Sunday, November 30, 2014

Christmas Decor Using Kitchen Items

Finding ways to decorate using everyday kitchen items and merging the coziness of home with the holidays just goes together like peanut butter and jelly. You can easily use items from your kitchen and make darling festive holiday decor.

I love this idea to add seasonal messages to plates with stick on letters.

  This red colander is so cute it should not be hidden in the cupboard.

Isn't this adorable? Christmas bulbs are the cupcakes in this beautiful pan?

My favorite of all. A red gingham kitchen but oh those Christmas aprons as the curtains. Dreamy!
This all gives me such great but unique ideas on how to use everyday kitchen items in Christmas decor.


Friday, November 28, 2014

Thanksgiving Favorite Dishes

Oh boy, I think this year we had the best Thanksgiving dinner we have yet to cook.
One of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes was our turkey. Hands down the best turkey we have yet to prepare. Because we were only cooking for our little family we decided to grill the turkey and we did some legs and a turkey breast. First we brined the turkey in the recipe I shared yesterday. Today, the hubby grilled it on the barbecue. It was the most moist, smokey flavored,  delicious thing ever!

We always have a couple light snacks for lunch so we have plenty of room for dinner. This year my daughter made the cutest fresh veggie platter in the shape of a turkey.

Pies were made. For hubby, a raspberry apple and for us girls a chocolate fudge pie. I will be sharing the recipe this week. It is super simple but so yummy.

Oh, and my absolute favorite dish was soul sweet potatoes from Pioneer Woman. It is really more of a dessert but it is the best thing EVER!


Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Cranberry Apple Turkey Brine Recipe

If you have never brined a turkey before, you have to start. We have been brining our turkey's for years now and the process gives you a moist tasty turkey every time. Here is how to make a apple cranberry turkey brine that is perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
moist Thanksgiving turkey, how to cook turkey
*This recipe is for a very small turkey so if you are cooking an average to large sized bird you need to double this recipe. When I am done brining and getting the bird ready for the oven I still prepare us usual but you do not need to salt it as the salt in the brine will give you such good flavor. I rub mine with butter and sprinkle generously with sage and pepper.


Cranberry Apple Turkey Brine



Ingredients
  • 1 quart water
  • 2 cups apple cranberry juice
  • 1 apple cut up
  • 3 large sprigs rosemary
  • small bunch fresh thyme
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
  • 1/2 cup kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
  • 2 oranges sliced
Cooking Directions
  1. Place the water and salt in large stock pot, bring to simmer. Add all the other ingredients and simmer on low for half hour. Set aside and let completely cool. Place uncooked turkey in brining bag and pour in brine. Seal and set in large pan and place back in refrigerator until time to prepare and cook turkey as normal. Make sure to turn turkey over a few times during the brining period at least 24 hours if you can.
  2. If you want to soak turkey fully in brine then double or triple recipe but you will need a large clean plastic bucket to soak it in. I use the bags because we butterfly our turkey for grilling but either way works wonderfully.
  3. **Remember the brine is very salty so no need to season turkey with salt when you prepare for baking.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving Thoughts

I am sitting here putting my feet up an hour and half before my hubby's family is coming over for dinner so we can visit with an out of town cousin. The house is ready and we are getting pizza so I just need to clean up a bit and make myself presentable. I am goofing off here and relaxing for a bit.
I wanted to wish everyone a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving. I took this picture of our little sign and knew it would be a perfect card for you all. So here is my Thanksgiving greetings.


I am so thankful for such a good life. This is a perfect week to focus on our blessings don't you think? This year my daughter's job as a hospice nurse, constantly reminds me and smacks me in the head when I start to feel a bit down about the small stuff. It really reminds me of the BIG stuff.

Our week will be simple and I have finished my shopping. Yay!! The market was already crazy busy and I saw a few rude people but I just smiled and remained patient. What is the point of being annoyed and rude too. Dear rude people, don't come out and spoil the hustle and bustle of our preparation for a holiday that is supposed to have us being thankful not RUDE!


The older I get, the less I seem to be able to tolerate the crowds so next year I will shop early Monday morning before Thanksgiving.

Blessings to you all and safe travels and wonderful times with your family and friends. 

Monday, November 24, 2014

Growing Winter Rye Grass for Your Chickens

If you are raising backyard chickens, I have a great winter forage source for you, winter rye.
Every fall I seed my back lawn with winter rye grass seed and it takes off quickly providing a food source for my urban chickens.


Rye grass is high in nutritive value and tolerates chickens grazing on it and is a great grass to grow for chickens to graze on.. Every morning when I open the coop, I let the girls out for some green grass munching. Even long after my St. Augustine lawn dies back from colder temps, the rye stays green and gives the chickens a constant source of greens through the winter. If you live in an area where it snows, I imagine you could grow it in trays. Once it is eaten down it will rapidly grow back if the trays were rotated.

