February 24, 2015 by Stephanie

What’s In My Kitchen?

I love kitchen gadgets.

I could get lost watching infomercials on the latest NEW gadget that will change your life! Wouldn’t it be fun to test all those products out?

Tom and I have been known to go to Bed, Bath, And Beyond to just peruse new items and dream up our perfect kitchen setting. Seriously though, I got upset with Tom just the other day because he went without me to BB&B to pick up ice trays. Love that place.

I am always looking for ways to make things simpler in the kitchen. I love cooking, but I don’t like elaborate slave over for hours type of cooking. And this family just doesn’t have time for that during the week.

These are some of my favorite items that we use almost daily to make our lives a little easier. And these are things that are outside of your normal standard kitchenware like pots/pans and measuring cups.

1. KitchenAid Blender

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I make a smoothie every morning, so we needed a high powered blender that would stand up to my daily needs. I can put in frozen fruit, and this thing just whips them right up. It has also been helpful to puree food since I am making all George’s food. You really don’t need the “baby blender;” a regular one does just fine. These also come in different colors. Ours is a bright light blue which helps brighten up our counters.

2. Small Micro-Cooker

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We use this item almost daily. We love steamed vegetables, and this is far and away the easiest way to prepare them. We just grab a bag of frozen veggies, pour in the desired amount, add a little water, and then pop it in the microwave for 5 minutes. Once you are done, you just pour out the water through the strainer lid, and then donezo. Perfect side dish for any meal. Right now it makes enough veggies for just the two of us, but we may look to get the bigger size once we have to start making meals for more than just us. I have done three helpings, but anymore than that I have to just run it twice. You can do a lot of things with this bad boy, but we usually stick to just steaming vegetables. Considering how awful I am at cooking rice, I should use this more often to cook that. Seriously, if you don’t have this, do yourself a favor and get this from Pampered Chef.

3. Mix’N Chop

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This is another must have from Pampered Chef. I LOVE THIS ITEM. I really struggle chopping up hamburger meat when I am cooking it, and I don’t need hamburgers in my skillet meals. This gadget helps you chop up your meat into smaller chunks so much better than a regular spatula without feeling like you have to do an arm workout to do so. We use this several times a week. This will change your life people.

4. KitchenAid Mixer

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Another KitchenAid must. This is definitely the best wedding present we received. Sorry for all others, but this one really takes the cake. Literally, we make cakes with this. We don’t use this every day, but I would say almost weekly we use this sucker for something. We haven’t really explored any of the attachments, but I hear they are great too. I would love the pasta roller! We also are in need of a new beater since we have used it so much over the last 4 years.

5. Crockpot

No explanation needed. We use this great invention at least once a week. Set it and forget it!

6. Manual Food Processor

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Another favorite from Pampered Chef. I am the worst at cutting things. It is amazing I haven’t seriously injured myself in the past. Now, if any recipe calls for anything diced (or chunks) in the processor it goes. I have done onions, nuts, bread crumbs, meat, and so many other vegetables. It is really easy to maneuver, even easier when you get the husband to do it for you. It gets the job done, and no one is hurt!

These are all my own opinions, and I was not contacted by KitchenAid or Pampered Chef to speak about their items. But I would if they asked! I could talk about their products for dayssssss. We have so many other products of theirs that we love as well, but these are our most used and favorite saving-us-time items. And we will endorse any crockpot. They are the bomb.com.

Do you use any of these products? Do you love these brands as much as we do? What are your favorite kitchen items? What else should we be using to save us time?

December 16, 2014 by Stephanie

Eggnog Snickerdoodles

I am joining in on the Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies with Lisa. Today’s theme is traditional cookies.

If you love eggnog and you love cookies (which is pretty traditional), or you just love desserts in general, these cookies are for you!

I got this recipe from my friend Melissa a few years back. They are now my go to holiday cookie. I have never heard a complaint!

Ingredients

1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups plus 5 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1 tsp rum extract
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup refrigerated French vanilla non-dairy creamer
5 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

In a large bowl, cream the butter, shortening, and 2 cups of sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in egg and rum extract.

Combine milk and creamer. Set aside

Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda.

