Let's get kitchen savvy!

This week I'm in the kitchen to share idea with you that saves waste and money!

I am trying so hard these days not to be wasteful. But, like a lot of moms my kids have me cut the crust off their sandwiches. Every day, as I made their lunch, I watched the ends of 4 pieces wholegrain bread met their demise, so wasteful!

Two weeks ago I decided put a stop to my wastefulness and started putting them in a baggie and keeping it in the fridge. Now I can make healthy homemade bread crumbs anytime and I am saving money at the same time... its a win, win! But be sure to cut off the crust before you make the sandwich... no one wants peanut butter and jelly flavored bread crumbs!

The other night I made Italian Breaded Chicken Cutlets out of the once doomed bread ends.  Everybody loved them! I let pieces of crust dry out on a pan for an hour, then put them in the processor with seasoning to make yummy - and healthy - whole grain bread crumbs. 

So I wanted to share my savvy kitchen trick and the recipe with you. Of course, you could use them in whatever calls for bread crumbs, like meatloaf, meatballs, and chicken fingers.

 Italian Breaded Chicken Cutlets:

You will need: 
1 package of skinless, boneless, chicken cutlets
Olive oil

For our homemade bread crumbs:
2 cups of whole bread crusts (that's about what I had)
1/4 cup of grated parmesan
1 tbl italian seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion salt 
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper 

Grind all together in a food processor until it is all crumbs.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan on medium high, pour crumbs on a plate and coat chicken (you can dredge for a crispier crust, by dipping in flour and egg first. However, I was trying to keep mine simple and light. ) Place chicken in pan and fry until crisp and golden, usually depends on thickness of breasts. Cutlets only take 2 to 3 minutes per side. 


Crispy Trick: Don't take out the cooked chicken and place on a plate. To keep it crispy, I use my cookie cooling rack and place a paper towel underneath to catch the drippings. It keeps it crispy on both sides! Mmmmm!

Serve with wholegrain cheese tortellini and salad.

Hope you liked my cool tip! Let me know your kitchen savvy ideas.

My home office is finally done!

Well,  it took some doing, between recovery from surgery, to having to pay for said surgery, the office is 95% done and I am soooo excited to show you the results! I only wish I was able to paint it! If I did I would choose SW Oyster Bay, it's a beautiful blue gray.

It looks warm and inviting at night, too!

Recycle, Reuse, Re-invent

I had to use all the creative juice I had to finish it because, my budget was only $250! So, I went on a hunt through the house and dug up some stuff I could re-invent.  

Lets start with storage. I had to get the stuff off the floor, I needed shelves! I found my child's  old toy cubbies in the attic and painted one in  SW Decor White. I added casters to lift it off the floor to make it easier to move. I have another one that I am going to paint and then put a table top on them for my project desk... but that's another blog!

I added baskets to contain all my samples and make it more stylish.

 

These drapes were a great find at Pottery Barn on sale for $43.99 a panel. I took them to a seamstress and had them add a coordinating fabric to the bottom to make them fit the height of the window. This is a great design trick to customize your store bought drapes.

I love up-cycling things that would normally just be thrown away

 I "up-cycled" used cans for storing all my extra paint chips and seperated them by color family.

 

Bulletin Boards

I love to display things that inspire me, so I used these boards I found in my sons closet to display inspiring photos and projects.

 I made a custom board out of a gorgeous frame I picked up at a yard sale for $5. It is solid carved wood with an old patina... I grabbed it and ran! I added a light aqua to the frame and then quickly wiped off the excess to keep the old antique look. I covered the board with Ballard Designs Arden Blue outdoor fabric. BTW, Ballard sells these type boards for $89!

 

The Accessories

Finding the decor for the office took some doing with such a limited budget, but I was able to score some pretty great accessories at a great deal!

I found these wall plaques at Target and they were peeerfect! 

 I bought the lamp at Target and I loved it so much I bought two! The picture is from HomeGoods and ties all the colors in perfectly! I added a bench and this PB burlap butterfly pillow to anchor the picture.

 The rug was another great HomeGoods find! The pop of pattern adds personality.

So that's it. I hope you got some ideas of your own! Remember, even if you don't think you have the budget to makeover a room,  just look around your house to see what you could reinvent! Don't forget to search those stores for great deals!