His Grilled Cheese

Big-D gets mad at me sometimes when I proclaim that he has the cooking skills that max out at boiling water.

So one day when I wasn't home for one reason or another he had to make his own dinner...

Then I recieved this picture.

 

He was so proud that he cooked for himself he had to show me.

I know can proclaim that he can boil water and make grilled cheese.

Over and out,

A Engineer in the Kitchen

Day 65: Drywall will soon be done

The end is near when it comes to hanging drywall and I am very excited.

We have three walls completely done and have a fourth wall to fix. Put some around one window and I will be happy to sleep in my bed once again.

I am a very happy person right now about this current situation.

Over and out,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

And The Winners Are...

Well picking the winners was really easy since only two people entered the contest.

Lyndsey has her sad face on.

So the winners of a $25 Lowe's gift card are...drum roll please.

Winner number one... Mrs.5C and winner number two Elisa.

Please contact me at lyndzbeaubien@gmail.com to claim your goods.

Over and out,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

Day 58: Someday I will again sleep in my bed

I sit here aching all over. Why you may ask?

Mainly because we have been sleeping on the futon in the living room because our bed is leaning up against the wall.  I feel so old; my hips hurt, my shoulder is screwed up again (and holding up drywall doesn't help any matters) and just to mix it up my knee is always hurting.

But the drywall project will be done soon. We have hit so many problems while trying to put up new drywall and my favorite one to talk about is the fact that we have a room full of unlevel walls. Don't be concerned my foundation is fine and the floors are level, the walls are just messed up.

We have two walls completed, the closet completed and the area above the second window completed. Having two crooked walls have made this process very long. Hoping to complete the drywall this weekend so I can start taping the joints and be ready to pain real soon.

May or may not happen because I have a test in Thermodynamics and Mathematical Methods for Engineers next week and I may spend the week studying. (I just wanted to make myself sound smart there for a minute sorry.)

PS: Enter my contest to win a $25.00 Lowe's gift card by clicking here!!! Winners will be announced on Friday.

Over and out,
A Engineer Missing Her Bed Dearly

Valentine's Day Giveaway

Since I appreciate all the readers that read my nonsense and I LOVE Lowe's I am giving away a $25.00 gift card to Lowe's to two lucky winners.

Valentine's Day is all about love and by the looks of my credit card history it looks like I love Lowe's alot. I mean I am there at least once a week, sometimes twice a week and some weeks everyday (if you think I am kidding I'm not.)

I think the only thing I don't buy from Lowe's is Big-D's tools and that's only because they don't carry that many Craftman tools and that is the brand of tools he loves. On the other hand all my tools come from Lowe's.

I bought him tools for Valentine's Day...I am working on best wife award.

Anyways back to the giveaway. All you have to is tell me about your favorite tool or tools if you have more than one and can't make up your mind. (Please only one entry per person.)

A winner will be randomly selected on Friday February 17, 2012.

Over and out,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

(Lowe's in a whole doesn't know I exist, only the few souls at the closest Lowe's to me would know if I was to randomly disappear because their sales might decrease.)

Meatballs

No these are meatballs that you eat with your spaghetti. 

These are meatballs with gravy and noodles. I use to make these with mashes potatoes (like my grandma did) but then I started dating Big-D and he doesn't like mashed potatoes (which I believe is a sin) so I switched back to noodles (like my mom).

My mom was very surprise that I am marrying a man that doesn't like mashed potatoes since I may love mash potatoes almost as much as I love him. I could just eat mashed potatoes and gravy for all major holiday meals and well whenever I am bored or want a good comfort food.

Anyways back to the meatballs.

Pound of ground sirloin, package of egg noodles, onion (I used about half), cornstarch (to make the gravy), bouillon cubes (also for gravy), Accent (or seasoning salt) and an egg.

Chop up the onion.

Mix in the egg.

Next add the ground beef and Accent.

Next make meatballs and place in frying pan that has a little bit of oil in the bottom. Next add enough water to cover about half of the meatballs. This water will later be used to make the gravy.

Flip/roll/rotate the meatballs until they are cooked through.

Once the meatballs are done, remove them from the water. I placed them into a smaller pot and covered them so they would stay warm. Next I made the gravy by adding three bouillon cubes to the water and mixed the cornstarch into the water as directed on the back of the package.

Once the gravy is to a nice gravy consistency and the meatballs back in.

Serve with some noodles.

Ingredients:

• Pound of ground sirloin
• Package of egg noodles
• Cornstarch
• Accent (or seasoning salt)
• 1 Egg
• Onion
• 3 Beef Bouillon cubes

Directions:

1. Chop up onion.
2. Mix egg, onion, ground sirloin and Accent together.
3. Make meatballs and place in frying pan.
4. Add enough water to cover half of the meatballs.
5. Cook until no longer pink in the middle.
6. Use water from making meatballs to make gravy.
7. Add meatballs back into the gravy.
8. Serve with noodles.

Happy cooking,

A Engineer in the Kitchen

Day 51: Installation of Insulation

Now say that title five times fast. If you are anything like me you'll try over and over again and sit there laughing at yourself (or at least I did) because it sounds funny. Lets just say it was a long night last night after removing, cleaning and putting up new insulation. It was a well deserved shower.

First piece going in.

One corner done.

Used duct tape to piece a couple of piece together for the large spaced studs.

We do own a ladder and step stool but hey guess what lets use the dinning room table chair. My dinning room table chairs are so dirty from us constantly using them as a ladder.

