Have you organized your kitchen in the last few years? With most of us spending more time at home I feel like we are all trying to make our spaces more organized and pretty. Once you organize your kitchen it doesn’t stay that way unless you tend to it on a regular basis. What are the best ways to keep your kitchen organized? Check out my tips below.  1. Did you label everything when you originally organized your kitchen? If not now is the time to go ahead and take that extra step, especially if you live with other people. Not everyone will pay attention to where you originally put stuff but if there…

Sometimes it can seem really difficult to get enough fruits and vegetables in my meals. I get frustrated trying to think of new ways to eat them. However, I have realized over time that the simplest ways to include more fruits and vegetables into your diet are normally the easiest to do. You don’t need complicated recipes or crazy fad diets, just some simple steps and you won’t even notice the change you make.  1. Prep your produce as soon as you get home from the grocery store.  After grocery shopping most of us our tired and don’t want to clean and prep our produce, however, it is so much easier to grab…

Are you starting to feel cooking burnout? I know I have definitely been struggling with cooking burnout off and on over the last two years. Since the pandemic started I felt like I was cooking almost all meals. Sometimes I felt so overwhelmed planning and cooking meals that I would hit a wall. When that happened I would take a few weeks and use up our freezer meals and do some takeout. This break allows me to recharge and then coming back to cooking is more enjoyable. After the apartment fire it took me about a month to get back into cooking and the break was good for me.  Do you handle all…

Cookbooks can bring so much joy in your life but how do you store something that you use often? Lots of home cooks have their favorite way to store their cookbooks. How do you know if you are really storing your cookbooks the best way for you? Below are six great ways to store your cookbooks that allow you options in and out of your kitchen.  1. Store cookbooks in a separate bookshelf just for them. If you have the space this is my favorite way to store cookbooks if you have a lot of them. The bookshelf doesn’t even need to be in the kitchen, it could be in a dining room,…

How do you know which cookbook to pick for yourself with so many options releasing each month? It can be a daunting task but I have 5 tips below that will help you get the best cookbook for you.  1. Determine your skill level. Are you a novice? Will this be the first cookbook you own or do you own a ton of cookbooks? Do you get overwhelmed in the kitchen? All of these questions help you determine your skill and comfort level in the kitchen. Don’t worry there are cookbooks out there for all skill levels.  2. Decide what cuisine or technique you are interested in. Do you want to learn a…

Do you find yourself struggling trying to remember what produce is in season when? I know I go through this all the time. Going to the local farmers market is something I love to do as it doesn’t require me to remember what’s in season, but sometimes it’s not an option. Our farmers market doesn’t open for a few more weeks so I am always thinking about what’s in season when in the grocery store.  Below is a breakdown of the different produce that is in season by season. Remember in some areas growing times are much longer or much shorter so you may have less or more availability of some items.  I…

Have you ever found a recipe you want to make and realize it makes enough for four but you only need enough for two? Or do you have the opposite problem the recipe is for two but you have a family of six? If so I am sure you have googled the measurements you need to convert to make the recipe work for your family. I used to find myself doing this all the time.  Most recipes can easily be adjusted to fit your family. The big exception is for recipes that call for an odd amount of eggs – if you are trying to reduce the amount it is impossible to accurately…

Everyone who cooks or bakes has those disasters they can remember like it was yesterday. The most experienced chefs can still experience a kitchen disaster. I have had many disasters of the years and below are my top five disasters and tips to help you prevent them.  5. Set bread on fire toasting it with the broiler. I have always been a little skittish when using the broiler as I never wanted to set anything on fire. Well one night it happened – I put my bread to close to the broiler and all of a sudden I could smell it burning. I looked in the oven and my bread was on fire.…

Over the years I have owned many different blenders all in search of finding the best blender. I have bought them from many stores including Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Best Buy and Sur La Table. Every brand claims to have the best blender at their price point. I have realized that you do really get what you pay for. When you buy an inexpensive blender you don’t know if it will blend your smoothie completely or be able to really blend hot soup. Most of the time it doesn’t work very well.  I spent some time when living in St. Louis working for Sur La Table and it was there that I…

One thing recipes have in common is that they all include a cooking method. Some home chefs are confident and understand every type of cooking method. However, for some home chefs they could really use some clarification as to what each method means. Below is a list of thirteen often used cooking methods and their descriptions.  Bake Merriam-Webster Definition: to cook by dry heat especially in an oven.*  Bake is one of the most common directions in recipes. If you want to make a cake or brownies you need to bake them. You can also bake chicken or fish in the oven. The term bake can be used for regular ovens, pizza ovens, convection…