Rev-a-Shelf cabinet organizers

I've been seeing a lot of kitchen and shelf organizers on Pinterest and knew I wanted to start this kitchen off right. After doing some research, I found that most units were made by Rev-a-Shelf and they were in the $250 range. Not wanting to pay that price, but insisting I have some kind of organization, I tracked them down to a few other online retailers, the cheapest being Lowes. At $130 each, these were a bit of an investment, but one I was happy to make, and will pay off in the long run. 

Most of our bottom cabinets were really, really deep, which made getting things in and out pretty difficult. Also, the only shelf was a little 10" guy way in the back. Not the most practical, and didn't allow for great use of space. We'll call this the "before" picture. 

Enter: 1 handy husband. Oh, and some tools. Can't forget the tools.

The first cabinet tackled was one in the island. I thought it'd be perfect for baking items, since I'd likely spread everything out on the island and make a big mess, there.

This one required re-routing of an outlet box for the wine fridge, but I'm happy with the final results! Both wire racks slide out and allow for full reach of items. Johnny was able to position the top rack tall enough that the bottom, tall items (like jugs of oil and vinegar) even fit!

The next shelf required Johnny to remove the center divider. He's going to attach it to one of the cabinet doors, so that one will close first and you'll never know the difference!

This one is probably my favorite, because it easily holds all of our pots, pans, and their lids. No stacking, or loud clanking around the find the one you need.

The bottom slides out and has dividers that adjust to hold each pot in place. I especially like this feature, because it makes it easy to see all the sizes, grab the one you need, and place them back neatly after washing.

 

The top has tilted hooks that allow each lid to sit at an angle, so they aren't too tall and still allow the unit to close easily.

Rev-a-shelf makes a gazillion and one other organizing pieces for the kitchen and bathroom that I might want down the road. But for now, these two were the most important for our kitchen organization. It allows me to make the best use out of the two cabinets that receive the most use and need to fit a lot of items.

The units are really high quality metal, and the engineering of how they fit together and are supported in the cabinet is impressive. Little details like the dividers and ball bearing glides let you know these are quality pieces, worth the investment.

(Even though this is a product review and endorsement, it's based solely on my personal opinion and experience with the product, which I bought with my own money. Rev-a-Shelf or Lowes has no clue who I am, or that I bought their products.)

Chocolate Coconut Pie

A Martha Stewart recipe, found via Pinterest.

Source

I pinned it because: coconut. chocolate. 4 ingredients. Need I say more?

1 stick of butter, softened
11 oz. bag shredded, sweetened coconut
8 oz. heavy cream
8 oz. dark chocolate

In a food processor, blend together the butter and half of the coconut, until it forms a ball. Scrape down the edges and pulse in the remaining coconut. Turn out into a 9" pie plate, and press to form a crust. (I found a wide, flat bottomed glass helped with this step.) Cover the edges with foil and bake in a 350° oven for approximately 15 minutes, until the center begins to brown. Remove the foil and bake about 5 more minutes.

Over medium heat, bring the cream up to heat, just below a boil. Pour into a heat-proof bowl, over the dark chocolate. (The recipe recommended 61% cocoa, I used 70%.) Let sit for 10 minutes, then carefully whisk until smooth.

Pour the ganache into the crust and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, up to 24 hours before serving.


My pictures aren't that lovely because my plastic wrap fell onto the ganache. Also, the crust was a little hard to get out in one piece.

The crust was delicious, you could definitely eat it on its own. My mom said it was like a coconut macaroon. The chocolate ganache was so creamy and silky, it was heavenly to eat. 

We served with a healthy dollop of the remaining heavy cream, whipped. Go big or go home, right? 


Disclaimer: not diet friendly at all. I entered it in My Fitness Pal while making, and the stats are: 578 calories and 48g of fat per slice, when cut into 8 pieces.

New Kitchen!

Sorry this is so late, I'd wanted to show you guys the new Dinner at Christina's kitchen for a few weeks now! But the truth is, it wasn't in any shape to show off!

Little by little we brought in kitchen boxes from the garage, unloaded them, and started the long process of dozens of dishwasher loads to get everything clean. It had all been in storage for 10 months, so I wanted everything washed and shiny before I put it in my new cabinets. My mom even came over and hand-washed a bunch of stuff on her lunch break a couple days.

 

There's still a few random things that I need to find places for- but here's our biggest counter, mostly cleaned off and dishes in the cabinets! 

The center of the kitchen has a huge, huge island. I used to not be a fan of islands, but the island in our old kitchen held the stove top and also had room for stools. I've gotten used to it as a center, social part of a kitchen, so I like that our new kitchen has one too. 

One of my favorite parts of the kitchen is in the island. It has a built in wine fridge. Johnny and I have been debating getting a stand-alone wine fridge for a few years, so it's cool that the decision was already made for us! 

There's the usual fridge, stove, microwave. All in close, easy reach of each other. 

A different angle, same view. To the left of the fridge is the living room. The kitchen and living room are open into each other, like so:

And in that little bay window area is where we have a table for in-kitchen dining. (Right now it's our only table, since the people that bought our Illinois house wanted our dining room set.)

