Getting Ready to Move

We are moving into our new house in 4 days, so today was my last day cooking in my apartment kitchen. Since we are going to be incredibly busy, and because we need to pack up the kitchen, I made two casseroles for the beginning of the week.


I played around a bit with my traditional macaroni and cheese recipe, leaving out the minced onion and using Swiss, cheddar, mozzarella and a little Parmesan in the sauce.

I also made Giada De Laurentiis' Lasagna Rolls, only without the prosciutto:



Cooking this afternoon was bittersweet. I truly love my apartment kitchen and will miss cooking here. We have been incredibly spoiled by our apartment - it's literally the size of a ranch house. We have a huge living room, dining room, eat-in kitchen and a full basement, most of which is finished and the part that isn't is a huge storage area. When we move into our new house we'll be downsizing slightly.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very, very excited to move, but the thing I'll miss the most about this apartment is the kitchen. Since we have a dining room we used the extra space in the eat-in kitchen to maximize the prep area. We bought a large butcher block table from IKEA and set up the kitchen like a galley, with my pot rack hanging on one side and the fridge, butcher block and counter with stovetop on the other. It's very easy to maneuver around and there is plenty of room. I also have a wall oven, which is great because it's eye level. My new kitchen is smaller and while all the appliances are new, I'm nervous about cooking there. Hopefully I can make dinner next Sunday and all will go smoothly.