Kitchen Pantry Re-Do

Happy Wednesday!  Let me start off by saying I am totally off schedule with my Houseworks Holiday Plan.  Last week was "Close to Home week" and if I had followed the plan, I would have been de-junking Jacks room, which I didn't, though Jack and Dad did go through some toys and we were able to gather a very large black trash bag full of toys to donate to the Vets.

I didn't stick to the plan because I had other things on my mind, namely my pantry which has been driving me bonkers!  This is a before picture...:/

Really, pretty embarrassing...

It reached a point that I couldn't find anything.
So I stopped by Wal-Mart on my way from dropping Jack at school to look for some storage containers.

I was thrilled when I ran across all of these! I bought a  variety along with picking up a couple of cases of canning  jars in a large and small size.

Next I loaded them all up and gave them a good wash.

I pulled everything out of the pantry and scrubbed the shelves down.  I almost stopped to paint (as is my side tracked way) but reminded myself that not only did I not have time to paint, but that's not what this job was about and that I would add "paint" pantry to my list of things to do in the future.  Once the jars were washed and dry I started transferring anything that I could into a glass jar.  I cut out cooking directions for cereals, tapioca's and such and put those in a small file box. My intentions are to copy those over to index cards and have them in the recipe box. I also cut out the name of the item, as in "Cream of Wheat" and taped them on the lid of the glass jars.  A label maker would have come in handy here, though if I had a label maker I would probably be out of either ink or labels anyway, so this worked just fine.  And here is the big Ta Da!

All in all I'm very happy with the outcome.   I feel way more organized and everything just looks better. I also think I've decided to just replace the 25 year old shelves with wire shelving in the future.  Next up will be the other kitchen pantry that's around the corner in the laundry room.

But not this week, this week is House Room Week....which I have switched with Me and Mine week because I worked on the guest bedroom last week because we had a guest come last Wed.  So this week I'm working on the Master Bedroom space. I haven't gotten to this yet as my guest just left Monday, I don't remember what I did yesterday and today I spent the whole morning backing up my blog because I was forced into finally doing the wordpress 3.01 update (that I didn't want to do out of fear) because my image uploader stopped working!!

Aughhhh! Anyway, I conquered the pantry and now have managed to get my blog software updated properly and will now push "publish" on this entry I started 4 1/2 hours ago!

Hope everyone is having a lovely, "non frustrating" Wednesday! Happy Pantry re-do to you!

 

Houseworks Holiday Plan ~ Week 3?

Ha! My intentions were so good, I promise they were.  I know what's going on, so I'll let you all in on it.  I am a bit of a rebel.   Not that I drive on the wrong side of the street or dye my hair pink. Nope, not that sort of rebel.  My rebellion is against myself.  For instance, my blog.  I love blogging but once it started feeling like an obligation of some sort I started "pushing" against it.  Avoiding it, staying busy with other things or convincing myself I just don't have time today even though all sorts of crazy stuff has been going on in my life to blog about.  I have the same problem doing anything on a regular basis.  Here is a short list of some of the things I have a problem following through on and consistently "push against"

1. Taking Vitamins


2. Exercising


3. Skin Care


4. Calling my Mom


5. Calling anyone


6. Laundry


7. Any sort of household plan

So there you are!  I know there are others out there like me because I use to hang out at a place called "SHE'S In Touch".  A group of women on line that found each other thanks to a website put together at the time by Pam Young and Peggy Jones, who wrote the book Side Tracked Home Executives. The forums as they were, are long since gone and  replaced by "Flylady's" site, which I'm sure many of you are familiar with.  Anyway, I digress....

Today I am going to try to "right my ship" once again and get started, all be it 3 weeks late, on the Houseworks Holiday Plan.  I know I originally said I was going to do the Holiday Grand Plan, but I've diverted from that idea after reading all the organized plans that are out there.  I've decided that this one fits the bill perfectly for me.

I already put together my Holiday Notebook. Go HERE for the lowdown on this plan as well as links to all the print outs you would need if you wanted to play along.


