Sunday, April 29, 2012

Organizing Recipe Cards

I'm an obsessive recipe collector.
I love using these antique library card 
drawers to file my recipe cards.
I have two of these boxes.
I clip. I copy. I print.
I toss them into the basket on top
until I have time to file them.
 Pretty soon my recipe files start looking
like this. Crammed full and disorganized!
 Everything is jammed in and not very well
sorted. I needed a better system.
 I needed to reorganize. 
 I decided to use large colorful paint cards
for the dividers.
 I made a list of the tabs I needed and printed
out lots of stick-on labels.
These are all CHICKEN. I have them 
sorted into sub-categories so that I can 
find just what I'm looking for...fast!
Boneless Breasts, Stir-Fry, Oven,
Italian, Mexican, Crock-Pot...etc.
Now everything is so much easier
 to file and find. I pull out a category when
deciding what to make and then edit and
usually toss a few at that time. 
I did this in all the drawers.
  One drawer holds my very old
Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library.
Another drawer holds a very old set of
 McCall's Great American Recipe Card Collection
 as well as a large supply of
 blank recipe cards. 
Some of you may remember when you 
hand wrote your recipes on cute cards.
I always keep the old ones from family
 and friends. I love those! It's very
reminiscent looking thru them.
Some I've dated on the back and know
when I first made it or received it.
Recipe from:__________


Cheers!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Weekly Table Setting

My last week of using the Amapola dishes
by Villeroy & Boch for April.
 I added more blue pottery and napkin rings 
from  Longaberger, blue goblets, natural 
plate chargers and woven placemats. 
All things I've used many times before
 in different combinations.
I previously had the ever-blooming orchid 
in a silver pitcher and now have it in a basket
 keeping with a more natural theme.
 I'm using a scrap of wood board for 
a table runner. I cleaned and sanded 
the rough edges a bit first.
 A few simple changes to keep things fresh.
I always keep my table set for our next meal.
It's nice to come in for breakfast in the 
morning and see it ready.
Then lunch...
for the sandwich recipe.
very yummy!
Cheers!

Friday, April 20, 2012

DIY Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

My vintage blue Ball jar is filled with 
my homemade DW detergent.
I ran out of dishwasher detergent last night. 
I had just squeezed  the last two brownie 
plates into the dishwasher and it was
 ready to do the day's worth of dishes. 
Ah! my back-up supply in the garage cabinet. 
But....the cupboard was bare. 
No matter how long I stared at the empty
 spot where another box of DW detergent 
should be, it did not appear!
So into my la-bor'-a-tory to mix up a batch.
 I have seen so may bloggers make 
their own. I Googled. I found.
Borax, washing soda, kosher salt
 (in the jar), and a packet of lemon
Kool-Aid  (unsweetened).
I didn't have the Kool-Aid last night
so I just used the Borax and soda.
 I combined my own batch
and that worked fine. 
  I bought Kool-Aid the next day 
and added that along with the salt
 to my next batch.
You can also use LemiShine.
I found it in the dishwasher detergent isle.
Finding a cute container is a must! 
I don't need to tell you that.
Any jar will do, they're all good.
 Of course, 'pretty is as pretty does'. 
It got everything clean!
Remember those yucky brownie plates?
Squeaky clean!
Advantages:
inexpensive
no harsh chemicals
does not emit chlorine gas
effective sanitizer
effective stain remover
effective water softener
phosphate free
 (environmentally friendly)
did I say CHEAP?
 One more tip; fill your rinse dispenser with 
vinegar. It's the best, and the cheapest.
 Rinse agent (Finish or Jet Dry) = $3.99
per fill. Vinegar=$.06 per fill
That's a saving of 6650%
(No, your dishes will not smell of vinegar.)

Rita's Dishwasher Detergent
1C Borax
1C washing soda
1T kosher salt
1 packet lemon Kool-Aid
(unsweetened) or
1 T LemiShine
Mix until well combined. 
Store in airtight container.
Use about 2T per load.
(Make a double or triple batch
to fill your container)

Keeping it clean...
and Easy to remember 1-1-1-1
Cheers!




Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Spring Daisies

Daisies from the grocery store seem 
to last for weeks.
 I just need to trim them and use the 
remaining blooms in smaller vases.
 A few daisies are tucked into each bottle.
These are Pellegrino water bottles.
 I'm using my thrifted wicker bottle holder
 for the centerpiece.
Longaberger Daisy table linens and pottery.
Yard sale green goblets, flower pot
napkin rings and salt&pepper set.
 My new favorite thing is flavored water
 in a pretty pitcher brought to the table.
I keep this cut crystal pitcher 
filled with water and sliced fruit in the 
refrigerator. I use slices of lemon, lime, 
strawberries and a sprig of mint.
 I can refill with more water to use all 
week before needing to replace the fruit.
We are now drinking more water
throughout the day.

Cheers!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

GUTEN APPETIT!

When you're German you need a different sign in your kitchen. 
 One that that says Guten Appetit
not Bon Appetit
Of course these are very hard to find 
at the usual places...so I made one.
This one I took to my daughter Kim's house
in Texas. I visited there for Easter.
I found a piece of 1"x10" wood in the garage,
 which is actually 3/4"x9".
This has always puzzled me.
Why do they measure wood like that? 
I need to get to the bottom of this. 
Anyway, Larry cut it to size, about 24".
 I couldn't make one bigger than my suitcase.
 I also found some trim pieces for the
 top and bottom.
 I painted the board with leftover wall paint
that we used to paint our kitchen in
North Carolina.
It's a golden color called High Plateau by Behr
and I painted the trim in black.
 I picked out a German-looking font,
Lucida Blackletter and printed it out
 in the outline option in about 250 pt. size
 and regular (not condensed) spacing.
I then used carbon paper
to trace the letters onto the board. 
 Now I just need to paint in the letters.
 I used a paint pen. Easy.
Its a DecoColor oil base paint marker
 from any crafts store, like Michaels. 
 This is the empty space above the
pantry doors where it will hang.
Spaced on the wall area, not the door.
(Looks better in person.)
Now I need to make one for my kitchen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I make all my signs this way. 
See more signs by clicking on: 
Cheers!