Nothing New

I haven't had much to say over the past month. Not too much going on right now. Plus I couldn't type easily because of wrist tendinitis surgery. I feel like I share a ton on Facebook anyway, so I don't feel like I have much to say when I think about blogging. Many funny and interesting thoughts in my head. None when my fingers rest on the keys though.

No home improvement going on right now. The summer weekends have been pretty busy with Mike helping his Dad clean things out of the family farmhouse in a big downsizing effort. I love my father-in-law to no end, so I'm fine living in the house as-is. Family is #1 always. We'll get there. Mike reminds me of that when I forget my patience and start to whimper about wanting to be in the master bedroom or the unfinished kitchen window paint. Oh - plus we bought a car! Yaaay! Forgot about our new navy love. BTW - Mike LOVES driving now. He never drove in the Ford Focus. No mystery to solve there as to why. I'm enjoying being a passenger now though. I can finally stop paying attention and switch the radio stations over and over in an effort to find something other than Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep.' (Hi T!)

We did get five free gallons of paint from Pittsburgh Paints. I filled out a survey that they sent me and they SO generously sent me a coupon good for five free gallons of paint as well as a $5 check. WIN! I don't even need to mention my love for free things, do I? I had to breathe in a paper bag when I got those puppies in the mail. I got one gallon for my sister since she is renovating her house right now. The remaining colors and assignments include:

Guest room/possible future nursery: Two gallons of Toasted Almond (Boring perhaps, but neutral and soothing)

Guest bathroom off of family room: Baked Bean (We love us some rust colored paints, don't we?)

Man cave room in basement: Cathedral Glass (Such a cool color. Mike - though colorblind - has great color taste IMO)

You like?

I also changed my mind about our master bedroom bedding. I thought I was in love with the bedding that we got months ago, but turns out I kinda wasn't. It felt a bit too regal - what with the velvet detailing on the pillowcases and edging on the comforter. Here is the new love of my life in the bedding department:

Pottery Barn's Bella in Red

It matches the Cider painted walls perfectly. Thank jeebus, because I know at least 10 people that would skin my hide if I changed the wall color.

That's about it in terms of progress at the Petruska homestead. Hopefully before Fall, or 2012, or my 45th birthday, we'll be nestled in our bed in the Cider bedroom. We'll get there, right?

House To Dos

 (Cool image of the house taken by my talented Uncle Tim)

We're been in the house for a little bit over a year now and have gotten a lot done, but there just aren't enough weekends in the year or enough bennys in our account to have done it all as of this date. We're working on it though - every.single.weekend. The list as it stands now:

Exterior
1. Call to get gutters cleaned out 
2. Fix driveway (fix cracks or replace)
3. Fix front entryway concrete
4. Replace stairs leading to kitchen
5. Re-paint base of house (below brick)
6. Get deck bolted in securely - Dream: Extend deck to back of house
7. Replace stupid stairs leading to back yard from driveway
8. Mulch all areas of front and back yards
9. Replace wall in back yard
10. Replace firepit area with paving stones and portable firepit structure

Family Room
1. Replace carpet
2. Replace horizontal blinds
3. Replace curtains

Living Room
1. Get rid of or store Mike's old dining room set

Downstairs bathroom
1. Re-paint
2. Fix shower
3. Replace vanity

Dining Room
1. Re-upholster chairs

Kitchen:
1. Repair paint around window
2. Install blinds
3. Replace oven
4. Replace microwave

Basement
1. Figure out how to solve dryer vent issue

Master Bedroom
1. Replace carpet
2. Figure out cables and fix
3. Install ceiling fan after figuring out how to go through attic  (aka Hire handyman)
4. Replace closet doors
5. Purchase new furniture

Gray guest bedroom
1. Need: Bedside table, dresser, curtains

Striped guest room
1. Re-paint
2. Replace carpet

Attic
1. Install roof vents to cool interior

I'll re-post this and cross things off as they happen.  Hopefully soon!

Delicious, little treat

I don't bake, but these have two ingredients so I figured even I couldn't mess them up. At 2.5 Weight Watchers PointsPlus each, they're a GREAT new find. They taste like angel food cake blueberry muffins. Will be SO good with a little bit of lowfat milk or Lactaid in my case. Oh and the recipe calls for light blueberry filling, but I didn't see any at the store. I adjusted the PointsPlus value considering that I used regular filling.

 Ingredients:
1) Angel food cake mix (15 box)
2) Blueberry pie filling (22 oz can)

Easy peasy instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350
2) Combine cake mix and pie filling in a bowl
3) Pour mixture into ungreased 9 x 13 baking dish
4) Bake for 30 minutes
5) Cool and cut into 24 pieces

These little treats are sticky, but who cares?!

