32. Corn Chowder with Chilies

The next two recipes I'm going to share are both chowders. I personally love chowder of any kind, but they don't really like me. With my milk allergy, it puts a big lame damper on enjoying anything involving creamy goodness.

Until now that is.

It had been a good long while since I had made a Pioneer Woman recipe or even stepped foot in the kitchen to cook. While at my parent's house last weekend for my dad's birthday, my mom made a delicious chicken bacon stroganoff. We share the same milk allergy and she's not afraid to use non-dairy substitues for things like sour cream and cream. I am.

We didn't end up needing cream for the stroganoff recipe, only the sour cream. She was nice enough to send me home with something called Mimic Creme. Dairy free, soy free, made from almonds & cashews. Looks like cream, has the consistency of cream, but tastes like almond milk. That is, until you add it to your dish. I'm not joking.

I used fresh ears of corn, slicing the kernels right off the cob in to the pan. I had a hard time not snacking on the corn as I went. It was so sweet and tasty. For a little spice add two kinds of chiles. It gave it a nice smoky, spicy flavor without being too hot.

Bacon, onions and corn. I could have just added the mimic creme and pasta and been happy! But I finished the recipe. I was really impressed with the chowder, non-dairy and all.

Served with a fresh loaf of garlic bread and a few episodes of Dexter. And when I say garlic bread, I mean bread with roasted cloves of garlic baked right in. No, I didn't make it. I have issues with bread. But the store that did, well thank you. I truly enjoyed it.

Corn Chowder with Chilies

adapted from The Pioneer Woman

4 slices of bacon - cut in to small pieces

2 tbsp margerine (or butter)

1 1/2 yellow onions - diced

4 ears of corn - shucked

2 whole chipotle peppers in adobo sauce - diced

1 - 4oz can diced green chilies

1 - 32oz carton low sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 cups mimic creme (or heavy whipping cream)

1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)

3 tbsp masa flour

1/4 cup water

Slice bacon in to 1/2 inch pieces and add to a pot over medium heat. Cook until fat starts to render. Dice onions, add to pot and stir, cooking for 5 minutes. Add butter and allow to melt. Cook together while dicing chipotles chilies. Add chipotle and diced green chilies to pot and stir.

Add chicken broth, cream and salt. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.

Mix masa and water, stirring to combine. Pour in to the chowder stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Cover chowder and cook for 20 minutes over low heat. Should your chowder not be thick enough, add 1 tbsp more of masa combined with water until you reach your desired consistency (I used about 2 more tbsp of masa), allowing to cook for another 10 minutes.

Dish up and enjoy!

It wasn't the first time.

When the basement flooded, it put the last of the kitchen & dining room project on hold. The dealings with our insurance company has been a back and forth issue, but thankfully I've managed to keep my head in it all.

The downstairs is now dry. Many of the walls have the bottom two feet removed and insulation pulled out. The contractor has been to the house and given the estimate for repairing the walls. We've chosen to do half the work ourselves which will give us a check from the insurance company for what we choose to not use the contractor for. Insurance has chosen not to have the flooring in the laundry and bathroom replaced, so the money we will receive will cover the cost of flooring for both of those rooms and replacement of the vanity, toilet and mirror. If we're thrifty enough with our choices, possibly the deductable too.

As we get the basement finished up, I just can't wait to share the progress I've made in the kitchen. It wasn't the first time I've painted the cabinets since moving in here three years ago. It's the third time to be exact. This is the first time I really educated myself and made sure to do it right.

I had seen a great kitchen on my first blog I ever followed a few years back. She had repainted her cabinets in her tiny condo black and added stainless hardware. I was in love. Black is my favorite color and I thought I'd totally love my cabinets. After painting them in 2008, they lost their charm rather quickly. I finally found the motivation to tackle the kitchen and dining room project on my own and don't miss the black cabinets one bit.

I'll give one sneak peek before the entire project is finished. Please don't mind the huge mess on the counters.

I think it looks so much better already. Can't wait to share the finished project soon!

31. Bacon Tomato Capellini

I really like keeping up with Tasty Kitchen and the new recipes they feature. I'm being perfectly honest when I say it's half for the photos. I love food photography. I often wish I had better than a point and shoot so my food photos would be spectacular rather than just photos of food.

