Sparkly Clean

Well, hello there! I'll be playing blog catch-up this week. My goal is to add a post every day this week until I've got all our photos uploaded. We really enjoy looking back at photos/stories so I want to make sure I get Thanksgiving and Christmas 2010 added ASAP.

But, for now I want to showcase our big purchase for the month (er... year). It just so happened that our 1991 dishwasher crapped out in December. We had it fixed about a year ago for about $100. A second break down in a year was the straw that broke our dishwasher back.
Our old lifesaver:

I didn't grow up with a dishwasher and so this was my first dishwasher. I've grown quite fond of using it and can't imagine not having one in the future.

The "before" pic complete with piles of dirty dishes that I was sick of washing:
Kathy Fuhs- this "before" pic is just for you. Now you've got a visual of the white washed cabinets & country blue counter tops. I am more than ready to spruce it up in to the new millennium.

We paid for delivery & installation from Best Buy. It was a bit pricey but worth every penny. The 2010 era of dishwashers have water connections at the back of the unit so that the entire height can be used for washing; they're not called Tall Tub Dishwashers for nothing.
So, our installer had to cut our water line and install a flexible connection in the basement off the water heater.
The installer also got a nice jolt of electricity when he reached underneath the old dishwasher to disconnect the power supply and found some wire exposed. He uninstalled the old dw, disposed of it, ran a new water connection and installed the new dw.
Work in progress:
Here's the "after" shot with all the dirty dishes loaded up and ready for a spin:
Sleek, beautiful and already smudged:
We ended up getting the Samsung 400 series. I did LOTS of research. Our requirements were:
- quiet (around 50 decibels)
-hard food disposer so that we don't have to do a bunch of pre-washing
-energy star qualified
-stainless steel
-sanitizer function (built in water heater to boost water temp in final cycle)
-racks that can accommodate our large dinner plates (the one we got has an adjustable upper shelf)
-heated drying cycle
-purchased from a place with interest free financing

I read a lot of customer reviews and professional opinions on brands, features & specific models. I feel like we got exactly what we wanted and it was on sale (we saved $175).

We've probably run 4 loads through the dishwasher and are completely happy with it! It is scary quiet. With music playing in the living room, we couldn't even hear it running while eating at the breakfast bar.

Merry Christmas to us. Let's hope next year's Christmas present is a little more exciting (and way less practical). ipad anyone??

FB, Family & Friends

With all the food pictures lately, I thought I'd mix things up a bit and show you what else we've been up to.
Last weekend, I drove down to St. Cloud to watch Mattie play in the first round state tournament football game. Hannah and her friend Kelsi came along too. We drove through a winter storm but arrived in time to catch some lunch before the game. I met up with my friend Sarah for grilled cheese sandwiches & soup:

Sarah is in the accelerated nursing program as SCSU. It was great to catch up with her!

Next, we were off to the game:
It's hard to believe Matt is only a freshman (and only 14 yrs. old). My dad coaches the defense and Mattie plays the linebacker (?) position. Like father, like son:
We met my mom at the game:
Note: puff coats= not water proof. Ick!

We headed back to Duluth right after the game since the storm was still roaring.
All of us took hot showers and wrapped up in our PJ's & blankets once we got home.

Sunday was Dinner Club.
Monday rolled around pretty quickly and so ideas of what to eat for the week were swirling. My weekday lunch requirements are:
-must be microwavable or not require any heating
-must be able to hold me 4+ hours (protein!)
-must not be strongly scented (no fish or spicy curry) so I don't offend my co-workers:)
-easy to transport
And that's pretty much it!

I've grown pretty fond of pinto beans and we had 2 big cans in our pantry due to a recent sale at the coop. I decided to make a Veggie & Bean "Taco" Salad.
I needed to amp up the veggies and so for $11 I got:
2 jars of salsa (Frontera's Chiptole and Mango Key Lime)
1 yellow onion
1 bunch of broccoli
2 zucchinis

We buy carrots by the 5 or 10 lb. sized bag so there is rarely a shortage of carrots in our house. We also had half a container of baby bellas in the fridge and some potatoes that my mom sent up. So, I got to work chopping. I chopped everything except for the mushrooms. Aren't you impressed with my matchstick carrot skillz?

This is a lot of veggies!!
While I chopped the veggies, I also had the potatoes boiling until they were soft but not fully cooked (~10 minutes).
Next the veggies & potatoes were tossed in olive oil, S+P, thyme & chipotle and then spread on to 2 cookie sheets for some roasting time in the oven.

They roasted at 400 degrees for probably 35-45 minutes. We stirred them pretty often as they were sticking to the pan a little bit. You could probably add more oil so that they don't stick, but we were trying to keep this dish a lil' bit more healthy.

While the roasting was taking place, Mikey decided to cook some bacon on the stovetop. I was in charge of crumbling the bacon once it was done (one of my favorite tasks).

Finally, the veggie mixture, crumbled bacon & pinto beans were mixed together and tossed back in the oven for a few minutes- just long enough to heat up the beans:

To make the "taco salad" we put a layer of the veggie & bean mixture in a bowl then crumbled some red hot blue tortilla chips over the top and finished with a couple spoonfuls of the 2 salsas and sour cream (for Mikey). Totally delish! I've been eating the veggie & bean mixture at work all week. Tortilla chips & salsa are too complicated to pack, so I just eat the beans, potatoes & veggies. All it takes is a minute and a half in the microwave and my lunch is ready!

It's now Friday and we've got a fun weekend planned. I'll have some good updates next week.
I just need Mikey and Hannah (flu) to feel better so that somebody can help me haul a Cmas tree up 2 blocks to our house:(