Hide the clutter please!

One of my pet peeves around the house is the increasing number of electronic gadgets that we are collecting. Actually it's not the gadgets themselves that bug me, but all the charger cords and USB cables that clutter the tables and countertops. I've always disliked "wires" that "showed" anywhere, and believe me, we seem to have miles of them around our house.

Anyway, I saw a cute box at a discount store recently and it matches my kitchen decor perfectly. It was only $4. and I thought it would make a great little storage box for our cell phone charger cords, camera cables, laptop charger, etc. There's even room in there for the cell phones and the camera, a calculator, even the baby monitor. All those things kinds of things that clutter up the kitchen but have nothing to do with cooking! And they can now all be found in one place.

What do you think?

Thrifty shopping for children's clothes...

I just love to shop for children's clothing at our local thrift stores. With four grandchildren ages 4 & under, I have a good excuse to hunt for bargains. Here is my latest catch, all from one store:

7 dresses = $15.05

7 pr. boys socks = $1.20

4 girls tops = $6.00

4 boys shorts/overall shorts = $3.95

3 boys shirts = $1.80

1 boys swim trunks = $.30

1 girls panties = $.20

Grand total = $28.50

Since I (sadly) don't sew, I never buy anything that needs repaired. And I look for clothes that are not faded, spotted or out of style. Usually I buy items the kids can wear "right now" ... unless I happen to find a real bargain on something I know they will grow into and in the right season.

The name brands on the items above are such as these: Gymboree, Circo, OshKosh, Glo, Carters, Sophie Rose,Youngland, Chaps, & Children's Place.

But even more fun than finding these great bargains is taking my four year old granddaughter shopping with me. I show her the rack where her size is, and tell her which color tag to look for (the ones that are 1/2 price that day!) and away she goes! "Oh grandma, look at THIS! This is BEAUTIFUL!" ... She holds a dress up to herself and twirls around in delight. Sure, at those prices, pick out seven! When she gets a little older I will teach her more about the money part so she can understand it all better. Until then, I'll just keep on being an obnoxiously giddy and doting grandma!

Anyone out there who shares this thrill of the bargain hunt for quality children's clothing? This exact Sophie Rose sailor dress is for sale at Kohl's for $30. I paid $4. for it, and it doesn't look like it was ever worn. Yippee!

Children in the kitchen...

My grandson, Deacon, who with his mom and little brother are visiting this week from SC, made our supper tonight. I don't know where I caught onto this, but every now and then if I have any leftover spaghetti meat sauce, I make these little "pizzas". Deacon is four and he was so proud of himself that I let him put these together. Here's how he did it:

First we opened up a package of English muffins, and splitting the muffins, layed them out on a cookie sheet.

Next, we took the reheated meat sauce and spread it generously on the split muffins.

And the last step was to cover each pizza with a slice of American cheese.

The pizzas then got baked in a 350 degree F. oven for approximately 8 minutes, until the cheese melts and the bottoms get slightly crispy.

Deacon also fixed the salad...

And set the table!

I was so proud of him and loved watching him be so happy to be helping me in the kitchen tonight!

These little "pizzas" make a quick hot lunch from leftovers and you can use anything you want for toppings. Enjoy! (Not only the food, but the kids!)

A baby shower...

Last weekend, the small group I belong to hosted a baby shower for the daughter-in-law of one of us. It was so lovely and seemingly effortless that I want to share it with you.

We didn't want the grandma-to-be to have to do anything, so the rest of us divided up the tasks. The gal whose home we used, assigned duties to the rest of us.

She in turn had a lovely table ready complete with beautiful fresh cut pink tulips.

She also had a couple of pink balloon bouquets around. (Yes, the expected baby is a girl!) She went with the pink and white theme all the way down to the serving dishes, pitchers, and the paper plates and napkins. As the hostess, she also provided lemonade, coffee & tea. One more sweet thing she did was make party favors in the form of little white boxes tied with pink bows, and inside, Hershey kisses. And if that weren't enough, the talented hostess also handmade the invitations and got them mailed.

Another lady in our group was assigned the task of receiving the rsvp's. She kept the rest of us posted on how many to expect so we could plan our food contributions accordingly. We ended up with about 25 ladies.

Another gal was in charge of the dessert, and she decided on two awesome cakes baked and decorated by her talented daughter. One was yellow with a lemon curd filling, and the other chocolate with raspberry filling.

I was given the task of deciding the menu, then assigning items to be furnished by each one.

Here's what I came up with:

chicken salad sandwiches on mini croissants

fresh veggies and dill dip

fresh fruit cups drizzled with key lime pie flavored yogurt

What do you think?

We had a party game ready in case we needed it, but as it turned out we didn't. There was plenty of good conversation, good food, and lots of gifts to be opened!

Finally, all of us turned in our receipts to the hostess, who then divided up the total cost of everything and five of us shared the expenses equally.

