MY BAKING CUPBOARD MAKEOVER SO FAR

  I went in the kitchen to make bread today and got side tracked with my spice cupboard.  I was getting into the spice cupboard for something and I thought ok this is really making cooking not fun!  Gotta fix it the best I can with what I got.  I have been saving alot of containers from juice, parmesan, ketchup, tea, lemon juice, jellies, pickles, etc. for storage containers.  I figured I could use some of them to put things in until I seen that they still had water in them from washing them so I put them in the window to dry and I will put things in them tomorrow and do what I can today.

  Here is the before:

Bottom shelf is spices as far as you can see and they are knocked over and I have no choice but to take half the cupboard out to get to what I need.

  I hauled out some containers to house the spices so I could just pull out a container and look through them verses reach in and move them over and they all fall over.  I had some big containers from cranberry sauce that I thought would work well for flour and a carnation instant milk container worked well for salt.  I had to use ziploc for some stuff until tomorrow so I will put another picture on tomorrow when completely done.

  After so far:

  Now tomorrow I will get the rest of the containers that are drying and finish organizing and post a picture.  I am sure it could look way better if I went and bought all matching containers but this cost me nothing but a walk around the house and a black permanent marker.  I am sure on a day to day basis I will get a nice container and think that it might look better than something I am currently using and I can switch it out.   I figure it has to work for me not be beautiful.  This is on the way to being exactly what I need!

COOK AND FREEZE FOR LATER: RECIPES TOO!

  Yesterday I ended up getting 2 bacon and ham quiche made and froze for the weekend.  I also made 12  hotdog buns and 12 hamburg buns (for freezer).  I made 3 quart sized bags of refried beans with part of the pinto beans(for freezer) and I used part to make bean soup for dinner last night to go with baked chicken legs and thighs.  Got 12 corn muffins and 12 banana muffins with a struesel topping made also. The corn muffins made it to freezer, everyone ate the banana muffins though.  They were delicious!  Well here is all the
recipes and pictures.

QUICHE
Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup Bisquick Baking Mix (any baking mix will work)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used mexican shredded)
1  onion chopped
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
3/4 cup favorite meat or meats (I used ham and bacon)

Mix eggs, milk, and baking mix together then stir in cheese, onion, green pepper, and meat.  Pour into greased 9 x 13 cake pan(I lined with parchment paper instead so I could lift this quiche out and freeze in ziploc bags so I could use the pans again.  Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes until center is set.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Serve!

  For the refried beans I just take whatever size bag of pinto beans I want and put those in a pan and cover with water and put on high bring to boil and then let boil for one hour then take off burner, drain and rinse.  Fill the pan back up with water and place back on burn on high.  I add chicken boullion, pepper, onion powder, and garlic to the beans and bring to a boil then lower the heat to medium stirring occasionally so the beans do not burn to the bottom of the pan.  As the water starts to boil out keep adding more until the beans are really soft and starting to mush.  Then I throw in a package of taco seasoning and stir then put in quart size bags and freeze.

  I had made a ham a few days ago so I threw it in a pot, covered it with water and boiled it for a few hours. After that I took the ham out on a cookie sheet to cool so I could get the meat off of it to put in the soup.  I added a few chicken boullion to the ham broth, onions, pepper, 2 bay leaves, 1 TBSP butter, chopped carrots, and celery then  red, green, and orange peppers I had froze.  I then took a few cups of the pinto beans I had boiling for the refried beans (while they were not soft) and put them in the broth as well.  I boiled on medium heat stirring occasionally till the beans were soft.  All seasonings are to your taste and however many beans you want also just remember to put in a little less than you will want because they swell as they cook.

BANANA MUFFINS WITH STREUSEL TOPPING

12 MUFFIINS

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/8 tsp ground cinamon
1 tbsp butter

Directions:
Preheat to 375 degrees
Line 12  muffin cups with paper liners
Mix together 1 1/2 cuups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Then add the mashed banana, sugar, egg and melted butter. Mix with mixer until well combined.  Fill all 12 muffin cups.
In a small bowl mix the brown sugar, 2 tbsp flour, and cinamon.  Cut in 1 tbsp of butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle with a spoon evenly over all 12 muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center of muffin comes out clean.

CORN MUFFINS

Makes 12

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk or milk
1/2 cup butter melted
1 egg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add buttermilk or milk, butter, and egg:  mix well.  Spoon batter into lined muffin cups. Sprinkle with sugar (optional)
Bake in the preheated oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 12  to 15 minutes. Serve!




Here's a  picture of most of what went in the freezer yesterday.  Keep in mind they ate the chicken, bean soup and banana muffins!  Gonna spend tomorrow doing the same thing but different recipes!