Yeah you read that right! We’re redoing the “pantry” and turning it into a real pantry with lots of shelves and doors!
Oh the second part? Yeah you read that right too! We found termites, and turns out we’ll be getting a whole new dining room, not just a pantry!! I’m pooped, and exhausted so enjoy the pics.
Tag: kitchen
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Pantry Remodel and Termites?!
Original “pantry”, before demolition.Beginning demolition, with Daddy’s little helper.Old pantry removed, ready to start on the wall.Termites found, construction came to a quick halt. -
Menu Plan Monday 12/19
This completely states how I was feeling this morning! I allowed myself to sleep in and skip my morning routine, which meant a not good start for anyone. I got up to the Princesses hands in the cookie jar. When I told them no cookies, and we were having cereal for breakfast fits were thrown. It didn’t help that Princess R figured it all out and threw her bowl across the room, and when I returned it with cereal she promptly turned it over and continued to scream at me. So I gave up. I got me breakfast and sent the kids back to their room to play. About an hour later, they all told me they would like some cereal.
So when I hopped on pinterest this morning to clear my head, I couldn’t help but laugh at this awesome menu sign from etsy! Here’s what our week of food looks likeMonday – PB&J. We’re headed to Temple Square to see the Lights tonight, so I wanted something easy, that the kids also enjoy.
Tuesday – Personal Pan Pizza’s. Another pinterest find, these are made using cake pans!Wednesday – Ravioli
Thursday – Going out to eat. Mark got a gift card as his work bonus, so we’re headed up to Ogden’s Christmas Village.
Friday – 5 Ingredient Bubble Up EnchiladasSaturday – Ham and Potatoes, plus lots of yummy yummy stuff with my family here!
Sunday – Leftovers. I may make some poffarages or aebleskivers for breakfast though.I’m linking up to Organizing Junkie’s Weekly Menu Plan -
Flirty Aprons Flash Sale
It’s time for another Flirty Aprons Flash Sale!Get 30% off select aprons and Free 3-day shipping today (12/15) only!Use code Holly30.These would make great gifts for that special women in your life! -

Menu Plan Monday 12/12
What’s on your menu this week?I know I don’t always follow my menu’s, but sitting down at the beginning of the week to plan everything out, really makes dinner time more pleasasnt (even if it’s not what was planned).Monday – Tuna HelperTuesday – Salsa Chicken over riceWednesday – Cheesy Potato Soup in Bread BowlsThursday – eating outFriday – Dijon Chicken Noodle TossSaturday – leftoversI’ll probably be doing a lot of baking this week as well. I need to figure out what to take our neighbors when we go caroling, and I’m in the mood to have some sweets around the house too.Yesterday I kicked off my sweet tooth by baking these delicious Strawberry Cheesecake Santa Hats with the PrincessesStrawberry Cheesecake Santa HatsIngredients8oz cream cheese4 TBS powdered sugar1 tsp vanilla extractvanilla wafers1 pound strawberriesDirectionsMix the first 3 ingredients together until well blended. Wash the strawberries. Cut off their tops, and hollow a little out of the inside (for extra cheesey goodness!). Arrange the wafers on a plate, and pipe some frosting around the edge. Then pipe some frosting inside the strawberries, and stick to a wafer. Add a little frosting to make a pom pom hat. Then enjoy!!I got this idea from this site.Oh and I’ve added a little Christmas decoration to my kitchen as well. While out visiting teaching this morning, one of the sisters gave me this present. I absolutely love it, and am thinking of making some more for every season and holiday! -

Menu Plan Monday 12/5
What’s on the menu this week? Link up or find a ton more great ideas over at Organizing Junkie.I felt the need to use some pinterest inspired recipes again, this week (did I mention I think I have a pinterest problem….I might need intervention).Monday – Spaghetti. Mark has parent teacher conferences today, so I wanted something simple I wouldn’t have to fight the Princesses to eat. Spaghetti it is! I thought about doing spaghetti baked in bread but decided against it.Tuesday – Toasted RavioliWednesday – Church potluck for the women. Mark and kids will be on their own, bwahaha!Thursday – Hamburger HelperSaturday – Lasagna SoupMmmm, these foods have me ready for a great week of cooking! While we’re on the topic of food, make sure you check out my current giveaways in the left sidebar! You could win coupons for Free Cranberry Naturals, and a Green Giant Steamers Prize Pack that includes a Free coupon as well! -

Cranberry Naturals Review and Giveaway
I love Cranberry Juice. Growing up, I loathed it. I cringed opening the fridge and seeing the Cranberry Juice, because it meant someone was sick, and everyone would be drinking it until the sickness was gone. To my young tastebuds, Cranberry Juice was very bitter.Then one day I married Mark, and he LOVED cranberry juice, drinking close to 1 glass a day. So I looked into Cranberry Juice more, and started slowly adding it to my diet (not diet diet, just the normal foods I would eat). Overtime I was able to overcome the bad childhood memories of cranberry juice, and actually enjoy it. I think the biggest problem was that when you have a cold, it magnifies the bitter taste. I still can’t drink cranberry juice when I’m sick.
