Vegan Patty-burgers and Chocolate/banana milk shakes

Ok..so I have no computer..fritzed.. I have no Photoshop, which means I have no job, which means I get to play and go crazy..so..

 

 serious yum

Summer days

Starting to cool off just a bit, the morning and afternoon breezes are wonderful.
Might take the camera out tomorrow..
Ah..and I survived (so far) a rattlesnake bite to my ankle..was kinda painful...and scary.
Tuckpointing on the north side of building is almost complete

rose garden wreath...

Almost August

Time flies..Lots of work on the building going on this summer. The Niche room is all painted and ready for the new electric and fan.
We are clearing out the entire 1st floor, everything goes..cept for a new workroom down there - which means..the last room on the second floor (current workroom) should be finished..maybe by October??? Cross fingers!
But the big thing is - the tuckpointing on the west and north sides of the building is finally getting finished!
And in the kitchen today.. ketchup, pizza sauce and mayo..made with our spoiled chickens eggs!

Spring I guess..

Just not the same with Hawk gone.

and..

19x24

pencil on bristol

Little pizzas

Ok, I'm not a great cook - but I make yummy veggie pizzas that even meat eaters love.
try it.

For the the dough:

Put this in a mixing bowl - in this order
1 Tbs salt
1 heaping Tbs baking powder
2 Tbs sugar ( must use to activate yeast, I use unbleached raw cane sugar)
1 Tbs instant yeast
2  cups of hot water (not too hot about dishwater temp)
 it will bubble once you add the water
then add
5 cups of flour
mix with dough hook if using mixer or by hand, if it too sticky you might need to sprinkle on a bit more flour if using mixer when its all mixed( about 2 min).
Remove from bowl and kneed by hand till its as smooth as a babys butt. If your mixing/kneading all by hand should take about 15 minutes - its a great arm workout.
Then..
Put the dough in bowl twice its size, cover and let sit at room temperature for 3 - 4 hours.
Then, it ready - you have pizza dough for the week.
Break off a piece ( baseball size or a bit smaller for individual pizzas) the rest goes in the fridge in covered (airtight bowl) till you want to use it, can last a week or so.

For the sauce:

in a processer -
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
a few sun dried tomato halves
a few handfuls of spanish peanuts and or pine nuts
1-3 Tbs of basil - depending on personal taste
1 Tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 Tbs chopped garlic
6 oz coconut oil, peanut oil or water  - your pick
Red pepper if you like
Italian seasoning if you like
some sugar - 1 Tbs or whatever sweetener you prefer..honey,stevia..to taste

process it all till smooth, spoon it into a glass jar, lasts about 2 weeks in fridge - can add any spices you like to taste - - this is depending on personal likes.
If you used coconut or water you will need to let this sit outside of fridge to soften enough before spreading it on the dough, kinda like butter.

The Pizzas !
Sprinkle a pizza pan with corn meal or polenta ( keeps pizza from sticking)
Make baseball size balls with dough ( or a bit smaller)
Sprinkle flour on table and roll them out

 place dough on pan and spread with pizza sauce - be generous, its yummy

 

put a layer of spanish cheese on - I use a Queso Cotija from goat milk for this layer -  its a mexican grated cheese that melts beautifully into the sauce. Also goat milk is naturally homogenized, meaning its smooth and consistent without it undergoing a man-made process, contains less lactose which makes it easier to digest , has about  89% less Alpha s1 casein  - which is the protein most are allergic to., and on the average it has less fat, less calories, less sugars and more iron, calcium and vitamins.

For vegans - just leave the cheese out,  great pizza without any too, the spanish nuts in the sauce give it a bit of cheese texture.

heap diced tomatoes on - fresh from garden is best, anything but store bought hot house tomatoes

sprinkle on red and yellow diced onions
sprinkle on red pepper, salt and pepper to taste

add mushrooms, roasted peppers, olives - whatever you like - heap on the veggies

sprinkle on mozzerrla cheese (if you like)

bake at 350 for 15-20 min, till chesse starts to lightly brown.

enjoy.
xxx
Thanks to Bliss for being my model.

Happy October

My favorite decorating holiday is comming - Halloween.
and just fall in general, the colors, the feeling. Everything slowing down..like right before falling asleep, that drowsy state.
Magicial.
Still working on the 3rd floor, painting and making the 22 lockers there leading to the auditorium usable..adding shelves to some. Found a great old school light fixture that might go up in there..can't decide on that or a fan that matches the kitchen ones, its a smaller hall - 6 ft wide and can get a bit stuffy..but the school light would look so cool..decisions, decisions...

