Recipe Organization

I love food and I love organizing, so you’d think that my recipe collection would be highly organized. Think again. My recipes are a mess. Think one small set of cookbooks + one bajillion food magazines + hundreds of random pieces of paper stuffed into a file folder organizer. Never mind. Don’t think about it. It’s bound to make you nauseous.

As I finished up our command center, I was reminded of the cupboards and shelves surrounding it (and the mess contained in them). My cookbooks currently sit on the shelves and the food magazines and random pieces of paper are stuffed into one of the cupboards. This has always been an area that I’ve wanted to organize; it’s just always felt too overwhelming for me to get motivated. 

I have had a difficult time deciding what organization system to use for my recipes. I’ve looked at online databases, cute recipe cards and recipe boxes, binder systems, etc., and while I’ve liked parts of each, I could never settle on one. When I decided it was finally time to tackle this project, I was leaning towards something colorful and cute. But the more I got into it, the more basic, simple, and streamlined approach won out.

I felt an urgency to get my recipes in order, but my budget wasn’t really sensing that same feeling. I decided to get things organized as cheaply as possible and ended up doing it essentially free.

Here is what I started with:

I rarely ever look through the recipe magazines for new ideas so I set the magazines aside for now. I sorted through all my random slips of paper first. I recycled anything that wasn’t titled (and I couldn’t figure out what the recipe was for), anything I made once and didn’t like, and anything I had once intended to make but now didn’t see that happening. 

Next, I divided up the remaining recipes into categories. I menu-plan each week based on what is on sale. So, for example, if beef is really cheap one week, I put together more beef recipes than chicken to save some cash. My final categories were: beef, breakfast, chicken, desserts, fish/seafood, miscellaneous, pasta, pork, sausage/ham, and turkey.

I thought about buying a large amount of page protectors and just taping or gluing the little pieces of paper onto an 8 ½ x 11 sheet and inserting them that way. But the obsessive organizing part of me wasn’t okay with that solution. I created a template in Microsoft Excel that allowed four recipes to be printed on each page. I actually re-typed each recipe into the template. Now before you roll your eyes at how ridiculous that sounds let me tell you that it literally only took me one hour a day for five days. That’s not really all that bad figuring I ended up with a very streamlined and organized recipe binder in the end. Or so I tell myself…

I re-purposed some old file folders by cutting them in half and adding labels to the tabs. These became my category dividers. Then I just printed out each category, three-hole punched the paper, and stuck it in the binder.

I still might invest in some page protectors for each of the printed pages just to protect them from spills and such. I figure now that all the random slips of paper are taken care of, I can go through the magazines and just rip out pages that I’d like to keep. I can three-hole punch the actual magazine pages and insert them in the binder by category. I don’t see a purpose in keeping all the magazines because there is only about one or two recipes in each that I use. 

I saved any handwritten recipe cards from my grandmothers. I’d like to preserve those someday, somehow. All of the other pieces of paper got recycled though. 

Re-typing these recipes helped me remember all of the yummy meals that I have made in the past and got me really motivated and excited to get back to making them again. They also made me really hungry –so word to the wise – don’t work on a project like this when your tummy is rumbling. 

In the end, I opened up an entire cupboard above the command center. I’m considering moving my stash of cookbooks into the kitchen and reorganizing the bookshelves with other items. We’ll see what happens. I’m sure this recipe binder will be updated at some point in the future, maybe even to something cute and colorful. But for now, it solves the problem I was struggling with and will help my recipe collection to stay organized.

This project was shared in a link party over at:

How To Create a DIY String Art Project

I hope everyone survived the "spring forward" event this weekend. It is starting to feel like spring as we are expecting a high of 41 today. I will believe it when I see it! I found myself wishing for sunshine and warm weather often this past weekend. I was also wishing for a million dollars.

If I had a million dollars…

I’d probably go crazy because I wouldn’t know which project to start first. So I must give thanks to our strict budget for keeping me sane….mostly. 

But if I did have a million dollars, I’d tackle our mudroom by redoing the coat hook shelf, building a bench, buying new rugs, hanging art on the walls, changing the light fixture, and putting in some built-ins in the closet. 

Since Publisher’s Clearing House hasn’t shown up to my front door with balloons and an oversized cardboard check, I’m slowly chipping away at that wish list and I decided the next project to check off was the art on the walls. 

