Martha Monday--Organizing the kitchen

Did you know that Martha's to-do lists are on her website? It's true, they are!  And today, Martha is making time to "organize kitchen drawers and discard any unused items."

Of course, I'm sure Martha's kitchen drawers are in perfect order already, and her "to-do" is more of a reminder for the rest of us. I'm on it, Martha!

For more kitchen organization, check out Martha's 50 Top Kitchen Tips. Happy organizing!

Label those lids!

With the holidays upon us, I wanted to share a helpful tip for keeping track of rarely-used ingredients.  So often exotic and unusual spices and seasonings are purchased for holiday baking, only to be confined to the back of the cabinet for the rest of the year.  Write the month and year of when you first opened or bought those bottles, so that you can see at a glance just how old the spice/seasoning is before using it in a recipe. 

After all, the cream of tartar works much better when it hasn't aged out of usefulness.  Spices do not have an unlimited shelf life, and it's nice to know if the cardamom you're about to put into that cookie recipe is from 2010 or 1996. 

I started labelling the lids this summer, and it's been a huge help. Not only do I know when I opened something, but now I can also gauge how fast I go through something.  Example: if I'm plowing through an 8 oz. bottle of clear vanilla extract in three months, then I should consider buying more when they are on sale, or purchasing a larger size.  Like in a five-gallon bucket.  Just sayin'.

Happy baking!

Kitchen herbs

After going to the seminar "Herbs for the Kitchen" at my local library, I was inspired to grow some herbs on my kitchen windowsill.  This was the perfect project for my favorite helper, My Little Guy.

To minimize any mess, we did this on the kitchen counter next to the sink.  And by minimize, I mean "keep potting soil far away from Little Miss and my carpet."  The Little Guy scooped out the soil with a measuring cup.

The pots I chose are small for growing herbs, but they fit perfectly on the kitchen windowsill.  I'm sure they'll need to be transplanted into larger containers in a few months, if they live that long. Quite honestly, I don't have much of a green thumb.

The Little Guy took this task very seriously--he was very excited about planting something and watching it grow.

So we could keep the pots straight, I put labels on each one.

We planted thyme, rosemary, oregano and basil.  I'm so excited to be growing my own herbs!

Of course, right now all I'm looking at is pots of dirt. But for me, and the Little Guy, the possibility of something more happening in a few weeks is quite thrilling.  This was a fun mother-son project. 

Happy Friday!

More kitchen fixes

Some cabinets and drawers in my kitchen are just perfect the way they are--I wouldn't change a thing in there. 

For example, I'm in these cabinets and drawer every day, and the organization and tool placement works just fine for me:

The cabinet that holds my mixing bowls and baking supplies was not as neat and clean, however.  In fact, two specific things about it were driving me nuts.  Take a look:

Do you see the problems?  My Silpat mats (second shelf up behind the Pyrex mixing bowl) were constantly unrolling and getting all over the place.  The top two shelves were also a mess. 

I solved the Silpat problem by securing them with plastic cuffs meant for gift wrap rolls.  Worked like a charm!

And since I bake pies and cakes a lot more often than bread, I moved the cake pans within arms reach on the third shelf and moved the bread pans up to the top shelf.  Doesn't that look so much neater?  It certainly is a lot more practical.



It's important to me that my kitchen is organized and neat. Obviously, it makes navigating the space to prepare meals much easier.  But more than that, I find that a neat kitchen does wonders for my mood.  If I can manage clutter in my kitchen to make it a fun and efficient place, then surely I can do the same for the rest of my house.  A clean, organized kitchen gives me hope!   Onward to the rest of the TMI house!

It starts in the kitchen

Like most households, the kitchen is the heart of our home.  Because we spend so much time in there, or near there in the connected family room, it's important that my kitchen be neat and organized. After all, it's really difficult to make dinner/breakfast/lunch for a family of four when the countertops are cluttered or I can't find the proper casserole dish.  Of course, it's easy to let things get out of hand.  One piece of mail left out on my countertop can lead to an entire room of clutter in less than 24 hours.  I can only guess that it multiplies like mad in the wee hours of the morning.  Crazy!

I have four guidelines that help keep my kitchen organized:

1. Place items where they are most used. 

Here is the awesome TMI fridge. Because it dispenses water and ice, the glasses are located in the cabinet directly to the left.  That makes sense, right?

2. Occasionally sort and purge to maintain kitchen efficiency.

The cabinet, however, had gotten a little out of control.  There was simply too much in there.  I did a quick assessment, and got rid of several things: expired drink mixes, thermos bottles, extra mugs, and empty storage containers.

After a quick sort and purge, things were much more manageable.  There's no fear of anything falling out of the cabinet to knock me unconscious now!  Woo hoo!

3. Get rid of any kitchen items or tools that aren't used.

Take a look at the bottom cabinet. This is where I store carafes, bar tools, pitchers, coffee grounds and more.  There were several things in there that I just wasn't using and therefore just taking up space.

I got rid of two pitchers, an ice bucket, some expired lemonade mix and the bar tool caddies.  Then I rearranged the cabinet to put the stuff I use least in the back, and the items used more often up front.  Doing just these two things (purging and rearranging) gave me enough room to store the coffee machine in the cabinet, rather than keeping it on the counter.  This makes perfect sense, since I only make coffee when we have company over--there's no need for the appliance to be taking up valuable counter space.

Doesn't that look so much better?

4. Stop clutter before it gets into the kitchen (mail, purse/briefcase, kids' bags and homework, etc.). 
Truthfully, this is a good organizational tip.  It's featured in every print and online article aimed at stopping clutter.  It works for many, many people...just not me.  In all honesty, we do have clutter in our kitchen.  Mail, calenders, craft projects and more take up a lot of space on the island and about a third of our kitchen table.  I come home from work, drop the mail, my purse and work bag on the kitchen table, and scoop up the kids.  The items are abandoned for the time-being, and that's okay with me.  Being clutter-free is important, but with two small kids, I'll settle for being clutter-controlled.  As long as I can cook a meal unimpeded by stuff, then I'm fine with it. 

