Good morning! I hope ya'll had a great weekend. It was so cold around here so we just stayed inside most of the weekend. Yep, we just hibernated all weekend. With the weather being so cold I thought I would post a yummy cold weather recipe. Beef stew. This is one I took from somewhere off the internet last year with a few other crockpot recipes.
Prep: 25 min. Cook: 10 hours
Ingredients
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pound beef or pork stew meat, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2-1/2 cups cubed potatoes
1 cup frozen cut green beans*
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn*
1 cup sliced carrot
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
2 teaspoons instant beef bouillon granules
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram or basil, crushed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 bay leaf
2-1/2 cups vegetable juice or hot-style vegetable juice
Directions
1. Place flour in a plastic bag. Add meat cubes and shake until meat is coated with flour. In a large skillet brown half of the meat in 1 tablespoon of the hot oil, turning to brown evenly. Brown remaining meat in remaining oil. Drain off fat.
2. In a 3-1/2- or 4-quart crockery cooker layer potatoes, green beans, corn, carrot, and onion. Add meat. Add bouillon granules, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, marjoram, pepper, and bay leaf. Pour vegetable juice over all.
3. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10 to 12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender. Discard bay leaf. Ladle into bowls. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
For a 6-quart cooker: Recipe may be doubled.
When we first moved in here, 7 and a half years ago, the first thing I did was start cleaning and painting. We bought the place from an older couple and it was all 1970's style decorations. The first 2 rooms I did was our bedroom and the master bath.
I really like the colors blue, yellow and white together. So I put a periwinkle blue and white stripe wall paper on 2 of our bedroom walls and painted the 2 walls with paneling white. In the bathroom I painted 2 walls and the sink base (2 doors and 3 drawers) blue with white trim. The other 2 walls I painted white, but later painted them yellow.
We have a garden tub with a little recessed ceiling area. I painted that blue and then I did some sponging to try to make it look like clouds. I really liked that look, for awhile. Then after a few years it got a bit stale on me and I realized that it just looked...sponged. Boring.
So this past Thursday I got that redecorating bug again. However, I needed to keep it very low budget. So I went to the Family dollar and grabbed a gallon of white paint for ten bucks. A new curtain for our bedroom for ten bucks. And a package of tan and white tiles for...yep, ten bucks. LOL Okay, actually the paint was $10.25 and the curtain was $9.99.
Well, I'm sure ya'll are wondering how I liked that dollar store paint. Mm hm, well, it would have been alright if I weren't painting over periwinkle blue walls. LOL It took about 4 coats. Thank goodness I didn't paint all of the walls in there blue. I also repainted the sink cabinet white.
Then I began working on my ceiling above the garden tub. I think it looks much better, although it was hard to get a good picture of it. I did it in small portions. I would tap paint with the brush onto the ceiling in "cloud" shapes. Then I took a rag and began pouncing in the center of the wet paint and moving further out and continuing past the edge of the wet paint. Then I went and did the same thing to the front of the doors and drawers on the sink cabinet.
The only thing left to do is remove the 30-some year old yellow carpet and put down the new tiles. I can't wait. The white paint gives the room a more open feelingand makes it just seem cleaner and fresh. I'm really pleased with the results. Here are some pictures of my little project all done.
The ceiling above the garden tub.
Looking at the window, the tub is to the right. I need to get some new sheer curtains for that window. Those are about 10 years old and they gotten a bit out of shape with all the washings. I didn't even notice that they were hanging so oddly until I took this picture.
The wall opposite the bathroom sink. The "towel rack" on the right side is actually a wine rack but I thought it would make a really cool towel rack.
Next I'm going to keep my eyes open for some new wall paper for the two walls in our bedroom. Or maybe I'll just paint them. I'd also like to get a new window for our bedroom. Then one that is in there is just "weak". It really needs to be replaced. We can't even open it. Several years ago during a rainstorm the water just began flowing into our room and the window was shut. So we had to caulk the entire window just to keep it water tight.
I'm gonna have to measure that window, keep the measurements in my purse and keep my eyes open for a window on sale. Or maybe, some rich uncle that I don't know about will leave me some money in his Will and I will be able to get a new window AND new carpet! Hey, a girl can dream! LOL
Have a wonderful week.
Welcome to any newcomers & hugs to all my friends!
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