August 2011 ~ Colie's Kitchen

Aug 18, 2011

A Plumber on YouTube Helped Fix My Sink!!

Who knew?

Our kitchen sink was clogged last night! I mean clogged! The dishwasher was backing up into the sink, and when I turned the garbage disposal on in one sink it backed up in the other sink. No matter what I did nothing worked.

I went to the grocery store and purchased some Drano. Against my better judgment I left it sitting in the sink for one hour verses the suggested 15 minutes. It’s only a suggestion…. Ummm Right? ;-)

So anyway one hour came and went. My sink was still sitting with water in it with no intention of budging. Kevin and I had already bailed water out of two sinks once I didn’t want us to have to do it again. He had an import call come through so I decided to use the woman within me to fix the sink. I wasn’t going to let some stinkin’ sink win! Hell to the NO!

After searching online I found a video on YouTube that I hoped was the answer to my prayers and questions. As you can see from the video above this nice man explains how to fix a clogged sink. GUESS WHAT it worked. I fixed the sink!!

I ran in on my husband important call and did the happy dance right in front of him. Yes, it was all he could do to not laugh out loud at me, but it worked! I would like to go on record as saying once again a woman can fix anything and doesn’t need a man to do it! Ha! Well except for the man in the video lol!

Wordless Wednesdday: Storage

Wordless, unexplainable, or depressing? Ha! Our storage unit is a menagerie of mess! We have multiple boxes of every holiday you can think of, stuff for every sport Kevin plays (hockey, tennis, golf, and so on) stuffed toys, rabbit cage, cat carriers, the list goes on! We have been trying to put as much stuff in storage as possible to make our move at the end of September as smooth as possible. My goal by the end of August is to have everything in storage but furniture, clothes, a few pots and pans, and the pets!

Thanks to my wonderful mom last weekend she and I spent an entire day taming this wild beast. This picture looks like a work of art compared to what it looked like before. Before she and I started our storage unit was a nightmare. Nothing was organized, and we didn’t know what was in any box. The entire storage was a large pile of junk!

Now each box is numbered and every item and box number has been entered into an Excel document. It looks incredible. Now we actually have a ton of room to add more. Before she and I started it appeared to be full. We pay over $100 a month for our storage unit. I wonder how many $1000’s of dollars of junk we have store in there that we keep paying for over and over each month.

It’s an ever revolving work in progress!!

I am linking this post at:
http://www.shibleysmiles.com/
http://www.thelifeofrylie.com/
http://jellybean529.blogspot.com
http://www.mrs-marine.com/

Yes Virginia, There Really is a Good Meatloaf

Let’s get the facts straight right from the beginning … I HATE MEATLOAF! Well, until now! My family loves meat loaf, but never gets it, because I hate it! I finally decided to be nice and make it because I found a recipe that had such great reviews.

This recipe was so easy to put together. I actually sat at the kitchen table with all of my ingredients and had it together in minutes. It comes out of the oven so juicy, and simply yummy. I have only had meatloaf a few times in the past, and it’s always very dry. You won't have to worry about that with this recipe!

One piece of information I will give you is that when you initally put it all together it seems very wet, but this is what keeps it moist while it's baking. This got rave reviews in my house … even from me! Original recipe

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 slice bread (broken or chopped finely)
1 egg
1 small vidalia onion or type sweet onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2-2/3 cup whole milk or half-and-half

Sauce:

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2-4 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed firm (I used 3 tablespoons I will only use 1 1/2 - 2 next time)
1/2 cup ketchup

Directions:

Meatloaf: Combine meat loaf ingredients and place into a loaf baking dish.
Smooth out top.
Sauce: Combine sauce ingredients and pour on top and sides of meatloaf.
Bake at 350°F about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until done

Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com

We Lost Our Loving Bunny

Yesterday our little bunny Cody went to bunny heaven. His presence is already greatly missed. The cats seem lost without their friend, and the humans are missing him like crazy too.

