Spice Racks as... spice racks

Last week, I posted about how we used IKEA's spice racks as inexpensive forward-facing bookshelves in LE's room.

I'd be remiss to leave out that we used the spice racks as... wait for it... spice racks! Once again, 16 months ago I spent waaaay too long searching for the perfect spice rack from places like Home Depot, Menards, Target, Amazon, and more Amazon.

I settled on these spice racks, and, I must say, I'm so glad that I did!

Even where there are jars that are not flush to the railing and door/other bottle, I swung the door open and closed as hard as I could repeatedly without it budging. That was my biggest fear.

What I liked even more about these is that they are on individual rows, so I could completely customize how many we have based on our spices. As you can see, we have a large variety of spice brands-- Penzeys, Market Pantry, McCormicks, Tony's, and a Dijon mustard jar that I keep our Emeril's spice mixture. All types of the bottles fit nicely.

The best part of it all? Using the unused space on the back of the door opened up 2/3 of a pantry shelf.

It's so simple to do! All 4 shelves took about 20 minutes to hang. If you want to replicate it, I found that the appropriate space is 4 1/2 inches measuring from the bottom of the upper shelf to the screw hole for the shelf directly underneath.

Quick Tip: Fewer Dishes!

It's no secret. If you cook from scratch, you will inevitably have a lot of dirty dishes, including what seems to be every measuring device you own. 

To reduce my dishwashing load, I eyeball most measurements unless I'm baking something finicky, like cakes and cookies. Here's how:

Tip 1:

Hold the measuring cup above the bowl and pour next to it, directly into the bowl. The measuring cup serves as a reminder of how much you're aiming to pour in.

Tip 2: 

If you're not confident in eyeballing your measurements, take a minute to look at your recipe. A little basic math can help you. Will you need a tablespoon someplace and a 1/4 cup someplace else? 

I very frequently use 4 tablespoons instead of dirtying up my 1/4 measuring spoon. Or, fill larger measuring cups halfway for smaller increments. My baked oatmeal recipe is a great example of only needing to dirty a half cup and a teaspoon (I even measure the milk in the dry measuring cup since it doesn't need to be precise here).

Sometimes, I mix up in my head what the equivalents are, so I reference Martha Stewart's Cooks Helpers that I have on my fridge as a quick refresher. 

Printing these out on magnetic paper or adhering a couple of magnets on the back of cardstock would make a great present topper for any cooking-related gift!

And what got painted were... (drumroll)

Bookshelves!

LE and I tagged along with John to Chicago a few weeks back just so I could go to Ikea to buy their $4 wooden spice racks that have popped up around cute kids' rooms across the blogosphere. Like this photo that was posted on Ohdeedoh:

Even before LE was born, I knew I wanted forward-facing bookshelves. Supposedly, they foster more of a desire for reading than traditional bookshelves since kids can actually see the book covers. I can't vouch for the truth in that. What I can say is that I imagine everyone has a space in their home that could make room for a narrow bookshelf (spots behind doors come to mind). 

About 1 1/2 years ago, I started keeping my eye out for forward-facing shelves. Garage sale hunts came up empty, and to my dismay, the shelves that I found in stores were way too expensive for me to rationalize.  

I bookmarked a few different great ideas for DIY: a fabric sling {tutorial}, rain gutter bookshelves {tutorial}, and build my own {tutorial}. These are all ideas that I'd love to do, but they'd end up just sitting in my bookmark list forever and never get done... just like they did for a full year.

After considering different options, the Ikea spice racks for $4/ea were just the right fit for us. I love that they come in unfinished wood so that we could paint them in the darker gray accent color for LE's room.

Here's how ours turned out:

Everyone knows that there's going to be a difference in quality between Ikea and Pottery Barn. I was willing to live with the little imperfections for the cost (I  mean $4 vs $40-60. No brainer.), especially since they're sturdy. 

The pieces of wood just don't line up perfectly, but the one who matters-- LE-- will never care.

