5 Tiny Kitchen Confessions

Our deck last summer...

1. I love gardening and cooking with fresh vegetables. Unfortunately, since Jerry and I are still renting, we've never had a REAL garden. I try every year to have some sort of a "deck garden" and it has never, never come out the way I expect or hope it will. I will say that growing lettuce greens is SUPER EASY! It also saves a lot of money as fancy baby green are expensive. The growing season is also pretty long. Fresh basil and green onion are also easy to grow. Other than a couple tiny tomatoes, we've never produced much, uh, produce. I have BIG plans for a nice, BIG garden one day...
2. There are many days when I simply don't want to cook. I love to cook, but after being on my feet and on the go all day, sometimes I want nothing more than to sit. Luckily Jerry and I try to go out for dinner at least once every two weeks. I use it as an opportunity to scour the menu and take mental notes of things I want to try to make!
3. I am a master ingredient-substituter...I can be forgetful with my grocery list, or run out of pantry staples, so more often than I'd like to admit, I tend to be on damage-control, looking for alternatives. Thank goodness for Google!!
4. Air-popped popcorn is my absolute favorite snack! I've been experimenting with spices to put on my popcorn, like lemon-dill. You know those gourmet popcorn shops? Well, I think they are GENIUS. Maybe I'll post one of my popcorn topping recipes! 
5. I'm a meat-eater. I make a lot of vegetarian dishes, but I'm not opposed to meat and poultry. We started reducing our meat-eating in college when we started paying for our own groceries, and it has sort-of stuck. Especially since we started eating organic and local only, which means a higher price tag, it just makes sense. We are constantly trying to find balance nutritionally and economically while still trying to enjoy eating our food. We average 1 to 2 meals a week that contain some sort of animal protein. It works for us, so we'll stick with it!

-Carly