It was a dark and dreary day.
I was really bored. Bored with social media. Bored with television, Bored with YouTube. Just flat out bored.
If you can't tell, I'm bored. I have my monthly menu planned out. We shoot for using the ideas about 60% of the time. It seems to help to have some choices written out. So, I cannot plan that out because I already did that.
I was looking through the last blog post I wrote and I was rather horrified at the state of my spice cabinet. I've doubled up on buying several items because they were lost in that rat's nest. Since the weather outside looks like this today:
Bob is out doing some odd job for someone this morning and early afternoon, so it was the perfect time to dive into that nasty looking spice cabinet and make some sense out of it.
So, this is what my spice cabinet looked like.
I took everything out of the middle shelf. I needed to start all over from scratch!
By doing this, I was also able to take a mental inventory of what all I have. I forgot that I had made some 7 Spice. I need to start using my French 4 Spice. I have some Rogan Josh that I need to turn into a delicious Indian curry dish. Just know that as many spices as I have in that cabinet, I have a 2 very full drawers that are full, as well. Persian dried limes, anyone??
One of the features that this fifth wheel has that I dearly love is my pantry. Between that and the bathroom, the underneath storage and the outdoor kitchen...if it weren't for those things, we would have passed on this one. Anyhow, I have to fit all these into one half of a shelf in my pantry. You all know that RV storage is ridiculously small. They were not designed to live in full-time.
This is what it looks like with nothing in there but my spice shelf. I gave everything a quick wipe down. It wasn't too dusty at all.
I organized this, too. I got the stuff that I use all the time up to the front and the other stuff to the back. I find this handy for corralling those bottles that seem to want to float around. Also, if my soy sauce tips over, it's not going to get all over everything. It will stay in that container. We buy gallon bottles of soy sauce and just refill that one. We do the same thing with Worcestershire sauce. I should do it with hot sauce. I'm not sure why I haven't.
There! That's what I like to see! There's a semblance of order! I bought that Everything bagel seasoning when we went to Trader Joe's. I am not really sure what to do with it. If you have any ideas, please leave them below in the comments. I also discovered that I'm very stocked up on Thai green curry paste and Russian mustard. I found a container of beef bouillion cubes, too. Those will come in handy when I make some homemade onion soup mix. I don't buy gravy mixes or onion soup mix any longer. I just make my own.
Yes, I realize that I own a ridiculous amount of spices. Yes, I've already cleared out a ton of them. I gave them to my sister because she loves Penzey's Spices as much as I do. The top row of Penzey's are big bottles with the smaller bottles on top. The other row are small bottles of Penzey's stacked 3 high.
I even have 30 vanilla beans and saffron in there!
Spice cabinet is done!
I'm making baked eggplant parmesan with Russian kielbasa tonight. I'll try to remember to take pictures of that.
Conda here. Not sure how many spices I have but it fills a full cupboard, a full crezenza in the dining area, the top of that credenza has 3 double shelf rotating spice shelves and one single level for my larger things like Bay leaves, Chives and such. I have 3 two level rotating spice shelves on my prep table and one single layer for larger things like my dried kiefer lime leaves, dried galengal and dried lemon grass. My prep table also has some "loose" homemade spice blends and flavored sea salts hanging out. Surprisingly, I dip into them all over time.
ReplyDeleteI've been to your house, but I didn't go through your cabinets..LOL! But I know what you mean. When I cleared out my cabinet, a big grocery bag of Penzey's went to Ginger.
DeleteI have two full kitchen drawers of herbs and spices, and most of them get fairly frequent use. I still think there must be a better way to store them. Maybe in my next kitchen I can get lots of shallow drawers so all the bottles can lie flat so I can see them better. I must have been bored lately too as I have been cleaning out and reorganising bathroom cabinets. It's amazing what you find.
ReplyDeleteI've been doing one small thing at a time. It's my version of spring cleaning. I'm thinking of getting some plastic milk crate things from Walmart and rigging up a better storage for our clothes in the closet. It gets so damp on the back wall. We had to take everything out and wash it last fall. I think if I fold it all up and set those crates on their sides, and have them a few inches out from the back wall, it should solve that problem.
DeleteGo to Dollar Tree and get their damp rid version. I keep them at my Mom's.
DeleteThey don't make enough of a dent at keeping the moisture at bay in there, unfortunately. We tried them. And, now, with me having to use a humidifier in here all the time because of nosebleeds in reverse, it's a nightmare.
DeletePS, Conda again, I have the Everything seasoning from Trader Joe's too, a friend that shops there regularly brought me some to try. I love it sprinkled on my avocado toast, soups, beans & ham, mac & ch casserole and even on garlic bread.
ReplyDeleteWe bought 6 avocados on our last grocery shopping trip. I'll try that!
DeleteEveryone should have Persian dried limes just maybe not a full lb of them. Not sure what I'm doing with a lb of them but I have them lol.
ReplyDelete