Mmm….caffeine. The nectar of the gods. For those of you who survive without it — you’re amazing. For the rest of us, please allow me to assist in feeding your addiction
As you know, I’ve been working on organizing my kitchen as of late. Last week, I shared how I organize everything under my kitchen sink.
Today’s post? Operation: Coffee Station!
FYI, this cabinet is a great example of something I’ve re-organized about a thousand times (notice the temporary post-it labels — I’m still testing it out, but I think we’ve finally found a winner!).
TIP: If you’re trying out a new set-up, you can save time using temporary labels (sticky notes, index cards clipped with binder clips or clothespins, etc.) so that everything is easy to locate while you’re testing it out. (As opposed to wasting time creating “perfect” labels before you’re sure if the system works or procrastinating on labeling things because you want to do a test run. Not that I’ve ever done that…)
- To the right, you’ll see my single serve coffee maker, or as we like to call it, “the poor man’s Keurig.” I love this thing. It’s small, makes single serving coffees, I bought it for a fraction of the cost, & it uses cheapo coffee grounds instead of K-cups (although I’ve heard you can get special pieces for the Keurig that use coffee grounds, too!). Side note: I bought mine on clearance at Big Lots, and the top piece doesn’t always pop open on the first push. Might have been why it was on clearance at Big Lots! Still adore it, though!
A little bit o’ Folgers, a splash of almond milk, and some cake batter protein = a super fast, ridiculously delicious breakfast!
- I used a little cabinet shelf to create extra storage on the left.
- Up top, I keep my instant coffee & hot tea (my current faves are Bigelowe Pomegranate green tea, Wild Blueberry & Acai green tea, and Vanilla Chai black tea. Yum!)
- The containers on the are part of the Ikea 365+ series.
- The white bin is the Ikea Rationell Variera, but I don’t see the white version on their website anymore, so here’s a cute white basket set from Target: Room Essentials Storage Baskets (set of 4).
- On the bottom shelf, we have a container of iced tea & my favorite sweetener. (Legend tells that stevia is supposedly a healthier alternative — it’s a natural zero calorie sweetener. My favorite brand is NuStevia because it doesn’t have the weird aftertaste that other brands have. I’ve started buying it in the shaker container & I save the little packets for travel!)
- My storage containers on the bottom row are a million years old , but here’s a link for simliar glass storage cubes.
Man, what’s up with all of my gear getting discontinued?! More importantly, does accidentally owning antique kitchenware make me a granny or a hipster? (Or a hipster granny? Gripster? Hanny? Ok, I’ll stop now…)
On our next kitchen-tastic installment of As the Lazy Susan Turns, I’ll show you the solution I’ve found for the bottom of this cabinet. Prepare yourselves — we’re about to “spice” things up! See what I did there? Totally making a winky face right now.
Want more breakfast-y goodness? Check out this sweet shake station I use for my smoothies!
UPDATE: I just invented a new recipe that works well as both a protein shake and a coffee! Here ya go!
Cookies ‘n’ Cream/Oreo Protein Coffee (168 calories):
- 8oz. black coffee
- 3 Tbsp. Truwhip (it’s an all-natural, low calorie version of Cool Whip)
- 1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 scoop Double Stuffed Cookie protein powder (you could probably also mix cake batter & chocolate powders)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- Top with crushed chocolate meringue cookies (I use Miss Meringue sugar free chocolate meringue cookies — I don’t think they have a ton of flavor by themselves, but they add nice chocolate cookie crunch! Bonus: they’re less than 2 calories per cookie!)
- Sweeten with Stevia to taste (I used liquid stevia today)
Cookies ‘n’ Cream/Oreo Protein Shake (300 calories):
- 1 scoop Double Stuffed Cookie protein powder (you could probably also mix cake batter & chocolate powders)
- 1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 6 Tbsp. Truwhip (on top or mixed in)
- Top with crushed chocolate meringue cookies
Pretty yummy!! I have to say, cake batter is still my go-to flavor, but for those Oreo cravings, these recipes rock!! What are your favorite breakfast recipes??
Loved this. I have a Keurig as well as tea so the little cups can be awkward to store. With the addition of one of these trays underneath the coffee maker, you can hide it all!
Ooh, that is awesome! Thanks for sharing, Steve-O!