Recently on The Rudolph Family Tree, Miranda posted a recipe for a Cranberry Orange Pork Loin. I emailed her, requesting the recipe. At the bottom of her reply, she talked about meal planning and how she started doing it one week at a time, then moved on to a full month. I... was inspired. I went on to Outlook Office and printed off a blank - December calendar, and planned meals for the last 2 weeks of the month. As I filled out the calendar, I went through my pantry and freezer to see what my meals would require. And that's when I hit the spice cabinet. Ohhhh the spice cabinet. The great abyss, chock full of crap we bought, inherited, and were given. The shelves had spots sticky with an unknown goo, and dried spice crumbs all over. It did smell pretty good. I started out by emptying the entire cabinet onto the counter. That shiny silver thing in the background with tomato's on it... is my prized latte maker. You should pick one up :)
I should have taken a photo of the cabinet BEFORE I emptied it out, but the idea of blogging this project didn't strike me until AFTER I had covered the counter. My DH thought I was positively off my rocker as I was shooting photos of crap we cook with.
Inquiring minds want to know... how many of you have this Zehnders chicken seasoning in your cabinet? I highly suggest you get one if you don't. It's awesome on split chicken breasts, roasted in the oven!
Aahhh look! In typical Valerie fashion... I have items in multiples. Did I ever tell you I found 6, yes SIX cans of shortening in my pantry once? Every time I made butter cream frosting, I kept buying a new one. Needless to say the garbage was very heavy that week.
As with the Zehnders, everyone could use a good ole' "butt massage". Takes pork to a totally new level!
Aahhh look! In typical Valerie fashion... I have items in multiples. Did I ever tell you I found 6, yes SIX cans of shortening in my pantry once? Every time I made butter cream frosting, I kept buying a new one. Needless to say the garbage was very heavy that week.
Raisins... in the spice cabinet. Who'd a thunk it?
Hmmm... here's an interesting find. Do the math.
Hmmm. Another interesting thing I came across. They are the SAME THING!!!
Yep. Valerie's been here.
Hmmm... here's an interesting find. Do the math.
Hmmm. Another interesting thing I came across. They are the SAME THING!!!
Yep. Valerie's been here. 
These are from the Weber Grill restaurant in Chitown. Dennis and I practically beat each other up over this sampler platter that you could lick clean. The awesome waitress gave us a hand full of seasoning packets. This is all that is left.
I was never so happy to throw so much out. My fresh new garbage bag was 1/2 full by the time I was finished. I cleaned the shelves, and restocked the cabinet. The riser shown is from... Target I think. It raises your spices up so you can see them. It extends to almost any cabinet width. TIP: If you store your spices upside down, the spice pushes the air out of the bottle and keeps it out, thus keeping your spices fresher longer. My TS spices are inverted because they contain no preservatives.
This... This was a rare find. First off... this archaic spice came from a store that is no longer in business... Farmer Jack.
Having completed this project, my 2 weeks of planned meals sailed through amazingly. Now I'm working on planning out the month of January, but suddenly I feel like a one hit wonder.
This... This was a rare find. First off... this archaic spice came from a store that is no longer in business... Farmer Jack.
Secondly... it is older than my 10 year old.
It expired in... 1998. How... in the world... did it get there?
I haven't even lived in this HOUSE... that long!! I should have kept it. Just because.
Having completed this project, my 2 weeks of planned meals sailed through amazingly. Now I'm working on planning out the month of January, but suddenly I feel like a one hit wonder. And the Cranberry Orange Pork Loin? It was down right fricken awesome!
Do you have any recipes to share to make my life a bit easier?
Happy 2010 blogger buddy!!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE THIS POST!!
I was LOL at work, the randomness of the spice cabinet - the abyss of smells and goo that can only be created by conjuring a million different seasonings in one place. I've considered making a hybrid spice with all mine!!
And yes, I have Zender's seasoning. It's one of the staples (as long as it doesn't get buried behind all the others!)
I was just complaining about my spice cupboard. Everytime I cook and I have to get at a spice I haven't used recently spice bottles are falling on my head. I have those tiered shelves, but I still can't see what is on the back row.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE how you posted your project!!! Glad you menu planner idea worked for you. :)
ReplyDeleteI also have dilemma's with the spice cabinet, although I have a drawer, which is a HUGE pain because I have to pick up about 50 bottles before I actually get the right one. Have to figure something else out!
oooo, oooo, I have an answer for the spice drawer! Someone told me this once, but I don't have a spare drawer.
ReplyDeleteUse a label maker to label the tops of the spices, then you don't have to pull them out to find what you are looking for.
Awesome idea Mel!! Who'd a thunk it! lol
ReplyDelete