5 TIny Kitchen Confessions

1. I'm taking a spring break! Well, I've been blogging while on my spring break, but the week after spring break, I'm not making anything new or exciting. With having family here for a long weekend, eating out a few times, etc etc, we are going to have quick and easy meals for next week.
2. Most of my pots, pans, and cooking tools have come from my grandmother and great aunt. When my great aunt was moved to a nursing home, my grandmother, who lived next door, brought me over and helped me pack a box of stuff to help with my first apartment. Then she gave me all kinds of her extra things. I haven't had to buy anything since.
3. I'd take savory over sweet, any day. I'm not much of a dessert person, but I love crunchy, salty, and savory foods. 
4. I cook, Jerry does the dishes. It is the perfect arrangement. We do have a dishwasher, though...so...
5. In the summer, I try to never use the oven, but prefer to use the grill. My mom would always get mad if we used the oven in the summer because it made the house hot...I guess it stuck.

-Carly

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

5 Tiny Kitchen Confessions

Here's another tiny glimpse into my kitchen of "secrets." In other words, here's a few things you didn't know about me!

1. I'm not much of a baker. I don't have much of a sweet tooth and I'm not really a dessert person. Every once in a while I try to bake something and it comes out well enough, but nothing to rave about. I do love to try the treats on Chocolate Covered Katie. The girl is an absolute genius! She makes these delicious desserts that are as guilt-free as you can get. The blondies and chocolate chip cookie pie are two of my FAVORITES.
2. I eat the same thing for breakfast 6 days a week. Oatmeal with flax seeds, blueberries and raisins cooked on the stove. I add a cup of fat-free vanilla Stonyfield yogurt, too. It's a healthy start to my day, although I can get pretty sick of it. I have to watch my cholesterol as it is unusually high (though not technically high) for my age, activity level, and overall health. Thank you genetics. But one day a week I let myself have 1 or 2 eggs. It is my favorite day of the week. I like 'em poached, on toast, with a little black pepper on top. Yum.
3. My favorite "cheater" kitchen tool? The mini chopper! When I'm feeling a little lazy or tired, whip-out the mini-chopper and your minced ingredients are ready in a flash!
4. My pantry is a complete and utter mess. I cleaned and organized it about a month ago as part of my New Year's resolution to de-clutter and organize my life/house. Well...there's just too much food and too little space. I mean, you've seen my tiny kitchen lacking cabinet and counter space. I'll try to get it cleaned up again this weekend, I guess.
5. My favorite cookbooks are from the Moosewood Collective. I've never been disappointed with any recipes I've tried from any of their books. They sometimes need a little adjustment to make them healthier, but they are always tasty.

-Carly

5 Tiny Kitchen Confessions

This post is a little different. I won't be sharing any recipe, but rather I thought it would be nice to give you a little background on my kitchen, cooking style, and cooking history.

Our very TINY, yet cozy, kitchen.

What the kitchen typically looks like when I'm cooking...Netflix on top of the toaster oven. :)

1. We have a TINY kitchen. We currently rent a terrific townhouse and other than having a tight parking situation (I don't sweat it too much, I drive a tiny car) the only down side is an incredibly small kitchen. It doesn't look too small in the pictures, but let me break it down for you: we have 1 drawer and it only measures 6 inches wide. So we can't have our flatware separated, they are all in a big pile and the drawer barely shuts. We have 2 cabinets. 2! I have a shelf that I put in the kitchen where all the pots and pans go. We do have a SMALL pantry which (barely) holds our dry food. The counter space is what you see above. Luckily the stove is a flat range, so I can spread out onto it most of the time. However, if the dishes aren't loaded into the dishwasher, things can be REALLY tight.
2. I used to burn/overcook everything. I put the heat too high, or left it too high for too long. And sometimes I still burn things to the bottom of the pan. I used to LOVE charred food, and I thought that it was totally normal. Which brings me to my next tiny kitchen confession:
3. My mom is a self-proclaimed terrible cook. I love my mom so incredibly much and she won't deny that her cooking is not very good. This may have contributed to my taste for burnt food. Love you, Mom. Now, my dad is very good cook and has really gotten into cooking in recent years, unfortunately not until after I moved out. He has made himself quite a gourmet kitchen. I can't wait to cook with him in it!
4. My dog, Gus, is terrified of our kitchen. He doesn't like the floors, the crashing of pots and pans, or the fact that there is only one exit. He was a rescue pup and can be a little skiddish from time to time, although he's 1000x better since we first adopted him. However, if I am cooking chicken, guess who tip-toes up behind me, looking all cute? Gus. Food can motivate anyone.
5. I am too scared to use nice sharp knives. In high school, my mom bought new sharp knives that looked exactly like our old dull knives. So I was cutting a tomato in my hand (bad, bad idea) and sliced right through my index finger, to the bone. After looking at it and almost passing out, mom took me to the hospital to get some stitches. I can be pretty sloppy when I'm trying to chop things quickly, so for the sake of my fingers, I stick with crappy knives. Maybe one day, I'll be brave. One day...

-Carly

Welcome!

So, through the magic of the internet, you've found your way to my blog. Well, welcome! I hope that you will find your time here helpful, if not entertaining. I wanted to take a minute to let you know a little about myself, so that you know exactly what you are getting yourself into!

I am not, in anyway, a professional chef, nor do I have any training. Most of what I've learned about cooking I've picked up from cookbooks, TV shows, and friends and family. I cook because I love food and I love to provide the ones I love with a delicious and nutritious meal. I love to try new recipes and taste new kinds of food. I love, love, love to eat which is the biggest reason why I love to cook.

I called this blog "A Wooden Spatula" because it is my absolute favorite kitchen tool. Simple and versatile. I've been using the same bamboo spatula since I started cooking for myself, my first year living off-campus in college. We've been through a lot, my wooden spatula and I. Through terrible disasters and impossibly delicious triumphs, my wooden spatula has been there.

My husband and I with our dog, Gus, on a cold day at the beach.

My day to day life consists of working as an elementary school teacher, exercising, and spending time with my wonderful husband and our dog Gus. My husband is an extremely active scientist who trains for cycling, running, and triathlon races throughout the year. With his training, comes requests for specific dietary meals. In the most simple of terms, we eat healthy. This is my largest challenge in finding, modifying, and cooking meals each night of the week: each ingredient must serve not only for taste, but more importantly, it must provide nutritional benefit. My husband loves to tell me that he'd be fine eating plain baked chicken and salad every night of the week, but with my love of food and TASTE, I shudder at the thought. So, in compromise, we take time each week to write a menu before venturing to the grocery store. This helps in several ways, as we have a plan for each night of the week, we stick to a budget, we refrain from buying unnecessary ingredients, and we cut down on trips to the grocery store. Typically, I ask my husband what he needs to eat this week to compliment his training. For example, if he has a hard training day, he'll need a protein-focused meal, or if he's prepping for a race, he'll need a carb-heavy meal, and of course, my favorite, the meal AFTER a race, an anything goes meal! As with most things, balance and moderation are always key.

I'm hoping that this blog will chronicle my successes in the kitchen. I hope that the recipes will serve to help you bring some delicious into your kitchen, too! Now...let's eat.

-Carly