I had a conversation about cloth napkins two weeks ago!).

Part of our Lenten purge included paring down on our cloth napkin collection.  I started buying cloth napkins when I started thrifting, when I starting thinking (ironically) about simple living and the virtues of shunning paper napkins (and paper towels)*. Any time I saw a nice or cute set, I'd pick them up, rationalizing, there are only four (six) here. Well, four (six) adds up, and before you know it, there's a drawer full of mismatched hodge-podgy napkins.  So we donated about 85% back to the thrift store for someone else to enjoy, keeping only a few, and now I'd like to have one big, semi-matching set for eventual holidays and group get-togethers. Kind of like my version of holiday linens? Originally, I would have already had this in the napkins I made for my wedding, but a friend who did a lot of work on my wedding for me asked if she could have them, and so I want her to.

four cloth napkins.

straight and even stitching! no tension problems here!

two-ply. both sides are vintage thrifted bedsheets. I love those polka dots!

just cheers a place setting right up, doesn't it? plus, our dinnerware is all white, so it matches everything.

In any case, they are also easy to sew up and I've got vintage sheets everywhere, so why not? So I end this day feeling successful because of cloth napkins. Don't be surprised if there are more posts like this in the future. I am a creature of habit, after all.

*Also, just as a point of clarification, we don't buy paper napkins at home, but we still do for work, and we still buy paper towels, but we just take months to go through one roll.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple,  special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

. . . . . . . .

{this moment} ritual from Soulemama

good eats

I've been splitting my time recently between sewing, good eats, and working on the Lenten list. Since I'm fresh out of Farmer's Wife blocks to share, here are a few recipe reviews from good eats we've enjoyed lately.

Last week, we bought a whole chicken at a good price from the grocery store. The bird was a little larger than Mark and I need for two meals (one meal plus one meal of leftovers), so we maximized both our time and our product. We cooked the entire chicken in our crock-pot over night.  While it was strange to wake up to the smell of roasted chicken, it was awesome not to have to be home with the hot oven going for several hours. We literally cooked that chicken in our sleep! All I did was rinse the chicken down, pat dry and liberally salt and pepper. I put a bag of Trader Joe's carrots rustica (just cut orange and yellow carrots) at the bottom of the crock-pot, then the chicken on top. Nothing else. Cooked it all night on low and it cooked up in its own juices-- not dry at all. We had a fantastic chicken dinner with the dark meat that night, with sides of cooked carrots, roasted green beans with bacon and roasted smashed garlic small potatoes. Mmm. That's the way to get your veggies in!

With all the leftover white meat, we made the following dish later in the week. I had been craving enchiladas for awhile, and really doubting 1) the availability of good Mexican or Tex-Mex in the area (no Texan would believe the run around I got from grocery store employees when asking about buying corn tortillas) and 2) the nutrition of said Mexican or Tex-Mex.  So, we made our own, based on Gina of Skinnytaste's recipe.

Because I am not fond of the labor involved in wrapping enchiladas (we were hungry) and also because I like my enchiladas to be saucy, we turned ours into a casserole.  We did little else to alter her recipe, except using corn tortillas and more cheddar cheese and chicken. This was SO. GOOD. And a decent portion for a decent points plus value (ours ended up being 9 points plus).  We simply alternated layering the sauce, filling, and cut-up corn tortillas (in fourths).  Topped with cheese and baked awhile.  I definitely also had this for breakfast the next morning. I'm not ashamed!

Sorry about the photo. It's from my phone- we ate them so fast I couldn't even get my camera out in time!

Another recipe we tried last week was Gina's version of a fruit crisp. We had some strawberries in the refrigerator that were less appealing towards the end of the week than they were at the grocery store and I didn't want them to go to waste. I mixed sliced strawberries up with sliced pears, and a handful of blueberries-- really I think I'd make this recipe with whatever fruit was on hand. I think it's perfect for the end of the week and whatever mixed fruit you have that you don't think you'll get a chance to eat before it turns. The topping seems to be a very universal cobbler/crisp topping: oatmeal, brown sugar, butter, a little flour, and cinnamon. I think the cinnamon is what wins in the topping - the smell while this is baking is incredible.

The fruit itself is mixed with lemon juice and agave nectar, making this a recipe that could easily be sugar free (just substitute sun crystals or other sugar substitute for brown sugar in the topping). The first time around, I felt like we could use less topping, but the second time around (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries), I used more fruit filling so I did not change the amount of the topping.  This is AWESOME with 1/4c (half a serving) of low fat vanilla frozen yogurt! 

Berry Cobbler - our new favorite dessert... also a phone photo. Sorry!

Despite all the food around these parts, I'm down now over 20 pounds, and I'm nearing my 10% milestone (10% of my original weight, lost). I think the effort we've been exerting trying to get in more fruits and vegetables is paying off, and I'm delighted to know that cooked/baked fruits and veggies are not only a good way for me to get them in (since I am not really fond of most raw vegetables), but make a mean, satisfying meal/dessert.