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5 Buttery Soft Pretzel Varieties To Try At Home

There’s no need to run to the mall food court when a craving for buttery soft pretzels strikes. In fact, this tasty treat is easy to make at home in your very own kitchen, with just a few kitchen pantry cabinet staples, a heavy duty stand mixer, and a little know-how. Here are some great recipes we found online to get you started.

Simply Salted Soft Pretzels

Nothing can beat a salty soft pretzel. The key is to choose a coarse or kosher salt with larger grained crystals that will adhere to the dough without melting. This recipe from The Spruce Eats makes buttery soft pretzels that are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, with just the right amount of salt because you control the shaker! Click here for ingredients and instructions from The Spruce Eats.

Glazed Whole Wheat Raisin Pretzels

This recipe from Well Plated starts with 100% whole wheat flour and plump, juicy raisins and can be completed start to finish in just 30 minutes, including rise-time. If you have a sweet tooth, we recommend adding a sweet vanilla glaze drizzle on top before serving. To get the recipe for Soft Whole Wheat Raisin Pretzels from Well Plated, click here, and for a quick and easy Vanilla Glaze recipe from Taste of Home, click here.

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites

Coating a buttery soft pretzel in cinnamon and sugar is surely a delicious way to go, no matter how you slice it. This Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites recipe from Completely Delicious is as fun to eat as it is to make. After baking, drizzle your bites in melted butter and toss with ½ cup of granulated sugar mixed with two tablespoons of ground cinnamon from your spice rack. For the complete recipe from Completely Delicious, click here.

Pepperoni and Cheese-Stuffed Pretzels

If you prefer savory over sweet, this recipe from Tasty will surely tempt your tastebuds. Just imagine a freshly baked soft pretzel stuffed with gooey mozzarella cheese, topped with spicy pepperoni, and dipped in a zesty marinara sauce. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Click here for the Cheese-Stuffed Pizza Pretzels recipe from Tasty, and helpful video instructions.

Pretzel Dogs

Perfect for lunch or dinner, pretzel dogs are absolutely delicious and a fun twist on everyone’s favorite snack-time treat. Wrapping hotdogs in pretzel dough takes a little more time and effort than popping them in a bun, but just one bite and you’ll never look back! If you want to make Pretzel Dogs at home, click here for a great recipe from Buns In My Oven.

Buttery, homemade soft pretzels are just a few steps away. So go ahead, walk to the kitchen pantry cabinet, grab your ingredients, and get baking — and eating!

Welcome to Willow Lane Cabinetry — the #1 place to buy affordable, semi-custom cabinets online! Let us help you create the kitchen, home office, home bar, laundry room, closet, TV room or bath of your dreams with our 100% free room design tool. We offer all wood cabinetry, fully assembled and delivered for free, plus all the accessories needed to complete your remodel. Visit our website to see our products today!

3 Valentine’s Day Breakfast Sweets To Make Together

Celebrate Valentine’s Day morning by whipping up a sugary-sweet breakfast in the heart of the home. From sticky cinnamon buns made with love, to warm, chocolatey waffles and a sugar-topped breakfast cake bursting with red cranberries, here are three delightful recipes to make together in your very own kitchen.

Homemade Cinnamon Buns

You’ll find lots of good recipes for tasty homemade cinnamon buns on Pinterest, but Jo Cooks has discovered the secret to making those giant, gooey buns that are the highlight of the best mall food courts. This easy-to-follow recipe is broken down into three sections: dough, filling, and cream cheese icing. You’ll need some of the usual suspects commonly found in the refrigerator and kitchen pantry cabinet, including butter, eggs, flour, salt and yeast, plus three different kinds of sugar. Oh, and don’t forget the big jar of ground cinnamon in your spice rack! For the complete list of ingredients and instructions from Jo Cooks, click here.

