Getting clear – and free from clutter – is starting to seem like a regular event around here.

Oh yeah, it IS a regular event around here!

The only way it seems to stay ahead of clutter – that seems to take on life of it's own – is to do a regular clearing.

So I am decluttering my kitchen right now, I have taken a few days to take a really good stab at it as time allows and will be switching my efforts over to slow and steady clean up and organization using the kitchen section of the Spring Into Spring Cleaning Challenge.

Watch for my Back to School Version coming up, it seems like a great time to take control of the kitchen with the kids back to school needing packed lunches, quick, nutritious breakfasts and after school snacks – not even mentioning dinner time – often eaten before speeding out again.

Makes me tired just thinking about it!

So, I discovered a slight method to my madness that I wanted to mention here when I was doing Operation Get Clear in my kitchen.

1st STEP – THE BAKING CUPBOARD 

The first step was cleaning out my baking cupboard. It was the first essential because the main point behind it all was to prep the kitchen for some mega baking sessions. I did that in one evening and jumped in with a cookie baking session first thing the next day.

Now I have one big batch of oatmeal/molasseses cookies with chocolate chips – some with raisins – waiting in the freezer – some baked already and some in a roll waiting to be sliced and baked on a cold school morning. These cookies are great for breakfast or a nutritious snack at any time. I will be posting the recipe.

BTW, I had just defrosted and cleaned the freezer a week before, so it was already prepped and ready to go (I had to, the door hadn't been shutting properly so I had frost growing on the frost).

That might be another area you may want to start with.

MAKE ONE FOR THE KIDS TOO

Something else came up while I refurbished my baking space – a few of my baking items where missing – minor stuff but I have to say – I like my stuff to be where I know it will be when I need it – so I came up with the bright idea of creating a baking center for my girls as well (the day my son is baking in the kitchen will be the day that he can be my guest and use MY baking stuff! Let's just say he'll have to be pretty hungry. But the girls will bake, especially my youngest who loves to create her own recipes – just like anything else – follow orders, or a recipe – hah!)

But she is very creative, all of her homemade concoctions from sewing to cooking come out quite good. I must say, she gets it from me, I find the fun in tweaking recipes – handmade skincare as well as baking – and patterns for sewing (I used to make clothes for the kids from my husbands shirts – without telling him! I could have been rich with the first tear aways if I had thought to add a zipper to my two tones – but I digress :0)

So now they have their own cupboard with their own measuring cups, spoons, pyrex measuring cups, baking sprinkles etc. I had enough extra stuff around to furnish it anyway, it is just a matter of theirs and mine, and they love having theirs.

I cleared enough junk and clutter out of the cupboards to make plenty of room for a cupboard for them as well as a place to put a handy recycling box to keep the recyclables off of the counter to be taken outside. 

Anything to make it easy, that seems to be the name of the game these days. 

My 10 year old daughter spent most of the day baking (with the microwave which isn't my first choice but anything to get her going) and having a lot of fun with it – even after I accidentally gave a mix she was working on to the chickens – I thought it was a different one that she had accidentally poured sour milk into. 

My older daughter promised pizza which didn't materialize, but as soon as the kitchen is put back together – tomorrow – I will be reminding her. We even found her favourite recipe when I was sorting my cookbooks.

Which is my story for tomorrow.

What to do when you have too many cookbooks cluttering up the kitchen? 

Coming Up!

Meantime you can check back on the other articles in the Healthy Back to School Lunches Series.