Hepburn and Houndstooth » In the Kitchen

Household Tips

Rhonda Gail — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:00:31 +0000

I just love to hear tips about how to get certain stains out, keep produce fresh, and really anything around the house that I may not know.

My favorite tips that I have practiced for years:

Save your used dryer sheets to rub deodorant spots off your clothing. I found a bunch of other uses here.

To keep sour cream (and SC-based dips) from collecting water on top in the fridge, smooth the cream out to a flat surface before storing.

Grind lemon peels through your sink disposal to rid it of odors.

When coloring your hair at home, apply petroleum jelly or conditioner to your face around your hairline to prevent the dye from staining your skin.

If you are prone to cold sores (once you have the virus, you never get rid of it), take a Vitamin C and a Lysine daily. You will most likely never get another cold sore. If you already have an outbreak, take 2 Vitamin C and 2 Lysine the first day, then begin the one-a-day dosing.

What are your favorite beauty and household tips?

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Red and aqua goodness

Rhonda Gail — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:00:10 +0000

I love retro kitchen stuff and my dishes are red and turquoise. Even though we’re currently in a transitional housing situation, I dream of a turquoise and red kitchen once we’re settled. Something similar to this…

source: the kitchn

However, my husband really prefers things more simple and toned down, so I could compromise with this…

source: Bright, Bold, & Beautiful

Both images found through House of Turquoise, which is a must-read if you love the color.

These Cali Stack bowls are perfect for my dream kitchen! At first, I just loved the look of them. Then I found out about the lip around the top of the bowl, designed for pushing food onto your utensil! Genius! This set contains 4 bowls – 1 cup, 1.5 cup, 3 cup, and 5 cup. You can choose from red or aqua. They are also microwave and dishwasher safe and BPA free.

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Wilton Heart-shaped cookie cutters

Rhonda Gail — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:20:15 +0000

I am proud to introduce the first item in my OpenSky shop… these great heart-shaped cookie cutters. I love cookie cutters and have a slight addiction to buying them. I don’t just use them for cookies, but also for shaping playdoh, pancakes, and cutting shapes into the kids’ sandwiches. My 4-year-old really loves heart-shaped grilled cheese.

They are made of tinned steel, which makes for really clean cuts and durability. They come in a boxed set of four, and at $12, they are perfect for gift-giving. Showers, teacher gifts, Christmas, or just because!

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Cookbook

Rhonda Gail — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:36:46 +0000

I find most of my new recipes from allrecipes.com, and though I have an account there to save all my recipes, I still like to print them, so that I can access them without logging on. Usually once I make something a couple of times, I don’t use the recipe, but once in awhile, I need to reference it for a measurement or oven temp. This is how I’ve kept my recipes “organized”:

This has amazingly worked for me for awhile, but I’d like to be a bit more organized and know exactly where to find a cookie recipe if I need it. I knew I wanted to put them into a binder, but wasn’t sure how I wanted to organize them. While shopping at Target, I ran across this all-in-one binder. It’s a 3-ring binder with a snapped pocket, dividers, and a ruler (which I removed. Can’t measure a cup of sugar with a ruler.). The entire thing was $2.50. There were some fun colors, but none that really worked for me, so I went with black.

I’m using the snapped pocket to hold delivery coupons.

My 5 categories are: appetizers, desserts, soups & steps, main courses, and sides & salads.

I punched holes in the recipes with my 3-hole punch ordered from eBay. Done!

There is a sleeve on the front of the binder to put in a decorative cover, but i’m waiting to get new scrapbook paper this weekend, then I’ll gussy it up.

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Let’s Cook Dinner! (Or, Nothing Ever Goes As Planned)

Rhonda Gail — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:12:54 +0000

Even though I plan our meals out and grocery shop for two weeks at a time, I have to be flexible, because sometimes things just don’t work out. Sometimes I don’t buy enough chicken. Sometimes I forget that we have dinner plans with friends. Sometimes I get sick and just don’t feel like cooking. When things don’t go exactly as planned, I may make sandwiches or turn a meal vegetarian. Last night, we had BBQ pork chops, and I intended to use leftovers to make my BBQ pork taquitos. However, as I was putting the chops in the slow cooker, I realized that I didn’t have enough for leftovers. I did, however, have extra ground beef in the freezer. So I looked around at the other things I had in the house and came up with a taco-enchilada-type-thing. I even decided to take you guys along on my experimental journey.

Step 1. Finely chop a few slices of onion.

Step 2: Heat skillet to medium-high and turn to grab olive oil just in time to see Nick pull something out from under Harper, sending him face-first onto the floor.

Step 3: Pause to see if Harper is going to get up.

Step 4: Rush to pick up Harper after seeing that he’s crying so hard, it’s silent.

Step 5: Sweep Harper up. BLOOD! Pouring out of his mouth.

Step 6: Harper on hip, run to turn off stove…

As I said in the title, nothing ever goes as planned. With his blood on our shirts, Harper and I engaged in a tug-of-war with both the pacifier and a damp cloth.

ugh, that tear under his eye is killing me.

By the time I got a few peeks around the paci and got the bleeding to stop, he was over it and had moved on to wrestling.

So um, Step 7: Start back at Step 2…

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Tuesday Ten

Rhonda Gail — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:00:22 +0000

1. Tomorrow, my stepson will be here for a week, and I am not mentally ready for another preschooler to be under my care! That’s today’s mission… get prepared!

