Homemade Pesto

Art grew basil in the garden. I used my friend Krystal's pesto recipe and made 4 cups of pesto this evening.

Here is the recipe. Super easy!!!

Basil Pesto
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Back to the Basics
Ingredients:
1/2 cup pine nuts
9 garlic cloves
5 cups of basil leaves, packed
1 1/4 cups of olive oil
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:
Preheat the oven for 350 degrees. Add the walnuts and pine nuts to a jelly sheet pan and toast for 10 minutes. Set aside and cool.

In a food processor, mix the pine nuts and garlic to a paste. Add the basil leaves, salt and pepper and mix well.

Slowly add the olive oil with the food processor on. Blend until pesto is almost at a puree. Add the Parmesan cheese and mix for another minute. Make sure the pesto is mixed well and scrape down the sides if needed.

Transfer the pesto into a container and store in fridge or freezer. If storing in freezer, add a small drizzle of olive oil with a plastic wrap placed directly on top of the pesto. Let no air touch the pesto or it will turn brown. Yield: 4 cups

We have a lot more that will be ready in a couple weeks. We will be stocked with pesto for the year! This pesto recipe is SUPER easy and fast. Maybe took me 10 minutes after I roasted the pine nuts.

Weekend Project

See the picture below of the lovely orangy brown room???? I HATE the paint color in that room. When we were getting our house ready to move into our house we painted the living, dining, bedroom, hallway, bathroom, kitchen and family room all in TWO days. How the heck did we do all that? No wonder we couldn't walk or hold a pen on Monday.

Needless to say the 2 spare bedrooms did not get painted. I decided at that point I liked the ugly orangy brown paint. Well it has finally gotten to the point I HATE it again. I decided to take advantage of the 3 day weekend and do some house projects.

Here is my inspiration for the bedroom. The inspiration picture is from Three Men & a Lady blog. Check out her blog she is amazing!!!! Right now the entire room is painted white. It looks HUGE and so bright! Tomorrow the stripes will come. :) I am soooo very excited. I scored a bunch of stuff at the thrift store Friday night to decorate the space.

Sugarland - All I Want To Do

My dad called me today asking me the words to the Sugarland song - All I Want To Do. I went on Google to find the lyrics.

My dad thought the words were All I wanna do is climb this coorporate ladder and yadda yadda and empty my bladder.

Here are the actual words to the portion of the song he was talking about.

I got my whole life to change the world and climb the ladders
Looking at you looking at me is the only thing that matters

OMG I was laughing soooo hard!!!! That is hysterical! Only Fausha!

Samster!

I would call his name to look at me and when I pushed the button to take a picture he looked away. I finally gave us!

Worm Bin/Composting

Last weekend we went to a Zucchini Festival in Hayward. I put my name in for a drawing with the Rainbow Worms. I won the 4 drawer work bin below. Art was super excited. He ordered a pound of red worms on Monday. One pound of worms should be able to eat 1 pound of food scraps, paper, card board, etc per day.

Look at the worms in Art's hand. YUCK!

Random Thoughts

1. This past weekend we watch a few minutes of Jerseylicious. Art saw this chick at the grocery store with terrible make up. He asked me do you think she is from Jersey?

2. I got my Christmas shopping underway!

3. Patience - if words fell out of the sky & hit people on the head this is one that is smacking me on the head. Lately everything I read mentions waiting/patience. This morning I turn on my ipod & the song is patience. Yes, I know I don't have any patience......I'm starting to get the hint.

4. I have the best parents!!!

5. Lazy Saturdays are the best and much needed!

6. Looks like Summer might show its face this week! I've only experienced Winter, Spring & Fall like weather this year.

7. My week started off just great....Brett was back on the field!

8. Fresh garden veggies taste oh so yummy from your husband garden!

9. 2+ years later I finally made a wedding album for us!

10. It's great to work in a "team" enviroment with a fellow CW. It makes the work day sooooo much better!

Breakfast

I love Subway's breakfast sandwiches. The sandwiches are about 100-200 calories and cost about $2. They fill you up and taste great! Try them out!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the BEST news of the year! Brett is coming back for ONE more year. Yes, you non Favre fans are sick of this....however I am Brett's BIGGEST fan, so this is GREAT news!!!!!

Random Thoughts

1. I bought bread for $1.25, shorts for $2.00 and a free can of soup tonight at Target
2. I am also known as Rachael Ray to my future brother in law - if he has a cooking question he called me when Lacey is not around.
3. Nothing is better than a cold glass of chocolate milk after a horrendous day at work
4. I had a Sprinkles cupcake stare me down for 3 hours today.....I took care of it and ATE it!
5. Fresh swiss chard from your garden is the best!
6. It's not a good thing when the coffee machine goes out at work first thing in the morning.

