Our Ikea Billy Bookshelves Update

I totally underestimated how busy I would be over the last few months and just let the blog fall to the wayside. I had to let something go or I would have been stressed to the max. I'm going to update when I have time now instead of trying to force at least 1 out a week.

So, the last thing we worked on was painting our bookshelves and I just haven't had the time to write up what we did until today. We started with a basic Billy bookshelf from Ikea. We bought these about 5 years ago and they have served us well but this plain boring wood was not doing it for me anymore. I've been seeing blues EVERYWHERE lately, especially paint and interior design, so of course when picking out our color scheme that is what I thought of.

Here is a picture of the bookshelves before, stacked to the max of course:

and another bookshelf from Ikea on the wall diagonal from the one above.

We started out by taking the shelves out to the back porch and spraying it down with some TSP which is a heavy duty cleaner used before painting.

I wiped down all 5 units of shelving. Ace hung around and kept me company:

Next came the primer. The paint would have never stuck without priming first. Since this was a big job we headed on over to our local Harbor Freight (like Corey needs an excuse) and picked up a sprayer to use with our compressor. We used Flotrel which is an additive to add to paint to thin it out. The paint sprayer would have gotten clogged up had we not added it.

And we set to work....luckily it was an absolutely gorgeous day which allowed us to finish the priming and painting over the weekend. Corey is hard at work below.

and here I am, posing as if I am hard at work. I tried the priming but only got a few inside parts before we quickly realized Corey could do a much better, quicker job.

We primed on Saturday and painted on Sunday. The outside color is Baja by Behr.

The next week we had almost a full week of Snowcation 2011 so I decided it was the perfect time to start painting the backs of the bookshelves. I had chosen a peacock blue at Home Depot. I am trying to incorporate darker blues and some greens in the living room to break up the monotony of a room full of neutrals, so this is big start. The color is Peacock Tail by Behr. As you can see below, one coat was just the beginning.

But after 3 coats they came out beautiful! Here, they are lined up in the kitchen, all dressed up and ready to be stocked with books:

and back in the living room:

and 1 more with books. I love it! What do you think?

Carnitas, Taquitos, and DIY update.

No school for nearly a week gave us time to get a few things accomplished. We made groundhog graham crackers, started some seeds, played in the snow, put up some decorations, painted, and baked, baked, baked.......Here are a few pics of some of the things the girls and I worked on during our 4-day surprise snow-cation, or as some were calling it 'Snowpocalypse 2011':

I promise you we are still doing DIY home projects. It's just that nothing has been at a good stopping point in a while so I wanted to wait until I could show some good before and afters. They are so much fun to look at, but no one wants to have to see the before and then wait until the after, right?

Anyway, we did a lot of baking and came close to finishing some DIY projects and I should get some good before and afters this week.

The basic recipe for this week is from Homesicktexan.com who adapted it from Diana Kennedy. (apparently this recipe gets around) There is so much meat leftover that I almost always wind up making a 2nd recipe of something. The recipe below the basic carnitas recipe is one I created myself. Below is the step by step, super easy way to cook the meat.

First, you want to take at least 3 pounds of pork roast. I almost always buy the weekly specials when it comes to meat. This usually determines my menu for the week unless we just have a huge craving for something. It just helps to have one less thing to have to figure out and plan.

This package was closer to 6 pounds so I cut up about half of the meat and froze the rest for use later. So, that 10.00 sale price is already cut into at least 2 meals at $5 each.

Cut up your meat into strips about 1" by 3" and add them to a stock pot.

Add 1 cup of orange juice and 3 cups of water, or enough to cover over the meat, and add 2 tsp of salt.

Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2 hours. After that time period, bump up the temperature to medium and cook another 45 minutes. This will really help those liquids soak into the meat. Just wait, flavor overload ahead...

And that is IT! You heard me. The hardest thing to do is cutting up the meat. So easy & so tasty. Corey didn't believe in me. He didn't believe when I first cooked this dish that it would taste as good as it did. In all honesty, at first the cooking pork is not the greatest smell in the world, but just wait, it gets better. I promise. With that first bite, he changed his tune. This is now a staple in our house and I got to give him a big fat 'I told you so'. OK, I didn't, but he knew I was thinking it.

