All Things Kitchen

This is post is all about the kitchen (and food). My kitchen is used as often as anyone else's so it's kind of important to have a nice space to work in. When we first bought this house over three years ago, it looked like this (really, much MUCH filthier than the pictures show):

The dirt you see on the cabinets was actually a goop of some kind that had to be scraped off....

But we saw arched doorways and a hell of a view so we figured a little scrubbing would be worth it.

Soon enough (thank you Laura for your help on this one), our kitchen was clean, painted and looked something like this (ignore the floor board that needed to be replaced at the time this picture was taken):

Better, no? Well that white did not stand the test of time and a coat of paint (among other unseen things Bryan did to get it up to snuff) still did not equate to a dishwasher somehow. So we moved forward a few years later. See that white box off to the right of the sink in the below picture? A dishwasher!! Have I mentioned I'm pretty excited about it? :)

Here is where the stove used to be (right under the pots and pans):

And here it is now, with the over-the-range microwave (we used to have an old big brown microwave way off under the stairs on the other side of the kitchen). We also painted the cabinets and replaced the floor.

Over the course of the next year or so, Bryan will build new cabinets to replace these old ones. For now, though, these work perfectly and I'm in no rush (Bryan, you didn't read that). There goes the sound of the dishwasher again....oh happy day.

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For the past few months I've been trying to remember to jot down what we had for dinner each night. Prior to this idea, I tried blogging recipes and photographing everything I made. I quickly realized a thing or two about food blogging. First, food photography is a serious art (and I'm usually not accused of being an artist of any kind) and second, I found that if I'm going to take the time to blog I want most of my posts to be about my kids (save for a few like this one) so it just plain old didn't work out. 

I still liked the idea of having a way to look back at the things I've made, though. I often look in my cabinets feeling stumped, so I thought if I compiled a list I could always go back to it for inspiration. Then at book club the hostess had on her chalkboard a few of the things she planned to make that week; between the meal she made for us and the chalkboard of ideas, a few of us were a little less stumped at dinnertime the next day. So, while it's on my mind, I thought I would share my list. Maybe it'll spark an idea for you (or me)!

This isn't a complete list, as I repeated some things and surely forgot to write down even more, but here you have it:

Broccoli cheese soup with cheese-sun dried tomato-grilled onion sandwiches on ciabatta bread

Avocado-cream cheese-tomato sandwiches on (leftover) ciabatta bread & miso soup with tofu and mushrooms

Butternut squash and cream cheese filled egg rolls with cranberry sauce

Homemade pizza

Spaghetti

Wild rice with lentils and mushrooms

Vegetable stew

Breakfast egg rolls

Tortilla pizza with hummus, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms

Cashew mac and "cheese"

Lentil Loaf

Quinoa with kidney beans and coconut milk

Asian salad with tofu and rice 

Spaghetti squash topped with pesto and diced tomatoes

Refried beans with shredded cheese and rice, black beans and corn burritos

Butternut squash soup with a quinoa apple medley and homemade potato chips

Pesto pasta topped with fried eggs and roasted broccoli 

Homemade pizza - one vegan, one cheese

Tofu stir fry with bok choy, mushrooms, onion and quinoa

Falafels on salad with tahini lemon dressing

BBQ seitan, roasted sweet potato rounds and roasted broccoli

"Chicken" nuggets (seitan) and roasted potatoes

Lettuce wraps with broccoli slaw, bok choy, tofu and rice noodles

Hard shell tacos with garbanzo beans

It's amazing how DIFFERENT this list looks now versus what it would have looked like two years ago!