2014 Patio At Awesome Central Configuration

Yes. I rearrange the exterior of the house almost as often as I rearrange the inside. Here is a picture of last years patio.

The home that we purchased in 2011 was previously owned by a small tiling company owner, who had purchased several slabs of slate, and a lot of red brick pavers. I found all of these in the woods just sat our property line, and I brought them all over to the area I wanted to dub the patio.

I wanted a free-flowing, eclectic look is both square slates, curves using the pavers, and broken pieces of the slate as well. I was looking for an imperfect organic look, and we did a GREAT job with what we had. We bought some top soil and sand to level the slates and pavers, and viola, we had a very cute patio. 

But it was small. See how the one chair is positioned off the stones and 1/4 in the dirt by the stairs? It was uneven, so the coffee table is way too far away from the seating. The roots from the (Bartlett or Bradford?) pear would NOT cooperate with my vision. And you can't see it in this shot, but the drainage (lack there of) behind the love seat gave us a "natural water feature" about 6'x8' and about 6" deep in the middle. Would have been fantastic had I dug down. Lined it. And created a small pond there, but not exactly what I wanted with 2 kids under 6 and 2 dogs over 180 pounds combined.

Mr Saucy's birthday is in November, and we had friends over for a BBQ and an evening around the fire pit. Due to the number of people we were expecting, and the chillier than expected temps, we moved the chimnea to the center of the slate, and used a second layer of landscaping bricks to make the original base for the chimnea into a fire pit. It worked well, but we ended up having to move chairs into the grass to get everyone "around" the pit.

At one point earlier this spring, we had friends over, and I was mentioning that I was going the bring up all the stones and start over again to increase the outdoor living area. One of my more brilliant besties said, "Why don't you just add to what you've got? As we were again trying to cram chilly adults around 1/4 of a circle, she mentioned it would be nice to have more seating "around" the fire. 

DUH.

So, I went to Facebook to the local yard sale groups and posted at I was looking for any patio stones that anyone wanted to get rid of. I didn't care the color, shape, condition... I was just going to add to the eclectic organic shapes that I already had started. I received a note from a woman who was going to redo her landscaping and had several landscaping bricks I could have. AWESOME!! Mr Saucy and I headed over there and picked them up.

So, stage 1 of this years patio began to take shape.

Looking good! But as you can see, the furniture is half on and half off. We're using a few random pavers to give support to the chairs so they don't sink into the mud. I gave up trying to go around the tree with the pavers. That damn tree shoots mini-trunks up from it's roots, and displaces the stones.

Then, the amazing landscaping fairy sent me another message to tell me she had a whole second load of landscaping stones for me, if I still needed any. HOLY AWESOME NEWS, Batman! WhooHoo!

The second load was even bigger than the first, and I honestly wondered if I could get them home in my Pilot. It was VERY VERY low on the suspension. But, we made it, and I unloaded the stones into the driveway, porch, and a few loads to the back yard. Then Mr Saucy, and Saucy Neighbor took all the rest of them to the back for me.

Here is the patio as it sits right now! The morning sun is very pretty coming in through the trees. I'm thinking of putting gravel in and around some of the edges to fill in some areas. 

Next project is weeding the flower beds up front, mulching, and getting the lawn plush, beautiful, weed and bug free.

Stay hungry, get dirty, and make your spaces beautiful.

2014 Spring Garden

This years garden is almost complete, and it's much bigger than last year. Bigger meaning more variety and more plants. Plus, I went with some fancy things. Here's this years layout...

In one box we have:

Lemon Boy Tomatoes.                        Mr. Stripy Tomatoes.                       Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes.

(Big yellow).                                         (Striped Heirloom).                          (Yellow Cherry Tomatoes)

Beets.                                                 Carrots.                                           Husky Cherry Red

From seeds.                                        From seeds.                                    (Red Cherry Tomatoes)

Scallions.                                            Radish.                                            Scallion

(Same plant from last year!                  From seeds.                                    (Same plants from last year)

In the next box, we have:

Cucumbers.                                        Lavender.                                           Green Beans

                                              

Pablano Peppers.                                Purple Bell Peppers.                           Jalapeños 

Chives.                                                Marigold.                                             Marigold

(Same plant I've had for 8 years).         (In companion planting, marigolds keep away a lot of bugs)

In the 3rd box, we have:

Zucchini.                                              Marigold.                                       Butternut Squash

                                                                                                                 (From seed)

Butter Crunch Lettuce.                         Marigold.                                      Green Salad Bowl Lettuce

(From seed).                                                                                              (From seed)

Spinach.                                               Ruby Lettuce.                               Black Seed Simpson Lettuce

(From seed).                                         (From seed).                                  (From seed)

All of the seeds I put directly into the garden from the packet. I did not start any indoors, and this is a first for me. Pretty much everything listed is either a new variety for us this year, a new technique, and/or a new plant entirely.

