because you are worth it...

music...i've just seen a face

"i've just seen a face", the beatles

little things...

little things can add up to big things and BIG change!

favorite kitchen appliance...

i am loving these kitchen challenges that nani and i have been posting about lately!  we started with our favorite kitchen gadgets, and now this post is about my favorite kitchen appliance.  although this one seemed quite easy at the time, i had a hard time deciding which one was my favorite, so i am posting my 2 must have kitchen appliances.

on the left is my kitchen aid hand held mixer, the perfect mixer for small kitchens!  i have the heavy duty kitchen aid mixer that i got for a wedding gift at my bridal shower, but because i dont have a lot of counter space and it is heavy, i have not used it in over 1 year!!!  so that is why i love my hand held mixer, it is powerful and compact!

on the right is my crock pot (this was my close second).  this gets used much more frequently when the weather is cold, as it is perfect for soups, stews, roasts and hearty meals.  i love the convenience and versatility of it so much that i have even tried to use it for breakfast and desserts. i have many blog posts about some of my favorite crock pot meal ideas. 

the love shack...

when we built the teardrop camper almost 2 years ago, we ran out of time to paint it.  i had bought the paint, but unfortunately we never got around to it.  now that things are slowing down and we have a trip planned for memorial day weekend to santa cruz in the camper, i was feeling inspired to spruce it up!  i found the old paint but didn't like the color.  i wanted an "apple green" color, and the paint was looking like a fluorescent highlighter.  i took the paint to the hardware store and asked them to re-tint it for me.  they can usually do this if the color is in the same shade and you want to go darker.  so they added more green and a bit of blue to get the color you see now.  i truly had a custom paint color made just for me, and it only cost $4 to re-tint the paint.  now we are ready for our trip in a couple of weeks!

deconstructed caprese salad...

i owe this recipe to my sister, who recently made this at wine night.  since then i have made it several times and it is the perfect summer salad and a great spin on the caprese salad. 

ingredients:

heirloom tomatoes
marinated mozzarella balls
fresh basil
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

how to:

cut tomatoes in half, add mozzerlla (i get the marinated mozzarella from trader joes and it is packed in herbed olive oil, perfect to save for salad dressings), rip basil and dress with olive oil, balsamic and salt and pepper to taste.  this is perfect for a summer side dish and is fresh and simple!

kitchen gadgets...

this post is dedicated to my dear friend nani, who also shares my passion for cooking and fun kitchen gadgets.  she challenged me to find my favorite kitchen gadget, and by the looks of my kitchen drawer you can tell it is a hard task.

after looking through it many times, i came up with my top four must have kitchen gadgets.

 from left to right we have:

1 - the microplane:  pefect for zesting citrus, parmesan cheese, ginger, garlic and onion,
2 - salad fingers - these bamboo salad fingers fit your hands perfectly for mixing and serving salads.
3 - wine aerator -  put this in your wine bottle as you would a cork and let it pour the perfect glass of wine for you.  it allows air to get it and let your wine breathe.
4 - scrapper/cutter - i am not sure the proper name for this tool, but i love it to transfer food from the cutting board to the pan or to cut doughs.

those are my top 4 favorite kitchen gadgets, but this has got me thinking about my other favorite kitchen must haves.  i am excited to see what nani has in her kitchen and feedback on what you use!?!?!?