04-19-12 Terrific Tips Thursday

04-19-12

The following tips are straight from my Grandma herself. :-) I love it when she shares her wealth of knowledge with the rest of us. She always has a new tip or trick to share with me. :-) 

1. Place a finger sized hold in the middle of your hamburger patties. They will cook better and as the meat cooks the hole will fill back in. 

2. Place candles in your drawers and cupboards to give them a fresh scent without having to burn them.

3. Put about 1/2 tsp of baking powder in eggs to make them cook up fluffier. 

4. Stick an aluminum foil funnel in the center of pie so it doesn't overflow.

5. Chop onions very finely. Put 1 cup of onions and 1 cup of sugar in a container. Place this mixture in the fridge. All the mixture to turn into a syrup. Give 1 tsp to yourself or kids when they have a cold.

6. If you boil vinegar in a burnt pan then let it set for a while until it cools the burnt food will come off.   

7. Weed Killer

1 gallon white vinegar

2C. salt

8 drops dish liquid

Put some in spray bottle, and spray weeds

Will kill any vegetation, so be careful not to spray where you want vegetation to grow.

8. Getting Rid of Skunk Odor

1qt hydrogen peroxide 2%

1/2 C baking soda

2 tsps.dish liquid

     wet with solution.

      wash with shampoo.

    dry.  repeat if needed.

And I will leave you with a recipe for 

Cocoa Zucchini Cake

Yield 16 Servings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Unbleached Flour

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1 Cup Nonfat Buttermilk

2 Cups (packed) Shredded Unpeeled Zucchini

3 Egg Whites

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1/2 C Dark Raisins or Chopped Walnuts

3 Tablespoons Confectioners' Sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine the flours, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, and stir to mix well. Stir in the buttermilk, zucchini, egg whites, and vanilla extract. Fold in the raisins or walnuts. 

2. Coat a 9x13 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. Spread the better evenly in the pan, and bake at 350 degrees F for about 35 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake to room temperature.

3. Sift the confectioners' sugar over the cake if desired, cut into squares, and serve.

Nutrition Information:

Yields 16 Servings 

Calories: 147 

Fat 0.6g 

Protein 3.9g

 Cholesterol: 0mg 

Sodium 104mg 

Fiber 2.1g 

Calcium 37mg 

Potassium 159mg

 Iron 1.2mg

Whimsical Wednesdays: Kitchen Command Center / Menu Planning

Kitchen Command Center / Menu Planning

I have been reading about and researching menu planning for awhile now and looking at different menu planning boards, organizational command centers, etc. I decided to take what I saw and learned from various sources and combine them into my own personalized Kitchen Command Center. :-) 

I found this cute little cube organizer at Staples for about $16. 

 Once it was assembled I decided exactly where I wanted it to hang on the wall. Our kitchen will be one of the last rooms of the house to be remodeled. Recently I moved one of my kitchen cupboards off of this wall and over by my sink counter to open up the entrance to my kitchen. I had a bare wall under my hanging cupboards which was perfect for this project.

 While the cube organizer was hanging I marked with a pencil the four inside walls. I then took this SUPER cute duct tape I found in the clearance section of Walmart and taped the wall (Like I said...I wan't too concerned with this ruining my walls since we are eventually going to gut and remodel this room. However, if you want to do this without putting the tape directly to your wall cut a piece of cardboard the size of the organizer, duct tape the cardboard (or use wrapping paper, fabric, etc) and attach the cardboard to the back of the organizer.

 See how cute?? I love how this turned out!

 I also picked up these little cube storage containers. 

 Now if only I could decide how I want them to be arranged.....

 Maybe this one??

 Or this? Ugh...I'm so indecisive! :-P

 Next I hung up my weekly menu board (it just has the seven days of the week and a cork strip). and two 8x10 frames which I will use as dry erase boards. They were only $3 a piece at Walmart and a lot more fashionable with the frames then regular dry erase boards. 

 I found these cute little push pins that were also in the clearance section of Walmart and found the book rings at Staples. :-D I thought about matching everything to the colors in my kitchen but every once in awhile you just need some color in life!! :-D

 I bought two sets of round magnets with adhesive backs and one package of acrylic gems from Walmart (I found them in the crafting section near the beads). I added an acrylic gem to each magnet. They turned out super cute! :-D I found most of my cute ideas for my own menu board from Robin's Menu Board at RobbyGurl's Creations. 

 Next I printed out a "To Do List" sheet and put it in the frame. Now you can write on the glass with a dry erase marker and use it over and over again. :-) 

On the other side I have my shopping list and activities or appointments scheduled for that week.

 Then I create, printed and cut out my recipe cards. I am going to fill them out as I go. I started by creating meal tags from meals I know we all love and like and will add new recipes and items as we try them out and they earn the family's approval. :-) 

 Instead of color coding everything by the type of food I color coded it by the type of meal since I was only using a weekly planner instead of a monthly. I chose to use a weekly planner because it gives me more flexibility to meal plan around deals and specials at our stores. :-) 

I printed my recipe cards on colored cardstock. I was able to print four cards per 8.5x11" sheet of cardstock. Pink is desserts/snacks. (The kids and I have a new rule...no sweets unless it's an "S" day {Saturday or Sunday} or a holiday). Blue is Lunches (since I'm going to be packing two lunches for my boys next year I made Lunch Combo Cards which allow me to list different quick and easy combo to pack for their lunches). Green is Dinner. :-) 
Click HERE to print the recipe cards (print dimensions 8.5x11 - 4 cards)

 One thing more I would like to add is making Date Cards for at the top so I can put the date number by the day of the week.

 I removed the one storage bin so you could see the pretty pattern in the back. I took a cleaned tin can and put the duct tape around it and used it to hold some pencils and pens (you could also use this to hold some of your dry erase markers). I also laid some post it note tablets here for jotting down notes, ideas, recipes, etc. (I love how the post it notes just happened to be blue, green and pink!!). 

 I will use the bins to store, extra recipe cards/calendar items, kids scissors, crayons, markers, etc. So this will be the go-to station to get supplies for homework and crafts. :-) 

 I also had an extra dish drainer that wasn't getting used. I went through and organized some of my paperwork and decided to use this to hold all my binders. I have a binder for my son's school papers, church papers/sermon notes, home decor/organization ideas, craft ideas, etc. I was going to use this to hold my kids coloring books and crayons but like this option better. I may still throw a few coloring books in here for quick access. 

Have you ever used your frig as a dry erase board?? I never did either until now. I love it. However I think I'm going to make it a bit prettier by printing out some chores, check marks, etc on colorful poster board and adding some magnetic strips. :-) The kids chores are simple because they're only 6, 4, and 3 but I will add more as they get older. 

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