Crispy Sweet & Sour Chicken and Potatoes

It's been some time since I shared a yummy recipe with you, so here's an American spin on the typical sweet and sour chicken.

Ingredients:
8 chicken quarters
3 cans of potatoes (or equivalent)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Corn flake crumbs
Spices - salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika
1 cup soy sauce
2 cups duck sauce
1 cup brown sugar

Directions:

1. Cube potatoes and layer on the bottom of a 9x13 pan

2. Put mayo in one bowl and corn flake crumbs and spices in the other.

3. Dredge chicken in mayo and then crumbs and place over potatoes. Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 350, uncovered.

4. Make a mixture of soy sauce, duck sauce and brown sugar and mix until well combined.

5. Pour over chicken and bake for another 1/2 hour.

 6. Enjoy the crunchy and saucy flavors. Yum!

DIY Area - Reveal!

When I last left off, I shared the current state of my work area with you. It was not a pretty sight! This space is in the basement in an unfinished area, as you can see the exposed duct work in the ceiling. The previous owners had hung peg board and a few shelves here so I happily claimed this area as "my" space! The space has good bones and you can probably tell that I've attempted to organize and use the space to its fullest, but unfortunately it had turned into a dumping ground.

 All it took was a few hours of cleaning, organizing and purging and I was left with this:

Total spent: $0 - my favorite kind of project! I used only supplies that I already had which worked out perfectly. The storage containers I had on hand and the chalkboard labels came from a project that I just completed and hope to share with you shortly. I don't know why, but for some reason when I try writing with chalk, I regress to my 3rd grade handwriting! Can someone please explain that? Am I the only one that this happens to?

I have all my paint swatches that I've collected over time in this little metal bin. You can see the front door samples are in front.

On the lower shelf I have a box for different crafts - pom poms, pipe cleaners, sequins, etc.

Next to that are some bins from IKEA for scrapbooking supplies, and miscellaneous small items. I don't really have much time for scrapbooking anymore (see wicker basket above with all the items I'm "saving" to scrapbook about one day...) but I still find that a lot of the supplies are great for other uses.

The last things on that shelf are a bin for glue, modge podge, glue gun, etc. and one below for stencils and stencil brushes.

Above that, I have a bin for fabric scraps. I don't sew so my stash is fairly small. And next to that (no picture) is an art pox with my craft and acrylic paints.

The top shelf has spray paint, wood filler and etching cream, as well as a box for vase fillers and pillow stuffing.

To the left of the shelves is my gift wrapping station. This system was already set up before the "big clean," but now I'm actually able to access everything. I have four rolls on rods and the overflow above.

Next  to the rolls are different size gift-bags hanging on hooks.

Now I have a clear space to work and I can actually see what I have. And believe it or not, there are even some empty containers!

One more time because everyone loves a good before and after.

What a pleasure! How do you organize all of your supplies?

Linking up here:

Home Stories A2Z | Serenity Now |

What's Been Going On...

As some of you may have heard or even experienced yourself, there was a HUGE wind and lightening storm Friday night that caused severe damage in our area. (If you follow YHL, you know that Sherry and John were effected also.) Our local gas and electric company had over 600,000 people with reported outages. Needless to say, I've been out of touch with blogland and most certainly haven't gotten any DIY done around here. We finally got our power back on Monday night around 9:30 pm - almost 72 hours after the storm. Our house was a cool 87 degrees. Luckily we have a basement which is about 15 degrees cooler than the upstairs so we were sleeping down there every night. The kids loved it and thought it was a fun sleepover party. For the hubby and I, not so much. Once it gets dark outside, there is literally nothing to do unless you want to read by flashlight. I don't know how people used to manage - we are so spoiled! Here's a sample of the damage that was left behind after the storm.

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The worst part was that my office closes every year the week of July 4 so I was hoping to get a ton done while I was off. Instead I'm playing catch-up on household work and we're going to spend our day stocking up the fridge and freezer. I don't even want to think about all the food that we had to throw out.... Yesterday I did a couple errands and got some supplies for some projects I hope to complete, but right now my work area is looking like this:

Can you say "disaster zone"? I can't even explain half of the stuff that's there so don't bother asking! Just keeping it real for you :-) Now before I get anything done, I have some major cleaning to do. Hopefully I'll be back next week with something fun to show you.

Until then, have a great July 4th! Enjoy all the barbecuing and fireworks and God bless America!

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Summer Fun Begins

The other week our local police department hosted a Public Safety Day for the entire community. The highlight of the day, besides for getting to explore all the different police/fire vehicles, is the Kiddie Police Academy. My son is at the age where his dream jobs are to be a: fireman, police man, paramedic and construction worker so this was a perfect way to spend the afternoon. Not to worry, my daughter had a great time too.

First they had to go through an obstacle course (didn't get any pictures of that unfortunately). Then they learned CPR.

Next activity was to get a description of a suspect from an officer and draw a police sketch. It was so cute to see their completed drawings and how different they were from each other.

Then they had boot camp and practiced their push-ups and sit-ups.

The cadets from the academy were really running most of the activities and they looked like they were having as much fun as all the kids were! Here they are chasing after a "bad guy" and then snapping hand-cuffs on him before leading him to "jail."

Last up was practice at the "shooting range" where they had to throw balls into a box. My son is actually a pretty good shot! When they completed all their activities, they got a special certificate.

There were a bunch of booths from different agencies like the FBI and local government offices giving out freebies so you can't go wrong there! :-) Outside they had all sorts of cool emergency vehicles, police horses and dogs, and helicopters, but this bomb robot was my favorite.

The summer has gotten off to a great start and we are all enjoying the more relaxed, lazy days. The kids are in day camp and loving it and my office has changed to "summer schedule" so what could be better?!

How are you spending your summer? Any vacations coming up?