March Monthly Menu

My meal planning advice of the day today is DON'T do what I did for March. Plan your menu early in bits and pieces and do not wait till the end of the month to do it. My daughter watched an hour more of tv than I would have liked as I rushed to get my menu together so that I could make ONE trip to Sam's club instead of two. I know that pulling it together will be worth it over the next 4 1/2 weeks but it wasn't fun doing it last minute.

Well coming up in March I tried to get super cheap and even though we follow the pre-Vatican II abstinence on Fridays year round, we will be trying some new vegetarian recipes on Fridays during this Lenten Season. The new veggie recipes were more inspired by what odds and ends I found in my pantry than a desire to try a yummy sounding recipe. A couple of them I am not so sure about but hey, it's always good to try something new and at least it uses some pantry items that I already have on hand.

I hope the Pad Thai is good. I just had the pleasure of having Pad Thai out for the first time in years thanks to my friend Theresa and it made me want more!

Recipes to Accompany March Menu

1st *Flank Steak stuffed w/ apple, feta, & almonds w/ garlic mashed potatoes& gravy & corn

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/09/crockpot-flank-steak-stuffed-with-apple.html

2nd Homemade Ravioli, I'm going to combine some various recipes and kind of throw it together. Here are some I have found. http://www.recipezaar.com/Homemade-Pasta-3474 & http://www.recipezaar.com/Homemade-Ravioli-with-Tomato-Sauce-58226

3rd Oriental Chicken Salad over rice

Can't get much cheaper than this.

4th *Pineapple Pork Tenderloin w/ rice

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2009/02/pineapple-pork-tenderloin-crockpot.html

6th: Spinach Nuggets (x3 to freeze) w/ fries & pesto pasta
http://www.recipezaar.com/Spinach-Nuggets-307877

7th Raspberry Balsamic Chicken (from freezer) over spinach w/ rice pilaf on side
Spinach

Rosemary Chicken with Raspberry / Balsamic Glaze

Other than the onion, everything else is a pantry item that you can have on hand anytime.
½ c chopped red onion (or whatever you have, or nothing if you don’t have)
½ T dry or fresh rosemary
½ t salt
¼ t pepper
4 chicken breasts, trimmed
½ c olive oil
½ c raspberry preserves (seedless is best but I can’t seem to find seedless)
3 T balsamic vinegar

Marinate chicken breasts in rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil.

In frying pan sauté red onions and chicken breasts until cooked. Remove from pan.

Combine raspberry preserves and balsamic vinegar. Using same frying pan over medium heat reduce mixture until thickened slightly (I don’t usually have patience for this and it doesn’t matter and I speed this up by cooking both the chicken and onion in one pan and the raspberry & balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan).

Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

I usually serve the chicken over rice or a bed of fresh raw spinach, then drizzle the sauce on top – the that wilts the spinach slightly and is very good. But for a “throw it together meal rice works well also.

This freezes very well. To Freeze: Combine the raspberry preserves and balsamic vinegar in a small baggie and combine the chicken and other ingredients in a separate bag. Place both bags inside a large bag and freeze. It can be a last minute meal if you put the frozen chicken in the oven for 35-40 min @ 385 degrees and heat the sauce in a saucepan.

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=a5f54019ecfd3110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f76b0edafa588110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=menu_food&lnc=5a79cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD

8th: Pumpkin bean burgers w/ sweet potato fries & fruit salad

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/BUSHS-Pumpkin-Bean-Burgers/Detail.aspx

9th: Pad Thai w/ shrimp & chicken

I am going to combine these two recipes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pad-Thai-2/Detail.aspx
http://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/05/pad-thai-riffic.html

10th BBQ Chicken Pizza

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/barbecued-chicken-pizza?autonomy_kw=chicken%20pizza&rsc=header_2

11th Slow-cooked tex-mex chicken & beans w/ wraps & salad fixings
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/slow-cooked-tex-mex-chicken-and-beans?autonomy_kw=chicken%20tex%20mex&rsc=header_1

13th Manhattan Fish Chowder w/ Rolls

http://jennshomework.blogspot.com/2009/01/snow-day-baking-day.html

14th *Cranberry Pork roast w/ side veggie & rice
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2009/02/crockpot-cranberry-pork-roast.html

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/manhattan-fish-chowder?autonomy_kw=manhattan%20fish%20chowder&rsc=header_1

15th Pasta (1) w/ Italian sausage & ground beef

I'm just throwing this together

16th Corned Beef, cabbage, potatoes & rolls
Irish in-laws are in town and they will cook.

