This Week In My Kitchen ~ 6.26.14 {Beach House Kitchen}

:: Capturing my love of food, combined with the activity of a bustling kitchen.

A weekly collection of photos from the heart of our home. ::

Joining Heather for:

[click photo to join blog hop or see rules at bottom of page]

Banana bread at home.

 The refrigerator before vacation.  We really clean out!

The rest of these pictures are from the beach house we rented for our vacation.  I thought it would be fun to snap pictures in a different kitchen, so this is the one post that I didn't have ready ahead of time for you.  I've been working on it since we got here - all ELEVEN of us.  I love a change of scenery, and enjoy all of the things that are different from our home: space, light, colors, and texture.

We love "eating in" on vacation.  While everyone makes their own breakfast and lunch, dinners are eaten together around the table -- and this house has a table that's big enough for all of us!  We make family favorites for dinner, and we treat ourselves to dessert each night.  {Scandalous, no?}  Typically Mom, Jill and I take turns making dinner, but usually whoever's not cooking still steps in to help.  The guys and kids are great about helping, too.

Afterall, many hands make light work!

Room for 11 around this table. {Loving these red chairs!!}

Paper goods make clean-up easier!

With a house of 11, we write our names on our cups!

 By morning light...

My daughter preparing Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert

 -- a vacation tradition.

The table set for dinner.

My dad doing dishes.

My niece preparing meat for Taco Salads.

It's simple to join in:
On your blog, post photos taken in your kitchen throughout the week.
Words aren't necessary, your photos will tell the the story. Some of us enjoy adding a few thoughts to accompany the images... the choice is yours.
Feel free to grab the brief description at the top of this post, or add a few words of your own to explain the project.)
Link back to this post so your readers can visit This Week In My Kitchen and join in.
Come back here and link up your current post (not your main blog) so we can all visit your kitchen!
Join me every Thursday or the occasional Thursday if that works better for you.
Please be sure to only link up if you are participating in this series. Thank you!

Sprucing Up a Casserole

Here's a little tip that will spruce up any casserole: toasted breadcrumb topping.  It's about the easiest thing you can do to jazz up a casserole, and give it a little flavor boost.

Melt about a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan, and pour in a good amount of breadcrumbs [I used Italian style].  I usually work on a medium-heat setting, stirring the breadcrumbs around to let them absorb the butter.  Then, I try to let them sit for a few minutes, and you'll notice them getting browner.  Stir a few times until the color is appealing.

This particular night, we had had a busy day -- and we were short on groceries.  As it turned out, though, there were several boxes of macaroni & cheese.  I used two, preparing them per the package directions.  When the mac & cheese was prepared, I poured it in a casserole dish, covered with the browned breadcrumbs, and baked at 350F for about 30 minutes.

There were a few upturned noses when the kids realized I had taken a perfectly perfect food (their opinion) and tried to make it better.  But, much to their surprise, they LIKED their "old favorite" with the new breadcrumb topping.

Score another point for Mom.

Follow Sally's board RECIPES~CASSEROLES/QUICHE on Pinterest.

Things to Recycle (Paper)

I imagine that in this day and age, most of you recycle on some level.  I have for a long time.  I wrote a little about it HERE.  I'm sure that there are people who take it far more seriously than I do...  but maybe some of you are like me...  Honestly, sometimes I throw something away and think... hmmmm, wonder why I've never thought to recycle THAT?

So, here's my random list of things that I've learned to recycle.

• prescription bags and info sheets
• labels from canned food -- I remove them before opening the can, so they don't get messy
• paper towel and toilet paper tubes -- I slice them open to flatten
• paper (not foam) egg cartons
• tissue boxes
• toothpaste boxes
• phone books -- we got one in our mailbox the other day, and it went straight to the recycle pile.  I can't remember the last time I used a phone book!

How about you?  What "random" things have you learned to recycle?

Take a Look... It's ON a Book!

Does this ever happen to you?

You're sitting in a room in your house... let's say the living room or family room.  Something catches your eye.  It's not...quite...right.  Something about the balance is off and you can't...quite...put your finger on it.

Well, it happened to me.  I stared at these silhouettes of our kids and finally realized what it was.  The silhouette of our daughter is a little bigger, and more centered on the page in comparison to my son's silhouette. And, because you already KNOW that I'm crazy... I don't mind telling you that it made me a little more nuts.  I wanted to display the silhouettes together as a set, and yet... when they were right next to one another, I didn't like how it looked.

There had to be a solution, right?

The paper that the silhouettes were on had long-since been cut, so, short of destroying the beautiful work -- that was a done deal.  But then, I got the bright idea... What if I could do something to raise the smaller, lower-positioned silhouette up?  And so, because we have eighty-kazillion books around here, I found some that were about the same size and looked interesting together, and TaaDaa!

I still can't stop looking at this arrangement -- but now, it's because I love it so much.

Have you ever solved a design dilemma (big or small) with books?

Follow Sally's board HOME DECOR on Pinterest.

This Week In My Kitchen ~ 6.19.14

:: Capturing my love of food, combined with the activity of a bustling kitchen.

A weekly collection of photos from the heart of our home. ::

Joining Heather for:

[click photo to join blog hop or see rules at bottom of page]

Before we get started, let me just say this:  THANK YOU to those of you who left comments in the last week or so.  I read every one - as I always do.  Life has just been so busy lately, and though I have responded to a few comments, I just won't have the time to keep up with them the rest of this week or next. My daughter and I have been working at VBS at our church this week, and we are soon off on a little trip -- which I'll fill you in on later on. My posts have been planned out ahead of time so that I have a little window of time with my family -- and I know you all can appreciate that.  Thank you for your understanding.

And now... back to our originally scheduled blog hop...

A view FROM the kitchen window: my sweet girl grilling burgers for me!

Lining up glasses to take out to the patio at dinnertime.

Sweet potatoes.

Shredding cooked chicken from the crock pot.

Mint Chocolate Chip cookies for Father's Day.

 Veggies for roasting in foil on the grill.

Chopping celery for Skillet Beef Chop Suey.

And lest you think that only cooking and eating go on in our kitchen...  nope.  Painting too!  This is my daughter's most recent creation, as it dries.

It's simple to join in:

• On your blog, post photos taken in your kitchen throughout the week.
• Words aren't necessary, your photos will tell the the story. Some of us enjoy adding a few thoughts to accompany the images... the choice is yours. 
• Feel free to grab the brief description at the top of this post, or add a few words of your own to explain the project.)
• Link back to this post so your readers can visit This Week In My Kitchen and join in. 
• Come back here and link up your current post (not your main blog) so we can all visit your kitchen!
• Join me every Thursday or the occasional Thursday if that works better for you.
• Please be sure to only link up if you are participating in this series. Thank you!