The Kitchen Junk Drawer. Or, I Forgot I Had A Garlic Press!

I picked up Green Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck at the bookstore the other day. I've been reading/skimming through it. I appreciate her thrifty approach to being green. It's less Martha Stewart and more "I'm busy but I still want my home neat and clean without using chemicals!"

The first part of the book is on organization and she suggested using cardboard from old food boxes (cereal, crackers, etc) to create your own custom drawer organizers. Recycling AND organization that doesn't cost me more than the cost of the tape I already have. I'm in.

So, I present to you my newly reclaimed kitchen drawer. The things I use the most I put up front. I rediscovered that I own such things as a garlic press, a biscuit cutter, and a cheese slicer. What treasures! And, now I don't have to go digging around the entire drawer for my 1/8 tsp measuring spoon - I just have to dig around the first little cubby hole on the right! Amazing. Really.

Materials

Before

After

The beaters for the electric mixer have always been a problem in this drawer as if they do not have their own "floor" space they do not fit - they can't be on top of anything else. I used to just shove stuff around until I got some empty space. Hopefully this will work better. I've got the little "grease catcher" for the George Foreman Grill on top of some corn on the cob holders (which will come in handy when I once again get my corn and worms this Wednesday *shudder*). I was looking for those corn things last week and couldn't find them in the drawer! Stuff that I rarely use (cake decorating supplies, the turkey baster) are way in the back.

Now go see what stuff you can take out of boxes in your cabinets so you can organize your junk drawer too! ,

For When You Need Chocolate Cake NOW

A friend showed me a link to a 5-minute chocolate cake you bake in the microwave. (No. Really) So, of course I had to try this out.

You can find the recipe here: http://www.dizzy-dee.com/recipe/chocolate-cake-in-5-minutes

I whipped up a quick peanut butter frosting recipe to spread on top:

2 Tbs softened butter (room temp)

1/4 cup cream peanut butter

1/2 c powdered sugar

beat together

beat in 2-3 tsp of milk (room temp) gradually until you reach desired consistency.

Not counting the "let the cold stuff get to room temp" time - it probably took me 20 minutes to get the ingredients together, make it, wait for the cake to set, frost, and clean-up.

I thought this a very good cake for the chocolate craving you may get - I wouldn't bake 20 of them to take as your pot-luck contribution - but it was very good! I enjoyed it warm with the peanut butter slightly melting into the cake the most. And, of course, I recommend a nice cold glass or organic milk to go with this tasty treat!

Worms: 2; Nicole: 2

I guess I should update you on the corn situation. I did eventually find a nice web page that explained the whole "worm" situation to me. So, I bravely went in to husk (shuck? which is it?) the corn.


Ear One: No worm! Nicole happily peeled away the layers of husk setting them aside in dreams of tamales or corn husk dolls.

Ear Two: Confidently pulling away the husks -- when near the actual corn I see... a worm. A fuzzy green worm munching on MY corn. I was husking over the trashcan so I shake the worm off - do my best to NOT throw away the corn while repeating an "organic is good. organic is good" mantra over and over. Dutifully cut off the portion of the corn the worm had munched on (plus quite a few more rows . . .)

At this point I pushed the other two ears to the side and said I'd deal with them and their inhabitants later. (I also threw the husks into the trash as I couldn't remember which were the worm husks and which weren't - so don't expect a "how to make a corn husk doll" post anytime in the near future.)

I roasted up the corn. Sprinkled some butter and spices and such on it and popped it in the oven wrapped in tin foil. Cooked for about 30 minutes. I don't do well actually eating the corn off the cob - so I just cut the kernels off into a bowl, chopped up a tomato (organic of course), mix, salt, enjoy!


I finally braved up enough to face the remaining two ears the next day. The first one had the evidence of the worm (munched ends) but the last one was worm free. So, half and half. I feel as though I've accomplished some brave step in organic food! ;-)

My Favorite Things: Snack

On grocery store trips when I feel I can afford the splurge I buy a round of Camembert cheese (I do recommend the President brand pictured here), a fresh baguette, and some white wine.

This makes up my favorite nighttime snack.I like the baguette that is ready for me to bake at home because I can get it all warm and toasty and then spread that lovely soft cheese on there.

Yum.

In the picture I actually have Ginger Ale in the champagne glass because I didn't feel like opening the wine I had in my fridge - but - as long as it's in a pretty glass it still feels like a fancy treat. This is my very short blog post recommending a bit of a treat to make yourself feel a little bit pampered.

Organic Corn

At the moment there are four ears of fresh organic corn sitting on my counter. I must admit I'm a bit leery of touching them. Why? Because in the CSA newsletter this week was this small note: "Typically I have the workers cut the worm out of the corn, but we're so busy this week we probably won't get to it. No worries though. All organic corn has a worm at the end because we don't use pesticides." She even included a nice little graphic of two smiley face heads hugging. Right. I feel so much better now.


There's a worm in my corn? Where is it? Do I husk it first and then chop off the end? Which end? Do I need to do it NOW or wait until I'm ready to eat the corn and just little corn worm enjoy himself until then? Am I even going to want to eat the corn after I see the squiggly thing at the end? So many questions! And, google is not giving me satisfactory answers - so I come to you dear blog readers in search of answers to these troubling matters.

At this point I'm thinking I prefer pesticides where corn is concerned.