in my kitchen - chikaustin

in my kitchen

June12th

7 Comments

margaritas

Posted in: in my kitchen

Because I love you I’m going to share my frozen margarita recipe with you. I give and I give. I learned this recipe many moons ago from a neighbor friend in San Antonio and it became a staple to our weekends in the summertime. You can change it up by adding frozen fruit.

You’ll need one can of limeade, tequila, triple sec, and your frozen fruit of choice (or not). Pour the can of limeade in the blender. Then fill the limeade can will tequila and add it to the blender. Then fill the limeade can half way with triple sec and add it to the tequila and limeade. Mix. This recipe will make two pitchers of margarita.

Now pour half of that very potent mix into another pitcher and set aside. Keep in mind, if you put this mix into the fridge there is a good chance someone will mistake it for lemonade and pour themselves a glass only to be very, very surprised. Not that something like that has ever happened in my house. Never. So label your other pitcher with a poison symbol. It’s STRONG.

You should have half of the mix left in the blender now. Add however much frozen fruit you’d like and then top the remainder of the blender with ice. Blend. Add more ice if it’s not thick enough.

Pour yourself a glass and take a glass to your neighbor… they’ll appreciate it. Never say I haven’t taught you anything useful in this chikaustin space. Have a great weekend friends! We are enjoying the World Cup and I’ll be sporting my England jersey today. Don’t hate. Has anyone else noticed that the noise at the soccer games sounds like a swarm of bees? Just me, oh okay. Kind of reminding me of the chicada infestation here in the hill country. But that is a story for another time. Enjoy your weekend friends!!
June11th

2 Comments

the sauce

Posted in: in my kitchen

As a child the smell of spaghetti would carry throughout my grandparents house on every visit. Growing up in an Italian family it was THE meal. So one of my favorite things to fix for my family now is spaghetti. It really is the one thing I am confident that I can cook well. And it’s a messy affair in our house. The kids must show up to the table shirtless. It’s a requirement. I don’t have time to be fighting stains. I much less have time to keep clean clothes in the house chasing around three kids.

I have searched far and wide for the best sauce recipe and believe I have found it here. And being Italian, I’m picky about my sauce. I usually triple the recipe so that I can stock pile bags of sauce in the freezer. All you need is a food processor and an afternoon and you can make enough sauce to last a couple of months. Let the food processor do the work for you.

I typically make sauce with Italian sausage and eggplant parmigiana. I’m a HUGE eggplant fan and even make eggplant sandwiches with crusty Italian bread the next day. Yummy!

So here is my bonafide-straight-from-Sicily-family eggplant parmigiana recipe. Delish.

Make the sauce using whatever recipe you’d like. Of course I love Giada’s recipe.

I like to buy two eggplant so I’m guaranteed leftovers. The more eggplant you buy, of course the more you’ll have. Peel and then thinly slice the eggplant about 1/4″ thick. After all of your eggplant is sliced, heat up a skillet full of olive oil to lightly fry the eggplant. Dip your eggplant in scrambled eggs in a bowl and then fry until golden brown in the skillet.

This is what the entire production looks like on your stove top. It’s greasy, messy, and has the best smell around.

Once all of your eggplant is done cooking. Layer in this order: sauce, eggplant, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese. Repeat. Continue doing this until you run out of eggplant and top with a good amount of cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted.

This is the face that stares at me the entire time I’m cooking in the kitchen. My Juicy Baby, appropriately named by a good friend of mine. She is one Juicy Baby.
April22nd

10 Comments

i’ve got the whole world

Posted in: home sweet home, in my kitchen, thrift and vintage

I can tell you that we don’t take holidays lightly around here. Earth Day is no exception. So here I am, going about the normal morning time routine. Wake up, sometimes shower, smile at the baby, get the kids up, breakfast, make lunches, shuffle the baby, get the kids dressed, feed the baby, coo at the baby, grab our backpacks and out the door. It’s a hurry, we’re balancing precariously on the line of being late type of morning. Preschool is three minutes away, it’s 8:57 am. Go!

Put the baby in the car, open the hatchback on the car so Makena can climb in only to be greeted by a huge TARANTULA. I kid you not. Sitting on Chloe’s shopping cart cover thingy. I believe he had the same ‘oh my God’ expression and scream but we just couldn’t hear it. So this is what goes down when there is a TARANTULA in your car. Lots of screaming, running in circles, ‘get something, no not that, grab a stick, something bigger, will it bite me, I don’t know, don’t touch it, no Keegan a baseball glove will not work, more screaming, get a picture, quick, more screaming. Escort the tarantula across the street, pray he won’t return and didn’t bring any buddies to the Earth Day celebration in the swagger wagon.

