Under Bed Storage

Forget monsters under the bed. They won’t have room to hide when the space beneath is neatly filled with clean storage solutions.  Despite the clearance of most beds not exceeding a foot at greatest, the area of floor space underneath is both large and oftentimes completely accessible.  Worried about dust?  Don’t be. Many storage boxes and drawer boxes have been designed specifically for under bed storage in mind.  Bed not tall enough or still in need of a little extra space?  Furniture risers built for the purpose of increasing clearance under a bed are sold cheaply to add a few extra inches of height and substantial extra space. I bought a six pack of these to store toys and seasonal clothes:

Sterilite 19608006 41 Quart/39 Liter Underbed Storage Box, Clear with White Lid, 6-Pack

List Price: $47.98

Price: $47.98

Price Disclaimer

Wall Storage

When there’s no more room on the floor, the only way to go is up. While many people default to bookcases to utilize space on walls, what of the relatively vast and unused space above other pieces of furniture such as beds or tables? Or how about above your doors and windows? This is where wall shelves and hanging cabinets come into play.  With the help of a stud finder and drywall fasteners, any part of the wall can be adapted for storage. Even better, with the help of wall shelves, you can free up space that would have otherwise been taken by large bookcases and project a clearer airier image without sacrificing storage. There’s also that wasted space above doors in all our rooms; how about making use of it with a shelf?

Pinterest: Shelf Above Door

Over The Door Storage

While most are willing to drill or nail items into their easily repairable drywall, you would be hard pressed to find those willing to permanently alter their wooden doors in the name of extra storage, even with all that vertical and easily hidden space staring them right in the face.  Luckily, hanging doesn’t always have to require nails. On the contrary, many solutions are completely damage-free.  These days there are many options for hanging over the door storage, ranging from hampers to clothes hangers and even full body length cabinets with mirrors. Or consider this spice rack you could hang in a kitchen pantry:

Door Spice Wall Mount Storage Kitchen Shelf Pantry Holder Rack Cabinet Organizer

List Price: $39.00

Price: $39.00

Price Disclaimer

Hanging Closet Storage

Closet rods aren’t just for hangers.  With the current age of space saving in full swing, there are many hanging closet solutions to choose from.  Hanging vinyl and fabric cubbies made for closets can store folded clothes, hats and shoes, freeing large amounts of hanging space.  For those that prefer to hang as opposed to fold clothes, there are hanging rod solutions to add extra space. Here’s an idea that gives you shelves without losing rack space:

Buy Whitmor Fabric Closet Organizer on Amazon

Storage Furniture

Storage doesn’t have to stop where beds and sofas begin.  When dressers and armoires have been packed to overflowing, a shocking amount of space can be found in furniture/storage hybrids.  Many beds built for sale in recent years have drawer systems and other storage built into their insides, along with ottomans and benches that serve as storage trunks when their seats are lifted.

Pinterest: Ottoman storage

There’s nothing quite as unnecessarily nerve-wracking and as claustrophobic as looking around a room packed to the brim with a mess that seems to have nowhere to go. I’ve employed all of these in our house to try to manage the clutter. Not easy with a pre-schooler! However, make use of every inch of space you have and you can enjoy a clean and functional home to its absolute fullest. Literally!

The post 5 Small Space Storage Solutions appeared first on Happy Wifey.

A few weeks ago, hubby and I decided to do a 15-day detox diet to help get our weight and unhealthy eating habits under control. We were both pleased with the results and are working to incorporate more fruits and veggies into our diets and eat less meat.

I’m not a big breakfast eater but I’ve always been a fan of muffins. Unfortunately, a lot of muffins are less healthy than eating a slice of cake.

When I stumbled across a recipe for low-calorie zucchini (courgette) muffins, I decided to tweak it a bit and this is what I came up with.

If you bake these muffins, I’d love to know what you think! Leave your comments below. 

The post Zucchini, Sun-dried Tomato, and Halloumi Cheese Muffin Recipe appeared first on Happy Wifey.

