Suzi blogs about home life, work, and play

I Want To Brag A Minute

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Posted by :SuziQ On : January 12, 2013

Category: Cleaning, Family and Friends, Home and Yard, Kitchen, Life

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Okay, I want to brag for a minute or so. I’ve been working really hard to keep my new year’s resolution to work out 3 times a week and so far I’ve been doing great with that. But, That’s not what I want to brag about. I want to brag about the fact that my kitchen has been spotless for the past 12 days.

My sink has been spotless every night before I go to bed and the dishes haven’t piled up because I do a load every night as soon as the dishwasher is full. Then in the morning I empty while I’m making myself coffee so the sink never has a chance to have a dirty dish left in it because the dirty dishes can go straight into the dishwasher as soon as we are done with them.

It has felt absolutely amazing to go to bed and wake up with a clean kitchen. I don’t know what inspired me but I hope that I can continue it because it feel s amazing. I suppose it will just take some discipline and determination to keep going and to not give up.  Why would I want to stop doing something that makes me feel so fantastic?

Free Up Your Counter Space With a Mixer Lift

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Posted by :SuziQ On : December 24, 2012

Category: Home and Yard, Home Improvements, Kitchen, Shopping

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After watching cooking show after cooking show and seeing all of the  fancy gadgets they have, I’ve decided that I would like to find a chrome mixer lift to install in our kitchen. I have one of those high quality Kitchen Aid mixers that I just love. The only thing I don’t love about it is that it takes up a lot of space on my counter. I use it all of the time but I really want a place to put it away and still make it easily accessible.

I’m asking my husband to redo one of the cabinets in the kitchen so that we can install a lift for the mixer so that it can be hidden away and then slide out and up when ever I want to use it. This way I’ll have the best of both worlds and get to use it all of the time and still have the counter space free.

I wish I would have had it earlier this year for all of the holiday baking that I did.  It really would have come in handy because I barely had enough room for the mixer because my counters were covered with all of the ingredients and baking pans. I can’t wait to get it and have it installed. Hint, hint, oh husband of mine. It would make a great Christmas present.

Mac & Cheese Makeover

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Posted by :SuziQ On : November 14, 2012

Category: Food and dining, Kitchen, Parenting

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Mac Cheese by jspatchwork
Reproduced under Creative Commons 3.0

Mac & Cheese is a favorite comfort food of many.  I love to eat eat plain with just macaroni and cheese, but I also love to give it a little makeover and change things up a bit.  Just a few additions and you’ll have a new dish to sink your teeth into.

Here are a couple of ways to give your mac & cheese a makeover:

  1. Add some chicken.  You can slice it, dice it, grill, or bake it.  I like to mix in chunks of grilled chicken or serve it in slices along the top of the dish.
  2. Add some broccoli.  I usually steam the broccoli until it is just tender and toss it in with the mac & cheese at the last minute.  I’ve even been known to blanch the broccoli in the same water the macaroni is cooking is in.  I just scoop it out after a minute or soo and let the macaroni continue to cook.  It saves time and an extra pan, and adds a little flavor to the pasta water.
  3. Add some tuna.  I think about 5oz. per cup of mac & cheese is a nice ratio.  It gives a nice protein portion and really fills you up nicely.  It kind of reminds me of a tuna melt sandwich and I love it.
  4. You can really go wild and add some lobster.  It’s nice to go fancy sometimes and add a tasty treat like this.  Trust me, you’ll love it.
  5. Add some pureed winter squash.  You won’t even know it’s there and you’ll be getting loads of added nutrition.  My kids and husband don’t know that I regularly sneak in butternut squash to our mac & cheese.  It’s the perfect color and is nice and creamy.  To make it easy on you try adding a few containers of baby food squash, it’s the same thing and all of the work is done for you.

I hope you’ll try out some of these ways to make over your mac & cheese.  What’s your favorite way to eat macaroni?

On A Hunt For Organization

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Posted by :SuziQ On : March 29, 2012

Category: Home and Yard, Home Improvements, Kitchen, Organization, Shopping

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This afternoon after I got off work, I planned to meet someone to pick up a baker’s rack that I found online in the classified ads. I’m going to use it in the garage as an extra storage area for the larger boxed items in our pantry. This will make a lot more room in the kitchen and make it possible for me to shop sales more frequently and stock up when there is a really good deal. I got out my notes that had the address scribbled on it  and read the address signs  on the street as I tried to make my way to the correct location.

It took me about fifteen minutes of driving up and down the street before I finally found the place. I eventually gave in and called the guy that I was purchasing the rack from because I was reading every one of the address plaques and couldn’t seem to find it. He came outside and said he was wearing a red shirt. As soon as I saw a man in a red shirt I turned the car around and headed in his direction. No wonder I couldn’t find the place, the address plaque was obscured by a big tree in front of the building. I paid the man, loaded it into the back of my car and came right home.

I’m really excited to have the extra storage and organization space in our garage.  I bet I won’t have any trouble at all filling it up with everything I have planned to buy this weekend to restock the house.

Kitchen Cabinet Make Over

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Posted by :SuziQ On : March 14, 2012

Category: Home and Yard, Home Improvements, Kitchen, Organization

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After spending the weekend organizing my kitchen pantry, the rest of the cabinets seemed jealous and were screaming to be made over too.  I started the same way I did with the pantry by taking everything out.  I found these great wire shelving units that I used to sort out all of our cups, bowls, and plates.  Now when I want a plate I don’t have to dig it out from underneath the bowls.

A handy lid sorter helped to keep all of the lids to my pots and pans in an easily accessible area.  I mounted it to the back of the cabinet door and it didn’t take up any additional space.  Instead of putting all of the baking pans in the cabinet laying flat, I got another sorter from the organizing store that helps me put everything away vertically.  It has a bunch of dividers to put things like cookie sheets and muffin pans in and not have to dig them out from each other.

After organizing my kitchen I’m feeling inspired to tackle other areas of the home.  I don’t want to go overboard but walking into my kitchen now and being able to get anything in a second is a breath of fresh air.  I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner.