A Sweet Little Kitchen Upgrade

 

This little project was one I’ve been wanting to do for ages.  For quite some time I’ve wanted to make washable shelf liners for the shelves of my dish cupboards.  I’ve long wanted to have a sweet place to arrange my curated collection of Corelle dish ware and vintage Pyrex and Corning Ware pieces.  I don’t care for store bought shelf lining material or contact paper as it gets stick and tacky on the surface as it ages and it is really hard to make it look nice without wrinkles and bubbles.  I also wanted custom made liners that actually fit the shelves and are ones I can just simply toss into the washing machine whenever they need a good clean.

 

About three years ago I found this darling flannel fabric in a nice kitchy theme that was perfect for this project.  I knew I had plenty of coordinating cotton calico fabric for the back, which sadly you don’t really see so I just used what I already had on hand.  After measuring my shelves I bought a yard and a half of the flannel when it was on sale for 50% OFF so this project was not expensive at all.  Unfortunately, it had been sitting waiting for me ever since.

 

I put this task on my list of projects to complete this year and once I got my guest room back in order I was itching to get in there and get busy.  I selected a backing fabric from my stash and cut rectangle pieced of both fabrics based on the measurements I took of each of the shelves adding a half inch to the width and length for the 1/4” seam allowance.  I placed each piece right sides together and pressed with a hot iron before pinning them together.  I stitched them up leaving an opening, trimmed the corners, turned them right side out and pressed them nicely before I topped stitched along the edges of each one using a simply straight stitch.  No hand sewing required.

 

Initially I made four liners as I had originally planned but then I realized I had plenty of fabric left to make two more for the very top shelves of each cupboard.  Rather than saying I’d get those done later I just headed right back upstairs and got those two additional liners cut, stitched, pressed and ready to go.  Mainly because we all know how “later” works and after all this time I wasn’t going to take a chance for this project to get stalled any further.  I’d waited long enough.

 

Now that the cupboards are all nice and clean, the dishes all got washed and the shelves are all neatly lined I am absolutely thrilled.  It makes me so very happy every time I open the cupboard to get a glass our or pull dishes out for supper.  It was so much fun to make these and it is even more fun to put them to use.  I love these!

 

Amazing Meals From The Pantry #6

 

This time of year as the weather warms and my schedule tends to get busier I gravitate a lot toward lighter meals and ones that are easy to prepare.  I’m still trying to make a Sunday dinner with leftovers that will fill in through the week and lots of good salad meals and lighter options in between.

 

I began with one of my favorite Sunday dinners these days.  Meat loaf, baked potato and steamed vegetables.  I cooked it all in my slow cooker so I didn’t have to turn on the oven and heat up the house.  I enjoyed this meal three times that week and had enough to make a meal to tuck into the freezer for the next time I need a quick and easy dinner.

 

Salmon is one of those items I enjoy, especially in the summer.  I pan grilled a fillet and topped it with some tomato basil pesto and a little bit of cheese for an Italian flair.  Served alongside a fresh green salad it was perfect.

 

Pork chops along with a side of vegetable laden egg fried rice made for a quick and easy meal.  I made enough for two so I could enjoy leftovers a couple days later.  It was delicious!

 

Waxing a bit nostalgic I took two hotdogs that had been hanging around for a while in my freezer and sliced them up.  After pan frying them in a bit of bacon grease I added two beaten eggs and some salt and pepper to make a quick and tasty scramble.  This was one of my mother’s go-tos whenever she needed to get dinner on the table super quick and I really enjoyed this after a busy day myself.  Something I may make more often in the future I think.  Wanting to use up a bit of leftover cheese I sprinkled it on top, something my mom never did, and I don’t think I will do that again.  I think it is better without it.

 

Sautéed shrimp in a bit of butter and pesto was perfect with frozen asparagus I had put up a couple months ago.  It was a great way to use shrimp from the freezer and leftover pesto sauce in the fridge.  This is another one of my summer favorites.  Again, super easy and quick to prepare, healthy and nutritious too!