[Super important caveat: Don’t go picking mushrooms in the wild unless you are 100% sure you know what they are. Some of the deadly poison mushrooms look similar to their edible cousins so if there’s any doubt leave them alone.]

I know there are folks out there who won’t eat mushrooms other than those bland white buttons at the grocery store. If you haven’t eaten wild mushrooms like cepes or chanterelles, trust me, you owe it to yourself to taste them! I just can’t get enough of those delicious little fungi.

Last night I had my first wild mushrooms of the season. so I decided to try out a new recipe. My Wild Mushrooms in Cream recipe is adapted from one in my favourite Jamie Oliver cookbook, Jamie Oliver’s Food Escapes. It was so easy and delicious I wanted to share it with you.

Do you love wild mushrooms too? What’s your favourite way to eat them?

The post Wild Mushrooms in Cream Recipe appeared first on Happy Wifey.

I’m not entirely sure why I was afraid to try roasting a duck. I roast chickens and turkeys with great success, and I love cooking duck breast. For some reason though, the prospect of cooking the whole duck was a bit scary.

I think part of the problem was I had never even eaten duck before our trip to France. Duck isn’t a common sight on menus around these parts unless you’re at a Chinese restaurant. When we visited the farmer’s market last week though, I spotted fresh, local duck and had to buy one on the spot.

I searched the internet high and low for a good roast duck recipe. As is common for me, I ended up combining a few different recipes and coming up with my own version. (Mostly because I never have all the ingredients on hand I need to follow someone else’s recipe faithfully!)

I’ve added Amazon links to a few of the harder to find ingredients below, in case you can’t buy them at your local store:

• pomegranate molasses
• Sweet Thai Chilli Sauce
• Soy Sauce This is the best one I’ve ever tasted!
• Balsamic Vinegar Don’t use your expensive Balsamic for this recipe (but don’t use a super cheap one either!) This is a good, everyday balsamic.
• Tabasco If you can’t find this locally, I’m sorry.

If you’ve never tried roasting a whole duck before, I hope you give it a try.

The post How to Roast a Crispy Duck Recipe appeared first on Happy Wifey.

Puy lentils, lentille du Puy, (or French green lentils) come from the Le Puy region of south-central France. These small, green, peppery lentils are often called ‘poor man’s caviar’ in France. I hadn’t really eaten lentils, outside of the occasional curry, before our trip to France a few years ago. But Puy lentils have since become of favourite. They do taste better than regular green lentils and the texture is much better for salads like this one. If you can’t find them at your local grocery, these ones from Amazon are good.

If, like me, you’ve never cooked puy lentils before, don’t be intimidated. Rinse the lentils in a colander until the water runs clear.  You can cook them in stock or water with a bit of salt. Boil them for about 25-30 minutes. They should be slightly al dente. Drain off any excess water and you’re done!

Halloumi (or haloumi) was something completely new for me and I am now in love. This salty cheese is a mixture of sheep and goat milk and comes originally from Cyprus. It can be found in Greece and Middle Eastern cooking as well. The interesting thing about this cheese is that you can fry or grill it and it doesn’t lose its shape.

I have been wanting to experiment with this cheese for some time now, so when I found this recipe for puy lentils with grilled halloumi I had to give it a go.

Here’s the recipe as I cooked it (because you know I had to tweak a bit):

It’s easy and delicious and I will definitely be making this again soon! Have you cooked Puy lentils or Halloumi? Share your comments or recipes below.

The post Puy Lentil, Cherry Tomato, and Halloumi Salad appeared first on Happy Wifey.

In some places, pearl couscous is a bit hard to find but check your international and pasta sections. Of course, you can always find it on Amazon. Here are a few options:

• I’m a big fan of Red Mill’s products and they have a variety of pearl couscous options in natural, whole wheat, and tri-color.
• Another good choice is WildRoots Organic Pearl Couscous
• Or if you want to buy in bulk, try Roland Israeli Couscous

You can do so many things with pearl couscous. It’s great in soups. You can cook it a bit like risotto. It also works either hot or cold meaning it’s a great alternative to pasta salad.

