Guest Blog: Rach and her Perfect Recipe Book

I'm so excited to reveal our first guest blogger! Rach has a knack for organizing and you'll see more from her along the way. Enjoy her Perfect Recipe book and ideas!

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The Perfect Recipe Book…and so much more…

True story…my husband T and I had been married about two weeks when I decided I wanted to have my first dinner party. I was beyond excited…Set the date, invited the guests, cleaned the house, picked out a menu…wait a minute, a menu? I was 22, and didn’t have a clue in the kitchen. Being the young, naïve newlywed that I was, I thought all recipes were created equal and I was about to learn a big lesson. For some strange reason I decided that a corn casserole would be a wonderful addition to our dinner that night. Let’s just say…it wasn’t! Easily one of the worst things I have ever eaten…and that’s a stretch. Maybe I should say the worst thing I have ever tasted. It was not edible. At all. Ick!

After that I stayed out of the kitchen for the most part. Well, maybe it was after the dinner party we had when I served lasagna. It was not too bad, but a one of our guests found a ladybug in her lasagna. Not good. So it was after the ladybug incident that I stayed out of the kitchen. Then we moved, had a baby, had another baby, another move, and before I knew it I was a SAHM on a little budget with four mouths to feed. Every morning, noon and night. I need recipes. Good ones. Fast. I turned to everyone one I knew that had more experience in the kitchen than I did. My favorite aunt gave me a subscription to Southern Living. So I cooked, copied recipes, cut them out, and stuffed them into every nook in the kitchen. They were everywhere. It was time to do something.

I was able to scrape together about eight dollars. I bought a 3-ring binder, a pack of 5 dividers (with pockets), a pack of sheet protectors and I came up with a book that 7 years later I live by. It’s my bible. I love it. I want to marry it. It gets me through the days, weeks, and months. Can you feel my love for it? It has pockets in the front and in the back. It holds all of my recipes, and any other ideas and thoughts that I love. I cut and stuff on a weekly basis and everything goes into this notebook. It’s a must have for any and everyone. It’s a combination of all of my favorite magazines and idea books without a bunch of fluff. Everything in it I love, I know I love, and my family loves. It makes my life easy!

The front inside pocket is filled with house and decorating ideas.

The back pocket is filled with gardening ideas. 

And the middle is filled with recipes tried and true that my family loves. It’s divided into five sections: appetizers/salads, vegetables/vegetarian, chicken/fish, meats, and sweets/breakfast.

I keep plenty of extra page protectors in the binder for days when I cut things out of magazines. It works great…nothing needs a hole punch, I can just slide them right in and the page protectors do just that when things get messy in the kitchen. I could have used this book and long time ago, but I am thankful it came into my life when it did!

Rach

Paint colors

Hey Crafties ... check out our new info on the PAINT COLORS tab.

Yard Sale Saturday

What a beautiful weekend!!! The weather has been insane here and yesterday was the perfect day. Started out with a big cup of coffee and then my neighbor and I hit some neighborhood yard sales.  We had WAY too much fun!  We could have come home with much more good loot but we kept it reasonable. One was an estate sale that had some really great things and we wanted much more than we actually left with! She bought some great jewelry and some beautiful old plates that are to die for.  Here’s what I made it out with:

Two small silver platters: $.50 each.  J  Thought I could use them in my bathroom to catch all the jewelry that usually piles up.

This pretty little bench was $15 and is old as the hills. It’s going to get some paint and new fabric and it will be prec! Makeover will be posted this week.

$3 for this old school retro vase! I put it in our kitchen the second I got home because I loved it so much. I swear my grandmother had this exact same vase, which makes me smile every time I look at it!  

Two glass hurricanes, $1 each. Um, I'm sorry but I priced these out at several other stores and just couldn't pull the trigger on $20-$30 each. Thank the heavens above because I basically stole these.

Total purchase: $21.

Amount of joy and satisfaction achieved: Priceless!

Katie


         I'm linking up to this linky party today: Cottage Instincts

 

CSA

Well fellow blog followers, we've been super busy and super slackers this week. We'll make up for it later this week when I reveal my chandelier spruce up, which by the way looks fantastic and just needs a few last minute touches!

In the meantime, I wanted to write about our new food journey with a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). We signed up for a crop share hosted by D & A farm and each Wednesday we pick up a box of veggies straight from the farm. It's kind of exciting to see what's going to be in the box! Last week when I opened the box and found two HUGE, GORGEOUS heads of lettuce, I knew I was in love. 
Some things I have ZERO clue what to do with... i.e.: turnips. Who actually eats turnips? How in the world do you cut them? What in the world do you do with them? How can I get my 2 year old son to eat a turnip? After much research online, I found a recipe that included the turnips and sweet potatoes in last week’s batch and shockingly enough, we actually LIKED turnips! I know. Equally surprised. Did my child eat them? No. But at least we ventured out of our cooking comfort zone and tried something new and different.