I also bought strawberries this year. They are in a pot on the deck with the herbs. The only herbs left in the garden are the chives and the lavender. As soon as the cukes and beans are done producing, I'm bringing in the lavender. It might winter alright, but I'll bring her in this year regardless. I'll do that with my rosemary too, if I don't manage to kill it this year.

All of the seeds were purchased, none were harvested from grocery store produce.

I want to get sweet potatoes growing up front. I bought a blueberry bush this year, not knowing that they needed a companion to propagate, so I'll have to return to Lowes for a second one. And I also bought a grape vine this year. I think I'd like to plant it next to the garage and let it grow up, then over a small pergola type awning that I'll talk Mr Saucy into building for me.

Another exciting addition is a wisteria plant for the deck and pergola. My Lord, I love those flowers, and I'm really hoping it grows and covers the pergola with a multitude of cascading purple flowers. I don't think it will grow that fast this year, so I bough 3 climbing vines that I want to plant in pots at the 4 corners of the pergola. I bought seeds for Moon Flower, Morning Glory, and Cardinal Climber, which is new to me. I think the 3 will grow happily together in big enough pots, but we'll see.

I also went all over the place with my super weed and grass killer. Squirted the pair miter of the house, the fence line, and the whole shade side of the fenced area so we can start over with that patch. 

Mulch was also purchased, and I'll put that around after the weed killer has done some work. I may need to give some weeds in the flower beds another squirt, so I'm waiting to lay the mulch until I know I've zapped them all.

The good ole "Weed & Feed" needs to go down too. I'd like to get on out and get that done today, but need to check all the weather forecasts to see if it's a good time. Also need to get the bug spray down too. Get the grubs out of the soil to get the moles out. Plus, the bug spray gets tics and fleas, and with 2 huge dogs, a roaming Pigmy Puma, 2 kids, and a Mommy who all like being in the yard and garden, any reduction of biting critters is a bonus.

Stay hungry, get dirty, grow as much of your own foods as you can.

Heavenly Paleo Coconut, Garlic, Lime Fish with Arugula, Roasted Pepper, and Grilled Onion Stuffing

This is one of those dishes where I knew kinda what I wanted to eat, but didn't really know if it would *work*. I'm here to tell you, that it worked so well, be used the same idea last night for a chicken stir fry with chopped onions and carrots over a bed of green beans, and tonight I'm making shrimp and onions with the same sauce, and cauli mash.

For the sauce

1/3 C coconut oil

4 large garlic cloves, sliced or roughly chopped

For the dish

4 white fish fillets. I used talapia.

1/2 of a jarred roasted red pepper, or fresh if you like to make your own, cut into 4 long strips

1-2 C fresh arugula 

6 "petals" off of a grilled onion. (I had them left over from dinner he night before, but you can cook fresh, or roast an onion in the oven wrapped in foil)

1 whole lime (for juice)

Salt and pepper

Heat oven to 375.

In small fry pan, melt coconut oil and begin to toast garlic over low heat so you don't burn the garlic.

Lay your filets out to arrange the filling/stuffing, and salt and pepper each fillet.

Place a 1/4 of the arugula on each fillet.

Place one of the pepper stips on top of the arugula.

Place the cooled grilled or roasted onion petals on top of the peppers.

To get this shape/size of onion, I cut the onion in half, from stem to root so each half had root to keep it together, then grilled. I peeled the large outer layers then cut them in half again. Each piece you see here is a quarter of an outer layer, in other words.

Starting at the thin end, roll the fish and secure with tooth pick. I used 2 toothpicks per fillet, because the talapia fillet has 2 parts at the thick end.

This shows what the seam will look like, but flip it to the bottom of the dish.

Arrange seam-side down in a casserole dish, with a lid, sized so that it will allow them to be secure but not crowded. 

Take the remaining onions and place in the spaces between the fish rolls.

When your garlic is beautifully toasted, pour the garlic infused coconut oil and the toasted garlic over the fish.  

Squeeze your entire lime over the fish.

