The Stairs are In!

The Stairs are In!

The stairs are in! You heard me. After months, and months, (and months) of using the front door to go out back, we can FINALLY use the back doors. 

Looking back at pictures to decide which ones to share with you all, it really doesn't seem like we have accomplished all that much. You are just going to have to take my word for it when I say that it took us many, many long, hot hours of work to get the stairs built, assembled, and stained. 

First we started with the stringers. Sam designed the stringers at work on a program that they use for project designs so that we wouldn't be having to do the math as we went. 

I read out the dimensions then Sam cut out the stringers for the stairs by the kitchen and the stairs by the living room using a circular saw and a jig saw. 

Each set of stairs needed five stringers that we then had to attach to support brackets and screw into the deck. 

Sam ended up staying up until 10:30 that night to finish installing the boards to the steps before the hurricane rain came the next day. 

The very next weekend we built the baby/dog gates for the deck. I can't wait to kick the dogs out on the deck for a bit when they are being super annoying! 

Last but not least, Sam did a wonderful job of staining the stairs.

 

The color turned out so well that we don't think he will need to add a second coat! 

We also made some progress on the top boards for the handrails, but I'm going to save those pictures for the next post. Basically all we have left is to stain the handrails, install the handrails, install the hardware on the gates so that they can be locked (child-proofed), and install the balusters to the stair railing. In other words, one good weekend of work should see us through the end of this project. I know it will be a big relief to Sam to be done! We have only been working on the deck FOREVER. 

In other news, one of our bantam Miller Fleur d'Uccle hens started laying. She lays about every other day and lays the cutest little cream eggs (left in the picture below)! Blue the Easter Egger, and a second bantam hen are starting to develop their nice red combs, and Blue even started squatting! Hopefully they will both be laying within the next month. Do you think Blue will lay pink, green, or blue eggs? (We are hoping for blue!) 

And in the spirit of Fall and baking and not being able to bake because I have to be on a carb-limited diet for gestational diabetes (grrrr), I am now going to tempt your tastebuds with some delicious food recipes. 

Bacon and Cheese Quiche

From: pillsbury.com 

Here's a ridiculously easy quiche that turns out delicious every time! 

INGREDIENTS: 

1 pie crust (see recipe below)

6-8 slices of bacon

1/2 cup cream + 1/2 cup of milk; or 1 cup of milk

4 eggs slightly beaten

1 cup of cheese (cheddar is what we normally use) 

1/4 cup of parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a pie crust

2. Bake at 350 for 40-50 mins. 

That's it. Super simple! 

Notes: 

*The green bits you see in the picture are green onions. In our opinion they were NOT good in the quiche. We ended up picking them out. 

*This quiche tastes exceptionally good when eaten with pepper jelly

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A New Pie Crust Recipe that I am Absolutely in Love with!

From: Kris Bordessa on Attainable Sustainable blog

Makes: 2 pie crusts or 1 pie crust bottom and 1 for top of pie

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups of all purpose flour; sifted

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup of chilled butter

1 large egg

2 tsp vinegar (apple cider or white vinegar)

water

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Mix salt and flour together then cut in butter with a pastry blender. If you do not have a pastry blender, grate the chilled butter first then press the butter into the flour using a fork. When you are left with a crumbly mixture of butter and flour, you are done!

2. Mix the egg, vinegar, and water together in a measuring cup until the mixture is about 7/8 cup. 

3. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just mixed. 

4. Pour the dough onto a floured surface and knead together a few times until the dough is a solid mass (do not over mix or over knead). 

5. Roll the dough out thinly then place into a pie dish. Trim the edges as desired and decorate as desired if you are feeling fancy. 

Note: pie crust can be frozen for later use. So if you make the full recipe and you have leftovers, just pop the wad of dough into a quart freezer bag (make sure the mark the date and what it is). Before using again, allow to come to room temperature on the counter or sitting in a bowl of water. If you are in a hurry and don't have time to wait, you can defrost the pie crust in the microwave. Just be sure to keep a careful eye on it. You don't want to cook the dough. 

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And here's the second recipe I want to share. This is probably one of the most beautiful things I have every baked in my life. 

Blueberry Breakfast Tart

From: Erin from Delightful E Made 

This recipe looks hard, but I promise it is so easy! Well it can be easy and short or somewhat easy and somewhat long. It all depends on if you make the crescent roll dough from scratch (which of course I did). 

INGREDIENTS: 

Dough:

1 8 oz tube of crescent roll dough (or enough dough to make about 8 crescent rolls; see recipe below)

Filling:

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup of sugar

2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries

1 Tbs corn starch

2 Tbsp sugar for sprinkling on top

Glaze:

1 cup of powdered sugar

3 TBS cream cheese

1-2 TBS of milk

INTRUCTIONS: 

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Cover a baking pan with parchment paper (trust me, this makes for easy movement and easier cleanup. Those blueberries are runny!)

3. If using a can of crescent roll dough, press the edges of the wedges together until you have a nice long roll of crescent roll. If you are making your dough, roll out until it is as long as the pan you are baking it on. Try and get the dough fairly thin (1/4 inch-ish). 

4. Mix together the cream cheese and 2 TBS sugar. Spread mixture onto the dough, leaving about 4 inches on each side of uncovered dough. 

5. Using a sharp knife, slice the uncovered dough into about 1 inch strips (still leaving them connected to the cream cheese part). 

6. Rinse and drain your blueberries. Mix in the remaining 2 TBS of sugar and the corn starch. 

7. Pour blueberry mixture over the middle of the cream cheese then gently cover up with the 1 inch strips of dough. You can zig-zag, place diagonally, or place straight. Just do whatever you think looks the best. 8. Sprinkle the top of the pastry with 2 TBS of sugar (how did I forget to do this when I made it?) 

9. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the top of the crescent roll dough looks golden. 

10. While baking, prepare the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar, cream cheese, and milk together until you reach your desired consistency for the glaze. I like to err on the runny side so that it is easy to drizzle over the pastry. 

11. When pastry is done, move the pastry to the container you plan to serve it on. Drizzle with that yummy glaze and make it as beautiful as you can! 

12. Enjoy. Seriously. It's amazing. 

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Crescent Roll Dough

From: Half Baked Harvest

Time: 1 hour 10 minutes of waiting time

Quantity: 20 crescent rolls (I halved the recipe for the breakfast tart)

 

INGREDIENTS: 

1/4 cup war water

2 1/4 TSP of active dry yeast

2 TSP sugar

3/4 cup warm milk

1 egg

1 TBS melted or softened butter

1 TSP salt

3 cups all purpose flour

8 TBS softened butter

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Allow to sit for 5 minutes to activate yeast. 

2. Add the warm milk, egg, butter, salt, and flour, to your mixing bowl and mix with your dough hook (or knead by hand) for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth. 

3. Pour the dough out onto a floured surface and knead into a ball. 

4. Lightly grease a bowl and place the ball of dough in the bowl, being sure to turn the dough a few times to coat it in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

5. Place the ball of dough back on the floured surface and roll out into a large rectangle that is about 1/4 inch thick. 

6. Using your fingers or a knife, spread the softened butter all over the dough, leaving about 1 inch of space on the edges. Be careful not to puncture the dough. 

7. Fold the dough in half, then fold the dough in half in the other direction. 

8. Place on a plate a cover with plastic wrap. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes. 

9. Gently roll the dough back out into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle then fold in half and fold in half. Replace in the freezer for 10 minutes. Repeat twice more 

10. The dough is ready to use. Either use immediately in a recipe, or tightly wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge over night.