Goodbye to Summer Lunch

With the first day of autumn coming in a week, I decided to make a delicious “Goodbye to Summer” lunch.  Honestly, with the heat this year, it isn't so sad to have summer leave.  There were no convenience items on hand such as buns and patties, so I decided to make hamburgers and buns from scratch.  I also came up with a fun pasta salad to go with it.  There was a can of baked beans so I cheated and used them.  If you feel so inclined to have your own “Goodbye to Summer” meal, I have included the recipes.

Hamburger buns:

Ingredients

·         3 cups warm water

·         4 tablespoons molasses

·         1/4 ounce fresh yeast

·         3 tablespoons olive oil

·         8 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

Directions

1.        In a large bowl, mix together water, molasses, yeast, and oil until yeast has dissolved. Slowly add flour, mixing until a dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; knead until smooth, about 30 seconds.

2.        Return dough to bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing plastic wrap onto the surface of the dough. Let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

3.        Preheat oven to 400 degrees; line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Divide dough evenly into 12 pieces and roll into balls. Place balls of dough on prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart and cover with plastic wrap; let stand in a warm place until doubled in size.

4.        Fill a spray bottle with cold water and generously moisten each ball of dough (Sprinkle Poppy Seeds or Sesame Seeds if desired) Transfer to oven and bake until brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely on baking sheets

The Dough rising

Ready to go in the oven

Beautiful finished buns

 

Really Good Hamburgers:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon steak sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 pound ground beef
• 4 slices sharp cheddar cheese
• 4 hamburger buns, split and toasted
• 8 cooked bacon strips
• Optional toppings: lettuce leaves and tomato, onion and pickle slices

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into four patties.
• Grill burgers, covered, over medium heat or broil 3 in. from the heat for 4-7 minutes on each side or until a thermometer reads 160° and juices run clear. Top with cheese. Grill 1 minute longer or until cheese is melted. Serve on buns with bacon and toppings of your choice. Yield: 4 servings.

Here is my chopped garlic for the hamburger patties.  My hands smell so good from chopping it, I just want to eat my fingers.  Gross.

 

Penne Pasta Salad:

½ box penne, boiled and cooled

½ chopped cucumber

¼ c chopped onion

1 sm chopped tomato

1 cup mayo

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp fresh chopped basil leaves

Salt and fresh ground pepper

Mix the pasta with the mayo, sugar, salt and pepper and basil leaves.  Fold in the veggies.

I also marinated some cucumbers to go on the hamburgers.

 



Vintage Phrase of the Day

The Bee's Knees = An Outstanding Person Or Thing/ The Height Of Excellence

Although the origins of this phrase come from the 18th century meaning something insignificant, the slang of the 1920's brought it to a new place.  Honestly, a bees knees do store pollen, therefore they are extra sweet.  People tried to make other slang phrases that didn't quite pan out.  "The Canary's Tusks", "The Elephant's Instep", and my personal favorite "The Flea's Eyebrows". "That flapper dress is simply the flea's eyebrows."  I could just hear someone saying that.  Another one that did survive is "The Cat's Pajamas".  Do you know any cute old expressions?  Please tell me in the comments.

Cleaning Time

I decided to nest for back to school by deep cleaning my children’s rooms while they were out of town.  I had no idea what I was in for.  My daughters room took 8.5 hours, while my sons took 5.  I couldn’t believe the mess that had acquired since I did it last summer.  Part of the problem is I buy them something just about everywhere we go.  It is compulsive, and it will now stop.  I couldn’t believe the mess in my daughters room.  There were dirty laundry, crayons, markers, paintbrushes (she is an artist), light brite colored pieces, legos, pieces of pretzel and tortilla chips, daddy long legs spiders and flies, dead bugs, little cut up pieces of paper, polly pocket clothes and shoes, and tons of other things hidden in the closet, behind the dresser, under the bunkbed, under her desk, ect.  I now know what she does once a week when I make her clean her room.  My son, however, never gets his room cleaned, therefore he never gets his allowance.  I now secretly wish my daughter never cleaned her room, because that was such a horrifying experience cleaning her room.  I used to get to those rooms every six months, but for some reason it took a year this time.  That will never happen again.  Nor will I ever buy my children another toy.  I’m so excited for them to come home and see their rooms.  I would like to think they will be happy, but you know how artist are(I am one, so I know personally).  I bet my son will be glad his room is finally clean, but my daughter will cringe, tear the sheets off her bed, and rearrange any cleaning I have done.  Luckily, there won’t be any dirty laundry or spiders underneath.  (For a few weeks at least).

