I Want An Outdoor Space

I so want an outdoor space to lounge in. At my mom's house, it's the garage, at our current house we don't have much of a yard so really there's no space for outdoor furniture.

Bimmer Man, if you are reading this, please, let's buy a house with space for an outdoor patio.

Ok, let me rephrase that: I WANT AN OUTDOOR PATIO. WHERE WE CAN HAVE REAL FURNITURE AND NOT THAT PLASTIC CRAP.

The picture above is from Smith & Hawken which I really adore. The problem is, what I'd like would cost more than $2,000. And those are with the prices on sale. Technically speaking, if both of us were working, that wouldn't be a horrible amount of money to drop on furniture. But we need a house first.
But you see, I'd like to eat outside too.

So not only do we need a spot to "lounge" but we'll need a table and chair set too. Above, the set from Pottery Barn is $1,899.00 and THAT'S ON SALE.

Ugh, I have to admit, I'm really great at spending money we don't have... but it's super nice to dream about what we could have... Eventually!

So in the meantime, I'll be looking for cheap knock offs and houses with beautiful yards that we're able to use!

Happy Tuesday!

Giveaway!!!

One set of 6 photo cards - your choice of the truck or the flowers.

It's just a way of saying thank you for putting up with me for now over 2 years and 300 posts.

Just post a comment to enter. Winner will be chosen randomly on Friday, May 15.

McTatty

And 3 Years Comes to an End...

I don't think I've posted too many pictures of Bimmer Man and I...

So here's one of very few! Happy Mother's Day (Doggie Moms included too) and Happy Graduation!

The Indy 500

No, this year we're not going but I just have to attention whore for a minute.

Last night we went go karting in Indianapolis. On Pole Day.

With Townsend Bell. And most of the Indy Lights racecar drivers. Let me tell you, you'd never think that you'd walk into a go karting place and see what you think is a bunch of high schoolers just playing around when they're actually pro racing drivers. And they were nuts on the track! Seriously, they'd bump into each other, brake check and slam each other into the wall. And their times were amazing.

But since Bimmer Man has been doing driving schools, his times were around the same as the pro drivers.

Hmmm.... Interesting, right????

(It made me feel kinda old, being around teenagers that were racing. And no I wasn't starstruck by the way considering that they were totally normal teenagers off the racetrack!)

Just one perk of living near Indianapolis during the 500...

Exciting News!

Bimmer Man is done with school. Forever. Well, unless he wants to go back.

Graduation is on Saturday and I'm sooooo excited!

Unfortunately that also means that I have to clean. If you don't know about this, take some inspiration from the eclipse cleaning system from The Container Store. But I kind of have a cleaning problem.

It's called DOG FUR.

Since I'm fairly eco-friendly, I've decided that I need to get a new mop, but that doesn't really conquer the dog fur. For dog fur I've been using the Swiffer and the Swiffer disposable sheets (I know, I know, you can totally reprimand me!) but I just don't know any other way to get all the dog fur. We have all wood floors, thank goodness otherwise I think our vacuum probably would've died by now.

If you have a dog - how do you clean the fur balls from your floors without using the Swiffer disposable sheets?

If you use microfiber cloths, how the heck do you get all the fur off?

Easy Turkey Meatballs

Start with the dry ingredients - 1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp Italian seasoning.
Then add 1 lb ground turkey. Honestly, you can mix up ground chicken or pork or beef or lamb or whatever. They're meatballs.
Then mix the ingredients by hand, shape into a ball and cook in a very large pan over medium-high heat. They only need to be brown on 3 sides, not cooked through so don't walk away from the pan! Then remove and set aside for later.
Seriously. The best Italian seasoning ever (well, not really because I like to mix my own but this was cheap at Sam's Club!).
Make a quick tomato sauce - 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp Italian seasoning. Let simmer for about 5 minutes.
Then add the meatballs back in to finish cooking for another 10 - 12 minutes. Not too long - you don't want dry meatballs!
I had gnocchi leftover, so that's what I made to go with.

