In the Kitchen – Love My DIY Home

Counter Top Cleaning Solutions

The 5 Types of Kitchen Countertops and Their Homemade Cleaning Solutions Aside from the living room, your kitchen is the most important part of your home. You probably spend most of your time cooking in it, preparing food on the kitchen island, and enjoying your food at the farmhouse table. Since food is prepared and cooked in the kitchen, it’s essential that you keep this space in your home clean and sanitized. People come and go in the kitchen and, because of this, there’s a great chance that it will become a breeding ground for germs and bacteria. The most critical part of the kitchen for bacteria growth is your kitchen countertop. As such, you should know about the various natural cleaning solutions for different types of kitchen countertop materials. You can read on below for that purpose. Granite Countertops You should avoid using lemon, vinegar, acidic cleaners, and any … Read more

Homemade Apple Pie Filling and Applesauce

HOMEMADE APPLE PIE FILLING This is an oldie but goodie – I’ve brought it back since fall is here and it’s time to do some canning… Apples. Apples. AAAppples!!!! I mentioned in a recent post that I was spending hours cutting up apples a neighbor gave us for applesauce and apple pie filling to put in our freezer. Here’s a quick recap in case you are looking at two or three bags of apples and don’t know what to do with them. First I cut up a bunch into cubes with skins on and threw them into sandwich baggies for the freezer. Rather than using lemon juice to keep them from browning, I soaked them in salt water as I cut them up instead. I had read on Pinterest that someone had tried it and it worked so I tried it – besides, it was cheaper and easier. … Read more

Direct Composting – Improving Garden Soil

No Bin No Way We considered buying a rotating compost bin for our garden to use scraps from the kitchen to improve our garden soil, but they were all pricey and I didn’t like the idea of having to dump our scraps into a stinky bin and having to turn it to keep it aerated. You may call it lazy, but I call it efficient. My schedule is so tight, I’m all about quick and easy with few steps in between. Plus, we have a lot of winter here in Wisconsin and I don’t like tromping through the snow! I did a search (naturally!) and came up with the term “direct composting,” or “trench composting.” Basically you just dig a trench in your garden and dump in your scraps and bury them. Easy peasey! We tried it last year and it WAS easy and this year when we dug the … Read more

Printable Labels for Your Foodie Fall Gifts from Lia Griffith

I came across these beautiful foodie labels this morning and just had to share. Lia Griffith from Handcraft Your Life designed them and is giving them away FREE! Hop on over there and take a look. She has other interesting items you might like as well. I can see these on all sorts of projects for Christmas…combined with either spray adhesive on the back to fix it to the gift jar or basket or Mod Podged! Oh how I love Mod Podge! Or, you could print them right onto a sticker sheet and then cut them to the size you need. Here are some close-ups of her beautiful gift jars and baskets. They inspire me! So cute! Have you ever given food gifts for Christmas? I just canned some grape jam today and it turned out great. I’m thinkin’ that might just be the ticket! Or maybe homemade candy … Read more

DIY Family Cookbook

A DIY Family Cookbook “Mom, what was that recipe for that stuff Grandpa Woodward brought home from the shop?” “Doesn’t Aunt Penny make that Broccoli Cauliflower salad? Do you know how to make it, Mom?” “My chili doesn’t taste like yours, what type of beans do you use?” I had three teen boys our last two years of homeschooling and the last year we spent a lot of time in the kitchen. We put together a family cookbook and updated it several times. Here are a few shots of our 2010 cookbook. We have gifted it to our kids for Christmas many times over the years as each of them moved out into their own homes. Here is the cover and a few shots of some of the pages. I ordered this book from Picaboo. They had a deal at the time – buy one and get two free. If … Read more

DIY Foaming Soap

A couple of years ago I bought foaming dish soap with a coupon. I'll try new things if I can get it for a bargain. I decided to try to make my own once it ran out. After all, it couldn't be too hard, could it? There was no way I was putting out $6.00+ for that little bit of soap. Here's my recipe. Hold onto your seats! It's really complicated…N.O.T. I filled it with water to the top of the Dawn sticker – I did think about measuring it so I could give accurate measurements, but after all, it's not rocket science. I added some regular dish soap, and voila! It foamed when I pumped it. I felt so smart! Check this out. Do you think I should be a hand model? I should probably stick with being on this side of the camera. Back to soap… I've been … Read more