Let the Bread Baking Begin- Ciabatta

While Eric and I were working on the rock bed project, I decided to put in a roast. In my opinion, crockpots were one of the best inventions of all time. Just put that baby in and in a few hours, you have dinner! Genius.

And another great invention? Bread machines. 

My Mom gave me a bread machine when we moved to Sidney. I've used it a couple times, but just recently I've been thinking- why on earth am I not using this thing more?! 

Eric and I are huge bread lovers, and it's so fun to try new recipes and have a delicious loaf around for the week. So, thanks Mom!

Our friends Angela and Dan took us to this amazing little bakery in Kansas City a couple weekends ago. We bought two huge loafs- ciabatta and cheese slipper. We can't stop talking about how good that bread was. SO, naturally, I thought I'd try to make some ciabatta of my own!

 The bread maker made the dough. So all I had to do was let it rise and bake it!

And voila!

That's one delicious loaf of ciabatta.

Again, that was all working, while we were working outside. 

For dinner? French dip sammies on ciabatta!

 You would've thought I was slaving away in the kitchen all day based on the tastiness of that meal. But nope, no slaving inside. Just outside.

And at the end of the day, Barkley and I passed out together watching HGTV

The fence, completed

As you know, we put in a fence a couple of months ago. Well, since our yard required three gates (including one massive one), those took a bit longer.



Here's the huge gate. Eric was a genius and knew that it would come in handy to have one large gate in case we got a trailer or something. And sure enough, we got a trailer last weekend (Which was MUCH needed, given we don't have a truck)! The days of borrowing friend's trucks is over! This gate definitely comes in handy.

And last weekend, Eric (and I) went to work on the last gate. This one was a bit more tricky because we essentially had to keep the original chain link structure there. Anyway, it turned out very well!

Thank goodness for all of Eric's newly purchased fancy tools! We couldn't have done this without them. Eric reminded me of that several times last weekend ;) I'm sure he has a new tool lined up that he just has to have.

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend!

Eric and I will be spending the holiday weekend at home, BBQing with friends and neighbors.

Rock Bed Reveal!

Well hello! Yes, I am alive. So are Eric and Barkley.

I have been MIA for quite some time now...for various reasons. This is our first weekend home in several weeks. We've been doing lots of fun things with fun people, but it's just so very nice to be settled back into our routine now. We are getting to do things that we love again, like outdoor projects!

We have also been really busy during the weeks with volleyball and softball games. We're playing on two co-ed leagues this summer, which has been so much fun.

And lastly, I have been busy contemplating a new career endeavor. It looks as though I will be making the big leap into private practice soon! More to come on that soon....



This here project has been a year in the making. We have known since we moved in that we would have to re-do the rock garden behind our house. The ground was slopping toward our house, which is a big no-no, so we had to fix it! It has also been a VERY dreaded project. After much planning and preparation, we jumped right into it.


A while back, we fixed up the egress windows, so now it was time to take out all of the rocks, put down some weed barrier and slope the dirt from the house downward.

Here is was before:

Pretty terribly looking. There were tons of overgrown weeds that were very pesky and strong-willed I tell ya. And there was no barrier from the rocks to the grass, so it just looked bad. 

So, here's how it went down:

 And ta-da!

Doesn't that look so much better? It's cleaner and serves it's purpose. 

This was a pretty labor-intensive project. Our backs hurt pretty badly the days after. But it's so worth it. The next homeowners will thank us too. 

And I'll have you know that Eric and I picked up every one of those rocks by hand to be put into a pile....and then picked them all back up (this time with a shovel) to be put back. Yowsers! I have a new appreciation for landscapers.

The best sandwich you'll ever eat

We just had a fun-filled weekend of camping and outdoor projects, but that post will come later.

For now, I wanted to share my favorite sandwich on the planet.

It came to me one day. Essentially, I put together everything that I love. And naturally, it became a sandwich that is to die for (in my opinion, that is).

First off, I made some homemade pesto. I used walnuts instead of pinenuts...because well, I dislike pinenuts a whole lot. 

