Repurposed Window

My Aunt Nancy lives in a beautiful colonial home. Last year they began replacing windows and as they have replaced them, they have so graciously shared them with the fam. My parents turned theirs into a picture frame in their living room. If you know you my house, you know that I do not need any more picture frames, so I've struggled with what to turn it into. After much time on blogs and pinterest I finally decided how to use the window.
Three of the panes I wanted to be magnetic, so I went to Home Depot and got 3 stainless steel sheets. I carefully cut them (my goodness that was hard to cut without cutting my thumb!) to fit the panes and attached them with Gorilla Glue. After that had dried, I used Elmer's glue to attach brown damask paper that I had cut to fit. (It was not quite long enough, so I had to use brown paper to cover where the two pieces met).
On the other three panes, I attached sage green paper with masking tape behind the window pane so that I could use those panes as dry erase boards.
Cody attached a z-clip to the back of the window and the wall.
As I got ready to take a picture of it to share with y'all, I realized that our desk was a mess, so after cleaning it up I decided that I needed a book end.
In our garage I found two pieces of wood to nail together. I used a can of spray paint to make it white and then hot glued an "s" onto it (that I had already painted green to go on this wreath, but it just didn't look right on the wreath).

While the book end was drying, I found a mason jar in our kitchen that I covered with some of the leftover paper from the window, so that I can use it for pens, highlighters and pencils. Basically, I got the desk ready for grad school...

Thin Mints

I love Thin Mints. I teach in an elementary school which means that I get asked to buy a lot of Girl Scout cookies. Do I mind this? Most def. not! I always buy an obscene amount of thin mints and they always mysteriously seem to disappear. Well since we are out of girl scout cookie season, I decided to try The Little Kitchen That Could's Thin Mint recipe.
(This is not a recipe the can be made quickly in one afternoon. There is a lot of freezing/cooling that has to occur between steps).

Thin Mints
From the Little Kitchen that Could
Ingredients
for the cookies:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup milk (any kind)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
for the coating:
12 ounces dark or semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
parchment paper
Step by Step
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. With mixer on low speed, add the milk and the extracts. The mixture will resemble curdled milk. Slowly add the flour mixture until well incorporated and fluffy.

Shape dough into two long logs, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (4 cm). Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 2 hours, until very firm.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Using a sharp knife, slice dough into round no more than 1/4 inch thick. Slice carefully so they are as close to the same thickness as possible. You will have some very soft and others very hard if they differ too much in thickness. Make sure they are no more than 1/4 inch thick or they won't be crispy. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cookies can be very close together because they will not spread much at all.

Bake for 13 minutes (see recipe notes); until the edges of the cookie are firm. Allow cookies to cool completely. In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Microwave on high power for 30 seconds. Remove and stir; continue microwaving in 30 second increments, stirring between each, until chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth.

Dip each cookie in melted chocolate and rotate to cover whole cookie. Using a fork, scrape off extra chocolate so there is a thin coating. Place cookies on parchment paper or wax paper to allow to cool and set; at least 45 minutes. Reheat chocolate as necessary to keep is smooth and easy to dip into.

*I keep these cookies frozen until ready to serve. They do not taste exactly like Thin Mints, but do have the yummy chocolate/minty combo.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Taking a cue from the Little Kitchen That Could, I made ice cream cookies sandwiches to help fight this extreme heat. (As a disclaimer: Do not make if 1. you are staying home all day 2. you are the main person in your house that eats sweets or 3. you have no self control....I might have eaten a lot of these...)


I started off by making my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 large eggs
* 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
* 1 cup chopped nuts (I usually leave these out)
Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375° F (Our oven cooks hotter so we do 350)
COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

After the cookies completely cooled, I took out a gallon of our favorite Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla. It cannot be beat! Yumm! I let it get really soft and then scooped a small amount into the middle of one cookie and placed another cookie of the same size on top. The sandwiches were placed in the freezer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper to freeze. Once they were sufficiently frozen, I put the cookies in a ziploc baggie and refroze.

PS: Houston friends..come eat the ice cream sandwiches or my weight and blood sugar will suffer....they're really good! : )

Bowtie Lasagna

On Monday, I processed some more of the deer meat. This is exactly what every hunter hopes for: That he will bring home his prized deer and his wife will process the meat with a pink Kitchen Aid mixer into a pink mixing bowl in a very pink kitchen. Obvi a dream come true!
Afterwards, I was trying to figure out a good quick recipe using said ground venison and I came across a recipe for Bowtie Lasagna from the Pioneer Woman in a series called 16-minute meals. Super easy meal from Pioneer Woman? Okay! It was wonderful and we had quite a bit still for leftovers!

