Best Food Tip EVER!!!

Who out there, besides me, goes to the store only once a week, but can't keep berries longer than a few days? Problem: I want berries ALL week, everyday! But I don't want to go to the store more than once a week.

I found this tip on-line a while back. (Although, I don't remember now my original source, it was somewhere on Pinterest, I think. I googled 'washing berries in vinegar' to see if it was legit, and trust me, it is!) It has seriously rocked my world! I haven't had a single berry go bad since I started doing this. Hold on to your hats, this is going to be life changing!

Okay, so berries generally go bad because of mold spores. Eww. Vinegar apparently destroys the bacteria and mold spores, so...here's what you do:

1. Make sure you have a salad/berry spinner. If you don't have one, go get one: I use mine ALL the time!

2. Go to the store and buy all the berries you want! Really!!!

These are not really all the berries I want. :)

 3. When you get home, set all of your berries out. Get a large bowl and put in 40 oz of water (I use the filtered water from my fridge) and 4 oz of white vinegar. (You can actually use any 10:1 ratio)

4. Dunk the berries in the vinegar/water mixture. Make sure you dunk them all under the water. Oh, and I PROMISE you aren't going to taste the vinegar on the berries!

5. While the berries are taking their bath. I like to quickly wash and dry the container and line it with a paper towel. To me, it seems there may be bacteria and spores there too I want to get rid of. And the paper towel is to absorb any extra moisture, which is also bad for berries.

6. Transfer them to your spinner with your hands or a slotted spoon. (If you have more berries, you can use the same water. I suggest rinsing the strawberries last, they tend to leave behind little "hairs", if you will)

7. Spin the excess water out.

8. Return berries to the container (or another container of your choice) and stick in the fridge. Forever. That is until you eat them. :)

Seriously, NO berries have gone bad in my house since I've started doing this. And SOMEHOW these blueberries (pictured below) got pushed way under the deli meat drawer and I found them THREE weeks later...we still ate them! (I gotta admit, I was going to throw them out, but my dad tested them and said they were good, so we all finished them off!)

Really, we ate these three-plus-week-old berries. Yes. Yes we did.
Hey, there was no mold and they were good! :)
(Not sure how many nutrients were retained after that long, but ya know...)

Rearrange Your Refrigerator - NOW!

Okay, so I have a good tip for everyone! STOP putting your fruits and veggies in the bottom drawers! I know that's what they are designed for, but stop!

About four months ago I read this article about refrigerator makeovers and heeded their advice. Because of this rearrangement we have really upped our fruit and veggie intake at our house, as well as almost eliminated any spoilage! Seriously, ask my husband!

Basically, Here's the gist:

On the top of my fridge, I keep juice and some dairy products

middle shelves: Veggies, fruits, and some dairy overflow.
 (I usually keep eggs here as well)

Top Drawer is for leftovers and *treats*
I use the Jellos for my homemade frappucinos once in a while

Lowest drawer for thawing meats. Genius! I put a towel down
so if any juice spills, no yucky clean up!

Yay! An awesomely organized refrigerator that we
have easy access to the healthy stuff. I have to admit,
I usually have more fruits/veggies in my fridge
but I have another blog with ideas about that coming up soon!

Spray Paint is AWESOME!!!

We are currently in the middle of renovating our kitchen. It has been a LONG and DRAWN OUT process, because we are doing much of the work ourselves. That's okay, though. I like doing things to see what I am capable of and then smiling with pride when I show it off.

A couple of things that I am especially pleased with myself about is my baker's rack transformation and my clorox wipes container. I guess it's Lysol, well, whatever's on sale...

Here are the pics:

TERRIBLE picture, sorry John, but you can see the baker's rack
slightly here in the background. (why, oh, why didn't I take a before picture?)
It was green with blonde wood. Okay for a red kitchen, but we were going to have
to get rid of it because it would have looked hideous with the new decor.

Here it is now! Oil rubbed bronze spray paint and the blonde wood got the same
paint as the cabinets are getting. I think it was a good save!
(Still working on a paint color for the wall, I think we've got it figured out now.)

So, I pretty much use these wipes ALL the time so they just sit on my counter.
Fine for the white formica, terrible with the new granite!

Add a little oil rubbed bronze spray paint and VOILA! Counter wipes designer series! :)
Seriously, how cool and simple is that? When you run out (Which I have already)
You just open up the new canister and refill it in the spray-painted one!