Since spending the month in my kitchen for the 3 Moms, 3 Kitchens, 31 Days series, a lot has changed around our house!
In fact, our entire house has changed. After waiting and searching for months, after watching a deal fall through and turning in a few offers just a little too late, we finally found OUR house. We moved in on June 18th. Our summer has been filled with unpacking, settling in and making this place truly home. We’ve gotten a ton done, but there are still quite a few things on our to-do list. Fortunately, most of those things can wait a while since we’re also getting ready for October 19th. That is the day baby #5 is due.
Here are a few shots of my new kitchen. I love it! It’s wonderfully functional and neither too small nor too big.
One of the things on our to-do list is to paint those two white walls a light green apple color. I think it will add tons of character and coordinate really well with the blue on the other walls.
In the first picture, you can kind of see the back door and mud room. We are working on turning that mud room into a mud room/pantry. There will be hooks on the wall for jackets and backpacks, plus a shelf for shoes. The other side of the will have a built in “closet” for the pantry and a chest freezer.
Our new neighbors have been extremely generous in sharing their garden bounty with us this summer, as well with offers of helping us till a section of our backyard for the garden we are planning to put in next spring. The kids love going across the street and filling up their baskets with lots of fresh veggies. And I’ve put all that fresh produce to good use – a yummy batch of Creamy Tomato Basil Bisque, a huge pot of homemade spaghetti sauce (6 bags in the freezer so far!) and lots of other fun dishes, including my first attempt at cooking swiss chard (recipe later this week).
At the top of my priority list right now is tackling lots of Bulk Cooking Before Baby. My goal is to have at least a few weeks worth of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and baked goods in the freezer before the baby is born. I’m also attempting to do this while still sticking to our monthly budget of $400. So far, the plan is working really well. There have been some great sales that have really helped in this regard.
I spent the day on Saturday making a few things for the freezer. I veered a little from the list above, but I’m pleased with what I got done – 2 dozen grilled cheese pockets (recipe later this week), 3 dozen mini banana muffins, a dozen tortillas, a dozen cream cheese & chocolate chip cinnamon rolls. There is still a ton to get checked off my list, but I plan on making at least one thing each day this week and in the coming weeks to add to the freezer. Hopefully I’ll sneak in a more all-day cooking sessions too.
And just to keep it real, here’s what my kitchen REALLY looks like in the midst of a baking marathon.
It’s been a fun and busy summer for our family, and we’re looking forward to more of the same in the coming months.
Make sure you check out what the other 3 Moms have been up to this summer as well. Toni, The Happy Housewife, has been challenging herself with a smaller-than-usual budget for groceries in August and she is sharing her budget update. Meanwhile, Jen has been stockpiling groceries and feeding a crowd! Looks like it’s been a busy summer for everyone. How has your summer been?
And if you’re interested, I recently put together an eBook filled with 110 breakfast recipes to help get your mornings off to a better start. Lots of our favorites fill the pages!
