Kitchen Patrol: Dirty to Clean in 10 Minutes

The summer after my Freshman year in college, I worked at a summer camp as a "kitchie". KP duty for a whole month. While it wasn't the most glamorous job- it taught me a lot. The kitchen was huge and had to be kept very clean and very organized. We ran a tight ship and meals and clean up were always really efficient. I loved that everything had its place and that there was a process and procedure for everything. It fit well with my Type-A tendencies.

I'm far from my college days but a few lessons from that summer have stuck with me.

Despite my best intentions, my kitchen now goes from nice and neat to chaos in the blink of an eye. With 4 people in and out all day it doesn't take long before my kitchen looks like this:
**Warning: It's about to get real!

This is what breakfast, lunch, and baking a snack looks like in my world!

This would logically be a major cause of stress. However, I have a few tricks that help me turn that mess into a clean kitchen in 10 minutes. Here's how:

First, I unload the dishwasher. This is made easier by the Pampered Chef Tool Turn-About. I don't have to sort cooking utensils or shove them into drawers. They quickly slip into one of the compartments and I'm done.

My cast iron skillet lives on my stove. I cook with it almost every day. There's no sense in burying it in a cabinet. Speaking of cabinets, I make sure my kitchen cabinets are organized efficiently.

After I unload the dishwasher, I re-load it. Shocking, I know. The important note here is that I only un-load and re-load once a day. Yep, that's right. I don't like to do this chore, so I do it daily and I let the dirty dishes pile up on one side of the sink. Sometimes not everything fits, so the "extra dishes" stay on the right side of the sink waiting their turn. I realize that this won't work for everyone but it's one of my sanity saving tricks.

Loading the dishwasher typically clears 1/2 of my counter space. The other 1/2 is cleared by putting things in their place and throwing away trash. I'm not sure how so much trash ends up on the counter- mere feet from the trash can. It's one of life's mysteries.

I save time putting things away because I keep my most used stuff on the counter. My tool turn-about, my canisters, knife block, etc. This eliminates the step of having to pick them up and put them away- it's more efficient. Now I don't take this too far. There are a lot of things that are still out of sight, what you see are the things I use daily and they are pretty :-)

Once everything has found its home and the dishwasher is running, I take the last 45 seconds to wipe the counters down with Clorox Wipes. Man, are these things amazing! They make quick work of stuck on food, crumbs, and spills. I love how they go from counter to sink to stove. This is the real secret to how fast I can clean my kitchen- they just make it so easy!

So there you have it. 10 minutes, once a day, clean kitchen tips and tricks. Once a week I clean the floors and sink to stay on top of things. But I love having a clean kitchen every evening!

What's your secret to a cleaner, more efficient kitchen? I'd love to know!

How to Season Stoneware

I've mentioned my stoneware collection a few times. It's great for cooking and baking so many things. Cookies are way better on stoneware!

One of the things about stoneware is that it gets better age. In order to make sure your stoneware lasts and has a good non-stick finish, it's important to season it properly the first 2-3 times you use it.

Depending on what you will be using your stoneware for you will need either olive oil if it's mostly cooking savory things or canola/vegetable oil if you'll be using it for baking sweet treats. A good basting brush is nice to have, but you can also use a paper towel.

Simply use the brush or paper towel to apply a very thin layer of oil to the stoneware, you don't want it to think or it will affect the taste of your recipe.

Oil the stoneware like this before placing it in the oven the first 2-3 times you use it until you start to see a darker brown coming through.

Can you tell I use this to bake cookies? A lot.

Once the stoneware starts to turn color you'll know it's ready to go! The more you use it the deeper the brown color will be. I've seen some stoneware that's completely black. I'm in awe of those cooks!

Happy cooking everyone! Enjoy your Easter weekend!

The Importance of Quality Cookware

**This is not a sponsored post. Just a few of my favorite things and the reasons why I love them, all opinions are my own.

Jess and I talk a lot about cooking and baking for our families. This is something we both enjoy. I think that one of the reasons we enjoy it is because we have been cooking and baking long enough that we have gotten to be good at it. Neither one of us is about to open a restaurant or anything, but when it comes to cooking for our families, we got this.

We each have our stories of failure. Forgetting ingredients, burning things beyond recognition, things happen.

Luckily, those mishaps don't happen to as often as they used too. In college, I'm pretty sure my roommates though I was delusional when I told them I could make dinner. If it wasn't spaghetti, there was a good chance it wasn't as good as I promised it would be. Part of the problem was likely my cooking novice. But I'd also like to believe that the biggest issue was the equipment I was working with. A poor college kid looking for a cheap apartment doesn't care about the quality of the appliances. A poor college kid also cannot afford Le Creuset. Thus, a poor college kid is more likely to mess up dinner. Good logic, right?

