Cinderella, So Appropriate

I recently purcahsed my first piece of classic Pyrex at a local antique store. I just walked to browse and kill some time before I met a friend for lunch. When what to my wonderful eyes should appear in the little back room.... a bountiful collection of classic Pyrex.

Now my desire to start a classic Pyrex collection is not something I shared with the hubs, so I knew I couldn't go crazy or he'd just roll his eyes at me and shake his head and say "did we really need this?" (he says that a lot). So I looked and looked at all of the colorful and beautiful pieces, especially looking at price. I didn't want to spend more than $20 for this piece, so I wanted it to be something fantastic for that price. Browse, turn over, check price, repeat. Then all of a sudden, THERE IT WAS! My new piece of Pyrex - and I couldn't be happier.

It's a Cinderella piece, and the birds and flowers are just the most beautiful and dainty things ever.

I'm so happy with it! It was worth my patience and search. Next up, I'm on the mission to find a piece of pink Pyrex!

Ode to the Zoku

For Chribirthday, I got the hubs a Zoku. I didn't really need another gift for him but my reasoning for buying it was twofold.

1. He loves popsicles and frozen treats that are fruity, not chocolaty.

2. I get sick and tired of random boxes of popsicles, fruit pops, and ice pops hanging out in my freezer.

3. The hubs likes to buy boxes of treats, eat a couple and then the box sits for, oh say a year, meantime purchasing new boxes of treats.

I had seen the Zoku on some blogs and on Pintrest and thought it would just be another useless kitchen appliance. But it wasn't that pricey and I thought it would solve all of those problems I mentioned above, so I got it - just the two pop one.

We tried it out during the holidays and it was SO FUN! We are fortunate that we keep a stash of frozen fruit in the freezer year round, and the hubs makes his own yogurt, so we were good to go for some healthy, low fat/cal treats.

The results have been so tasty! We've been primarily using frozen fruit we chop up in the mini-chopper, a T or so of OJ, a T or so of plain yogurt, some milk, a little honey and that's about it. And for fun, I like to drop some mini chocolate chips in to mine for an extra special treat!

To be honest though, we haven't been using it all that much - mostly because, well it's winter. But we do keep the Zoku on the door in the freezer so it's there anytime we want to use it - and I think we will use it more come summer time. Now we do have an ice cream maker, but I have to say, this takes up a lot less space in my freezer, can make much lower fat options, and fulfills that immediate need without leaving a quart of ice cream to deal with later!

Overall, we do love it. I would highly recommend it for anyone who has a popsicle lover in your home. And a tip - there are a TON of recipes on the web for popsicle flavors and Zoku flavors - just search for those instead of getting the cookbook right off the bat. And you don't need all of the fancy accessories if you just want to use it for a quick treat - just a basic pop will do ya!

The Zoku in Action

Mmm Yummy Banana Pops!!

Best New Kitchen Item...

Hands down.

If you entertain a lot, this needs to be a must in your house. Additionally, if you don't love that crock pots just make a mush of food, this is so great to have a full meal but all things "not touching" or mushed together like a soup or stew.

The hubs got me this for Christmas as a surprise - since I had mentioned it a few times that it could be a fun thing to have. AND IT IS!!!

So far I've done a wonderful meatloaf, pasta and broccoli dinner in it; used it for an event at work for 3 different hot dips; and used it for a dinner party to re-heat everything I had cooked the night before for the event.

Seriously, if you entertain a lot this is for you!

A Pintrest Review

Recently, the hubs and I tried a tip from pintrest, to soak your stove grates in ammonia to remove the built on grease and gook. It certainly worked well on the pieces of our stove. So well, the hubs decided to try it on caked on cookie sheets.

I'll let the pictures do the talking here.

Before - yes those were my cookie sheets! Clean, just baked on caked on gook!

After soaking in ammonia overnight and this is the scraping of the cookie sheets.

And Voila!

Here's my take on it - it did remove all of that gook and crap, but I also think it removed the non-stick coating - which I OK I don't really care too much about that. Just wash them really well with soap and water, maybe even running through the dishwasher when you're done!

My Kitchen Just Got More Colorful and Fun!

I came home the other day to find a great little box on my door from The Spoon Sisters. I recently entered another contest at Blake Makes for a chance to win these awesome measuring/tasting spoons from The Spoon Sisters.



Now I love spoons. I fly through those more than any other utensil. I have spoons for everything in the kitchen - salt spoon, sugar spoons, honey spoons, serving, cooking stirring, spoons for only dark colored foods that can stain, spoons for high heat, etc. A spoon is my favorite untensil for cooking and eating!



So when I saw these colorful little guys I had to enter and crossed my fingers I'd win... If not I knew I'd probably cave and buy them at some point! That's just how cute they are.



Unfortunately my picture (or any of the ones I took) do these justice! You just have to buy a set to check them out yourself. I've already used them for my cooking and am totally digging them.



I've met a new spoon set - and I'm in LOVE!!!







And do check out the SS website for some other great gifts - great for those upcoming holiday exchanges!!! Hint Hint people!!!