by kathilipp | May 10, 2012 | Home, The "What's for dinner?" Project |
When companies ask me to try out their products for review, 99 times out of 100, I politely decline and get back to the fascinating stuff I post on this blog about cleaning out your purse and leaving Post-it’s on your bathroom mirror for your hubby.
But this time, it was personal…
You see, I gave up on stainless steel cookware a long time ago. Because in my experience, while it didn’t stain, it did stick. And there is nothing worse than lovingly cooking an egg white omelet and having the finished product stick to the pan. (OK, maybe gout is worse than a sticky omelet, but you get my point.) And since we are trying to cut back on our cholesterol (Doctor’s recommendation) and lowering our food bill be 15% this year, every egg white counts.
So my friends and I are divided into two camps, Stainless Steel vs. Non-stick. And I swore I would never buy stainless steel again. But I have friends who gently persuaded me (IE: mocked me mercilessly) to give it another try. They were convinced that the pans I used before were cheap and ineffective. (Hey, my stuff has been called worse.)
So All Clad sent me a fry pan in exchange for my honest review. And I was ready to give it to them, both eggbeaters a-blazzing….
But I have to say – this pan ROCKS. My eggs don’t stick. Huzzah. And the best thing is that everything cooks so evenly. My chicken didn’t dry out on the ends and stay raw in the middle. Which of course, would never happen to me. (Let’s just say I’ve been known to sneak back to the kitchen to re-cook a piece of chicken that was so pink I could’ve slapped a Hello Kitty sticker on it and sold it to a seven year-old.)
In my book, The What’s for Dinner Project, I talk about building up your kitchen equipment to the best you can afford. Let me tell you, these pans are now on that wish list!
Oh, and I have a gift for you as well. This Chicken Marsala recipe is the best I’ve ever tasted. Easy to make (or for Mother’s Day, may I suggest you have the recipe and ingredients lying around for someone else to make?)
Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – pounded 1/4 inch thick
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
3/4 cup Marsala wine
Fresh Parsley to garnish
Directions
In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano.
Coat chicken pieces in flour mixture.
In a large skillet, melt butter in oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the pan, and lightly brown. Turn over chicken pieces, and add mushrooms and onions. Pour in wine. Simmer chicken 10 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink and juices run clear.
Garnish.
by kathilipp | Apr 30, 2012 | Home, The Get Organized Project |
Yes- I do believe I can help you get organized. (I mean, if I can organize cats, what can’t I tackle?)
I have been one of those women who has lived with the frustration of not knowing where my keys are, not being able to put my hand on important paper, running errands at the last minute for items that I knew I needed weeks ago, all because I’d resigned myself to the fact that I just wasn’t organized.
Have you been there?
If you are like me, then you’ve bought ever orgainzation book on the shelves of Barnes and Noble, or on the screen of Amazon, looking for a solution. But let me tell you why they haven’t worked.
They were written by organized people.
They were not written for you.
An organized person would never tell you how to clean out your purse by dumping it all into a bag but I do, because you, like me, want fast and instant and impressive results.
So if you’re willing to take a chance that I know what I’m talking about (and let me assure you, my stress level has gone down dramatically since I’ve learned the secrets to being organized when you are naturally unorganized) I have an offer for you!
Buy my two latest books THE GET YOURSELF ORGANIZED PROJECT and THE WHAT’S FOR DINNER SOLUTION (because we know the only thing more stressful than not knowing where your keys are is not knowing what’s for dinner…) for the majorly discounted price of $19.99 (plus S&H) and I will include the adorable MY HUSBAND IS A HOTTIE bag for free.
This offer is just to kick off the book release and is good until May 15th.
by kathilipp | Apr 24, 2012 | Home |
In honor of my new book, THE GET YOURSELF ORGANIZED PROJECT, I want to help you get your life together, and I want to start with your handbag…
I’ve always known the truth: the bigger your purse, the smaller your butt looks.
But with a large purse come the ability to fill it to the tippy top with a back breaking amount of “stuff”.
I knew I had issues when I casually mentioned to Roger, “I wish they had purses with wheels on them.” His reply, “They do. They’re called suitcases – and you have a problem.”
I would love for you to have the feeling that wherever you go, you are not weighed down by “stuff”.
Here’s my super-speedy way of cleaning out my bag. I simply take my purse and dump it out into a plastic grocery bag. I sort the dump into Put Away, Put Back, and (in this case) Throw Away.
Put Away
Anything I want to keep that doesn’t belong in my purse gets put away. This is also when I go through receipts I’ve carefully placed in my wallet (or, more likely, the ones I’ve quickly thrown into my purse…) and random notes or other pieces of paper. If you’re away from home while you’re sorting, just put these items into another bag to put away when you get home. And when you get home, put them away in the right spot.
Put Back
If it belongs in your purse, go ahead and put it back into your purse.
Throw Away
Anything that’s left over in your plastic grocery bag (food wrappers, cash receipts you don’t care about, and so on,) is now garbage that gets recycled or thrown away.
The beauty of the grocery-bag organizing system is that you can do it anywhere, anytime. Just grab a grocery bag and start sorting while you’re waiting for your kids to get out of band practice or while you’re on the phone with your mom.
Clean it Up
Give your purse a good shake and get out any stray bits, crumbs etc. I’ve even used a hand held vacuum to really get the bag clean.
Label It and Put It Away
Assign a spot for everything that belongs in your purse, bag, or backpack. I use three zippered pouches. Everything goes into one of those three pouches or into your wallet (or in rare cases, onto your key chain). The fewer items you place in your purse, the easier it is to know what’s in there.
