Making my kitchen easier to work in

My kitchen is a rectangle. 
Sometimes I had the trash can at one end of the kitchen
and other times I kept it under the sink. 
Then I figured out that for this kitchen.....

It makes clean up and life in general easier
if we have 2 kitchen trash cans.
The bigger one is on the north end of the kitchen
near the stove and by the counter where I do baking.
The smaller one is under the kitchen sink.

Gavin is a big helper with shaking out the new trash bag and putting them in the cans.

I've had the smaller one several years, I don't know if this kind is still being made.
It has notches on the side so that a plastic shopping bag can easily be used for the liner.

Yes,  I have cloth bags that I mostly use when I shop but I still have a quite a stockpile of the shopping bags.
it almost seems that spontaniously accumulate like dust bunnies under the sofa 

Cute food just tastes better



One of my tricks
Pampered Chef Cut and Seal - I don't know if they even still sell them.. I've had this one for at least 10 years
it cuts around the edges, then crimps them to seal in the filling. 

Gavin is a little guy, little for his age. He eats pretty good and because I hope he keeps growing, I try to serve him  foods that are packed with good nutrition for a 2 year old.  I don't think he need any empty calories. 
I am not trying to bulk him up, just feed him what he needs and is best to help him keep growing developing.
He is a big fan of fruit and yogurt.  But he does not seem to eat protein foods to much at my house.  Last week,  I used this PC tool to make his pb on whole wheat.  He smiled when he saw his cute little sandwich and ate it just about fast as little guy should. 

the crusts won't go to waste. 
Our dog usually eats some bread with his supper everynight so I just saved the cut off parts for him.

Gavin's lunch today
PB on whole wheat, low fat cheese and apple sauce.
He had milk, oatmeal and a banana for breakfast.
Mid morning snack was pineapple and crackers.

He happily ate every bite of his lunch.

another masking tape label
the plastic lids on PB fit any standard canning jar
With the label,  if anyone else in this home finishes off the jar, they will remember to save the lid for me. 
thank you Carol -for the tip about the jar lids. 


anyone have any toddler feeding tips for me?