The problem with recommending the new chocolate sauce and mousse-filled dark chocolate bar to everyone… Is that I keep giving myself cravings.
Help?
Category: Food
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Kitchen II
I’m still working my way through Regina Leeds’ book, albeit slowly. Last week I started planning for the game night I’ve got going on, and the trivia weekend the weekend after that – so even though I looked through the chapter on the second part of the kitchen organization, I haven’t implemented much yet.
My kitchen is so small that I’m not sure two weeks is needed. However, I am getting some good tips from the chapter that I will implement.
One example is that things that I don’t use often can be delegated to the top of the refrigerator. I will try putting my cake tins there, as they’re very difficult to stack in the cupboard, and I could (probably) use the cupboard space for other things.
One benefit to this book now is that I’ve finally managed to collect the boxes I used for the Christmas cookies – and will now finally clean and stow them away. Things take time. (I just took down the Christmas lights outside yesterday – it was so nice to come home to lights outside when it was so dark…)
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Organizing the kitchen I
Still going on about the Regina Leeds book One Year to an Organized Life: From Your Closets to Your Finances, the Week-by-week Guide to Getting Completely Organized for Good. I’ve made it to week 3 – and now we’re heading into kitchen territory. The first week is about planning how you’d like your kitchen to be – and what utensils can be eliminated, if you have a lot of them.
My kitchen is rather small, and lacking in counter space. I’ve solved that partly with adding an IKEA Stenstorp kitchen cart. It gave me a bit more counter-space, as well giving me a bit more shelf-space underneath. I’ve put the microwave there, as well as a couple of the other kitchen machines I use often.
The big advantage of the kitchen is the big cupboards. I can fit almost everything and the kitchen sink in there, if I arrange things around. However, the fact that they’re big, also means that they’re fairly deep and things can be difficult to locate. It’s also easy to just put things into them in the heat of the moment without thinking about if I’ll be finding them later…
A couple of things that I’ll be implementing at some point:
- additional containers for foodstuff for the pantry, to organize further. I have three containers, that I use for flour, cocoa and powdered sugar, already. I’ll be picking up
- 3 Step Kitchen Cupboard Shelf
, or something similar. This would give me a bit more overview over pantry items, ensuring that I won’t buy double of anything. Hopefully.
- A permanent marker to label dates on items I put in the freezer, containers I open in the refrigerator…
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Juicer
I’ve had my juicer for a fair bit now – and although it is a pain to clean up since I don’t have a dishwasher – it does see semi-regular use.I have discovered some don’ts – cucumber juice is not all that good when it is the core ingredient, actually. On the similar level, too many spinach leaves gives the juice a certain earthiness that I can well do without. (A few is enough to give the juice an enchanting green flavor, especially if you pair it with kiwis)
And I have discovered some good flavors. Carrots seem to work fantastically well in juice. Adding a couple of grapes (not many, by any means) gives whichever juice you make a tiny hint of sweetness.
My standard combination tends to be a couple of apples, and whichever fruit or veg I’ve forgotten about.
The one in the picture was:
2 Pink Lady apples
1 Golden Delicious apple
1 pear
2 small stalks of celery
3 medium carrots.For whatever reason, whenever I am in the store, I feel like I have to buy carrots, regardless of how much I may have at home, so juicing them is one way to deal with that.
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The power of the internet, or quick solutions when cooking
The problem with getting recipes from the Internet is that there will usually be some part of it that is impossible to get, or to understand. For those of us who don’t get our butter in sticks… recipes that feature that measurement can be incomprehensible.
That is, until you find a butter converter. It becomes easier to find the right amount to fulfill the requirements in the recipe.
And, while I loved the Pioneer Woman’s Cajun Chicken on New Year’s Eve – I spent quite a bit of time scouring Norwegian grocery stores looking for Cajun spice mix. It couldn’t be found. However, the power of the Internet came to my aid, with Mary Makes Dinner and Simply recipes each giving off slight variation of Cajun Spice Mix.
Similarly, I just tried my hand at making pizza dough – and the recipe specified a pack of yeast. Yeast does not come in the same size packages in Norway and the US, so figuring out how much should be in there isn’t necessarily easy.
But that’s the beauty of the Internet. You can find out these things, and find substitutes that may work based on flavor profile or consistency.
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New Year’s Eve Menu
Some people eat the same thing each New Year’s Eve. My parents, for example, have landed on the tradition of having tacos (every guest is responsible for one part), whereas others go for turkey or other Norwegian traditions that they didn’t eat on Christmas Eve.
My sister and I have celebrated New Year’s Eve the quiet way for a couple of years now. We watch movies and play board games – helped by the fact that the view from my flat is spectacular once the fireworks starts.
And, we put together a menu of food from various blogs and such that have caught our eyes in the previous year.
Last weekend’s menu:
Brie in puff pastry
Cajun chicken pasta
Mango sorbet and Molten lava cakes.On its own, the mango sorbet was kind of dull, in a refreshing sorbet kind of way, but with the warm, gooey chocolate from the lava cakes, it was perfect.
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Want: Nancy Drew’s lunch
I’m not one of those very particular types – I’d be hopeless at cutting vegetables the same size, and neatly. Never mind the sandwich squares.
However, I find the notion of that particular attention of detail appealing. As is the case with the lunch Nancy Drew brings to school on her first day Nancy Drew
Screenshot from Nancy Drew -
Apple Chutney
Chutneys are becoming one of my favorite things to make – essentially it is just a matter of putting the ingredients into a saucepan and letting them bubble together for a long period. The downside is that the chutneys need to stand for a while to mature, so no instant gratification.
The apple tree in my grandmother’s garden is notorious for producing small cooking apples that are not good for much beyond apple cake.
I decided to try my hand at putting a couple of them into a chutney once I found this recipe.As always, there were modifications as to what were in my pantry, and I’m not a huge fan of sultanas – so I left those out entirely. I also cut down on the amount of onions due to what I had. I reduced the sugar slightly because of it.
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Plum chutney
We’ve had a fair bit of plums outside this year. They’re not as tasty-looking as in previous years, (I am really picky when it comes to eating plums from the tree – they have to look just right, or else I won’t bother) so the obvious thing is to use them as an ingredient in something.I found this recipe in Danish newspaper Politiken’s online archive of recipes. I have adapted it to suit my cupboards (I have limited spices, and as a result, it got a flavor-profile of Christmas/Autumn). Experiment with a bit of chili if you have if. The original recipe states Danish plums, which might be a bit difficult to find elsewhere, so I have adapted. And, apart from taking the stones out of the plums, it is really the simplest recipe there is.