I’ve made a couple of variations of this summer salad and I’m in love.  It’s so versatile you can use whatever you have on hand. You can add or switch ingredients as you see fit but here is my starting recipe.

Have fun! If you make it let me know what you put in it.

The post Pearl Couscous Salad Recipe appeared first on Happy Wifey.

I used to only buy boneless chicken breasts – expensive and wasteful.

Like a lot of you, I bought chicken breasts for a couple of reasons – I thought they were healthier and (mostly) they were easier to deal with. Living in Europe for two years changed a lot of my thoughts on food. (Ok, I actually started thinking about food and where it comes from.) One of those changes was thinking about the quality and origin of the chicken I buy. You don’t have to move to Amsterdam to have an epiphany; just do a simple test. Buy a regular battery farmed chicken and a chicken that lived outdoors and ate wild food. If you can’t taste an incredible difference, carry on. If, like me, you hadn’t realised what you’ve been missing, ask yourself, “Would I rather eat flavourful healthy meat that is more expensive less often, or cheap bland meat more often?”

Wouldn’t rather eat chickens that got to enjoy life outside? Me too.

My own answer was clear. I wanted the best tasting and healthiest meat for my family. We’re not rich though, so eating quality meat means making some compromises. Simply put, we eat less meat but make the most of it when we do. I also found the perfect cost-saving way to eat chicken. Instead of buying pre-cut pieces of chicken: breasts, legs, whatever, I’ve been buying whole organic chickens and butchering them myself. When I’ve cut all the chicken I need from the bones, I then make my own chicken stock from the carcass.

Too time-consuming and Martha Stewart-ish you say? I thought so too until a chef friend showed me his secret. Once you know what you’re doing, you can get the whole thing done in about twenty minutes (except for simmering the stock).

How to Butcher Your Chicken

Instead of roasting your whole chicken, butcher it for multiple meals

1. First I remove the chicken thighs and put them in a freezer bag so we can eat them as part of a meal later.
2. Then I carefully carve off the breasts which I also freeze separately. If you prefer skinless chicken, you can remove this now. I normally leave it on so it gives me more options later. (Also the skin IS the best part, amIright?)
3. Next, I cut off the wings and put those in a freezer bag. I save these and keep adding wings to the bag as I carve up chickens so we can have a big hot wing feast. Mmmm wings.
4. Then I remove and throw away any extra skin and fat from the carcass and cut it in half. I brown it in a pot with some olive oil.

Now for the Martha-esq (but very economical) part – I use a lot of soup stock when I cook. I make sauces, soups, and risottos that require stock as a base. I detest those little salt laden stock cubes so I used to buy jars of soup stock at the grocery store. They were pretty expensive. Now, instead, I make my own.

How to Make Soup Stock

It all starts with vegetable peelings. (Use this tip to make great veggie stock too!

1. Whenever I cut up veggies, like carrots, leeks, parsnip etc, I make sure I clean the vegetables well before I peel them. Then I toss all the pealings and other waste in a ziplock and throw them in the freezer. If I have some celery or parsley in the fridge which is beginning to wilt (but have not spoiled yet) I also throw these in the ziplock.
2. When I’m ready to make stock, all I have to do is toss some of the frozen vegetable bits in the pot with the browned chicken carcass and fill the pot with water. I add some salt, pepper, and any spices I want and leave it to simmer on low for 3-5 hours. When it’s done, I just strain out all the solids and throw them in the compost.
3. Bonus tip – I also pick any leftover chicken bits from the carcass and use it in soup or pasta.
4. I can store the stock in the fridge for about a week or freeze it and use it when I need it. It’s so easy I don’t know why I was so intimidated to do it before.

Beautiful homemade chicken stock!

The best part is I normally paid around 5-7$ for a couple of chicken breasts or thighs. I paid around 3-4$ for 400ml of stock. Now I’m spending around 10-12$ for a whole chicken and getting: 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 breasts and about 1.5L of stock. Oh, and my family gets to enjoy tasty nutritious meat that’s been ethically raised – while we save money!

The post How to Make Chicken Stock (or Any Soup Stock) from Scratch appeared first on Happy Wifey.