I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review some of Old Orchards Cranberry Naturals. Here’s a few fun facts about this awesome drink:– It has 2X the cranberry juice of leading “diet” juices– 40% less sugar than other brands, and naturally sweetend with Truvia and just a touch of sugar– NO artificial flavors or preservativesCan it get any better? Besides Cranberry Juice already having tons of health benefits, Old Orchard has made Cranberry Juice healthier by cutting back their sugar and loading it with more of the actual fruits juice!Now being the holidays are here, and the cold weather has come to stay, I had to try something a little new with Cranberry Naturals. I decided to make my own Wassail, completely experimental with no recipe to guide me (I LOVE recipes and rarely venture away from them). Oh, and if you’re wondering what Wassail is, it’s like Hot Apple Cider, but has more fruits and spices in it. One of my favorite Christmas Carols is Here We Come A Wassailing, although some sing it as Here We Come A Caroling. That is the only word that has been changed. Not sure why, but there’s a little Christmas fact for you!Right back to my Wassail. I made it up last night, and it was so delicious! The kids loved watching it simmer, and enjoyed drinking it as well.Home Maid Simple’s Cranberry WassailIngredients:64 oz Old Orchard Cranberry Naturals Original6 oz Old Orchard Frozen Apple Concentrate1 Gala Apple, peeled, cored and sliced1 Orange, juiced1 Orange, sliced2 Cinnamon sticks1/2 tsp AllspiceDirections:In a large pot, mix all ingredients together. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, let simmer about 20 minutes. Serve warm. You can either pull the fruit pieces out, or enjoy with the wassail. The kids escpecially had fun seeing apples and oranges inside their drinks. For large holiday parties, I suggest doubling the recipe. Enjoy!Guess what?! I have a giveaway for you!!! Old Orchard is giving away coupons for FREE Cranberry Naturals to 5 of my lucky readers! Each winner will receive 2 coupons for FREE Cranberry Naturals as well as 2 $.50 cents off coupons! That’s 4 coupons each for 5 Winners!!All you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter Form below!(If the form is not reloading, or the wrong giveaway is showing, just click the title of this post, or refresh your page)*I was provided with Old Orchard Cranberry Naturals to review and give my honest opinion. All opinions shared are my own.RafflecopterSettings = {
raffleID: ‘M2Y4ZmZjMzkyM2UyMDRjZTJhY2I3ZDBlNWZlMTRkOjk=’
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Tuesday Tips – The Amazing Bread Slice
Welcome to Tuesday Tips!Have you ever taken a good hard look at your bread? Wonder what you can do with it other than eat it? No? Or do you throw away the heel because no one in your family likes it, especially the kids?Ok, I know kind of random questions there, I mean who really wonders what they can do with food besides eat it. Bread is pretty amazing though!For instance, if I place a slice of bread in a container of brown sugar, my brown sugar will stay soft! I hate going to use brown sugar (especially during this baking season) and find that I have to pull out a pick ax to get a few grains.While browsing pinterest I came across another way to use a slice of bread!If you bake a cake the night before you want to use it, and leave it on the counter overnight. You probably worry about it going stale. If you just put a slice of bread on top of it, it will keep the staleness away. Apparently it works on muffins and cupcakes too, but I’m guessing you’d need to use a couple slices to cover a whole batch of those.I haven’t tried this yet, but I just bought some round cake pans from pampered chef, so a cake is in our near future. The science behind it though, makes perfect sense to me. The cake, like the brown sugar, draws on the moisture from the bread. I don’t recommend eating the bread after using it for these tips, as it will be stale! It would probably make some great French Toast though!link up your tips with Confessions of a Frugal Mind -

Meal Plan Monday 11/28
Monday – Chicken and Stuffing. This may change though, since Mark isn’t feeling too great today
Tuesday – Tuna Helper
Wednesday – Bean and Cheese Burritos
Thursday – Soup and hot cocoa. Perfect mood setting for putting up our Christmas decor!
