January Cleaning

I work with a wonderful woman (Janis - I know you really wanted to be mentioned!!) who is leaps ahead of me when it comes to cooking healthy. Twice a month, we drive out together to a small town in Kentucky which is a little more than an hour and a half away. For those three hours (there and back) we chat about everything including health. She's a wealth of information and is likely not even aware how thankful I am for our talks. Well, I guess she is now!!

This last Thursday, we were both lamenting about how small our kitchens are and how difficult it is to fit everything in it. I live in a small 740 sq foot apartment - you can imagine how small the kitchen is! And I prefer to have everything hidden behind cabinets and nothing out aside from the coffee pot. Over the past 5 years, I've accumulated so many kitchen wares that it's everywhere on the counter tops! So I decided to clean!

Last night (Friday) I came home from work and started. Two and half hours later, five garbage bags, two trips to the garbage and three trips to the grocery store (I'm telling you, it's never ending!!) - my kitchen is mostly clean! Well, organized at least.

I threw out food that has been sitting there for over a year with the idea that "maybe I'll make that next week" has never come to pass. I rearranged everything in my cabinets so that now I actually have room to grow - even with cleaning off the counter tops so most of my things are hidden.

I also decided to buy a 40-pack of Rubbermaid Tupperware. I really debated if I should go glass or plastic. Glass is healthier. I know that heating your food in plastic is not good. However, going ALL glass would be too expensive for me right now. I mean, I'm willing to pay to make this lifestyle change (oh, and I am!) but that's pushing my pocketbook. I did some research and Rubbermaid's Tupperware is all BPA free. I bought a basic set of 20 a few months ago and I've really only been using them since. With the new 40-piece set, all of my Tupperware is easily stored (including lids) and now I have plenty for all the food I'm going to make!!

All 40 Rubbermaid pieces drying in my sink.

I realized this morning that I need to still clean the refrigerator. UGH.

I find that the more organized I am, the better I feel like I can tackle any new obstacle. So I'm looking into buying a recipe application for the ipad/iphone. Going to so many grocery stores and forgetting my recipes in the past week has made me excited about entering everything into the ipad and available on my iphone!! We'll see... I'll keep you updated.

And here's a teaser... my second Wholesome Chef class is this afternoon!! I'm very excited and if the second class brings about as much change as the first, I'll be excited!!