Creating a Plan for Organization and Cleaning (with a busy schedule)

I have always enjoyed organizing and (as embarrassing enough as it is to admit), cleaning too! I take pride in our home and all of the projects we've done to make it "ours". Being able to sit down and relax, knowing that the house is clean and that I don't have a long To Do list to tend to eventually that night or throughout the week, is a great feeling!

While finding time to organize and clean is already a struggle between my already insanely busy schedule, I know that it will only get more difficult to make time for these things once Bennett arrives in December. While I'm ready to give up my free time for a handsome little boy and all of the duties and time attentive things that come along with taking care of a newborn (and that having an extremely clean home will no longer be one of my goals), I'd still like to think and am hoping that the upkeep and cleanliness of my home won't need to suffer during this new and exciting (even busier) time.

To help myself come up with a better, more effective plan for my busy schedule, I've been jotting down the normal chores and activities that I do weekly around the house, and have been pinning different ideas and checklists for cleaning. While identifying all of the things I'm already doing, it'll give me the chance to better organize/set time frames for those items to help me stay on top of little things that can be done daily here and there while avoiding letting it all build up to have to tackle everything at once, with a very lengthy To Do List (when that small window of "free time" presents itself again from the last). I can easily identify those things that should be done nightly, every other night, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. (which makes it so easy to pick an item or two from the list to tackle when free time presents itself).

One awesome thing that I'm thankful for that makes juggling all of these duties and responsibilities now easier, and planning for the upcoming even busier time that we are looking forward to, is that thankfully I married a man who is a huge help around the house, and has a clean thumb of his own (so props to you Eric!).

My point for this post is not to make it seem like it'll be an easy job to balance keeping a clean home while adjusting to life with a new baby, or that I'll even want to spend time on these things like I do now (I know it'll be difficult and that I'll want to spend all of my "free" time - if you can call it that - catching up on sleep while not with my little man), this post is encourage myself to easily help me stay on top of the chores around the house and prioritizing tasks that I'm already doing now, to better fit the schedule of a busy, working mom. It's also important to note, that while I enjoy cleaning, I easily become stressed with the house is a mess - so I know that on top of all of the mommy duties that I'll be adjusting to - it will actually be less stressful for me to have a plan/list in place to stay on top of a semi-clean/decent looking home :)

Here a few examples from each of my lists that I've created so far (it's a work in progress!) From these lists, I'm able to sit down on the weekends to look over our schedules and easily come up with a rough plan for the week while ensuring we leave plenty of relax time as well!

Again, hopefully this will keep me motivated and will  better assist me in planning out the small tasks I can tackle when those "free moment" opportunities present themselves [or when your loving spouse is asking what they can help you with during the week] :)

Revamping My Spice Cabinet with Mason Jars!

Clutter and unorganized chaos drives me crazy, and my spice cabinet was driving me insane each time I opened up the little cabinet door by our stove - seeing all of the bottles shoved and strategically fit in there. I've been looking for ways to consolidate all of the different sized bottles and shakers of spices to not only make the cabinet easier on the eyes, but to also aid in organization so that I didn't have an avalanche each time I attempted to pull different spices out, or tried to pull one out from the back of the shelf.

I have been pinning  ideas on Pinterest lately on how to better organize my spice cabinet. Most of them were for larger cabinets or ideas for if I could turn my spice cabinet into a spice drawer (which I loved and can't wait to one day implement in a new kitchen, but our kitchen currently doesn't allow space for a drawer dedicated to just spices), so I was excited when I came across the different mason jar organization techniques for a smaller cabinet. Also, my sister-in-law Sharon has recently been converting all of her spices and refrigerator condiments to mason jars to help with organization, freshness and consistency - who doesn't love that? (And who doesn't love mason jars?) I quickly became sold on the idea and just needed to find time to start converting all of my plastic shakers to mason jars!

Materials Needed:

- Mason Jars

- Labels

- Marker

As you can see from our collection below, we have a ton of different sized shakers for spices. I elected to use different size mason jars so that we could fit everything in their new containers. I used jelly-sized jars, half pint-sized jars and quart-sized jars.

I began by sorting through all of the spices to create labels for each.

Once you wash and dry all of your mason jars, you're ready to start transferring contents from their shakers to the mason jar!

