Kitchen Demolition - Week 1

A friend of mine suggested that I keep a journal of my kitchen demolition.  I really keep saying, "I need to blog more" so I thought I would do it here.

Last week I started a remodel on my kitchen which involved a complete tear out to change the layout of the kitchen.  Most of the work is being done by real professionals, with myself doing some of the demo (not the serious stuff, I took the cabinets, counters and some of the floor up to donate to Habitat for Humanity).  I'll probably paint too.  Anyway, above is my kitchen before.  Below is it as of today (Thursday).

The real challenge is going to be eating without a kitchen.  I have a crockpot, a vegetable steamer, a microwave and panini press.  I also have an outdoor grill if it gets warm.  It is unseasonally cold here.  I planned this time of year because it's normally perfect weather. 

I really don't like to eat out.  I try to only eat out socially or at new restaurants (it's at part of my job) and only a few times a month.  Without a kitchen, this is a real challenge!  This week, I ate Chinese food once, but the rest of the time I managed to make somewhat healthy meals (I did use a lot of tortillas this week).  I am hoping to keep eating out down to once a week, at least.   A bunch of friends are going for pizza on Saturday, so that makes twice this week.  So far, not off to a good start.

My Weekly Meals:
To be honest, I really normally only eat a big meal for dinner.  I normally grab some fruit for breakfast and leftovers for lunch.  Lunch is a problem, because I am trying not to have too many leftovers, because those make dishes I have to clean in the bathroom sink.  Yuck! 

I seem to have been in a Mexican mood this week.

This is the first day of my kitchen demolition (Monday). I grilled some chicken on my panini press and made tacos. This meal actually dirtied no dishes, aside from the cutting board and knife, because I covered the press with foil before grilling. 

This is pasta diablo with some fresh steamed veggies and I actually made homemade garlic rolls with my panini press.  They were a little flat, but they tasted pretty good.  The pasta and veggies were kind of messy.  I made the veggies in my electric vegetable steamer (which is hard to clean in a bathroom sink, but worth it) and I boiled the pasta in the microwave and covered it in some sauce I had stored in the freezer. The pasta wasn't cooked quite like I like, but it works in a pinch!  It was a little soft for my tastes.

Thursday night I had quesadillas and a big green salad.  The quesadillas were made in the panini press.  No dishes were dirtiedd in this one either.

The cabinets are supposed to be in next week!  Let's hope I get to show off my new stove with some new culinary adventures soon.  I didn't think about it when I scheduled this, but the remodel will cut into my Farmer's Market time! I really like writing about unique farmer's market finds.