So if you’re not following us on Facebook (or even if you are), I’m kind of in the middle of remodeling my kitchen. And when I say “I,” I mean a very nice man and his crew of workers are remodeling my kitchen; I’m 100% sure if I were actually doing the work, it would never get done. I was really pushing him to start today so I could have a week to get posts and freezer meals ready before I had to wash dishes in my bathtub, but he was ready to go last Wednesday. It was definitely kind of a simultaneous “YAY!” and “Oh, crap!” moment. Wanna take a little peek at what’s gone on so far?
This is no more:
Adios, washer and dryer in the kitchen!
I’m not sure what decade it was when these cabinets went in, but this gingerbread house-y decorative…something…is now gone.
We’re pretty much changing the whole layout of the kitchen–our stove won’t look out onto the dining room anymore. Also, that stove is currently sitting in my garage, looking for a happy new home so we don’t have to send it to the Happy Stove Farm in the Sky (actually, it would probably go to the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, but my kids think the idea of a place where all the old stoves have lots of open land to run around is funny).
So far, the only rooms in our house not directly impacted by construction are the master bedroom, our bathroom, and the living room. This is a peek of what a good chunk of my house currently looks like:
We discovered all sorts of layers of awesomeness under the walls…
and the floors…
Maybe if y’all are lucky, I’ll take a picture of my office–it looks like Fred Sanford moved in. I’m kind of scared I might get the people from Hoarders called on me.
I’m so grateful to be getting a new kitchen, don’t get me wrong…but it is August and it is hot and I still have one little person whose preschool hasn’t started yet. Add in the fact that we got everything from Ikea, which is a 4 1/2 hour drive away, and it looks like I’ll be going back sometime in the next few days and I have a persistent, dull headache and a lot of sleepless nights. And for me, if soup is comfort food for the winter, smoothies are comfort food for the summer. I could subsist exclusively on smoothies in the summer. It’s a sickness.
Since I don’t have a lot of cooking tools at my disposal right now (just ask the girl at Popeye’s who looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for a container of rice the other night), my culinary adventures are fairly limited right now, but I did make a conscious effort to not pack up my blender. Add in the carton of giant, freshly picked raspberries I have sitting in my fridge, and I’m in business. Kind of. I made these smoothies on my bedroom floor.
For this smoothie, you’ll need Orange Mango Peach juice (or another kind of tropical-ish juice), mangoes (or peaches if you’re not keen on mangoes), raspberries, and pineapple sherbet. If you’re using all frozen fruit, you won’t need any additional ice, but if you’re using fresh fruit, you’ll need about 1 cup of ice per fresh fruit (so if you’re using fresh mangoes and fresh raspberries, use 2 cups of ice).
Place all the ingredients in your blender…
and blend the mixture until it’s nice and smooth. Wonder if your headache will ever go away. Drink a Diet Coke and take some ibuprofen. Have another smoothie. Welcome yourself to my life.
Raspberry-Mango Smoothie
Recipe by Our Best Bites
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Orange Mango Peach juice
1 cup cubed mangoes (or peaches)
1 cup raspberries
1 1/2 cups (about 3 large scoops) pineapple sherbet
2 cups ice (omit 1 cup ice per frozen fruit used)
Instructions:
Add all ingredients to your blender in the order listed and blend until smooth. Drink immediately. Makes 2 large smoothies or 4 smaller smoothies.
Love the mango recipes for smoothie, I would like to see how your home turned out, link up on facebook or update, email me to let me know, thanks..
Lynn
I love strawberry smoothies!
I completely feel your pain with the new kitchen reno-…but it will be SOOO worth it…I have to say, you must keep the coke bottle opener! We have one of those, inside the recycle door so you can throw your bottle away and open another! And the spice rack twirley thing…it was great for a while, but really hard to clean…and some of those spices??? Even though my son gave it to me…it had to go! Good Luck!
Susan, you have eagle eyes! I can’t believe you saw that Coke bottle opener. No, we definitely kept that–seriously, it was such a tiny thing, but it was one of the things that sold us on the house (all the little charming details).