I want our entryway to be a welcoming area for our guests, but also an introduction into who we are and what we’re all about. Though this harsh winter has really made me question my loyalty to our good ol’ mitten state, the Mister and I really do love living in Michigan and we spend a lot of time exploring our state through camping, hiking, and kayaking. I saw some string art projects on Pinterest that really captured my heart and decided to tackle one myself.

Now Pinterest is great for gathering ideas, but Pinterest doesn’t always know best. Since I’m prone to migraines and have been suffering from a sinus headache for the last four weeks (will spring ever come?), a project involving a lot of hammering and pounding did not appeal to me. 

I found 12x12 squares of Styrofoam at JoAnn’s for only $7 and, with a 40% off coupon, I decided styrofoam would be a great (quieter) alternative to wood.

I glued two of the ½ inch pieces of Styrofoam together and then wrapped it in some brown fabric I had laying around. I wrapped the corners like I was wrapping a Christmas present and used hot glue and some straight pins to secure it in the back.

I used Google to find a basic outline of Michigan. I printed it, cut it out, and laid it out on my Styrofoam "canvas". Once I was happy with its placement, I pinned it in place temporarily so it wouldn’t move.

I used ball-tip straight pins as my “nails” and placed them about ½ - ¾ inches apart around the cut out of the map. I added a heart shape inside the mitten as well. 

I used cross stitch thread as my string. It comes in so many colors!! To start, I tied the string in a knot around the bottom corner pin and then started wrapping. I went from each outside pin to a pin on the heart and back and then connected the string to the next pin in the outline. It’s important to wrap the string all the way around the pin before moving to the next one. I learned this the hard way. At the end, I tied another knot and added a drop of superglue to the knots to hold them in place.

Since I didn't have a heart or any other shape in the middle of the U.P., I just zigzagged the string back and forth to fill in the shape a bit. I worked my way around the perimeter the same way and tied the knot at the end.

This project is simple but it adds a pop of color to our entryway. When I finish the next DIY art project, I plan to hang them on the wall but that will come a bit later, unless of course that big cardboard check shows up...

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Creating a Command Center: The Final Reveal

Bit by bit, I've shared my process of creating a command center in our home. Today is the day for the big reveal of the entire project all put together. Well, mostly all put together. 

Let’s start at the beginning. 

If I had to describe this space in two words, I’d use majorly under-utilized. Is that three words? Either way, this command center project had three purposes.

First, it is an effort to thwart my own laziness. This space has become an easy dumping ground for items that either have no real home or items I’m just too lazy to return to their real homes. So task one, end homelessness.

Second, this project is an effort to purge unnecessary items. We have two of every office supply you can imagine: two computers, two staplers, two desk organizers, two desks, two rulers, etc. We’re kind of like the double mint twins, only less refreshing. 

And last, I wanted to relieve the brown oppression going on in our abode. I love our house, but there is so much brown! I’m craving color and this was a great spot to bring some in.

Project 1 was moving our active files from a tippy, cramped plastic filing cabinet into one of the built-in drawers in the command center. Now, they are easily accessible and conveniently located. 

Next, I consolidated our wealth of office supplies into a manageable collection and repurposed “junk” drawers into organized office supply drawers. I also added two large baskets to hold legal pads, note book paper, and other larger accessories that wouldn’t fit in the drawers.

I made a dry-erase calendar so we could keep track of ourselves.

I updated another dumping ground device, our mail organizer, into a functional system to keep us from becoming buried in paper. After that post, I ended up changing the labels to a different color because, while the red looked great on the black organizer, it didn’t really match the overall color scheme of the command center. They are now blue!

In an effort to conceal our apparent wine addiction and, more importantly, to curtail the number of random slips of paper floating around, I put together a DIY cork board for free!

I purged and hung our writing utensils so they are readily available whenever we need them. I also wanted to keep the Mister aware of how many pens we had so he’d stop bringing them home from work and other various places. So far, it’s been successful!

Finally, I added some much needed color. My intention was to use liquid starch to transform the fabric into temporary wall paper but because the fabric was so think and my patience was so thin, I ended up pinning the fabric into the wood using a few small straight pins and then hot gluing ribbon onto the edges of the fabric to conceal the pins and cut edges. This way, if I get sick of the fabric or want to change it up, I just have to remove a few pins to take it down.

I still want a new-to-us chair that is a bit more comfy and brings in more color. I want to purge our two desktop computers and two desks located in the spare bedroom and purchase one laptop to use in the command center space. I also want to address the cabinets above the desk and the shelves next to the desk. But all of those wants must wait.