Cover your casserole, and place in your heated oven for about 15-20 minutes, until the fish is cooked through.

Serve over something you can use to collect the insanely awesome sauce! (I have to admit, we ate ours over jasmine rice. Not 100% Paleo because of that, but you can use your *base* of choice to ensure pure Paleo. Tonight, I'm making something similar to this again using shrimp over cauliflower mash, to mimic a Caribbean coconut-lime shrimp and grits.)

The combination of the mild fish, with the peppery arugula, the sweet of the pepper, the slight smokey and sweet onions drizzled with the savory garlic, the sweet coconut oil, and the tangy lime is an amazing combination! My husband isn't a huge fan of lime, but we both gobbled this up like it was our first meal out of prison. He added red pepper flakes to his, but I'm a spice-wimp, and scarfed it all up just as it came out.

Eat real (awesome flavorful) food, move your body, improve your surroundings, and stay hungry.

Arrangement #7,482

I rearrange the furniture like other people change their sheets. I've done this since I was a pre-teen. I think it was my way of having control over something. (ME?!? Having control issues? WHAT?!?!) 

Now, as a grown-up, it's ... me having control over something. 

And constantly wanting something "new" but not being able to buy new things whenever I want. This is another reason I love to recycle, fix things, paint things, change things, and make things. It's my way of having something *new*. Plus, as a child, my family did not have disposable income, so we were that family who pulled things out of other peoples trash and Daddy would fix it. I think I was in high school before Mama ever had a "new", and I mean, *out of the box, she's the first-owner* "new" vacuum. 

One of my favorite memories was of the day the cleaners a few doors down from Daddy's office went out of business. Everything that wasn't picked up was thrown in the back dumpster. Daddy came home, got me, and took me back there with him. He quite literally threw me into the dumpster, and I started tossing out furs. Yes! Furs. Fur coats. Shawls, wraps, full length, jackets, hand-poufs... It was a PETA nightmare, but to a little girl, it was princess dress-up heaven!  Most we're ruined, worn, torn, and unwearable, but we kept the nice ones. I think there's one or two still around somewhere, but I'm not sure where.

I got off track. Again... ME?!? Distracted? Naw... Can't be. JESUS! What kind of bird is that? It's HUGE!

The furniture. I was originally writing about the furniture.  

Our house is long and narrow. Not a square, or even a shallow and wide box. Nope... It's narrow and long. It's a GREAT house, with a LOT of WONDERFUL features, upgrades, and flash things that make me say, "Ahhh" when I see them... But furniture placement and "flow" has been a constant struggle.

Take a look. This is the family room. I just moved the couch long-ways in front of the fireplace and TV. And I *think* I LOVE IT!!

No, I didn't "pick-up" before taking the pictures. I'm a real mom with real kids and real dogs. The house will never be clean all at once all at the same time. If it is, something is either very very wrong, or I have aquired the entire staff of Downton Abbey.

So this is the current arrangement in the family room. We can all sit on the sofa together to watch TV. I can sit between the kids to keep them from fighting. I can snuggle with both kids, AND my 110 lb gigantic baby lapradore Homer can snuggle with me too.

Then... We have *this* space up front. Ugh... What/how do I do anything with this? It's designed to be a formal sitting room and dining room. We do entertain enough to keep/need the big table, but it needs a bit more space. I have to get the knee walls down and out. They totally make the space unlivable, and half of my first floor is waisted space.

Take a look...

So, how would you arrange this space? If I had the knee wall gone in the dining room, I'd love to have a round dining table to soften the corners and edges. With the knee wall gone by the front door, I'd be able to bring the furniture all the was to the entry-way wall, after brining the hardwood all the way from the door to the family room. It will soften the entry, and would eliminate the bottleneck at the front door.

Speaking of remodeling, in the above pictures of the family room, the wall that currently has my wedding portrait (and the kids preschool alphabets) needs to go as well. There is also a useless wall in the foyer that needs to go. We'll have to leave supports, but they need to be round columns instead of the jagged angles that they are now. I have more right angles than the Bush Administration up in this joint. 

So... Donations to the "Oh Sweet Jesus, Girl Your Home Needs Some Serious Work" fund can be mailed, addressed, and written out directly to me or my Honey. Checks always accepted. I'm southern, so your thank you note will be hand written, and will include pictures of what your donation contributed.

Thank you.

Keep improving, my friends.

