Top Gadgets for Your Kitchen This Year

It’s never a good sign if you feel fed up walking into your own kitchen. It doesn’t help that you feel demotivated because of the lack of appliances to help you make things interesting at mealtimes for your family.

However, if you have a bit of cash to splash, you can turn things around in your kitchen by investing in one of these new kitchen gadgets. You might be able to finally get off the instant coffee and treat yourself to a machine that uses coffee pods instead. Browse through this list to see what other kinds of gadgets you can spruce up your kitchen with.

Philips Avance Taste Infusion

For just under £100, you can buy a mini-barbecue which lets you infuse the meat you’re cooking with smoke, wine and herbs from the reservoirs built in at the back of the grill.

Put woodchips into the smoke reservoir to give the meat a smoky flavour. Then the liquid reservoir takes in wine, vegetable stock or other liquids. The centre of the grill is where you can really char your meat.

OrangeX Jupiter Juicer

This handy juicer will pulverise any fruit that you feed into it. After you’ve halved the fruit and placed it on the platform, you pound it with a pump-action lever that juices it almost instantly.

It’s great for making juice on the go as well as giving your arm an early morning workout!

Magimix Gelato Satin Steel

This ice cream maker is essential for the hot summer ahead. Best for sating spur-of-the-moment decisions to gorge on ice cream or sorbet, it whips up the dessert in a matter of 20 minutes with its own built-in freezer.

If you run out of ideas for making your own crazy flavours, you can always find a plethora of recipes online, or ice cream recipe books to go with your machine!

Onion Goggles

Say goodbye to your (onion chopping-induced) tears with these innovative pair of onion goggles which use a foam seal to prevent the onion vapours from getting in your eyes. Crying while chopping onions is a massive hassle and can really slow things down in the kitchen. However, with this pair of onion goggles, you won’t have to worry about watery, stinging eyes any more.

Kenwood ‘Fire Cracker’ kMix KMX84 Food Mixer

Apart from adding a sense of style to your kitchen, this food mixer really packs some punch – it isn’t just a pretty piece of design. It also comes armed with a full pastry kit as well as countless attachments so you can go to town with experimenting.

5 Bedroom Ideas for Newlyweds

If you’ve recently married and moved into your new home, you may be looking for some decorating ideas. When it comes to the bedroom, you might want to consider a luxurious, sensuous theme.

As a newlywed couple, you can make your bedroom your own little haven with a bit of thought and creativity. This is the perfect time to enjoy relaxing and spending time together in your bedroom before the stresses of everyday life and finances take over or you start a family. So grab the chance to enjoy quality time together as newlyweds and create the perfect bedroom space in your home.

Tips to make your bedroom into a more romantic space

 A romantic theme is perfect for a newly married couple. Here are a number of steps to take in order to transform your bedroom into the perfect romantic space.

Get rid of clutter: there is nothing romantic or sensuous about clutter, so if your bedroom has stuff all over the place that is not really needed, find a new home for it. Whether you sell or give your clutter away, find suitable storage space in the home for it, or simply get rid of it is up to you. The more space you have in your bedroom the more scope you have to turn it into a luxury space for you and your partner.

Think romantic colours: think of certain colours and combine them in your decor in order to create a wonderful romantic look. White can be a romantic colour, but only when used selectively – you don’t want to feel like you’re in a laboratory. This is why you should mix and match sensuous colours, such as white, gold and red, to create a room with depth and romance. These colours can be used for everything from the walls and curtains to lightshades and bedding.

Choose the right materials: the look, feel, and texture of certain materials can be very sensual, so put some thought into the materials that you use for your bedding and curtains. Lace, satin, silk, and velvet are among some of the more sensual and romantic fabric options, and you can mix and match these to create the perfect look and feel for your romantic haven.

Pick the perfect furniture: a few choice pieces of furniture can make or break a romantic bedroom. A huge, comfortable king size bed is a must for any newlywed’s bedroom. You might want to invest in a chaise lounge or love seat for the bedroom, which can look very effective. Also, make sure you have plenty of pillows and cushions to place around, as these help to add a feel of luxury and decadence.

Choose the right lighting: the lighting is an essential part of creating a romantic room. Of course, you need to have access to your main lighting, as there is nothing romantic about breaking things because you cannot find your way around. However, it’s still worth adding some special touches with beautiful lamps to fit in with your colour scheme, and maybe attractive main light shade or chandelier – even scented candles dotted around to add colour and fragrance.

Once you’ve created an ideal romantic den in your bedroom, you can start looking forward to spending some quality time in this luxurious and sensuous space.

How to Get Your Kids to Help with the Cleaning

It’s a topic many parents often debate, worry and complain about, but getting your children to help with daily chores around the house can become a nightmare if you’re not careful. If children have not been raised in an environment where they are expected to help, then they will become very reluctant to do so if this new responsibility is thrust upon them.

It can also be tempting to do the work yourself, as you may worry that your children will break something, hurt themselves or simply not do the job well. However, it is important to not let this become an excuse for you to be lumbered with all the housework or your children will not learn responsibility for their actions. I remember my mother entrusting me with household chores as my brother sat back and watched TV – the excuse being that he was too clumsy and would break something. As clumsy as some children may be, you will find them eager and careful participants if the following rewards are to be gained.

