Six Ways How To Get An Organized, Clutter-Free Kitchen.

Hello!

First April post today and I was wondering how many of you are doing their spring cleaning around the house. I made a short list on how to de-clutter your kitchen. This will help you keep an organized kitchen without unused stuff. Here are some basic tips to get your cabinets and drawers clean and organized :)

 The very first step is to look in your cabinets and get rid of unused things. You should keep things that you will use and get rid of things which were unused for the past 6 months or older. 

This is a great way to start off with more useful space to organize your storage boxes. Also, it is a good excuse to treat yourself to new kitchen tools. 

 Second step is to determine where to store your stuff and why. Example store your pots and pans close enough to your oven so you will get them quickly and easily while cooking your meal. The idea is to create ''zones''. You can organize your stuff according to their use. While you are baking, you may need the electric mixer, so you can just go to the baking stuff cabinet. You will find everything in one place. You can create space for everything and do your best to keep that way. Also this will do with your plates and bowls, obviously. 

Food storage is very important in the kitchen so you will need to consider using boxes and jars to store cereal, pasta and cookies for example. Today you can buy cheap plastic boxes which can prevent food from losing its crunchiness. Also, when storing spices you can find small glass bottles which you can label. In this way you are avoiding clutter of different kinds of containers while having neat and organized storage. 

Another tip for your pantry is that you store serving pieces and/or appliances higher than those things you frequently use so it would be more practical to reach.

 Organize your cabinet with boxes and lids separately. Store lids together because they have similar shaped and boxes in each other. In this way you will save space and might even free another shelf for some other purpose. Store baking dishes in each other according to their size so you will find what you need much more quickly and easily. 

 How many of you put pieces of paper on the fridge? No more clutter! An idea how to avoid an eyesore is to choose a cabinet which is at eye level and mount a cork board to pin pieces of paper of your to-do list and recipes on the inside of the cabinet. An alternative to this, you can find magnetic paint so you can use magnet instead of pinning.

Chopping boards! You can have multiple ones depending on what you're cutting or your only wood bulky board. You can invest in a small shelf for the inside of your cabinet to store your cutting boards on the inside.

This is a very convenient way to keep the boards into place. 

There are loads more of great storage ideas. Here I mentioned only few and maybe the most effective :) If you will ever consider doing some of these, you will definitely enjoy your time cooking in a clean and organized kitchen :) 

I hope this list was useful! 

Enjoy!

Love, 

Ciklemfusa

xx 

Simple And Quick Crispy Sliced Potatoes

Here is a very quick recipe for baked potatoes when you're craving something salty and crunchy. For this recipe I used normal potatoes but you can always use sweet ones if you love the combination of the sweet and salty flavours. All up to you!

You will need....

Potatoes

Salt

Pepper

Finely chopped fresh rosemary

Olive oil

Method

1. Pre heat the oven at 220 degrees C. Do not peel the potatoes so you will have a more crunch edge. Using a fine cutting knife such as a chef's knife,  slice the potato as fine as possible and try to keep them similar in thickness.

2. Put them in a bowl and add olive oil, salt, pepper and the fresh rosemary. 

3. Transfer them onto a dish with a baking sheet for the oven and distribute them so that they do not touch each other. You want them to get evenly crunchy. 

4. Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes. But also check them during the process, you don't wantover baking because the thickness of the potatoes will effect the baking process. 

As simple as that :)

Enjoy 

Love,

Ciklemfusa

xx

3 Favorite Food Blogs

Love and Lemons 

Beautifully photographed food and recipes with a twist! The blog mostly has vegetarian recipes which are made in an interesting way. I love the way the blog lets you search for a recipe by ingredient, season, special diets and meal type. You should take a look and visit this hip website! Also, below are two photos which are linked to their recipes for you to explore.

Dulce Delight

The sweetest Brazilian girl - Raiza Costa cooks in her colorful kitchen with cool video tutorials. She specializes in deserts but also have various savory recipes. Also, she gets creative with presentation of the dish which can inspire you to impress your guests. Truly an inspiration! 

