Kitchen Pantry {Organize}

When our family moved into this house almost two years ago, it was a very sudden and quick move due to some major issues with our last home. Because of all the work that went into packing and unpacking a house within 10 days (or less), I wasn't feeling very eager to organize my pantry or closets when we moved in. So over the last 2 years I've done small projects here and there, but mostly I've just closed the door and pretended like they don't exist... Such as our kitchen pantry.

This pantry is such a black hole. Things go in but they never seem to come out. Each shelf is over 2' deep and not very wide. If I buy something that is needed for a recipe (such as the panko bread crumbs below), I sit them on the edge of the shelf until I need them. If something crazy happens and they work their way further back on the shelf, I'll never find them and I just end up buying more the next time I need them.

Here's a good look at them in all their unorganized glory...

Last week I finally broke down and decided to get organized. I pulled out our camping table from the garage and set it up next to the pantry.

By the way, in the background you can see my super cute, mustard, Timi & Leslie (Diaper) Bag. Amazing. Seriously.

Then I gutted the pantry. I organized the food into different categories as I went (pasta, baking, canned goods, snacks...),and tossed out randomly collected items from the last two years.

I was pleasantly surprised (and a bit baffled) to find:

-8 glass storage canisters, empty and ready to be filled

-10 packages of pasta

-9 cans of chicken (Amy Johnson, I bought these after you made me some really yummy chicken salad at your house... seriously, how long ago was that!!)

-3 canisters of oatmeal

-3 bags of brown sugar 

 3 bags of powdered sugar AND

-6 different types of flour. 

Look at that, there is a back to this pantry!

And yes, I do line my shelves in my pantry with floor tiles (my Grammy makes me!). It makes them easy to clean & dust, plus the cans and bags of food don't stick. It also looks a lot better. All of my kitchen cabinets that house pots & pans get the same treatment, along with the cabinet under my kitchen sink.

All that was left to do was to put it all back on the shelves. I had several large, metal, pull out shelves that I picked up at a garage sale. They're ideal for such deep pantries. I put them in first, then found homes for the remaining items.

I tossed my bags and boxes of rice and couscous into a basket so they would be kept neat and tidy. I also added a piece of wood in the back to be used as a small shelf to make the items in the back more visible.

I kept the oatmeal and cereal in their jars and added little chalkboards I had lying around to the pull out bins and baskets.

The metal baskets really are fantastic. Here is something similar if anyone is interested. I was able to snag mine for $20 for the set. I almost passed because I didn't want to spend $10 on each shelf. I'm glad I went for it now!

There you have it! It makes me happy every time I open that door. Of course this led to cleaning out my cooking drawers... Who needs spring cleaning? It makes a lot more sense for me to clean in the fall, right before the holiday season when my kitchen and oven are working overtime!

Not Your Average Chicken Pot Pie {Recipe}

Hey all! I'm here to share my first recipe. This originated as a chicken and biscuits recipe from Cooks Country Magazine about 4 years ago. I always thought the biscuits dried out the recipe so I altered the recipe and replaced the biscuits with pie crusts and the outcome was just perfect. It's easy to make, freezes perfectly, and is easily one of the most requested dinners from my kiddos. 

Ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken- skin discarded

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 packages Boursin cheese (garlic & fine herb)

1-2 cups frozen veggies

salt and pepper to taste

1 package pie crust

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

In a large pot tear chicken into bite size pieces (I only use the white meat, but you can use the light and dark meat if you like). Then the frozen veggies go in.

I add about 2 cups of veggies but you can add less if you're not crazy about them.

Add chicken broth and heavy cream, along with the boursin cheese.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Break up the large chunks of cheese with a fork.

At this point we decided to make a double batch and freeze the other half for another time. Gracie does most of the chicken tearing in our house, it kinda grosses me out!

Move the pot to the stove and simmer over medium heat until everything melts and comes together.

While that is warming up, line your pie pan with the bottom pie crust. I use Trader Joe's pre made pie crust (they're delicious!), but if you would prefer to make it by hand you can. For the record, my pie crust has never looked this bad before! I was being impatient and didn't let it get to room temperature before working with it. It doesn't matter what it looks like, it'll still taste great.

Here is the mixture after about 5 minutes. It doesn't need to heat up for long, you're just trying to get the cheese to melt.

After about 5 minutes, remove the mixture from the stove and pour into the pie crust. I put half in a container to freeze and the other half in my pie crust.

Take the other pie crust and lay it on top gently. Make sure your pie crust is not cold, it's just too hard to work with when it's cold.

Trim the edges and pinch to seal them.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 45-55 minutes. Cover the top with foil if it begins to brown too quickly.

Enjoy!

Let me know if you end up making this, I'd love to hear how you liked it.

Back to the basics {Cooking)

I've been wanting to add cooking to the blog for quite some time but wasn't sure if anyone would be interested. Well, several people have mentioned putting recipes and cooking posts on here so I thought I'd try it out. I figured I'd just start with my basics and go from there. 
I'll start with my 3 favorite (basic) cooking ingredients. These are my go-to, must have, can't live without items in my kitchen. Salt. Pepper. Olive oil.
First up, salt! What's so special about salt you ask? Well, it's one of those ingredients that if you use a good quality salt you'll find you don't need as much and the food doesn't taste overly salty, it tastes properly seasoned. It is by far my most highly recommended ingredient for improving your cooking.
These are my everyday salts. I also have a few flavored salts that I've picked up while traveling or got as gifts but these are the two most used in our home.
Kosher Flake Salt from Sur La Table (currently in my kitchen, but I think I may like Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt even more.)I use this salt in my everyday cooking and seasoning. I love the flaky texture and it's light, not overly hard and crunchy.

I tried to get a close up so you can see the texture of the salt. Even though the salt flakes are larger than traditional table salt, the taste isn't as strong. I was recently reading a cooking article that said most recipes you find are created using more mild salts such as this, and one cup of fine table salt can weigh almost twice as much as one cup of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, meaning it would be twice as salty. You can read more on that over at Smitten Kitchen. 

My other favorite is gray salt. I always get my gray salt from Napa Style. I like the one pound tin, it lasts quite a long time and is definitely worth the $20. My favorite uses for this kind of salt are to sprinkle it on veggies, salad, or grilled chicken. It's also the best for finishing a meal with a light sprinkling of this coarse salt.

As Michael Chiarello said "If you change just one thing about your cooking, make it the salt.". Well said.

Next up is pepper, not just any pepper, the freshly ground pepper is always the best. I don't have much to say about this, but the fresh stuff does have a bit more flavor and punch. That's my stainless pepper mill in the picture below.

And last, but not least, olive oil. Oh sweet olive oil. When I cook or have to add olive oil to a recipe I usually go for whatever Trader Joe's olive oil I have on hand. But, if I'm making salad dressing or finishing a meal with a drizzle of olive oil then I love using Petrou Foods Unfiltered Olive Oil. The taste is so smooth and it's absolutely perfect when preparing uncooked food. I buy it local at the farmers market in Laguna Beach but you may be able to buy it on their website if interested.

That pretty much sums up my top 3 favorite cooking ingredients. I have a few favorite recipes I'll be putting up here soon like the most amazing Poppyseed Salad with Strawberries, seriously the best salad I've ever had!!