Restful Kitchen

Oat-Free Apple Crisp

2019-09-02T01:21:00.000-05:00

Are you ready for the best healthy apple crisp recipe out there? I've been a huge fan of apple crisp since I was a child, and I've enjoyed many versions. This one remains my favorite due to its outstanding flavor (it tastes like an unhealthy recipe!). The fact that it's very simple to put together is an added bonus.

Orange Mango Smoothie

2019-05-24T12:02:00.000-05:00

Recently we've been enjoying fresh vegetable and fruit juices and smoothies for breakfast every morning. It's been an easy and delicious way to get our fruits and vegetables in first thing every day, and my energy levels have never been better. This smoothie doesn't have vegetables in it (though you can feel free to throw in a handful or two of spinach if you like), but it's a tropical and vitamin-packed ice-cream-type treat.

Paleo N'oatmeal

2019-04-17T12:29:00.000-05:00

Today's recipe yields a healthy, hot breakfast just five minutes, whether your food journey is paleo, dairy-free, gluten-free, or vegan.

She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

I've been pondering Proverbs 31:15 recently. In the life within us of Jesus Christ, who rose before day and prepared spiritual food both for Himself and for all those around Him, we too can bear His image in this world by rising early and feeding our families.

Banana Oat Breakfast Cookies

2019-03-22T10:15:00.000-05:00

Which sounds like a more appealing breakfast: a bowl of oatmeal with bananas and coconut on top, or cookies?

If you said oatmeal, your recipe isn't here today, but if you, like me, would rather eat cookies for breakfast, this is what you're looking for. It's healthy, it's simple, it's quick, it's a delicious cookie - and the ingredients are basically the same as a fancy bowl of oatmeal!

Pumpkin Surprise Muffins

2019-03-11T10:55:00.000-05:00

Easy and delicious, these gluten-free, low carb muffins are a staple in our kitchen. While they're a great choice in the fall with freshly-grown, cooked, and mashed pumpkin, they're also the perfect choice in the winter when I'm staring at my freezer wondering what to cook with all my frozen mashed pumpkin. I especially love this recipe because the surprise filling provides flavor and texture variety more than ordinary muffins, but these are still quick to stir together.

How to Organize Your Whole Kitchen in Just Fifty Years

2019-03-07T17:57:00.001-06:00

A restful kitchen is an organized kitchen. For me, what could be more relaxing than all the food items beautifully arranged in matching containers that perfectly fit together in the available space, easy to access, easy to use, and easy to maintain?

It seems attainable. After all, the internet is full of organized pantries that spark immediate aspirations to #kitchengoals:

Image from How to Create the Perfectly Organized Pantry

I love this pantry from She Gave It a Go. Baskets, clear square containers, uniformity, just the right amount of space between items - both in how it looks and in ease of finding everything, it's a definite success.

Yet if I attempted to model my own pantry after this one, I'd give it a go and give up. For one, I don't have enough paper towels to fill three baskets, and if I did, I'd have to throw out my recycle bin and my oat bucket.

The point is, organization doesn’t have to and shouldn’t involve stress. It’s all too easy to become discontent with what we have been blessed with, especially when scrolling through pages of perfectly-positioned photos like the one above.

Organization, for most of us, is a journey. It can’t happen all at once, and it shouldn’t. Life isn’t like that. Even if I invested the money, time, and energy into transforming my pantry into an exact duplicate of one of my favorite Pinterest pantries, it wouldn’t last. I’d come home with the groceries and with tired, hungry children, and what would happen? I’d toss the groceries into the pantry just as they were—no dumping into fancy containers—and go feed my children. I’d use something up or purchase something new, and in a matter of time the once-perfect pantry has descended into clutter once more.

February 2018

This is not to say we shouldn’t invest the effort into organization. Absolutely we should. Yet it’s about mindset: are we approaching organization with a restful heart?
A restful heart:

· Is willing to accept less than perfection because it knows life isn’t perfect
· Expects and plans for disruptions and disorder
· Responds in grace when the system is messed up
· Perseveres in doing and redoing the same daily task with a heart of love
· Realizes that life is a process that involves small steps
· Is content and thankful
· Does not envy
· Prioritizes what’s important and spends the time there

Before I was married and as a newlywed, I had plenty of time to plan and arrange my kitchen and pantry as I wished. Originally, “pantry” space was just one cupboard, as none of my kitchen closets had any sort of shelving. Pregnancies and various health needs followed. At least once or twice each year, the way we ate shifted. We weren’t using some of the recipes I’d collected in my homemade family cookbook. We dabbled in gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, low carb, low fat, high meat, low meat, and balanced meal eating styles at different times. The ingredients in my kitchen continually shifted.