I do happen to have  a copy of Cynthia Ewers House Works but I don't think you need it to follow this plan as she really does list most every step on line at her site "Organized Christmas". Also, I got a few print outs from the Holiday Grand Plan Yahoo group that I joined when I was planning on using that system.  I took some photos this morning of the Holiday planner I put together along with the pages I did print out.  I'll tell you right off the bat, that I pretty much printed what I thought I would use and tried not to go over board on this thing. Keep in mind I am starting three weeks late here, though the first week consisted mostly of putting your Holiday Notebook together, which I did complete. Basically I missed the week of working on my front porch and foyer and I think I can take care of this along the way. If I got the print outs anywhere other than Houseworks Holiday Plan, I will make note of it under the image.  And up front, I would like to thank Cynthia for putting together such a wonderful site over at Organized Christmas as well as Organized Home.  She has kept this site going for many years now, with little help and I'm next to certain, little money. And she does it for all of us out here that are Housework challenged! A noble mission I believe!  Ok, so on to the images...:)

This is a detailed list I printed off of the Yahoo "Holiday Grand Plan" Group.
You are required to become a member of this group to have access to these files.
This print out is the whole kit and caboodle, not necessary but I printed it for sort of a guide and something to refer to when I feel lost.

I printed these off to use for Jack and to give to my daughter in law to use with my Grandsons for both of us!

This is just a daily schedule that some wonderful woman at the Holiday Grand Plan Yahoo group made available to everyone.
I'm hoping she won't mind me sharing it with you. If you want it for yourself, once you have joined the group, it's available in the files section.
I made many copies of this to try to keep myself on some sort of schedule since I've been ignoring my box!
Shoot, I forgot to put "ignoring my SHE  box" and index cards to my opening list.  Just make that number 8!

This is a pocket that is in the back of the notebook. I intend to use this to hold receipts from Christmas Gift purchases.

So there you go! I hope this is of interest to someone besides me.  Having an organized home has always been important to me, but a struggle as well.  Just to catch you guys up on some other stuff that's been going on, this might become the Strega Nona of post!

Last week we bought a new refrigerator! It's totally awesome and very stylish. It's an LG French Door, with double freezer drawers on the bottom. I love, love, LOVE this thing not to mention the extra space I have now with having the old refrigerator in the garage.

The other big thing that's been going on in my life is that I finally watched the documentary movie "Food Inc" .  I knew about this movie well before it was released last year per an email campaign by one of my sister in laws.  I knew once I saw this movie I would be compelled to make major changes in our lives, so I ignored it....until now.  The resulting aftermath of viewing the film was my first trip to Whole Foods Market.  I fell in love with the store the minute I walked through the doors, and since giving up some "bad" habits lately, habits that cost me a lot of money, I've decided to apply that money saved towards feeding my family healthier food.  You guys don't know this about me, but I have a tendency to become a bit passionate ( obsessive) with anything that I truly believe in.  So this is my new kick.  Hopefully it never gets added to my "list" of things I don't keep up with!

Later this week, I'll start posting on my progress and the things I'm doing with the Houseworks Holiday Plan!  I'm reinvigorated and ready to get this show on the road!  PS....for all of you that have been asking about Jack and how he is liking/doing in school...He is just LOVING it!  And I mean really loving it.  When he goes to bed at night he is already excited for the next day!  Don't you just love when you know a decision you made turned out to be the right one?

Happy Monday to all of you!

Where Were You, This Day Last Year?

On this day last year, I was in a whirlwind of emotion....

As I looked on...

as my baby girl...

became a Bride.

It was a perfect September day...

for a wedding.

The stage was set

I preceded her...

as did Jack.

Then it was time...

the changing of the guard, so to speak.

She loves him, see it?

I see it.

And there she goes... with the "new" guard.

Of course he took her here...

to cut cake...

and to laugh...

at her Dad's speech.

And to eat...

and drink...

and dance...

and celebrate!

Happy One Year Anniversary, Baby Girl!

Jack’s First Day of School

The day has arrived. Early to bed worked, early to rise, worked. We we’re out the door by 7:30 and arrived right on time! I watched as the teacher escorted him from the car….I didn’t cry, instead I felt total joy for him and all of the adventures that lie ahead! He was a little anxious I think, as he informed me from the back seat that he “threw up” a little in his mouth! lol….I thought that was too cute!

I told Jack that we needed to take a first day of school photo like I always did with his siblings. He was not thrilled about this and through every photo was complaining that he was cold!