I used to HATE bacon. Sometime this year I didn't mind it so much anymore. I'm pretty particular about how it's cooked, but over all, I'd much rather have in in something. I like spaghetti. I like bacon. Combine them and you've got magic!

This recipe literally contains all things love of mine. Tons of fresh basil, tomatoes, green onions, garlic. Oh, yum.

I made the entire package of bacon. I only needed two thirds of it (it was a 3lb package!). That's because we have a serious problem with eating it as it comes out of the pan. I've always hated cooking bacon. It's hot and messy, but my husband is an absolute pro when it comes to cooking bacon. It's taken a few times to get it right, but I've got it down now.

This is a rather time consuming recipe. The biggest challenge is cooking up all of the bacon. Once you get it finished and start combining the rest of the ingredients it's so easy.

Once adding the tomatoes and basil in with the rest of the ingredients, I boiled up my noodles and let the sauce simmer and meld. It smelled amazing.

The noodles to sauce ratio is absolutely perfect. There was bacon and basil in every bite. My mouth waters just thinking about it, and I've definitely had PLENTY to eat tonight.

I garnished husband's bowl with shaved parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves. He then inhaled 3 bowls. I love my husband for a ton of reasons, but eating my cooking is near the top of the list.

I can't urge two things enough when it comes to this recipe. DON'T use bacon bits. Fresh cooked bacon is the only way to go. DO make this as soon as possible. You'll absolutely love me for it.

Bacon Tomato Capellini

via Tasty Kitchen

2 - 16oz packages of bacon

1/2 cup reserved bacon grease

2 - 28oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch chopped green onions

2 tsp salt

1 - 16oz box of capellini or angel hair pasta

Open both cans of tomatoes and pour them in to a bowl. Mix 1/2 cup of torn basil leaves in to the tomatoes and allow the flavors to meld.

Fry bacon in a large frying pan, cooking through - avoid bacon that is too crispy. Drain bacon on paper towels and set aside to cool. Reserve 1/2 cup bacon grease.

Dice the garlic and green onions, add them to the frying pan with the reserved bacon grease. Cook over medium heat and brown. Crumble bacon and add to the pan. Reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Add tomato & basil mixture to the pan, stir and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add up to 2 teaspoons of salt if desired.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain noodles and add to the sauce mixture. Combine well and serve immediately topped with shaved parmesan cheese and torn basil leaves.

It's delicious and makes fabulous left overs! Enjoy!

feeling like a kid again.

We celebrated my dad's birthday on Sunday with dinner, a trip to the pumpkin patch, chocolate cream pie with coffee and a batch of chocolate pumpkin muffins. It was a great day feeling like a kid again.

The older I get, the more thankful I am for my parents and siblings. Each time we get together, it reminds me of how absolutely self absorbed I can be most of the time. I'm not say I intentionally ignore my family, but we live busy lives. We have a busy work schedule, spend almost a whole 24 hours each weekend recovering, then have our own to-do list. Whether it be house work, cooking or crafts, or even dinner with friends. It seems I lose the importance of time with my family.

After my mom treated us to an amazing chicken bacon stroganoff for an early dinner, we hit the pumpkin patch for some quality parent-kid time.

We made a quick trip in the last hour open to Schuh Farms located on Memorial Highway in Mount Vernon. They've got the great barn seen behind the sunflowers and across the street. It has already picked pumpkins, a coffee stand, cider and other goodies for sale.

My mom's favorite color is yellow, so naturally she loved the sunflowers. She also loves taking pictures. Weird I haven't seen any of them yet. Hint, hint, Mother!

My husband had never been to a pumpkin patch before. I wasn't sure if he was really having fun. In all honesty, as immature and childish the two of us are together, we're really adults. The joys of marriage, right?

The good man that he is,  he picked out a pumpkin and even hauled back every last one the whole family had picked. There was still a little joy in this photo. That was until we got to the scale, he realized I had 3 large pumpkins and near 72 little ones weighing in at a healthy 84lbs. Come on! It's part of the fall spirit! We plan to carve a couple and we'll try our hand at homemade pumpkin pie straight from the source.