Here’s what’s in the box this week: Lettuce, boc choy, arugula, radish, winter squash and collards.  Lovey hu?!


I'm looking for ideas on how to cook with any of this! The squash and lettuce I can do, but the radishes, collards and boc choy I’m clueless. Send me your favorite recipe using any of these things or just some ideas on how to cook them! Thanks!Katie

Boooo!!!

I mean, really???  How cute are these ghost candles?!  What a great gift (Thank you Patti!).  They are from Pottery Barn. "Ghost Candles" item #4069852

 

I put them in the kitchen for some Halloween fun .... now the only thing I keep asking myself is, should I EVER light them?  They are too fun to ruin with a flame.  
Decorator's tip: always place your decor items in threes.  Look in catalogs and you will see most items are placed in threes.  Four is too many! 
I love Halloween. :)

Easy to ORGANIZE

OK my Crafties ... I have the most simple way to keep yourself organized.  It is cost effective and easy to find. 

Yes ... it is a spiral notebook!  Silly right?!  NO ... not silly, smart.  This is what I do EVERY night after the kids are in bed.  I sit in the kitchen and write down what I need to do the next day.

The next day, I add to the list.  Things pop up, calls come in, errands need to be added to the list.  I put the bills I need to pay in the front pocket.  I carry this with me everywhere .... it is in my hand, on the console of my car, in my purse at WalMart, etc. 

These 2 things go hand in hand! 

Some of you out there (I won't name anyone specific - you know who you are), ONLY NEED ONE NOTEBOOK/PLANNER, NOT FOUR!  Get a bigger notebook - don't try to get over-organized and buy muliptle notebooks/planners. 

I realized many years ago that this is SO very simple.  Help simplify your daily life and GET ORGANIZED.



Best Curtains EVER!

Earlier this summer, I decided that I couldn’t walk through our dining room again and see the scuffs on the walls, paint chipped off the trim and the chocolate paint drops all over the ceiling. It had to go!  5 or 6 years ago, my husband and I (...then boyfriend living it up in the frat pad, a.k.a our house) painted our dining room. It went from a lovely peach color (nag) to a Ralph Lauren suede tan. The ceiling was done in chocolate suede and at the time it looked pretty good! P.S. We will never. ever. ever. paint a ceiling again.   We did an awful job!  Our poor room screamed for a professional to come in and take over!

6 years later… We finally had our dining room repainted and the new curtains I used in there are fab-u-lo-so! My decorator friend, Emy, recommended these curtains from IKEA. I’ve got to give her all the glory! LOVE THEM! They are $19 for a pair and they are glorious. I doubled it for extra fullness using 4 panels per window. What a mean bargain for such great looking curtains! They’ve got a yummy texture and they just soften up the space so well. They come with a hemming strip you can iron on (easy as pie) but I just wanted them to be casual and didn't touch them.    IKEA RITVA CURTAINS

I didn’t use the tiebacks. Also, I already had the drapery rods from Home Depot from the last curtains so I don't count that in pricing (good justification, eh?). I bought some of the rings from Home Depot and think a pack of 12 is about $14. You can go Pottery Barn for rings if your budget allows as well. 

If you’re looking for great curtains at a much affordable price, IKEA's got your back!

Have you tried these curtains? You likey? What’s your favorite curtain steal/deal?

Katie

Can a laundry room be a HAPPY place?!

What the heck is this mess???  Ummm....my laundry room. Yes, I have 4 boys, but this is embarrassing.  I cannot believe I am posting this.  Sigh. ;)

So the problem is obvious.  I make them take off their shoes when they come inside.  The shoes end up in a mountain of mess.  Ewwwww. 

Mornings consist of looking for their shoes in this pile.  Annoying on many levels. :)

Being the obsessive organizer that I am, I decided to make this room a happy place! 

I bought 4 stackable white bins at Dollar General for $4 each.  Then I wrote each of the boys' names on a bin with a blue paint pen.  (Oldest on top because he is tallest ... but the other ones were upset that theirs was not on top.  Seriously?)

 I was inspired ... so I kept on going.  The boys hang their backpacks in the kitchen on a drawer knob.  Cute and functional, but it gets in the way of me being able to get things out of the lower cabinets.  This is where they normally hang ....