And yes, the spice rack will go. In fact, I have a crafty little project to show y’all when I’m done! 🙂
Hello Ladies! I just purchased your cookbook while on vacation in Utah last week and I LOVE it! I had heard rave reviews about your web site, but hadn’t taken the time to check it out. I have already tried a few recipes and everything is so easy and yummy! This is the first cook book I have seen that I actually want to try every recipe! I am even featuring Brazilian Lemonade in my monthly client newsletter (with a link to your web site, of course)! Thanks so much for great, easy and best of all YUMMY recipes! Mindy
I love raspberry and mango together! Great smoothie recipe!
I love smoothies and I use my blender for many other things. I am trying to decide if a nice blender like the Blendtec is worth it’s cost. Got any ideas on how to get it for cheaper?
You’ve had your washer and dryer in your kitchen, eh? Very European (I’m sure that’s *exactly* what you thought). 🙂 Good luck with the remodel and thank you for the idea on what I can treat myself to tonight!
Yes, “very European” was the exact thought going through my head! 😉 No, we’ve had a washer and dryer in our kitchen in both houses we’ve lived in in Louisiana. It didn’t bother me as much this time because our kitchen is larger than our last one, but still…not great for re-sale, you know?
Oh my! Girl I feel your pain – well, the headache part anyway. In fact, just got back from the store with two of the very same things that you mentioned. Diet Coke and Ibuprofen. However, I did decide to add one more thing – some Vodka. Not the tastiest of drinks, but no carbs! LoL. (However, I am saving my frozen fruit for Labor Day weekend to make popsicles and smoothies when my nieces and newphew visit.)
Have you ever blogged about your Blendtec? I am trying to decide if I should get one. Do you love it $350 worth??? Anyone else have an opinion?
I just barely got mine about a month ago, but Sara’s had one for awhile now and it’s come up before. Honestly…we both completely love them. I don’t think either one of us are hard-core green smoothie-ers, so I can’t talk about them from that perspective, but I really, really enjoy using it. It’s a splurge, and I’ve made it 30 1/2 years without one just fine, but if you’re in the market for a blender that will last forever, I’d recommend it.
I’ve had my Blendtec (which used to be K-tec) blender since 2000. I’ve had to replace the blender part twice, but not the motor. They are very well made. I love mine and use it all the time.
Our kitchen remodel is complete as of… TODAY! Which means I totally feel your pain, and I know it is totally worth it in the end! We did all the work ourselves, while trying to keep our 2-year-old and 5-year-old from destroying the rest of the house, so I know how insane it can be. But I love my new kitchen and I know you will, too! Hang in there!
Your cabinets are from the 50’s. They are the exact ones I grew up with (only ours were a nasty mustard yellow color). We went through a complete kitchen remodel a few years ago and I cooked everything on the dining table in the toaster oven and microwave! Granted we didn’t have kids yet, so it was MUCH easier with just the two of us.
FYI a hand blender works just as well as a blender for almost anything!! I make smoothies for my kids all the time with mine and they just love them!! I just use yogurt, frozen fruit and milk.
I love your blogs! I just discovered your cookbook (which I bought) at Costco a little over a month ago, you have finally gotten me out of my same old dinner funk! Thank you!
I heard there is a vodka that tastes like Swedish Fish. That might make take that smoothie up a notch.
Take the stove out of the garage and park it on your front lawn with a big rubber chicken hanging from the door and a sign that says “Free Range Chicken”. Or put a little doll house on top and a sign that says “Home On The Range”. Or add a big apple and a hockey stick and a sign that says “New York Ranger”. The possibilities are endless! An acreage owner had a whole row of them along the highway…brought a smile to everyone’s face. 🙂
Those cabinets were probably 1950s or early 1960s. Tragic you took that gingerbread detail out though, unless you don’t care for the mid-century modern style, which is very hip and in right now. You can’t get that kind of craftsmanship with out major money.