Pocket money

The old favourite of giving pocket money in exchange for household chores has prevailed for good reason: the majority of parents believe that children learn independence and financial responsibility through handling their own small finances. However, giving your children money in exchange for chores also teaches them about the value of doing a job well. You can set the price differently depending on the length of time you expect the job to take, and you can always raise the price for an exceedingly good job.

If your aim is to have your child clean out their room, Music Magpie is a brilliant way for your children to earn their pocket money by getting rid of old CDs, DVDs and games. They will soon learn the value of what they buy this way as well.

Special treats

If you don’t like the idea of pocket money, or if you want an extra option, rewards are always a good one. If Timmy cleans his room very well on Wednesday, then we will have a trip to the zoo on Saturday. This use of incentives teaches children how good actions can have good consequences, as well as teaching the value of a job well done.

The treat itself can be as big or small as you want it to be, so long as it is attractive to the child. Don’t make things difficult for yourself by setting an unwanted precedent; a simple reward for your child could be having a friend stay over if they help to clean their room in preparation.

Competition time

This is a great way of making sibling rivalry work in your favour. Stick a chart with your children’s names somewhere prominent (e.g. on the fridge) and give them a sticker or a star when they have completed a job well. The child with the most stars at the end of the week can choose a prize – it can be something as simple as picking their favourite dessert for Friday night or what the family movie should be. Kids love a competition, and they’ll be sure to want to impress you as well as win!

To ensure this works for as long as you want it to, gradually make it possible for everyone to win. Hand out jobs and judge how well they’ve been done in accordance with your child’s age and maturity.

If your children don’t have siblings, then a collaborative cleaning approach between parent and child often works best, with you leading the way.

Chocolate Chip Avocado Muffins (gluten-free)

My sis gave me this recipe last month (visit her at yogapeach.com)! They turned out pretty delicious, my toddlers LOVED them! The recipe is adapted from kitchen-apparel.com, but I substituted chocolate chips for the walnuts. I am not crazy about nuts in my desserts, & the chocolate chips add a lot of flavor!

Wet Ingredients
6 tablespoons avocado oil (or your choice of oil)
1 cups milk (almond milk or goats milk to keep it vegan)
1/2 cup natural cane sugar (unrefined)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 avocado peeled and mashed up (about 1/2 cup)

Dry Ingredients
2 cups all purpose gluten-free flour mix
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
vegan choco chips

Preheat oven to 350° F. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment or a large bowl with a hand mixer on a low setting, mix all the wet ingredients together until smooth. In another bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredient mix to the wet mix and using your mixer on low speed blend everything together (be careful not to over-mix, stop mixing once it is combined). Divide the batter into a lined muffin pan or a greased muffin pan with 12 spaces (I like to use a ice cream scooper to help with this part). Sprinkle on your topping of choice or leave them plain. (I topped mine with finely chopped almonds) Bake 20-25 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test. Set them to cool on the counter or cooling rack.

Valentine’s Day Heart Cutout Cupcakes

This is one of my absolute FAVORITE Valentine’s Day recipe ideas! It looks super easy and you could tint the frosting red or pink for Valentine’s day. You could also do the same cupcakes for other seasons…a shamrock cookie cutter & GREEN frosting for St Patricks Day, or a Christmas Tree cookie cutter for Christmas.

For the detailed recipe visit the oh so brilliant Glory of glorioustreats.com.

Pink Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is nothing like a super chocolate-y chocolate chip cookie! So simple & so delicious. Next time try adding some red gel food coloring. PINK cookies are definitely more fun. & wouldn’t they be super cute for your next event?

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, slightly softened
1 (17.5 oz.) pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 egg WHITES (do not use whole egg or the yolk will turn cookies orange)
red food coloring (about 12-14 drops, or until desired pink color is achieved)
1 cup baking chips (dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate or candy pieces like M&Ms)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F).
2. Cream butter and cookie mix. Add powdered sugar and flour and mix until well blended and crumbs are fine. Add egg whites and mix until well blended and mixture sticks together. Add red food coloring, several drops at a time, mixing after each addition until desired pink color is achieved and is uniform throughout the dough. Stir in chocolate pieces.
3. With a 1-1/4″ cookie scoop (or by rounded spoonful), drop cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until set but not brown. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing cookies to cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe via Quick Dish

Colorful Farfalle Pasta, Bowties

Marella Zebra Black and White Bowties(farfalle Magia Bianca) Hand Made Italian Pasta, 250-Grams Packages (Pack of 4)

rainbow bowties

Hand-Carved Serving Spoons from World Vision

I had the pleasure of working with World Vision over the holidays and they sent me these beautiful Hand-Carved Wood Serving Spoons. The spoons are made with care to benefit orphans in Kenya.

Consider buying gifts from World Vision that can really make a difference! Please check out the World Vision Gift Catalog Facebook page and check out the video below to learn how the Gift Catalog works.