 

I made a quick Sunday brunch for myself one day by cooking up some bacon and using a blueberry pancake from the freezer where I keep a stack of pancakes just for this purpose.  I cooked up extra bacon for other recipes, such as to add to a salad, and then topped up my grease jar with the rendered fat that was left in the pan.  I use this bacon grease to cook meats and vegetables as well as to make fried rice and refried beans.  It adds amazing flavor.

 

What are some of your summer faves that have been gracing your table lately?

 

My Tireless Retirement – Week 167

 

Hello!  It was a great week in my retired life.  On Friday I worked all day at the senior center and when I got home my BFF was here having flown in that afternoon.  I was super happy to see him and I got the best hug I’ve had in a good while.  I took the rest of the week off from work and we had fun.  Usually when he is here he is working, but not this time.

 

Saturday & Sunday I had the days to myself because I don’t golf and you don’t want me to.  I headed upstairs to my craft room and spent some quality time doing something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time.  I sewed myself an apron and it turned out so darn cute.  I was just tickled.  Not only will I be stylish while cooking meals and canning food for my LTFS shelves, but it should help me preserve my clothes as well.

 

Love! 💖

Once I had the apron made I went ahead and installed the hook I had purchased several years ago for hanging my aprons on.  It was in the garage waiting for me to actually have an apron to hang on it and now I do!  Then I got busy and worked on a few more projects I had in mind.  It was so much fun!

 

Monday we headed outside early in the day to wash the vehicles and do a little bit of cleaning in the garage.  It was HOT and we ended up after nearly three hours coming inside to cool down and hydrate.  We were so hot, sweaty and exhausted that after we showered and put on clean clothes we ended up taking a nap.  Declaring the day shot we ended up staying indoors where it was cool and not doing much else.

 

Pretty!

Tuesday I got outside early ahead of the heat to put some final touches on the Subaru and finish organizing the shelves in the garage.  That evening an unexpected storm blew in blowing dirt and debris everywhere and then we had just a spit of rain to make a mucky mess outside.  So much for our hard work, it was so discouraging.  No good deed goes unpunished.

 

Wednesday we had more stormy weather which put a damper on our plans for an outing.  Since we’ve already had a few wild fires here it was hard to complain about a proper downpour.  It made for a good day to play cards, read a book and make soup.  I wasn’t entirely sad about that.  However, because of all the debris that came as a result of the storm I ended up going back outside after dinner to blow off the driveway and then I ended up blowing out the garage too while I was at it as some of that debris sucked itself inside when I opened the door (sigh).  I mush admit, it did feel like I was chasing my tail a lot trying to get things done around here.

 

While I was at it I had the opportunity to get the cargo mat that goes into the Subaru super scrubbed with a touch of dish soap and my drill brush.  I rinsed it off and laid it in the sun to dry for about an hour.  When I went outside I noticed there was a sticky residue still remaining in one section that looked like raspberry jam.  I’m going with that anyway.  I went back inside and grabbed my kitchen degreaser and a roll of paper towels and managed to get that off once and for all.  It looks so much better now.  No more mud, gunk and whatever else was on there.  It is now nice and clean!  I went ahead and put it back in the car and I am very happy to have it out of the garage.  Another task checked off the list!

 

On the final day of my retirement week I started my day nice and slow with hot coffee, kitties, chickens, hummingbirds and more conversation.  It was a cooler morning than what we had so far this week so it was nice to simply enjoy the fresh air and sunshine outside in my backyard and just be present.  My flower pots look lovely and my daylily is blooming.  I harvested some rhubarb and put it away in the freezer.  Then, taking our time, we headed out to run a few errands.

 

The front porch after power washing

It may seem like I had a very busy week and looking back in was, but it didn’t feel that way because we worked at a slow and steady pace with lots of breaks in between tasks.  It was a week with no sense of urgency, no rushing around.  It never felt like work either, we were simply doing stuff.  Just being in the moment and enjoying each other’s company.  It was about as perfect as it could be.

