When I blog I like to think of things that might be unique to me that I can share with you to make your life better. I have 3 kitchen hacks that will make your life prettier and easier, so let’s dive right in!
Why I use cloth napkins (and think you should too :))- when I was on my super tight budget, I was noticing that I was always buying paper napkins. I would put them out for every dinner and then throw them away every night. I thought “this is so expensive and wasteful!” So, I bought some cloth napkins. My husband thought they were weird at first (you know wiping your face on something, washing it, and then repeat), but he got over it and now we always have cloth napkins at our table. Here’s why I love them- they are economical, they are good for the environment, and they look pretty! I bought my napkins at Down East Home- they always have some and usually for a great deal! I have recently bought some cloth napkins from this seller on eBay (no longer available) for $2 a napkin in fun colors.
Why using a butter dish is the best thing that happened to me– I grew up eating margarine- easily spreadable, buy in a tub margarine. When I got married, I did some research on both of them and decided that for my family, butter was a better fit. Plus, butter is so, so delicious! I mean, you add a little butter to anything and it is ten times better! The problem was, it got so hard in the fridge, it’s a pain to use. I went to my grandparents for lunch one day, and they had their butter in a dish. I asked my grandma about it and she said, if you use it in a few days it won’t go rancid (more research here). She keeps her butter dish in her cupboard and pulls it out for meals. I happened to already own a small butter dish (it only holds half a stick) from Anthropologie and tried it out. I love it! I always is soft and ready to use. It’s convenient and in the 3-4 months that I have been trying this I have never had the butter go rancid. If you are nervous about using a butter dish, you could use a French-style butter crock* that keeps it soft, but also holds cold water so it is like it’s in the fridge.
My favorite chocolate chip recipe! Ever!-
So, I made chocolate chip cookies for national homemade cookie day, and they turned out so good! This is a recipe I have that me sister gave me that always turns out perfectly. I’ve tweaked a few things (listed below), but I seriously love this recipe because it is fast to make and is such a crowd pleaser (they get gobbled up wherever I take them). They are crazy soft in the middle with a little crunch on the outside. Warning, you’ll want to eat them all in one sitting (only me? Haha :)) So here is the recipe:
Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 Cup Crisco
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup White Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
2 Cups Chocolate Chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix Crisco, brown sugar, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until blended. Add flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until blended. The dough will be stiff. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 8 minutes. Makes 3-4 dozen (depending on how big you make the cookies)
Other tips-
- These cookies are THE BEST when the dough has been in the fridge. What I do is make the dough and then put in one dozen in the oven (because I have no self control). I then put the rest of the dough in the fridge in a tupperware and make cookies whenever I feel like it.
- My oven cooks unevenly (so annoying!) so I cook them 4 minutes and the rotate the cookie sheet 180 degrees so that both sides are cooked evenly. I then cook them 4 minutes more and take the sheet out. You don’t want to over cook them so they don’t get hard
- These are best eaten in a few days or they get hard. That’s why I usually make 1 dozen at a time.
Bon appetite! And let me know if you try any of these out!
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