• Blog - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: shrub edition

    June 17, 2014 - By 

    Good morning…welcome to T stands for Tuesday.  shrub mocktail

    Today I’d like to share my new refreshing summer drink with you….in my favorite glass, of course. I love this glass so much.  Recently I had a nightmare that I broke the top off it in a wickedly jagged form…I was very happy to wake and realize it was just a bad dream.

    So what’s in the glass?? It’s a shrub or drinking vinegar.  Ok…not as gross as it sounds. In fact, quite tasty. The first I ever heard of a shrub was from Kim over at art in red wagons.  Recently, I’ve started out the morning drinking a tablespoon or so of raw apple cider vinegar in a glass of water usually with a touch of honey or molasses.  I know…a little wacky but I like tart flavors and the health benefits are great.

    This brought me back to thinking about a shrub…then we got our first CSA box this past Wednesday.  Not a whole lot in it since our growing season has been less than ideal so far. The was rhubarb though. I’m the only one in the family that likes it. I started searching recipes on Pinterest and a shrub recipe appeared. shrubMaking a shrub is not an exact science. Here’s what I did.

    I chopped approx 2 cups rhubarb and a half dozen or so organic strawberries into a glass bowl.  Then sprinkled 1 cup of sugar over top and shook it around to coat. This mixture went in the refrigerator overnight to macerate.

    I poured everything into a clean dry canning jar..it was approx 2/3 full at this point. I then filled the jar to the neck with raw apple cider vinegar. I labeled it and let it sit on the counter, giving it a shake everyday. The recipes I found said to let it sit for a week before draining off the liquid and storing it in the fridge but I was very anxious to try it.

    Making the shrub is very simple. I poured approx 1/4 glass of shrub syrup over ice then filled the glass with club soda. It was slightly tart, slightly sweet and bubbly. Very refreshing.

    What do you think? Would you try this? Does it sound appealing at all?

  • Blog - Kitchen

    Amazing life hack

    April 30, 2014 - By 

    This is going to change my life…seriously. I didn’t believe it until I tried it myself.oil cleanerDid you know the best way to clean that nasty caked on grease from the top of your fridge or other surfaces in your kitchen is with oil!! fridge top cleanI don’t have a before picture since it would have been seriously embarrassing.

    Here’s a small example of what the top was like…eww...greaseexcept think 10x thicker….ewwwwww!

    I dipped a paper towel in a bit regular vegetable oil and wiped across the icky grease.wipeOk, now your thinking well yeah it looks great because there is a film of oil on top.

    But check this out…BAM...cleanTotally clean…smooth…shiny…awesome.seriouslyAmazing…right!?!

    After cleaning all of the items on top of my fridge in the same way I now have the prettiest fridge top in town. clean and prettyI did end up using a Pampered Chef scraper in a few spots with the oil where it was really stuck on.  Again….ewwww.  But now that I know this trick I plan to wipe it down on a much more regular basis so it doesn’t get to that stage again.

  • Art - Blog - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: change in the air edition

    January 21, 2014 - By 

    So glad you came to visit today for T Stands for Tuesday where we share a beverage and a little something from our week.

    breakfastI’m doing my best to eat a healthy breakfast each morning. It takes some time and effort but I think it’s worth it. Fuel for the day. Today is 2 eggs scrabbled up with yellow pepper, onion. tomato, mushroom and spinach with a little bit of jalapeno salsa for kick. Only 265 calories.  I couldn’t even eat the last 2 bites!

    bookWhile eating I skimmed through this library book. Truthfully, I’m not sure that I got much from it. However, I was reminded of a technique that I have yet to try. Printing on tissue paper with a printer. I have to see if our old printer still has ink since it has to be a straight feed printer not the kind that loops the paper through. *Fingers crossed for ink.*

    Jan 20 journalYesterday, I worked in my kira-kira journal a bit. I had started cleaning up my desk and the journal sucked me in. Or perhaps it was just procrastination.

    changeChange is a theme that we are seeing a lot around here. We are making some healthy changes in our life…slowly. Our children are changing into young adults. I’ve made the change of working very part-time after being a SAHM home for 13.5 years. We are wishing for the weather to change to Spring.

    Change can be scary…or exciting…or devastating…or uplifting. Change can be methodically planned or come up and smack you in the face. One can embrace change or flee in terror or perhaps slip into denial about it. But change is an integral part of life. I’m choosing to embrace these changes and am looking forward to what it will bring to our lives.

    Wow…I guess a healthy breakfast gave me a mental boost as well!! I don’t usually get so deep and introspective in the morning.

    What are you doing today??