Turkey Feta Burgers

I promise to post some recipes from 'A Homemade Life' soon, but we had these burgers for dinner and they were so good and easy that I want to share!

I served them topped with with hummus and a Greek version of pico de gallo made with diced tomatoes, purple onions, parsley, a little olive oil, and garlic salt. I've served them on wheat buns before, but no buns tonight.

Ingredients
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1. Preheat the grill for medium high heat.
2. In a large bowl, combine turkey, feta cheese, olives, oregano, and pepper. Mix together, and form into patties.
3. Lightly oil the grate. Place patties on the grill. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, turning halfway through.

Grey and Mustard

So, I painted our office/playroom/piano-room/one-day-library... Grey stripes with a mustard/gold ceiling. It's the room at the front of the house that was originally the dining room (back in the 50's) and that we're not quite sure what to do with. When I told people how I was painting the room, I got so many looks that said "I'm trying to be polite, but really think you are crazy. That sounds awful."

And... I questioned it myself. But Frankie said it would look good, and he hasn't been wrong yet. So, one pencil, 2 levels, 3 rolls of painters tape, 3 colors and 4 gallons of paint, and about 14 hours later, we have our room.

I'm very happy with how it turned out! Here are some before, during and after pictures.

Kentucky Hot Brown

Have you ever had this sandwich? It's wonderful. Read the ingredients and you'll know why. I recently found this recipe - in the Sunday paper of all places. It's from Bobby Flay. Thanks, Bobby! Since I've been home, I've been doing a lot of cooking and plan to start sharing recipes. Here's the first.

Side note: this is easily adapted for a 1 year old. We used a sandwich thin, cheese sauce, tomatoes, and chopped up turkey and William at it pretty well. Also, the cheese sauce is wonderful! Save some and use it the next day on veggies, rice, grits, or anything really!

Kentucky Hot Brown
1 T unsalted butter, plus 1 stick, softened
1 T flour
1 ¼ C whole milk
¾ C white cheddar, grated (really, any cheese would probably work. I used a Mexican 4 cheese blend and it was great)
2 T Parmesan, grated
Kosher salt & black pepper
4 slices good quality white bread, sliced 1 inch thick (Orowheat has an Italian bread that’s good with this – sold on the bread isle)
½ lb roast turkey breast, thinly sliced
4 slices rib beefsteak tomatoes, ¼ thick
8 crisp slices of bacon
Flat leaf parsley leaves

Preheat broiler.

Melt 1 T butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour; cook 40 seconds. Increase heat to high, add the milk, bring to a boil, and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens, about 4 minutes. Remove from the stove; slowly whisk in cheddar, handfuls at a time, until incorporated. Whisk in Parmesan; Season with salt & pepper. Cover and keep warm.

Place bread on a baking sheet lined with foil. Spread each side with 1 T butter (or less!). Broil until lightly golden brown, 45 seconds per side. Remove; top each slice with turkey, a few spoonfuls of the cheese sauce, and tomatoes; season with salt & pepper. Broil until cheese turns golden brown – 2 to 5 minutes. Remove; top each with 2 slices of bacon in an X. Garnish with parsley if desired.

Banner Day

William had a BIG DAY yesterday! He got is 1st haircut, crawled for the first time, AND stood in his crib for the first time.

He was such a big boy getting his hair cut. He didn't cry at all. He wasn't exactly happy, but he held back tears.

And then, when we got home, I guess he decided he would start doing big boy things to go with his big boy haircut. He crawled trying to reach his favorite book 'The Pout Pout Fish'. My mom was there, so we have a witness! :)

I honestly wasn't sure if he would ever crawl. He's so close to walking that I figured he would skip crawling completly. But, according to William's 'Lollie', Philip crawled late (right around 1 year), and then almost immediately started walking. So, I bet he is close!

Yesterday is the perfect example of how he is growing up so fast.

The Broadmoor

We recently went to the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Philip spoke at a conference there for work - and William and I were lucky enough to go with him! We had so much fun just hanging out by the pool and enjoying the beautiful, non-humid weather, while Philip worked. The Broadmoor is beautiful - a true resort - and I hope we get to go back one day!

And now, we are back to 'real' life. William and I went to the Library today. There's a really good one over by our house. I had not been to the library in years. They have almost fully automated the check-out process, like self check-out at a grocery store. And they don't slip the little 'due date' card in the front pocket of the book any more. Sad. You just get a print-out of your receipt with the due dates listed. It seems more efficient, but just isn't the same. I bet William will laugh one day when I tell him what it was like when I checked out books as a kid!
He got attached to a Dora the Explorer book, and I checked out a cooking book called 'A Homemade Life: Stories and recipes from my kitchen table' by Molly Wizenberg. So far, it's great! Each recipe in the book comes with a story - and I already want to make almost every one. I have 4 on the menu for this/next week.

We're Back...

I have certainly not lived up to the 'Everyday' title of our blog... as a friend recently put it, maybe I should change the title to 'Semi-annually with the Lukefahrs.' I'll try to be more frequent with updates... which may be a little easier now that I am a full time stay at home mom.

Yes, as of July 12 I have a new job that I love very much! It has been so fun to get to experience little everyday moments with WP... like eating breakfast together, going to the park, going to the pool in the evening, and even staying inside just because it's raining.

There is a great quote from Sandra Bullock in a recent People Magazine about her recent adoption of Louis that nicely sums up how I feel:
"Now that you've gone public, how will you balance motherhood with your career?"
"I don't know. All I know is that I want to be able to enjoy being a mom. Doing all the things moms get to do, outside in the sun, in the world. The career will have to wait for a bit. I don't want to step into that world until I can find what room I left my armor in. You need touch skin to be in this business."

6 months

William has turned 6 months! He has passed many milestones since my last post (I guess that happens in 2 months...)

• He had his first Christmas


• He cut his first tooth! It's peaking through on the lower right side of his mouth - just one.


• He sits up! As with many milestones, it's hard to pinpoint when he first sat up, but it started around his 6 month b-day. And I know for sure that he can sit up on his own now (although I still stay nearby to catch him... he usually only makes it about 10-15 seconds without teetering!) He is still completely uninterested in rolling over. He has yet to do so on his own initiative, without prodding from me! Maybe we will be skipping that milestone - according to William's Lollie, Philip didn't roll over either!


• He says "da da da". He doesn't know that he is saying it, but this is one of the first syllables he has babbled that sounds like a word - and what a special one! The other babble of his that sounds like a word is "hi"... he is like a little parrot, and usually responds to a "hi" with a hi-like babble!
  

As of Jan 21, William has a new potential wife! Zoe Mae was born and is happy and healthy - praise God! And as of yesterday, I am now 28 (56 times older than William). I had the perfect birthday. Just having William would've made the day great, but Philip also took me to lunch and dinner. He brought me roses and a new dress. And, William's Lollie and his Mimi and Papa came over to visit. What a special day!

Here he is with Santa, with his favorite Christmas present (the wrapping paper), and in his blue footies - the way I always want to remember my baby boy!