 

 

Life Reset

 

After my stint as a good samaritan this spring my house was in deep need of a reset.  It turns out so was I.  After all was said and done, I was done in.  I kept thinking I needed a vacation, but by the time I got my home reset I didn’t want to leave.  I just wanted to rest.  Sit quietly and enjoy my surroundings and pamper myself.  A lot!

 

Once I had the house back in order I had to get myself back in order.  I have Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) also known as My Super Power and I accept that.  I make no apologies for it either.  I am the way that I am, it is how I am hardwired and it makes me who I am as a person.  It no longer makes me feel weird, ashamed, embarrassed, odd or abnormal.  Instead I embrace it and I happily live with it.  My schedules, routines and habits are an important part of my daily life that allows me to function and feel calm.  Without them I become anxious and unsettled.  I require order in my life, with everything clean and tidy, to feel happy.  I have a hard time with clutter so I tend to lean towards a more minimalistic lifestyle.

 

I need to be productive.  I am a creative person and I always like to have projects going so that I am busy and feel like I am always accomplishing something.  I need long periods of calm and quiet in my blessed home, surrounded by my things placed exactly like I want them, so I feel grounded.  I crave solitude.  I thrive in a controlled environment.  I can handle chaos and hectic environments, as is often the case at work, when I know I can leave, come home to my little oasis and be at peace.  I also know I don’t do well when chaos and dysfunction exists in my own home so for my own sake, I need to keep that from happening again.

 

As I cleaned up my home and restored order I also cleaned up my head, my emotions and let all of that stress and anxiety go.  I got myself back on my regular schedule and into my daily routines.  I have settled down and relaxed.  I’ve allowed myself plenty of downtime to chill and decompress.  I’ve claimed a victory.  I can do hard things, yes I can, but I also know that I don’t have to do all of the hard things and that next time, if there is a next time, I can say no.  And I will.

 

In a weird way I think I needed this to see how far I’ve come and what I’m willing to do and not to do.  I also think it helped solidify how much I appreciate who I am as a person.  I’m so grateful I am ME.  Right now, I’m just thrilled and happy to be ME, on my own terms, alone with my fur and feather babies, being my own fabulous person and doing all of the wonderful things I love to do.  Hallelujah!

 

Criticism

 

Quite some time ago, after a lot of thinking about it, I decided that in my world there is no room for me to criticize others, nor is there a place in it for me to receive criticism.  I have zero tolerance for criticism and here is why.  It serves no useful purpose.

 

We are all different.  We all have our own ways of thinking, believing and doing things and that is completely okay.  When you offer criticism of others you are disrespecting their differences.  No one has to be like us and no one needs to do things the way we do them.  As long as the end result meets the need, who cares?  Why are we so critical of other people?  There are those that seek to find fault and point it out at every turn and I truly do not understand this.

 

It boggles my mind when hateful and critical comments are left for bloggers and vloggers for the sole purpose of what exactly?  To prove they are so much better or smarter?  Do they have any comprehension whatsoever to how much work goes into posting an article or a video?  Sadly, they probably don’t even care.  They just need to leave that comment and get that dopamine hit.  I won’t ever be a Youtuber because I’m not going to put myself in that position.  Those trolls are brutal.

 

Criticism simply serves no useful purpose.  It is judgmental, disrespectful, demeaning, counterproductive and hurtful.  Why does anyone want to do that to a fellow human being?  For me, criticism has the opposite effect.  It immediately makes me think that this person is an idiot.  If it is mild criticism I choose to ignore it.  If it is rude, mean or hateful I have no problem telling that person to stop, I’m not interested.  If it comes in the form of a blog comment I just hit delete.  Constructive criticism is anything but.  I’ve never felt good after someone delivered some “constructive criticism”.  Therefore, it wasn’t all that constructive.