Lately...

Reading

Listening to

Wearing

(In Everlasting Rum)

Watching

Wishing for

In the menu queue

Grilled Flank Steak w/ Tomatoes and Onions

I feel like I use FB as my blog, so there's nothing ever to share here but recipes. This one was SO good and lent itself to leftovers the next day. Perfect for summer.

Doesn't look so good, but it was deeeelish! We used white onion because the red onions at Giant Eagle looked old and scary. Here's the link for the recipe:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/05/grilled-flank-steak-with-tomatoes-red.html

Wow, that's lazy. I didn't even list out the ingredients and instructions here. Sorry, but that's about all I can do on this sleepy Monday morning.

Here are the important nutritional details:
Servings: 6-8* • Serving Size: 3 oz steak, 1/2 cup salad • WW Points+: 4 pt
Calories: 167.5 • Fat: 8.3 g • Protein: 18 g • Carb: 4.7 g • Fiber: 1 g • Sugar: .5 g

Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice

This is another winning recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes (www.skinnytaste.com). That girl is good! The only issue I have with the recipe is that it was sorta, well... wrong. The ingredients didn't match the cooking instructions. The ingredient list doesn't include paprika, chili powder, and some other spices; however, those spices are included in the instructions without the measurements. So I kiiinda overdid it with those ones and Mike and I almost burned our tongues out of our mouths. Note to self: A little bit o' chili powder and red pepper flakes go a loooong way. Luckily I Googled 'How to cool down spicy food' and found a secret weapon that I added and made the rice edible.

Clearly I need to take a class in food photography

WW Points Plus: 8 per serving (1/4 of the recipe)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups brown rice cooked
• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (peeled weight is .75 lb)
• 2 egg whites, scrambled
• 1 whole egg, scrambled
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• 5 scallions, chopped, whites and greens separated
• oil spray
• 1 tbsp sesame oil with cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
• 4 tsp soy sauce (or more to taste)
• 1 tsp Asian fish sauce - I didn't have this, so I just omitted it. Bet it would be even better with.
• salt and fresh pepper

Gina's Instructions:
In a bowl, season shrimp with cayenne pepper, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper and garlic powder. (<-- Huh? Those aren't in the list. I'd say use 1/2 tsp of each.)

Scramble eggs with a drop of water and season with salt and pepper. In a hot wok, spray a little oil and cook the eggs. When cooked, remove from pan and set aside.

Let the wok get really hot. Add sesame oil and saute onions, scallion whites, garlic and hot pepper flakes for about 1-2 minutes. Add shrimp and saute until no longer translucent. Add rice and cooked egg along with soy sauce and fish sauce, mixing well for about 2 minutes. Add greens of the scallions and serve.

Can I just say that I love having green onions growing in my yard? Have I said this already? lovelovelove.

Oh! Almost forgot... The secret ingredient for cooling down superspicy food after it's already cooked:

Worked like a charm and you couldn't taste the honey. Genius! You're welcome. :)   Or did you know that already?

Quick Chicken & Black Bean Burritos

Got this out of my Just 5: 125 Recipes with 5 Ingredients WW cookbook. It's a good one. Although you have to add some extra ingredients to make it really good. So, it's a Just 5 + 2 ingredients recipe.

Not the most flattering picture, but you get the idea. It was sooo good. Trust!

Per serving (1 burrito): 8 WW PointsPlus

Ingredients:
3/4 lb skinless chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
1 15.5 oz can of no salt added black beans - rinsed and drained
4 7-inch flour tortillas
8 tbsp fat free salsa
4 tbsp shredded low fat Mexican cheese blend
+  A few dashes of your fave hot sauce
+ Cilantro (Added after I took the pic)

EDIT: I also added some onions in with the chicken and black beans.  High recommended.

Instructions:
1) Spray non-stick skillet with PAM & set over medium-high heat
2) Add chicken and cook until browned (about 6 minutes)
3) Add beans and cook, stirring occasionally (about 2 minutes)
4) Warm tortillas according to package directions
5) Place tortilla on flat surface and spoon 1/4 of the chicken mixture down center, top w/ 2 tbsp of salsa, 1 tbsp of shredded cheese, a couple of dashes of yummy hot sauce, and a few shredded pieces of cilantro
6) Fold sides of tortilla over filling and roll up.

It was super easy. Great for weeknight meals. And with a Corona Light.