So, this is basil, olive oil, lots o' garlic, walnuts, splash of lemon juice, salt, pepper and some fresh thyme.

 Spread it on one side of the bread.

I used french bread from the bakery because it makes plain sandwiches heavenly.

And on the other piece of bread is mayonnaise. What's a sandwich without it?

 And of course the tomatoes

 I put goat cheese on one side of the bread. I love all cheeses, but the goat variety is waaay up there in my favorites. 

And then I put deli turkey on the bad boy.

 Drizzle some olive oil on the bread. 

And pop it under the broiler for a couple of minutes.

Easy as pie!!

Chicken Curry Masala

Who likes Indian food??

Kelli and Eric, that's who!!

We are slightly obsessed with trying to figure out how to recreate our favorite Indian dishes. This post is especially cool because the mix that we used came from where else, but INDIA! One of Eric's friends at work is from India and knew that we are big, huge fans of their splendorous (just go with it) food. He so kindly brought us 4 yummy mixes to try. 

It took a couple tries to get it just right. Because, well, the measurements on the package are just plain wrong.

But it's all good. They tried. 

I think that there are some good mixes at the store if ya'll feel like giving this one a shot!

Start with the chicky

 Then simmer those mushrooms. We love mushrooms and add them to anything and everything.

Well, not everything.

I prefer my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without mushrooms on most days.

I put butter and garlic in the pan first. You should too.

Then the mix! 

And the RIGHT amount of water. 

Let's just say you don't get the same affect when it's curried water instead of sauce.

Yuck.

And the absolute best part of this meal is....the NAAN!!!

We had to travel to Colorado (Sterling to be exact) for these babies. 

Oh, the things we do for Indian food...

And the star of the show!

And the not-so-star of the show!

Eric thought it'd be good to add some greenery to the mix.

I embraced the experiment.

And of course, it was delish.

I have to be honest. 

This picture looks nastay.

But it's not, I promise.

I threw it all in the skillet and simmered it up.

Not sure why I have this picture.

Maybe I thought it was important to show the world (ha, small world that reads my blog) what the table looked like before the welcome invasion of Indian food

And there you have it! 

It was a successful meal and we both had happy plates by the end of it.

It wasn't quite India Palace (oh how I miss you), but it was close.

If you've never had Indian food, this is the easiest way to figure out! 

Get a mix at the store and whip it up. DO IT.

Herbed Chicken and Couscous

One night last week nothing sounded good. 

So I whipped out the couscous that was politely waiting in the pantry for it's turn. 

And this is what I concocted....

First, I cooked up the chicky in a pan with butter. hmmm, butter.

Then, I threw together my fave herbs. Some fresh, some dried.

And here the couscous makes it's debut

Gotta cover them babies up. Makes for some moistness.

Notice that the herbs are now resting nicely on the chickies.

And on to the couscous prep. 

Well first you....

Just read the box.

And of course, the asparagus. I roasted em'. That's how we like them around here. In these parts.

And that is the hubby digging in. 

I usually don't let him wear hats to the table, but this was a special occassion.

Haha, kidding. 

It wasn't a special occassion.

Ha, and I let him wear hats. Not that he would ask. But if he did, I would totally say yes.

And there she is. 

What a feast indeed.

Raised Bed Garden

It's official, we have a garden! 

Here's how it went down...

 Sidenote, I planted a calla lilly...because I love them. I can't wait to watch this baby grow

 We decided to do raised beds because everything we read said that it's the best way to go.

We put in a handy dandy kneeling board on the sides so that I won't walk on the plants. Eric is a genius!

 We are working on bringing in dirt to fill the gardens up to the sides of the boards

 And another sidenote- Eric made me this planter a while back, so I planted some of my flowers in it. We plan to attach it to the fence.

I can't wait to get gardening soon! Sidney-ites say that they don't put anything (meaning vegetables) into the ground until Memorial weekend. I have a couple weeks to go!

And I have to give props to my fabulous husband. He dropped his fence project this morning to help me with this. It definitely wouldn't have happened without him and his sweet skills in building things :)