I have to tell you, these shelves are the easiest shelves to put together and hang. We've done a lot of floating shelves, including ones from Pottery Barn that are supposedly super simple, but none were this simple.

What I did:

For these shelves, it took a quick coat of regular primer and two coats of paint that I got for free from Benjamin Moore. Since the paint was matte, I sprayed a light coat of polyurethane to give it a slight sheen but not make it shiny. It took about 5 minutes per shelf to assemble using the dinky allen wrench that comes with them. Then, it took about a half an hour to install in the wall using drywall anchors when I wasn't hitting a stud.

I love how the shelves turned out and fill that wall space! LE seems to love pulling books off of them, too.

Quick Tip: Wash Fewer Paint Brushes!

Don't wash your brushes between coats!

I'll share with you soon what we were working on last week, but to give you a hint... it involved multiple coats of paint.

In general, I prefer to brush on paint as opposed to spraying. There are less fumes, even coats, and less of an overall mess. The one downfall is saving the brush from drying out in between coats.

Introducing: ziplock baggies! You could use plastic wrap if you prefer. 

Place your paintbrush into the bag, squeeze as much of the air out as possible, and seal the top. This will keep your brush from drying out in between coats. I left my brush in there for 24 hours without consequence.

Happy painting!

Meatless Monday: Spaghetti Puttanesca

Meatless Monday! 

Our family chooses to eat meat from animals that were responsibly and preferably locally raised, which means that we choose to pay more for our groceries. Sometimes it's hard for me to go into our regular grocery store and see normal boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale for $0.99/lb and have to walk by. Even if you don't share the same philosophy that we do when it comes to buying meat, maybe environmental factors will pull at your heart strings. 

For a family of 4, skipping meat and cheese for one day a week is equivalent to taking your car off of the road for 5 weeks. If everyone in the US skipped meat and cheese for a day, it would be like taking 7.6 million cars off of the road for a year.  (Source: Environmental Working Group)

Admittedly, it's hard for me to make a meal that doesn't have meat or cheese, but this one comes super close. This pasta is surprisingly full of flavor, very easy to make, uses ingredients that I already keep on hand, and comes together in less than 30 minutes. 

The ingredients are strong on their own, so be sure to serve it with plenty of noodles to balance them out.

Arguably this shouldn't count as "Meatless Monday" since it has anchovies. For those of you squeamish about anchovies, keep in mind that you won't taste anchovy, per se; it will just give it a richer flavor than going without. You could always leave it out given the potency of the other ingredients.

Spaghetti Puttanesca

super slightly adapted from America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 tbs regular olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 tsp anchovy paste (or 6 anchovies rinsed and minced)

1 tbs tomato paste (optional)

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or part of a minced fresh hot pepper, like a jalapeño)

1 small red bell pepper, minced (optional)

1 (28 oz) can fire-roasted Muir Glen diced tomatoes (or use what you have)

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped

3 tbs minced fresh parsley

2 tbs capers, rinsed

salt & pepper

12 oz whole-wheat pasta (spaghetti, tubes, bowties... whatever)

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and dry pasta; cook until al dente. Reserve some cooking water in a separate dish and drain the pasta. Tip: Place a measuring cup in the sink and pour the pasta in a strainer over the measuring cup.

While waiting for the water to boil, in a 10-12 inch skillet over medium heat, cook the oil, garlic, anchovy paste, tomato paste (if using), bell pepper (if using) and red pepper flakes for 1-2 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown.

Stir in the undrained tomatoes, and bring it all to a simmer. Cook 15-20 minutes until the sauce has thickened, stirring every couple of minutes.

Remove from heat; stir in the olives, parsley, and capers. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the drained pasta to skillet. Toss to combine, adding some of the reserved pasta water to loosen it, if needed. I usually add a tablespoon or so to the container with the leftovers since the pasta tends to dry out some over time.

Optional: top with freshly shaved parmesan and your best extra virgin olive oil.

The sauce can be made 4 days ahead and frozen up to 2 months. Add cooked pasta to the warmed sauce when ready to serve.