Roasted Butternut Squash Kale Salad

Roasted Butternut Squash Kale Salad

1 Butternut squash 

Sage

Feta cheese, crumbled

Bacon, fried and crumbled

Dried cranberries

Green onions, sliced

Almonds, slivered

Kale in bite size pieces

Dressing:

Apple cider vinegar

Honey

Olive Oil

Dijon mustard

salt and pepper

Peel and cut up butternut squash. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and a hint of sage. Roast at 400 degrees until starting to turn golden brown around the edges. Let cool. 

Toss with remaining ingredients and drizzle with salad dressing.

Market Bags and a Potholder

In my daughters last couple of years in college, she lived in an apartment so she did her own grocery shopping. I bought some fabric that I knew she would love to make her some grocery bags. Well time went by and they didn't get made. Eventually she used some of the fabric to recover 2 bar stools and fill in a picture frame.  

When she got engaged to be married, I knew it was time to make those bags. However with wedding plans, I didn't get around to it right away. While she was away on her honeymoon, I finally got to sewing! This worked out great because I was able to include them in a basket of housewarming gifts.

Luckily there was enough fabric left from the bar stools and picture frame that I only had to do minimal piecing.

With the little bit of fabric that was leftover from the bags, I was able to make her a potholder.

I had just enough fabric to make the front of the potholder, so for the trim and the back, I used fabric from some of her clothes that she wore as a little girl. 

Her husband surprised her with the tea kettle, and some fun tea tea to go with it! It is just the cutest! He did good :)

Greenhouse

We had new windows put in our house. Using the old windows, Doc B built this greenhouse.

The Diner

The Diner closes every Sunday after a big breakfast.

 I call it snacking Sunday. We go by the grocery store after mass, and everybody picks what they want for the day. It's usually salami, fruit, chips, chocolate...hence 'Snacking Sunday'! It makes driving almost 2 hours one way to mass a little more like a day of rest.

Needlepoint Chair Cover

I finally finished my needlepoint chair cover!

Here are a few 'before' pictures to show what dire need this poor chair was in for a new cover!

My Girl's Pillow

My girl hooked this rug ummm I think maybe about 6 years ago. She worked at it so very carefully and diligently. I told her when she finished maybe we should make it into a pillow. Well I put it off for far too long for fear my sewing wouldn't do her beautiful rug justice.

Finally, while helping her clean her room one day and seeing it just lying there, I decided it was time. A local seamstress came to my mind. So my girl chose the fabric for the back from my stash, which I think was a lovely choice. We took it to the seamstress and ohh I think it turned out beautiful!

Winter Arrangement

Ready for the Day

this brisk, very cold day.

Bathroom Redo

This is the upstairs bathroom when we bought the cottage.

This is the same bathroom after we redid it.

We had the bathroom gutted including the bathtub, cabinets and sinks and started completely over.  I would love to have put pedestal sinks in but they just weren't practical considering the girls use this bathroom. So we had the cabinets custom built. I wanted them to look like an antique vanity.

I really wanted to buy one of the old historical homes downtown. Doc B on the other hand hates old houses. I look at them and see charm. He looks at them and sees at lot of work and money.

So we compromised and got this sort of old house. I'm afraid it's a little more of a fixer upper than Doc B had planned on. I made the curtain myself using fabric from my fabric stash.

I used the mirrors that were in the original bathroom and painted them. I am really pleased with how they came out. I saved money by not buying new mirrors but then used the money I saved to buy the very expensive Annie Sloan paint and the wax and brushes that go with it ;)

 I found the light fixtures on eBay. They came from an estate sale. I think they might be my favorite thing in the whole redo.

I got the shower curtain, bath mat, and the girl's towels from Garnet Hill. No money saving here!

This cabinet over the commode is just a cheapy from JCPenney. You can even see that the knobs are uneven. I guess you get what you pay for. The vintage commode seat cover was another find on eBay.

 

 

This Week in My Kitchen

Linking up with Heather at

http://beautythatmoves.typepad.com/beauty_that_moves/2014/05/th.html

Capturing my love of whole foods, combined with the activity of a bustling kitchen.

A weekly collection of photos from the center of my home. 

 

Pretty much everyday at the cottage there is a salad for lunch and now with fresh greens :)

 

 

First squash of the season.

 

 

I actually made real potato salad. I usually make it with cauliflower instead of potatoes. So it was a real treat especially with fresh green onions from the garden.

 

 

My daughter has been wanting to do a juice fasting, so I joined her.

 

 

 

 

My other daughter made these almond flour chocolate chip cookie bars. They made juice fasting very difficult!

 

 

My only peony so far.

 

 

These horsemint grows wild.