A lovely shower, a beautiful day, and a very special brand new mother-to-be!

Here's how I made the chicken salad:

I took 12 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cut them in half. Then I put a large pot on the stove filled 2/3 full with water and brought it to a rolling boil. I then dropped the chicken into the water and let it come back to a boil. Next, I shut the heat off and covered the pot, allowing the chicken to poach for about 10-15 minutes. It is done when the chicken is white all the way through. Next, I took the chicken out of the water and allowed it to cool. While the chicken was cooling, I chopped a couple small onions and about 2/3 of a bunch of celery finely in my food processor. I then cut the chicken up in small pieces and mixed the chicken, celery and onion in a bowl with Hellman's mayonnaise, enough to cover. I then added a little salt and pepper to taste.

Baked Penne

Here is a great dish that is easy to make. It was served as dinner to out-of-town guests who attended a birthday party that we went to last weekend. (Wasn't that a thoughtful thing to do so we didn't have to go scrounging for a restaurant?) I could not believe how delicious it was!

This can be made up ahead of time and then baked when you are ready. I made it this week and I will make it again soon and put it in my freezer, ready to bake. This recipe fills a 9 x 13 pan.

Baked Penne

1# lean hamburger

1/2# ground Italian sausage

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves chopped garlic

2-3 cups shredded mozzerella cheese

1 jar Ragu or other spaghetti sauce, approx. 22 oz.

1 can seasoned, diced tomatoes, approx. 14 oz.

1 box Barilla whole grain penne pasta, 13.25 oz.

Brown the meat, onion, and garlic together in large skillet. Drain excess grease if necessary. While meat mixture is cooking, boil pan of water and cook pasta according to directions on box. Drain pasta. Add spaghetti sauce and diced tomatoes to meat mixture and continue cooking about 8-10 minutes. Now you are ready to layer much like you would a lasagna. Start with sauce in the bottom of 9 x 13 pan and make layers of meat sauce, pasta, cheese, ending with cheese on top. Bake covered for about 30-40 minutes, until thoroughly hot and cheese is melted.

*Note: This would be a great dish to take to a family in need, either hot, or ready-to-bake. Add a tossed salad and some dinner rolls, and maybe some simple brownies or ice cream, and you have a very simple but lovely dinner to deliver.

Something different for Easter dinner...

I just felt like doing something a little different than our usual ham and scallopped potatoes for dinner this year. What do you think?

Our menu consisted of chicken cordon bleu, ham, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and tossed spring salad with cranberries, pine nuts, and blue cheese, and the traditional hot cross buns.

Since it was my hubby's birthday as well, we had cake and ice cream for dessert. A friend gave me this idea of putting the ice cream in cup cake papers the day before, so we wouldn't have to stand there scooping out ice cream when it was time for dessert. It worked out really well. I filled the papers in the cupcake pan with vanilla ice cream and added a few colored sprinkles, then put it back in the freezer overnight.

Here is the chicken recipe. I love that this is prepared the day ahead, and only takes 20 minutes to bake before serving.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Pound chicken breasts to about 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley. Add a thin slice of ham, and a slice of mozzarella cheese. Carefully roll. Dip in a mixture of mayonnaise and a little water. Roll in seasoned bread crumbs, and place seam side down on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with Pam. Bake 20 minutes at 425 degrees F.

Move over Martha...

I finally put away the last vestige of winter this week as I threw my winterberry wreath in the trash. It had served me well for several seasons, but wouldn't make it through another Ohio winter! Here's what I put on our front door in its place:

I'm so proud of myself because during the winter I found the makings for this wreath at our local Salvation Army store. It is a 25 inch grapevine wreath, and there were about ten bunches of artificial spring flowers that came with it. All for $2.97!!!

So it took me about an hour to cut the flowers apart with a wire cutter, and hot glue them onto the wreath. The ribbon for the bow I made cost me $1.00 at Dollar Tree. So for a total of $4.00 I have a nice new look for Spring!

Then last week I found a little consignment shop that unfortunately is going out of business. But lucky for me, this beautiful ceramic pitcher was on sale for 60% off. My kitchen colors are butterscotch, barn red, and navy blue. I had been wanting to make a spring-like centerpiece for our kitchen table so this was perfect. The pitcher cost $7.00 and I added $3. worth of artificial daisies, which made the arrangement about 20 inches high.

Another "find" over the winter at a different consignment shop are these large 12 inch diameter House Beautiful heavy wooden charger plates. They are navy blue, and the original price was $22. each. I got them for $5. each! The large butterscotch colored cloth napkins I found at a discount store for 25 cents each. I love the new look of my kitchen table, which by the way, was green for about 12 years until we painted it barn red, except for the top.

I'm so excited that Spring is finally here. I love home decorating on a budget. I hope some of you will share some ideas with me! Happy Spring!

"...train the younger women...to be busy at home..." Titus 2