Category — tips

Three weeks ago, my favorite lifestyle blogger, Heather Bullard, posted THIS.

Image via HeatherBullard.com

I was inspired to create a packaging/wrapping tote of my own. I decided to wait the three weeks until the next Sweet Salvage event to see if I could find the perfect container.

As always, the ladies at Sweet Salvage did not disappoint! Not only did I find this fantastic tote and vintage Arizona Winter Sweet Orange crate, but two dozen-plus additional treasures too!

I’m not quite certain what I’ll do with the Blue Goose Growers, Inc. crate yet, but I couldn’t pass it up. Loved the imprint with Tempe, Ariz. on the sides. I found this 1950’s label for sale online. I’m tempted to purchase one and attach it to the front of the crate. I’ll have to sleep on that…

It was an especially good month at the once-monthly sale! I’ll show you my other purchases in the next post, but today I’m going to focus on what I’ve done with the wooden tote.

After stenciling on the front, I loaded that puppy up in no time!

Shipping labels, muslin, and flat glassine bags.

Vellum envelopes and mini corked bottles.

Clay kitchen tags for baked goods and other food gifts. Numbered clay tags and the entire alphabet for unique and personalized gift tags.

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I’m working on my Easter buffet and tablescape today.

Here is how I’ll be displaying/arranging my crudites this year.

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When I have the time, I like to salt my beef and let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour before cooking. If I have even more time (and remember – that’s really the hard part – remembering!) I prefer to salt it overnight.

You may have heard or been taught to not salt beef until just before cooking. That can be true too.  I know, it’s so contradictory and confusing. Instead of trying to explain it myself, I am going to direct you to THIS ARTICLE, which explains the science of it perfectly, and also tells you what NOT to do when salting beef.

This is good information, don’t be lazy, be sure to check it out!

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This is the final recipe from our dinner party with Karen and Bob. As with the other recipes, I found this in a food magazine, this time from the February issue of Food & Wine.

The changes I made; two large onions seemed like too much, so I decreased it to one. The recipe was called Ratatouille Toasts with Fried Eggs, it is now Ratatouille Toasts with Poached Eggs. Poached eggs are easier and able to be done ahead, a huge bonus when entertaining.

To do so; poach your eggs as normal, but under-cook them slightly. About 30 seconds off of your normal cooking time should do the trick. Just make sure the whites are nearly set. Lift the eggs directly out of the simmering water and into an ice bath to stop the cooking.  Then place them into the refrigerator until you need them.

When you’re ready to serve, bring a pot of water to a gentle simmer and give your eggs a final 45 seconds of poaching. Because the whites are already set, you can heat several eggs at once without worrying that they will stick together. This takes much less time than poaching all the eggs at the last minute.

I usually poach the eggs the night before or the morning of a dinner or brunch. In the recipe below, I have instructions as if you are going to serve the eggs immediately, just in case that is how you would prefer to do it. Use the instructions above for making ahead.

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Today, I have more of a tip for you than a recipe. It all came about because of a mispurchase that I made at Costco some time ago.

Mispurchase ~ spell-check does not like that, but I think it is a perfectly reasonable word.

Anyhow, I accidentally bought a huge package of chicken legs instead of chicken thighs, and the legs have been sitting in my freezer for much too long.

Connor is still home this week, so I decided that he would absolutely love to have chicken legs for dinner and for a few lunches before he goes back to school on Monday.

I also had way too many bottles of various sauces taking up room in my refrigerator. I used a mix of these two.

So what does all this have to do with a new tip for a crock-pot/slow cooker?

Being as lazy as can be, I didn’t want to brown the legs before sticking them in the slow cooker and I didn’t want to have to pull the skin off of all 15 of them. But I also didn’t want all that fat from the skin to be floating around in there.  So… I came up with for brilliant idea of wadding up some foil and placing it in the bottom. Worked like a charm!

The fat all went down below the foil and the legs turned out crispy and cooked through and through.

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As of 4:30 PM yesterday, my house is nearly back to normal. With a boat-load of help from Connor, Christmas is packed up and put back in the crawl space.

I still need to clean up my sitting room, which served as “the wrapping station” this year. Since I was using a walker during the time I was wrapping, it looks as though a bomb went off in that area. I’ll get that cleaned up today and all the regular “decor” put back into place. Then I am done!

So what’s with that photo above, taken of stacks of apples at Costco, you ask?

You see, my husband, David, eats an apple every single morning. Seriously! Every. Day. He rarely gets sick, so I suppose it is true, that an apple a day does keep the doctor away.

Costco sells apples in these wonderful little domed containers.  Back in October, I began to save them with the thought that they would be perfect to hold and store Christmas ornaments.

They are perfect!

The space between every two apple rounds doesn’t come up completely, so you can even place long ornaments there and take up two spaces.

Next, I placed a sheet of bubble wrap on top to prevent items from slipping and jiggling. Then I just closed and sealed the lid, and everything is safe and sound.

Turns out, the container is perfect for my delicate bottle brush trees too. No crushed or damaged trees to deal with next year!

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It’s rather late in the day for me to be posting, but it’s not too late to remind you as if you need it if you’re hosting, that Thanksgiving is next week!

I know! Wasn’t it just last week Halloween?!?  It’s early this year, so don’t let it sneak up on you.

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Today we are going to revisit a Halloween favorite around these parts – my Halloween Spiderweb Candy Cake with 7-Minute Espresso Frosting. Click the name of the cake to link to the very explicit directions on how to make this fun cake with many instructional photos.

I thought I would use this opportunity to remind you that there is the “Complete Recipe Index” over there on the left side of the page – near the top, under the “Pages” tab.

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Today is Dave’s birthday. Connor came home from school for the weekend and HE, not I, made Dave’s birthday cake! All I did was take the action photos. Dave’s cake of choice is always his Auntie B’s Chocolate Cake. My mother-in-law sent me the recipe even before we were married so that I could make it for her boy who had moved so far from home.

Dave remembers the anticipation of The Beloved Cake when he would see a measuring cup full of milk, covered with a towel, sitting near the heater under the front picture window of his childhood home. You see, the recipe calls for sour milk. That old method of souring milk is no longer recommended since milk that is soured naturally may contain toxins. A safer, quicker, and much easier way to sour milk is to add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to 1 cup of 2% or whole milk and leave it to sit on a counter for 15 minutes before using. All that being said, everyone in Dave’s family is healthy and happy after consuming many of Auntie B’s cakes that were made with naturally soured milk.

Happy Birthday, Dave! xoxo

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Now that I am a pro at shooting, editing, downloading, and posting iMovies – as you know, I’ve done three of them now – I figured it was time to post my first “Cooking Tip iMovie.” Hopefully, it won’t receive horrid reviews from you … and end up being my last “Cooking Tip iMovie.”

Before you have the privilege of feasting your eyes and ears on the actual video, I have to give shout-outs and props to a few awesome folks:

Firstly, huge props and thanks to my friend and neighbor, Amy (that would The Amy as in Amy’s Famous Taco Soup) who so sweetly turned me on to this super cool tip. Amy sent me a video of a Chinese dude doing this technique. But since the video is in Chinese, without subtitles, I decided to demonstrate it myself, in English, instead of linking you to the original.

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