Chalkboard containers

I always feel like I need to organize.  Not only does organization help my house stay clutter free, but also my mind.  

  One cute idea I had was to do the chalkboard labels on my containers.  I've seen so many containers in the store with the chalkboard label on them, but most have been glass.  Since my guys will be using these containers also, I wanted to get plastic to help avoid them breaking.

I purchased these containers from Garden Ridge.  They were large enough for the huge amounts of sugar and flour I keep in stock.  

I also purchased chalkboard paint from Hobby Lobby.  

I used painters tape to measure out the area I wanted the label to be.

Then I painted on two coats of paint on each container.  

After a 24 hour drying time the labels were ready to use.

Not sure if they really help Hubby and the boys, but they do make my pantry look nicer :-)

My next project is to completely organize my pantry.  I am very fortunate to have a huge pantry, but it surely needs better organization.  

I'll keep you posted.

Renee

Peach Cobbler

 Hubby is not a huge fan of sweets, but he does like things made with real fruit.  I found a delicious recipe for peach cobbler on Allrecipes.com and I decided to give it a try.

I went to Costco and bought a large container of fresh peaches.  Unfortunately, they weren't the sweetest peaches I'd ever had, but they were juicy. 

I also made homemade vanilla ice cream to go with the cobbler.

Once the cobbler was done I had to taste it as soon as I took it out of the oven.  It was perfect!!

Even though the peaches I used weren't the sweetest, the cobbler was exceptional.  It had just the right amount of sweetness and the crust was terrific.   

The ice cream was the perfect touch.  This will be my go-to recipe for peach cobbler from now on. 

Renee

Ingredients

• 8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced into thin wedges
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
•  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup boiling water
•  
• MIX TOGETHER:
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine peaches, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.
4. Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Sprinkle entire cobbler with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 562 | Total Fat: 17.6g | Cholesterol: 46mg

Saints vs. Redskins: A House Divided

This weekend was the official start of football season for my family.  I am a lover of all things New Orleans and that includes my undying love for the Saints.  My hubby, being from D.C.,  is a die hard Redskins fan so we had to recognize yesterday's game between the two teams.  

Even though we are both extremely loyal to our home teams, since we are family, we do support both teams (especially when they don't play each other).  The boys were split on which team they should support.  MJ wore a Redskins jersey, but said he wanted the Saints to win and RJ wore a Saints shirt, and said he wanted both teams to win.  

I had a great time decorating the house and trying to share the love between both teams.  It wasn't too hard considering we both have lots of items for each team.  The one thing I was very surprised to find here in Texas was Redskins duct tape.  It caught my eye at Hobby Lobby the other day and I had to buy it.  Being in Cowboy country I couldn't believe they had anything that said Redskins on it.  I was equally as surprised that they didn't have any Saints duct tape.  I will have to get some of my NOLA folks to send me some for next time.  

Even my Buddah had to get in on this action....he was pulling for the Saints!! 

I made good use of all the glass jars I save by putting the utensils in them.  Hubby was worried that he would be the only person eating out of the Redskins stuff.  Fortunately one of our friends is from the D.C. area and she and her family came over so he wasn't alone with his burgundy and yellow.  

I also made Hurricane drinks for the adults.  They were just what we needed during that stressful game.

I cooked traditional New Orleans food for the game.  Hubby wanted to steam crabs and drink Rolling Rock beer, but considering I didn't remember the game was yesterday until last Tuesday that didn't leave me a lot of time to prepare for that.  Sorry Babe :(

I made a HUGE pot of red beans and rice.  That was 5 pounds of beans!!!  I've never made more than 2 pounds at a time so this was a challenge for me.  I soaked the beans over night and when I woke up the beans had absorbed most of the water and expanded so much I had to put them in a larger pot!!!  When I called my mom to tell her she said, 'Oh, I forgot to tell you they might do that.'   

Gee thanks mom... ;-)

I also made my home made french bread.  It was a hit with everyone.  There is nothing like red beans, rice and french bread.  Yummy.

Of course it wouldn't be New Orleans without a bread pudding for dessert.  I made the best bourbon sauce to go with the bread pudding.  It was delicious if I must say so myself.  I also put together a batch of lemon crinkle cookies.  One of my NOLA girlfriends who came over brought us a batch of her red velvet cake balls, they were a huge hit.  I will have to get the recipe from her because MJ was in love, he even took some for lunch today.

My story ends on a sad note for me because my Saints lost :-(
but I am happy for Hubby and his Redskins. 

Oh well,  I still love my Saints, Who Dat Forever!!
We always have next week so watch out Panthers!!

Homemade French Bread

I have to start out by showing off the newest addition to the family, my Kitchen Aid mixer.  It was a gift from my wonderful Mom!!!  

Hubby was surprised that I didn't pick an orange one, since I love orange.  I didn't think orange would work well with my kitchen so I went with my other favorite color, grey.  

I love this mixer.  Honestly, I use it almost every day.  One of my favorite things to use it for is to make bread.  Being from New Orleans, I love french bread, and I have a really good and easy recipe that I make quite often.

I start off by dissolving the yeast in warm water.  Make sure the water is not too hot or you will kill the yeast.  Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.  Once the yeast has all dissolved and looks frothy like it is starting to look in the above picture (see the sides of the bowl) add the salt, and the flour.  I use the bread hook on the mixer and mix until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.  