Chocolate Waffles

A crisp and tender Beligian waffle is a treat in and of itself, but adding chocolate to the mix gives this breakfast favorite the ultimate Valentine’s Day twist. If you have a waffle iron in your kitchen pantry cabinet, this recipe from The Salty Marshmallow can be done in 30 minutes and makes around 6-10 waffles that are light, fluffy and delicious. Plus, there is a secret ingredient that we’re sure you have sitting on your kitchen island countertop right now — leftover coffee! Cold coffee actually helps to coax out the rich flavors of the cocoa. Serve your waffles topped with powdered sugar, whipped cream and pure maple or raspberry syrup. Click here for the Chocolate Waffle recipe from The Salty Marshmallow and click here for a homemade raspberry syrup recipe from Taste of Home.

Cranberry-Orange Buttermilk Breakfast Cake

Bright red cranberries make this Cranberry-Orange Buttermilk Breakfast Cake the perfect Valentine’s Day treat. This festive recipe comes from Alexandra’s Kitchen and calls for fresh cranberries, buttermilk, and orange zest — so you’ll also need to dig out that zester from your utility drawer! Cranberries can be a tad on the sour side, so we suggest coating the cranberries in some extra granulated sugar to tone down the tartness, if you prefer. Visit alexandracooks.com for the Cranberry-Orange Buttermilk Breakfast Cake recipe, and make the batter the night before. Then, simply pop it in the oven the next morning, pull up a stool at the kitchen island, and enjoy Valentine’s Day with the ones you love!

This Valentine’s Day, grab your sweetheart or gather the whole family, wear some adorable matching holiday pajamas, and get cooking! Which breakfast sweet are you most excited to try?

4 Common Kitchen Storage Dilemmas Solved

If your kitchen is two parts clutter, one part chaos, then the missing ingredient is a storage system for your custom cabinets. In our busy lives, most of us lack the time or expertise to put systems in place that will solve our storage dilemmas. But without a storage system, maintaining order in the kitchen is challenging (to say the least).

This part of the home contains a wide variety of everyday items, from silverware and dinnerware to s’mores ingredients and dog food. You need a functional way to store and separate the endless list of things that live in your kitchen. Here, you’ll find solutions to some of the most common kitchen storage dilemmas.

“I can’t find what I’m looking for!”

Most organizational gurus believe that everything needs its own place. Without a go-to spot, you end up putting things away wherever there is space. This not only leads to overcrowding your custom cabinets, but it also makes it impossible to find what you’re looking for.

Items get shoved to the back of your kitchen pantry cabinet, never to be seen again. And forget about whatever you tossed into your tall kitchen cabinets. Do you even know what’s up on those top shelves?

To stop the endless search, create sections within your kitchen that store items by category. For example, you might keep everyday dishes in an accessible spot and your more formal dinnerware on the top shelves of your tall kitchen cabinets. With this approach, you will always know which area of the kitchen to head when looking for a specific item.

“My cabinets and drawers are a total mess!”

Piling things up on your cabinet shelves and shoving them in drawers is clearly going to get messy. Kitchen items are all different shapes and sizes, so it can be difficult to organize them in a way that optimizes space and still keeps everything in reach.

Inside cabinet accessories like tray dividers, tiered cookware organizers, and Lazy Susans can calm the chaos brewing behind your cabinet doors and drawers. These cabinet organizers store items in the best way possible, whether vertical, stacked or swiveled. After organizing items with these types of accessories, you’ll find that you not only have more space, but everything is now in plain view.

“My shelves are overflowing!”

If you seem to have more stuff than storage, opening your cabinet doors could be risky business. On any given day, an avalanche of food could come pouring down on you. Instead of dodging kitchen pantry cabinet items, start utilizing hidden space like behind cabinet doors and inside base fillers.

These sneaky spots are usually forgotten but can carry some of the load for your shelves. Tall, lean items are best, such as spices, seasonings, oils and cooking sprays. Take a look at this base filler or our door mount spice rack for some inspiration on what hidden storage space might be waiting within your custom cabinets.

“I have way too much overstock!”

It’s great to have a backup box of your favorite cereal or a couple jars of your go-to pasta sauce. But when you end up with way too much of the same type of item, you risk things going bad before you have time to use them all. Overstocking also takes up valuable real estate in your kitchen pantry cabinet that could be better utilized.

