Bright Idea

I love the start of the year.  New energy, new goals, a new spirit everywhere.
For me this year comes with a new home, a new kitchen, and a new list of space concerns.  I happen to own more cookbooks than shoes, more wooden spoons than hair products, and definitely more spices than pairs of underwear!  Not only did I discover that I have regular paprika to last a year.  But I also have smoked, sweet and Spanish.  Cinnamon?  I’ve got sticks, short and tall.  Ground varieties from China as well as Mexico.  I could seriously survive off spices this year!  I own a 2 foot tall blender, a meat grinder, Cuisinart, kitchen aid, panini press, pasta makers...and the list goes on.  With limited counter space and cabinets that are fitted for saucepans, where was I to put my juicer I intended to use for the first few weeks of the year?  And don’t even get me started on all the cool Christmas goodies I received-vintage ice tongs from my Great Great Grandfather who worked in the ice business, a new cast iron dutch oven, and even a squirrel nut cracker!  These things are too rad not to have out...right?  Or am I just a nut?
After a few breakdowns on my kitchen floor surrounded by cookie cutters and knives, I thought to myself ‘why do I have to limit myself to these stupid cabinets?’  I can hide old grimy things I rarely use behind the doors, and use bookshelves and table tops for my snazzy kitchen goods.  My Mountain Man had a brilliant idea to convert the hall coat closet into a pantry.  Now we’re talking!  Who needs coats anyways?  So we spent the first part of the year ‘expanding’ my kitchen.  We put in shelves for my pantry...

Happy Me!

Then, I decided I didn’t need a space for my cookbooks necessarily.  The bulk of them can live in bookshelves, but my favorites can be right on the counter with me!  Voila!

I even found room for my ice tongs from 100 years ago...and who knew they look like steer horns when opened up and resting on a shelf?  Yeehaw!

We do what we can to make the most of our kitchen spaces, but sometimes a little thinking outside the ice box helps.  Having a Mountain Man and a drill doesn’t hurt either!  Oh and don’t underestimate the storage space of an oven...

So now that my cooking space and living space are one...I can start the New Year off the way I intended to-with freshness and zing!  Healthy, bright, and vibrant recipes will be flooding these pages in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, here’s a little teaser.   I made this tangy beet dip over the Holidays.  Serve it with crudites, pita bread or spread it on a crostini and top with goat cheese.  Enjoy the beat!

Tangy Beet Dip

Roast 2-3 beets in the oven (red and yellow work fine)
Let cool and peel
Toast 1 cup of walnuts on the stove or in the oven until fragrant
Let cool
In a food processor throw in a handful of cilantro, 2 big spoonfuls of Greek yogurt, the walnuts, beets and 2 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses.  If you don’t have pomegranate molasses, balsamic vinegar works too!
Whiz all together, add some salt and serve with some cilantro on top!