kitchen spruce up- so far

good evening everyone!  I had planned to have everything in my kitchen put in it's place before I took pictures, but I live in a real home with real people.  My husband and grandson are here,  I'm cooking our supper and if I don't take photos now,  it won't get done today.

so, here is my real kitchen- not ready for Pinterest but just how it is :)

from one end of my kitchen,  it looks into the formal dining room area
on that ledge is the all jalapenos, bell peppers and a little okra my husband picked today. 
also bubbles for the grandchildren to play with in the backyard

and when you turn around,  this is the breakfast nook that we switched over to where our big appliances are. 

The white cabinet holds play dough and other child things,  flashlights, paper towels,  my scented waxes.....

on top is a basket of snacks,  sometimes fresh fruit and cups and straws

this is the only BEFORE photo I took - half of the plastic containers and probably the most messy of all the cabinets I worked on

  After

the cabinet beside that one also holds more Tupperware- most of it is in baskets that can corral the small pieces and be pulled out for easy retrieval

that same cabinet with the baskets pushed in

Dish cabinet- our everyday dishes- most are white Correlle

on the top shelf are disposable plates and bowls as well as soup mugs

next to it is drinking glasses - not much fancy as most of the grands use sippy type cups.  My husband and I prefer big insulated cups that don't sweat in our humidity. 

Baking cabinet- most of the changes in it were on the top shelf so I can store the new salad spinner there.  The Tupperware canisters hold things like flour, sugar, etc

Below it is the where the stone baking things and pots and pans are

I don't think I changed a thing in the Pyrex cabinet

Below that is sort of a no-man's cabinet.  It has hidden storage about 2 feet deep on the left but it is also very hard to reach. 
Now there are just big things stored there that are easy to access- punch bowl, big platters, cake keeper and dome.
The white basket holds  vases. 

Above the stove is where all the drink containers are

to the right of the stove is this narrow cabinet- it holds small baking pans, a grater and chopper

the lower cabinet under it is narrow too.  it holds skillets on one shelf and unbreakable baking pans

the next spot is a nook where the refrigertator is supposed to be. 

Now that upper cabinet holds just glass jars and lids- before it was a just a jumble of junk. 

underneath it is the lower cabinet we added. 
It has a lot of storage and I keep cutting boards,  baking pans and sheets there. I like that the cabinet is tall enough to stand them up like library books.  It makes it easy to retrieve one. 

our kitchen has 2 pantries.  This one holds food top to bottom and I think it is about as full as possible

the bottom part of the food pantry

just across from it is what was supposed to be a broom closet but we add extra shelves and now it holds appliances like a meat slicer, fryer, crock pots, mixer......also medicine and cleaning products on high shelves

I really was cooking supper and I let the spaghetti sauce bubble a bit more than normal- must of happened while I was taking photos.  No harm done, though

I baked a lemon chess pie from the King Arthur site for our supper.  It is delicious but just too rich.  I don't recommend it unless someone just wants a very heavy, rich dessert. 
When we ate,  my husband and grandson and I together ate about 1/4 of it and it was truly all we wanted.  We all are big dessert fans too but this one is very satisfying. 

So,  if you got this far, then you are really interested in other people's kitchens :) 

if you have a question about how I store anything, Ill try to answer. 

Have a good new week, everyone~

Cooking and thrfiting and a little chitchat

hello everyone.  I'm still working on my kitchen but I don't have any photos to share.  I'll try to take them and do that tomorrow.  I did deliver 7 containers of stuff to a thrift store and I have a shopping bag full of my daughter's things to return to her. All of that freed up so much  lot of space.

I cooked a new recipe this week and it was so good!  It's also quick and on thrifty side and is reasonably healthy.   I looked at several similar recipes online for Korean Beef Rice bowls and changed it up to suit the ingredients I have and like----

Korean Beef Rice Bowls 

1 pound of lean ground beef

1/2 onion- diced

2 carrots grated 

3 T low sodium soy sauce

6 T sweet chili sauce 

Brown the beef and drain.  

Add the veggies and cook till softened. 

Add the 2 sauces and some black pepper and cook on low until heated.  

Serve on top of hot cooked rice 

That's it!  

I bought the sweet chili sauce in the Asian section at Walmart.  It is a little sweet, but not nearly as sweet as  sweet and sour sauce, and it is HOT.  So this dish made with this sauce is probably not for children or people who don't like spicy.  

The sweet chili sauce is supposedly what Panda Express uses for their sweet fire chicken.  

More veggies would be good in this like zucchini or celery or bell peppers or water chestnuts. 

My son and I visited a thrift store today and found a few treasures.  

4 Rubber stamps for me- not a necessity but aren't they cute?  I think total they were $7

2 yards of fabric - it's cute too!  but I bought it because of its sentimentality.

This fabric is from a children's clothing factory that used to be in our town.  They sold their extra fabric twice a year and I always went to the sale as things were priced so cheap and it was all very nice quality.  I made an apron from this fabric way back then and I wore it often. 

One of my children would also put on this apron, and tie a bandana on their head, whenever we were doing chores.  - what drama but a fun memory. 

My son was looking for plaid fabric to make a swag for an archway for his apartment for Christmas. 

He didn't find enough fabric but he did find a plaid dust ruffle for just $1.50 as the linens were 1/2 price.  He cut off the plaid part with my fabric scissors and will try it out in his space for size.  He ended up with many yards of nice plaid but it may be too narrow so I may need to do some simple sewing to adjust it. 

He also ordered some things from Pottery Barn and had it delivered to our house.  That is fine with me because we will now get their catalogs in the mail..
Pottery Barn says plaid is the in thing for Christmas decorating this year. 

I can't imagine I will order anything myself but the PB catalogs do have lots of good ideas and pretty photos.  I'll enjoy looking at them. 

My Texas brother recently came to Oklahoma and stayed with my parents. 
So, I took supper to them one night. 
Chicken and Stovetop stuffing casserole - it was baked in pyrex and transferred to plastic for traveling
Baked carrots
Loaf of bread made in ABM
sugar free orange jello with mandarin oranges
and a rustic but delicious blackberry pie made with some of my freezer pie crusts.  One of the crusts "broke" so I used it for the top crust and just went with it

I'll take kitchen cabinet photos tomorrow- I am really happy with how better my kitchen is working. 
Have a good sleep and a good Sunday everyone