Happy Earth Day, yeah right! I did my part by not killing him. How do you kill a tarantula anyway? I’m not stepping on it, he’d probably bite me. Run him over with your car? I always see them walking across the street when I’m driving, maybe that will work. Who knows. And yes, I am still freaked out.

Scorpions, tarantulas, and cougars oh my!

Seeing as it is Earth Day I thought you might like to see where the globes I bought in Round Top ended up. This is not my idea, I’d seen it on this blog (I think, can anyone tell me for sure?). I love globes, as you can tell and the entire time I was snatching them up I was singing ‘I’ve got the whole world in my hands.’ Yes, I know those are not the right lyrics but they made me laugh. And you have to laugh at yourself when you and your friends are walking around Round Top carrying seven globes. I ended up getting each globe for about $10 each. Not bad, not bad at all. I love me some Round Top.

And here is another shot for you. I also scored the huge number 5 at Round Top, since our family is now a party of five. I’m working on filling up the entire garage door with the kids art. I thought about turning it into a chalkboard, but don’t really want chalk all over the house. And I figure, they are only little for such a short time. Before I know it there won’t be kids art hanging, but schedules for events to shuffle them to.

Happy Earth Day y’all! I hope the earth minds its own business today and doesn’t greet you with a big hairy spider.
November25th

5 Comments

fancy

Posted in: celebrations, in my kitchen

Today I am fluffing up our nest. Making it fancy, as Fancy Nancy would say, to host Thanksgiving. Using our china for the first time. Pulling out the sparkly water glasses. And even using the cloth napkins.

Last night my hubby asked me if I had napkin rings. Ahem, doesn’t he know we NEVER use cloth napkins? Since we are using cloth napkins I guess I’m supposed to have napkin rings. Nope. Don’t have any so I improvised. I used some twine and made tags with scrapbook paper. I added some Thanksgiving-y words and voila… napkin rings!

And it even took an act of Congress to obtain the only three remaining pumpkins at my local grocery store. Apparently there was a bad pumpkin crop this year because of the drought and pumpkins are in high demand. There were no pumpkins to be purchased in the store. Until I spied some in the deli display used for decorations. Thirty minutes later, and being rung up as acorn squash because no one knew how to price them, they were mine.

There are a few things I need to cook, but most is being brought over by my family. I wanted to set the table to show that I am grateful for everyone traveling to our house so it will be easier on us with the new baby. The least I can do is set a nice table and do the dishes right?!? And what’s even better is that no one expects a thing. They would be just as happy with paper plates. And for all of these things, I am thankful.

Everything is set up and now I’m just waiting for family to arrive tomorrow. No rushing around today. No getting up for Black Friday. Just going to spend the holiday with family, probably partaking in some serious Wii challenges, going on walks, and sitting on the porch telling stories.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Take a breather, take a break, cherish your loved loves. Be thankful for all that you have. You are blessed.
September25th

16 Comments

while we wait

Posted in: in my kitchen
Still pregnant. For all of those random strangers who said I was going to deliver early, I scoff in your general direction. None of you sweet blog readers, it was those strangers on the street that gave me the ‘Oh my GOD! How far along are you? Oh honey, you are never going to make it! Shirley, come look at this!’ On one outing alone that happened to me FIVE times. FIVE. Good for the self-confidence.

We haven’t been doing much to write home about. Just waiting. Doing some laundry. Watching the rain. Baking. Oogling over all of the fall catalogs arriving in the mail. Each one of us picking out our wish list. Loving all of the new shows. And avoiding the acorns as they come plummeting from the sky. Seriously, our oak trees have never produced acorns, but something about the weather lately has them falling from the trees. The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Last night I got a hankering for some pumpkin cupcakes. Oh. My. Godness. They seriously make the house smell better than any pumpkin candle could ever try to do. Seriously. And they have to be the best cupcakes I have ever eaten. I know I have mentioned the ‘trailer food’ around Austin and how phenomenal it is. Well, apparently this sweet gal opened yet another cupcake trailer called Sugarstar Cupcakes and shared her recipe for pumpkin cupcakes with the world. So I will share it with you.

*****

Linus’ Pumpkin Cupcakes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 package instant butterscotch pudding mix
- 2 t. baking soda
- 1/4 t. salt
- 1 T. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 t. ground ginger
- 1/2 t. ground allspice
- 1/4 t. ground cloves
- 1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (i left out because i couldn’t find it)
- 1 cup butter, room temp.
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin purée
For cream cheese frosting
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 t. vanilla
- 1 t. cinnamon
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Grease 24 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners. Whisk together the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, cloves, and crystallized ginger in a bowl; set aside.

Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. The mixture should be noticeably lighter in color. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla extract and pumpkin purée with the last egg. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops and spring back when lightly pressed, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

For icing, combine all ingredients and spread frosting on top of the cupcakes. Makes 24 cupcakes.

*****

I hope you all have a nice relaxing fall weekend. We’ll be going to soccer games and car shopping for a bigger vehicle. And unless I happen to go into labor this weekend we’ll have a sweet baby on Tuesday. Oh. My. Goodness.
August17th

12 Comments

scenes with a belly

Posted in: babes in toyland, home sweet home, in my kitchen, mama life

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We took a quick trip to San Antonio for my brother-in-law’s birthday and hit up Sea World one last time before the baby comes. I think we did it right this time. We went in the evening and it couldn’t have been more pleasant. Actually, it gets nicer and nicer as fall comes and school is back in session. The crowds disperse, the temperatures drop, and the water park closes so there aren’t people walking around in bikinis. What’s that about anyway? That’s a whole other blog post entirely. What not to wear to a theme park. Followed by Why on earth are you wearing that?

Sorry, I got distracted. Today was a pretty low key day. I get many comments from my bloggy friends concerned about me, that I’m overdoing it. I swear I have the BEST friends in blogland. I wouldn’t trade any of you for the world. While many days I’d trade my kids in for a goat or two.

So I decided to take some pictures today to show you a day in the life of what it’s really like around my house.

Breakfast which usually consists of frozen waffles or cereal. Notice the adult plate and fork. Makena insists on it.

Ahhh… the living room. I had planned on doing a post to show you our new sofas and new arrangement, but decided to show you what it normally looks like in our house. Toys strewn about. Boy laying on the couch watching cartoons. Crooked pictures on the wall. Yup, that’s about right. We used to have a dark green sofa and red curtains. I totally changed up the place by purchasing two white sofas. Yes, I’m crazy. And white curtains. I really love a white room.

With toys everywhere. This is my reality.

Afternoon. Feet propped up. Belly relaxed. I finally bribed (payed off) the kids to clean up the toys. It’s amazing what 25 cents will get you. On the ottoman in front of me is some of the work I’m doing for the book. Hidden in the binder. Mooahahaha… The most recent Land of Nod catalog to dream from. And my stack of magazines that I plan to read.

Oh wait, and across from me is a humongous pile of linens from the kid’s old beds that need to be folded and stored away. I have no idea where I’m going to put them, that’s why they are sitting right there. I’m sure they’ll be there in the morning. And possibly the rest of the week.

And right after this picture was taken it was nap time for all of us.

All of this to show you, my friends, that I’m doing okay. I’m resting, I just tend to show you the activity in my life. There is plenty of downtime. Trust me.

This evening I went and sat in the kids room for a bit while my hubby cleaned up the kids toys down there. I decided that the room was too cluttered and cleared out half of the pictures from the art wall and half the toys from the shelves. The bassinet went away and so did the parking garage. A much cleaner space. Maybe it will encourage the kids to keep the room cleaner. Maybe not.

Rest well friends and put your feet up when you get a chance. You are in good company.
July20th

10 Comments

martha, martha, martha

Posted in: in my kitchen

Thank you all so much for the sweet comments about my little nest in the last post. I can’t even begin to tell you how long my bedroom has gone neglected. I should have taken the before shot to give you the whole picture, it was a mess.

I tell you, it’s the pregnancy. If you want to redo your house, get pregnant. It’s a sure fire way of getting organized and getting things done. The fun part is that I was able to reuse just about everything in that picture. The only new thing I went out and bought was the lamps… at Marshalls. The rest I just had around the house. Tucked into closets and drawers. Shameful. I know. It’s all about repurposing what you have. The budget friendly way to decorate.

This weekend was my sweet hubby’s birthday so we had family over for a fajita cook-out. Nothing like standing over a hot grill in 100 plus degree weather. Yay Texas! I wouldn’t even venture outside to take a picture for you. Sorry. I love you, but I have to draw my limits somewhere.

So I stayed inside and made this cake. Ain’t she a beauty. Although, when you make a cake like this you get the resounding ‘well aren’t you Martha Stewart’ comments. Good times. Sometimes I get all discombobulated in my head when people say things like that to me. I did not grow up in a June Clever household. As a child, I wasn’t around sewing, knitting or baking. So as a mom, I work really hard to do all of this. Really hard. I can’t stress that enough. It does not come naturally. Not. One. Bit.

