Bathroom renovation

Since we sold our house and moved into our rental property we have been tackling some updates that the place needs. The first one was the bathroom.  We didn't really have a plan in mind when we went to Menard's to buy stuff, and since it's a rental we decided to try to keep the costs down in case we have to replace things in a few years.   The whole reno took us about 2 days and only cost around $400.  The problem now is that the bathroom is nice and looks like it doesn't fit in this house.

Here's the before. Mike redid this all when he bought the duplex 8 years ago. The floor is just peel and stick linoleum that was coming up near the tub, the vanity and toilet were dirty and have seen better days and the walls were quite dirty. 

The first step was to peel up all the linoleum and remove the vanity and toilet. We waited until the last possible minute to remove the toilet because it's the only one in the house.  The floor came up pretty easy, but then we were left with a big sticky mess on the floor, it's just cement.  We tried scrapping, goo gone, boiling water and scrubbing. Finally what worked was a can of mineral spirits. However, it smelled awful, but it did the trick. 

For the floor we decided to put down vinyl tiles that you grout.  We've never used them before as we had all wood or ceramic at our last house, so we weren't sure if we would like them, but they were a little cheaper and much faster than ceramic. Once we got all the glue off the floor you have to put down a primer. You just roll it on with a paint roller and wait for it to dry. 

Once we started the tile, Mike did all the cut pieces and I did all the big pieces. This part went really quick. I was done with the whole pieces before he had even stuck down the tiles around the toilet.  After all the tile was in we put in the new toilet, new vanity, new medicine cabinet and new baseboard heater.  We went back and forth over removing the heater or getting a new one, but since it had the wiring right there near the base of the bathtub and Mike didn't really want to leave the wires where they could somehow get wet we decided just to replace it with a new one. 

Next up was grout.  Last time we did ceramic Mike was the grouter and I was the cleaner. However, there wasn't space for both of us so Mike got to do it all just working his way towards the door.  The directions said to clean the grout off right away, but we noticed that he was just wiping the grout right out of the cracks so we sort of skipped this step for now.  We let it dry for the recommended 72 hours and then went back with a amonia based cleaner and cleaned all the tiles. It took a while, but was much better than having to re-grout because we weren't making any progress.  

After Mike was done I got to paint. Yes, you probably should paint before you install all new flooring and other items, but we weren't sure which color we wanted to go with. We decided to go with a very light gray color.  We also purchased a new door and of course we got new white trim.  We also moved the medicine cabinet down and install a light bar above it.   

It's such a huge improvement and I am in love with the tile.  

Here's a price breakdown-

Tile $1.70 a sq. ft. x 40 sp. ft = $68

Toilet  $90

Vanity  $50

Medicine cabinet  $50

Light $15

Door $50

Paint & Grout Supplies  $30

So this whole project was $353 give or take a few dollars. Not to bad for a practically brand new bathroom.  

Salmon Patties

This is one of my grandma's recipes. She made these for me often when I was younger and stayed the night at her house. I haven't had them in so long, and they're so good.

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

2 cans of salmon- pick out any bones

1 tbsp flour

saltine crackers (I used about half of the sleeve)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  You can add more milk, flour or crackers to your liking. You want them to be sort of thick.  Form them into patties and fry them in a pan until browned flipping as needed. 

Chicken Mac & Cheese Stuffed Shells

Raise your hand if you don't like macaroni and cheese. Nobody?! Okay, good! This recipe tastes just like mac and cheese but is better because it's larger and stuffed with chicken.

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2 cups shredded precooked chicken 

1 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided

3-4 tbsp butter

12 oz evaporated milk

10.5 oz condensed cheddar cheese soup

12 jumbo pasta shells, cooked al dente

Preheat oven to 350 degree.  In a bowl, mix the cream cheese, chicken and 1/4 cup cheddar cheese. Mix well. 

Melt the butter on medium heat over the stove and add the cheese soup. Whisk until soup is less lumpy. Add evaporated milk gradually while whisking until smooth. Add remaining 1 cup of the cheddar cheese gradually and continue to whisk as cheese melts.

Stuff shells with the chicken mixture and place is a baking dish. Continue for all shells and chicken mix.

Pour cheese sauce over top of shells.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

No Bake Granola Bars

Marley takes lunch from home about two or three times a week. They eat lunch at 10:30am so I want to make sure she's full to last her until 3:30pm when they get out of school. I saw these granola bars on pinterest and decided to try them out to see if they would be a good addition to her lunch. They were and I've made them several times since.

