Getting Closer to Finishing Our Kitchen

When we first looked at this house in 2011, I did not notice the taupe ceramic tile in the kitchen so I had visions of a black, white and grey kitchen with accents of red.  I have a few of the chefs kitchen collectables so I thought is would make for a festive kitchen.  How could I not notice the colour of the kitchen?  This is our sixth purchased permanent residence, seventh if you count our vacation home.  The rule of thumb has always been anything decorative can be changed.  The more important features of the house like location,  structure, layout, size, and design become the focus over paint, wall paper and tile. 

This kitchen has really changed since we bought the house.  We painted the walls a deep burgundy (colour matched to our dinnerware), closed in the bulkhead, added a custom made bookshelf with accessory lighting,  added custom made trim around the ceiling,  replaced the dishwasher,installed a natural gas range and hung panel drapes.   There's still a few more things to do!

The kitchen was originally painted a cool taupe with deep taupe/almost black tones marble floor, warm oak cabinets and a warm taupe ceramic tile back splash and counter top.  There was the absolutely most disgusting white range hood.  By disgusting I mean so coated with grease there was no way it could be cleaned and copious amounts of cold air came in whenever the wind picked up.  I actually placed a piece of tin foil on the filter to block the cold air from coming in!  Not only that, it didn't match the kitchen and I like things to match not just in one room but throughout the entire house so there are no jarring eye moments.  The colours I picked for this house are white, black, deep burgundy, taupe, olive green, navy blue and lots of wood.  Each room flows into the next with elements of each colour in every room or there will be when I'm finished decorating.  Back to the range hood.

We tend to be very frugal even when it comes to interior decorating so are avid DIYers who are quite willing to wait for a sale.  There are times though that I will change something just because it gets to the point of being an eyesore.  The range hood was that and beyond that.   It wasn't that the range hood didn't match it was the thing was so disgusting not to mention cold air poured down through it so costing us heating dollars, I finally had enough.  So, I took the measurements and as you can see we were restricted in width and depth thanks to the way they installed the tile.  Honestly, we found out really early after moving here the previous owners never thought about anything in the kitchen ever having to replace anything!  I went online to find a range hood, settling on a Broan-NuTone HDN64 series.  It isn't a fancy range hood but it vents outside and matches the kitchen decor and we were restricted as to the size of range hood we could use.  It has a high and low setting for both the fan and light.  I would have liked a slim line range hood but we would have been left with a awkward gap between the tile and range hood. 

It took my husband about 10 minutes to replace the range hood at a total cost of $79.99 CDN.  The installation went smoothly.  The total install will be on my homemaking blog shortly.  We discovered that the baffle was missing on the old range hood.  That's something that should not break so we figure they took the range hood off when installing the ceramic tile and accidentally broke the baffle.  That's why the cold air poured in not to mention allowing heated indoor air to escape. 

Next up on our kitchen upgrades:  We need to fill in the gap left on the floor with replacing the dishwasher.  We found tile in the garage to match so our friend who is doing the custom woodworking in the house is going to cut it for us when he is out finishing the cabinets.  We are going to tone done the yellow in the cabinets to match the new bulkhead.  The stainless steel sink and rip off faucet (rip off because the previous owner took the one we actually saw with the house with them) are being replaced.  The sink will be black but I'm not sure what yet.  The microwave oven is a quandary.  It has all the bells and whistles on it for 1100 W power (bought for $69 at a liquidation centre) and is used at most a couple of times a month.  I'd love to go to an over the range model like we have in our vacation home but my large canner won't fit under it.  My husband wants to replace the ceramic counter top with granite.  At some point in the very near future our kitchen may be finally finished!

Frugal Kitchens 101 - St. Patrick's Day

In Canada we have statutory holidays (eg. Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Labour Day, Family Day, Heritage Day, Good Friday, Thanksgiving, Victoria and Canada Day).  These are the days government buildings will be closed, businesses may be closed or have reduced hours and employers pay their employees for the day even though they have the day off.    We also have special days (eg. Valantine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Remembrance Day, Decoration Day, Secretary's Day, Oktoberfest and St. Patrick's Day) where there are various events and gatherings but folks don't get an actual day off of work.  St. Patrick's Day (March 17) is quickly approaching.  This is just a fun day where folks can kick back a little, have a couple of green beers while enjoy Irish stew or a corned beef with cabbage dinner accompanied with Irish soda bread and a healthy dose of music by the Irish Rovers. 

St. Patrick's Day is one of the more frugal special days to celebrate.  The emphasis is on good, old fashioned home style cooking using low cost ingredients, socializing and simply enjoying.  A corned beef with cabbage dinner will cost about $10 to $12 for a family of four including the Irish soda bread which works out to $2.50 to $3 per serving with left-overs.  Irish stew is a real money saver coming in at about $6 for a family of four or $1.50 per serving.  The trick is of course getting ingredients on sale.  It is less expensive to cure your own corned beef but this is the time of year where commercially cured corned beef goes on sale.  Cabbage is always cheap!  Here, No Frills has a 20 lb bag of potatoes on sale for $2 this week, perfect timing for the St. Paddy's celebrations. 

