Weekend Kitchen. . .BLT Salad

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I made this salad for lunch one day last week and it was delicious.
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BLT Salad with Vinaigrette
- 8 slices bacon
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 8 cups romaine
- 1/3 cup blue cheese crumbles
- 1/2 avocado (This wasn't in the original recipe but I thought it sounded like a good addition)
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp. sugar ( You can leave this out if you want - I did)
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- salt & pepper to taste
(serves 4)
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I'm still picking a ton of tomatoes from my plants, so this was a perfect way to use up a few!
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1.  In large skillet cook bacon over medium heat until crisp.  Remove bacon and drain on paper towels.
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2.  Halve cherry tomatoes, prepare lettuce, break bacon into small pieces.  Top lettuce with tomatoes, bacon, blue cheese, avocado.
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3.  For vinaigrette, in a small bowl, combine vinegar, sugar and mustard.  Stir well.  Add olive oil and whisk to blended.
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4.  Pour vinaigrette over salad and enjoy!
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Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, June 2009.  See the original recipe here.
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Home Tour...Downstairs and To The Bar

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Next up on my home tour is the bar area in my lower level.

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You can see my previous home tour posts here:

- Home Tour Part 1:  The Screen Porch

- Home Tour part 2:  The Kitchen

- Home Tour Part 3:  The Craft Room

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We'll start upstairs in the foyer.

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Head down the stairs...

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The wood floor in the foyer and on the stairs is bamboo.  I love the color and the grain of the bamboo reeds.  Paint color is Benjamin Moore; Texas Leather AC-3.

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Turn the corner and there's the bar.  In case you weren't sure - there's this sign to point you in the right direction...

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I bought the sign a few years ago on clearance from Pottery Barn.

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Paint color in the lower level is Benjamin Moore; Shelbourne Buff HC-28.

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I have a few collections displayed on the bar:  corks, matches, and golf balls.

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The poster above on the left is an old, vintage Italian print.  My last name is written on the crate that the monkey is sitting on.  Love that!  The print on the back wall is a poster for a local beer - Bell's Oberon.  A big summertime favorite here in Michigan.

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This shelf is right above the sink.  I keep a few of my favorite bottles out on it.  I brought the beer bottle back from the Virgin Islands - I love a cheap souvenir!

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The wine rack definitely comes in handy.

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Thanks for taking the tour!  Next up is my home office.

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Linked up to:  Tatertots and Jello,
Making The World Cuter,
The House in the Roses,
The DIY Showoff,
Sugar Bee Craft Edition

Guest Posting Today at Remodelaholic

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My September guest post is up at Remodelaholic.  Thank you Cassity for having me over again today!

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Canning Salsa and Tomato Sauce

