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New Dining Room Light

I’ve wanted a new light fixture in the dining room since we first moved in. The exposed bulb wasn’t the style I wanted in the house, but also the bulb had to be so dull that you won’t be blinded, or the bulb isn’t really functioning as a light. Josh & I looked at shades at several stores, but either the style wasn’t right, or it was way more expensive than it should have been.

Making our own lamp shade

First, the black cubes were hand made by Josh and I two years ago as part of our wedding centerpieces. They are 3/4″ x 3/4″ pieces of pine cut to 11.5″ and 5″. We used the 11.5″ pieces as the sides, and we used the 5″ pieces for the top and bottom pieces that were sandwiched between the 11.5″ pieces. This makes the over all dimensions of the cubes 6.5″ x 6.5″ x 11.5″. We used a nail gun to attach them together, wood putty to patch the holes, used Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Gray primer, then spray painted them with Rust-Oleum Universal Spray Paint in Black Hammered.

As you can see in the photos, we originally planned to attach the cubes to the fixture with wood, but we decided to use 4 screw eyes at the top interior center of each piece. The panels are corrugated plastic. We cut the panels slightly big, then Josh shaved them down using the table saw so that they were slightly tight putting them in. Finally, we used small dowels to make sure the panels are evenly spaced from the front, then we used a hot glue gun to place hot glue onto each of the corners, attaching them. Then we hung it up with thin wire and switched the light bulb for a 100 Watt LED bulb.

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J’s Family Stromboli

Stromboli isn’t exactly the right term for this dish. This dish it more of a calzone than a stromboli, but this is what Josh’s family call it. This is only the second time that I’ve made this recipe, and though my first time didn’t come out as well as this time, that was also my first time making dough from scratch. I’ve also made a couple tweaks to the recipe that I received, but most of the recipe is the same.

  1. Into a bowl, bloom 3 3/8 tsp of yeast (1 1/2 packets) with 1/2 cup of warm water.
  2. Add 3 Tbsp oil, 6 cups of flour, and 1 1/2 cups of water. Mix into a dough, then let rest covered until doubled in size.
  3. Punch down dough, remove from bowl, and split in half.
  4. Preheat oven to 400 F
  5. Roll out dough into rounds about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. They should have a diameter of over 12 inches.
  6. Spray your baking sheets with non stick spray.
  7. Place half of your dough on the sheet with half hanging off. On the half that is on the sheet, place 8 oz of pepperoni/salami, 8 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese, and 6 oz of Mild banana pepper rings with some of it’s juice sprinkled over top. Fold dough in half and pinch the edges shut. Add vent holes on the top with a knife or a fork.
  8. Bake for 20 minutes. The top should have a nice crisp sound when tapped.
  9. Repeat step 7 and 8 for second round.
  10. Brush each stromboli with 1 Tbsp of melted butter and sprinkle with parmasean, oregano, and basil.
  11. Wait 7 minutes before cutting into strips and serve. This meal can easily feed a family of five with 3 boys and still have leftovers! For just the two of us it will be over 5 meals.
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Easy Carbonara

The first time I made Carbonara was in junior high cooking class. We were making dishes from around the world, and it was so delicious I’ve made it many times since!

When I make carbonara, I try to make everything go as smoothly as possible while also moving as quickly as possible. I also like to have a second pair of hands to help me move along quickly too.

I’ve also used many types of parmasean/romano mixes. I’ve used fresh cheeses and dried cheeses. And though they have always worked, fresh is best, but Aldis brand bottled cheese is the best bottled I’ve worked with. These is also a Kraft brand bottle that has real cheese in it, and that works too, but Aldis melts quicker and more evenly.

  1. Bring to a boil 7 cups of water. Add 12 oz of Spaghetti and cook for 15 minutes while stirring occasionally.
  2. In a big serving bowl, mix together 2 eggs and 3/4 cup of grated parmasean and romano mix cheese.
  3. Once the spaghetti is cooked, move quickly. Put 1 cup of spaghetti water into the egg and cheese mixture and stir like crazy until homogeneous. Place to the side one extra cup of spaghetti water, strain the spaghetti, shake twice, then quickly transfer into serving bowl and immediately start stirring. Stir until everything looks homogeneous, add 1 tbsp of butter, and if desired add extra water to loosen the cheese sauce.
  4. Serve and enjoy!
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Homemade Chili

Chili is a meal you can make early or the night before and eat it whenever you are hungry. When we were young and involved in multiple activities, my parents would often make meals like chili or goulash, so that we could eat whenever we were hungry. We also made it on the stove at times, especially if you want to eat sooner, and then it can be transferred to the crock pot if you want to keep it warm for a long time.

  1. Brown 1 lb of ground beef. Dice up half an onion (1/4 cup). Add the onion and cook till it begins to sweat. If there is an excess amount of fat, strain it off then transfer into a crock pot.
  2. Turn your crock pot to high. Add your beef and onion. Add one large can of diced tomatoes (32 oz or 1 quart canned), add 1 small can of diced tomatoes (14.5 oz), a 1 can of stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz), 1 strained can of kidney beans (15.5 oz), and one packet of mild chili seasoning.
  3. Cook the chili for 1 1/2 hours til hot, or continue to cook up to 8+ hours. Add more seasoning to taste. Serve with bread and butter, and shredded sharp cheese.

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Dessert Bars: Chocolate Chip Cherry, and Orange Dream

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the last time I made a review post. So, today I made 2 dessert bars. I admit I did mess with the recipe for the orange dream bars, but you’ll see when you get there! Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cherry Bars

Find the recipe Here!

These bars were delicious! The cherries added a light flavor that made these bars so much fancier than just normal chocolate chip bars. I cooked these bars for the recommended 27 minutes, and they were very good, but after cutting them open noticed they were still a bit doughy in the thicker parts. I also like cookies that way though. So, if you want them completely cooked, give them the extra 5 minutes. I highly recommend these if you like chocolate chip cookies and are looking for a twist! I used left over strained maraschino cherries from Christmas and they worked perfectly.

Orange Dream Bars

Find the recipe Here!

Don’t let it’s appearance fool you! This is a DELICIOUS orange bar, and the only reason it turned out so weird is because I chose not to follow directions (my bad). The ingredients for the custard are absolutely perfect and the refreshing flavor of orange made me feel like it was summer. For this recipe, I also used up our left over oranges from Christmas, and so it was perfect! I halved 3 oranges and that was more than enough orange juice and zest for the recipe.

How I messed up the recipe: So, I don’t really like crusts on things. I find pie crusts and the like, rather bland and the texture unappealing. So, whenever I make a dessert recipe with a crust, I like to try and substitute in a graham cracker crust. So, for this recipe, I made a graham cracker crust by mixing 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs with 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick) mixed it, then patted it into the foil lined 9×13 pan. I then poured the orange custard over top and baked it for an extra 3 minutes (26 minutes total). This came out perfect! And though the “crust” was no longer existent, the flavors were amazing! Graham crackers, butter, and orange taste so good together! So, I would make this recipe again, but next time, I would cook the custard first till it is cooked fully, let it cool, then cover it with the graham cracker crust and make it an Upside-Down Orange Dream Bar!

Thanks again for reading!

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