Inspired by our Tiny Oven

When I first saw our kitchen, I was blown away at the size of our oven.  I didn’t know they made them that small!  While I felt an initial moment of disappointment, I discovered cooking on a stove-top where the pan takes up 1 1/2 burners has a certain charm.  It also has logistical limitations; gone are the days where a meal uses 3 pots/pans.  Our oven fits a cookie sheet perfectly with no wiggle room.  Not sure how the heat will circulate in there, so  the goal is to bake with pans smaller than our cookie sheet.

So with these realizations, I had the idea that it may be a good idea to start heavily using the vast majority of kitchen appliance we received when we were married as alternate cooking methods. Our kitchen was organized enough (we still have a few boxes that need unpacking and the kitchen table is covered) to attempt cooking a full meal for our first Sunday dinner.

I found this recipe from the Six Sisters Stuff blog for Slow Cooker Bolognese, which we had put in the crock-pot before church.  Boy did it smell wonderful when we walked into our apartment a few hours later! And it only used a 1/4 of our counter space (a dilemma for another day).  For our vegetable side dish we tried roasted asparagus from Jeni a.’s blog, a good friend of mine I met in Jerusalem (even if you don’t want to make roasted asparagus you should check out this blog full of fun pictures, ideas, and recipes!).  This was cooked in our 9×9 cake pan which left plenty of room in our oven for a small loaf of garlic bread. On the stove we used our tiny pot for some wheat spaghetti noodles.  First meal of economized cooking a real success – plus two new recipes have been added to our staple list!

It will be fun to see what space saving cooking ideas arise.  Feel free to share any recipes/suggestions in the comments section! I am willing to try just about anything at this point :)