Kitchen Tips Tuesday- It's all about the flavor!

Thanks Carmen for today's tips!

As busy moms, we are always looking for quick tips to enhance flavor or help our food last longer. One of our MH mamas, Carmen, provided some great tips!

One of my favorite cooking tips is to substitute your favorite coffee creamer for the milk in a french toast recipe. Or if you don't want it so strong, do half flavored coffee creamer and half milk. My favorites are Amaretto, Pumpkin Spice, and Vanilla Caramel. Also, Walmart makes a really dense 9 grain bread that I love to use. If not, I like buying the Texas Toast bread for french toast.

Or, if you're wanting to make goodies last longer, try this tip! If you want to keep your cookies soft, throw in a piece of bread or a slice of apple in with them when you pack them. When you reopen it, the bread will be hard (the cookies sucked up the moisture) but your cookies will be soft. Feel free to throw the piece of bread out and replace with a new one.


What kitchen tips help you stay sane while taking care of your family? Tell us at www.mothershideaway.com!

Thank you to Tammy's Recipes for hosting Kitchen Tips Tuesday!

Kitchen Tips Tuesday- Keeping it juicy in the crockpot!

With fall underway, the crockpot is in use now more than ever! A great meal that requires little effort is Pineapple Ham in the crockpot. I pick out a precooked ham at the grocery store that will fit in the crockpot. Then, I use a large can of Pineapple Juice. I pour half the can of juice in, then the ham, then a can of crushed pineapple, finishing with the remaining pineapple juice. Set the crockpot on low for about five or six hours, and you have a delicious pineapple-flavored ham. Mashed potatoes are a great side item, or try some macaroni and cheese for a quick alternative. The tip to getting the ham juicy and full of pineapple flavor is to take a knife and make half-slices around the ham- just enough to let the juices soak in. The result is ham that is juicy and full of flavor, instead of dried out meat. Enjoy!


What kitchen tips help you stay sane while taking care of your family? Tell us at www.mothershideaway.com!

Thank you to Tammy's Recipes for hosting Kitchen Tips Tuesday!

Tackle it Tuesday: Sandy's Basement Renovation!

Thanks MamaSandy for today's blog!

We're always doing some type of home improvement project at our house. Here are some pictures of the latest projects.

Kevin is putting a small powder room in the lower level and with that project he's also tiling and trimming out the hallway.

The tile is layed, grouted and sealed. He's working on staining and polyeutethaning the woodwork. Thank goodness he's so handy.

Here's the powder room which still has a long way to go but it's coming along

Here is the family room in the process of moving furniture and getting the concrete under the carpeting sealed

Here is the area that is going to be carpeted the evening before the carpet layers came. It's DISASTER but ready for them to "git'r done"

And TA DA, with the new carpeting (but before I had vacuumed the carpeting)

What projects are you tackling? We'd like to hear about it at www.mothershideaway.com!

Thank you to 5 Minutes for Mom for hosting Tackle it Tuesday!

Motivating Monday- Trying to Conceive

Thanks Jojo for today's blog!

How do you stay motivated when trying to conceive? What kept me motivated was the end result. I knew that whatever hurdles we had to go through was worth it because in the end we'd have our beautiful baby. Determination was also a big key factor in our TTC journey. I was determined to have a family. I wanted us to be a family more than anything and I wasn't going to let anyone or anything stop me.

I know this sounds like I'm some kind of psycho but the strong urge to be a mommy is one of the most strongest/purest things I have ever felt. Nothing stopped me. Not the terrible results of my husbands first SA not the month after month of failure. Nothing. Now that I think about it a year TTC isn't long at all but in that moment it felt like an eternity that was never going to end.



But it was worth it.



Tell us about your trying to conceive journey at www.mothershideaway.com!

Thanks to Garibay Soup for hosting Motivating Monday!