A New Lease OF Life in The Kitchen

Since getting my new kitchen, I have found that I feel much more motivated in terms of cooking and doing kitchen chores. Now I know it's not possible for everyone to get a new kitchen justto motivate their cooking mojo, but there are some small projects you cnundertake to give your kitchen a new lease of life which willhave a knock on effect on your motivation.

Make sure your kitchen has adequate light sources. The kitchen is one of the two smallest rooms in a home traditionally. If they are too dark they will feel even smaller. Installing lighting can make a room more enjoyable and will increase the value of your home. Light colors will be good for a smaller kitchen when thinking of fixing up the interior of your home. Off white is a great color for making a room appear larger, and remember that big furniture pieces effect the lighting as well. Dark colors actually make a room look smaller.

Consider starting your projects in the kitchen with the basics. Thorough cleaning is the right way to start. Use a solution of two parts TSP to one part water to scrub the walls and remove grease stains. You will wipe away grease, but possibly some paint as well. Neutral, tan colors work well in all kinds of kitchens. Once you've finished re-painting, you'll be impressed with how dramatic the difference is.Think about refinishing your kitchen cabinetry instead of putting in new ones. You could paint and place new doors to get a new look. These changes should not cost you a lot, but they should make your kitchen look like a new room.

Clean out your pantry and organize it in order to improve your kitchen's functionality. Get rid of old foods, spices, and out-of-date canned goods. Clean shelves out and put in new liner paper. Then, organize your goods in a way that makes sense to you, being sure that commonly used food are easy to find. That way you won't have to search endlessly for the ingredients you need
 
Making home improvements can be done by novices, not just experts. Anyone can do it. It can be as easy as a simple paint job or it could be a brand new kitchen installation. Either way, it can bring a new level of value and a new sense of comfort to your home.

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Kitchen Tips For Busy Family Life

KitchenAid 5 qt. Stand Mixer, designed in 1937 by Egmont Arens, remains very successful today (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Busy families have become common place in our modern community and anyone who has ever been part of one knows that cooking a well balanced meal for everyone can be a difficult chore to fit into the day. Gone are the days of stay at home mommies and with both parents at work eating out seems to become a regular choice. However, despite its convenience, it can become very expensive. It is possible to prepare fresh meals quickly and stop eating out. Check out these handy kitchen hints for busy families:

1. Simplify Your Menu – You can still enjoy a nutritionally balance meal by using the simplest of methods. Why not add dishes like tacos, tortillas and burritos to your menu list. These are tasty and so easy to prepare in under 30 minutes. You will even get faster the more you make it. I have tacos down to about 15 minutes now!
2. Stock Up The Pantry & Prepare In Advance – It is important to have a well stocked kitchen. You will find that many simple recipes contain very similar ingredients, so by ensuring you have these ingredients at hand you will be able to cut your prep time in half! My must have ingredients include onions, garlic and vegetables. To save time I dice and chop these on the weekends and store in air tight containers for easy access to them throughout the week. If you know what ingredients you use alot of then stock up, often you can get discounts for bulk buying. I will also cut meat up and store in freezer bag. I can just pull one out of the freezer in the morning and it is ready to cook after work.
3. Invest In Appliances – Some kitchen appliances can be expensive, but they can be well worth it in terms of convenience it can be worth the investment. If you have a large family to prepare food for and a limited time, there are gadgets to help. The KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer is my best friend! I can mix up to 5 quarts of food at once! That is 7lbs of mash or enough dough for 5 loaves of bread! A Slow cooker or crock pot is also ideal for making family meals .

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Handpicked Tips And Tricks For Kitchen Design Projects

If you are thinking about updating your kitchen, you need not focus only on replacing kitchen cabinets and countertops or resurfacing cabinet doors. There are a number of smaller sale projects you might like to try in order to freshen up the look of your kitchen. I have put together a few suggestions for you to consider, not only in the kitchen but throughout the home.

• Use lighter colors when you are painting the rooms like the kitchen or bathroom. Incorporating beige and white colors into a room will increase the appearance of the size. Dark colors can decrease the appearance in size. Smaller homes or apartments can look roomier with brighter colors. Having lighter colors gives off the feeling of more space in a cramped environment. If you use darker colors, you will make it appear smaller by closing you in. Light colors will be good for a smaller kitchen when thinking of fixing up the interior of your home. Off white is a great color for making a room appear larger, and remember that big furniture pieces effect the lighting as well. Dark colors actually make a room look smaller.
• Make sure your kitchen and bathroom have adequate light sources. Two of the smallest rooms in a home are traditionally the bathroom and kitchen. If they are too dark they will feel even smaller. Installing lighting can make a room more enjoyable and will increase the value of your home. Bathrooms in particular are much more comfortable when properly lit. Bad lighting only exacerbates this problem. Installing lighting can make a room more enjoyable and will increase the value of your home. Ensuring adequate lighting is installed in bathrooms and kitchens can make them feel more expansive.
• Think of the amount of people you have living in your home when figuring out how to design its interior. Is there only one or two other residents or do you have a large family. You should always be aware that each room serves a different purpose. A bedroom will require design features that will not be suitable for the living room or kitchen, for example. If you pay attention to these issues, your design process will be more effective.
• The use of ceramic tile in a kitchen or bathroom is a relatively simple project. Choose between a solid color or cool designs to improve the look of the room. The installation of ceramic tile is a fairly simple fix that adds value to your home.
• Clay flower pots are a very elegant addition to your kitchen. Kids can even decorate their own and use them to hold items in their rooms, such as toys, stuffed animals and other collectible items.