Gradually add to creamed mixture, alternately with the milk mixture, beating well after each addition

In small bowl, combine nutmeg and remaining sugar.

Shape dough into small bowls and roll in nutmeg mixture.

Place 2 in apart on on un-greased baking sheets.

Flatten slightly with a glass.

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown.

Cool for minutes before removing from pans.

Note: One batch goes a long way.

It’s an easy recipe and will become your go to snickerdoodle! So yummy!

October 14, 2014 by Stephanie

George’s Nursery Reveal in Video

I want to remember things about this time. Every minute I get to spend with George is special. And I have no idea how long I will get these moments of just me and him, so I want to remember them here for years to come.

Part of that is remembering the place.

I spend most of my day in this room. I do most of his feedings in the rocking chair because it is the most comfortable for both of us. I read him stories here, and I introduce him to music while he makes faces at my singing. We play on the floor-really it’s him just flailing around as I pull him around on a blanket trying to imitate crawling and making sure the dogs don’t drown him in slobbers. I also spend a lot of time in the room just staring at how perfect he is and how lucky I am to be his mom.

So it may seem simple to outsiders, but this room is our world right now.

I love how light and airy everything turned out. It is just a friendly environment.

I did my first attempt at a video tour, so enjoy my commentary. (I have no idea what I am doing.)

If you have any questions about anything don’t hesitate to ask.

I also want to remember the sounds and the little things we do together. This may be a boring video to the soundtrack of “The Lion King,” but again the gurgles and faces made are my everything. And I don’t want to ever forget how precious these moments are.

So if you are inclined to watch a baby do nothing but baby things (which is honestly not much) for a couple minutes, this is the video for you. Spoiler alert, there are baby hiccups. Adorbs.

I still need to try to capture him searching for a pacy. Best George moment ever.

So that is George’s room. I can’t wait to see how these pieces grow up with him and transition into other uses as he changes.

Do you like decorating? Do rooms turn out they way you imagined?

September 18, 2014 by Stephanie

Rockaway

Have you ever looked at prices for rocking chairs and nursery gliders? Absurd.

Normal people cannot afford those. Especially on top of everything else needed for a nursery.

We got this rocking chair from my grandparents. Instead of trying to purchase something way out of our price range, I decided that we would just make a chair cover for it and call it good.

Off to Pinterest I went looking for patterns and inspiration.

I cannot take credit for actually making this. My mom came to our rescue again. Off my pins, she made made up our own patterns to fit the chair.

I did help cut out the fabric!

We used two fabric patterns, foam cushioning, and 550 cord.

The 550 cord is for the piping on the side.

I really like that it is reversible. And I am obsessed with these colors…obviously.

She added orange ties to all the corners so it can be easily tied to the chair.

We also made this side pocket thing. I actually did do some of the sewing on this one. My mom had a pattern for this from a bedding set.

It is really helpful to have on the rocker. I have it stuffed with wipes, bibs, granola bars, and anything else that I may need during a feeding.

I think this helps pull together all the different patterns we have in the room.

The chair is pretty comfortable pretty comfortable! I may have fallen asleep in it a few times.

Here soon I will try to do a full tour of the nursery so you can see the full set up of everything. I may even attempt to do a video tour, but don’t hold your breath.

Have you done any furniture coverings or upholstery?

September 8, 2014 by Stephanie

The Elephant in the Room

When we started thinking about how to decorate George’s room, I knew that I wanted something simple but also unique and personal to us. Most of our art in our house is homemade, and I wanted the same for George’s nursery.

I saw a few things on Pinterest, and then thought about our wedding guest book and combined the ideas.

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We thought it would be cute to do something similar with our kids and the baby showers.

So I tried my hand at drawing and painting.

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I made a stencil for the elephant.

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I tried doing the potato stamp for the balloons, but it did not work. I resorted to making an oval stencil and traced balloons all over. As I painted in the ovals, I added the little balloon knot with the paint brush. I kind of randomly alternated the blue and orange.

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My mom then helped with the strings. We just used a thin point sharpie to make the strings and the features on the elephant.

We had silver and black sharpies for the shower guests to sign a little note for George. In hindsight, I wish we would have only used one color of sharpie, but it still is great none the less.