Hepburn and Houndstooth » In the Kitchen

Friday Cravings

Rhonda Gail — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:05:06 +0000

Today, I have a craving for…

This pom-pom scarf by Thomas Paul

Keep It Casual sweatshirt by mark.

Ruby Red Slippers polish by Deborah Lippmann

Godiva chocolate martini

Five Guys Burger

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Homemade Laundry Detergent

Rhonda Gail — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:00:00 +0000

People generally act like I’m some crazy hippie when they find out that I make the laundry detergent for our home. The same general reaction comes along with the news that I clean almost solely with vinegar and steam, use cloth diapers, and buy as little paper product as possible.

So, I’m a bit crispy (don’t quite qualify as crunchy)…. big deal.

Anyway, once people understand that not only do I save money, but also help the environment, and actually have fun making it, they want to know how they can get in on homemade detergent.

It’s so easy.

The key players:
Gallon ice cream bucket (you can use anything, but this holds a lot and gets a tight seal, which reduces the amount of clumping)
Washing soda
Sun Oxy (you can also use Oxy Clean, but Sun Oxy is only $2- available at WalMart)
Borax
measuring cup
something to stir with

The steps:
Dump equal parts washing soda, Borax, and Sun Oxy into bucket. Stir.

That’s it. Seriously.

Usage:
The scoop that comes with Sun Oxy is the right size to use one scoop per load. I use half a scoop for diapers. I just dump it in while the water runs before I add the clothes. If you have front-loader, I don’t have any directions for that. I’m old school.

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Accountability

Rhonda Gail — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:00:00 +0000

I am the world’s worst these days about making a to-do list and not following through. So, to hold myself accountable for all the things I plan to do this weekend, I’m going to share my to-do list and update on Monday!

1. Create a mark. binder. I need to reorganize my mark. business and what better way than with office supplies?! I love an excuse to buy binders and dividers! I’ve been very slow on this project because of my desire to find just the right pink binder…which doesn’t seem to exist.

2. Hit up the thrift stores. I need various small furniture items, baby items, and kids’ clothes like you wouldn’t believe and the thrift store is the perfect place for these treasures. I will make it this weekend!

3. Purchase supplies for nursery wall art. Dustin and I came up with the perfect wall art for Quentin’s room. It’s going to be quite cheap to make, too. Unfortunately, I procrastinate too much and I’m still missing most of the materials.

4. Launch Halloween special for my mark. customers. I’m trying something different for a promo and hope to introduce it over the weekend!

5. Steam floors. I have a love affair with my Shark steam mop. I usually mop as much as possible, but simply have not had the time and my kitchen floor is gah-ross!

6. Print coupons and meal plan. This used to be a matter of weekly routine, but when we ran out of printer ink weeks ago and I ran out of….steam, this fell by the wayside. Our grocery budget has shown a huge difference. Back on the wagon this weekend!

7. Run stemware and baby bottles through dishwasher. I have bottles left over from my other kids and my wine and martini glasses haven’t been unpacked since we moved. Well, in about 5 weeks, I’m going to be needing all that, so I may as well do it now!

There are MILLIONS of other things I’d like to get done, but I don’t want to list them all, then have to come back on Monday with a pitiful follow-up! Let’s keep those goals attainable, shall we?

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Hump Day Dump Day

Rhonda Gail — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:05:00 +0000

1. My kids don’t have baby books. I don’t know when their first steps were, when they said their first words. I don’t even know exactly what their birth weights were. I do, however, have a manila envelope full of stuff for each. I plan to make a shadowbox for a few key mementos per child and the rest will go in a box.

2. It is now imperative that I buy some “his and hers” towels. Whether they’re monogrammed or we’re just assigned our own color, I can no longer use my lovely husband’s towels. Any time I pick up the wrong towel, I end up with fine, freshly shaven hairs all over me. They poke me all day long.

3. I noticed this morning when I was reaching for my deodorant that we always have 2 sticks each. Dustin tends to buy a twin pack so he doesn’t have to think about it for awhile. I’m a coupon shopper, so I often end up with a couple. Right now, I have an unscented (my preference) and a clean shower scent. The unscented is my every day deodorant and I use the scented one when I don’t yet have time for a shower. Nice, huh?

4. Over the weekend, Nick and I did a quick bed rearranging. Their beds were parallel, but we decided there needed to be more play space. They are in love with this set up! I actually like it a lot too.

5. Another mini project I tackled over the weekend was a jewelry storage solution that cost me $0. When we first moved into this house, there were little gold hooks everywhere, in the most random of places! so I took these out of the bottom of a kitchen cabinet and out of the trim around our closet door (?!) and put them to work! all the hooks are full now and I’m kinda loving it. I’m thinking I’ll even construct a frame around it for prettiness, since we no longer have closet doors (ripped out those baby-finger-smashing accordion doors months ago).

6. My kid eats now! Harper has always been a great eater, but Nick was another story. All he ever wanted was fast finger foods – crackers, cookies, chips, nuggets, fries, rolls. We finally put our feet down almost 2 weeks ago and it has paid off! He has even found things he LOVES, which I didn’t expect. It has not been easy for any of us and we’re still having to work hard at it, but I feel so good about how far we’ve come! Look, here he is eating ice cream (yeah, he really didn’t like ice cream. Too much work, I guess?)