They Draw and Cook

For the cooks and illustrators at one go, the blog 'They Draw and Cook' is your perfect blog. You can filter your search for recipes by type of dish, ingredients and type of illustration. The recipes are written - or better, illustrated in a fun way, like the one below. Here are two nice recipes from the blog; Orange and Cinnamon Cake and Ways To Use Stale Bread. You can click on the pictures to enlarge. 

Enjoy !

Love,

Ciklemfusa

xx

5 Ways To Welcome Spring In Your Home

Spring is a season when you need some changes around the house after the cold winter. 

After your spring cleaning you may want some ideas to feel the season's atmosphere and here are some ideas for your space!

Stock up with local fruit and vegetables.

You need your fruits and veg all year round but if you skip them, this is a good time for you to reconsider. The juiciest natural candy will be in season and also leafy greens. 

Visit the  local marker and make sure you buy the fruit and veg in an appropriate amount so no food would be wasted. Also consider storage for them - some veg/fruit need to be refrigerated and others don't. 
                    

Plant seasonal herbs.

Herbs are very useful in the kitchen. Mostly for those who love experimenting with different flavors. Nature is a very good source for the flavors you fancy for your dish. In spring herbs such as basil, chives, dill and lemon balm can be planted.

 *You can have a look at the post about what herbs to grow in spring 5 Herbs To Grow This Spring!.*

Plant seasonal blooms.

There are endless flowers you can plant both indoors and outdoors. My favorite would be jasmine but you may think of others such as colorful tulips and daisies. 

Make your own candles with some jasmine, lemon or sweet orange essential oil.

It is very easy to make your own candles - choose your wax (eg. paraffin, soy, beeswax), melt it with steam, add your favorite essential oils and pour into glass containers with the wicks attached to the bottom. In this way you are making your own candles with your favorite scents and oils. And you get to also find some creative containers to use. 

Add some floral prints to your decor.

Any floral decor will help you to get the spring atmosphere. You can find a patterned textile and cover your cushions on the couch, or maybe your bed with new sheets. 

 With simple changes, now you can have spring in your home too.

Enjoy! 

Love,

Ciklemfusa


xx 

Modern & Creative Chair Design

Morning! 

Here are some cool modern chair designs you can tease your eyes with. It's a balance between practicality and beauty while keeping it minimal. 

Ludovica & Roberto Palomba for Zanotta

Bellboy Design

Colé Italian Design Label

Danish Chair design

Sean Yoo

Oh Rigami Chair design. Rodolphe Pauloin.

 Sculptural Bookworm Chair

SF Green Labs Chair

Enjoy the first spring weekend! 

Love,

Ciklemfusa

xx 

5 Herbs To Grow This Spring!

Hello! 

It's Friday and the start of Spring! This season is perfect for a lot of herbs so it is important to know which herbs can survive temperature changes - cool morning and warmer afternoons. Here are five herbs you can grow which you can use in your cooking.

Cilantro has an unmistakable flavor and it is best in full sun and some afternoon shade.

Parsley has a high nutrients content and flavors too. And like Cilantro, it needs full sun and partial shade.

Very useful in the kitchen. In cold temperatures grows indoors and hot temperatures grows outdoors.

Has a fresh flavor. Plant in early spring which grows fast in cool soil. 

Chives have a soft onion flavor. It needs full sun and some shade. 

Happy Spring and enjoy the sun! 

Love,

Ciklemfusa

xx

Homemade Lemon Pepper Spice Blend

If you liked the previous post of the lemon pepper chicken recipe, here is the method I found which can be used to prepare your own lemon pepper seasoning! Simple procedure :)

Ingredients

Lemon zest from 4 lemons
1/3 cup of peppercorns (ground) - You can use any type of pepper corns, depending on you taste.
1 tablespoon of sea salt

Method

1. Spread the lemon zest onto a baking sheet and bake on the lowest setting of your oven. 

2. It will take about an hour for the zest to dry out so you need to keep checking and tossing the zest with a fork occasionally.

3. The zest will be ready when it is crumbly and dry. It will be shrunken a bit and you can remove it from the oven. 

4. Using a pestle and mortar, grind the peppercorns and add it to the lemon zest with some salt and pepper. 

5. Store the blend in an air-tight container and you can use later! 

Enjoy! 

Ciklemfusa

xx