Learning to Love all things Kitchen

In our new place the kitchen was one of the things we compromised on because we were crazy over the living/dining and wonderful outdoor space. It has it's good points, there is a deep freezer which is perfect for my deer hunter and for our veggies and fruit we've already started filling it with. However, the storage is quite pitiful.

This is it. For food and everything.

In all of our other places, even our first little apartment we had TONS of cabinet space and sometimes even a pantry. When we got married my mother in law had us a pampered chef shower and then we also had the usual household shower so we have lots of trinkets and kitchen schtuff. Especially for people who are generally sorta blah about cooking.

We purchased this little pretty at Target and it has made a big difference. We were left with 4 lovely yellow stools from the last place and this allows us to use them, occasionally, with the leaf on the back of said cart.

We still have lots of kitchen stuff in boxes upstairs that we go and rummage through when we need things like casserole dishes.

Drew's next task is to find a way to creatively hang pots and pans to clear out some drawer space. I'm hoping for something like this....

I'm not sure what it is about the new place if it's all the windows or the availability of such fresh ingredients right outside my door or the summer but I've loved cooking as of late.

Sunday we had chicken tacos and Mexican style corn on the cob. It was so fresh and delish. I could eat the slaw mixture with a spoon.

I prefer fish tacos and the recipe I used (found here) is technically for fish tacos but I had no fish on hand and I'm cautious about fixing it. I also did not use the that particular brand of sriracha. 

The corn is sooo easy (I cheat and fix corn on the cob in the microwave, wrap it in a damp paper towel for 1.5 minutes) then I rubbed it with butter. Sprinkled fresh parm a little chilli powder and squeezed lots of lime juice. Oh it is just grand! 

Yesterday I was inspired by The Barefoot Contessa (as I often am but very rarely feel adequate enough to tackle her recipes). Last week she made summer garden pasta and I tried it yesterday. It was so fresh and summery and stinky. As I told Drew this morning there was a cloud of garlic hanging over our bedroom from our stinky garlic breath. But totally worth it. The link above is to a half recipe for 2-3 but Ina's recipe is here. 

We had dinner at the home of a couple we recently met on Monday and I was asked to bring dessert. I was inspired by a new foodie friend I met at the baby shower last weekend to try Accidental Chocolate Cake. 

The cake is gluten free, dairy free, and grain free. It was quite moist, healthy, and still delicious CHOCOLATE. There are not pictures because it didn't last long enough but I'm now a believer in coconut oil which I had never used prior to this recipe. See ya butter!

I'm looking forward to trying out some apple and blackberry recipes which I've recently begun filling our deep freeze with.