Happy Birthday to You...

Happy Birthday David!

Shrimp Salad

We are in the middle of quite the little heat wave (I do love old movies... well anything old really!) and I have been trying my best to stay out of the kitchen, which is very hard for me! So instead of avoiding the kitchen altogether I have been making no-cook or little-cook dinners for the Mr. and myself.

We recently had shrimp salads, what I consider the utmost of yummy no-cook dinners! They are so simple, yet David raves about them every time :) Our salads are different each time, but this last salad started with a bed of leaf lettuce and then was topped with grated carrot, sliced cucumber, hard boiled eggs, minced scallions, sliced avocado and the shrimp, of course! I made a little dressing by mixing mayo, ketchup, garlic, salt and pepper and worcestershire and we just dolloped it over our salads. We also had some homemade bread and garlic pepper havarti (we visited the Willamette Valley Cheese tasting room that weekend and stocked up on some great cheeses!)

During the dog days of summer I also love making up grain salads and bean salads. I cook the grains or beans in the morning when the house is still cool and then mix up a dressing and toss in whatever veggies, cheese, or nuts we have in the pantry.

What are you doing to beat the heat?

Enjoy it while it's here... it will be gone before we know it!

Grilled Tacos

Last weeks wonderful weather found David at the grill and my dear friend, Katie, and I in the kitchen whipping up some salads. Our new freezer was delivered that day and we thought we should celebrate with a dinner of grilled steak tacos, Ina's guacamole salad, brown rice pilaf and wonderful company. We had a blast eating, sharing stories, laughing and chatting until late in the evening... I do love summer!

Laundry Soap

As I mentioned in my counter spray post, I make all our own cleaning products, and have for some time now... which we love! They are very easy to throw together and I am always pleased with the results.

A few days ago I decided to make a few large batches of laundry powder after seeing this post. Her recipe is very similar to the one I have used in the past, however, my recipe made a smaller batch. Since it is summer (yippee) I have a little more time, okay a lot more time, on my hands and I thought it would be a great idea to make three large jars, all with different scents! I know this will come in handy once school starts again and I am up to my ears in first grade fun! Once all the ingredients are out, the powder come together in a snap. I like to use my cuisinart to grate the soap and then I switch to the steel blade and process the grated soap for about a minute. I then mix it all in a large bowl and place it in my jars. This time around I made non-scented, lavender and peppermint!

Dinner Out

A couple of weeks ago David took me out to a wonderful dinner for my birthday. We started with drinks at Wildwood and then we walked across the street to Paley's Place for one of the best dinners we have ever had!

amuse bouche: Creamed Goat Cheese, Beet Salad, Sprouts

cocktail: Clear Creek Pear Brandy Kamikaze

salad: Grilled Asparagus with Proscuitto, Soft Egg, and Mustard Seed Vinaigrette

dinner: Mediterranean Blue Mussels, Hand-Cut Fries and Mustard Aioli (mine, I didn't get a good picture of the mussels, but they were delightful)

Rabbit Ravioli, House Bacon, Local Mushrooms, Spring Garlic (David's, below)

Dessert: Warm Chocolate Souffle Cake, Toasted Hazelnuts and Honey-Vanilla Ice Cream

after dinner bite: Almond Short Bread

As you can see, the table became darker with each passing course... but oh did we have a great time. What way to celebrate a birthday!

Happy Father's Day Papou

Father's Day found us with two of favorite people! We stopped a Camp 18 for brunch and then we were off to Cannon Beach for the day! We walked up and down the main street, stopping in many shops, had an ice cream cone snack, a walk on the beach and an early dinner of clam chowder at a little restaurant before heading home. It was a great day!

Counter Spray

Here in the Sacoolas household I make all our cleaning supplies (we haven't purchased pre-made cleaning products in almost two years... how liberating!) We use homemade counter spray, dishwasher soap and laundry soap- all of which we love! All three are made from very similar ingredients making for a wonderfully simple cleaning cupboard and the joys of not having all those chemicals in our house.

Since we have done the switch over to homemade products, we have been very happy with the results. I find they work just as well as products purchased at the store, although you might need to bring a little elbow grease for tough stains and grime. AND, you can customize your own scents, making your home smell wonderful!

Below is the recipe I use to make our counter spray. I make two batches at a time, one to keep in the kitchen and one for the bathroom. For the kitchen I like to use a combination of Lemon and Orange Essential Oil and for the bathroom I use Lavender. The recipe below makes a little over a cup of cleaning solution, which lasts us well over a month.

Counter Spray

1 c. hot water

1 tsp. borax

1/2 tsp. washing soda (I have only been able to find this at Winco)

1/2 tsp. Dr. Bronner's Liquid soap

2 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil (a natural anti-bacterial)

*Kitchen- In addition to the tea tree oil, 4 drops orange essential oil and 2 drops lemon essential oil

*Bathroom- In addition to the tea tree oil, 2 drops lavender essential oil

Whisk hot water, borax and washing soda (I mix mine in a large pyrex liquid measuring cup). Add soap and essential oils and pour into spray bottle. Give a little shake before use.

**Above is my little bottle that I keep in the kitchen, behind it you can see our rag bag. I made it from an old kitchen towel and it is filled with cut up kitchen towels that were past their prime and old t-shirts that were way past their prime... both make the perfect little rags, especially in a house that is paper towel free**