So, all of this to say, thank you for your sweet comments you leave me. They really reassure what I do at home as a stay-at-home mom with a masters degree. Sometimes feeling that loss of purpose. Sometimes wanting to pull my hair out. Many times saying things I swore I’d never say as a mom. And remembering that I always swore I’d never stay at home. But one glimpse at my first child when she was born and I was sold. Done. How can I not be home, trying to do my best. For me and my children.

So please remember that this is just a glimpse of my life. A screen shot, if you will, of our home. I show you the pretty things. The things that inspire me, in hopes that they will inspire you. I tell you the real stories, with hopes that you can relate. Thanks for joining me in this journey. It’s one heck of a roller coaster.
July5th

7 Comments

independence day goodness

Posted in: babes in toyland, celebrations, crafting, in my kitchen

Yesterday, in the midst of the Fourth of July festivities, I decided that this has to be the longest holiday of the year.

You wake up early to rush out and watch the small town parade. Spend the day with friends and family enjoying good southern hospiality, barbeque and treats. Then stay up late watching the fireworks. All in 106 degrees.

Scenes from our independence day ::

You’ve really gotta LOVE Texas to make it through the entire day.

We crashed around 10 pm, with the sound of fireworks going off over the lake out back. We rushed down to the kids room, grabbed them out of their beds and sat up on our bedroom deck to watch hundreds of colors exploding over the lake. Each one of us, cuddling one of our babies, who are growing up so fast. Enjoying moments just like these, and holding them dear in our hearts forever.
July3rd

5 Comments

don’t eat the play doh

Posted in: in my kitchen, kid crafts

Happy Friday friends!

I can’t tell you how many times in a day, when the kids are playing with play doh, that I yell ‘don’t eat the play doh.’ The play doh makers say that play doh is non-toxic, but come on… you really don’t want your kid eating it do you? I didn’t think so.

While perusing the blogs over my daily cup of caffeine, I came across this post that shows you how to make your own play doh. Now at least I know what they are eating. We quickly pulled out the only cookie cutters we have, of the Christmas variety, and went to work. Then we moved on to beach shapes. Palm trees. Crabs. Fish. Boats. ‘Tis the season.

And speaking of homemade goodness, on our trip to Costco this week. I *heart* Costco. I really do. We purchased this savvy piece of machinery. Our own, ready in 20 minutes, ice cream maker. And that was $50 well spent. Run, go now to Costco and get this machine before ice cream season ends. You will not regret it.

Earlier this week I made the Ghiradelli brownies (from Costco), so we made brownie ice cream. With huge chunks of brownie. Mmmmm….

I buy my vanilla from El Mercado in San Antonio. If you can find a Mexican market in your area, you can get a big bottle like this for around $6.

Then, get this, last night I was eating some Blue Bell Ice Cream, a southern favorite, when I bit into something hard. I kid you not. It was a piece of metal. No lie. About one inch long skiny piece of metal. Ick.

From now on I’m sticking to the homemade variety.

Have a lovely Fourth of July weekend! A truly homemade fourth.

**Friends, what do I do with the metal? Send them a lovely email/letter? What would you do?
July2nd

6 Comments

squirrel

Posted in: babes in toyland, home sweet home, in my kitchen

He loves me. He really does. Look what my hubby bought me for my book deal.

Squirrel!

Oh how I relate to the ’squirrel.’ One moment I’m in the middle of something and the next… squirrel. Distracted and onto something else. You must go see the movie Up to fully understand the true concept of ’squirrel.’ It’s a good one, I wouldn’t lead you astray.

And it’s prominently displayed in my dining room. I’ve been doing some more nesting and changed out my red curtains to white ones from Ikea. The white seems to filter the Texas sunshine much better and just makes the house feel cooler. And the bowl in the center of the table now holds Legos to keep the kids occupied while waiting for mealtimes. Little things that make my life easier.

We’ve mostly been staying home. Playing with our favorite toys. Makena gets it all set up and Keegan likes to knock it all down. I’m sensing this will become a pattern throughout their childhood.

We had a break in the heat for the past two days. It rained! Glorious temperature dropping into the 70’s rain. When it started to rain, we dropped everything (squirrel) and ran onto the porch to sit and watch it come down.

Then the rain dance began. Accompanied by Keegan’s own rendition of ’squirrel’ when he found a bug on the ground.

Squirrel… the story of my life.