Twenty Dollar Tuesdays is usually reserved for helpful hints and decorating ideas. But…I’ve decided I’m going to give you a recipe today (Because I’m just that WILD!).  I am NOT a mango eater. I usually think they taste like iced tea in fruit form…BUT a year or so ago, I ordered a crab cake at one of my favorite restaurants and it came with mango salsa. This stuff was AMAZING and was the perfect compliment to the crab cake. So, a few weeks ago, when I decided to make crab cakes, I thought to myself “Kate, you could pretend you work at a fancy restaurant and whip some of that mango salsa right on up”.  And so I did! It was my first time working with mangos (and I confirmed that I STILL do not like them in non-salsa form), and it turned out great! I’ve made it several times since then and I just love it! It’s great with meats, with chips, and tonight I had it with a veggie quesadilla. YUM!

So why am I including this in Twenty Dollar Tuesdays, you ask? Well friends, I think if you have a recipe that is this versatile, well, it’s worth at least $20! So, without further ado, Mango Salsa:

Mix together:

*2-3 mangos, diced

*1 bunch of green onions, diced

*1/4 cup or so of cilantro, diced

*juice of one lime

*(optional) red or green pepper, diced

Combine and add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars Servings: 24 Squares * 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, divided * 2 cups creamy peanut butter * 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs * 3 cups powdered (confectioner’s) sugar * 2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips Melt 1/2 cup (1 stick) of the butter in medium saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, confectioner’s sugar, and graham cracker crumbs. This will make a stiff dough. Spread dough in a lightly greased 9- by 13-inch dish. Press down evenly. Melt remaining 1/2 cup butter over low heat. Add chocolate chips and keep heat very low. When chocolate is soft, stir gently. Continue heating until lumps are all melted. Stir, and then spread this mixture over the peanut butter layer. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

De-lish!

My friend Mamaku posted a haiku yesterday about her chickens (and their cannibalistic habits, yikes!), so I’ve had eggs on the brain. With all these eggy thoughts, I decided I HAD to tell you a tip my friend Autumn shared with me last week about eggs: how do you tell if an egg is fresh or not (without looking at the expiration date on the carton)?

Submerge your questionable egg in water. If it is fresh, it will lay on the bottom; if it’s a week or so it will lay on the bottom but bob a bit; if it’s a few weeks old, it will balance on it’s end. But if it’s a BAD EGG, it will float!

Why does this work? Well, there is a small air pocket in the large end of an egg. As an egg ages, it looses moisture and carbon dioxide shrinking the eggy insides and increasing the size of the air space. Of course, the more air there is, the more it floats! Pretty neat, eh?

So just remember: never eat a floating egg!

Learn Food Photography

Or this:

For the Love of Dessert

But it doesn’t have to be that fancy! When I was laid up last week, my hubby made me lunch quite a few times. He’s pretty darn sweet like that. And my favorite lunch of the week was a simple roast beef sandwich with chips and carrot sticks. But he made it special for me! He served it up like this:

The Hubby

The little things he did for me like this made my week at home fly by!

So, moral of the story? Don’t forget to plate your food…your efforts in the kitchen will look that much more amazing (look what it did for a sandwich!) And you might just make someone’s day!

I’ve been cruising my favorite decorating blogs the last few days looking for ways to add to my fall decor, and I found this fabulous post from the Nester on how to make this $5.00 fall wreath!

Nesting Place

This guy is bound to be a fantastic addition to my fall decor!

I’m baaack!  Did you miss me? I missed you all, that’s for sure!

I spent a week after surgery laid up, and took the opportunity to detox myself a bit (well except for the boatload of medication I was on ).  I tried to only use my computer when absolutely necessary; no caffeine; no alcohol; no TV unless I was intentionally watching something. It felt so good! While I was feeling a little cabin fever towards the end of the week, I did take the time to watch a whole lotta movies that were on my list and I read The Help. It was the first time I’d sat and read a book in less than a week in a long time…and it felt great.  I think every once in a while it does the mind and body good to do a little detox like that. And as we launch into the schoolyear, the timing couldn’t have been better. It definitely feels great to go into this time of year feeling refreshed!

I also did a little Halloween party planning (it’s going to be AWE-SOME). And mental redecorating. I’ve decided that the painting of the living room/ dinning room/ hallway/ kitchen area needs to happen SOON. As does the kitchen facelift. I mean…a girl can only live with this for so long:

So loyal readers, buckle up, it’s going to be a fabulous fall full of party ideas, decorating tips, and a few surprises! Stay tuned!!!

I wanted to leave you with a little video before I leave…

Remember when I had this great secret for storing spices with you last week, but then I needed to take a break to put my head in a vice? Well, it’s your LUCKY day, because I’m going to share that secret with you now that my head is no longer going to explode!

So I had a problem…in the spice cabinet next to the stove, I keep a lot of our sauces: Soy Sauce, Pam, Olive Oil, etc. The problem was that these sauces and spices only fit on the highest shelf, and I had to take some of them out in order to get to the sauces in the rear. I needed a lazy susan, but all the ones I found were $15.00 and up! Yikes! Sooooo I raided my kitchen cabinets and found the bottom of a springform pan. And….TA DA:

It has been great! It works just like the lazy susan would and it was F-R-E-E! Yippee!

Do you have any organization or decoration tips? I’d love to feature them! Send me your tip and if possible at picture at ThisAmericanWife {at} Yahoo {Dot} Com!

I’m telling you all this for two reasons:

1. I was the coordinator for both of these baby meals. And if you’ve ever coordinated baby meals for a friend before, you know what a PAIN it can be to organize! But I recently heard of a site called Take Them a Meal that does all the organization for you! You just input the contact information, likes/dislikes, and the days they need help, and then e-mail out the link (that is password protected) to your friends. The site does the rest! It even sends e-mail reminders to those who have signed up! Be sure to check it out!

2. I usually take chicken enchiladas as my new baby meal. I like to include black beans, homemade salsa, chips, and of course, something sweet. I used to buy Gladware to package everything in, so if I didn’t get it back, it was okay. But, I always had to buy new Gladware, because the stuff we already had tends to look a little stained if we’ve been using it, and it added $10 or so to every meal I prepared. So…I decided to purchase a bunch of containers from Garnish a few weeks ago, and now I have a stash to pull from whenever I make meals for other people. It also ended up looking pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Garnish. The packaging supplies they sell are great for baby meals, parties, favors, and all sorts of other things!