This is cold Jack…:/ btw…it wasn’t cold but there was a chill (I guess)





Cute face eh? *g*

I just couldn’t get a smile out of him, but he was happy, I swear!!



Ahh, now we’re happy because we have moved into backpack mode!

Ok, so that’s been my day so far. Now if I can manage not to forget to pick him up, I’ll have this day in the bag! Jim and I were out of town for the weekend, sort of like Summer Camp for grown ups! We had a blast and I’ll blog about it soon. For now, I’m just going to enjoy this especially quiet and relaxing day!

Hope everyone's week has started out on the right foot!

Herbed Chicken in Pastry

I'm still in the experimental stage with Puff Pastry and learn a bit more every time I cook with it.  This is the second time I've made this recipe I'm going to share with you.  The last time I made it, I wasn't very exact with the width that I rolled the pastry out to, and I made little bundles about half the size of these. Just a fyi, I preferred the taste of the smaller ones than these full size ones.  I would suggest making it both ways (in your free time ;) and seeing what you like.

These are great for guest as it appears like you put a lot of work into them, but really they are quite easy and don't take much time to prepare.  This recipe is adapted from this one at the Pepperidge Farm puff pasty website.  I'll post the changes I made at the end of this entry. I'll post a printable recipe at the end.

If you have the foresight, you will want to take the puff pastry out of the freezer and thaw it in the refrigerator. I did this the night before I was going to make it.

Heat the oven to 400°F.  Beat one egg and 1 Tbs. of water in a small bowl with a fork or whisk. (this is for the egg wash)

Season the chicken with salt and black pepper.  Heat the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes for full breast (less for tenderloins) or until it's well browned on both sides.

Remove the chicken to a plate. Cover the plate and refrigerate for 15 minutes or up to 24 hours.

I did not have any garlic & herb spreadable cheese so I made my own using cream cheese and dried dill and chives. This worked perfectly!

Next unfold the pastry and set it on a floured surface

Roll the pastry sheet into a 14-inch square

Cut into 4 (7-inch) squares

Spread 2 tbs. of cream cheese spread in the center of each pastry square.

I used 3 tenderloins instead of 1 breast for each square only because this is what I always have on hand.
Place the chicken on top of the cheese mixture.

Brush the edges of the pastry squares with the egg mixture.
Fold the corners of the pastry squares to the center over the chicken and press to seal.

Place the filled pastries seam-side down onto a baking sheet.  Brush the pastries with the egg mixture.  You all know how much I love sharing my screw ups with you, so here comes another one! I got ahead of myself (and the recipe) and failed to turn the filled pastries seam side down before I brushed on the egg wash.  Now I learned two things from this mistake. First being that they look prettier with the seams up, but I think would be moister with the cheese mixture being on the top while baking.  So when I make these again (which I will) I will do them just like I did here except I'll put the cheese mixture on top of the chicken.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown.
Let the pastries cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.

Hope you all are having a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

 

Recipe: Herbed Chicken in Pastry

Ingredients

• 1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed


• 1 egg 1 tablespoon water Ground black pepper (optional)


• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)


• 2 tablespoons butter 1 container (4 ounces) garlic & herb spreadable cheese

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 400°F.


2. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork or whisk.


3. Season the chicken with the black pepper, if desired.


4. Heat the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat.


5. Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes or until it's well browned on both sides.


6. Remove the chicken to a plate. Cover the plate and refrigerate for 15 minutes or up to 24 hours.


7. Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface.


8. Roll the pastry sheet into a 14-inch square. Cut into 4 (7-inch) squares.


9. Spread about 2 tablespoons cheese spread in the center of each pastry square.


10. Top each with 1 chicken breast. Brush the edges of the pastry squares with the egg mixture.


11. Fold the corners of the pastry squares to the center over the chicken and press to seal.


12. Place the filled pastries seam-side down onto a baking sheet.


13. Brush the pastries with the egg mixture.


14. Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown.


15. Let the pastries cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.

Quick Notes

These look pretty with the seam side up. If you want to do them this way just be sure to put the cheese on top of the chicken before folding the sides over.

Number of servings (yield): 4

Meal type: dinner

Microformatting by hRecipe.