My Kitchen

If you have ever wondered why all of my pictures have either the stove or the sink in the background, this post is for you. I have a really small kitchen which I think is the second biggest reason why I don't cook much. When I am working on a project (cooking) the stove top or sink are often included as part of my work surfaces.

(There is about 3 feet of space between one set of counters and the other.)

This is the "wheat" counter where my husband can make his sandwiches and where his toaster and cooking utensils are located.

This is my "gluten-free" counter where I can make my sandwiches and where my toaster and cooking utensils are located.

This counter is where our dirty dishes like to gather. It is a DMZ or no-mans land where I take my chances with food being contaminated with gluten unless I just cleaned it.

There is little storage in this kitchen so I have had to get a little creative about where I keep my flours.

I hope that my next kitchen is a little bigger but with apartments you have to take what you can get.

Starting to feel better

This week has been similar to the Spring cleaning that a lot of people have been doing lately. Unfortunately mine is more of a "clean everything that I have let slide the last several weeks". Not only did I get all of my housework caught up, but last night I made a fancy (for us) dinner. (Sorry, there are no pictures. I was busy enough trying not to burn anything or cut myself.) We had steaks, garlic mashed potatoes, fruit salad, and a green salad.

The steaks were Top Sirloin steaks that I rubbed with salt, pepper and garlic powder and let marinate in a plastic bag in the fridge for several hours. Then we broiled them in the oven. (My husband was home by this time and helped keep an eye on them.)

The garlic mashed potatoes were the ones I have mentioned before, here.

The fruit salad had apples, bananas, strawberries, cantaloupe, honeydew and fresh pineapple. The apples and bananas I dipped in a lime/water mixture to keep them from going brown. (I prefer lime juice over lemon juice because the taste is more subtle.)

The green salad was a simple lettuce, carrots and celery salad with ranch dressing and sunflower seeds.

As you can see compared to some meals this meal sounds simple but there was a lot of chopping involved which previously would mean that I would be so worn out by the time the meal was ready that I wouldn't want to eat. Last night I felt a little tired, but with a good meal behind me I still had the energy to go to a movie and actually enjoy it.

My husband figures that we spent about $10 for the entire meal which is much cheaper than if we had gone out to eat and I didn't have to worry about what might be hiding in my food. We might have to try this again sometime.