The Inadvertent Farmer

Tour of the island

My kitchen island that is!

I love my kitchen...

Well I love it when its clean. 

The rest of the time it is my nemesis.  The one room (along with the laundry room) that no matter how hard I try, no matter how many times I swear it will stay clean...it just doesn't...ever.

I have an oversize island in the middle of the kitchen.  It is where I do all my baking and all the cooking.  It is also seems to be a catchall...

I would never ever let my lovely island get this cluttered...not me!

Of course I am not the only one that uses the island...its not all my fault!

This is not me...I am neither that young or that lovely.  No this is my oldest son's sweet friend Jo.  She is frying up bacon to go into clam chowder.  She and son went clam digging and come home with a HUGE amount of clams. 

Notice...she is reading the recipe off of her I-Phone!  That makes her at least 100% cooler than I ever hope to be!

Notice...the microwave oven says 9:17.  That is pm!  They are making clam chowder at 9:17 at night.

Notice...I am a vegan, my kitchen is frying bacon and cooking clams.  Ughhh it will never smell the same!  I actually had to make cinnamon rolls and lentil stew the next day to get out the smell!

My son the chef...under the close supervision of my handsome hubby.  Who cannot believe that they are making clam chowder at that hour of the evening!

Then again he can't believe that I use the island as a paint booth...

Or a potting shed...which I of course would not do.  Those things are not what kitchen islands are intended for!

And while I may complain loudly at times about the view of the island.  I cannot complain about the view from the island!

So do you have one room or area of your house that no matter how hard you try just does not or will not stay clean?

I will feel much better about myself if you share...

Unless of course your house is always clean, then you can just pretend you didn't read this post...

The Pantry...part 2...the reveal!

Well I must say you all must be some great cooks with all the interesting things you keep in your pantries!  Besides the usual sugars and flours, peanut butter and tomatoes there are...

Pickled Okra...I've never even seen okra except in a catalog let along seen it pickled!  Yep I'm a northern girl!

Peach Salsa...yum!

Purple hulled peas...I knew there were purple beans, purple carrots and even purple broccoli but never had heard of purple peas.  I'm thinking I must try them!

Kraft Mac & Cheese...another thing I've never tried (was raised by a conservative health conscious mother who thought Mac & Cheese in the box was of the devil)

Quinoa...I've got that too!

Mole...????  I've got them in my yard does that count?  I'm gonna have to look that one up!

Agave syrup...again I'm ignorant, but that should not surprise anyone!!!

Heinz Chili Sauce...Heinz does make some good stuff!

Dinkel strong flour...???  What is that Tyra?

Dried Mushrooms...super yummy but oh so expensive around here

Sky Line Chili...I have never heard of it.  On the west coast we eat Nalley's Chili, they have a vegetarian chili that even my hubby can't tell from the original!

Canned Bamboo Shoots...I've only used fresh in stir fry, never knew they came canned

Doggie Treats and Toddler Treats...not to be mixed up and given to the other!

I also found that Alan had the most interesting assortment of 'gear' .  He has cheese making supplies, butter churn, cream separator...all quite old fashioned and then he throws in a snow cone maker...such a Renaissance man!

My must haves for cooking are:  beans, rice, pasta, onion, garlic, course ground pepper, canned tomatoes, soy crumbles (vegetarian hamburger substitute), olive oil, and nuts

For baking I just can't live without:  Wheat (for flour), honey, yeast, salt, vegetable oil, raisins, cinnamon, rolled oats, rye flour, dried fruit

Now I'm going to bare my soul and let you all know just what was residing in the pantry...

First is a lunch box...not so strange.  Well if you consider I have not had a child attending school in need of a lunch box in say...8 years!  Yes it has been kicked around the pantry moving from shelf to shelf, forever in the way for 8 years! 

Hmmm I wonder what that is under the lunch box?

 

 

Yes that is a kid's stencil sitting on top of...my marriage certificate!  How and why in the world it ended up in the pantry I have no clue.  Underneath the copy that resides on top in the frame is the original. 

I remember when we were first married I hung this on the wall in the bedroom.  I don't know if I was just reminding sweet hubby that he was legally chained or reminding myself that the goings on in that room were perfectly legit...hmmm another side affect of my conservative upbringing I suppose!

Anyway it has now been moved to the safe with all the other important documents. 

 

 

There is the many, many egg carton donated by friends and neighbors.  I guess they thought I was going for record egg production...I only have 13 hens for goodness sake.  What is scary is this is not the only place I store them...there are more in the kitchen!!!