 

Criticism is an exercise in so many things you may not even realize.  Did you know that control, dominance, fear, insecurity, envy and a lack of empathy all can play a part in why we tend to criticize others?  The need for perfectionism is another.  There are far better ways of communication than to criticize others.  It may require us to be more open minded and accepting of the way other people think, believe and do things.  And if you can’t, then simply stay quiet, don’t say it and just walk away.  It is okay to do that.  The point is to be kind and minimize our ability to hurt others.

 

As an imperfect person I can honestly say that I still make judgments or become critical of the actions or statements of others.  When I catch myself I will then ask “Why?”  Once I think about why I’m having that thought or judgment I realize it has nothing to do with that person and everything to do with my own feelings or view on the subject.  I now have the opportunity to change my way of thinking or feeling and let it go.

 

I know a lot of people that are overly critical and I know people that I rarely if ever hear a criticism and I can tell you who I tend to gravitate towards.  The less critical people in my life are the ones I spend my time with.  They are far more positive in general and much more enjoyable to be around.  I’m all about that positive energy.

Maybe the next time you start to find yourself being critical or about to criticize someone stop and ask yourself why you are thinking like that.  I think we can all be a bit more open minded and tolerant.  We can all certainly benefit from more kindness in our lives.

 

One Costco Chicken = 10+ Meals!

 

One of the best values I take advantage of in order to keep my grocery budget low is the $4.99 Costco whole rotisserie chicken.  One whole chicken will net me at least ten meals (often more) making each one only 50¢ per meal for the meat portion of that meal.  This is how I do it.

 

I get started right away once I get home from the store cutting that chicken apart into meal portions.  It is still nice and warm and I find it is easiest to work with it at this point rather than after it has been in the refrigerator.  What typically happens when I remove it from the bag it comes in is the legs come off.  I put them into meal prep containers at that point and the rest goes onto my cutting board.

 

Leg & thigh

Breast pieces

Next I cut off a large part of the breast portions and place both of them into a meal prep container.  They are so large that I know I can cut each piece in half for four more meals.

 

Sliced chicken breast

I will slice off any more remaining breast meat and place that it another meal prep container to be used in sandwiches or sliced up and added to a nice dinner salad.  It is really good as part of a Cobb salad.  I typically have enough in this meal prep container for two more meals.

 

Bits & pieces

Pesto Chicken Pizza

Once I’ve slice off the larger remaining breast meat I remove all remaining meat from the carcass and place all of those bits into a meal prep dish.  By carefully removing the meat from the thigh area, breast area, both wings and the back of the chicken I will have enough meat for at least two more meals.  This meat is perfect to use in a soup, a pot pie, a noodle casserole, stir fried rice, pizza, enchiladas or tacos, quesadillas, creamy chicken & rice, chicken & dumplings or a stir fry.

 

Save those drippings!

I save the drippings in the bottom of the bag to use in making gravy or add it to a soup.  It is a lot of delicious flavor that I definitely do not want to waste.

 

Chicken carcass

Lastly, I take the carcass, all of the skin, fat and any of the tough and chewy bits and place that in my slow cooker with a piece of onion, a large carrot a couple stalks of celery and a sprig of fresh rosemary from my garden.  I don’t peel anything, I just wash it all and cut it in half to tuck into the slow cooker with the carcass.

Making a delicious broth

I always rinse out the bag before I toss it into the trash and the water I use is added to the slow cooker, again more added flavor not to be wasted.  Then I top up the rest of the way with water, set it on high and allow it to cook all day.  Once the finished broth is strained it is ready to make into a delicious soup.  It is typically enough broth to make two different soups.  That same bag the chicken came in gets used again to put everything into once the broth is strained so it doesn’t make a leaky mess in my trash can.

 

Many, many meals!

Some of this broth will get used in my chicken gravy along with those saved drippings.  It is perfect over mashed potatoes or baking powder biscuits.  I add any leftover gravy as a flavor boost to a casserole or soup.  It’s so good.

 

Whole chickens are a great way to make a lot of thrifty meals.  One that is already cooked and ready to go saves you a lot of time making it an even better value.