That's it! Here's my after picture - much more organized and better to look at than the various bottles and shakers shoved every which way to fit in the cabinet. I can't believe I fit 30 different spices so neatly on this small shelf. I love it! This project definitely crossed of one of the items on my "things to organize before Bennett arrives" list. :)

Roasted Squash, Peppers & Onions

One of my many favorite things to take from Dad's garden during the summer is yellow squash! There are a ton of summer dish recipes that you can make with squash and other garden vegetables - this happens to be one of my favorites! It's easy, quick and so yummy. Hope you enjoy, and Dad, thanks for the recent batch of fresh squash! :)

Ingredients:

• Yellow Squash
• Large Onion
• Bell Peppers
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Old Bay

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Wash and slice the squash, onion and bell peppers.
3. Toss vegetables in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper and Old Bay. (Feel free to use any of your other favorite spices too!)
4. Place in a Pyrex dish and bake for 12 minutes.

That's it! Later this summer once I have the chance to make it for myself, I'll share one of my Dad's favorite squash recipes - Crab Stuffed Squash, It'll be worth the wait!! :)

Brooke's Favorite Pasta Salad

This is and has always been one of my favorite pasta salads!

I've never been a fan of the mayo-filled summer salads (I've always found them to be too filling, they spoil easily after sitting out for a few minutes, and they're often loaded with additional carbs and calories). This dish has been one of my favorites since first making it!

This recipe actually originated from and was introduced to me by my Aunt Laura while I was in college, when I had my own (first) kitchen and started cooking away from home! It's so easy and I could literally eat it every day. I'm guilty of always having this as a side for any of our summer BBQs or cookouts (but have never received any complaints, so I continue on!) - it's just too easy and delicious to pass up as a side!

I hope you enjoy! :)

Ingredients:

1/2 Box of Farfalle (bow-tie) Pasta

Bottle of Italian Salad Dressing

3 Bell Peppers

2 Cucumbers

Carrots

2 heads of Broccoli

1 Onion

1 bag of Mini Pepperoni

1 block of Pepperjack Cheese

(Feel free to use any vegetables that you like! I usually use the above or whatever we have in the refrigerator from the garden. Same with cheese - I like to use Pepperjack to give it a extra little pop!)

Instructions:

Prepare/boil the pasta per the directions on the box. Once the pasta is done, drain and run under cool water. Sit aside to cool.

While the pasta is boiling in step one, start washing and prepping your vegetables. I like to throw everything together in one bowl once I've cut them up. Cube all of your vegetables and the onion into small pieces, and cut the broccoli into small bite-size pieces. Cube the Pepperjack cheese into small pieces, and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the cool pasta, pepperoni and veggies. Slowly stir in Italian salad dressing - making sure not to over-do it with dressing, but making sure that everything is coated well. (Typically, I end up using about half of the bottle).

Once the pasta salad is well mixed and cool - add your cheese to the top. (Warning: Make sure the pasta is cool and not warm before adding the cheese. If it's still warm - the cheese will just melt into the pasta salad). 

Refrigerate then serve!

After you refrigerate, you may need to add more Italian salad dressing to the salad before serving - the pasta and veggies will soak up the dressing while chilling in the refrigerator.

Hope you enjoy! :) I'm challenging myself to try new pasta salads this summer - I've already pinned a few on Pinterest that I can't wait to try!

Homemade Sweet Potato Fries

As everyone knows, I'm super picky with trying new foods, regardless of whether or not I've been around them my entire life! Believe it or not - sweet potatoes are on the list of recently-tried items. (Actually - Sharon if you're reading this, I believe that your baked sweet potatoes were the first I've ever tried!) 

I've never cooked them at home, but loved them and have been wanting to try something new with sweet potatoes - hence, the sweet potato fries recipe you're reading! :)

Ingredients:

3 large Sweet Potatoes
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Old Bay

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Line your baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper.

Cut the sweet potatoes in 1/4 inch fries.

Toss fries in olive oil to coat.

Spread fries on your baking sheet and sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and old bay. [Note: this recipe made 2 baking sheets of fries].

Bake for 25 minutes, turning occasionally, until the fries are browned.

Serve immediately! :)

The other positive for these fries (besides how great they taste) - they are a healthy side for any summer dish! Win/Win! For dinner, we had these with BBQ Pulled Chicken Sliders (click here for my blog post with the slider recipe). It was an easy and delicious meal to prep and make, while working from home today! Enjoy :)