Tips & Recipes to Survive your Kitchen Remodel
Just because you’re undergoing a kitchen remodel doesn’t mean you still can’t cook the same way as you had been before! Here are some tips and recipes to survive your kitchen remodel.
We’re are under construction at Greens & Chocolate home and Taylor’s kitchen hasn’t been functioning for a couple of months now. But that hasn’t stopped her from continuing to cook up her magic on the daily for her blog, where she shares tons of delicious recipes.
So today being Taylor was so gracious to welcome us into her home, we’re walking you through some of her favorite recipes as well as tips and tricks and ways to stay sane while undergoing your kitchen remodel.
Set up a Temporary Kitchen
Tip number one is to set up a temporary kitchen somewhere in your home. Taylor and her family set up their kitchen in their three-season porch while we were undergoing our kitchen remodel set up our temporary kitchen in our laundry room.
The reason we set our kitchen up in our laundry/mudroom was that it had a sink. And for Taylor, her kids play in the living room and the three-season porch was right off that so while she is working away she can always have her eye on her kids.
Designate a Kitchen Sink
Having a sink that is available for washing your dishes most times can be the biggest challenge. This is why we set up our temporary kitchen in our mudroom where our utility sink was available.
If you don’t have a utility sink, the bathroom sink will work too but this may be the most difficult part as bathroom sinks can be so shallow and don’t make for the easiest cleaning bowl for larger dishware.
Now is the time to Get Organized
Now is the time to get organized!
Clean out your cabinets and organize them into three categories:
- Toss/ Donate
- Temporary Kitchen
- Store Away
One of my favorite things, when we went through our kitchen remodel, was that it gave me a chance to go through all the stuff I had and get rid of things that we never used. And even tons of spices that were expired that I had never even thought about checking.
This will help you think about what you actually use on a daily and these items will want to go into your temporary kitchen. We also emptied out our closet and got our cooking gadgets and food organized in there.
Dust off your Cooking Gadgets
If you don’t already use it on a daily basis now is the time to dust off your panini maker, crock pots, instant pot, waffle makers, woks, blenders, electric skillets, griddles, and more! Or if you don’t already own at the least you might want to invest in a $20 electric griddle or an electric wok.
Our crockpot and skillets were in full effect every day when undergoing our remodel while Taylor’s Instant Pot, skillet, and Vitamix are always in full force on the daily. And bonus, today she’s sharing three of her favorite recipes using these gadgets.
Greens & Chocolate Top Recipes
Instant Pot Chicken Taco Soup
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs chicken breasts
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups corn
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 3 cups chicken broth
- Shredded cheese, diced avocado, diced green onions, and crushed tortilla chips, for topping
Instructions
Place all ingredients in your Instant Pot.
Secure the lid and pressure valve to closed.
Cook on high for 25 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes and then completely release.
Shred the chicken with two forks.
Serve topped with shredded cheese, diced avocado, diced green onions, and crushed tortilla chips.
Enjoy!
One Skillet Chicken Teriyaki and Rice
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ cup teriyaki sauce, plus more for drizzling
- 1 ½ cups rice
- 2 ½ cups water
- 20 ounces frozen stir-fry vegetables
- Chopped green onions, for topping
Instructions
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add the diced chicken, and cook until golden brown on each side. The chicken doesn’t have to be completely cooked through, as it will continue cooking with the rice.
- Add the garlic, ginger, and teriyaki sauce, stirring to combine.
- Add the rice and water, and stir to combine.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cover.
- Cook for 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes.
- Add the frozen stir-fry vegetables and stir to combine.
- Cover and cook for another 8-10 minutes, until the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked through.
- Serve topped with diced green onions and drizzled with additional teriyaki sauce, if preferred.
Enjoy!
Orange Julius Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 large orange
- 1 banana, frozen
- ½ cup frozen cauliflower
- ½ cup vanilla yogurt
- 1 cup almond milk
Instructions
1. For a smoothie packet, place all of the ingredients except for the almond milk into a reusable baggie and freeze until ready to use.
2. Once ready to make, place all of the smoothie packet and the milk into a high-speed blender and blend until smoothie-consistency.
Serve and enjoy!
Keep your eye on the prize!
And lastly, remind yourself of the end goal. You’re going to soon be getting a brand new fabulous kitchen! Print our mood boards, the before pictures and after renderings, your contractor or designer gave you and hang them up in your temporary kitchen.
This will be a constant reminder of why it’s all worth it and what you’ll soon be cooking up and creating a lifetime of family memories within.
Hope that helps! With these five steps and those three delicious recipes, you won’t have to miss a beat on your family dinners while living with no kitchen for only a few short months.
