Recipe Redux: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Happy Monday friends! I promised in January that I was going to share this recipe soon, and then... I went on break. However, I'm back, it's spring, and it's time to talk about chocolate and banana. Only one of the best foodie combinations ever, if you ask me. Next to chocolate and peanut butter, and maybe peanut butter and banana, of course 😂  I enjoy a good banana bread on its own but when you add chocolate, it just takes it to another level! 🍌🍫

Backyard Update!

Yesterday I shared some pictures on my personal FaceBook page showing the backyard update, so now it's time to share the pictures with the rest of the blogosphere! We (and by we, I mean the hubby) have worked our butts off on the yard, and it has paid off. I am so incredibly pleased with the yard. 

So, for a reminder, here's what the backyard looked like in December of 2012:

From New Construction to 3 Years

December 2012

3 years.

Well, technically it's been almost 3.5 years. But I digress. Can you believe it's been almost 3.5 years since I've done an update on the state of the homestead? Mercy. I thought we'd take some time today to remedy that. 

In case you were wondering, you can find the link to that old update here.

But for now, let's talk 3 years in!

6 Years

Warning- Picture heavy post.

My New Herb Garden

Voila!

I'm so pleased with how my herb garden turned out! The hubby really did such an amazing job on it. Especially considering how this herb garden came into being...

Last weekend, upon returning from Lowe's and completing our yard work, the hubby and I were looking at Pinterest. I was showing him pictures of an herb garden like this, because I was leaning towards modeling mine similarly. Well, he got a bee in his bonnet and decided he wanted to build it right then. At 4 pm. After we'd already been to Lowe's that day. So... back to Lowe's we went for lumber, screws, and gardening soil. The hubby built this in less than 2 hours after we returned home. That in itself was astonishing to me, as it would have taken me weeks to build something like this. Who am I kidding? It might have taken me months!

What do I have growing in here?

The bottom row is basil. The 2nd tier is cilantro on one side, and then flat-leaf and curly parsley on the other side. The 3rd tier is oregano and thyme. And the top tier is mint. My mother informed me that you always plant mint alone, as it will take over the space. Good to know!

If my herbs make it through this spring, it will be a miracle. So far, since we've gotten the herbs planted, we've had frost at night, a monsoon, and fairly gusty winds. The hubby reminds me plants are hardy, but I've never done this before. Sure, we grew some herbs and vegetables when we lived in Portland, but that was the hubby's project. I was almost entirely uninvolved in the gardening in Oregon. Now I'm wishing I'd paid a little bit more attention!

Flat-leaf and curly parsley.

As you can see, our landscaping leaves a bit to be desired. The hubby is planning on tilling a lot of the dirt today, so we can reseed areas of the yard with grass. We are going to have mud spots for a while longer it seems. I guess these things take time. And more importantly, money!

 My mint! Below it, oregano.

Side note- I got a picture of this fella near one of my feeders, and I'm having a hard time identifying him! I think I've narrowed him down to an indigo bunting, but I'm not 100% on that. Any birders out there know what kind of a bird this is?

And finally, the hubby and I ran a 5k for a local animal shelter, Sierra's Haven, yesterday. Sierra's Haven is one of the best in the area, and a no-kill shelter. I've been out to their site, and not only is it a beautiful place for the animals, but it's clean and the staff is super-helpful. I had to take a cat out there that I found during the polar vortex, and they took him in with open arms. They are just a wonderful organization. They been having some financial difficulties lately, so they have numerous fundraisers going on right now. The hubby and I decided to take part in their 5k, which was ran at a local high school. The course they made was a 3 mile loop around the school, which sits on a steep hill. The beginning of the course had us running down the hill, and I must admit while I was running down it, the only thing I could think about was coming back up. Sure enough, when it came time to go back up, it was right around the end of mile 2. I did my best, and I ran all the way up the hill, but I was gassed at the top. My pace slowed dramatically, and I never really turned on the juice for the rest of the race. But, I finished and that's what counts. I'll have to try for a new PR at the next race :)

The hubby, however, finished 3rd overall! Go hubby!!

This was my scene yesterday, post race. Sitting in the sun, having a beer, staring at my herb garden.

In other words, bliss :)

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!

This Homestead Has A Driveway!

Isn't it bee-u-tiful??

I'm taking a break from recipes today, mainly so I can show you what I've been yammering about for a week. 

I'm so delighted with how it turned out. I was talking to the hubby, and I mentioned how amazed I was by the effect of a little concrete on the front of the house. It really pulls the curb appeal together. The hubby actually worked in concrete before his current job in natural gas, so he knows his concrete pretty darn well. Therefore, he's been wetting the driveway with a sprinkler since it was poured. A couple times a day, in fact. He's wanting it to cure slowly, which means we also aren't driving on it just yet. 

Yep, we're parking in the yard :)

The only thing I'm not thrilled about? How much we had to tear up the yard to put in the driveway. I miss my grass. That's ok, we're going to be re-seeding the areas that were tore up. I should have my lawn back in no time.

Looking out at the yard from the porch. 

I'm so excited about having a walkway to the front door! You have no idea how good it felt to trash those makeshift wooden stairs we've had for the last year and a half. As I've previously mentioned, now I can usher guests in through the front door. No more being embarrassed the UPS guy has to brave the muddy yard! People also get to see my door mat now, which I've been delighted to have for the last 16 months and no one has seen. 

