Kitchen Conundrum

photo by Seattle Municipal Archives

As many of you know, we are in the process of remodeling or 85+ year old house. It's been an interesting ride so far. We've finally got color up in the living room after having it only primed for weeks. It looks fantastic! We also have the kids rooms mostly painted. Ashley's is lavender and Tris is sporting Home Depot orange and white walls. I'll try to post some updated "work in progress" pics soon. We've decided what we want to do in the bathroom, it didn't even take that long to agree on, lol. But the kitchen is another story.

The decorating is what's causing problems at the moment. We have had a rooster/chicken theme going on in the kitchen for a few years now, and I love it. We also really love cowboy, ranch, western themed stuff...we have a very ranch theme happening in the living room. It works well...there's chickens on the ranch right? And then there is this print that I just must have, but can't find anywhere that I can afford. One just like this hung above my late grandparents kitchen table for as long as I can remember. To me a country kitchen is not complete without it! Anyway, I wanted to paint my cabinets barn red, to go with my over all country theme, but the color in my mind seems to not exist. So, we've spent literally hours checking out paint color charts and honestly don't like anything.

Then, I've suddenly developed a fetish for vintage kitchen linens, and that is making me imagine all sorts of stuff in the kitchen...none of which involves cowboys or barnyard animals. A big part of me wants a kitchen straight out of a 1950s copy of Better Homes & Gardens. Think June Cleaver's kitchen. I have not mentioned any of this to poor Dan, for fear his head might explode. Although, he frequently refers to me as Edith, as in Bunker, so maybe a retro theme wouldn't shock him too badly. But 1970s retro and 40s/50s vintage are two entirely different things. I think I'm in trouble here.

So, my current mission is to somehow meld these two concepts together, so both Dan and I will be happy in the kitchen. I'm beginning to think that having an actual decorating theme is hopeless and that we should just make it a big eclectic mix of whatever makes us happy. After all, as long as the space works for us and brings us joy, who cares what anyone else thinks. But, that still leaves us with no paint color for the cabinets and walls. The joys of redoing a home!

Crock Pot Baking

I love to bake. It's something I really enjoy and think I do fairly well. I express love to my family with ooey gooey goodness from the oven. But, we've not had a oven in a month and a half. What's a girl to do?

I figured out how to bake in my crock pot. I've made banana bread, wheat bread, a few quick bread mixes, and muffins so far. A loaf pan or the aluminum foil muffin tins fit great in my oval shaped crockery. I just had to experiment with the times to figure out how long each thing takes to cook. The end result is really good and it doesn't heat the house up as badly as regular baking.

I also discovered several crock pot desserts the family has grown quite fond of. Not exactly "baked" but yummy just the same! Here are a few of our favorites:

Crock Pot Apple Pie

Cherry Chocolate Crock Pot Dessert

Crock Pot Dump Cake

So, I can still bake, sort of. It nices to bve able to give some sweetness to my loved ones. You might give it a try!

Click the button at the top there for more great kitchen tips over at Tammy's Recipes!

Creamer Concoctions

I love coffee. I love flavored coffee creamers. Flavored creamers can be quite costly, and I don't do quite costly. So, I've been experimenting with making my own. I took a recipe my mom had and used it as a base.

Here is Mom's recipe-
1 cup non dairy coffee creamer
1-1/4 tsp. almond extract
1-1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar

Place all ingredients in a quart size Ziploc bag or a jar with a screw on lid. You want something that will close securely. Then just shake it all up until it's mixed thoroughly. Add about a tablespoon per cup of coffee.

Now this is good, but I've been playing with it a bit:
I've tried replacing the almond extract with coconut, both with and without the cinnamon.
I've done rum extract instead of almond.
I've used peppermint extract and replaced the cinnamon with cocoa.

It's been fun trying all the different combos out! So, by using Mom's recipe as a base, I've come up with several "keeper" concoctions and have lots more ideas to try.

Try it yourself and let me know what you come up with!

For more great kitchen tips, click the pick above to check out Tammy's Recipes!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Click the pic to check out other great kitchen tips over at Tammy's Recipes.

I have two kitchen tips for this week.

First we live on the lake and do quite a bit of fishing. I am not fond of the fishy hands smell, so we keep a tube of toothpaste (thanks to CVS freebies) on the kitchen sink. Washing with toothpaste after washing with soap leaves your hands minty fresh without the fish smell. It works with other strong odors like garlic and onion as well.

Second, try baking muffins in a cake pan. I've recently started doing this and it works great. A double batch works well in a 9x13 cake pan, while a single batch works best in a 9x9. This works great as you can bake a bunch at one time without the hassle of greasing muffin tins. We all love the muffin squares!