Wallet. I recommend you keep in your wallet only cash, receipts, checkbook, and credit, debit, and gift cards.
Pouch 1: Makeup bag
- Lipstick and gloss
- Eyeliner
- Powder
- Sunscreen stick
- Blush and brush
- Eyeglass cleaner wipes
- Hand sanitizer
Pouch 2: Emergency kit
- Fashion tape
- $20
- Needle and thread
- Nail glue
- Advil
- Couple of adhesive bandages
Pouch 3: Change
Other Things to Keep in Your Bag
- Sunglasses case
- Cell phone
- Keys
Keep It Up
If I sort through the items in my purse once a week, it really is easy to stay on top of it. It takes only a couple of minutes to keep it up.
Do you have to do it exactly like this? No. I just want you to have a clean purse that is functional and doesn’t give you a hernia. So tell me here in the comments that you cleaned out your purse by May 18th (and I’d love to hear what the strangest thing you found in there was!), and here is what you could win: 
One winner will receive this beautiful Vera Bradley tote on the left filled with Kathi’s entire collection of books
And FIVE winners will receive my FAVORITE tote ever: The “My Husband is a Hottie” bad filled with all of my books!
by kathilipp | Apr 3, 2012 | Home |
I’ve heard it several times on cooking shows: “The true test of a chef is this: How well can you roast a chicken?”
Well move over Thomas Kellar.
I have been tinkering with my roast chicken recipe and I have one that makes Roger weep with joy when he walks through the front door (OK – joy, or possibly the eight cloves of garlic I use..)
To make your house smell as great as mine, follow these simple instructions.
(And be sure to go to my Facebook Author Page t get the Ultimate Guide to Leftover Chicken so you don’t have to cook the next night!)
Roasted Garlic-y Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 (3 pound) whole chicken, giblets removed, rinsed
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 1/4 cup butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Put salt and pepper, half the butter, and the eight cloves (cut in half) in the cavity of the chicken.
Place chicken in a roasting pan that has been sprayed with olive oil.
Cut up the rest of the butter and place it on top on the chicken, and put salt and pepper on the skin of the chicken to taste.
Bake uncovered for 75 minutes in the preheated oven to an internal temperature of 180. Remove from over and paste with the drippings. Cover with foil and rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Serve with mashed golden potatoes and a spinach salad.
Beyond Yummy…
by kathilipp | Mar 22, 2012 | Home, The "What's for dinner?" Project |
So as I’m writing this, Roger and I are driving over the Grapevine in So. California with snow coming at us sideways.
Naturally, my attention turns to gardening…
Actually, now is a great time to start planning and thinking about a garden. This is prime planting season for many of us (when it’s not snowing…) Let’s seize the opportunity together and eat healthier. It is more rewarding to eat the salad you grew yourself than from your favorite café. (Or let’s e honest – drive-thru. Where you intend to get a salad, but a salad doesn’t come with fries, so…)
Thanks to the internet there is loads of help for all of us. Mother Earth News is a great place to start o matter where you live in the US.
Here you will select the region you live in to find out what to plant and when. Everything has a particular time and season that it will produce great fruit.
This reminds me of one of my favorite Bible passages Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
There is just something so special about eating with the seasons. So check out their growing guide and start your planning (and dreaming…) Find out what works in your area, compare that to what your family loves, and go from there.
We always do a variety of tomatoes, peppers, green onions, and a ton of herbs. We call it our salsa garden (which can also be called a bruchetta garden,) and we eat from it for months.
Also, seed packets you purchase usually have the right time to plant for your region. You can also just start with buds you pick up from your local gardening center or health food store. The process is already started for you and you just need to transplant to its permanent home. It will take a few steps out of the process for you.
So are you a gardener? A wanna be gardener? How many are going to start this year for the first time? If you are an experienced gardener, tell me your advice, tips and tricks and what you plan to grow. Do what gardeners do – share your wisdom. Over the next several weeks, I will be sharing out gardening plans,container gardening tips, and watering plans.
by kathilipp | Mar 18, 2012 | Home, The "What's for dinner?" Project |
Hey friends – let me help you out by being a cautionary tale…
Last week Roger and I were out of town at a conference. As you know, I plan my meals in advance, but we got home on Monday and I didn’t feel like going to the store, so I figured, “Hey, it won’t kill us to eat out one night…” Well one night turned into four. All because I didn’t feel like going to the store.
Why didn’t I want to go to the store? Because although I made the meal plan, I didn’t make my shopping list. That’s where the plan went horribly wrong.
So, in order to save those hours, (and dollars) do two things:
1. Make your meal plan (and share it here so you have some good peer pressure…)
Here is mine if you need a little inspiration:
Monday – Whole Roasted Chicken, Baked Potatoes, Roasted Vegetables
Tuesday – Chili, Salad, Corn Bread
Wednesday – Steak, Veggie and Brown Rice Bowls
Thursday -Whole Wheat and Brown Rice Bean and Chicken Burritos
Friday – Whole Wheat Pita Pizzas
Saturday – Every Man For Himself
Sunday – Chicken and Veggie Soup with Brown Bread
So tell us what you are having. But then, make your list. Make it right now before you move on to the rest of your life.
You will have the accountability of a whole tribe of women who are trying to get dinner on the table, and then a plan to get your food into the house so you will have peace each and every day at 4:00.
So what are you having for dinner?
In my book, The What’s for Dinner Project, I talk about building up your kitchen equipment to the best you can afford. Let me tell you, these pans are now on that wish list!