 

 

Next to the cartons are my oatmeal containers.  Now before you think'm completely over the top with oatmeal storage I have got to let you know that these are all empty.  I cannot seems to throw them out.  I have used so many of the year for craft projects with the kids that I can't seem to ever get rid of them...just in case!  They make great drums, shakers when filled with beans, put a slit in the top and you have a great bank...the list goes on and on!

 

 

Next to by HUGE bags of beans are the empty cartons that a will be cut down and used for tomato starts.

 

 

We live in the boonies where the power goes out on regular occasions so these are some of the lamps we use for light....the kids love that part of power outages, playing games at the counter with the oil lamps burning!

 

 

Some of the basket I use to give away homemade goodies.  Next to that is the stack of newspapers without colored ink I use when starting a new garden patch...I'm going to do that next week for my new melon patch...stay tuned!

Now for the really, really scary part.  Please put down any hot beverages you have as to avoid accidental spillage...

This is what was just outside the pantry door when I was finished...

  

Why is it that cleaning always makes such a mess?

 

 

OK...I almost didn't include this. 

It is more distressful than anything I've shown so far. 

If you are a gardener you just might want to turn away...

 

See this pretty silver box?

 

 

Ohhh no!  Say it isn't so...

 

 

My 2007 supply of seeds that I 'misplaced' in the pantry!

Now in my defense, I purchased  these when I was quite pregnant with baby boy.  Then he was born 6 weeks early and spent a couple of weeks in the NICU.  When we came home I was sleep deprived and hormonal.  It still makes one wonder how they landed in the pantry to be buried under stuff not to be unearthed for almost two years.

Hmmm wonder if any of them are still viable?

 

Thanks for joining me on my little pantry adventure, it was fun to see what you all keep in your...hopefully not your seeds!!! 

 

The Great Pantry Adventure...part 1

Having a well stocked pantry is something that is inbred in me.  My parents always had shelves and shelves of food stored away at all times.  I think I might just have a panic attack if I didn't know I had enough food for at least a month stored away in my pantry. 

Unfortunately for me it is also used for storage of paper recycling, glass recycling, small kitchen appliances, and miscellaneous things that we can't find proper homes for.

So for the sake of full disclosure I am going to reveal my pantry just before I dug in and cleaned and inventoried it.

Are you ready?

I apologize ahead of time to all you neat freaks out there cause this may just give you nightmares...

Yup! That is what it looked like before...full discloure sucks!

 

 

After!

Now here is a little peek at what is on all those shelves.  Somethings are 'must haves'  others are 'just in case' and some are 'just because maybe I might possibly need it in case I make something exotic one day'

 

 

Here is the jam/jelly section...we've got grape, blackberry, apricot, peach, plum and apple butter.

 

 

Here is my dwindling supply of fruit sauces.  Apricot, peach, plum and my last few applesauce.  Beyond that with the white caps is some of our honey supply from hubby's wonderful bees.

 

 

Here is where is store grains and such that I don't use in big quantities like spelt, quinoa, rye flour, bulgar, couscous, and vital wheat gluten for bread.

 

 

Here is the shelf with baking supplies, sugars, flour, and of course chocolate.  I store my home ground whole wheat flour in the freezer.  Oh yeah the green thing is a bay branch that keeps any critters from invading the flour...and is handy for soups and stews!

 

 

I'm a vegetarian so beans make up an important part of the family diet.  I usually keep many kinds on hand...Pinto, red, white, lentils of all colors, black beans, split peas.  The only beans you will not find in my pantry are lima beans...yuck...no...double yuck!

 

 

Here is a shelf with the popcorn bucket, my wire basket filled with green and white teas...oh how I love my tea.  We also keep chips here, if you ever want to try a good baked chip try any of the 'Kettle' brand chips, yummy!  I also have a couple of candles I bought from the neighbor kids when they were having a fund raiser...same with the enormous green pears!

 

 

This is a good example of some 'must haves'...olive oil, mustard, peanut butter, olives, diced green chilies, artichoke hearts, Tabasco, and organic cranberry sauce in case I get a craving!

 

 

Just next door hiding behind the homemade pasta sauce is my kid's beloved ketchup.  I have tried all brands and this is till our fave...gotta love Heinz Ketchup!  I would like to try to make my own this year...anyone have a good recipe for ketchup?

 

 

Canned tomatoes...I didn't get around to canning any myself last year so we are having to endure the store bought ones for now.   Underneath is the bread mixer, small pressure cooker, and steam canner.

 

 

Crock pot, ice cream maker, wheat grinder, and juicer.

Now for today's question to ponder. 

What would be your top 10 things that you just have to have in your pantry/cupboards for cooking? What are your top 10 for baking?

I will be back tomorrow with my lists and to share some of yours.

I will also let you in on some of the surprising and some would say shocking things that have nothing to do with food I unearthed in the pantry!