Growing Grass For Chickens To Graze On:

  1. In early fall, for me September, I seed our back lawn with winter rye seed. 
  2. Water daily until grass emerges.
  3.  Wait to mow until the new rye grass is 3-4 inches tall.
  4.  Allow chickens to graze on rye grass for additional winter nutrition for your urban chickens.


Sunday, November 23, 2014

Kitchen Quick Tip - The Easiest Way to Clean Your Refrigerator

Our kitchen quick tip - Easiest Way To Clean Your Refrigerator is how I clean my refrigerator all year long and since I have cleaning ADD, I have the easiest tip to clean the largest appliance we own.

So last week I shared my tips for organizing and simplifying your Thanksgiving meal but before you head to to the grocery store, how about getting the refrigerator cleaned up and sparkling to hold all your groceries and that TURKEY!.



Now, to me, taking apart the entire refrigerator and having to clean the whole thing, is just overwhelming so what I like to do is to speed clean the refrigerator a little at a time. That's right, a few minutes here and there and your fridge is always clean.

Easiest Way To Clean Your Refrigerator

1. Every morning when I do the dishes for say a week or so, I will pull out a shelf and one shelf from the door as well.

2. Wash the glass shelf and door shelf and then take the hot soapy rag and wipe down those areas in the refrigerator and dry. I do this about once a month and that way it is never seems to be a daunting task and is the best way to clean the refrigerator which seems to stay more organized and clean than waiting till it is a mess and tackling the whole thing at one time.

I will use this method with the freezer too but less often as it does not seem to get as messy as often as the refrigerator section.

So by adding just a few minutes at the end of morning dishes, I keep my refrigerator clean and that is this week's kitchen quick tip. Check out our quick tip series.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Late Fall Garden - What I am Planting Now

It is late fall and my garden is DONE! This is a good growing time for us, a second planting season as we can grow much through the fall and winter. But alas, our fall was so hot I did not have much of my fall planted seeds even germinate. I am dreaming of early spring when the garden looked like this.
 I am not getting much of anything from the garden but some squash I planted at the end of summer. Anyone know if this is a buttercup squash? I love to keep the plastic trays from the nursery to put below ripening vine bearing vegetables. They keep the fruit out of the soil but the mesh pattern allows for good air circulation.
 I have one zucchini that is still giving me a few to pick here and there.
 Look how neglected my garden is right now. I am hoping to spend some time out here this weekend and get in some beets, multiple greens, radish, carrots, lots of chard and more herbs.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Tips to Organize and Simplify Your Thanksgiving Meal Preparation

I love Thanksgiving. Simply a day to gather around the table and eat good food that evokes lots of memories. The meal though can be overwhelming, so here are some tips to organize and simplify your Thanksgiving meal preparation.
 Right now, at nine days out from Thanksgiving, I am compiling my menu and grocery list. I do this simply. Take a notebook sheet of paper and and write your menu on the left side and on the right side of the paper start your grocery list. As you add or remove dishes from your Thanksgiving menu you can list the ingredients you will need from the store.
When it comes time to shop you will just cut the sheet in half and take your Thanksgiving shopping list with you to the store.
organized Thanksgiving menu and shopping list
You can see at the bottom I also keep a to do list for only my meal preparation. Our meal is low key with just our immediate family and maybe a couple extra guests so other than keeping the house picked up that week, I do not have too many major projects to finish before Thanksgiving.

The week of Thanksgiving, I have come up with a system that keeps the work evenly divided between the days of the week leading up to the meal, but also keeps me from getting really stressed on Thanksgiving day. Here is how I plan my week beginning on Monday for a low stress Thanksgiving.

Monday:
I always do my grocery shopping for Thanksgiving this day. It is not so early that my fresh items are compromised, but early enough to avoid the crowds the rest of the week. Check your pantry for items you already have or pantry staples you will need like sugar or flour.

Come home and put away ingredients in the house and garage refrigerators and pantry.
Thaw turkey if needed.

Tuesday:
I will prepare the brine for my turkey. Once it is ready and completely cooled, I will put the turkey in the brine and put out in the garage fridge to sit until Thursday. Here is a basic brine recipe but our favorite is cranberry apple turkey brine recipe.

Chop all veggies for meal and store in fridge. If you saw my recent post on freezing chopped onions, those will all be done for you.

Wednesday:
I have found the best way to insure that I enjoy Thanksgiving too, is for me to make lots of food ahead of time. Wednesday is my day to do that and we will usually pick up something for dinner or hubby will take me out. You know how Thanksgiving leftovers are so good? Well, reheated dishes are often I find better the next day.

On Wed. I will make my dressing, put it in the dish I am using, and next day just heat in oven.

I also make my mashed potatoes today too and store in my crock pot dish in the refrigerator. Next day, top with some butter and turn the crock pot on early in the day to heat and they are wonderful and steamy this way. Just stir about once an hour to evenly reheat.

I also get most of my sweet potato dish done this day including baking it. I then let it cool and cover and store until Thursday where I will reheat in microwave and then top with marshmallows and pop under the broiler just before the meal to toast the marshmallows.

Make pies.

