The Construction Belt

Well, I moved out all the furniture, ripped out the carpeting and carpet pads, pulled up the staples out of the floor, patched the walls, took out the baseboard heater and capped the wiring, and cleaned up 30 years worth of dust! The office/guest room is ready for painting now!

Also went to IKEA and picked out the furniture additions-a sofa/bed and coffee table. The room is now complete furniture wise.  We also picked out how we will furnish the master bedroom too once the funds are available.

Now today getting laundry done early and ironing done, we have Bridget and Janine coming out tomorrow afternoon and I want an easy Monday.

Getting ready for construction

Yesterday I was in an apron all day long. I made wonderful Banana Nut Muffins (using Spelenda) and Ginger Tender Cookies (using regular sugar), and finished the laundry and the ironing.

I had prepared a wonderful Farmer Breakfast casserole for dinner, shreading potatoes myself rather than using packaged hash browns, a beautiful egg mixture, shreadded cheese, and beautiful mushroom topping. I then put in the fridge to put in the oven later, and never heard the pan fall and spill the contents all over the fridge all the way from the top shelf to the bottom and everything in between! What a mess to clean up!

The contractors came out and repaired the window in the guest room/office. They found NO MOLD in the walls which was a godsend. So tomorrow I will hang up the apron and put on the contstruction belt, time to empty the room and rip out the carpet and pad!

Remembering Times Past

I was looking through old diary entries from when I was married to Brian. It reminded me all over again why I am divorcing him. I read several entries out to John and he was amazed at just how badly I was treated by Brian. He then pulled me into his arms and I once again fell asleep on his chest.

I am going to put a plug out there for Spenda Sugar Blend. It is a blend of 50% sugar and 50% Splenda. You use it like you would regular sugar, only you use 1/2 the amount (if the recepie calls for 1 cup sugar, you use 1/2 cup of the Spenda Sugar Blend).  I have been baking now for three weeks, made cookies, muffins, quick breads, regular bread, and bars--and in no case is there any discernable difference between the Splenda Sugar Blend and regular sugar.

The cool thing is this: you will consume only 1/2 the amount of sugar than you would otherwise do. There is also a Brown Sugar Blend as well that I will give a try.

Now, how about a recepie?

Apple and Cranberry Buckle

Number of servings:  6

INGREDIENTS

Cake Topping 5 ½ tablespoons Unsalted Butter, divided 6 Tablespoons packed Splenda Brown Sugar Blend. 1 ½ cups whole Cranberries 2 teaspoons Cinnamon 1 Golden Delicious Apple, chopped into ½ inch pieces 5 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, cold and chopped into pieces 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Spenda Sugar Blend, divided 1 pint vanilla Ice Cream (optional) 1 cup Flour 1 teaspoon Baking Powder 1 Large AA Egg, beated 1 teaspoon Vanilla 1/3 cup Evaporated Milk

INSTRUCTIONS

Place rack in oven to the centre position.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Butter a 2 quart baking dish or a 9” square baking pan.

Cake Mix

Melt 1 ½ tablespoons Butter in a heavy skillet on Medium-High heat.

Add Cranberries and stir until they pop open. This should only take 30-60 seconds. Don’t overcook or they will turn into mush.

Remove pan from heat and add Apples and the 2 tablespoons Sugar Blend. Stir until dissolved, then set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine Flour, Baking Powder and Salt.  Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream remaining Butter and Sugar Blend until smooth.

Beat in Egg and Vanilla. Mix well.

Add in ½ the Flour mixture and mix well.

Add Milk and remaining Flour Mixture.

Fold Cranberry mixture into the batter.

Spread into the baking dish.

Topping

Put Brown Sugar Blend, Flour, Cinnamon, and Butter into a Food Processor. Pulse until mix is pea sized.

Scatter topping on top of cake and bake 40-45 minutes or until topping is golden brown.

Remove and cool 10 minutes. Serve with Ice Cream, if desired.

A day in the life

I have a pretty set schedule that I follow to ensure that I get everything done here:

Monday: Laundry, Ironing, Deep clean Bath and Hall, surface clean rest of house.

Tuesday: Blog, Deep clean bedroom and office/guest, surface clean rest of house.

Wednesday: Deep clean Living and Dining rooms, surface clean rest of house.

Thursday: Deep clean Kitchen, Baking Day, surface clean rest of house.

Friday: Weekly shopping, Yardwork, surface clean rest of house.

John and I take the weekends off to do things together. This past weekend was filled with clothes shopping for me, Borders shopping for us, cleaning the roof and cleaning out the gutters from moss and pine needles.