20th Curried Split Peas on Rice w/ Sweet Mashed Potatoes
http://www.5dollardinners.com/2008/12/curried-split-peas-on-rice.html

21st *Chickpea Stew w/ some pulled pork over rice & apple muffins
http://www.5dollardinners.com/2008/11/chickpea-stew.html

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/RecipeDisplay?RID=R755

22nd Bacon wrapped Cheeseburgers w/ fries and salad
If I have some feta I may get fancy but we'll see.

23rd Stuffed Shells from freezer w/ salad

Stuffed Shells

Sauce
2 onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs oil
½ # chopped mushrooms
2 29-oz cans tomato puree
1 6-oz can tomato paste
1 c. water
1 ½ tsp. basil
2 tsp. oregano
1# hot Italian sausage
1 box large shells

Filling
12 oz mozz. Cheese, diced
2 15-oz containers ricotta cheese
4 eggs
6 tbs. parm. Cheese
2 tbs. parsley
2 tbs. chives
Onion salt or salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Romano cheese, grated

Sauce
Saute onions, pepper and garlic in oil for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, and sauté 5 minutes more. Stir in tomato puree, paste, water and spices. Cook and crumble sausage in a separate pan. Drain off fat. Add to sauce and summer about 3 hours. Add more water if sauce gets too thick. Shortly before assemblage, cook shells according to directions; drain.

Filling and Assembly
Combine all ingredients except Romano cheese. Spoon into shells. If mixture is too thin, add more parmesan. Spoon some sauce into bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Lay stuffed shells in pan. Pour on additional sauce. Sprinkle with Romano. Bake at 325 for 30 min. Serves 12

24th Chicken Burritos (x3 to freeze) w corn & dirty rice

25th: *Beef Stroganoff over egg noodles w/ side veggie

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1535413&package_id=1535442

27th Tofu Fried Rice
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/chicken-fried-rice?autonomy_kw=chicken%20fried%20rice&rsc=header_1 (sub firm tofu for chicken)

28th Breakfast for Dinner

29th Hamburger Pizza

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/hamburger-and-grape-tomato-pizza?autonomy_kw=hamburger%20pizza&rsc=header_2

30th Fettuccini Alfredo with Chicken & Broccoli

I am combining a tried and true: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-and-Broccoli-Alfredo-533 with a new one: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1571495

31st Cheese Quesadillas w/ Crockpot Salsa Chicken & Black Bean Soup
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/11/salsa-chicken-and-black-bean-soup.html

Ideas for Lent that may Create Frugal Habits

Here are some ideas of things that you can give up for Lent that maybe you never thought of that could also create a new frugal habit for your family. If you choose to give up one of these things for lent not only will save money but you may also discover that your family does not “need” them after all:

1) Dry cleaning
2) Juice (eat the fruit instead)
3) Fabric Softener
4) Cleaning Chemicals (use vinegar water & reusable rags instead)
5) Catalogs & other advertising media that arrives in your mail (trash them immediately)
6) Shopping for unnecessaries
7) Eating out (take up cooking and meal planning for every meal)
8) Coffee from the “outside” (brew your own at home)
9) Tabloid magazines
10) Cereal (other than homemade cereal of course)
11) Cable (look into reconnection charges first if you are certain that you will be reconnecting)
12) Entertainment that costs money
13) Cleaning services, babysitting or other services that you pay for but can do yourself or do without
14) Newspaper

There are people even in America who have given up all these things or never even had them to begin with and they are still alive! So yes, it can be done. Most of these things I have been able to give up (or never had) for prolonged periods of time (years) and I still have friends, a social life, healthy children and a wonderful marriage. Really, it will not kill you, I promise.