2. First thing in the mornings, before I can open both eyes, before I’ve had coffee or coke, before I know where I am, who my parents are, and what my name is… Nick is ON ME. In my face, loud, asking for things and forcing games on me. WHY?!?!

3. I had a friend suddenly, without explanation, unfollow me on Twitter and block me from following him. Could be an accident, right?! Wrong. He also removed me from his FB friends. What?! I’d love to just let it go, but that’s not my style. I’m hurt and confused, so I sent a message asking why. I am the type who really needs answers.

4. I am still failing at Bobbi’s Healthy Train. I know I can do this, but I just feel so… lazy. Laziness is a sickness that not only keeps you from working out, but also from taking the time and energy to plan healthy meals. I’m back on 100% today, committed to one soda a day, lots of water, and smaller portions.

5. Harper has learned to point at things and yesterday added a new word to his vocabulary – SEE! While pointing! So cute. The best part of being a parent is definitely watching the children learn!

6. I had an at-home hair coloring incident last week that resulted in reddish brown roots (with my black hair). There’s not much I can do at this point but just live with it until the black fades some. I keep hoping I’ll start a fad!

7. I am at a weird point in my life where I feel content, but am experiencing regret for the first time in my life. It’s as if overnight, someone flicked on the realist switch. I miss my enthusiastic idealism.

8. I signed Harper up for a cute baby contest sponsored by a local radio station. I mean, I know I’m biased, but hardly any of these babies are as cute as him! Help us out and rate him a 10!

9. I’m so excited about something I’m making for a friend. It’s a surprise, but he’s going to love it!! Once I give it to him, I will do a blog post on it, complete with pictures about the DIY project!

10. I alternate between experimenting in the kitchen and cooking old favorites. Last night I made one of my best spaghetti sauces ever (old favorite). Tonight is creamy chicken taquitos (experiment), with a few modifications to prevent me from buying a bunch of ingredients that I can instead substitute from my pantry.

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Blog Love: Smitten Kitchen

Rhonda Gail — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 02:27:20 +0000

Smitten Kitchen is basically a cooking blog (as you probably guessed from the title). What makes this one so special is that it takes meals that are usually very simple to make and makes them seem so… special. The photography is beautiful and it makes me want to cook every. single. night. Number One on my list of things on this blog to make: St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake.

I mentioned it to Dustin, being a St. Louis native, he was all excited over gooey butter cake (whereas I’d never heard of it). I’ll let you know how it turns out!

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Can Not Weight!

Rhonda Gail — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:31:11 +0000

Since having my oldest son in 2006, I have been battling the bulge. Actually, let’s not blame it on the kid, because I have been struggling with my weight for probably nine years (hi, Freshman Fifteen). Everyone knows that the older you get and the more kids you have, the harder it is to get rid of those extra pounds. I really should have started whipping myself into shape before I had kids. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Anyway, I used to run and stay so active that I could eat whatever I want, drink as much as I want, and gain only a minimal amount of weight. Now, I need a complete lifestyle overhaul to get anywhere in my quest for a healthier and lighter me. Sunday, I started (again) to eat right. I used an app on my HTC Hero called “Calorie Counter” to help track what I’m eating. It’s really convenient, as it lets you search for items and even scan barcodes for nutritional content. I am doing really well so far, not going over my recommended calories. I have lost 2 pounds, and I’m sure that’s water weight, but you have to start somewhere! I haven’t worked in much exercise yet, but am trying to stay active when I can. I took a walk with Nick yesterday and have tried to get a lot of housework done. Today, I hope to go for a run. I need to start over on Couch to 5k, because I keep getting off track.

It is part of my 30 Things To Do Before 30 list to lose 30 pounds. I think I can do it, but it is NOT going to be easy! I now have 9 months to lose that weight, and that’s 3.33 lbs a month. That sounds easy, and it probably would be if I went on a crash diet, but I want a lifestyle change that will make me healthier and keep the weight off long-term.

I took some “before” pictures, with plans to post those here. I just can’t do it. They are really, really terrible. My midsection is jiggly and shapeless and I have serious muffin top. I will probably post the “before” pictures once I lose the 30 pounds I have planned. As a way to hold myself accountable and as a motivator, I’m going to post my progress here. The only thing worse than failing at weight loss is failing publicly. I’m not shy about my personal details, and so I share this with you.

Weight on Saturday, March 20: 150 lbs.

Weight on Wednesday, March 23: 148 lbs.

I will take any advice and tips on how to work exercise into your routine and for quick, easy, healthy meal ideas! Let me hear from you. I could use the support (and a cupcake).

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Do Not Trifle With Me

Rhonda Gail — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:39:25 +0000

I have a love affair for making and eating trifles. Actually, I think the love affair is with the trifle dish itself. I love serving pasta salad and 7-layer salad from my trifle. Naturally, when I saw this print by Anne Harwell (seller Annechovie) on Etsy, I fell in love! Would love to hang this in my kitchen.

Definitely check out the entire shop, because she has some beautiful things!

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Helvetica Cookie Cutters

Rhonda Gail — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:54:52 +0000

Sometimes I run across things in my Google Reader that are just too awesome to not post immediately.

I’m a huge fan of fun cookie cutters, and a big fan of typography.

Hello, lover…

Helvetica cookie cutters found at Made by Girl via The Coolist.

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