Kitchen Chaos

So did you guess what this is? Well here is another hint: Did you figure it out? How about this: It is a recipe box that I worked up from a basic wooden box that I picked up at Hobby Lobby (here is a set of 3 and the one I used is the middle one ). I found a piece of wood to go in the middle and with some glue and craft sticks I fixed a divider. Sorry, no pictures of the process because I am a bad blogger. I then painted it black, but not just any black. No, I used chalk board paint (which was the most expensive part of the project). Since I used chalk board paint, I can let the kids decorate my box and then it can be wiped off later. I can also write on the inside, maybe a recipe I want to look for or try. Or something to add to the shopping list. Or the plan for a big dinner, like Thanksgiving dinner. With the extra room, I can keep the family recipes that we can't eat but have been written by family members. I have room to add other things, like a list of...

Hubby thinks it is too big but I have gotten it almost halfway filled up. I wasn't planning on it being this large but I am able to do more with it. I'll explain more later but first, try to guess what it is.

I have a friend who has a new sister-in-law who is gluten-free and so Kristen was hoping to make her delicious gluten-free dinner rolls for Thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately, I have no recipe to give her, I haven't been baking since February and I hadn't build up any go-to recipes prior to that. Then I started thinking how I would much rather have a sandwich bread for left overs than a dinner roll - then again dinner rolls have never really been my thing. Then I started thinking about what would make me feel really welcome at Thanksgiving and I came up with this list: a new unopened jar of peanut butter a separate stick of butter or tub of butter spread a new jar of mayo or Miracle Whip a loaf or two of sandwich bread and a plan to heat it up some gluten-free canned soup for a snack or in case I don't feel the meal is safe being included in during the cooking plans, I may be able to tell you a simple thing to do to make the dish gluten free showing a willingness...

Since I grew up in West Texas and my grandparents lived in New Mexico I grew up hearing about posole. It held a fascination for me because it was said to have pigs feet in it. Not that I wanted to try it! In fact with there being a possibility that it might contain pigs feet, I had no interest in tasting it. Ever. I am not very picky but I draw the line at cole slaw and pigs feet. Ewww. Tonight I made a variation of Posole (poe-soe-lay) and my family loved it. I didn't tell them about the pigs feet though. Not that I used pigs feet. Ewww. So here is what I did: I had a rack of pork ribs that I had gotten on quick sale and then sat in the freezer for a few months because I couldn't figure out what to do with them. I took them out and put them in the crockpot and decided I would do soup. Isn't that what ribs say to you? In retrospect, I should have trimmed some of the fat off but I didn't. They cooked a few hours until the meat was falling off the bone and ...