Need vs Want Frugality

For several years my motto for frugality was to not spend a penny on any nonessentials in order to meet some hefty financial goals, (paying off 2 rather large grad. student loans on one income), except for a rare occasion. I pondered that kind of purchase a lot longer than I had been used to while trying to squeeze out the purchase price from my budget first. It’s a discipline of sorts that my financial situation forced me into but I have learned from it.

Just as I have done on those occasions, some of my acquaintances justify purchasing many frivolous things as "needs" rather than the "wants" they truly are.
I have made myself very cognizant of the use of the word “need” and have trained myself to catch it as it sometimes comes out of my mouth. If you really focus on needs vs wants you start getting a little judgmental when you hear other people say the word “need.” It’s amazing at how loosey-goosey we are with the word. Being judgmental of others is of course not good but an awareness of the use of the word “need” I think can be a positive eye opener. Many people are facing this “need vs want” discipline for the first time in years due to our current economy.

As I have explained before I have been going down the opposite road of the mainstream in this economy by spending more money and enjoying some things that we haven’t for a while having paid off our student loans. I feel a slippery slope occurring which tells me I ought to go back to my frugal ways in order to meet more long term financial goals (pay off mortgage and save for retirement). At first it was difficult to part with money that I so desperately pinched and reallocated for quite some time. After making a few nonessential purchases I found that they made me really happy and parting with the money became easier and easier. So now 7 throw pillows, some curtain rods, a lamp and some new bedding later I am thinking that it may be a sin to allow such purchases to bring such joy. I will say that I appreciate them a lot more than I would have before my frugal days but I’d like to stay in a state of appreciation so I’m going to do my best to hold back again. It also seems appropriate for this Lent Season.

So if you are trying to become more frugal not due to job loss but due to a down turn in your portfolio or job insecurity or even Lent, know that it can be a positive growing experience that can set you ahead financially and emotionally especially if you can embrace it over a long haul.

Timer: Friend or Foe?

Somehow,some people often find time in a full and busy day to enjoy brainless, enjoyable things like wasting away in front of the TV or the computer. Then, there are those who have yet to find surfing the internet a fascinating and entertaining exercise and never even turn on the TV. I am certain that those people are keeping their brain cells intact by reading intellectual books while the rest of us are letting ours deteriorate in front of one monitor or another stealing valuable time from us. Alot of my web research activity for various bits of knowledge turns into a marathon of facebook viewing or typing e-mails and my intended 5 minute search for a particular bit of info stretches into a much longer period of time. My strong-natured friend, Anne, has figured out that a moment of oogling can develope quickly into an hour of "Googling" so she sets a timer for 15 minutes whenever she sits down in front of her computer. Of course, young children can serve as your timer and until they are tucked into bed for the night there really is no such amount of "free" time unless they aren't home. Another friend of mine, Amy, uses the timer a little differently. She sets it to motivate her to get an unpleasant task done like cleaning the house. It's a race against the timer to clean the floors in less than 15 minutes! You can get a lot more work done and feel the satisfaction of accomplishment if you play the "race the timer" game!

Whoa That was Gooood!

We just had the Crockpot Lady's Salsa Chicken & Black Bean Crockpot Soup tonight. Whoa. Wow. I can't believe how simple (and cheap) it was and how completely fabulous it was. The pairing of simple fried quesadillas was a perfect pairing. The sour cream complimented both perfectly. I highly recommend this meal. I used 2 cans of beans instead of dried beans just because that was what I had on hand. I didn't read all the directions (I do that often) and had it on high for most of the day. When I read the directions which said that I should have had it on low instead of high since I was using canned beans I thought I may have ruined it but no . . . it was whoa good!

You can find the recipe here.

Thank you Auntie Dani!