It's a cute little Ikea table and chair set my mom got for us, gently used from a friend for $50. It's normally round, but for this photo we have it extended.

And there you finally have it! The new Dinner at Christina's kitchen where I'll be making, eating, and photographing the food I share from here on out!

Splendid Isolation

Just a proud big sister bragging that Michael has started a blog to share the adventures and overhaul of his home, a 28' sailboat.

He's lived on his boat, Splendid Isolation, for over a year now, with his girlfriend, Claire and their ship cat, Piña.

It's a really cute, funny blog of their life, the work they're doing on the boat, and he also takes and shares great pictures!


There aren't many posts yet, but stop by and tell him Christina sent you :) It's a fun read, I promise!

My Wedding Shoes

Yes, shoes, as in plural.

First, I had these glorious heels. They came from David's Bridal, like my dress. I wore them for all the bridal photos, walking down the aisle, the cocktail hour, and most formal photos.

At the last minute I decided to do the little "I Do" trend at the bottom for some photo ops. I went with bright purple gems, to match my bright purple toenails. The gems were actually strung together, I found them in Wal*Mart's ribbon section, sold by the yard. I asked the girl for 6", so it turned out to be some ridiculous amount like .18¢ and they were a breeze to hot glue on. 

This is me, getting to put the shoes on, as the finishing touch of "getting ready." In case you couldn't tell by my face that I was thrilled, I'm actually squealing in delight. (Sidenote: Johnny's mom chose this photo to be in their parents' album. I love that!)

Before any of the dancing started, I knew I wanted to slip into something comfortable. Since it was a winter wedding, I didn't want to go with the traditional "white flip flops." Besides, why would I wear any other color shoe besides bright green?!

I custom ordered these bad boys from Van's. They cost more than my heels, but I love them and I wear them all the time now that the wedding has passed. Most comfortable shoes I own, as a matter of fact. (Sidenote: I switched to this Target $5 headband once I took off my lengthy veil.)

I cannot tell you how glorious it felt to sit down and kick off the heels and put on these shoes! Brides that wear heels for their entire wedding day definitely deserve an official award ceremony and recognition.

This is my aunt asking me to lift up my dress to show off my shoes. Apparently my grandfather needed visual proof that I, indeed, had bright green sneakers on under my wedding dress.


The Vans even made it into some of our "official" wedding shots.

My Wedding Dress & Veil

Let's do some wedding posts, shall we? It is, after all, the biggest thing that has happened in my life thus far, and the planning and execution of (among other things) is what kept me from the blog for so long!

This is a model in my dress. She clearly didn't rock it to it's full abilities, so I had to show her how it's done.

Consider it rocked, random model. It was an Oleg Cassini and I got it at David's Bridal. Believe it or not, that's off the rack. I was really, really pleased that I didn't have to spend any money on alterations. I was going for the "cheap-as-possible-free-is-even-better-budget" while planning.

The only thing I did to the dress was add beaded straps for $18 because I didn't want to pull my dress up all night (huge pet peeve). Great investment because I felt secure all day and I danced my tush off all night.

Wedding day started with some pictures of the dress, solo:

 

Then it was time for me to get in the dress. This is my cousin, Anne-Marie (aka my Maid of Honor) zipping me up!

After some photos, I realized we had a big static problem. Nothing a little static guard couldn't fix! Thanks for the favor, Anne (I owe ya one)!

Since my dress didn't have a train, I knew I wanted a cathedral length veil to drag behind me. Have you seen the prices on those suckers, though? David's Bridal wanted like $200. For tulle? Not gonna happen.

I found mine on Amazon for $29, even splurged a few more dollars for the fancy, beaded edge to match my $18 beaded spaghetti straps.

This is my brother's girlfriend, Claire, placing the veil ever so lovingly on my head. Claire is a cosmetologist and she did my hair and makeup for the big day. She rocks. I love her, and I love that she played such a huge part in my wedding day and will forever be in the "getting ready" photos with me.

Here's a good "showing off the veil" shot.

And one of us, at the altar fireplace, with the full attire in all its glory.

All professional photos were taken by Alex Kaplan.

Stamp Out Hunger!

It's that time of year again! The past two years I've reminded my readers about the National Association of Letter Carrier's fundraising effort to provide local food banks with food.

This year's pick up is on Saturday, May 12th. Just fill a bag or box with non-perishable food (no glass containers, and no expired food please!) and leave it out by your mailbox. When your mail is delivered, the food will be collected for families in need. Simple, easy, and almost zero effort required!

Just a few facts from their website:

• This is Stamp Out Hunger's 20th anniversary!
• It is the nation's largest single-day food drive. 
• 2011 marked 8 consecutive years that over 70 million pounds of food were collected each year.
• 1 in 8 Americans is currently being served food via Feeding America efforts. 
• As of 2011, 49 million Americans are facing hunger, including 16 million children. 

I really love food. All of us in the food blogging community do. I think hunger is a great charity for our community to back. Every day we create and share healthy, filling meals, and it's easy to take that for granted. It's horrible to think that there are families out there that are unable to do the same. 

Go to your pantries and find an extra box of pasta, an extra carton of oatmeal, a bag of rice, a bottle of salad dressing, or a can of mixed veggies. Any effort will help, no matter how small!