Sunday, September 23, 2012

Goulash!

The past few weeks have flown by it seems. 

Can you believe it's officially Fall already? Everyone knows about my love for Fall! If you don't, you can read about it here, here and here. :)

It is without a doubt my favorite part of the year.

Moving on to the recent happenings in The O'Neal home.

First up, renovations continue and most days we love it. I'd even say about 90% of the time we enjoy it. Of course, you have that 10% where it can be completely overwhelming remodeling, decorating and taking care of a 55 year old home. I'm not complaining though, the improvements are starting to show and it feels good to know that Daniel and I are the ones that made them happen. We've been putting our DIY-ness (is that a word? probably not?) to the test.

Last weekend my handsome husband and I went toilet shopping. Woo hoo! We know how to spice up a Saturday night! Two reasons why we decided we needed a new toilet: The one in the guest bathroom was not level and if you're gonna have to take it off, we're getting a new one. And.... using an old toilet in your own home is gross. 

Unfortunately, I don't have any before and after pictures. Meaning, I don't feel like getting up and taking an after picture. 

Here's Daniel though studying all of "the porcelain throne" specs.


 And here he is after a long day of heavy toilet lifting and installation. The good news, he did an amazing job and I'm so proud of my DIY husband! ;)


I on the other hand, have spent a lot of time working on floors. Parquet. No way! I hate parquet floors, especially when they've covered up hardwood. But taking the adhesive off of hardwood floors is something I've grown to hate even more. 

The below picture is what I found when removing the parquet flooring. Work.


After lots of floor stripper, a razor blade and woman-power I can proudly say the floors are getting there. I'm the queen of bad pictures, but if you look in the picture you can see that there isn't much black ugly adhesive left. Amen!
 

On Monday, Daniel and I were in for a real treat. As I was making dinner I noticed that people were parked across the street from our house in lawn chairs. We know our lives aren't that interesting so we figured there was some sort of parade coming down Buffalo Street. So we grabbed a few Blue Moon's and went to sit on the tailgate to watch.... the Canton Eagles homecoming parade. The beers then seemed a little inappropriate, but we were at our own home. As we watched the parade pass by our house (only photo I have below, I will start to do better I promise) I couldn't help but calculate how old today's class of 2013 high school seniors were when I graduated in 2004. Man, those 3rd graders sure have grown. I decided that little front yard outing just made me feel old. Lol

Husband watching the parade in the front yard.


What next you ask? Well, yesterday morning Daniel and I woke up excited to build this couch table below that we wanted to turn into a TV stand for  the living room.


I'm not quite sure what happened, but instead we decided to start the kitchen remodel. Wow. So far since yesterday we have successfully torn off the bar top, removed lots of drywall and the major reno this weekend was moving the oven outlet and electricity (easier said than done) to another wall in the kitchen.

Below is where the oven used to be. It also showcases the cabinets that are in the middle of getting redone which is why the top two cabinets to the right are white.


Here is Daniel demolishing the bar top, although he looks pretty calm in this picture. If you look closely you can see a little bit of the living room re-do behind him. I still need to post our final result but I think the wall below probably needs to come out first. 

We are completely changing things up in the kitchen so if we invite you over to dinner, don't expect it to be pretty yet. ;)

The kitchen had a completely blank wall. I mean there was nothing on it when we moved in. So I decided to add an old dresser there for now just to take up some space until we got things rearranged. So minus the lack of tidiness in this photo this is what it looked like. Nothing special still.


We decided it made more sense to move the oven on this wall, but because we can't leave well enough alone. We decided to take all the drywall off of this wall too to make it extra reno-y.

So for today this is our end result. A working oven on a new wall! Thank you Jesus for a husband that is all about learning how to do everything ourselves. 

Please understand that I know as a reader you're probably thinking, "Seriously, you guys really messed that room up." I promise this was a huge accomplishment in the kitchen re-do. It now allows us to knock down walls and cabinets that we don't want and add cabinets where we need them. 

So this picture below happens to have victory written all over it for me. :)

And because I found this recipe quite fitting for this post, not to mention it's what we had for dinner and what is cooking in that big pot on the stove.

 Paula Dean's Goulash Recipe

As always things were changed. We halved the meat. Used one onion. No soy sauce. And less salt in general. It was a great easy meal that makes a lot and fills you up! I did have to call it homemade hamburger helper though because Daniel thinks the word goulash is less than appetizing. :)

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds lean ground beef
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 2 large onions, chopped
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 (29-ounce) can tomato sauce
  • 2 (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon House Seasoning, recipe follows
  • 1 tablespoon seasoned salt
  • 2 cups dried elbow macaroni

Directions

In a Dutch oven, saute the ground beef and ground turkey over medium-high heat, until no pink remains. Break up meat while sauteing; spoon off any grease. Add the onions to the pot and saute until they are tender about 5 minutes. Add 3 cups water, along with the tomato sauce, tomatoes, garlic, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, soy sauce, House Seasoning, and seasoned salt. Stir well. Place a lid on the pot and allow this to cook for 20 to 25 minutes.
Add the elbow macaroni, stir well, return the lid to the pot, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaves and allow the mixture to sit about 30 minutes more before serving.


Thanks for hangin' in on this 'all over the place post!