Friday – Church Christmas Party. I’m taking some form of potatoes
Saturday – leftoversLast week, I did hardly any cooking, since we were out of town for Thanksgiving. I did however, make some fun treats inspired by Pinterest!
(this was the first pie to go!) -
Kitchen Faucet Upgrade
Back in April, on one of the first nights in our new home, I came across a great giveaway! Hosted by Krista at Heavenly Savings, she was giving away a Pfister Faucet. We didn’t particularly like our current faucet, and so I entered. Never in a million years did I believe I would actually win that giveaway! So about a week later, when our faucet sprung an unfixable leak, we went ahead and upgraded. Shortly after that, Krista sent me an email letting me know I had won the Pfister Faucet! I was beyond shocked, and figured it had to be Murphy’s Law, since we already got a pretty nice faucet.
It was close to Mothers Day, and I decided the Pfister Faucet would make the perfect gift for my mom. See last summer (2010) I was caring for my grandma at my parents while they went on a month long vacation. While they were gone, their faucet sprung a leak, but it was fixable. Unfortunately I, nor my parents neighbor, were the best fix it people to call. We did manage to fix the leak, but at the expense of switching the hot and cold, and losing part of the faucet (not important, but it looked kind of ugly). Take note of the picture below, by the faucet’s handle.I was pretty sad, and felt that I “broke”, my parents faucet. So when I had the chance to give them a new faucet (yes they continued to use this one for the next year after it’s uglification), I could hardly contain my excitement. I waited, and waited and waited some more. When no faucet showed up, I contacted Krista at Heavenly Savings to see if there was a problem with the shipment. She was sad to hear I had not yet received the faucet and got to work on it immediately! After months of back and forth between myself and Krista, and Krista and Pfister, I finally received the beautiful new faucet a couple weeks ago! I am so grateful to Krista for not giving up, and making sure her sponsor fulfilled their end of the deal. She truly knows what it takes to be a good blogger, and how to connect with her readers.
OH you, want to see the new faucet? I gave my parents the faucet as a very late mothers day and fathers day gift. An on time birthday gift for my dad, and an early Christmas gift for the house.Please, go check out Heavenly Savings for all her current giveaways, and the many deals she is always posting! Let’s show an amazing blogger some blogging love!(and thanks Krista, winning this faucet addicted me just a tad to blog giveaways for good! Turns out even the simplest of us have a chance of winning some amazing prizes.) -
Tuesday Tips – Pots Boiling Over?
Welcome to Tuesday Tips! If you haven’t noticed from the past few posts, I’ve fallen in love with Pinterest (follow me, I’ll follow you!). I’ve even created a pin board dedicated to all kinds of tips that I’ll be sharing with you on Tuesday Tips!I felt this particular tip would come in the most handy this week, as many of us will be spending lots of time in the kitchen, hoping not to burn anything.Did you know that if you put a wooden spoon over a boiling pot, it won’t boil over?Although I found this on pinterest, it was pinned from another fun blog A Small Snippet.I have yet to try this, but I plan on using it the next time I’m boiling something. My question is, will a bamboo spoon work? Many of my spoons are bamboo.
We’re linking up to Confessions of a Frugal Mind

















