August 1, 2011: Kitchen Makeover Recipe

It’s hard to believe another month has gone by in this busy year. Here in Arizona, since the largest metropolitan areas get so hot earlier in the year, the kids will start school while for much of the rest of the country, there’s still another month of summer to enjoy. Since I don’t have any little ones, I’m with the latter group – although I’ll have to remember to slow down for school zones!

With the fresh new beginning of another month, I thought I’d share with you my kitchen transformation. It didn’t happen overnight; in fact it’s taken us a couple years to buy things here and there. But in true thrifty Candy fashion, I was able to redo my kitchen – including appliances – for just over $2,000. Take a look at the before and after pictures.

What did I spend money on? Here’s a list:

Double ovens $800
Refrigerator $500
Stove top $40
Counter tops $580
Gallon of paint $30
Chef’s mats $36
Cabinet knobs $30

All of the décor and furnishings were bought at yard sales for measly prices. It’s taken me a long time to collect things in the particular shade of green I love but it was well worth it. And the cute rooster dish rack? That was a gift from my mother-in-law.

The only thing left for us to replace is the range hood. And the one last thing I really want? An island to give me extra food preparation space. Right now I’m on the hunt for a piece of marble leftover from an order or installation job that I can pick up really cheap. My dad volunteered (ok, actually, it was my stepmom who volunteered him) to make the island base so it shouldn’t cost much.

For me, the kitchen is the most important room in my house and I’m pleased with the results of my makeover!

February 24, 2011: Recipe for a Broken Mirror

I’d hazard to guess that many of you readers have at least one mirrored surface in the bathroom (or elsewhere) that has a crack in it. For me, it’s the medicine cabinet doors in my bathroom; ever since we bought our house there’s been a large, jagged crack at the corner edge of one door and we just never got around to replacing it. Honestly, I think we’d have to replace the whole cabinet or do some delicate surgery and we can’t afford that at the moment.

So what can you do to get rid of that unsightly crack? My friend Kathy gave me this idea. You’re not really fixing the crack, but you are covering it up and preventing someone from cutting themselves if the fissure extends to the edge of the mirror.

The solution? Wallies.

These are basically cutout shapes of wallpaper that you moisten. They can be placed on just about any kind of surface – and they work particularly well on mirrors or glass. Now, I’m not being paid to endorse this product and in fact, there may be other similar alternatives, but Wallies are reasonably priced and they also come in a wide variety of styles and shapes – there’s something for any kind of décor.

Because my home is decorated with western and mountain décor, I chose these cute brown bears and pine trees - plus they were on sale for half off. Can't beat that with a stick! Although the mirrored door on the right side wasn’t broken, I added Wallies there, too, to make a balanced design.

Sorry for the somewhat confusing photo - because the Wallies are on my mirrored medicine cabinet and there is another mirror on the opposite wall, I got this unending mirror in a mirror photo effect! But you can see the Wallies best on the very upper right hand corner of the photo.

I still have several bears and trees left over from my mirror fix and I’m thinking of ways they can be used on other items in the bathroom to pull together my decorating theme. I haven’t come up with anything yet, but I’ll let you know when I do.

February 7, 2011: Church Valentine’s Day Party Decorations and Games

As church secretary, I’ve been appointed the person in charge of this year’s Valentine’s Day potluck celebration at New Hope Christian Fellowship, along with my dear friend, Kathy. Yes, this is a usual and ordinary part of my job but I didn’t do it in 2010 (during my first year as secretary) since my daughter-in-law planned her baby shower for that weekend. I couldn’t miss the baby shower for my very first grandchild! So this is my first Valentine’s Day celebration where I’m in charge.

My pastor’s wife, Margaret, has some old games on pages we’ve copied over and over again through the years. She used to be an elementary school teacher and these are some of the games her kids would play for Valentine’s Day. The funny thing is that I looked online for suggestions, Googling “Valentine’s Day church games” and much of what I found was dual purpose: either for kids or Christians. Hmm… we may be church-goers, but we’re not children! So this year I’m opting for more adult-level games.