Instead, keep all of your overstock in one designated cabinet or storage bin. When you run out of something on the shelves, check your “overstock bin” before adding that item to your grocery list. Limit your overstock bin to one or two backups (depending on how frequently you use that item and how much space you have to spare). Keeping all of your overstock in one place, and following this process, will make sure you never run out of your morning cereal. It will also keep your kitchen pantry cabinet in check.

3 Secrets For The Perfect Mashed Potatoes

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, our thoughts turn to succulent turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, and everyone’s favorite side dish — mashed potatoes! Whether you prefer Yukon Gold, sweet potatoes, or both, here are three secrets for the perfect mashed potatoes made in your very own dream kitchen.

Secret #1: Pick The Perfect Spuds

According to Good Housekeeping, Yukon Gold and Russet are the top picks for traditional mashed potatoes. These two varieties have a thinner skin and higher starch content than most, which helps keep your mashed potatoes smooth and delicious. Russet potatoes are the classic choice and mash to a light and fluffy consistency. Yukon Gold potatoes are naturally buttery with a creamy consistency and have become increasingly popular on holiday tables over the past few years.

When it comes to mashed sweet potatoes, Cooks Illustrated recommends sticking with varieties that have a deep orange flesh, like Red Garnet and Jewel. Not only do they have a richer and sweeter flavor than other types of sweet potatoes, but they also have a moister, creamier texture that lends itself to mashing. Shop for fresh potatoes a few days before your feast, and store them in pull out baskets inside your dream kitchen cabinetry until the big day.

Secret #2: Cook Them Correctly

Once you wash and peel your potatoes, cut them into quarters and then into evenly sized chunks. Small, even pieces cook quicker and more consistently. The next step is boiling your potatoes. Get a large pot from your cookware organizer, add your cut potatoes, and cover them with cold water. Add ½ – 1 teaspoon of salt, bring the water to a boil, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Better Homes and Gardens has some great tutorials and techniques for perfectly boiling sweet potatoes and other varieties like Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes. Test your potatoes with a fork to make sure they are tender and fully cooked, and then drain your potatoes well using a large colander in the kitchen sink.

Secret #3: Be Gentle And Season Well

Now that your potatoes of choice are perfectly cooked and well-drained, the true magic begins. While nobody likes lumpy mashed potatoes, mixing too vigorously or for too long will result in a thick, pasty and unappetizing consistency. Instead, remember to be gentle!

You can prep your potatoes by hand with a masher, or pull up your heavy duty mixer and whip on low speed until blended. Just don’t overwork them. Let your butter come to room temperature and warm up your milk before adding them to your warm potatoes, and then season to taste with salt and pepper from your kitchen pantry cabinet or spice rack.

Happy Thanksgiving!

How To Be A Coffee Barista In Your Own Kitchen

Do you love waking up to the sweet aroma of freshly brewed coffee in the kitchen? For some, there is no better way to start the morning. Coffee has long been one of America’s favorite beverages, but it’s not just for breakfast anymore. From creamy lattes and cappuccinos, to frozen blended treats, coffee can be enjoyed at any time of the day (although it’s smart to switch to decaf the closer you get to bedtime)! Best of all, you don’t need to spend a fortune at your local coffee house to sip a specialty drink. If you want to learn how to be a barista in your own kitchen, read on.

Creating A Coffee Station

Start by designating an area in your kitchen as a coffee station. Whether it’s a corner of your kitchen island countertop, a portable cart, or as part of your home bar cabinet, having a space reserved for brewing is essential. This is where you will keep your drip coffee maker, single-serve pod maker, and/or espresso machine. Install a utility tray in a nearby drawer for holding spoons or stirrers, beverage napkins, filters, reusable straws, and a coffee scoop. A pull out trash can is also a nice addition below a kitchen island. Keep a grinder for whole beans in your kitchen or bar cabinet, as well as mugs, tall glasses, a cream pitcher and a thermal carafe. Then, designate a portion of your kitchen pantry cabinet for storing non-dairy or shelf-stable creamer, canisters of white and raw sugar, honey, stevia packets, and simple syrup or agave nectar for iced coffee. If you love specialty drinks, you’ll also need flavored syrups, a blender, and spices like cinnamon, cocoa powder, and nutmeg. Last but definitely not least, you’ll need a variety of coffee beans or bags of ground coffee, and a basket or carousel for holding pods.