Now, after this process and before the assembling stage, I like to take about a tablespoon of oil and fry the meat up on high a bit until you start to see some crispy bits. You don't have to do this. You can just eat it when it's finished cooking in the liquids, but you should. Oh boy is it good!

Then throw some of the meat on a tortilla, add some cheese, onions, or anything else you like on your tacos and you are good to go.

This is just a small portion of how much it cooks up. We usually have another meals' worth of meat:

With the leftovers you can either freeze them or save them for another meal later in the week.

Here's what I do when we have Carnitas meat left over:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Soft fry 10-12 corn tortillas.

Saute onions.

Take a tortilla, add 2-3 tablespoons meat, 1 tablespoon cheese, & 1 teaspoon onions, roll up and put a toothpick in them. Repeat for the rest of the tortillas.

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 25-30 minutes.

Viola, carnita taquitos! Enjoy with your favorite gauc, salsa, or queso.

The taquitos are perfect to take along to a potluck, or the Super bowl, which is what we did this past weekend. They are always a hit.

CARNITAS

ingredients:

3 pounds pork butt roast

1 cup orange juice

3 cups water

2 teaspoons salt

procedure:

1. Cut up pork into 1x3 inch strips.
2. Add to stock pot along with OJ, water, and salt.
3. Bring to a boil and then bring temperature down.
4. Simmer for 2 hours.
5. Turn up temperature to medium and cook for an additional 45 minutes.

Without further ado, the.....

WEEKLY MENU

Sunday: Fajitas at a friend's house for the Super bowl (of which we brought the above-mentioned taquitos).

Monday: London broil with French fries.

Tuesday: Sesame noodles with shredded chicken, broccoli, and cauliflower. (for a super quick dish you can cook up the noodles without the additions)

Wednesday: Baked Shrimp Scampi, jasmine rice, salad, & toasted baguette

Thursday: Sloppy Joe's, baked potato.

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Dining out.

Cream Puffs & Eclairs

This week's post is just another reason I am glad I have a gym membership. BTW, if you haven't tried Zumba yet, it is fan-freakin-tastic. So much fun. You dance for an hour and just happen to burn calories along the way.

So, anyway, last week Corey brought home a recipe from a friend of his at work who has been reading our blog. Woohoo, we have a reader. At least 1. Well, 2 if the stats are right. I'm on a roll now.

Maria sent him home with a recipe she had from Family Circle magazine from 1983! Thanks Maria! Of course I had to make these Cream Puffs & Eclairs. Yum! And I knew there would be no protests from the family.

The recipe is pretty straight forward and most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry.

First preheat your oven to 400 °. Start out by bringing 1 stick butter (1/2 cup), 1 cup of water, and 1 teaspoon of sugar to a large saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.

Add 1 cup of sifted all-purpose flour all at once to the pan. Stir vigorously for 1 minute with a wooden spoon or until it forms a thick, smooth ball that leaves the sides of the saucepan.

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Add 4 large eggs, one at a time, and beating vigorously until it is shiny and smooth.

And no, my hand did not mysteriously shrink. That is Ella with an assist. She stirred while I added the eggs.

Next, add dough, by rounded tablespoons, 3 inches apart, on ungreased cookie sheets. I started with about a tablespoon but found that there was enough dough to add at least 2 tablespoonfuls to each piece. For cream puffs shape into a round shape with 2 spoons or even your fingers, but only if they are clean.

For the eclairs, shape the dough in a log shape about 4 x 1 1/2 inches. You should be able to make about 12 total of whatever shape you chose. I did 6 of each. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until light golden brown and cool on a wire wrack.

While the dough is cooking you can make your custard filling. It will take 2 hours of fridge time to set so you may want to start it before the dough.

Combine 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour and 1 cup sugar in a medium-sized saucepan. Stir in 3 cups of milk.