(Sorry I didn't  get a chance to take a picture)

After about 3-4 minutes the dough has pulled away from the sides and is ready to go into the greased bowl to rise (I spray the bowl with Pam).  If you were to knead the dough by hand, the kneading process would take about 8-10 minutes so the shorter knead time is a great reason to use a stand mixer.  

Next cover the bowl with a cloth or plastic wrap and let rise.  I put the dough in my oven with only the light on to help it rise, this takes about 1-2 hours depending on where you let it rise.   

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, divide it in half, roll it out on a floured surface and form into rectangles.  Recover the dough and let rise to the size you like.    

After the final rise, place dough in the oven and let bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.  

Here is the bread right out of the oven.  My house smells so good when I bake bread, we all love it.  

After taking the bread out of the oven, I rub the butter on top to give it a little buttery flavor.  I've also eaten it without the butter, either way this is a wonderful french bread recipe.  

I've been trying to get my mom to bake bread, but she insists that it is much easier for her to drive to Gendusa's bakery and pick up a couple of fresh loaves.  Well, if I still lived in New Orleans maybe I would too, but since I don't I will have to make my own and I will say this recipe is pretty darn good. 

Renee

French Bread

  
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:

2 & 1⁄2 cups of warm water

1 tbsp. of rapid rising dry yeast

1⁄2 cup of sugar

2 tsp. of salt 

About 6 cups of all purpose flour

Directions:

Mix the warm water, yeast, and sugar together in a large mixing bowl, until dissolved

Mix in the salt and then 5 of the 6 cups of flour

If the dough is still sticky, add the remaining cup of flour. If it is still too sticky, add another 1⁄2 cup of

flour.

Mix until it forms a ball, and then cover with a cloth or plastic wrap

Let the dough ball rise in the bowl until it doubles in size (1-2 hours)

Divide the dough in half

Roll out each ball into a large rectangle (the length of your baking sheet)

Starting at a long edge, roll each rectangle, until your dough is shaped like a jelly roll

Place both loaves on the baking sheet, with spacing on each side

Cover and let rise until the loaves become as large as you prefer

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, until it just starts to turn golden brown

Immediately rub the top of the bread with butter, to give it a shine

Summer square foot garden update

Today's post is an update on my square foot garden.  I enjoyed working in the garden most of the summer, but this Texas heat kept me indoors a lot.  Fortunately we have a sprinkler system which kept the garden watered and growing throughout the summer.

I learned a lot about gardening this summer.  First thing is that I should have listened to Mel Bartholomew, the Square Foot Garden guru, when he stated that you need to use more than one type of compost in your garden.  I took the cheap route and used only one type of compost which resulted in smaller veggies.

Even though the tomatoes were not as large as I hoped they would be, they were sweet and we enjoyed eating them.  

I also had lots green peppers.  They had the same growth problem as the tomatoes, but quite a few of them grew also.

One thing that did grow large was the mint.  We had so much mint I gave some away.
Second lesson:  NEVER put mint in the garden again.  It took over the entire garden, the roots were growing everywhere.  I will definitely grow mint in pots next time.

We have recently had some aerial spraying for the West Nile virus so I decided to clean out the garden in order to prevent the pesticide from getting on the veggies and to prepare it for fall planting.
I dug up all the mint and kept some and put it into a pot.  Currently, all that remains are 2 tomato and 1 bell pepper plant.

For my first attempt at gardening I think I did pretty good.  I am going to purchase 3 different types of compost to amend the soil with before I put in the seeds for the fall.  Wish me luck, I will keep you posted.

Renee

NOLA Girl's Summer Update

I am sorry that I have been away all summer, but with the kiddos being on vacation I have been pretty busy.  We had a great summer.  We spent lots of time with family and friends and were able to sneak in a small 'Staycation'.  

Our summer started with a visit from my parents and my brother for Memorial day and we had a party to celebrate.  My mom and brother stayed with us for 3 weeks.  During that time we did lots of shopping and I had a blast.  At the end of their 3 weeks, the kiddos and I drove with them back to New Orleans where we spent 3 weeks.  I was able to see the rest of my extended family and play tourist in my hometown of New Orleans.  

I am a huge history buff, so one thing I was excited to do was visit the cemeteries and see the graves of my ancestors and famous New Orleanians.  One of the cemeteries we visited was St. Louis No. 1, this is where the voodoo queen Marie Laveau is buried.  It was very interesting to see her grave with all of the markings people leave when they visit.  

Marie Laveau's grave 

We took the boys to one of my favorite snoball stands, Hansen's Sno-Bliz.  Hansen's has been around since 1939, and in my opinion they have the best snoballs in New Orleans.  If you ever make it to NOLA during the summer, you should definitely check them out.  

We also took the boys to the lake, they had so much fun skipping rocks and looking for 'dinosaur bones' :-)

Of course we ate lots of local food.  In addition to the great meals my mom made us, we went to the Parkway Bakery and Tavern.  Their shrimp po-boys are great and so is the atmosphere.  We also went to one of my favorite places in New Orleans, Domilise's.  They have been in business forever and their roast beef po-boy is to die for.  

Our 'staycation' actually began when we got back to Texas and my Hubby was able to take a week off. We took the boys to the movies, out to eat, shopping and ended the week with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge.  We all had so much fun.  Great Wolf Lodge is a great place for families, I can't wait to go back.  

We had a very nice summer vacation and I hope you all had a great summer too. 

Now that things have slowed down a bit I am happy to get back to sharing all of the events of my life with you again.    

Renee