apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The good - I've cleaned the frig out and gotten rid of the processed foods. Not so good - The cupboards need some work and I still have to roast that chicken. It may be more like a 12 week challenge for me. :-)

Is there any way we can help with the cupboards, short of a visit, amm1029?

We do have a good post about jars and storage coming up soon.

I'm doing well because I'm holding myself to a lower standard than I might have in the past. Not only do I cook constantly, I have a 2-year-old who is now cooking with me. We make a mess. She loves to crack eggs (in a pie plate) and whisk (in the biggest bowl I have, and she still can cause a batter tsunami when she gets going). I didn't feel like making soup, so I've been tossing roasted carrots into her/my/our food. So my kitchen is getting "cured" but it sure isn't perfect!

I'm most of the way through cleaning out, have been restocking as possible, and cooking (and cleaning up afterwards) regularly. My problem is that the rest of the cleaning out/fixing up involved moving my ridiculously oversized fridge and other furniture pieces around, so that has to wait until I can properly bribe strong friends to come over (mostly it's been scheduling issues).

this week i roasted a chicken. it was my first experience with a pasture raised chicken, which i got at the farmer's market. yesterday i made stock from it. i think i'll make soup tomorrow. i'm just still not sure what soup to make. now that it's feeling more like spring i want something light, not chicken and dumplings, which is what i usually make. although, there's talk it will snow here (portland) on saturday, so maybe dumplings are in order...

my photos are here: http://threadtrace.wordpress.com/

I'm behind on the cooking and the pictures departments, but the reorganization has gone well (is going), and I'm working on the, well, not really re-stocking, since I'm trying to switch to more cooking with these great CSA vegetables I'm getting. More cilantro, basil and parsley, arugula and some other green, and a big bunch of radishes. I'm still planning to do my roasting this Saturday, and I'm going to throw a few radishes into the roasted vegetable mix. I've run into a few recipes for roast radishes, and they sound great. I've never cooked radishes before, only eaten them raw. I promise to take pictures.

Thanks Faith - really it's just a matter of getting a couple hours to set aside and go through and organize the cupboards. I may finally get to do that this weekend. THe post on jars and storage sounds great. As another one of those people with a tiny kitchen, any storage ideas are welcome. I love the small kitchen posts - it's amazing what people have done and I've gotten some really good ideas.

I asked for the knife skills tips and I'd still be happy to see you guys cover that! Also looking forward to the storage post. I'm ALMOST finished rearranging and organizing, but I've been so broke that all improvements have to be free, and there are certainly some inexpensive things that could help me along. I'm also still behind, and haven't done the roast chicken yet. At the earliest it will be on Sat. night, but that would be ok - we could do the stock on Sunday then.

Definitely enjoying the Kitchen Cure, although I didn't help myself by trying to do both the regular cure AND the kitchen cure at the same time! c'est la vie!

Mine was coming along okay but last weekend I bought way too much produce and I'm feeling overrun. Looking forward to getting back to the farmers market, though.

Not sure how the next few weeks will go, though, since it's also exam period for me.

I'm still organizing the pantry although I did get it cleaned out. I need a solution for storing baking pans and pot covers, I want to build a rack for the top shelf of my pantry for stand up storage but am not sure how to go about it.I bought a rack but it's kind of lame I know I could build a better one myself. Also like renata I have finals coming up and am pressed for time. I bought a bunch of carrots this week and am planning on roasting them this weekend and making some kind of soup with them.

I'm pretty well up to date on the cure. I procrastinated and just cleaned out and reorganized my 2 most problematic cupboards the other day.

Maybe some info on freezing/storing foods, for when you want to stock up on in-season produce would be useful?

Also, I'm busily planning my backyard vegetable garden, so my thoughts are turning to useful information on how to grow some of your own food, athough I do lize that this is not feasible for everyone.

The minus:

I have to admit my fridge has become cluttered again after our BBQ this past weekend. I really need to go through it and purge.

The plus:

Finished the "roast chicken challenge" last night with ingredients purchased almost all locally

Picked up some under-cabinet lights from Ikea and plan on installing them this weekend.

Used up some old bananas and rum leftover from the BBQ for Bananas Foster last night. Still might have enough left for some Bananas Foster Bread...

I cooked off twice as much farro than I needed for the salad last night, anyone have anything exciting in mins that I could do woth the rest?

I haven't tackled Week 4 yet (roasting a chicken), but I'm interested. The problem is, I've never done this and feel like I need some more basic instructions than what I've seen so far. Even just a suggestion of a good (reliable) website to visit to learn where to start would be helpful.

Would love more suggestions and reccomendations on using pantry-staples and making something new from leftovers, rather than having to buy ingredients every time. Cost efficiency, stretching ingredients, while still making healthful tasty foods.

I did not have the chance to roast a chicken and make stock, so I used the incredibly great Chicken Soup recipe from "Perfect Recipes For Having People Over." It involves dolling up store bought stock by simmering it with the carcass of a store-bought rotisserie chicken picked clean. You use the chicken in the soup and the carcass and skin to flavor the stock - it's a great way to use it all and it helps on the time factor. Then it only takes another thirty minutes and you have dinner on the table.

I asked for a lesson on how to properly dice an onion and I would seriously love to see your take on that. I always feel so incredibly awkward when I cut an onion and I'm sure someday I will cut myself.

KLS987, here's one of my favorite roast chicken recipes.

http://myhusbandhatesveggies.wordpress.com/2007/08/24/how-to-roast-a-chicken/#more-179

I made the roast chicken this week, complete with roasted veg, but I don't have time to make my own stock this time. Plus, it's just too hot here for that right now!

Thanks, Nougat, for the link! I'm trying it next Saturday with a chicken from our local butcher, and have high hopes this will turn out OK. Any encouragement and support is appreciated!

I've not been going in order (naughty of me, I know). I've cleaned out the fridge and started stocking up a little (CI - recommended evoo/vinegar only in the pantry now). I roasted vegetables, but no chicken. The pantry still needs work. And I've already been on a bread-baking kick for months now.

I'll get there eventually, I just like to think of it as taking the scenic route.

cleverpseudonym, did you make stock after roasting the chicken? You could use the leftover farro to make soup. I think there may even be a recipe for farro soup with sausage and kale somewhere here on the site.