Plus, I have a really great Plan B:  INVITE PEOPLE OVER.

Nothing motivates me to tackle clutter like company on their way over.  Works like a charm!

Double up

This is a quick public service announcement from The Martha Initiative...

Fall is rapidly approaching, major holidays will be here before we know it, the days are getting shorter and somehow, much busier.  Putting a quality dinner on the table for your family can be more than a challenge most nights...in this house, some nights it is damn near impossible. 

But, there is hope!  And here's my suggestion:

When you are making a meal (especially one that is labor-intensive), double it.  Triple it even.  Freeze the extra dish and you'll have a quick, and quality, meal even when you don't have time to cook.

For example, over the weekend I made macaroni and cheese.  Yum!

I consider this a labor-intensive meal because it takes me, from the time I begin to set out the ingredients to the time I'm pulling the dish out of the oven, approximately one hour.  That's a lot of time, and sometimes this dinner is not an option during the week because I need dinner on the table a lot faster than one hour.  Plus, I have two small kids...all the interruptions would lengthen the process to a full two hours, I'm sure.  And that's just too long to spend on a weeknight dinner. 

So.....

...I doubled the recipe.  It doesn't take any longer to do this, nor does it make any extra messy dishes.  I made two batches of mac & cheese: one for immediate consumption, and one for the freezer to be eaten in a couple of weeks.

In fact, I'll actually be saving an hour of my time and several dirty dishes in the future.  How's that for planning?  If this isn't a current practice in your house, give it a try.  Good luck!

Cheery utensil crock

For the longest time, I've kept my most-used cooking utensils in a small stockpot by the stove.  It's functional, but not very pretty.  In fact, sitting on the gray countertop in front of the gray-ish backsplash, it's downright blah.

Enter this new...thing.  I'm not quite sure what it is. Decoration?  Cookie jar? 

Whatever it's intended purpose, I thought it would make a great new utensil crock.

Which it does.  I like the color it adds to an otherwise mostly-gray kitchen.  My only issue now is...what do I do with the lid?

The poor, lonely, sad lid. Sigh.

Bread crumbs

Did you know that instead of buying bread crumbs from the store, you can make them yourself?!

Oh, you did know that?

Huh.

Well, until a year or so ago, it hadn't occurred to me that I could (and should) be doing this myself.  Now, it's a regular practice whenever I have old bread languishing in my pantry.  For those who haven't made your own bread crumbs before, it's super easy.

Step One:  let old bread sit out for a day or two on a cooling rack.

Step Two: pulverize the bread in your food processor.

Step Three: store in an airtight container until you need the breadcrumbs.

Step Four: use the bread crumbs to top your homemade macaroni and cheese.  Yum!

Now, if there were only some way to make my own croutons instead of buying them at the store...

Kitchen organization

My kitchen is probably my favorite room in the house. It's where I spend the majority of my time, and since I'm the primary cook/baker in the house, it's important to keep things organized and handy.  Here are some of my "good things" for the kitchen:

A calendar is a must.  Right now we're rocking with a free calendar from Dunkin' Donuts.  Bonus--it has coupons on it for each month.  I fight the temptation to buy one dozen donuts every day ($1 off coupon) thanks to this thing.

I use the calendar to keep track of birthdays, work schedules, menu plans and other appointments.  The TMI Family would be lost without it.

Take a look at the fridge: see the important organization tool there?  No? Gosh, I can't imagine why not.

The potholders are kept on the fridge with magnetic hooks.  This is a simple and cheap solution that keeps my oven mitts and potholders handy.  Get it?!? 

Finally, this last bit of organizational goodness comes from Aunt KB.  I saw this trick at her house years ago, and I don't think I've seen it anywhere else.

Tiny stick-up hooks are used for storing measuring spoons inside a cabinet door.  This way, those tiny things are never lost in some drawer, and I always know where to find them.  What a good thing!

Martha Monday!

I spent a decent chunk of my weekend working on the Little Guy's cake for the first of his three birthday parties. One cake, six different frosting colors. To get the frosting into the decorating bags with minimal mess, I relied on a Martha kitchen tip I've been using for years:


Put the decorating bag in a tall glass to create a liner, and shove the frosting in. Of course, Martha doesn't shove the frosting in--she gently reasons with it--but shoving worked just fine for me.

It's an easy way to get the icing in the bag and keep your hands relatively free of the sugary goodness. Isn't that a helpful hint? It's a good thing!

A kitchen tip...pizza tripods

Remember those beautiful Easter eggs?

I turned them into some beautiful devilled eggs.

These devilled eggs need to make a 45 minute drive today, so careful packing was in order. I lined a baking sheet with paper towels to prevent slipping. And so the peaks of the piped yolk mixture (what is that yellow concoction called?) wouldn't get smashed, I got creative.

You know those plastic tripods that come on your delivered/carryout pizza? They're on there so that the top of the pizza box doesn't come into contact with the gooey cheese just below it. Most people throw them out without a second thought, but these little tripods can be quite useful in the kitchen.

I put several of the tripods in with the devilled eggs, then laid my wax paper over it. Then, I added several layers of plastic wrap.

One layer of plastic wrap would have been just as good, but it's this thing I have with covering food. I like it to be secure, okay? The tripods keep the covering off my fancy devilled eggs, so they can arrive looking just as good as when I made them. Unless I drop them as we arrive. Which has been known to happen.

Clever in the kitchen? Usually. Solid coordination skills? Not so much.