Just when we really needed some new breakfast ideas and just when we had an abundance of ripe bananas Auntie Dani came through with a delicious healthy whole food banana muffin recipe. Usually my kids don’t get too excited about all the various healthy muffins I try to get in their bodies in the morning but these healthy banana muffins have chocolate chips in them so it was a no brainer for them. These are made with whole wheat flour and just a bit of brown sugar. Thank you Auntie!

___________________________________

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins—from King Arthur Flour: Whole Grain Baking

Ingredients:
½ c unsalted butter
½ c packed light brown or dark brown sugar
¾ t baking soda
½ t salt
½ t cinnamon
¼ t nutmeg
1 t vanilla extract
1 ½ c (about 3 large) mashed ripe bananas
¼ c honey
2 eggs
2 c whole wheat flour
½ c choco chips

Preheat oven to 350*

Line muffin pan with muffin cups, lightly grease them with veg spray.

Beat together butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla until smooth. Add bananas, honey, and eggs and blend until smooth. Slowly add the flour and choco chips.

Spoon into muffin cups and let stand at room temperature for 10-minutes. After resting place into oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for about 10 minutes in muffin pan, then remove cups from pan and let cool completely on wire rack.

Yields 12- jumbo muffins or 24-medium muffins.

_____________________________________

Oh and if you are wondering why we have so many bananas, I freeze them 3 at a time when they get very ripe. I make breakfast smoothies with the frozen bananas. It looks like we have enough bananas to freeze and to make another batch of these muffins AND a new banana bread recipe Auntie is also sending us.

Closet Door Real Estate

Valuable storage space that is often overlooked can be found on the backs of your closet doors. There are better alternatives to those over-the-door organizers which almost never allow a door to close. I am no decorator by any stretch but even I know that the hooks that are visible into the room when the door is closed looks terrible.

These great adjustable shelves can be attached to the inside of a closet door and the items it can store are endless. You can create a much needed pantry out of otherwise wasted real estate behind a closet door in an older home that lacks much needed kitchen storage. I use a couple smaller shelves like these to store my cleaning supplies out of reach of little hands and freeing up closet shelves for other things without taking up kitchen cupboard space. You can find these shelves at Walmart, Home Depot and similar stores but be sure to measure your closet door first so you purchase the correct size.

Hooks, hat holders and so many other organizers can be utilized on the back of a closet door. Nearly any organizer designed with a hanger (like this jewelry hanger), can be hung on a door with a hook and secured at the bottom to prevent it from flopping around. Attaching these organizers to the back of a closet door is better than hanging them inside where things can fall out of the pockets as they get snagged on clothes that you move while looking for the right outfit. If you've ever used one of these hanging organizers on a clothes rod you probably know what I mean. They are also more visible and accessible attached to the back of closet door than hanging with your clothes. If you have hollow doors like I do, don’t discount the closest door real estate, there are screws that can be used to properly anchor screws and hooks, just ask your friendly hardware store employee and they will show you which hardware to buy.

You can get creative with the backs of your doors to really utilize their valuable real estate. Things that I can think of to store behind a closet door include shirt ties, belts, any pantry items, light bulbs, tools, extension cords, cleaning supplies, jewelry, scarves, most any clothing accessory, medicine or linen closet type goods, children's hair accessories, etc. The possibilities are endless.

The only closet doors that do not offer storage real estate are those pesky bi-folds. I value the real estate that the backs of closet doors offer so much so that the bi-fold closet doors in our 1970s home was one of the first things to go when we bought our house 5 years ago. Our coat closet door stores ball caps with a handy organizer and the other closet door holds my kids’ backpacks on hooks. I am so glad we replaced the bi-folds with usable storage real estate. It was well worth it.

Carpe Diem!