 I bought this over the door hanger at Target for $15.  Love it.    In my laundry is the hot water heater with a cabinetry access door. 

Hang it  & a place for back packs.  4 hooks, 4 boys!  Yeah. 

Still inspired ... kept going.

What should I do with the millions of baseball hats they leave in the laundry room, floorboard of the car, under the couch, etc.?  HOOKS!!  Target!

I bought these 3M hooks that have the sticky tape on the back.  The tape peels off the wall with no damage to your sheetrock (my construction hubby says "yeah").  Got a 6 pack for $8.  They have different weight limits available.  I got hooks that could hold 2 lbs. 

Arrange them as you wish.  TIP:  Put a hat on the one up top before you place the bottom hook.  Then you KNOW you will have enough room.  The directions say to place the hook on the wall and PRESS HARD for 60 seconds.  Then WAIT ONE HOUR before you put anything on the hook.  Target also has BIG HOOKS that can hold up to 40 lbs.  Put them on a wall and hang your backpacks there. 

6 hats (4 boys, Mom and Dad) next to the garage door, grab one on a bad hair day and go! 

Organized and happy. 

Wreath surgery 101

Hello, door in need of decorations ....

Meet my old, worn out, leaves falling off, live in the attic under the Christmas boxes, 4 year old Fall wreath.  Can it be in any worse shape? 

Keep it or toss it?  Keep it!  I can fix it.  :)

I looked through my Fall/Halloween tub of decorations and found some fruit that I usually put on the table in a basket.  Then I thought .... hmmmm .... let's spice things up a bit and glue these on the wreath! 

You can buy fruit like this @ Target, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Michaels.  Get a hot glue gun if you do not own one.  It is a STAPLE.  (I have made curtains, fixed toys, repaired furniture, you name it, I've used it ... you need one.)

I placed a huge clump of hot glue on each piece of fruit and stuck it in different areas on the wreath.  No arranging.  Just stick it where you like it.  I went through about 8 sticks of hot glue just to make sure the fruit would stay on with the door slamming and the wind blowing. 

Now all I need is Halloween decorations.  It is only October 5.  Maybe I will wait a week?!  Come back for Halloween decoration ideas next week. 

Ahhhhhhh....much better. 

 

Amy

I'd Cook in This Kitchen!

Today's post is a before and after of the most hideous kitchen in America... mine. Seriously, it was a shame.

The previous owners thought black linoleum would be FAN-tas-tic in the kitchen and they paired it up with two small sections of cheap cabinets. There was only one TINY area we could use to chop or prep food... I'm talking a foot by a foot area, people. It was a true balancing act to cut something and have a plate on the counter simultaneously. A closet backed into the kitchen from an adjacent bedroom so that took up a huge chunk of space. The list goes on and on. Let's just settle it with this: It was a disgrace to kitchens nationwide.

After years of this frowned upon kitchen, my hubby and I decided OUT WITH THE OLD! A few things we knew we wanted: a pantry that was actually IN the kitchen (previous one was in the hall), a big yummy kitchen island, a gas cook top, a kitchen sink with a window above it, double ovens and finally we really wanted an area that our friends, family and children could hang out in while we cooked. Let's face it, the kitchen as we ALL know is the heart of the home and everyone gathers and hangs out there.This was problematic considering that outside our small kitchen space was a deck. Humm.... bye bye deck! Smell ya later!

After hiring an architect drawing my new kitchen on a napkin, we presented it to our very talented builder (Jason Peck - little plug for him)  to revamp the space.

Here are some pictures of the progress:



This is what you saw when you walked down the hall and entered the kitchen. Don't you want to go there and immediately
whip up a gourmet meal? The exposed wood was the closet we ripped out from an adjoining bedroom.

What a mess! Our dog is staring at the ugly black linoleum floor. That's a sign. She can't believe it either!



A view from butlers pantry of our small kitchen. The open door leads to our deck. Well, the old deck.





The drywall you see is a small room we added on to the end of the kitchen. That used to be a porch and now it's our little cozy nook and our favorite place to be.



HELLO BIG BEAUTIFUL ISLAND AND HARDWOOD FLOORS! I HEART YOU!



This is the wall that had a big fat closet hogging the space.



New window and beginnings of the sink/fridge/dishwasher area




Look! Wash dishes AND look outside at the same time! Delish!





Our new nook! my hubby has no idea he's in this pic.



(View from the hall)
 Wait, no huge fridge and a closet? No linoleum?

Chalkboard paint made this little spot my son's favorite place in the kitchen

We've loveddddd our new kitchen! Thanks for taking a look and hope you enjoyed!