Author Archives: cathyboettner

When we looked at this house, this space looked like this: If you have been following this blog for a while, you know that I divided this space into a butler’s pantry and laundry room. It is a huge space (over 160 sf) and was underutilized. Here is what it looks like now: The colorsContinue reading “Features that I love about my Butler’s Pantry and Laundry Room”

We have friends who are native to India and they brought this over once when they visited. We loved it so much that we had to make it ourselves. I make the recipe from the America’s Test Kitchen Vegetarian Cookbook. You can subscribe to their site and get this recipe, or you can use thisContinue reading “BIG Batch of Saag Paneer”

I had some really over ripe bananas and thought I could use them in French toast batter. Here’s what I came up with: Batter: 3 really ripe bananas (should be able to almost squeeze them out of the skin like toothpaste) 5 eggs 3 cups of milk 1/2 tsp salt 1 tbsp vanilla extract 1Continue reading “Banana French Toast”

Last summer/fall, we sprayed a section of grass next to the garden on the south side of the house so that we could grow more tomatoes this year. So this spring, I had 5 cubic yards of planting mix delivered. I used some around the shed to bring up the grade between the concrete onContinue reading “A BIGGER garden for tomatoes…..”

Last year, I wrote about planting a bunch of forsythia bushes along the retaining wall between our lawn and our neighbor’s driveway. I had intended to put down river rock last year as a mulch, but it didn’t get done. In the fall, we planted 65 more forsythia bushes down the rest of the wall.Continue reading “Green Screen Update”

This is the time of year that you can find primroses at your local garden center or hardware store. I love these little flowers because like gerbera daisies, they come in fantastic bright and cheery colors. I found this silver plated decorative bowl about 5 years ago at an estate sale. I think I paidContinue reading “A Decorative Idea”

We had dear friends up for the day over the weekend and so to celebrate getting to spend time with them, I decorated the table. I really haven’t done much table decorating since the holidays, so this was a nice change. I used yellow Kalanchoe in verdigris pots, green glass and black metal lanterns, andContinue reading “First table of the Spring”

I started making these a few years ago and my husband LOVES them. Because they are a little bit of a pain, I usually make a ton of them. I am giving you my proportions, but you can easily divide and add more of some things and less of others to suit your tastes. 6Continue reading “Bacon Onion Beef Burgers”

King Cake 1/4 cup butter or margarine 16 oz sour cream 1/3 cup sugar 1 tsp salt 2 envelopes yeast 1 tbsp sugar 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees) 2 large eggs 6 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (Penzey’s Spices has the best around) 1/3 cupContinue reading “Mardi Grass–Laissez les bon temps rouler!”

I LOVE gyros and souvlaki sandwiches. We hadn’t had the gyro burgers in a while, so it was definitely time to put them back in the rotation. These are super easy to make and really flavorful. I used ground turkey, but you could use ground lamb, ground pork, or ground beef–or a combination of allContinue reading “Gyro Burgers”