How to Make 10 (Pressure Cooker) Freezer Meals In A Day

So you've seen those pressure cookers and instant pot recipes and heard all the hype but you're not sure if you're ready to take the plunge.  After all, you're just a "normal Mom,"  do you really have time to cook for hours, bag and then freeze it all just to save a little time?  Are you longing for an honest opinion about just how doable this "power cooking" actually its?  I was wondering the exact same thing so I tried it, and I'm going to share the whole truth with you today.  

How to Organize Kitchen Cupboards

If you want to get some more great ideas with organizing your kitchen, I've got them! Last week I shared my new kitchen and how I organized all the drawers in there! Today I'm sharing the rest of the cupboards in the kitchen! There's so many great ideas I'm going to give you about organizing them, so be sure to share this and pin all your favorites!

Where to Get Those Kitchen Products and Appliances

With all that has gone on in the past months with our kitchen, I wanted to share some of the amazing products that I used and recommend for you to use also, should you decide to re-do a kitchen, update a bath, or just pin a few of your favorites. 

I work with a lot of great companies and I was able to reach out to a few of them that I have worked with in the past to provide me with a few things for my kitchen. Other things are just fun finds that I found on my own and want to share my opinion about how it works and whether or not it was worth the money to purchase that products. So, I'm going to go through everything and hopefully answer all your questions about them.

The New Kitchen: Organizing the Drawers

This new kitchen is truly AMAZING! Having someone take what was in my head and design it on paper, then to have it actually in my home, is just an amazing feeling! I can't wait to show you all the organization that I've done in the new kitchen, so today I'm going to share all the organizing in the drawers! There is so much organizing that it's going to take multiple posts to share it all - there is just THAT much awesomeness! Are you ready to PIN some great organizing ideas? 

To begin with, my dream was to have as many drawers as possible in the new kitchen. I wish I could have had many more than I have - I would have liked two big drawers under my cooktop but I had to sacrifice those drawers in order to have the downdraft exhaust fan - since that exhaust fan takes up a big chunk of space under the cooktop, so no room for drawers. I also would have loved it under the sink, but being that I wanted to have actual plumbing it's nearly impossible to have drawers there, also! I have drawers all over the place, though!  In my opinion, drawers are much better for organizing things than a big, open space. So, I'm going to start with my coffee/wine bar drawers in the dining area of the kitchen, because I just want to start over there and bring you around the kitchen.

The Kitchen is Done - the BIG Reveal!!!!

I have been given the opportunity, from MasterBrand Cabinets, 

to join with them in our kitchen renovation, which includes the donations of 

these unbelievable, quality cabinets. 

I can't believe it, but the kitchen is DONE!! It is unbelievably beautiful. We've increased our counter space by three fold! It's truly the most functional kitchen I've ever had! Are you ready to see it? I hope so, because I'm going to flood you with beautiful photos!

Let me start with where our kitchen began, and you can go back to the beginning of our design process and demo process to see. We moved into our home in 2006, and this is what our kitchen looked like ten years ago, above left. Six years later, I have improved it as much as it could possibly be improved by painting the cabinets and putting new flooring in. But, it still lacked counter space, so I was using a hodge podge of things to add more counter space. The kitchen also felt very cramped! And now...

The Destruction of Our Kitchen and More

The excitement of having a new kitchen is getting me through the time of having NO kitchen right now! If you have been following me for anytime, you may know I've been dreaming, planning, designing, and budgeting my way through this kitchen renovation. Now, we're in the destruction phase! It's not pretty, but necessary!

Reminiscing...projects I've done!

So, I was looking back at some of the projects I've done this last year. I thought I'd share a few with you, remind you of what has gone on. Here is one I did in May 2010 updating a pretty ugly place - looking out my window in the basement.  It is MUCH better since doing this last year:







How is it holding up? Not bad.  Some of the paint is chipping and the plant has grown a lot.  It's been quite a task to keep the spiders from taking over, though!



Or how about the cute skirt for the laundry sink I designed and my sweet Mom sewed?






Or how about tearing down our kitchen wall in July of 2010?

Oh, and my vintage oven?

That was quite a mess to clean and move in!

Then by September we were nearly finished and I painted our old buffet and turned it into a beautiful, additional counter-top area.

I planned a huge FREE Ladies' Clothing Boutique at my house in September...and I've got some ideas for this year, too!











So, hang on...there are more projects and organizing events coming, once this fun summer is over!! I will never run out of projects - and I never tire of organizing!

My new favorite cleaning product!

In the middle of....several ongoing projects!

I'd love to show you all kinds of pictures of our kitchen being totally done!  However, progress is going slowly.  My hubby is quite a busy man and every spare minute of his time (which is very little) he is doing something to make progress.  Joint compound can only dry so fast!  Here is a look at what my kitchen has sitting in it for the last four weeks!

 

Slow, but moving progress on our kitchen

So...here's what the kitchen is starting to look like:

Kitchen projects - our new vintage oven

We began this "spontaneous" kitchen update (although we'd sort of planned out what we'd do for the last four years) and didn't give much thought to the fact that everything would be changed.  We really need to gut our kitchen and start new, but without the money for a $50,000 kitchen in the bank that's just not possible!  Fortunately, I had begun saving up for my $50K kitchen remodel two years ago and had saved $1200!  (Oooh, I know...big money for a kitchen!).  Well, we have that much to make over this kitchen, so here's our somewhat not-so-organized attempt. Although, I have begun to organize as much as I possibly can in the chaos.   I have to say, first of all, that I have a superbly, wonderful, handy hubby!  He can fix just about anything, as you'll be seeing in the next few weeks (I'm hoping not months)...