Welcome to My Kitchen!

Hi! Come into my new kitchen. It seems that a blog is an extension of a kitchen. It’s a way to expand our culinary circle of influence. This is the space we create in, try new flavors and make new friends. We also burn things and forget to add salt. I almost feel like the dirty dishes in the sink, distracting my dog from discovering a photo shoot and the Echo playing Hamilton non-stop should be highlighted over everything else. This is real life! I love seeing “behind the scenes” of other foodies and bloggers, so I hope you’ll enjoy seeing this side of the Natural Sweet Recipes’ kitchen today!

This little corner of my kitchen is my holy ground – it’s my primary workspace. My last kitchen didn’t have a gas stove, so while I love this new range and oven, it’s taken some getting use to. Another kitchen quirk that was an adjustment is no kitchen island. I don’t mind now because this corner work area with larger storage space under the counters helps rectify this. Plus, the open floor plan, the white cabinets and blue backsplash has a very “east coast” feel, which I love!

This wall of cabinets is what made me fall in love with this kitchen in the first place. The glass acts as a mirror for the large window on the opposite wall. The large counter has worked well for entertaining and meal prep. I am able to store my food processors, kitchen aid and crockpot in the lower cabinets while being able to display my favorite white dishes in the glass cabinets above.

I was lucky that our kitchen had been renovated before we moved in, but I took that for granted. It was absolutely filthy! I literally spent the better part of a week scrubbing and scouring each and every cabinet, drawer and cupboard before unpacking kitchen items. I didn’t realize how much I loved my kitchen tools until I needed to store them in an unfamiliar (dirty) place. Now that it’s clean, it feels like new and we feel at home!

This cutting board, which says “Travis and Annie’s Kitchen” was a gift from our realtor. One of the nicest gifts she could have given us!  I’m sure it will be used in many posts in the future. Side note: the cake stand is holding these healthy pumpkin cookies.

We have a window ledge that allows me to keep fresh herbs close at hand and in the sunlight. One of my goals this year is to extend this little herb garden to a full garden in our backyard. I’m hoping to grow tomatoes, cucumber, mint, thyme and basil.

We love our little breakfast nook! Our house is surrounded by a lot of trees so it’s very calming and very private. This is also my primary photography spot. Since there are trees around, summer tends to block some light with all the lush greenery. I take full advantage of this large window and the natural light has been absolutely perfect for photographing dishes. I love sitting here for jotting down notes and recipes and working on my laptop. This is also where I’d love to invite you to sit down, hang out and taste-test my latest healthy recipe.

Perhaps my favorite addition to my new kitchen is our large walk-in pantry!

It’s great to keep infrequently used items here and have space for natural sweeteners in bulk. I also love having Enzo’s food and things out of common areas. And yes, I love that window! I’m still working on utilizing this space for the blog. When I get things squared away, I’ll do a more detailed post about my pantry and my naturally sweet products. What do you think?

Thanks for touring my kitchen! I’d love to hear the things you love about yours! For now, I’ll be here working on a new recipe to share on the blog soon.