What I Miss Today......

I can't believe the words are being typed at this moment.....15+ yrs ago I would DENY I would ever utter such ideas. Today I miss North Dakota. I miss my family, the slow pace of life, the fact you can drive 10 miles and see ONE car on the road. My dad use to talk about how he missed the North Dakota plains when we lived in MI. I use to think he was nuts. Today I feel like my dad and miss those things.

Wordless Wednesday

Home made laundry soap

Recipe:
1 1/4 cups white vinegar
1 cup baking soda
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax
1/4 cup liquid castile soap
Mix in a large, non-metal bowl. Start with the vinegar and continuously stir as you add each powder. Try to stir out and break up any clumps. Finish with the liquid soap. It will seem wet, like a thick paste, but keep stirring and it will begin to flake and crumble into a moist ‘powdered detergent’. KEEP STIRRING! If you quit too early, you’ll find a very hard block the next time you go to use it. So use them biceps and stir it to completion. You’ll end up with a sort of soft clumpy cake-y ‘loaf’, that will easily crumble off for use.

I used a Ziploc container to store my soap. I didn't stir it enough. I was able to pop the soap out of the container. I broke up all the soap into a powder. I used it twice already and it works GREAT! It was sooo cheap to make. I have enough ingredients to make another 3 or 4 batches.

I found this recipe on Bonzai Aphrodite blog.

Career Change?

New career path for Fausha....possible bull fighter?

These steers don't look interested at ALL. Hey buddy just give me some feed and stop messing around.

My Fausha's New Look

Above is a picture of how my dad dresses daily. Below are 2 new pictures I receievd from my mom stating "Dad has a new look".

I think this is the FIRST time I have saw my dad in shorts and maybe the 3rd time with tenny shoes. This look is NOT working.

Above is a picture of my parents yard. I love the wheel barrow tipped over wtih the flowers. Very cute!

Wish List Started

This post is for my mom and sister. They keep asking what I want for my birthday and Christmas. I have started my list. :) Mostly house stuff!

Starfish Hook

Buoys

Mustache Mug - I LOVE these!!! They sell them on etsy

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/beverageserver.html

Sleeping Arrangements

Our little boy Sam has been sleeping with us since night 2. Night 1 he cried all night long in his kennel until Art let him out. He curled up right next to Art and slept. He now jumps into the bed when we go to bed and sleeps right in the middle of us. If we are laying by each other he will jump in the middle trying to get between us. It didn't work last night.....I wouldn't move. He has to sleep with Art's hand on him. Last night I started trying to get him to sleep at the end of the bed. Worked about half the night. Art claims the reason he moved up by us is because I was kicking poor Sam with my heal all night.

Art sent me a text today....he has a great idea. We will go buy Sam a little bed to sleep in next to our bed. The first week we will both sleep on the floor with him, so he gets use to sleeping in his bed. ARE YOU NUTS!!!! I am NOT sleeping on the floor to teach a dog to sleep in it's bed.

I can see into the future......We have a baby....it doesn't want to sleep in it's crib. It's ok because daddy will climb in the crib and sleep with the baby for a week.

Brookies

My friend Krystal posted Brookies on her food blog about a week ago. I have been thinking of making them ever since I saw them. They looked DELISH!!!! Well they taste just as good as they look!!!

Brookies
1 package brownie mix
4 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips or miniature chocolate chips

Preparation:
Bake the brownies as listed on package and mix in the 4 ounces of chocolate chunks into the batter. Set aside until it is cool. Cut about 18 inch squares - brownie bites. (I used a 13 x 9 pan.) Remaining brownies can be eaten at your own risk.

Prepare the cookie dough. Mix the butter in a KA mixer until creamy. Add the brown sugar until combined and smooth. Slowly add the eggs one at at time until fully combined. Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix with a whisk. With the KA mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture with the butter mixture and mix until combined. Add the chocolate chips. Let cookie dough chill covered in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350° degrees. Line your cookies sheets with silpat or parchment paper.

Using an medium-sized ice cream scooper, scoop at least 1/3 cup of cookie dough. Using your finger, make a small indentation in the middle. Press the brownie in the middle very gently, and then work the remaining dough around the brownie. Use your hands to shape the cookie back into a ball. Repeat process for the remaining dough and brownie bites.

Prepare six cookies at a time on a cookie sheet. Bake for 18 minutes until golden brown. Keep the remaining cookie dough in the refrigerator until it is time to bake the next batch.

Cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes and cool completely on a wire rack. ENJOY!!
Yield: About 18 cookies if you're using 1/3 cup for each cookie.