The Pumpkin Crawler

 I loveee halloween !!

on the drawing board...

Third Floor Kitchen remod

I have a new kitchen !

 I love love love it..its kind of a mix of my two faves - Italian and French country. Painted/antiqued and recushioned the chairs with same off white cotten canvas as the drapes. Four of the 8 are finished - Bliss is still rebuilding the last two, they were in pretty bad shape. Redoing a few old armchairs we found at a thrift store years ago also, the extras will go in the side hall ... maybe with a computer/craft workstation, theres a wall of lockers there that would be perfect for storing all sorts of stuff. And we are still looking for doors that will fit the pantry and one of those huge old farmhouse sinks with the flat front to replace the tiny bar one we have in now - but its getting there.

September

Just been cleaning up..or trying to, lazy summer is ending. Thinking about fall coming, such a quiet reflective time. Time to take walks collecting all sorts of treasures for wreaths and topiarys.

New art for my wreaths..like?

Spring into summer 2014

It was a busy spring, the building next doors roof blew off destroying half of our front yard. It took out two large trees, our shade patio area, an arbor and the angel statue, so we re-designed.
and added...

the coop that was started 2 years ago, yup.. and in the front yard - hahaha..
(Its really a temporary home that will turn into a great garden area, well fertilized. but too much fun not to tell people that..gotta live up to the insane people who bought a HUGE school thing, right?)

 Every coop needs chickens, so along came...

 Hawk and Contessa two adult hens and 4 pullets - Shadow, Eggplant, Lulu and..

 Raddish - she loves onions and laid her first and perfect 100% organic, antibiotic free and non-gmo fed unfertilized egg yesterday, she is now an adult. I never knew that chickens each have their own personality - or ate so much.

Working on a rock sink outside and thinking about adding an outdoor pizza oven by the new (almost finished) tree shaded patio along with the bbq..cept summers here and days are getting long, hot and lazy.

School daze

 The Burbank School built in 1926, rebuilt in 1936-7 and re-modled in 2006 - present. The top is the earlest picture we've found. Somewhere along the years the (gymnasium and auditorium) windows were removed and bricked over, other then that not too many negative changes had been made thru the years.
I do wish the front fence and landscaping were still here when we got it.
Which leads me to why the in the hell we (2 adults), would buy a 19,000 sf building on top of a hill out in the middle of the country.  ...insanity ???
I don't really know..
I remember the first day after we got the keys.. kinda sat in the semi-dark hallway wondering what to do.
Its when we kinda realized there wasnt a bathroom..well not a real one - there was a girls room and boys room - 3-4 stalls each and a sink, then the old gym showers way in the back of an addition. Ever been in and old school restroom that hasn't been used in a few years? Not nice.
Demolition time!
Hauling out all the trash came first, years of old files..paper, anything that might be left and unwanted in an old school, the literally TONS of massive old pipe from the outdated steam heat. We were told the heating bill averaged $1500.00 monthly so knew that had to go to something more efficient. We decided on separate room heat/air units and lots of ceiling fans to take advantage of the 11ft ceilings.
It was 3 months till we actually got a working bathroom in..first tub delivered arrived cracked.. so took another month re-deliver.
ahhh..the bathroom on the 3rd floor.. theres the tub that took 3 months to deliver

It still not quite finished - we built a wall separating the toilet and shower, on the other end is the washer/dryer build out, still would love to put in window/storage bench/seats the length of the windows and get the new lighting and fan up..

Has instant endless hot water heating, elongated tall toilet and fireplace, 2 person tub - its a dream bath.

there's 4 large rooms on the 3rd floor, a center hall..(12ft wide), and a side hall which leads to the 300 seat auditorium - have not done any work on that yet other then to replace some broken windows, has a cool stage- all the old lighting. Roof/window leaks (fixed now) and moisture from them in that area had damaged the plaster pretty bad so will prob be going for an exposed brick look in there ..cant find a pic on this computer..

this is the largest..finished the ceiling, now we are arguing about how many ceiling fans it needs...

                       Here's the center hall..we plan on a small kitchen there, have the wet bar sink in..theres a rooftop out that window and we planned on putting steps and french doors going out to it, would be perfect for morning coffee and dinner watching the sun set.

Havent thought about all this in awhile..after messing up my knees and back I've just worked my paying job (art)..and now..believe it or not - I want to start making bread!  from scratch..like really scratch - making the flour..

This former city girl might, after 7 years, actually be getting used to country life.

Ok..on to the 2nd floor - 6 rooms..2 hallways...2 entryways.