After an excessively long hiatus, I’m finally back!  Granted, the kitchen still isn’t completely done, but it’s close.  We had a bit of delay waiting for lights.  I had to cancel our original order and get them elsewhere.  They are being installed on Friday.  Some additional finishing touches will finally get done then too.  Then the only major thing left to do will be the back-splash.  Oh – and paint the whole place!  I’ll get some more pictures up once we get those lights in.

I’ve been enjoying my brand new range.  It has a convection oven, which I’ve never used before, and beginning to experiment with.  I’m thinking it will help with some gluten-free baking projects.  And it is unbelievably wonderful to have more than 2 feet of counter space!

So back to blogging.  Today I just have a product review. 

Betty Crocker’s Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I followed the instructions on the box exactly – just add one stick of butter, one egg, and one teaspoon vanilla; then mix.  Can’t get any easier than that!  I then baked them on parchment paper using the convection setting of my oven. 

They are really soft (to the point of falling apart) when they come out of the oven, but after letting them cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet, they firm up a bit, and can be transferred to a cooling rack.  They stay fairly chewy on the inside with a little bit of crispness on the bottom. 

I was impressed with the taste and the chewiness.   And you really can’t get any easier.  It is a lot of butter, but since when are cookies healthy?  I won’t count that against them. 

(non-gluten-free) Husband’s comment:  “They tasted pretty much glutenous.”  (translation – they tasted “normal.”)

It’s still day one, so the jury is still out on how well they hold up after a day or two.  However, initial score = A

Day 2 impression – the cookies do tend to crumble a bit.  Still taste good though.  Overall score = A-

So I’ve been gone for a while.  As you have seen, we have been undergoing a major kitchen renovation.  It’s almost done.  I have all the functioning parts – appliances, cabinets, countertops, a new floor.  I’m just missing lights and all the little details like a back splash, crown molding, paint, etc. 

By the end of this week, I should have a few more things done – like the lighting.

And I’m slowly washing all my incredibly dusty stuff and putting it away.  I’m sure I will move it around a few times until I get it all in just the right place.

But the good news is that I’ll be able to start really cooking and baking again soon.  I have plans, and schemes.  So stay tuned!

We now have more of a wall for where the counter/bar is going.  This divides the kitchen from the livingroom and the dining area (where the fridge currently is).

Since I took these, the drywall guy has been back to fix the seams and also to add a texture coating on the ceiling.  That disguises the seam between the old and new ceiling (and looks cool).  Brian also tore up the old floor and replaced in with plywood in preparation for tile.  They need to do a little more finish work on the walls, then the next step in tile.

And to make things even more fun, my in-laws show up on Sunday.  We offered a hotel, but they declined.  I might over rule that decision.

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens 

Okay, so it isn’t glazed in rain water, nor do we have white chickens.  But it is a red wheelbarrow in the middle of what was once our kitchen.  This was halfway through Monday of week 2. The floor has been torn up.  All the cabinets are down.  The sink has been removed. I got an unexpected call midafternoon telling me that they wanted to deliver the cabinets a day early, so Brian had to shift gears to make room in the garage for them. They are now safely stored, awaiting the new space.

Now that’s an open floor plan!

By the end of week 2, we have the knee-wall up and the electrical finished.  As well as the ceiling prepped for the sheetrock.   (Sorry some of the photos are dark – I have no lights yet.) 

Today I bought my appliances – all new stainless steel.  yeah!   Monday the sheetrock goes up.  Then we get tile.  Then I guess it’s the cabinets?  I don’t really know.  I’m just letting Brian worry about it all.  I just hope I can move a few things around before the inlaws show up on the 30th. 

This is Izzy.  She is one of Brian’s helpers.

As I think I mentioned, the wall between the kitchen and living room was a load-bearing wall.  Therefore, we couldn’t just knock it down.  Brian figured out all about floating some giant beam in the attic and attaching it to something up there.  Don’t really know the specifics – all I cared about was that he actually did get engineering approval for all this. 

So on Thursday, he put up two bracing “walls” on either side of the wall being removed.  Then he could take down that wall, cutting all the old supports out of the ceiling and prepping it for the new beam.

Having that in the middle of the room was the only thing that was a bit inconvenient, as it made getting into our space rooms difficult.  (Had a 2×4 in the middle of the doorway.)  It was a good excuse to go out for dinner.

Friday, I was home for most of the morning’s entertainment.  Only a little cursing was invoved with them raising the 450 pound beam into place.  Once the beam was securely in place, the temporary walls could come down.  Then before leaving for the weekend, they closed off the gap in the ceiling.

So for the weekend, we’ve had one giant room.

Grilled Stuffed Pork Chops, Grilled Vegetables, and Caprese Salad

Not wanting to deprive ourselves of good dinners despite the lack of a kitchen, this was dinner Saturday night.  I took to center cut pork chops and stuffed them with chorizo (made at our local market).  The vegetables got a quick marinade in a vinaigrette before grilling.  And then on the side was fresh tomatoes from my garden with fresh mozzarella and basil (and a little vinegar).

So here’s what my kitchen looked after Day 1:

It was a bit of a disaster, but it’s only going to get worse.  But it will be all worth it when I have a real kitchen to cook in. 

I managed dinner of leftover chicken turned into tacos.  Heated the chicken in the microwave with lots of spices; warmed hard corn taco shells in the toasted oven; make homeamde guacamole and pico de gallo; and added cheese and lettuce.

After Day 2, the kitchen looked like this:

So now we are down to no real walls between the rooms.  The pets are all really stressed out and confused.  It really is amazing how far that plaster dust travels.  But I really can’t complain.  Just having the walls down makes me realize how cool the space will look when it is done.  We went out to dinner on Day 2.

Day 3, no work was done.  Dinner was grilled salmon, home-fried potatoes cooked on the side burner on the grill, and salad.  Worked really well, and was tasty.  Let’s see how long it takes before this gets old.  But really, it’s all very exciting.  We’ve picked out our granite and tile.  And now I get to go appliance shopping this weekend.  Shopping is fun!