2 cups quick cooking oats 

1 cup rice crispy cereal

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix oats and cereal in a bowl. 

In a small pot over medium high heat melt the butter. Add the honey, brown sugar and salt. Stir together then leave it alone as it comes to a boil. Let it boil for 2 minutes.  During this time, you may need to turn the heat down a bit so it doesn't overflow, but be sure it keeps boiling.

After the 2 min boil, turn off heat and pour over the cereal oat mix. Mix together using a rubber spatula until well coated. 

Mix in any thing you want at this point. I've done peanut butter chips, M&M's, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips.  After those are mixed in press into a cookie sheet. Press firmly so they stick together.  Place in refrigerator for 20 minutes. Cut to serve. 

These are so yummy, but mine always fall apart, no matter how long I keep them in the fridge or how hard I smash them into the pan. I did notice the chocolate chips help hold them together a little because they had melted when I mixed them in and then hardened and that did help. 

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Bowls

Marley told me a few months ago that the food I make is 'unique.'  I guess you could say she is right, I never just make plain beef tacos or plain hot dogs on buns. So in true mom fashion I cooked up these taco chicken bowls.  They were delicious and we didn't have any leftovers.

1½ lbs. chicken breasts
1 (16 oz.) jar salsa
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained
½ lb. (8 oz.) frozen corn
1 Tbsp chili powder
½ Tbsp cumin
½ Tbsp minced garlic
½ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp salt

1/4 cup water
2 cups dry rice
8 oz. shredded cheddar

Add everything except the rice and cheese to the slow cooker. Mix it all together. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Cook the two cups of rice according to the package directions. Shred the chicken but don't remove it from the crock pot. Build the taco bowls by placing rice on the bottom, then the taco chicken mix and top with the shredded cheddar cheese.

Cheesy Burger Bake

I really like all recipes that include tots. How can tots be bad?!  This recipe turned out really good and will be added to our list of favorites.

No-Stick Cooking Spray

1-1/2 pounds ground round beef 

1 can (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes, drained

1 envelope (1 oz each) dry onion soup mix

1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese 

1/2 cup ketchup

1 egg

4 cups frozen shredded potato puffs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray 8x8-inch baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. Brown meat and drain. Stir in drained tomatoes and dry soup mix. Reduce heat to low. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese and set aside.

Beat ketchup and egg together in small bowl until well blended.  

Add to meat mixture; mix well. Spoon into prepared dish. Top with potato puffs, pressing lightly into meat mixture. Bake at 450 for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are browned

Lasagna Soup

It's been really cold here lately. Like 40 below zero cold. So that means soup time!  This recipe has a lot of ingredients but didn't take long to cook at all.  It was delicious but my noodles were a little chewy. The original recipe suggests cooking your noodles separately and placing them in bowl then pouring the soup over top. Might try that next time.

2 tsp. olive oil

1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage

3 cups chopped onions

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp. dried oregano

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes

6 cups chicken stock

8 oz. pasta

8 oz. ricotta

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown.  Add onions and cook until softened. Add garlic and oregano. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes.  Add diced tomatoes and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Add uncooked pasta and cook until al dente.  Put a small amount of ricotta in each bowl and pour soup over top.  Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Hamburger Potato Casserole

When I went to the grocery store last week, the 10 lb bag of potatoes was cheaper than the 5 lb bag. Weird right?! But I got the 10 lb bag to save some money. Now I have lots of potatoes and don't know what to do with them. I searched for potato casseroles on pinterest and came across this recipe. It looked very yummy and I had all the ingredients already so I cooked it up for dinner that night.

1 lb. ground beef

3 cups thinly sliced potatoes

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 can cream of mushroom soup

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a glass baking dish. In skillet, cook the onions and ground beef until done. Drain the grease. In a bowl, mix together the milk, soup, salt and pepper. Layer half of the potatoes, soup, cheese.

Top with the hamburger meat. Repeat with the rest of the potatoes, soup, hamburger meat and then the cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.

Pork Chop Bake

This recipe is one that I just threw together one night after searching online for a pork chop recipe. There were a few ingredients that I either changed or removed completely, but it still turned out delicious. 

6 boneless pork chops

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 medium onion

3 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (I used cubed hash browns)

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 cup milk

1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place pork chops in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Layer with onions and potatoes. In a small bowl, whisk flour and milk until smooth; add soup. Pour over potatoes. Cover and bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes longer or until meat is tender.