Dog lovers unite!

Now that we have the front entry, I just had to put some flowers out. The front yard is sadly lacking in the floral department. I absolutely adore this big, bronze pot we found to put some impatiens in.

I braved the honeybees to pick out these flowers!

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but we also put a concrete pad out back. We plan to use it as a functional patio for the time-being. Our ultimate goal is to build a deck out back someday. This is obviously going to be a big-time project that probably won't happen in the near future. We'd like to eventually put a hot tub on the pad, and then build the deck around it. Until that day comes (it's going to be quite awhile before that happens!) we have something to put patio furniture and the hubby's grill on.

The hubby's actually built me a little herb garden to go out by the patio, but it's not quite finished yet. I'll have to post pictures later, but it's super freakin' cute. 

Obviously, we have some grass-seeding to do here as well :)

I couldn't resist a picture that screamed, "SPRING!". I love when everything comes back to life. 

One more step completed in our landscaping process. I'm a very happy girl!

Happy Monday friends! I hope everyone had a fantastic and sunny weekend!

Settling In

Well, it's been quite some time since I last posted. But with good reason! The hubby and I moved into our house! The past week and a half have flown by in a flurry of activity, mostly me unpacking and the hubby recuperating from a nasty cold. I've gotten some major unpacking done, including washing all the clothes and all the dishes. A feat in itself, if anyone has ever taken upon themselves to wash everything they own. I'm pleased to say that the house is coming along nicely. We are about 90% unpacked at this point, and the place mostly looks like somewhere where someone just moved in i.e. no decorations or anything on the walls. I'm looking forward to getting to do a little bit more of personalizing the house after the holidays :) In the meantime, I've got pictures of the progress (of course!):

Guest Bath

Linen Closet

Guest bedroom

Closet in the master bathroom

Master bathroom

Another of the master bathroom

Master bedroom

Master bedroom again

Living room

Kitchen

My fabulous birthday present from my brother and his wife, a brand new butcher block!

Front of the house

Back of the house

It's hard to believe that our journey is finally over! It seemed to take so long, it's crazy that we are finally moved in. It's also hard to believe that a year ago this wasn't even a thought in our heads.

I must say though, I'm sooooo glad this ordeal is over. This way I can go back to blogging about important things, like food :)

The Finished Product

Oh lord.

This journey is almost over. The house was finished on Friday. We spent the whole weekend wandering around our house, staring at how beautiful it is. The hubby is like a kid at Christmas who absolutely cannot wait until Christmas to open his present. He wanted to start moving things in on Friday, until I gently reminded him we have to sign all of our paperwork first, lest we lose our warranty. He's still trying to get me to budge on that one, but budge I will not. I've waited so long,  I'll wait a little bit longer for my warranty.

We are doing the final walk-thru today, the painter is coming to fix any last spots, the bank is sending their inspector out today and wiring Schumacher the final payment. Early tomorrow morning, we are signing off on the project with Schumacher and we'll be moving in around noon tomorrow!

We have a U-Haul reserved and our "helpers" (the brother and sister-in-law) have lined up a babysitter. It's really, really happening! I must admit, until we are actually moving our furniture into the house, I'm still in a state of disbelief.

The hubby and I have noted that a lesser couple would probably be in the midst of divorce right now, after being unable to withstand the sheer volume of absolute crap we've been through. We made it still intact, and we're pretty proud of that :)

Some final pictures:

Finished kitchen. 

Finished dining nook.

Finished entryway. 

Finished living room.

Finished master bedroom.

Finished master bathroom.

Finished guest room.

Finished main bath.

Finished linen closet.

Crossing my fingers that nothing goes wrong today!!!

Feeling Optimistic

Yesterday was a good day. Our appliances were delivered, and they are freakin' beautiful! B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. It was love at first sight. The hubby was working, so I was at the house to intercept these wonderful machines.

Our project manager appeared at the house with his best woeful act while I was there, giving me an opportunity to talk to this weasel. And weasel-y he was. He fed me the same garbage he always feeds my husband. I didn't believe him for a second. He called the trim people, as well as the plumber to confirm their appointments. Laughable, this dude. He's like the boy who cried wolf. Anyhoo, he says (and we all know how I feel about what he says) the plumber and the wood people should be there today, and then carpet on Friday. I have confirmed that the wood people were at the house this morning, and I'm still holding out hope the plumber was there today.

If the plumber was there today, and the carpet is actually installed on Friday, like they say, we'll be moving in next week. Now, don't worry, I'm not getting my hopes up. But man, it would be so nice to have a light at the end of this horrendous tunnel.

The hubby and I are heading out to the property when he gets home from work tonight, and I'm really anxious to get over there. Sitting around on pins and needles is what it feels like. The next two and a half hours are going to be torturous.

I love this fridge :)

The hubby just had to install the microwave as soon as he saw it.

So many things will be cooked on this stove and baked in this oven.

There are no words.

I actually don't know if this is the washer or the dryer...

That big box is the dishwasher, which I will run DAILY. After I've cooked EVERY DAY. The kitchen never closes at the Jarrell's house.