Bring to a boil while stirring constantly over a low heat, until it starts to bubble. Cook & stir 3-4 minutes until the mixture becomes thick and then remove from heat.

Beat 4 large eggs lightly in a medium bowl.

and add 1 cup of the mixture from the medium saucepan & combine with the eggs.

Then, add back the egg mixture into the medium saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes until thickened. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla and 1 tablespoon of butter and pour into a bowl. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Cream puffs:

Eclairs:

To assemble cut the tops off of either puffs or Eclairs with a sharp knife. Remove a bit of the soft dough from the center. Fill with the custard that has been chillin in the fridge for the last 2 hours. You can add powdered sugar (as we did below) or even a chocolate glaze.

For a glaze just melt 6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate pieces with 1 tablespoon of shortening in a small bowl over hot water to melt. Let it cool 2 minutes and spoon over your pastry.

And this pastry gets the Ella thumbs up, seal of approval! Good stuff for sure.

ECLAIRS & CREAM PUFFS

Dough ingredients:

1 stick butter

1 cup water

1 tsp sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

Custard filling Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3 cups milk

4 eggs

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of vanilla

Additional toppings Ingredients:

Confectioners' sugar

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon shortening

Dough preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400 °.
2. Bring water, butter, and sugar to a rolling boil in a large saucepan.
3. Add flour all at once and stir vigorously for 1 minute or until mixture forms a thick smooth ball that leaves sides of saucepan clean.
4. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
5. Add 4 large eggs, 1 at a time, beating vigorously with each addition. It will become shiny and smooth and break away in strands.
6. Cream puffs: Drop rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet 3 inches apart. Eclairs: Shape dough into log form about 4 x 1 1/2 inches each.
7. Bake for 40 minutes or until light golden brown.
8. Cool on wire wrack.

Custard filling preparation:

1. Combine 3/4 cup sifted flour and 1 cup sugar in medium saucepan.
2. Stir in 3 cups of milk.
3. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly over low heat, until it begins to bubble.
4. Continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, until mixture is thick and remove from heat.
5. Beat 4 large eggs in a medium bowl.
6. Add 1 cup of flour-sugar-milk mixture to eggs and beat.
7. Add all of egg mixture back into medium pan and heat over medium heat while stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes. It will become thick.
8. Add 1 tablespoon each of vanilla & butter.
9. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours.

To fill:

1. Cut tops of puffs or Eclairs and remove some of the soft dough from center.
2. Fill with custard mixture and replace top.
3. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar or melted chocolate glaze, or both.

and, please don't ask how many trips to Zumba this will take to wear off, but I'm guessing at least a few 1 hour classes.

In other pressing news, our city (Dallas area) is all but shut down due to crazy 1-digit temperatures so no trip to the store this week. Luckily, due to stocking up we were able to scrape things together and it isn't so bad save for having to 'stretch' the milk a little. Hopefully, Thursday will have better temps to venture out but no promises so I'm making do.

A good way to stretch meat is to use shredded chicken, beef, pork in items like tacos & enchiladas, or on pizza as seen below. A little goes a long way when mixed with the other ingredients.

WEEKLY MENU

Sunday: Spaghetti with meatballs

Monday: Homemade cheeseburger mac & salad

Tuesday: Carnitas, corn, beans (OMG, these carnitas are so good & so easy)

Wednesday: Buffalo chicken pizza (basically taking this recipe for dip & putting on my homemade pizza dough. We had 2 boneless chicken thighs to replace the canned chicken in this recipe) Dessert of: Groundhog dessert cups but substituting chocolate mousse since we have lots of whipped cream & barely any milk

Thursday: Hot dogs on homemade potato rolls, baked red potato fries

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Eating out (or french toast if it is still too cold to get out since Corey stopped by the Ms. Baird's bread store & they practically gave away 2 loaves + donuts & I just made 2 loaves of bread on the same day)

Have a good safe week everyone. If you are snowed in like us, this is the perfect time to try some new recipes or experiment with ingredients you have. This also reinforces my point of keeping your pantries stocked. I could easily stretch our food for another week if I had too because of stocking up.