What have I got in store for our congregation? I’m in charge of games and this is what I’ve got so far:

• A glass jar decorated with hearts and filled with candy: challenge is to correctly guess how many pieces of candy are in it to win the jar with the candy.
• Valentine’s Day bingo: I found an online site (www.bingocardcreator.com) that allowed me to create and print 15 copies of a bingo card with such terms as “love”, “cupid”, etc. on the squares. I think I’ll need twice that amount of cards so I’ll make two copies of each and plan for two winners per round (that’s extra prizes we need to buy).
•  Valentine's Day crossword*
• Valentine’s Day word search*

• Valentine’s themed word ladder *
*These games can be found on http://holidays.kaboose.com/val-word.html - if you can get past the annoying auto-play video, there’s some good, albeit childish stuff here. Another one to try is http://puzzle-maker.com/.

We're on the hunt for tablecloths at thrift stores. To make things a bit more festive, we purchased some $1 packages of  large, cardstock Valentine’s confetti to sprinkle over the tables and a few packages of heart-decorated pencils.

This is a Valentine’s Day party recipe for decorating and fun on the cheap (since the church has a very small budget).

Getting Ready for the Big Change

There's a few things I want to write about before I begin this ambitious project of posting recipes for the next 365 days (starting February 1st, since I didn't begin January 1st).

Many of the recipes I'm going to share are my own concoctions. Sometimes they're based on a recipe I got from a cookbook or the Internet or watching TV but very rarely do I stick to the directions. Once in a while I find a recipe I can't improve upon and prepare it exactly the same and in those instances I'll give credit where credit is due by citing the source (if I can remember it!).

I am a cookbook fanatic! I absolutely adore old cookbooks, not just for their old-fashioned recipes but for the illustrations. I have saved nearly every cookbook my mother used when she was alive and many of them are filled with photographed diorama scenes, illustrations that deftly portray the era in which it was published, and photos of women with bouffant hairdos in frilly dresses and men wearing suits and skinny ties. My mother was avid about clipping recipes out of women's magazines from the 1950s and 1960s and it's fun to see how much each was costed at (usually a few pennies per serving). The most beloved recipes, however, are those written on scraps of paper in her own hand. One of my favorite books belonged to my grandmother, titled A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband, which includes recipes made with a "fireless cooker". Grandma Roemer wrote notes in the margins and even pasted in a few recipes of her own. Back in those days, a fireless cooker was quite the innovation and an icebox really was an icebox full of chunks of ice that needed to be replenished as they melted. Cookbooks can function as time capsules - they showcase the foods, trends, fashions, and advice of particular periods in our history.

I've also saved all the books I've gotten since I was a teen. I've still got two volumes written by Vidal and Beverly Sassoon on beauty advice and exercise, as well as a slim little paperback published in the 1970s that has some terrific recipes for natural beauty products. My old books on Christmas, including homemade decorations, and how-to books on everything from plumbing to sewing curtains are also treasured parts of my collection.

So when it comes to recipes for food and more, I've got lots of sources.

I am excited to share my passions with you. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I love sharing them.

Buon appétit!

365 Days of Recipes - Can I Do It?

OK, here we go with one more change to this blog... After watching Julie & Julia I got inspired to do something big - something that would make me write for myself. I also read about a woman who did a 365 days of crock pot cooking blog. But I wanted my idea to be something unique. I love to cook and bake, I love to do home improvement projects and decorate, and I love to open my "kitchen laboratory" and concoct natural cleaning supplies, beauty products, and the like.

Bingo! 

The focus of my blog is going to 365 days of recipes for all of the above - everything you need for a "sweet" life on a budget, using ingredients you can find easily and going organic/natural whenever possible.

Since I didn't get started on January 1st, I'll begin this new adventure on February 1st. Most of the initial posts will be focusing on Valentine's Day, natch.

In the meantime, if you just can't wait, I'll be happy to send you a copy of the eCookbook, Recipes for Romance. Just leave me a message here (be sure to include your email address in your personal info when you post) and I'll send it right away.

Now I've got to get busy writing blog posts. Hope you'll come back and check them out - a new post every day for the next year!