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$.49 Coffee Station

Rhonda Gail — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Today i’m showing you something I made back in October and never blogged about! It’s something I love and use every day, so it’s worth mentioning! Beside our coffeemaker lived a whole grouping of stuff used to make coffee…plus whatever else my dad decided to shove into that spot at any given time. I knew I needed a dedicated coffee station.

I found an old school letter tray at the thrift store ($.49). Gotta love that mauve color. Right? No. I sanded that shiny finish then gave it a few coats of spray paint. I wanted a glossy red, but all I had was matte.

Then I had to find the right fabric or scrapbook paper for lining the tray. I wanted something slightly vintage looking, but needed it to look nice with my truly vintage china sugar dish.

Mod Podge time! I applied a layer of Mod Podge, paying close attention to how far I brought the glue up the sides. I knew it would dry a little glossy, so I wanted it to be neat. Then I placed my chosen paper and smoothed it down with my fancy smoothing tool. Or medicine blister pack. Whatever. After that dried, I gave it another coat of MP.

Once it had dried, I loaded it up with our coffee supplies! (This picture was taken this morning. Admittedly, I decluttered the tray a bit before shooting, since our Ovaltine and Mio lives there too. It was a bit much.)

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If loving you is wrong, I don’t wanna be right

Rhonda Gail — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:49:06 +0000

I fell in love with a double-oven range in Sears a couple of weeks ago. Today, while looking for that exact range on sears.com, I found an even better one. It must come home with me. If not before then, it will come to live with us when tax return time comes. I can’t wait. I’m going to bake, boil, and broil without error. It will no longer take me an hour to boil a pot of water and my cookies will never be burned on one side of the cookie sheet. I swore I would never cheat on gas ranges. I was wrong.

Oh, I love your clean lines, your glossy cooktop with many burner options, including “keep warm.” Ahhhhhh….

Check out the details here.

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Tuesday Ten

Rhonda Gail — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:17:16 +0000

1. Over the weekend, I wrote a blog post about my Chad Rogers shirt that I ordered. It totally made my week that both he and his BFF Lauren read it and tweeted me about it.

2. Considering that several times a week, I answer friends’ questions about cooking, grocery shopping, and meal planning, I should seek a career as a House Manager, doing the shopping, organizing, and coordination of meals for a wealthy family.

3. Last Thursday, I interviewed for a job that I really want. They are supposed to finish the hiring by tomorrow. I haven’t received a call yet. I must admit I cried over this twice yesterday. I just want and need this job so. bad.

4. I woke up at 7 this morning feeling hungover. I have not had a drink in a couple of weeks. Instead, I was being smacked by the allergy fairy. I stayed up for an hour before asking my husband to take over parenting so I could go back to bed. Three hours later, I felt a little better, but I still just want to sleep all day.

5. I bought too many bananas in my last grocery trip. I feel a batch of banana bread coming on…

6. As down as I’m feeling today, at least once it’s Harper’s bedtime tonight, I’ll have a nice evening… it’s Glee and Chad Rogers Stickam night!

7. I can’t even remember when it last rained. We need rain. Our grass is mostly dead and everything is so dry.

8. Last night’s dinner was my first disappointment in a long time. I’ve been consistently winning in the kitchen, but last night I made something for the second time and everything just went WRONG.

9. Growing my hair out has always been a chore for me. I am determined to at least make it until the end of the year, but it’s going to be a serious challenge!

10. Harper just pressed a series of keys that resulted in deleting 4-9. I’m thankful for autosave.

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Bacon-wrapped chicken

Rhonda Gail — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 04:22:06 +0000

You’ll obviously need chicken. I did 3 breasts.

You’ll also want some strong coffee, as 5 p.m. is in the middle of your afternoon slump. Oh, that could just be me.

You could obviously pan-fry the bacon, but to keep mess and counter/stovetop clutter to a minimum (i have little room to start with), I do mine in the oven. 400 degrees. So put it in for about 10 minutes. You want it to only be about halfway done, something like this.

While the oven does its thang on the bacon, brush the chicken with olive oil, then season with salt, pepper, and herbs.

Drain and blot the bacon with paper towels and lower oven temp to about 375.

Wrap two slices of bacon securely around each breast. You may choose to keep bacon in place with a toothpick, but I just try to wrap it in a way that the ends are under the breast, so it stays in place. Pop into the oven for 30-45 minutes, until no longer pink in the center and juices run clear. I personally always cut meat and poultry in half to check it. I can’t handle a single smidgen of undercookedness.

Voila! This actually looked quite pretty, but I forgot to snap a pic until after I’d butchered it with dull steak knife.

Eat up!

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Thrifting Haul

Rhonda Gail — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:39:01 +0000

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Dinner Menu

Rhonda Gail — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 20:35:42 +0000

I have been working on this project for the longest time, trying to find a frame for it. I was in Dollar Tree for something else entirely and came out with a plain document frame that worked great!

I created this in WORD, people! Not even word, but a free download version of Word I got for my iMac. Let this serve as a testament to the power of cool fonts.

I then colored the title in. I tinkered with coloring it digitally before print, but I liked the idea of being able to change up the colors.

Then I simply framed the menu in my cheap Dollar Tree frame and used a dry erase marker to write the week’s menu directly onto the glass. Easy peasy! It now hangs on the the wall beside the pantry in the kitchen. Love it!

(You can buy the printable menu in my Etsy shop now for only $1.)

Linking this up here:

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