This is my daughters atrocious room after a few hours of cleaning.

I opened the closet, and to my horror, this was inside.



This is her room after I finally finished cleaning.

My son's room was pretty messy as well.

This is how it looked when I finished cleaning.



Maybe part of the reason it took so long is I had to organize everything.  I hung thier little shirts by rainbow color.  This is before we went school shopping.  Therefore, there would be a nice clean closet to hang the new clothes.

I am so relieved to have this project done, and honestly after a few weeks, the rooms aren't too bad. I have been having them clean up every Friday for an allowance, and after they clean, I look under the bed and behind dressers to make sure the junk doesn't accumulate again.  What is the worst thing you ever found when cleaning your house or your childs room?  Please comment. 

Vintage Word of the Day

Roasting Ears = corn on the cob

Today a cute old man from our town called up my husband and said, "Would you like some roasting ears?"  My husband said, "Yes, that is so sweet."  When he hung up the phone, he turned to me and said, "What are roasting ears?  Is it corn."  I laughed and replied, "yes, it is corn on the cob."  I love the words and phrases old people say, so I decided to incorporate it into my blog.  So, today is the first vintage word of the day.  I hope you like.

Missing Grandma Lou

Today is the one year anniversary of my grandma Lou's death.  The kids and I went to visit my mother to take flowers to grandma's grave.  She got the cutest little smiley face pot with yellow flowers inside.  She said it reminded her of Grandma's cute, smiling face.  We placed the plant and said a few words, and then we went to search for my great grandparents grave.  Finding their grave was a fun adventure with my mom.  When we did finally find it, there were pretty little flowers planted there by my mom's cousin.  There were also pesky weeds that must have come up since Memorial Day.  So my mom and I weeded, and she said the sweetest thing.  She said, "It is an honor to weed the flowers in front of their grave."  We then went to lunch, and we even saw her sister.  We were able to tell her of our adventure and show her little pics I took on my phone.  I am sharing these pics with you all as well.  It should have been a sad day, but it seems like the sun was shining a little brighter after our adventure.  Although we all still miss someone, we can try to live in the little moments like these, and appreciate those we still have with us. 

Beautiful Blue Margaritas

A couple days ago, my friend from middle school came to our home town (about 20 miles away from me), and she graciously invited me to dinner at her mom’s house.  When I asked what I could bring, she said, “Just a bottle of wine.”  Well, on my counter I had a fairly cheap, yet delicious bottle of wine, but in my freezer I had the fixings for margaritas.  I texted her back, would you rather I bring wine, or my famous margaritas.  I don’t have to tell you what she said.  Anyways, we had such a blast, and we helped her mom get ready for a garage sale she was having in the morning.  At one point, we decided to sneak off and walk a few blocks to the nearest park with a swingset.  We swang and chatted, and the weather was marvelous at night.  Anyways, at one point, she asked if I had the recipe memorized, and I said yes I do.  Here is the recipe if you ever want to taste some delicious frozen summertime margaritas yourself. 

½ cup each silver tequila (get 100% agave), blue caraco, and sprite, 1/3 cup limeade concentrate, 2 cups ice.  Put in blender and blend.

I have made nonalcoholic ones for my kids.  Here is the recipe: 1 cup sprite, ½ cup limeade concentrate 1 cup ice.

I usually salt the rim, because my husband likes it, but I have used blue colored sugar or even mixed the two with a beautiful effect.

Bright fall rain fun

Bright fall rain fun by littlepinkdresslinda featuring thick leggings

Scotch Soda rain coat
$105 - scotch-soda.com

American Apparel thick legging
$51 - republic.co.uk

Hunter tall shoes
$130 - office.co.uk

Teardrop earrings
forevernew.com.au

Bank Leopard Print Umberella
$19 - bankfashion.co.uk

Barry M neon nail polish
$4.67 - bankfashion.co.uk