Cumin?  Do I have enough?

It was also difficult to see what I had on hand, and what was getting low.  I’m a visual kinda girl.  So, I’ve been collecting spice jars one at a time.  Yeah, except they don’t exactly match.  And who has the time to take off all the labels?  Not me.

Putting together the perfect spice cabinet begins…

So, about a month ago, I took some ideas I found, and I started thinking about what my ideal spice cabinet would look like.  I started with buying these containers.

What if I mounted them to the cabinet door?

I wanted more space in my actual cabinet, and I have all this glorious open space on my cabinet doors.  So, going from a previous Alton Brown episode, I decided I would mount the containers on my doors.   The thing was, he put them on the doors with velcro.  All I could think about was the gunky-goo that would accumulate in the velcro fibers.  Disgusting.  Really.  No velcro for me.

“Do you have metal strip thingies you could mount on a wall?”

I didn’t know what the term was I was looking for.  This made it difficult to ask for the product in the crafty-craft store.  ”Do you have those metal strip things you can mount on a wall?  I’ve seen them in organizing stores.  You can put magnets on them?”  Blank stare.  ”Let me call my manager.”  Yeah, manager didn’t know either.  Next time I will arm myself with better vocabulary…

The office supply store should have that, right?

I strolled into my local office supply store.  Surely they would be able to decipher what I needed and direct me to make my perfect purchase.  After artfully dodging the disturbingly friendly greeter at the door, I wandered around the store looking for that metal thingy.  Then I wandered some more.  Not by the magnets.  Not in the organizing section.  Nada in the clearance section.  No luck.  So, I tried my best to look lost, knowing I would attract a friendly helpful employee.

Me: “Do you know where I can find those metal thingies you can hang on the wall and attach magnets to?”

Helpful employee: “Uh, let’s look over here….how about this cork strip?”

Me: (trying to understand how “magnetic” led us to cork….)  ”Um, that’s not quite what I’m looking for.  Thanks for your help.”

One last try…

A little disheartened, I crossed the street to another crafty-craft store.  It seems everytime I need something strange like this, I find it there.  (Hmm, perhaps I should just start there in the future…)  Again, I wandered around to see what I could find.  I happened on some magnetic bulletin boards.  It turns out they were samples, flanked by supplies to make them.  Eureka!  I grabbed two 12×12 pieces of the sheet metal and headed for the door.  Who needs metal strip thingies anyway?

My Spice Cabinet Makeover:

(Cost: I spent less than $30 USD)

1. Attach the metal squares to the doors.  Drill a small hole in each corner of the metal squares.  Put a little adhesive on the back (to help the sheet lay flat) and attach the squares  to the doors with small, short wood screws.

2. Prepare the containers.  Label and fill  containers with existing spices (or new if it’s been a while).  Attach adhesive magnetic tape or hot glue magnets to the bottom of each container.

3. Put them in order and arrange.  I recommend alphabetizing the containers (makes them easier to find) and attach them to the doors.

Below is what my spices look like now.  Isn’t it pretty?  Best of all, it’s all in one place and I can see exactly what I have.  Love that!

Sometimes you’re stuck…

… stuck in a cooking rut or stuck in a snow and ice storm. This week, both are predicted for our household! A snow and ice storm hit our area and two more storms are expected to hit over the next five days, one more powerful than the last. This means me, my husband, our two kids (ages 4 and 1) and dog are homebound for about a week. That’s a recipe for madness, madness I tell you! My family tends to gather around the kitchen, and during times like these the kitchen holds even more meaning. Yet being stuck at home can also easily lead to a cooking rut, which could then help perpetuate more madness.

Preparation & the Pantry.

You’ve heard that the key to successful meal planning is a well-stocked pantry. Never has this been more true when you know you are going to be stuck indoors for a week. For the next 5 days, I have the following homemade meals planned, all staples in our meal rotation:

Veggie Pizza

Mediterranean Chickpea Soup

Teriyaki Orange Chicken

Tri-Pepper Turkey Pasta

Jerk Pork Cutlets.

Meal Planning?  Uh….

Here’s the thing you should know about me: I despise meal planning with a deep passion. My husband and I are not keen on sticking to meal plans, so I’ve learned that the key for us is to stock our pantry and fridge with versatile ingredients that cater to our fickle appetites and allow for variations of our favorites.

For instance, Mediterranean Chickpea Soup is one of my husband’s favorite main dishes; it is not, however, one of mine. So if I decide I’m not in the mood for the soup the same day he’s in the mood for it (the soup, that is; mind out of gutters, people), I’ll make myself a Mediterranean Chickpea Pasta or Salad dish instead. All call for ingredients that can be stocked for months safely in the pantry: olive oil, canned chickpeas, canned tomatoes, chicken stock, and spices, along with one of our refrigerator staples: onions.

Mediterranean Chickpea Soup:  To make the soup into a pasta dish, simply prepare the onions, spices, chickpeas and tomatoes minus the chicken stock and water in a skillet and add cooked pasta once ready. The same ingredients minus the liquids can be used for a salad.

Requiring the same type of versatility for all of our weekday staples truly helps for times when you’re stuck in a cooking rut, stuck indoors due to the weather, or both!

About the Author:

Marlynn Jayme Schotland is a serial mamapreneur, blogging & social media addict, and a happily imperfect mother with a very loud, happy house.  She owns Mamapreneurs Inc. com, a resource, support & networking organization, as well as Urban Bliss, a design, PR and gifts studio.  She is also editor of Mama Lit, a book review site for moms, and a freelance writer. She is married to her college sweetheart and they live in Portland, OR with their two young kids.

Where you can find Marlynn:
Twitter: @designmama
www.mamapreneursinc.com
www.urbanblissdesign.com

I love, love, love baking.  Have you noticed yet?    One thing I make pretty regularly is Apple Pie.  Not every week, mind you, but a few times during the year.  My husband loves it, and it rarely lasts 4 days.  Making apple pie isn’t as complicated at some people think.  And, I use a few little tricks that make it easy to peel and slice the apples.

Want to make an apple pie, but hate prepping the apples?  Here’s an easy way to prep the apples for apple pie or just for eating!

A vegetable peeler makes peeling a snap.

You don’t need a fancy apple peeler (although if I find one at an antique sale I’m snapping it up!).  I use a regular ol’ vegetable peeler. I usually take the top off, and then peel it off in strips from the top of the apple to the bottom.  Think of planks on a wine barrel.  Get the idea?

Then, I took a hint from a chef friend of mine to cut it into pieces.  Starting like this: turn the apple upside down and slice of one side and then the other…

Then, slice off the other two ends, and your apple will look like this:

Now, get rid of the core (add it to your compost if you wish), and slice your apples into 1/4 inch slices like this:

See how easy that was?  Now, you try it! 

Click here to view the embedded video.