Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Keeping It Easy and Simple

Cooking In My Kitchen

 After years of cooking large meals for my family, I have given that up. In my mind I still love cooking. Probably is the reason I like to watch cooking or recipe videos. I will copy a recipe and then later look at it and say, "I am not doing that." Usually too many ingredients or too many steps to it. One thing that stops me from making something is how much clean up is it going to make for me. I like things to be easy and simple these days. Not that I cannot do the more complicated ones. I still could.......just don't want to. My favorite food to cook is a burger or a steak put in the NuWave oven. Easy and something I love to eat. Breakfast is usually eggs and some kind of meat. Just recently I have added a cup of Fage Greek yogurt to my daily menu. I needed to add more protein. That is why I often have the Keto Chow replacement shake made into ice cream. The protein and fat is something I have to keep track of or I will not get enough. 


Going to keep the counter clutter free!

Recently I took my small cooking appliances off the counter. I organized my cupboards so that now I can have those appliances in the cupboards out of sight. Easy to get to when I need them. The only ones I left on the counter are the ones too tall to go in a cupboard. I love having that much room on the counters! It looks much better than being cluttered. In the near future I will work on some of the other cupboards. The ones I cannot reach easily. No sense keeping stuff I do not use in them. I have two large stockpots that I don't use for anything other than making my supply of Essiac tea. I brew it from the dried ingredients and it needs to be done in those stockpots. So I will be keeping them. 


My Cleaning Supplies

Keeping with the easy theme in my home I keep my vacuum cleaner close by and easy to get to. No big deal to get it out and do a quick vacuum. Since my apartment is so small it takes less than five minutes. If cleaning or dusting is on my list for the day, I put the cleaning supplies out in the kitchen. As long as I see them I will not forget what I was supposed to do today. Not leaving things out or letting them pile up somewhere has been key for me living here. I do have that problem with papers piling up but make sure to go through them at least once a week. Throwing away or filing every single one. 


Every Day Water Supply in Canning Jars

You may have items you just cannot part with. I did. So I came up with ways I can use those items. This was the case with my canning jars. I have many but I don't think I took them all from my house when I moved. I might ask my husband if he would let me have them now. Not that I need them. I am just attached to them. When I moved from there I left a large amount of foods I had canned in the cupboards. The jars I am missing are the smaller ones. The pints. It was hard moving from a house to a studio apartment. So I was not able to take everything. Maybe it was a good thing........


Bunny Trail

The thing is as you get older many tasks are harder to do. Like standing on a chair or a stool to put something away. Or to fix a curtain rod or blinds. To quickly grab something you forgot to get out and now you need it instantly. That happens way too much. I am a list maker so I make a list of everything I need to do or to get out. That does help me a lot. When making a recipe I always put the recipe on the refrigerator. Then look at it often throughout the process. Label all the jars you store ingredients in so you do not make a mistake......yup, I did that! Doing routine tasks will be easy after you get used to doing them daily. That is why I do not like to change the way or time I do things. Not so much that I am set in my ways. 





Copyright © 2025 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2025 Kathleen G. Lupole


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