Yum! Turkey meatballs with gnocchi!

1 lb ground turkey (or beef, chicken, lamb, pork, etc...)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg
2 tbsp Italian seasoning, separated
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes

Form the meatballs with the turkey, cheese, bread crumbs, 1 tbsp seasoning and egg. Saute over medium high heat, browning on at least 3 sides. Remove from pan set aside.

Add the 2 cans of tomatoes to the pan stirring in the remaining seasoning. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add in the meatballs. Simmer another 10 - 12 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.

Serve with pasta or gnocchi.

Enjoy!

WOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I read the book. Absolutely loved it - totally wish that I would've followed her blog when it was happening and now here's the movie!!

Bimmer Man will most likely not come with me. Anyone else wanna go when it comes out???

The Beast Makes Bread: Part 2

Roll the out, then roll it up like you would cinnamon rolls.
Let it rest for another hour.
Make an egg wash...
Oh - look... farm fresh eggs! Anyway, make the egg wash, brush over the loaves and sprinkle with oatmeal...
And fresh bread.

The Beast Makes Bread: Part 1

The Organized McTatty, meet The Beast. The Beast, meet The Organized McTatty. Thank you, tax refund. Thank you.
What's my first recipe? Well, Honey Oat Bread from the Kitchen Aid Mixer booklet.
What you'll need. Flour, honey, butter, water, eggs, yeast, oatmeal. And salt.
Um, I don't have any other oatmeal, so we'll see how this works. Thank you, Sam's Club. I always knew that you're huge variety box "original-oatmeal-that-no-one-likes" would come in handy.
Quick tip: When pouring something sticky into a measuring cup, first spray with Pam.
Works like a charm!
Yeah. Oatmeal. So I eat it every day at work... Whatever.. It's all I have in the house!
While the honey, butter and water heat on the stove, mix the dry ingredients for 15 seconds.
Oh - it's so pretty!
Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. Knead for a few minutes.
And then let rise...

TO BE CONTINUED....

The Easiest Skewers Ever

Yes. It's grilling season already. We've grilled Friday, Saturday and yesterday. Today, well, we have hot dogs left but I'm in a cous cous or pasta mood (Ok, we have ground turkey for burgers and brats in the freezer, but don't tell Bimmer Man, otherwise we might grill again).

McTatty's Grill tips:

1. Buy the good charcoal. Kingston Matchstick works incredibly well - lights easily AND only takes about 10 minutes until the charcoal is ready. Seriously. Buy it. No more newspaper or that charcoal lighter thingy. Woo hoo!

2. Use the cover of the grill. It keeps the food warmer and cooks the already cooked faster.

3. If you want great sear marks, start hot dogs in the middle of the grill for two mintes, flip for another minute and then move to the outside edges to warm all the way through.

4. Skewers should always be more in the middle but only for about 3 minutes per side - then move off to the edges until ready to serve. Skewers get cold fast!

5. The more I grill, the more tips I'll have - but these are just a start.
Two kinds of Chicken Skewer Marinades:

"Italian" Marinade:

1/2 cup Italian dressing
1 tsp grainy mustard (we had Grey Poupon sitting on the counter)
Splash of red wine viniagrette
2 Tbsp olive oil
Juice of one lemon
Salt and pepper

Combine all in one bowl - marinate chicken for 30 - 45 minutes in fridge. You can baste the whole skewer on the grill if you want to, but I'm lazy and we don't exactly have an outdoor kitchen so I didn't do that. Maybe in the future.
"Buffalo" Marinade

1/2 cup buffalo sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
Dash of hot sauce (as if it couldn't be any hotter)
Juice of one lemon

Combine all in a bowl. Let chicken marinade in HALF of this mixture for 30 - 45 minutes. Then, you need to baste the chicken with it on the grill so it has a kick. Otherwise, it just drips off into the coals and creates flames. Oops.

Enjoy!