Bowtie Lasagna
Pioneer Woman

• 1 pound Ground Chuck
• 5 cups Bow Tie Noodles
• 3 cups Spaghetti Sauce (or Pizza Sauce, Whatever You Prefer)
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoons Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning (or More, Make It To Your Taste)
• ½ cups Mozzarella Cheese
• ½ cups Sour Cream

Directions
1. Boil the noodles until al dente. (follow the directions on the bag)
2. Brown the ground meat.
3. Drain the pasta and dump it over the top of the browned meat.
4. Drizzle olive oil over the top of the noodles.
5. Pour the marinara or pasta sauce over the noodles.
6. Add garlic powder, italian seasoning and salt.
7. Add the mozarella and sour cream.
8. Stir it all together on low heat just until combined.

Beach Day

I am ever so grateful that as a teacher, I have time off in the summers. I really am. I teach summer school, the past two years have taught a week long science camp, take staff development courses and catch up on doctors appointments, but I still have plenty of time off to play. No complaints here : )
Well as summer is drawing to a close, I thought we needed to squeeze out at least one more beach day. On Tueday, I headed down to Galveston with Meagan, Lauren and their puppies, Toby and Lyla (in my defense, I have two pups. The smaller one who would have fit well with the group is not a fan of the water. Ellie does not like being left alone without Chloe. Ellie LOVES the water, but then I would've felt bad about leaving Chloe, so the pups stayed home and played together).
We spent some good time on the beach relaxing, chatting, playing with the puppies and soaking up a little sun (a little too much for me...I might have gotten a little sunburned..).

Then before heading back, we ran over to Pier 19 and visited Katie's seafood market. We picked up some fresh shrimp to bring home to cook. I was tempted to also get some fresh tilapia or salmon, but they still had faces....and I didn't think I could muster up the strength to clean them. Maybe if I go back with Cody sometime he'll be braver than I. Katie's is definitely a great place to stop for some fresh fish.

(Kind of Late) Weekend Wrap Up

This past weekend we got to go home to spend a few days with our families. We got in Friday evening and go to see both families before getting to bed fairly early.
We got up super early Saturday morning to head out to the Gregg County Airport for the Great Texas Balloon Race. This is a big event for the Longview area. They have balloon races, competitions, balloon glows, tents set up selling all kinds of things and country concerts at night. Due to the extreme heat and large crowds, we opted to go see the competition that took place at 6:30 on Saturday morning. We saw the key grab competition.

Afterwards, I headed over to the new Paul Borman Trail. Longview has connected a lot of its parks to create a 3ish mile trail that stretches from the Loop to Highway 80. It was super shaded which was amazing since I didn't start my run until after 9. Everything was so new and is kept very clean which is also very nice. The only negative I saw was a lack of water fountains, but I always bring my own water in the summer so that wasn't even an issue (and I later learned that the water fountains are in the parks that I passed through..).

I ran by starbucks on my way back to the Sage House to get a little pick-me-up and ran into my dad! I love that!! Wish we lived close enough to run into family on a daily basis.
Mom and I then went up to her school for the afternoon to organize some of her books.
Then both families headed out to the barndominium for dinner.
We spent the night out there and enjoyed time on the Gator, relaxing outside of a city and practicing shooting.

Chloe got a haircut last week. Doesn't she look pretty? : )

We went to church on Sunday before lunch and games with both families before heading back to Houston. It was a wonderful weekend where we got to relax and spend some good quality time with our families.

Bragging

Today I am going to brag...not on myself, don't you worry, but on my momma.
My mom loves to bake and is super crafty (hm...crazy that I have those interests too!). She has taught me everything that I know about baking and she has also been working since I was little to get me sewing (I can hand stitch, but am currently working on threading the bobbin on my sewing machine sans help.....). I thought I would share two of her latest crafts.

1. Our living room needed a little extra color (the couch specifically). I found a chocolate pillow on clearance at Target and also found some beautiful yellow cloth napkins (via help from Lauren and the craft idea from her also). When we went home this weekend, mom quickly stitched 2 of the napkins together on 3 sides. I brought the covers back, put two couch pillows in them and sewed up the top and instant color! (Did I mention that she has sewed A LOT of things in our house..numerous pillows, curtains, etc).

2. For a wedding shower this weekend, mom made mini cupcakes into a center piece and they looked AMAZING! See?

She made these by making mini cupcakes (some chocolate and some white) and icing with cream cheese icing (that had a little meringue powder to set the icing a little more). She then placed a styrofoam ball in each silver bowl and used toothpicks to attach the cupcakes. After completing the entire arrangement, she added in leaves to give it more of a floral arrangement look. Amazing, right!? Now if only I can find the right occasion to make one too! : )