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Last weekend my Mom and I canned salsa and tomato sauce.  It was a long, tiring day but definitely worth it!
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First up was a stop at the farmer's market for supplies.  Look at all those beautiful peppers.
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The tomatoes were beautiful too.
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We decided to use Roma tomatoes for both our salsa and tomato sauce.  I bought one 1/2 bushel and one peck which was somewhere around 43 pounds!
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I don't know why, but I like this picture of all the canning jars in the dishwasher...
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* We followed the ingredients list (with just a few small changes) provided by Jenny of Anything Pretty.  Thanks Jenny!  And then we used my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook for the actual step by step directions.
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Salsa Ingredients:
- 10 cups peeled, chopped, and cored, tomatoes
- 5 cups chopped seeded bell peppers
- 5 cups chopped onions
- 2 1/2 cups chopped seeded chili peppers (we used a combo of jalapeño and Anaheim)
- 1 1/4 cups cider vinegar
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
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* Makes 10 pints
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The first step is to peel the tomatoes.  Boil a large pot of water.  Remove the core and use a knife to make an "x" at the bottom of each tomato.  Boil tomatoes in small batches for one minute or until skin starts to peel off.  As you remove tomatoes from boiling water place in ice bath.  After the tomatoes have cooled, you will be able to easily remove the peel.
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Here's what 43 pounds of peeled tomatoes looks like:
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We only used 10 cups for the salsa but decided to get the peeling out of the way for our tomato sauce at the same time.
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Directions for Salsa:
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1. Prepare ingredients.
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2.  Place tomatoes in a large stainless steel, enameled, or nonstick heavy kettle.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat.  Simmer for 1-1/4 hours, or until thickened, stirring frequently.  Add bell peppers, Anaheim & jalapeño peppers, onions, vinegar, garlic, salt.  Return mixture to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.
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3.  Ladle hot salsa into hot, clean pint canning jars, leaving 1/2-inch head space.  Wipe jar rims, place lids and rings on.  Processes in a boiling-water canner for 15 minutes (Start timing when water returns to boiling).  Remove jars and cool on racks or towels.  Jars should rest, undisturbed, for 24 hours. 
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* If you are new to canning, you might want to check out this helpful overview at pickyourown.org. 
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The finished product:
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The recipe was supposed to make 10 pints, but somehow, we only ended up with 9 pints.
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After finishing the salsa we moved on to our tomato sauce.  We followed a recipe I learned from Mamma Agata.  I canned this last year too and I was so happy that I did.  I know I've mentioned it before, but if you ever find yourself on the Amalfi Coast of Italy, I highly recommend a day spent at Mamma Agata's enjoying her cooking class.  It's a day you will never forget!
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The only ingredients for this delicious sauce are:  tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Heaven.
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We ended up with 12 quarts of sauce.
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See the white in the jars?  Those are whole cloves of garlic.  Yum.
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Finding Fabulous...

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The lovely Jane of Finding Fabulous asked me to be her guest blogger today.  I shared a few of my favorite projects right here.  I'm sure you all know Jane from her great blog, beautiful home, and her Frugalicious Friday link up Party.  But if not, be sure to stop by and say hello!  
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Thanks so much Jane for having me over!
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Lamp Redo

I am re-posting my lamp makeover project that was originally posted on Remodelaholic last week.  I apologize if you've already seen it!
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I recently took an old lamp from my Grandparents house.  When I saw it, I was pretty sure that I could put it too good use somewhere in my house.  I had it for a few weeks and decided that with a little work it could work really nicely in my guest room.

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When I found the lamp it looked like this:

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I loved the shape, but it definitely was old and dated.

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First, I spray painted the base with a few coats of Krylon 'Dover White' in a gloss finish.

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Then I got to work on recovering the shade.  Originally, I was planning on buying a new shade.  But the old shade was in great shape and I decided it would be easy to recover myself.

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To recover a shade, you will need fabric, seam binding and craft glue.
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The fabric I used is Better Homes & Gardens by Richloom Fabrics Group.  I bought it at Joanns and I looked for it online but I can't find it.

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I used trace paper to make a template for the fabric.  You could also use a large section of newspaper or even wrapping paper.  Just wrap the trace paper around the entire lamp shade, use a pencil to trace the outline of the shade, and cut out.  Once I had the template, I pinned it on to the fabric and cut out my fabric.  Make sure to leave an inch or two of extra fabric around each side.

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Next, I used spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the shade.  Spray adhesive is VERY sticky, so make sure you do it outside or in a garage!

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After using the spray adhesive, the shade looked like this:

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Trim the extra fabric so that about a 1/2" remains.  That will give you just enough to fold over and secure the edge. 

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Use craft glue or a hot glue gun to attach fabric to inside of shade.  I use Aleene's Original Tacky Glue.

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Where the two edges or fabric overlap, fold over and press one side to create a finished seam, and then glue down with craft glue.

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Here's how the edges looked:

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You could leave the edges like this, but I decided to add seam binding to both the top and bottom edges for a nice, finished look.  I used craft glue for this too.

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Here's the finished lamp in my guest room:

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.Linking to:  Cheap Chic Home, The Virginia House, Fingerprints on the Fridge,
It's a Hodgepodge Life, Tatertots & Jello, My Backyard Eden, House of Grace