The perfect organization system to meet our needs at those times would not meet our family’s needs now.

February 2018

What’s more, one interesting tendency I’ve noticed in my quest for an organized lifestyle is that we aren’t capable of making every change at once. We’re not 100% creative and we don’t know every answer the first time. It takes time mulling over the issue, even unconsciously.

Over the past several years, I’ve organized and decluttered many times. Each time, I gain some small inspiration or idea for improvement on the previous system. Each time, I feel like the result is better than the time before. As I’ve used each item and prepared each meal, I become more familiar with how I cook, how our family eats, and what my ultimate goals for our kitchen and mealtimes are—and thus, I am able to arrange each item in a way that will better meet those goals.

I love labels. And glass containers. Using what I have on hand! March 2019

So—how do we perfectly organize our kitchen to provide a restful atmosphere for food preparation and consumption?

· Pray or meditate.
· Accept that you can’t do it all at once.
· Look around and note what you do know needs to be done. Write it down.
· Prioritize.
· Work on one small task today.
· Creatively use and repurpose what you already have.

· Repeat for a lifetime.
· Enjoy the journey and the rewards along the way!

Today, as my daughter and I worked on our pantry, I pondered these things. I’m thankful for small steps both in my kitchen and in life. Both are so far from perfect, but my pantry better meets my family’s needs than it did yesterday or last year, and my soul is more in tune to the voice of the One who calls me to rest in Him, the one to whom I say, “Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

March 2019

It’s easy to visualize the results and get discouraged because we can’t get there today. Yet as we do the little things faithfully today—as we do what we can at this moment to the best of our ability with a restful heart—we will one day look around and marvel at what it has become.

Healthy Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

2019-02-27T19:43:00.001-06:00

Dirt Dessert was a favorite childhood treat of mine, usually only served once every few years. Creating a healthy version was definitely on my dessert wish list, and the first step was finding a way to make homemade chocolate sandwich cookies. This recipe proved even better than I expected!

Cinnamon Roll Waffles

2019-02-08T11:30:00.000-06:00

Today's recipe is a breakfast recipe. We like unique breakfast recipes! Although planning for every meal of the day is important, planning ahead for breakfast is especially crucial. After all, who enjoys waking up hungry only to be faced with an hour of breakfast cooking time in addition to the countless other normal morning tasks?

When I know ahead of time what I'm planning for breakfast, I'm able to either mix it up the night before or else mix it up earlier in the morning before my morning routine.

Egg Salad [Instant Pot Friendly]

2019-01-31T15:29:00.000-06:00

Egg salad is a staple in our kitchen - an easy lunch the whole family loves. Even though the toddler often will eat hard boiled eggs whole and plain, we all appreciate the fine mesh of flavors in this recipe. I created this recipe using my Instant Pot, but you can boil your eggs on the stove if you prefer.

Honey Sesame Chicken

2018-11-02T01:21:00.000-05:00

Asian food is a weakness of mine. Unfortunately, most available Asian food readily available in America is chock-full of food sources that are, we might say, not beneficial to health. Finding healthy Asian recipes I love and that aren't overly complicated is so satisfying!

Snickerdoodle Apple Cheesecake Pie

2018-10-31T01:21:00.000-05:00

Snickerdoodle Apple Cheesecake Pie is perfect for a special autumn occasion! This was a second anniversary treat for us, and "delicious" was our verdict.

Welcome to Restful Kitchen!

2018-10-30T12:36:00.000-05:00

There's a joyful place in the kitchen even for those of us who aren't food enthusiasts. Restful Kitchen's about finding that place.

Maybe you have trouble finding recipes that fit your budget. Maybe your family doesn't like the types of food that are popular in articles across the internet. Maybe healthy recipes are too difficult to find. Maybe you just need an arsenal of fast suppers, or vegetable sides, or healthy snacks.

Restful Kitchen is a toolbox that provides fast, healthy, easy, practical options for you to find rest, health, and joy in the kitchen.

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