project pantry

i'm not really an organization freak, but i am a perfectionist. and as many of you know, our perfectionism can get in the way and things look out of control and not at all organized. i've recently been tackling some areas of our home to reduce the clutter and choas, and next on my list is our pantry.

our pantry/food storage is officially out of control. i have cleaned/organized it at least 3 or 4 times in the past year, but it always ends up looking like this. i decided that if i put my business out there to the world, i'll have to hold myself accountable. i need to do this project. this month. would you look at this ridiculousness:

living on base definitely does not mean great storage spaces

spice cabinet, to the left of my stove/microwave

above the fridge. this should not qualify as storage space!

i want my pantry to look like this:

from yelp.com

haha, okay, that's a tad ambitious. those plastic containers aren't cheap, but thank God, scentsy is paying for this little project. here's how i'm making it happen: first, i'm making a list of my dry goods that should be put into containers (there are a lot). then i'm going to empty it out (again), clean it, and create (ideally) 2-3 categories per shelf. then, i'm getting all my containers and/or bins and labeling them. i hope that my perfectionism doesn't take over and end up causing me to obsess over this for the next two months and never getting it done in the end!

how have you organized your food storage spaces? i need all the ideas i can get!

101 in 1001 update!

i have completed my list of 101 goals to complete in 1001 days.  and the good news is i already completed two of them!  i wanted to bake cupcakes from scratch, and so today, i did! i found a recipe surfing the internet... randomly.  really, really randomly.   it was for pink lemonade cupcakes and i thought immediately, "i have to try those!"  the recipe is over at beantown baker (who you should follow, by the way), and was originally posted at sweet cheeks.  i'll also post it at heritage kitchen soon.

i have once baked from scratch, a cake, which turned out okay-looking and great tasting.  i think these are the same story.  they are yummy, if not a little cakey in texture (as opposed to light and fluffy!).  that's probably my fault though, since i'm not really much of a baker.  they are made with pink lemonade concentrate, so naturally, my culinary prowess starting churning a way to mess with perfection.

i'm sure you were thinking: aleasa, that's only one goal completed!  nope.  it's two.  because i created a second cupcake recipe from this knowledge base.  of course, i don't know anything about baking, so i have no idea if it could work but... what about orange juice concentrate and vanilla buttercream?!  it would be like a creamsicle!

so, these are REALLY yummy! but the texture is definitely a bit off. so i'll be tweaking it a little.  but i am rather proud of myself.  plus they're so pretty!  i'm going to take them over to my buddy's house tomorrow for small group and see what her and the fam think. 

at least they look pretty, no?