Specialty Coffee Drinks To Make At Home

Channel your inner coffee barista and try one of these three recipes at home, right in your very own kitchen!

Iced Vanilla Latte: With just three simple ingredients from your refrigerator and kitchen pantry cabinet, this Iced Vanilla Latte recipe from Snacks and Sips is easy to make and perfect for sipping on a hot summer day.

Frozen Mocha Frappe: This refreshing blended beverage from The Chunky Chef is a great way to use leftover coffee. Freeze your favorite brew into cubes using an ice cube tray for whenever you need a pick-me-up.

Boozy Iced Coffee: You won’t find this iced specialty drink at your local coffee house! You can use your favorite warm-weather libation from your bar cabinet to spike this recipe from The Wanderlust Kitchen, whether it’s coconut rum, hazelnut liqueur, or whipped cream vodka.

Welcome to Willow Lane Cabinetry — the #1 place to buy affordable, semi-custom cabinets online! Let us help you create the kitchen, home office, home bar, laundry room, TV room or bath of your dreams with our 100% free room design tool. We offer all wood cabinetry, fully assembled and delivered for free, plus all the accessories needed to complete your remodel. Visit our website to see our products today!

6 Homemade BBQ Marinades And Dry Rubs

Things are heating up outside and that means one thing — it’s grilling season! With summer just around the corner, our mouths are watering for juicy barbequed chicken, steak, and ribs. Up your grill game with these homemade marinades and rubs made from simple ingredients found in your kitchen pantry cabinet.

Chimichurri

Chimichurri is a traditional South American sauce and marinade that pairs beautifully with all cuts of grilled steak. It features the bold and vibrant flavors of fresh garlic, cilantro, parsley, oregano, shallots, and chili or jalapeno peppers. To make this colorful marinade, click here for a delicious Chimichurri recipe from Bon Appetit.

Smoky Rub

This dry rub gets its intense flavor from a hefty dose of smoked paprika. To make it, you’ll need a few other seasonings from your spice rack, including onion powder, garlic powder, ground ginger, dry mustard, and salt. Sprinkle it on grilled corn, BBQ chicken, or pork. For the Smoky Rub recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, click here.

Whiskey Marinade

Did you know that the whisky in your bar cabinet can help to tenderize meat? This recipe for Honey-Glazed Baby Back Ribs uses a homemade marinade featuring honey, soy sauce, freshly grated ginger — and whiskey! Whip some up, add a few racks of baby back ribs, and let it soak in the refrigerator for 4 hours before grilling. For the complete recipe from Food and Wine, click here.

Herbes de Provence

A staple in french cooking, Herbes de Provence is a distinctive blend of dried summer herbs like thyme, marjoram, rosemary, tarragon, mint, lavender, and basil. To make this dry rub, you will need a spice grinder and an airtight container for storage. Click here for the recipe from The Spruce Eats. Use Herbes de Provence to season grilled chicken, fish and vegetables.

Hawaiian Marinade

This tropical marinade is easy to make and perfect for summer grilling. Ingredients from your kitchen pantry cabinet include unsweetened pineapple juice, soy sauce, fresh ginger, brown sugar, and sesame oil. Use it to marinate bone-in pork chops or chicken. For the full recipe from Food Network, click here.

Lemon Pepper Rub

For grilled fish like salmon, you can’t beat a lemon pepper dry rub. Click here for an easy recipe from Rachael Ray in Season that features fresh lemon zest, coarsely ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, and other tantalizing flavors from your spice drawer.

Whether you mix up a marinade using whisky from your bar cabinet or a dry rub made with flavorful herbs and spices, you’re sure to become a seasoned Grill Master this summer!