Wed. evening I set and decorate the Thanksgiving table.

Thursday:
Of course all the rest of the prep is today but three main dishes and pies are already done.

I hope you found my tips for a more organized and less stressful Thanksgiving meal helpful. Let me know if you have any other great tips. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Kitchen Quick Tip - Freezing Chopped Onions

In my quest to never throw away food, I have learned what freezes well and onions are one of them. So here is how I freeze onions that are getting old.


If you have an onion in the drawer and it is getting old and ready for the trash, get it out and chop it up as fine as you like it. Take all of the onion and put in a plastic bag and seal and just pop in the freezer. When you need to cook, just break off the amount you want to use, and put the rest back in the freezer. The onions saute up nicely or you can toss in soups and sauces. This is how I never throw onions away and frugally freeze onions for use later. This is also a great time saver, perfect for Thanksgiving meal preparations. A reader suggested freezing the onions flattened in the bag so it is easier to break off exactly what you need. Genius! Check out all of the time saving tips in the quick tip series by searching quick tips on this blog.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Warm and Cozy November Decor

Well after a rough week we are up and at em today and I am looking forward to Thanksgiving but I really just love the simple decor this time of year and the warm and cozy colors of autumn decor.

My friend Shelly gave me this "to bed with the chickens" sign and I knew I had to put it up in my bedroom and gather together my chicken decor in the room.

I find the colors of fall to be my favorites; russet reds, pumpkin organge, harvest yellow and cocoa browns. All my faves.

 The glow of lights on timers at night just makes me feel so good to see as the days get shorter and the evenings longer.

Here's a cozy tip. I took one of my vintage thermos' and put tiny marshmallows in to keep handy for hot chocolate. The marshmallows stay nice and fresh in the thermos.
The marshmallows would be great too on top of my recipe for homemade white chocolate peppermint mocha, a frugal Starbucks knock off I came up with.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Sad News


Sadly, our little Pip did not make it. He had a nasty parasite and though we thought that was all, he never started eating again and his tummy started swelling and today I noticed it was worse. I took him back into the vet for the fourth time and they did a quick sonogram and confirmed fluid was all the way up around his heart but most important, he was clearly suffering. I made the decision with the vet that euthanization was necessary right away.

We all our very sad and it was torture to tell my youngest but thanks for all your kind words and support. When you choose to have pets, you receive great joy but also must suffer when you loose them. We have had this twice in one year so we will lick our wounds today and carry on. I am sure another puppy will find its way home with us but probably after the holidays.

Monday, November 10, 2014

A New Puppy But a Tough Few Days

Many of you know we lost our dog Sandy at the beginning of the year. We had wanted to get a new puppy in the fall when we knew we would be home and here to train a new dog. So a few days before Halloween, I brought home a Chihuahua mix puppy for our youngest especially to replace our other dog for her.

So meet Pip. A little brindle darling of a puppy. Sadly though. last week he started acting a little off and eventually he stopped eating.

After a few rough days, a trip the vet Saturday and last night having to rush him to the emergency vet at one in the morning, we finally know what is the matter with our little guy. He has a tiny microscopic parasite that has made him a very sick boy. We almost lost him last night and he still will not eat on his own. To keep his blood sugar up, we are hand feeding and making him eat every three hours. I have been to the vet three times and hubby, my oldest and I are all totally sleep deprived. He is still weak and not doing as well as we have hoped but he is on the correct meds and I hope he rallies and starts to feel better.

Ugh, I just wanted to bring home a puppy for my littlest and it has become a nightmare but we are so in love with him. Pray our little guy comes through. I know he is just a dog but it is heart breaking to see him suffer and to see how sad it is for the kids. I'll keep you posted, but for now our goal is to keep him nourished and prevent dehydration.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Day of the Dead Party

This year, my sister in law's Halloween party was themed, Day of the Dead. She goes all out and decorates and does a great job of setting the stage for a great time. Here is her 2014 Day of the Dead Party...


She modified many pumpkins she had for the day of the dead party. Her and her friend made lots of custom banners and decorations.





 The Mexican paper flowers above the food table was awesome. I also loved the colorful pom pom garland.




My sister in law is on the left. She looked great. She works for months on her party and it really shows.

Hubby and I all set in our day of the dead makeup and costumes.
You can see the rest of the party decor here.
Sharing here.
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Saturday, November 1, 2014

Dia de los Muertos Decor

Every year my husband's sister throws a big Halloween dance party. She works all year on the theme and decor. This year she moved it to Nov. 1st for Dia de los Muertos or day of the dead. I want to show you some pics of her decor. Tonight is the party so I will be back with our costumes and her house all set for the party.

Her and one of her good friend's have worked hours on custom banners, garlands and decor.

I just loved her day of the dead wreath for her front door.

Customized dia de los muertos skulls.

All of her decor always has a royal theme. Love the crown on the gold skull. These centerpieces were done in upcycled tomato cans.

Day of the dead mantle in black and orange.
Stay tuned this week for our costumes and more of her cool day of the dead party.