Who knew cats and rabbits could cohabitate so well together. They loved to play with Cody! He would chase them and they would chase him. I think he had identity crises and thought he was a cat himself. After all he did teach all the cats how to use the litter box, and they taught him how to walk on the tile floor, and roll over the way they did.

He was such a special guy. He was a free range rabbit never caged and always had free roam of the house. He wouldn’t have even known what to do if he had been put outside. He was a happy cat rabbit!

He was part of my life before I met my husband! It’s funny how something so small can be such a big part of your life!!

You are missed terribly Cody Roader! 4/26/04 - 08/03/2011 *big smile … little tear*

Taco Salad Redux (287 Calories)

I love taco salad, but it’s easy to see that if I want to keep the calorie count down I have to make a few simple swaps then I can have a large filling salad for less than 300 calories.

Obviously it’s all in what you are willing to sacrifice, but one thing I am starting to realize is I am a creature of habit. I have put my taco salad together the same way each time I have made it, simply put because that’s just the way I have always done it.

After leaving the items out that drive up the calorie count and making a few substitutes I realized I didn’t even miss the missing items! I enjoyed the taco salad without the high calorie content! I left out the tortilla chips I would normally line the bottom of my taco salad with, and substituted extra lettuce for a true salad. I don’t eat sour cream so I left that out but used fat free sour cream for my husband. I also used fat free cheese verses regular cheese! Talk about saving a ton of calories! I also doubled up on the vegetables to make the salad more filling!

My taco salad would have normally been many calories now it’s calories! That’s a huge redux!

Original Taco Salad:

1/2 cup of taco meat 150 calories
1 cups of Taylor organic greens 3.5 calories
1/2 medium Roma tomato 17.5 calories
¼ Kraft Cheddar Shredded cheese 110 Calories
2Tbs Sour Cream 60 Calories
3 Jumbo Black Olives Sliced 25 Calories
10 Mission Tortilla Chip Yellow Rounds 140 Calories

Total Calories: 506

Taco Salad Redux:

1/2 cup of taco meat 150 calories
2 cups of Taylor organic greens 7 calories
1 medium Roma tomato 35 calories
2Tbs Fat Free Sour Cream 25 Calories
3 Jumbo Black Olives Sliced 25 Calories
¼ Kraft Fat Free Shredded Cheddar cheese 45 Calories

Total Calories: 287

The moral of the recipe redux is a total calorie savings of 219 calories! That’s equivalent to an extra meal or a great snack in calories! Take a look at the recipes you normally cook and you just might be surprised how many calories you can shave off your meal by just making a few substitutes that you won’t even notice!

Kevin and I spent last week in New Orleans hanging out with my cousin and his wife. New Orleans is a special city to Kevin and I because our fist vacation was spent there. We try to get back there every year we live about 5 hours away.

I love New Orleans for many reasons! It’s an amazing city with so much heart, soul, culture, music, and amazing food! You feel the history in the air as you walk around. I come from a long time of Cajun and Creole people so New Orleans is very close to my heart.

This is always my favorite stop The St. Louis Cathedral which is the oldest Cathedral in use in the United States. Walking into the Cathedral takes you to a different place in time. Being Catholic I would love to renew or wedding vows at St. Louis Cathedral, but it’s very pricey to get married there.

The architecture is amazing! It’s very time period and beautiful. The French Quarter is fully restored and impossible not to fall in love with. To say you feel the spirits in the air in New Orleans is an understatement!

It’s rare to walk around the French Quarter and not hear live music playing in one form or another. This gentleman caught my attention because he was playing the “Pink Panther” theme song on his clarinet. Who knew the “Pink Panther” theme song could sound so beautiful. Kevin went and talked to him and added a few bucks to his bucket. He told Kevin he was just doing what he had to do to make ends meet.

Last, but certainly not least my very favorite place for a snack in New Orleans is Café Du Monde! They are famous for the Beignets and Café ole’. A warm fried donut slathered in powdered sugar … to die for!