Nowadays, there are certain things I will splurge on. I don't have a lot of expensive cookware, but there are a few select pieces that I have justified, and some have been gifted to me. The quality of the cookware makes a huge difference in the quality of the meals I make.

Le Creuset French Oven

I am very fortunate to have relatives who understand my love language. I got my Le Creuset french oven for my birthday. What a difference enamel coating makes! This is a piece of cookware that I use for everything from spaghetti sauce, to taco meant, to soup and chili. It's really versatile.

How is improves your cooking

Even heating (you'll see this over and over again). It is important to have cookware that spreads the heat evenly over the bottom of the pan. With a french oven, the heat is also evenly distributed around the sides keeping sauces and soups evenly cooked. If you don't have even heating, you won't have even cooking- spots of your ground beef will brown faster than others, this leads to undercooking or burning.

Another great thing about this is that the enamel coating let's you use any ingredient- even acidic tomatoes- without ruining the finish or having to worry about things sticking to the pan.

It's also pretty enough to go from stove top to table top- always a good thing!

Pampered Chef Stoneware

I have a couple of pieces of Pampered Chef Stoneware. I love them all. They aren't too expensive either. This rectangle baker is one of my go-to pieces. I bake chicken, veggies, meatloaf, and just about anything else in this.

How it improves your cooking

Even heating, again- very important!

Stoneware is also non-stick, this is great for making sure things don't burn in the oven (as long as you don't leave them in there too long). A well seasoned piece of stoneware is pretty much black as it darkens with every use. As you can see, the top edges of mine are getting close to that point. The more "seasoned" the less you have to worry about sticking.

Because stoneware is slightly porous, there is the opportunity for well seasoned stoneware to give dishes a deeper flavor. Every time you use stoneware it just gets better.

Lodge Cast Iron Skillet

This is not an expensive piece of cookware, it is a necessity. Mine never leaves my stovetop because, chances are, if I am cooking dinner, I am using my cast iron skillet. Well, unless I'm making something with tomatoes- don't use tomato anything in cast iron.

How is improves your cooking

Even heaitng. Enough said.

Jess mentioned using cast iron to help boost your iron absorption. Always a good thing.

Cast iron is just so versatile. If you are a beginner and want to improve your cooking, buy a cast iron skillet and keep it seasoned. You'll notice a difference.

Stainless Steel Stock Pot

I received this gem as a wedding gift. Seven and a half years later and I'm still grateful for it! It holds a lot, or a little, boils, steams, stews, simmers... you get the point. It's a great piece. There is a nested cook-in strainer for pasta and potatoes as well as a steaming basket. So many uses for one stock pot. It's awesome. {since mine is over 7 years old, I can't find the exact product, but here's a similar one from the same company)

How is improves your cooking

Can you boil water? If yes, then you can cook a lot with this pot! If no, this is a great pot to learn the basics.

When cooking pasta or potatoes it's important to have a lot of water. These starchy foods absorb a lot of water while cooking so it's important to have way more water than food. Using a pot of this size allows you to have a good water to starch ratio.

This is also a great pot for simmering soups, stews or chilis over low heat for an hour or so. It holds heat well so you can keep the burner on a lower setting and even though you will need to stir, your food can simmer slowly for a bit without burning or going cold.

These are a few of my favorite things. I love them all, and I love the dishes I'm able to make for my family with them.

What's your favorite piece of cookware?

My Favorite Kitchen Canisters

I know how simple it sounds, but canisters make me happy. 

If you combine my love for baking with my love for containers, you can see how kitchen canisters would be one of my favorite things. That's not strange, right?

I've been on the look out for a canister set recently because I might have shattered one of my old canisters leaving me with an incomplete set. 

This is no easy task. Apparently I'm picky about kitchen canisters- who knew? I thought that finding big glass canisters would be easy but I was wrong. Most plain glass canisters out there are small and can't hold a whole bag of flour. Not ok. 

We don't have The Container Store where I live (so sad) so anytime I pass one- like on a recent trip to Dallas- I stop in and have a look around.

I'm so excited about the canisters I found! I bought glass canisters (or hermetic jars, tomato-tomato?) with air tight lids. These two features are especially important because I live in a humid climate. 

I have 4 canisters: 2 large ones for whole wheat and AP flour; a medium size for sugar; and a smaller size for brown sugar. I also bought a 1/2 cup metal scoop so I can easily measure my flour, sugar, and brown sugar.

I am still debating on adding chalk labels. I really like the clean look they have now. 

These babies have become one of my favorite things in my kitchen. I'm really happy with them. 

Thank goodness for The Container Store!

Happy Friday, friends.