Here we go again

Today we were on the hunt again.  Here is our top house right now.

Sad News

The results are in.  We are not the highest bidder and the house does not go to us.  I am disappointed, tired of searching but also feel a peace that it will work out. 

Housing Verdict....

I talked to our Realtor today.  She learned that 3 people in all placed offers on this home.  We are not the highest offer.  They will make the official decision by Friday (they keep dragging it out like a painful death).  Our Realtor said that we still have a chance because we have a strong down payment for our budget.  I am still praying!  It could work out...maybe. 

To be continued...

Cooking Adventures of the Week.

I enjoy cooking however, finding the time and energy to do so can be a challenge for me.  With a new resolution to save money, and eat at home, cooking is a must.  Here are some helpful tricks I have learned in the last few weeks:

1. My grocery store often has meat for sale at a reduced priced because it's sell by date is soon approaching.  Today I bought 2.30 pounds of T-bone steaks (3 beautiful steaks) for $6.00.  This will last the two of us 2-3 meals.  I also bought some chicken that was in a marinade, they market it as a fresh minute meal.  I paid 1.80 for a pound of chicken. Today is the 21st and the sell by date is the 23rd.  We can either us it right away or freeze it.

2. Make something like muffins that I can eat in the morning for an easy breakfast.  I put some in ziploc bags so I could grab it on my way out the door.  I do so much better when I eat.

3.  Making things from scratch leaves me satisfied and we end up eating less preservatives and sodium.

Last Thursday, I made ribs one night with steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes.  Our muffins for the week were apple - cinnamon muffins.

Saturday we made chicken that came in a Santa Cruz marinade, shredded the cooked chicken, and made it into a burrito with fresh made salsa, basmati rice made in the rice cooker, canned black beans & corn, cheese, and sour cream.

Sunday I made zuccinni chocolate chip muffins, rolls and broccoli cheese soup.  The rolls where made from scratch - dough was made in the bread maker.  The soup was a powdered soup mix I bought on sale this week.  I added fresh broccoli to it to make it more hearty and fresh tasting.  This fed 3 of us and we sent home a large container of soup with my brother-in-law.  We also have enough in the fridge for Joshua and my lunch.   

Today (Monday) I made a delicious Greek salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, red onion, feta, and lettuce with a Greek dressing).  We ate this for lunch and again at dinner.  Also for dinner we had T-bone steak, and steamed carrots.  I have never made T-bone steaks but I followed the directions of a recipe from food network and it was amazing.  Joshua ate a full steak and I ate a 1/2 steak.  This left us with 1 1/2 steaks left.  I have cut those up into small chunks and put them into containers with some other ingredients for our lunches tomorrow.

Tomorrow's lunches will be a steak stuffed burrito and grapes.  It will have in it the rest of the steak from tonight, the rest of the rice, beans, corn and last few pieces of chicken from Saturday, and cheese.  

Joshua eats dinner at school tomorrow and I'll finish up some leftovers.  This new way of shopping and eating just might pay off.  So far, we are eating better than we were, and spending less money per week.  We'll see how it continues to pan out and if I can keep it up.

Happy eating!

P.s. Here is the wonderful recipe I used for the T-bone steak.  It can also be found at:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/pan-seared-t-bone-steak-recipe/index.html

Pan Seared T-Bone Steak

1 1/2 pounds bone-in T-bone steak
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. A half-hour before cooking, remove steak from refrigerator.

Heat a large skillet over high heat. Pat steak dry and season generously with salt and pepper. Add oil to hot skillet and when it begins to smoke add steak. Reduce heat slightly and cook steak until browned, about 4 minutes on each side. Transfer skillet to the oven. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted sideways into the steak registers 120 degrees F for medium-rare, about 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer steak to a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes. Cut steak from the bone and carve meat across the grain.

Bidding war?

I am upset right now.  We put an offer in on a house Saturday.  The realtor just called to say that someone else also put an offer in on the house and they want each of us to put up our highest offer.  Then on Wednesday, they will announce the winner.  I hope this does not turn into a disasterous bidding war.  It is my secret hope that whomever put in the offer gets scared and decides to walk.  Now, I will cry my tears and prepare myself mentally and emotionally to walk away from this lovely house. 

Like so many things in this life, this story is ....to be continued....  : (

Offer In

Yesterday we submitted an offer on this house.  Hopefully we will hear back sooner than later - they have until Thursday at noon to respond.  It is the house that came on the market a few days ago (second set of videos posted here - it's not the Waters Street house).  We went to the ward today and love it.  Wish us luck.

Second house we saw today

Here is video of another house we saw today.  This house is on Waters street.

Houses seen today

Today we saw two home.  One came on the market today which is this videos below.  One is the backyard and the other is the front yard and inside of the house.