Early Work Out Schedule

When I tell people that I hit the gym at 5:20 am they generally think I am crazy. Crazy I may be but not just because I work out early. I was off the early work out wagon for a while and I am back on hopefully to stay. I can not tell you how much smoother my life goes being able to walk in the door at 6:30 am having already worked out. On an ideal day, my alarm goes off at 4:45 am and I hit the treadmill at 5:20 am. My husband wants me home by 6:30 so he can get ready for work. It just works for us. One reason it works is that my kids get up at 6 am. So when my alarm goes off I tell myself that it is only an hour earlier than I would be getting up anyway. Also, we do not yet have kids in late night activities so they are in bed at 8 pm and I try to get myself in bed by 9 pm. If you can get a work out in the early hours do it. Of course if you are currently not working out at all then I probably can’t talk you into working out early but you should know that working out really boosts your energy level in addition to many other benefits.

When I first heard of people working out in the 5 o’clock hour I thought I could never do it. I was motivated by a friend who did it nearly every day and she has five busy children so I figured if she can do it then I should be able to do it. Now I know of a few other people that hit the gym early and I suppose it helps to get me out of bed knowing a few other people are doing it too. Working out early also appeals to me because it is really all about time management. If I don’t work out early then I can’t start my day till about 11 am. I have to wait to get kids to school and for the gym child care to open at 9 am, work out till about 10:10, go home then shower. Being able to start my day at 9 right after dropping the big kids off at school makes a HUGE difference in my day.

Sauerbraten Review

We finally had the Sauerbraten that I turned over each of five nights for tonight's dinner. I missed turning the beef last night but I doubt that the omission made a difference. My friend, Marilyn, said that she’d be thinking of me each night turning that darned beef so I knew I needed to do something to offset the Sauerbraten obsession. I set out to read the Gospels front to back each night and am ashamed to say that I missed two nights of that but made up for it with more lengthy reading the next night.. I am still committed to that end.

Now for the Sauerbraten review. The roast was very tough and didn’t seem to absorb much flavor of the brine that it soaked in for those 5 days. Bummer. However, all is not lost because the sauce that was served over the beef was excellent with our mashed potatoes and made the experiment well worth it. The sauce captured the flavor of what Sauerbraten is all about. The sauce is made from mixing the brine with sour cream. I may consider making the brine sauce as a gravy some time and skip the 5 day brining process since that labor seemed fruitless. Mushrooms would be a good addition to the sauce, but then, I think mushrooms are a good addition to any sauce.

Random Thoughts on Surviving Family Life

I get quite overwhelmed with the busy-ness of our lives with three kids some days. I know we aren't really terribly busy right now as mine are fairly young but as they get older we will get busier. I've had this thought floating around in my head every day for a couple of months. A wise friend of mine brought it up during a Familia meeting that..........

If you have taught your children about God, haven't you done your job?

So, here is my new organizational tip for moms who are having one of those out-of-control days. (It's not really an organizational tip but let's pretend that it is related somehow.) Stop whatever you are doing and take a moment to pray with your kids or read a bible story to them. Because in the end, no matter how (un)organized your home is, whatever you feed your family for dinner to get you by till the next meal or even how well planned your budget may or may not be, if you have taught your children about God then you have most certainly done your job for the day.

Fabulous Bulletin Boards!

I can not imagine running my house without a bulletin board or two, (or three or four). I suppose a lot of people put papers in sight with magnets on their fridge but that just feels cluttered to me so I prefer to use a bulletin board. If you don’t think that the papers you have on your fridge make your house feel cluttered and the fact that they fall off now and again when the fridge doors are opened, try this. Clear your fridge of every magnet, paper and doodad and clean the doors and the exposed sides of your fridge. Now look at it. Doesn’t that feel good? Ahhh. I can’t explain why a bulletin board with papers tacked to it is better visually than a fridge with the same papers magnetized to it but it just is.