Almond Awesome Brownies

I found a recipient for regular brownies in a cookbook, then changed everything around to suit my tastes. 

I wanted to use almond flour, but I didn't have any, so I made my own using roasted plain almonds I had saved in the freezer. I think the container I had was a pound (but I'm not swearing to it, so buy extra and freeze what you don't use.) I put them into the food processor and whirred them into a mixture of a course grind and a medium grind. I wanted a slight crunch from the nuts, but I'm not a fan of huge pieces of nuts in my brownies. I'm very much a texture girl, and consistence is a big deal for me. The only thing really crunchy I want in my brownie is the crunchy chocolatey edges.

After I had the course ground almond flour in the mixture, I wanted/needed more flour, so I put the remaining half of the almonds back into the food processor, and let it go until it was almost almond butter. I saved my leftover flour in the fridge in a plastic resealable container.

In deciding which brownies to make, I had thought of making a peanut butter swirl, so if I had gone too far with grinding my almonds, I would have had almond butter, so I would have just added that and made an almond butter swirl brownie. 

But I stopped it just short, and had beautiful fine ground almond flour.

This is all important, because y'all know I don't measure. I try sometimes, but then I do what I want and what I think will work. For instance, I added more total flour than the original recipe called for. I added double vanilla because I LOVE the good stuff. I added double the salt because I love sweet and salty. The recipe below is what I used. If you don't like sweet and salty together, only use half of the salt listed. But these were seriously incredibly tasty. 

So... Here goes...

1 C sugar (I'm going to use coconut crystals or dates next time)

1/2 C coconut oil

2 teaspoons VERY GOOD vanilla extract

2 eggs

2/3 C course/medium grind almond flour

1/3 to 1/2 C fine ground almond flour (reserved)

3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or other large granule salt

Heat oven to 350

Grease a square 8x8 or 9x9 with coconut oil.

Mix sugar, coconut oil, vanilla, and eggs in a bowl big enough to mix it all in. (I used a wooden spoon, didn't need a mixer.)

Stir in the course/medium almond flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. 

Add enough of the fine ground almond flour to make a thick, dough type "batter"

Spread the batter in the pan evenly.

Bake 20-30 minutes, or until toothpick in center comes out without liquid chocolate on it. You don't want it "clean", because they'll be dry, but you'll want to make sure they're done.

Cut into 16 squares, and enjoy. Or hide them from everyone, and gobble them all up yourself.

Baking and Prep

You read right, my friends. I baked. 

See, we had some bananas that had passed the point of being acceptable to the kids, so I broke out the gluten free flour, and whipped us up a batch of banana muffins. Haven't tried them yet, but they smell dreamy.

I also made a batch of meatballs to freeze. 

1 pound extra lean ground beef

1 pound ground turkey

2 tiny yellow onions (because that's all I had, but one normal sized would be fine) finely diced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1T dried Thyme

A lot of Worchestershire Sauce. I didn't measure, sorry. I just splashed in as much as I like, which for us, is a good bit.

Into a big bowl it all went, and I mixed it up, then used my hands to form golf-ball sized balls. Didn't use a scoop, or official measuring tool. (Shocking! I know.)

I put them on a foil lined baking sheet into a 350o oven for 35/40 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer says 170, since there's turkey in it.

After fully cooling on a paper towel, they went into a gallon ziplock, and into the freezer.

Earlier this week I roasted 3 large spaghetti squash, then let them cool completely. Meaning, I completely forgot about them until this morning. I peeled the skins off, which came RIGHT OFF LIKE A DREAM once they were cooled, and portioned them into quart plastic zipper top baggies and put them in the freezer too.

It's like I'm organized, or something. What's come over me? AND... I keep cleaning the kitchen as I go. 

Oh, sidebar, I've become slightly obsessed with my kitchen as of late. See, I reorganized, thinned out stuff, and gave her a serious scrub-down. Now I kinda have a mini emotional fit when I see she's messy. I go into a whirlwind of a frenzy cleaning, wiping, scrubbing, and storing things in their new homes. And I also *might* get really pissed when someone puts trash on the counter next to the trash can. It's a foot-pedal trash can. Not like you have to put down something in order to open the lid to toss out said trash. 

I also want to redo my color scheme. I want yellow and blue now, and I want white and blue dishes. I want to replace the kitchen table with something smaller, and paint the cabinets some version of off white. And the cabinets and drawers need pulls.

More on these changes as I magically find money and time. But for now, stay hungry, and play with your food.