It was such an awesome day. I love my dad to the moon and back. I'm one of the luckiest girls alive having him to call my dad. My mom couldn't have picked a better man to care for us.

Hope everyone is enjoying what fall has to offer. Happy Friday and enjoy the weekend!

I should be sleeping.

By the sounds observed through the floor, you'd perhaps believe the person installing the water heater has no idea what they're doing.

I'm locked upstairs in the bedroom with two small dogs who are less than pleased to be spending time with me. I am probably 100% correct when I say the man installing the water heater might not want anything to do with our dogs.

We should both be sleeping for work, but I guess this is the sacrifice you make when you've gone without running water for two days. But really, I've thought it was rather cool that my husband fills the back of our toilet via bucket. Thanks neighbors for sharing the water from your hose!

I don't think there will be hot water ready for me today. Good thing I showered before bed last night and I look halfway decent when I woke up. I'll probably just wash my face and brush my teeth at work and look forward to a 3:00am shower.

But it's all coming along! Once we have the water back on, the rest will be really easy. As of now, we don't use the downstairs except for laundry anyway and since that's all clean (thank you, Jeremy) it will be easy to be patient until the rest is done. Wonder when the demo crew will be here to tear out the drywall and insulation? Good question.

Hope everyone is enjoying their week. It's already half way over!

an update of sorts

We still have fans and a dehumidifier going in the basement today. It was still wet and mold has started showing on some of the walls. Tomorrow the cleaning company will be back to take down the sheetrock and insulation from the wall between the bathroom and bedroom.

The water heater installation was pushed off from today to tomorrow morning first thing. The tech for our area called out sick today. We're lucky enough to have good friends in town that allow us to use their shower, washer and dryer. I'm hoping I'll have hot water by the time I have to be up for work tomorrow, but I think that's not going to happen.

The insurance company has agreed to cover our damages at this time. As long as they sign off on the summary from each of the companies we are working with everything will be replaced. This includes things we already had the intention of replacing. The flooring company will be replacing our carpet pad, the existing carpet is fine and will be placed back over the top. We'll have new flooring installed in the laundry room and bathroom and they've said as long as we purchase the new sink and toilet they'll install that for us as well. This is great news! If all goes well, we will only be responsible for paint and interior doors. This big mess may mean the entire downstairs remodel will be done at minimal cost to us and done professionally.

Because the sheet rock and insulation will be coming out of a few walls, we'll have a contractor coming in to replace them. I'm hoping this whole process takes no more than a month and by the time it's finished we'll be able to move in to our new bedroom! I tell you, staying positive in a situation like this is more likely to create a blessing in the end.

When this mess comes to a close, we'll finish up the kitchen. I'm so close to being done. Just doors and drawers and we'll be done! It's looked better than ever before.

I'll keep the updates coming!

a life of 8-15 years

Ah, and I was making such progress.

Here are a few of the things I've learned this weekend.

I'm a hoarder. I have A LOT of stuff. EVERYWHERE. I collect stuff but never quite do anything with it because the house isn't "finished" yet. I've come to realize I need to stop collecting stuff.

Water heaters have a life of 8-15 years.

Our water heater has gone to that big water heater heaven in the sky, but not before seeping it's contents all over our basement. I went down to do laundry last night and discovered a pond. It wasn't as pretty as some I've seen, and I think they look much  better in back yards. Just my honest opinion there.

We aren't sure how long it's been leaking or how much damage we're looking at, but the restoration service has arrived and they're starting to paint the picture for us. We have the new carpet and pad that's soaked. The water ran under the wall from the half bath in to the laundry room, and also under the wall in to the master bedroom. It's evident where we have no doors that water has inflitrated our drywall and studs. We haven't yet had the chance to take a look in the crawl space under the house to see if there is any standing water there.

I'm praying this will not be a financial burden bigger than we can handle right now. I don't feel anxious or stressed about it, and I hope the insurance company finds favor in our situation and helps us get this cleaned up with little expense on our end.

Until then, I'll sit in our bedroom upstairs and contain two naughty dogs that should absolutely be visited by Caesar Millan.

I'm suddenly happy that the plans for the master were haulted over the summer. I'd have about lost myself if all that work had beed flooded. Wish us luck!