Steak & Rice and Organization

Yesterday was a long day.  My legs were sore from playing in the snow the night before.  Chrissy and I had a ton of running to do that included a hour or so at my work to finish up the yearly bills.  I was exhausted by the time I got home around 3:30.  The last thing I wanted to do was clean.  I knew I had to though.  Even if it was something small.  I knew I'd be happier later if I did. 

One of our stops yesterday was the dollar store.  I had high hopes.  I mean every time I've been there in the past they have all kinds of little storage things.  Things to organize my spice cabinet, the outside of the refrigerator, and other little nick knack type things.  What a total bust!  They didn't have anything that struck me as perfect!  So I guess I'll have to try Family Dollar another day. 

Even with this disappointment I wanted to still get something accomplished.  Since I didn't have too much time I stuck with my goal of the outside of the refrigerator and the top of the microwave...  Here are some before pictures:

Yikes, right!  I started with the refrigerator, this was in need of a major purge.  Being that it is a new year most of the items on it are done and outdated.  So I threw out a lot of old schedules and reorganized the pictures.  I got rid that finger painting toward the bottom.  It was faded.  I also threw away the bug picture (yes in the middle of all those kid magnets is a bug, long story).  So this is my cleaned up refrigerator:

One of these days I will be happy to get rid of the kid magnets, but Chrissy still plays with them so they will stay...  for now... 

I hate the top of my microwave.  I wish I could have it above my stove or built in to a cabinet.  My kitchen is older and they didn't do those things back in the 70s.  Oh well...  A lot of the crap above the microwave was old bills.  Well, I shouldn't say bills, I should say junk mail that I thought we had to save.  No more.  I vow to not save that crap this year!  Right in the trash it goes...  So I've designated the top of my microwave as the dog center.  The basket has Jack's brushes and both leashes/harnesses, and dog sweaters in it.  So here is my clean microwave:

So since it was a pretty boring organizing day for me I decided to tell you about my dinner too.  This is one of my favorites.  Anything with steak in it really is amazing...  I made steak and rice.  Why is that so special you ask?  Its because of the marinade that I use...  ITS HOT!  I love spicy things.  Never did before I was pregnant but ever since then I can not get enough!!!

My trick to the spice...

This stuff is AMAZING!  Allegro is from a small town Paris, TN.  My cousin lives down there so they got me hooked on it.  I do have a hard time finding it where I am but I usually have them bring me a case when they come up!  When they say you can marinade anything you really can.  I love a lot of the flavors but my favorites are the hot and spicy and the soy and lime!  YUMMY!!!  All I did was cut up sirloin and toss it with the allegro and some tastefully simple garlic garlic.  Then I put it in a wok and fried it up.  Made some rice.  There you have it!  Super easy, yummy dinner!!!

Now you could add peppers and other vegges but I didn't have any in the house and I just did this on a whim...  It was delicious and there was leftovers for lunch today! 

Now to show that I am keeping to my word and keeping my kitchen clean... 

Isn't it purty!  Another update can be found here!

Until tomorrow!