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Feeding The Family During A Kitchen Refit

Modern kitchen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the biggest upheavals during our recent kitchen remodel was planning how to feed the family with our kitchen out of commission for about 10 days. What I did was set up a mini kitchen in the dining room. I put the table against one wall and put my microwave, kettle, toaster and grill on there. I also bought a plug in hotplate. I planned ahead and cooked some meals ahead of time that I could freeze and then reheat in the microwave. Things like stew and casserole. I also made a few stirfry dishes on the hotplate which worked out pretty well. We never had to resort to to take-out although we did eat at my mother's house on one occasion. It was summer, so we also grilled out a couple of times. The main issue was washing the dishes. I had to do it in the shower which is not really idea. I ended up steam cleaning it afterwards because I just felt a bit ick! Apart from that we survived pretty well. I tried not to use meals that were going to leave a smell lingering in the dining room.

I think that forward planning goes a long way in most situations. If we are prepared then we can breeze through difficult situations. I think this does for lots of things, not just preparing for a kitchenremodel! Think about when we have to take a trip, when we have someone in hospital or any number different situations. So with that being said, I have a new motto...

Be Prepared!

Top 5 Kitchen Gadgets

When I got my new kitchen installed, I took the opportunity to update my gadgets and appliances! I love to cook and I love little gadgets which make my dishes easier to make! Checkout my top 5 kitchen gadgets that I have added to my collection since remodeling the kitchen.

Kitchen Scales

I bake a lot, so measurements are very important. I decided to replace my old scales with some much more accurate electronic scales. Baking is a science, it is important to get the balance just right or else the recipe can go very wrong. Look for scales which offer both grams and ounces and a tare function as well.

Coffee Grinder

What kitchen is complete without a coffee grinder? Now I have a confession.. I don't actually drink coffee!! So what do I use a grinder for? Well the answer is simple. I buy whole spices and grind them myself in the coffee grinder. It makes for much better flavor than dried prepacks.

Waffle Iron

I have ALWAYS wanted a waffle iron! I finally found the perfect one which has reversible plates,so I can not only make my own waffles, but can flip the plates to use it as an electric grill or griddle. Even the waffle grid is great for things like veggies as it makes a beautiful pattern.

Candy Thermometer

Sugar is fascinating. However it is also unforgiving,so having a candy thermometer is a must. These thermometers are designed to read temperatures between 212F and 355F – temperatures which most foods will never reach! With one of these little babies you will be able to make pulled sugar, candy, caramel and so much more! Check out the candy temperature chart on the right!

Heating Pad

A heating pad in the kitchen? Yup that's right! A heating pad can help with so many thing. You can use it to melt chocolate, accelerate the rising of yeast, make yoghurt and keep gravies/soups/sauces warm among other things. I love my heat pad! It's my favorite kitchen gadget.

So those are the five kitchen gadgets I cannot live without. What are yours?

Door Stopping!

Okay. I gotta make a confession! Here it comes... y'all ready?

My name is Em and I am addicted to my kitchen!

You all know already about my new kitchen right? You already know about my crazy organizing spree right? Well the thing is... now that I have everything where I want it and I have all my accessories either in place or on order, I can't help looking at the door and thinking it would be so much nicer if it matched the new cabinets! (I know, I know) The thing is if I replace the interior door in the kitchen... I'm going to have to do all the downstairs doors as they all lead off the hall and if I do the downstairs doors then I'd feel weird not doing the upstairs. That makes a total of 15 doors including the cupboard under the stairs and the linen closet upstairs. It's not going to happen! So I guess I'll just paint it.

Anyway, enough about doors! What's that got to do with food? Actually, quite a lot because my food for today is Blackened Salmon with Doorstop Fries (see what I did there? Hilairious I am!).

For the doorstop fries you are going to want to cut some BIG potatos into nice fat chips. Fry them in hot oil in a big frying pan, turning them constantly so they brown on all sides evenly. Deep frying won't work as they need to be in too long to cook that way and the outside would burn by the time the middle was right.

The salmon is really easy. Take salmon fillets and coat it with cajun seasoning. Place them skin side down in a lightly oiled pan and fry for about 4 minutes, before flipping and frying on the other side for the same length of time. The cooking time may vary depending on how chunky a fillet it is so just make sure it it cooked all the way through.

I usually serve with a pea puree (just crushed peas with a little garlic butter and seasoning)

When Kitchen Dreams Come True!

I love to cook. It's how I relax! However, I did used to get frustrated trying to cook in my crappy kitchen. I had hardly any counter space, no garbage disposal and the stove was a little bit temperamental. However, no longer am I plagued by these issues because... I. Have. A. Brand. New. Kitchen! Yay!

It is a thing of beauty. I am more than a little bit in love with it! I won't lie, the process of actually having it installed was a bit of a nightmare! We lived on takeout and microwave dinners. But, it was most definitely worth it! I now have all the counter space I could ever want and lots of beautiful rosewood cabinets. The built in stove is fantastic – all the burners work! I have lovely sink with a little built in garbage disposal! Everything in Em's world is beautiful right now!!!

I know I will be cooking even more than ever because it's so light and airy and beautiful in here now! I keep thinking of things I can cook and bake just to freeze or give to my friends! I think I'll start with baking some cakes!!