It’s been a light cooking couple of weeks for GMS because our main kitchen has been undergoing a major renovation!

It all started when I noticed moisture in our Tupperware cabinet (which everyone has, right? Two shelves completely dedicated to glass jars and plastic containers…right?!) I called our plumber (who is named Mario, we cannot let that go unknown) and he came over to inspect. Well, a little moisture turned into an entire kitchen renovation…I’ll show you what I mean…

So, here’s the kitchen in it’s original state. Pardon the mess…and the dishes. When I took that photo, I never intended to share it with you – but alas, I didn’t get a “before” shot because when Mario came, I didn’t know it was going to be such a huge demo! Also, I guess “original” captures our lives pretty well anyways…who doesn’t have dishes 90 percent of the time?

This is after Day 1. They took out all the tile that had been there for over 60 years, to reveal a pipe that was sweating (Mario says it was going to burst at some point, so it’s good I noticed!)

Here’s our old fixture – the faucet came out of the wall instead of from the sink. Also, notice how the sink basins were two separate sinks. This made them very hard to clean, plus they were quite old, so that didn’t help much.

After Day 2, they had ripped even more stuff out, and we were without a sink for a day. They also started patching all the walls and ceiling so they could paint the kitchen.

Day 3 was plumbing – after they ripped everything out, there was some behind-the-scenes work that happened (ie, replacing the pipe that was leaking, and all the pipes for the sink.) This involved going into our attic – which I didn’t even know we had – and pulling out the pipe. After Day 4, this is what our kitchen looked like – tile placed, but no sink!

Then Mario and his crew put new tile in and they painted the kitchen white (it used to be an offwhite color.)

I’m happy to report after Day 5 (also known as Tuesday) this is what the kitchen looks like now – we’re just waiting for Mario to seal the grout so we can really get in there and use it! Hopefully by this weekend we’ll have a fully functioning kitchen again. Only about two weeks without a kitchen, and I’m going whatever the opposite of stir crazy is.

It took the crew 5 days to do the kitchen (and paint the bathroom, too!) and we are very excited for all their hard work. Having a new GMS kitchen to work in will be lovely – and a new backsplash for our photographs doesn’t hurt, either!

Have you ever had a renovation in your house or kitchen? Did it leave white dust all over like it did ours? Tell us!

We’re always on the lookout for easy dinners that can be made to go, for our busy lives – we’re not always home when hunger strikes, but who wants to eat out all the time (and who can afford it!) We love pot pie, and figured that muffin pot pies would be great for those dinners out – just pop two or three in a glass jar and you’re ready to go! These are more like a savory muffin than a pot pie, but they capture the essence: savory veggies and meat in a delicious muffin batter.

We’ve been known to use Bisquick® Gluten Free mix for our gluten free recipes because it’s quick and easy to use for everything from breakfast to sweets to dinners. So we used it as a base for our pot pies, and it was a great choice – so moist and delicious!

Here’s what we used:

2 cups Bisquick® Gluten Free mix
1/3 cup butter
1 1/3 cup milk
3 eggs
1 cup peas (frozen or steamed)
1 small head broccoli
1 cup cooked chicken

For the full recipe, go here. Basically, you just add the mix to the butter and the milk, then add the eggs. Chop your broccoli, and then put it in a bowl with the peas and chicken. Then, add mix, then veggies and chicken, followed by mix, and bake!

The beauty of these is that you can add any veggie or meat you have on hand, making them a great dish to get rid of whatever you have in the fridge – a win when you have just-wilting veggies lying around.

What’s your favorite “garbage” dinner?

There is just something about macaroni and cheese that makes everyone smile a little wider. So when I went to Hyperion Public and had their mac and cheese with beets, I knew I had to kick my own recipe up a notch and try it out.

I started with our regular recipe, and while I was putting that together, I chopped and roasted the beets with some olive oil. Then I diced a bulb of fennel up. Fennel is a great addition to add – even raw! – because it’s crunchy and adds a great texture to your meal.

When the mac and cheese was ready, I mixed in the fennel, beets, and goat cheese, because who doesn’t love that? Then I added some thyme, and baked the whole thing for twenty minutes at 400 degrees to crisp the top.

This was a great dinner, and it reheated quite nicely, so I recommend that you make a big batch of it to have on hand for lunches and dinners throughout the week! What’s your favorite type of mac and cheese?

You guys, Jeff ran the LA marathon yesterday and the ladies of Garlic, My Soul are so SO proud of him. He finished in 4:45, which was well within his goal time of under 5 hours, and we had a great time waving and cheering for him down by the finish line in Santa Monica.

In other news, Jennie’s kitchen continues to undergo renovations and we’re all pretty excited for her new sink and new tiles.

Also, yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day. We were pretty wiped after the marathon excitement, but we did find time for a couple Irish coffees with a little whiskey and Bailey’s! Hope you had a happy and safe LA Marathon/St. Patrick’s Day weekend!

This past week, my parents have been in Los Angeles. They’d never been, so we got a healthy dose of tourist attractions in to give them the full LA welcome. On their second day, we headed to the Hollywood Farmers Market to show them where we spend our Sundays.

Obviously we had to stop for coffee, first, to make sure we were ready to face the chaos that is the market.

Then, we hit the stalls, picking up produce along the way we thought we’d snack on during the week. Asparagus seems to be a favorite among everyone, as did the darling tomatoes that were ripe and delicious fresh from the bag!

Finally, we headed down the sides we never venture down – the prepared food! We needed a little something to snack on after all our hard work – so we got a tamale to share! It was a great idea – the tamale was delicious. We were momentarily distracted by the rosemary bush they were selling, stopping to smell the herb, before heading home!

My parents and I had a great time wandering around LA, eating, drinking, and being merry, and I can’t wait for them to visit again! They were game for everyone from hikes, to the Tar Pits (which they also disliked, my sister will be delighted to know), to winery adventures. It reminded me how lucky we are to live in sunny LA and being able to show off how much LA has to offer makes me happy to call this city “home!”

What’s your favorite space in LA, restaurant or otherwise?