Oh, I promise, the craftsmanship on those bad boys was nothing to write home about! 🙂
I love it! It’s going to be amazing! Hang in there and I will pray for your sanity. Love you!
And your oothies!
I love the last picture – as my 12-year-old niece said about every good thing this last weekend, it’s amazing. 🙂 We remodeled our kitchen/dining room a few years ago, and I feel your pain. We did everything except the cabinet/counter installs ourselves, including the floors, windows, doors and plumbing…and most of it was in the evening after the two- and four-year-old were in bed. The fridge was in the living room for almost a month, and the week the cabinets went in, we had Little Caesar’s five times. Five. Also, we had that same wallpaper in the kitchen and dining room when we moved in three years ago. With matching valances! It was like walking into a period piece. Good luck!
Hahaha! Isn’t Michael of comment #1 funny? As if you don’t have enough to do, right? We remodeled our kitchen last year doing most of it ourselves and we got pretty friendly with the wee a.m. hours and with the local Pizza Hut. Tomorrow a nice man is coming to start the finish work on the sheet rock we’ve been hanging all summer in our basement and I just spent the last few hours relocating our junk and tearing out carpet down there to surprise my husband when he gets home! One of your smoothies is sounding good! Try whining to your neighbors and maybe they will invite you over for dinner!
It’s a pity you didn’t get the extra time to get ready before the construction crew invaded, but the picture in my head of you making smoothies on your bedroom floor gave me a good smile! Love all the layers of awesomeness going on with the walls and floor. Gag!
Awhile back my parents renovated their kitchen. It took almost 3 months and was a mess. but what they got was amazing. I remember washing dishes outside and dreadful sawdust all over everything.
You should totally Freecycle your stove!
(in the meantime, good luck with the renovation! 🙂 )
Pictures look just fine to me!! I really need to get a blender.
Courtney, Try the “Ninja”. I ordered mine on QVC for a little over $50. It’s powered by a motor that fits on top of the Blender and has a pitcher, a half size pitcher and two other smaller mixing apparatuses (like for shredding cheese and mixing dips). I use this thing everyday and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! Check it out! http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.K33917.desc.The-Ninja-Master-Prep-Professional-Food-DrinkMaker
We love smoothies in the summer…this is going in my file….and I plan to “pin” this….
Thanks
Happy Day
I just got a Blendtec this summer and we’ve been living in smoothie heaven the last few months. Please keep any smoothie recipes you love coming because we can’t get enough breakfast smoothies around here these days! YUM! I don’t know how we survived without the Blendtec before…
I just wanted to say I read your blog everyday and love it. I too make smoothies almost everyday for breakfast. The only change I make is I use 2% milk instead of juice and 2 heaping Tbls. plain yogurt, a sprinkling of cinnamon. Strawberry kiwi is a good one try, mango strawberry is also good. My kids love strawberry nutella and banana nutella. So many variations with a smoothie. Great Post!
This will make you feel better….my husband and I are building a house. For the past YEAR, we have lived in the basement, with one bathroom and 2×4’s for walls, no drywall, my parents old kitchen cabinets serve as our kitchen. Everything we own is in a storage closet except for the things we use regularly. Our main floor is also just 2×4’s where the rooms will eventually be, again, no drywall. Words cannot do our living arrangements justice. There is no end in sight.
Oh, Jan. You totally win.
Keep all of us not on facebook updated on your remodel pictures! Can’t wait to see how beautiful it will look.
Can’t wait to try this! I have a mango in the fridge waiting to be used :).
Perhaps the pictures were fixed but when I view page info in firefox, it shows all the images are between 50-100KB so it loads pretty quickly.
I agree, I had no problem either
You could always add some rum or vodka to the adult smoothies. That *might* make your headache go away. Or make it so you just don’t care any more!;)
(and everything loaded juuust fine for me!)
Yeah, you should definitely add the alcohol and then invite the whole RS over to imbibe with you.;)
Please redo your photos. Right now, they’re full resolution and take 6-7 MB each, which makes this page ridiculously slow to load.