Wow just look at all the dust in the air. Wow look at the beautiful fan.

We used R-15 insulation for the full stud spaces (not really sure if that is what is to call them.) 

But we had 15 stud spaces and the precut bats had eight pieces in each set so we bought two of those but we still needed some pieces for under the windows. Since the precut bats were like $30 and the rolls of R-13 were $15 we decided to use the slightly lower R-value for under the windows since the area is slightly smaller. Really only above the windows and under one window the lower R-value was used.

Really only above the windows and under one window the lower R-value was used. Can you guess which window has the lower R-value?

Don't think that he did all the work. I helped tear down the old stuff, cleaned up, kept the tack hammer full, even put a few staples in and cooked dinner and went to the store to get duct tape and filled the truck with gas, and when it was all said and done rubbed his back.

Next up drywall.

Over and out,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

Master Bedroom Plans

As we have been knocking down drywall in master bedroom and putting up new drywall and insulation I really just can't wait for it to be all done. And I am not saying this because I have stepped on two nails (one for each foot) don't worry nothing to bad just little scratches.

I'm from the country, I hunt and fish, I love the outdoors, love to go mudding and love trucks. And when you live with a guy that loves to hunt and fish, loves the outdoors it's needless to say that our bedroom with end up being outdoorsy (and I am totally okay with that.)

Going with the nice neutral color of gray. To be more specific Mountain Smoke from Valspar.

Totally loving this ceiling fan from Kiva Lighting.

New set of sliding windows from Lowe's. Might now be those exact ones but something similar style.

New entryway door from Lowe's, will probably leave white.

New set of closet doors and closet organization system from Lowe's.

I want to make a two different comforters out of some Realtree fabric from the Realtree Store. Will make some matching curtains from the fabric as well.

I want to get a new headboard and footboard as well along with matching dresser. But that will wait a little while before that is done. 

 Once the master bedroom is done on to the office/laundry room.

Over and out,

A Engineer in the Kitchen

SuperBowl Sunday

It's Superbowl Sunday and I am stuck here at work.

There are some Superbowls that I don't really care if I get to watch but this one I really want to watch. It's 2008 all over again, Giants vs Patriots.

I will be rooting for the Giants for two reasons. Reason number one I HATE the Patriots. Sorry if you are a Patriots fan but I am a Colts fan and they are our rival. Second reason I LOVE Peyton Manning, I know you are wondering Peyton Manning isn't playing today but his brother, Eli, is.

I will be completely honest with you guys,

I love this man because of

this man. 

In 2008 I think I was just about the only soul not from New York that was rooting for the Giants. At least this time I won't be the only crazy one.

I love these Manning boys. Someday I will have a son named Peyton Eli (Big - D already said I could do it.)

Anyways go Giants!

Over and out,
A Engineer in the Kitchen

Day 49: And then there was light

We have been putting off putting up the new drywall until all of the electric (meaning why the ceiling fan) was figured out. Well I am here to inform you that as of tomorrow new drywall and insulation will be going up.

First thing I did was to change the light bulb, I know wishful thinking. Light won't work it must be the light bulbs...wrong.
Then I replaced the switch because lets face it switches do eventually wear out. However, that didn't seem to be the problem either.

Next checked the fixture to make sure that none of the connections came loose. All where there and still connected. Then I was stumped and so I asked some of the guys at work. 

Next I went to the Lowes and got a circuit detector, thanks Little Shaft for recommending this to me. With this nice little device I was able to follow the circuit. So I went around the wall checked all of the outlets, they all worked. Next followed the wire that went up the ceiling it worked. Still stumped of why I didn't have any power up in the light. Then I remember that we removed the light that was in the closet. Well were that light use to be was the problem, Big-D didn't put the wire that ran from the wall together with the one that ran to the light. Once he fixed the problem I had power going to the light.

Once the circuit was restored and we put in the new ceiling fan.

Flipped the switch and look at that light!

Now we can finish up the drywall and have this room ready for some paint. Next major project after that will be new windows.

Stay tune for details on the master bedroom.

Over and out,
A Mechanical Engineer so never wants to be an Electrical Engineer

Pizza Crescent Rolls

This was a bit of an experiment snack that I made for Big-D after work.  There were eight of these light guys and he ate seven of them.  He was hungry I guess from a long day at work.  So there I was hungry now because he ate them all had to make something for one person to eat for dinner because he was full from his snack.

These were a quite simple, I was debating of whether or not to use butter.  I opted to not use butter and they turned out pretty good without it.

Tube of crescent rolls, some pizza sauce and cheese. If I would have used mozzarella cheese I would have used that but I didn't have any that wasn't in the freezer.

Spread some pizza sauce onto to each of the crescent rolls.

Cover with cheese.

Loosely roll up. 

Place onto a greased cookie sheet and cook according to the package (10-12 minutes at 375° for Pillsbury Crescent Rolls).

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes.

Then enjoy.

Ingredients:

• Tube of crescent rolls
• Cheese
• Pizza sauce

Directions:

1. Apply pizza sauce to each of the crescent rolls.
2. Add some cheese.
3. Loosely roll each crescent rolls.
4. Place on a greased cookie pan and cook according to package.
5. Remove from oven and let cool for a couple of minutes.

This is going on my list of easy things to make that are like pizza. Yes I love pizza; I generally eat pizza every day for lunch and this would mix it up, along with my pizza quesadilla and pizza tortillas. I was very creative when I was younger when it came to making pizza when I was not allowed to use the oven but could use the stove top.

Over and out,
A Engineer in the Kitchen