Home Drama

Home buying has been quite an experience for us.  Currently we are on our third Realtor because we fired the first.  A year and a half ago we walked away from the home with the second Realtor, and in the end, we weren't pleased with her work.  So we're on to round three.  Our Realtor this time is wonderful!!!  She finds homes, and information for us, is straight forward and tells us her professional opinion, yet respects our opinions too.

I've posted on this blog some of the homes that we have seen and have thought about buying.  This past Sunday we had narrowed it down to 2 homes, one in Sandy and one in a neat community in South Jordan.  On Monday we learned that the South Jordan one had gone under contract (aka - someone else is buying it).  We went to see the Sandy house again on Tuesday (this was actually Joshua's first time seeing it in person - he had just seen video before).  We decided we wanted to move forward with the Sandy house.  Later in the day, the Realtor called to tell us that on Monday, the house went under contract.  

This situation has happened so many times before.  It's good that houses are selling around here.  And we seem to have pretty good taste.  It helps me feel better to think that those houses must not be where Heavenly Father wants us to be.  We have been praying for His help, and I know it will come.  I know that He will get us into a home and area that is good and right for us and our family.

And so the search goes on.  Again, we think we have found one.  It's in a good neighborhood.  It is in the boundary for Joshua's school and we've talked to a lady at Joshua's school who use to live on that street.  She loves that area and the people.  She says they moved because their family needed more square footage but their house had had that, they would still live there.  Tomorrow we will go see it, hope for the best and not give up.  Trying to be patient and know that we will find the right one for us.

Cooking Adventures

I love Indian food!  Joshua and I love Indian food.  For valentines we went to Bombay House in Provo, one of my favorite Indian food restaurants.  I had Lamb Saag, mulligatawny soup, and garlic naan - so good!  But eating out can be so expensive.  We tried to saved a few dollars by walking 2 blocks down to Bollywood Market to buy dessert of Gulab Jamun.  Really they make the Gulab Jamun at Bombay House where some of the husbands work, and sell them at Bollywood Market where some of the wives work.  It costs less to buy them at the market.

Tonight, I made Chicken Vindaloo, which was delicious.  In addition, I made for the first time my own Gulab Jamun.  Gulab Jamun is a popular dessert in countries of the Indian Subcontinent such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. It is made of a dough then deep fried.  It is then put into in a sugar syrup flavored with cardamom seeds and rosewater, kewra or saffron.  We like ours in rosewater syrup.  Gulab jamun is common at weddings.  Mine turned out so well!  It was very good.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup Carnation Milk Powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tablespoons butter -melted
Milk just enough to make the dough

Oil for frying

For the Sugar Syrup  (I did not use this syrup recipe because I used some I had left over from when we bought Gulab Jamuns at the market.)
2 cups Sugar
1 cup water

How to make gulab jamun:

• Make the dough by combining the milk powder, Bisquick, butter. Add just enough whole milk to make a medium-hard dough. Divide the dough into 18-20 portions. Make balls by gently rolling each portion between your palms into a smooth ball. Place the balls on a plate. Cover with a damp yet dry kitchen towel.
• Heat the oil on high and then lower the heat to medium. Slip in the balls into the hot oil from the side of the pan, one by one. They will sink to the bottom of the pan, but do not try to move them. Instead, gently shake the pan to keep the balls from browning on just one side. After about 5 mins, the balls will rise to the surface. The Gulab Jamuns should rise slowly to the top if the temperature is just right. Now they must be gently and constantly agitated to ensure even browning on all sides.
• If the temperature of the oil is too high then the gulab jamuns will tend to break. So adjust the temperature to ensure that the gulab jamuns do not break or cook too quickly.
• The balls must be fried very slowly under medium temperatures. This will ensure complete cooking from inside and even browning.

Sugar Syrup

• The syrup should be made earlier and kept warm. To make the hot sugar syrup add mix the 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water. Add 4-5 cardamom pods, slightly crushed and a few strands of "Kesar". Mix with a spoon and then heat at medium heat for 5-10 minutes until sugar is all dissolved in water. Do not overheat, that will caramelize the sugar.
• Transfer this hot syrup into a serving dish. Keep warm on stove. Add the fried gulab jamuns directly into the warm syrup. Leave gulab jamun balls in sugar syrup overnight for best results. They can be served warm or at room temperature.

Sandy house

Here is a house we are also looking at in Sandy.

This next one is the backyard.

24th Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me!  Yesterday was my 24th birthday.  We spent the day house hunting.  It was fun seeing 15 houses, eating dinner at a mexican resturant and then coming back to Provo to get cannoli's at Gloria's Little Italy.  I love the cannoli's from Gloria's.  It was nice to spend the day with my best friend and husband Joshua.   

Daybreak house

This is a townhome in a community called Daybreak. 

New home we saw and love

We have looked at many homes in our home search and have found some that we thought we really have liked.  The video's we have posted earlier are no more for us.  However, this is our first choice right now.  It has a main floor, upstairs and basements.  There are 5 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths.  We'll see what happens. 
Here is a picture

Here are the videos.

 Main Floor

Upstairs

Basement