Green is the colour of the day which really brightens up an otherwise grey day in an month of constantly changing and fickle weather.  It signifies wealth and the promise of spring.  Five dollars spent at the dollar store will get you enough St. Paddy's themed decorations that can be saved for using the following year.  Green food colouring is almost a must if you want to make themed cookies or green up the beer or milkshake.  However, you can get a lot of green without the food colouring.  Green juice or smoothies are a healthy, inexpensive and kid friendly alternative to green beer or milkshakes AND they are naturally green!  Both pasta and tortilla shells are available in spinach (green) to bring a little luck of the Irish as a school lunch.  Pack green tortillas with more greens, chopped tomatoes, onions, cheese and meat for a festive green  lunch. 

While green is on your mind for St. Patrick's Day, make school or office lunches green garbage-free.  You will be saving a bit of green on St. Paddy's Day while helping the environment!  Just have fun with this fabulously fun and frugal special day!

Not Quite a Birthday Cake!

My husband and I married at the age of 18 by choice.  Some called it puppy love but almost thirty-six years later we are still madly in love.  Seriously, I think he walks on water!  I do think we lucked out when it comes to food because we are both very much foodies.  He loves to eat and I love to cook but he is a rather descent cook in his own right and there are some dishes he has mastered to perfection that I have not.  We love to cook together sharing our love of food and cooking with our kids.  Our kids are now grown with their own kids (aka the most adorable grandkids you have ever seen) who are passing on our love of food and cooking with them.   Food draws us together as a family.  There is nothing more precious than spending a bit of quality time cooking with loved ones!

My husband was going to a friends house to play cards and celebrate his birthday.  I was going to make a cake but decided on something a bit different.  Implementing that plan was a bit more difficult than I thought.  We live in a small community of 11,000 with a No Frills and a Walmart.  Finding specialty ingredients is pretty much a bust.  Neither had the plain strawberry fruit roll-ups for the pepperoni and I cold find nothing that looked like bacon.  Oh, and neither had the Pillsbury sugar cookie tube I really wanted so we were off on an adventure that turned out rather sweet and whimsical! 

As a frugal shopper, I tend to very much brand loyal when it comes to certain commercial products but only if they have proved their worth to me.  In this case, I went with Pillsbury refrigerator chocolate chip cookie dough, Betty Crocker fruit roll-ups, McCormicks spearmint leaves, Cake Mate cookie icing, Mars bar and a Snickers.  I knew this was going to be a sugar overload but it turned out rather cute.  I used a clean pizza box for the presentation. 

Method:  Line a pizza pan with aluminum foil.  Squeeze the full tube of cookie dough onto the pan.  Spread evenly with you hands.  The warmth of you hands will help it spread easier.  Bake according to instructions.  Let the cookie base cool.  Spread the Cake Mate cookie icing over the cookie base for the sauce.  Fill a 4 oz bowl with white chocolate chips then melt in the microwave oven.  Use a spoon to drizzle the melted chocolate over the sauce.  Cut the fruit roll-up into circles and thinly slice any remaining topping you want to add.  Top the cookie pizza then place into a clean pizza box for serving. 

Scotch Eggs

A couple of friends of ours immigrated to Canada from Lancashire, England several years ago.  She is an amazing cook who has been involved in the restaurant and food service industry since making Canada her home.  She has owned and operated everything from a canteen to English style pub to café to upper scale  restaurants.  The focus has always been on home style cooking that brings in her English roots.  Both of them are really fun to be around with remarkable senses of humour.  At the one English style pub aptly named Rovers after Rovers Return Inn on the long running British soap opera, Coronation Street (aka Corrie).  My husband and I watch Corrie every day! 

Her English style fish & chips are the best you will ever taste!  Then again her steak and kidney pie is right up there on the delicious factor.  Her husband has a couple of bands, one with his friends and one with his adult kids.  Both are very good.  A couple of weeks ago, he and his friends were playing at a local venue so we stopped in for a night of entertainment.  We didn't realize it was her birthday.  There was a large spread of food set out, most of which she had made herself. 

I spotted a dish on the table I had never seen before so quickly inquired.  She told me the dish was Scotch Eggs and promised to show me how to make them.  Scotch eggs were made by Scottish farmers and shepherds in the Middle Ages as a way to take their meal to the fields, much the same way, much the same way Cornish pasties came to be.  They are hard boiled eggs wrapped in a seasoned sausage then coated with bread crumbs and deep fried.  Bon Appétit calls them a gastropub staple something I am sure we will discover during our visit to England.  According to Jamie Oliver, the Scotch eggs should be eaten warm with the centres hot and oozing a bit and if you really want to make it proper serve with Scottish cheese. 

Now I know what Scotch eggs are, I am planning on making them for our next games night gathering.  I think they will go over rather well.  As pub grub goes, this is a rather simple dish with few ingredients, low prep time and short cook time.  All this makes for an easy dish for games night.  I'll report back on how well the dish was received.