Week #7 Renovations

This week I learned what it looks like when the mudder is actually working.  He can mud, sand and texture the whole house in one week.  It still took time to dry but it got done!!!!  Our mudder/sander is all done and moved out!  He even textured the ceiling patches to match which didn't look easy.  We still need to texture the walls, but that should get first thing Monday morning.  Our contractor did put up the ceiling in the family room but we are holding off on the paneling until the heating and cooling guys are done with their ductwork.  They even put in the doors and floor boards.  Now we just need the tiles in the ceiling and the carpet which has been ordered!

New door, floor board sand drop ceiling in the family room!

All of the doors look great!

Now it is our turn to paint everything, so we prepped all of the paint and bought all of the supplies.  This will prove to be a very busy week for me.  :)

While waiting for our house we have been enjoying the spoils of our garden most especially our zucchini.  I thought it would be fun to post some of the things we do with our zucchini during this time of plenty.

Breakfast:  We usually eat eggs, so we have been sautéing onions and zucchini and then enjoying them with our eggs.

Ratatouille:  This is a pretty simple recipe, but here is the general idea . . . dice several zucchini (2 - 4), eggplant (2 -4 small), onions (2 - 3), red peppers (2 -3 ) and tomatoes (5 - 6).  You can alter the number based on the amount you need in the end.  Cook vegetables in 4 - 8 T of butter, salt and pepper generously.  Add some tomato paste and quite a bit of thyme (or rosemary).  Then, cover and let it cook for 30-45 minutes.

Italian Zucchini (we call them zucchini pizzas).  Slice zucchini and then put on sauce and cheese.  Bake until zucchini is cooked.  If you call anything pizza my kids will eat it!

Zucchini/Stovetop Casserole  (I must admit that I stole this from my sister-in-law and altered it).  Again this is very simple because, well, simple is all I do.  :)  To feed my overzealous eaters I diced 4 zucchini, a couple of red peppers and mixed them with a box of stovetop, 1/2 stick of melted butter, two cans of mushrooms and some mozzarella cheese.  I added lots of salt and pepper and then put it in a casserole dish and topped it with cheddar cheese.  Bake at 400 for 40 minutes.  

And even after all that we still have tons of zucchini, so I think it is time to start making more zucchini bread and freezing the rest!

It has been a nice relaxing week, and we even did a little school work.  Now we are finishing up a relaxing weekend in preparation of our great week of paint!