For now, this space is commanding me to throw off my laziness and get to work on other things!

Perfecting the Pantry

A choir of angels sing every time I open our pantry door.

Did you hear them? The problem is that they kind of go off key when they see the mess living inside.

I'm so blessed to have an abundance of storage in the kitchen - in fact, we have several drawers and cabinets that are currently empty. (Here's where I start dodging things you're throwing my way...)

These eight drawers are great but when they are not assigned a set purpose and organized accordingly, they result in a noisy, annoying arm workout every time I need to find something. I often will buy something, put it in a drawer, and then find it months later having forgotten that it was even in there. In fact, during this cleanup project I found three complete meals inside this heavenly chest of drawers! So... time to get this pantry into shape!

Before I show you the end results, here are some before pictures of the messiness.

To start this clean up, I emptied every drawer and put all of the items on our counter.

Those drawers hold a lot of stuff, huh!? With the drawers empty, I went through and wiped them all down, removing any dust, crumbs, and other random nonsense that may have ended up in there. Once they were clean, I tackled the wealth of items on the counter. I went through each individual item and tossed anything that was expired. For any items that were a year old or more, or items I had no intention of using in the future, I put in a bag to donate. Then, I dated each item with the current date so that I would be able to keep track of how old each item was and when it might be time to get rid of it. With the items slightly pared down, it was time to start filling the drawers.

I'm short. (When organizing, it's important to be honest with yourself about your shortfalls. No pun intended.) Without a stool, I can't see into the top drawer even on my tip toes so it didn't make sense to use the top drawer for something I'd need often. I knew I'd just get frustrated and end up shoving the items into another drawer. (See, honesty.)

 I decided to put our serving bowls and platters in the top drawer. These only come out when we have a large number of guests over for dining.

The second drawer from the top is still pretty high for me, though I can see into it on my toes. I decided to put my baking pans in this drawer (bread pans, cake pans, muffin tin, etc.). I use these items maybe twice a month and getting into this drawer to get them wouldn't be too much of a hassle. 

Under the baking items went our pasta and rice. I couldn't believe how many half opened boxes of pasta we had! Previously, the pasta had been in the second drawer and, since it was hard for me to clearly look into it, I seldom checked my supplies before heading to the grocery store. I can't count on one hand the number of times I blindly reached in for a box of pasta and grabbed it from the wrong end dumping noodles all over. I'm still finding random elbow macaroni from the last incident.... Moving pasta a drawer down seemed to make sense. 

The Mister gave me that slightly disapproving look each time he pulled an empty glass jar out of the dishwasher... until he saw the new pasta drawer! I used recycled glass jars to store all the half boxes of noodles to keep them fresh. The glass also provides a clear and quick view of how much I have when I am menu planning. And thank goodness for me they have lids!

The next drawer is our snack drawer. It holds granola bars, nuts, crackers, chips, and other snacks. Having all of these items in one drawer makes it easy to see what we have so when we're perusing the kitchen for a snack, it's that much easier to pick something. It also makes the lunch making process a bit faster.

The next two drawers hold all of our storage containers. I dedicated one to glass containers and one to plastic containers. I hope to phase out all of the plastic containers and replace them with glass, but right now our budget doesn't allow that. 

The bottom two drawers hold our canned goods and baking supplies, respectively. Prior to this clean out, our onions and potatoes were kept in the bottom drawer, usually in whatever bag they came in. When I went to clean out this drawer, there were so many pieces of onion peel in that drawer; I had to wipe it out three times. I recycled a basket that wasn't being used and designated it as the onion basket. I honestly love my new onion basket.

While a pantry made of drawers is nice, each drawers contents are obscured, making it hard for others to know where to find things. Who am I kidding? It makes it hard for me to remember where I decided to put things. So, I whipped up some labels. 

While I could probably use a daily arm workout, I appreciate the lesser stress and annoyance of having to open 3 drawers before I find what I'm looking for. If you're looking to clean out your own pantry or cupboards, I highly recommend the following:

• Be honest with yourself
• Start with a clean slate
• Get rid of any expired items
• Donate anything you haven't used in the last year or know you will never use
• Date any food items before putting them back in the pantry
• Storage containers can be free. Reuse glass jars and other containers instead of throwing them into a recycling or trash bin
• Label your shelves or drawers so it's easy for you and your family to maintain your hard work

Happy pantry organizing!!

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