Homestead Haven Beginnings

In the kitchen...

1. How many meals does most of your family eat at home each week?

  Every meal is at home for the kiddos and I, DH eats dinner at home and sometimes will grab convenient food for lunch.  He's not a sack lunch kind of guy.
2. How many cookbooks do you own?

    I love cookbooks, and have a ton, but I rarely use them.

 3. When you cook, do you follow the recipe pretty closely, or do you use recipes primarily to give you ideas?

      I just keep adding until it tastes good!
4. What's your favorite kitchen task related to meal planning and preparation? (eating the finished product does not count)

       I love making the grocery list, and setting the table with all the food!
5. Do you plan menus before you shop?

       Always!

6. What are your three favorite kitchen tools or appliances?

Crocpot, my pampered chef stoneware and I love small gadgets.  I have a pampered chef mini scoop that I use to make little fruit balls, I love it!!

7. If you could buy one new thing for your kitchen, money was no object, and space not an issue, what would you most like to have?

   A professional kitchen aid mixer, I think it is on my birthday list from DH...ssshhh...I'm not supposed to know!

8. Since money and space probably are objects, what are you most likely to buy next?

    Anything pampered chef, or tupperware.  I love them both!
9. Do you have a separate freezer for storage?

    Nope, but we do need one.  It costs so much to run them in the summer here in Bakersfield.  We need to look into the energy efficient ones.
10. Grocery shop alone or with others?

    Sigh... I go with all four kiddos in tow!  However, we established a list of rules that they are to recite before we go in.  This has helped very much, and now that they are getting a bit older, they are becoming more helpful.

 11. How many meatless main dish meals do you fix in a week?

      Almost every dinner has meat, we are meat eaters, but I try to thin it out with other ingredients, because it can get expensive.  Breakfast and lunch are usually 1 or 2 with meat a week.

12. If you have a decorating theme in your kitchen, what is it? Favorite kitchen colors?

    My kitchen theme right now is just old fashioned.  I have lots of roosters, the old tin flour and sugar canisters, wooden bread box etc.  The colors are mustard yellow, barnyard red and a few other colors.  There is a lot of chipped paint and distressed items to add to the theme.

13. What's the first thing you ever learned to cook, and how old were you?
    The first meal I learned to cook all by myself was tuna casserole, and I am still making it to this day!