little spaces

In our little thousand-foot house, I'm always looking for little spaces that can be utilized in order for things to run efficiently and to keep our open areas open.  Our kitchen is one of those places-it's filled with windows, a few cupboards, and even fewer drawers.  We've added quite a bit of external storage with a few shelves and cabinets, but this past weekend we added just a bit more and I'm thrilled with the addition!  I love how a seemingly unusable space can be transformed into practical storage within minutes and for just a few dollars (thanks to IKEA)!  

The knife magnet was one of the new additions.  With all of the cooking and baking that happens in our kitchen, the knives are almost always out.  And since we hand-wash them, they tend to either be dirty and sitting on the counter, or clean and drying on the counter.  The knife magnet will hopefully solve these problems!  Not only will it keep the knives off of the counter, but it also frees up space in one of our two drawers, and it uses an unused wall in our kitchen.  (Sidenote: we also got a new kitchen rug--the colors are fun, but more importantly, they won't show dirt and stains...that's my kind of rug!)

The second addition is one I'm even more excited about! For the past couple years, we've had an IKEA chalkboard hanging in this spot.  It covered a random outlet and unwanted phone jack and it served as a practical place to keep track of lists and notes, but I've been dreaming of turning that wall into much more usable space over the past few months.  And now we have!  With the new shelves, we've been able to clear a few things off of the counter and add them to the bottom shelf.  While the top shelf gives me some extra space to keep my growing collection of dried herbs.  Both shelves are filled with empty jars at the moment, but over the next week or so they will be filled with granola, chamomile, lavender, alfalfa, spearmint, and more!  I love how rewarding little spaces can be! 

bread, bread, and more bread

Bread.  Fresh, warm, right-out-of-the-oven bread.  There's nothing quite like it--especially when it's smothered in a think layer of delicious good-quality butter.  Yum.  Bread.  We love bread.  

I've been experimenting with sourdough for the past year or so and have become quite the fan.  However, after making the same recipe week after week, my husband started to long for a bit more variety (and honestly, so did I).  So, in the process of looking for a few new recipes, I came back to a lovely cookbook recently published by Jennifer McGruther called The Nourished Kitchen: Farm-to Table Recipes for the Traditional Foods Lifestyle.  I had checked this book out from the library shortly after it was released to see if it was something that I wanted to add to my collection.  To my delight, it included multiple sourdough bread recipes along with several more recipes that could put my ever-growing sourdough starter to use!  So, I added it to my Christmas list and was thrilled when I found it beneath the tree!  

Over the past month and a half, I have been busy baking and trying these new recipes.  And I must say, we have not been disappointed!  The recipes are not only well-written and easy to follow, but they produce the most delicious and beautiful loaves of bread I've ever made!  I realize I may be swooning, but golly, I'm in love!  From a simple whole wheat loaf, to Bohemian rye, to German-style sunflower, the recipes are fabulous!  

As for the many, many other recipes in the book, I've just started reading through them and I'm excited to give them a try.  For those of you interested in learning more about traditional foods and/or cooking more with them, this is a great book to add to your collection! 

teas and tinctures

I thought I'd share a little with you today about a new obsession of mine...herbs!  Now, I've been in love with herbs in the kitchen for many years, but right now I'm learning about using herbs for medicinal purposes.  As herbs are very powerful tools that should not be taken lightly, I have little to share with you other than my excitement for them.  I'm currently exploring the world of tinctures and teas, in baby steps and with much guidance from books and experts.  With  garden planning just around the corner, I'm also starting to dream about what herbs I want to tuck into underutilized spaces in my beds and to learn more about how to put them to use once they are growing strong.  

If you're interested in learning more about herbs, Mountain Rose Herbs is a great resource!  They sell all the supplies you could need, but they also have a great list of books to get you started.  I'm hoping to add one or two of them to my shelves in the weeks to come!

making the most of winter

Over a year ago I got a pair of brand new ice skates at a garage sale for $15 and I was so excited to put them to use.  Then last winter came and went and my skates were only used once--and it was at an indoor rink!  So when this winter arrived, I decided I was going to make a much better effort to get outside and skate.  I am not good at skating, but I do find it very fun and a great way to enjoy the coldest part of the winter.  

I realized recently, though, that since Dan doesn't have skates, I haven't been very motivated to actually get out a skate.  So, this past weekend we made a date of it and found a great skating pond with free skating and cheap skate rental.  It was a lovely time and we were thoroughly worn out by the end.  And then this week, I decided that I just needed to get out there and skate by myself on one of the great city park skating rinks in our neighborhood.  So, last night I did just that.  I took my skates down to the little, slightly melting neighborhood rink, and slowly attempted to teach myself to skate backwards.  Ha.  It was a great way to end the work day and I hope to get out there several more times before the skating season ends.  

I figure that winter ought to be enjoyed, since it is the longest season in these parts, and what better way to do that then do get outside and do things that are only possible when the temps are below freezing! 

meal planning

This past fall was a hard semester for me.  I constantly felt behind--like several weeks behind.  While these feelings mostly came from work related things, they blended over into my home life as well.  I especially felt them when it came time to make dinner each night.  You see, I'm a planner and a strategist, even in the most basic things like dinner making.  However, because I was feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and behind at work, I felt that I didn't have time to plan out meals for us to eat at home.  The result of that, though, was me feeling directionless, uninspired, and last-minute.  Now, some people thrive in the last-minute side of life (my husband and best friend being two of them), however, I am not one of those people.  So, in the end, my lack of meal planning added to my feelings of being stressed, overwhelmed, and behind.

With all that in mind, I decided to be more intentional this spring about making time to really plan things out in the food department, which will hopefully leave us better fed, better nourished, and better satisfied in life.  People plan meals out very differently and my way is in no way a science, it's just what works for me.  I like to plan out a list of meals around the beginning of the month (when my grocery budget is full...ahem...) and shop for most of the ingredients at that time.  I add in produce and dairy as needed throughout the rest of the month in my weekly co-op trips.  This style of planning does two things for me.  One, it provides me with flexibility.  I usually pick out a few of the meals each week, depending on the time they take to make, the time we have at home in the evenings, and on the produce I have.  Because I've already shopped for the main ingredients (meat, root veggies, and grains), it doesn't take long to pick up any additional ingredients I need.  The second thing it does for me is it helps me to add variety our meals.  When I'm flying by the seat of my pants I tend to make whatever is easy and convenient and not what is best for our bodies.  Planning options out in advance helps me to be more mindful of the types of food I'm filling our bodies with.  Are we getting enough dark greens?  Are we getting enough good fats?  Are we eating a variety of grains and not too much of them?  Are we getting enough protein?  

Sitting down to make the list can take awhile, but in the end I always feel excited to get cooking!  Having good cookbooks, and not too many of them, is my key to success.  I wrote a post awhile ago about the cookbooks that I keep in my kitchen for day-to-day cooking.  This Christmas I added a new one to the list, The Nourished Kitchen, and I'm loving it!  It focuses on traditional food styles and recipes, which is quickly becoming a great interest of mine.  I also find that having a cookbook or two that is organized by season is very helpful for me both in inspiration and helping me to cook with more locally sourced ingredients.  

I got back into my meal planning routine last week and my time in the kitchen this week has been so much more enjoyable!  Hooray!  I do so love the simple things that make our lives just a little easier and help them to run just a bit smoother.