The paper clutter issue bugs nearly everyone I know. If it isn’t the papers on the fridge then it’s the papers piled on the counter that is bugging them. A bulletin board can be one of the first steps in solving a paper clutter issue. I have a couple of small corkboard squares inside my computer armiore for passwords, receipts that I want to put into my pricebook, laminated Nicene Creed, and other papers and notes that relate to anything I will be doing on the computer. The kitchen, being central station of our house, has a prettier pottery barn bulletin where I keep our pocket calendar, my son’s class schedule, beatitudes ( We can always use a reminder of those), a photo or two, gym exercise class schedule, basketball game schedule and any school papers that require attention in the immediate future. My bigger kids have a small bulletin board in each of their rooms for motivational sticker charts, routine charts and calendars. Bulletin boards keep paper easy to find and prevent paper clutter from growing on horizontal surfaces. Even if your bulletin board gets cluttered, it will seem less cluttered visually than having a counter or table cluttered with paper piles.

Waste Not Want Not

After I rearranged some cupboards I went to Church and listened to a homily where thankfulness was mentioned. Watching the school kids after Mass diligently hold out their pots to collect money for their annual “Souper Bowl” hunger charity, I have come to the conclusion that I MUST use my pantry items. These topics may seem unrelated but they aren’t. We are so fortunate with what we have that it would be a sin to let the food in our cupboards go to waste. My house is abundant with food at a time when people in our country and around the world struggle to feed their family. Not only do I bulk buy and freeze meals, I don’t always get to every new recipe on my menu. We usually luck out and have a couple extra leftover nights in the month but because I have done my once a month non-perishable shopping I end up with some extras. Thanks to my freezer inventory I am good about using what I have with regard to meat and other things that I freeze. I look at my freezer inventory as I make out my menu each month. I do not keep an inventory on my pantry items and such because it fluctuates too much and I can see what is there easily. However, for March I will jot down a list of the items in my pantry so that when I sit down at my computer to make out my menu I will either finally cook the entrees that I never got to that made me purchase the pantry items on my list or I will research a new recipe that uses up my pantry items. Hopefully this will be good on my grocery budget since I am $200 in the red due to Christmas festivities. I was $300 in the red but skimping in January got me $100 out of it but there is still a ways to go to break even. So, my promise to myself and my budget and my cupboards for March is to come up with a creative menu that will use up what I already have.

A trip to the Grocery Store CAN be enjoyable

I got the pleasure of running to the grocery the other day BY MYSELF. NO KIDS! As if that wasn’t good enough I happened to get a really sweet cashier. She asked me who the caramel lover in the house was when she saw that I was getting an entire 14 oz bag of caramels. I said, “who isn’t?” but then explained that I use them in a cereal bar recipe for my son’s lunches which is really just more like a candy/cookie recipe. She got my madness immediately and said that it was probably better than a lot of the packaged stuff sold in the store with a bunch of unpronounceable preservative ingredients and such. I thanked her for “getting” my madness. THEN, get this, THEN on top of all that when she got to my wine she says, “I know you said that you have kids and all but could I please see your license?” Oh My Goodness! YES YES YES! You may see my license! She said that I didn’t look that old when she saw that I was 34. I suppose 35 shouldn’t be feelin’ all that bad this year, huh?

Ok, my girlfriends are sick of hearing me say, “did I tell you that I got carded the other day?” so now you have to read about it. Ok, I’m done with the story . . . for a while anyway.

Kitchen Corners

Unlike my husband, (who gets so frustrated at trying to find things every time I move them), I am always open to storing things in a different way or rearranging things to improve efficiency, workability and storage. Today my poor husband is sick so I probably should have spared him but I got the bug to reorganize a few kitchen cupboards and went to work on them.

Kitchen corners have often been a source of frustration for me. It seems that things just disappear in the back of a corner especially if you are 5’3” or under with regard to those upper corner cupboards. I have found that if I put the right things in a trouble corner cupboard then I don’t get so frustrated with the corner space. I had been putting large cereal boxes on my top corner shelf but that wasn’t working well, (despite my neat label on the shelf that read “CEREAL”). The box that I wanted would often get pushed to the back and I would play the “Get it From the Back Game” by grabbing a pair of high heels, scooting a chair over to stand on or trying to grab the box with salad tongs. I pulled a muscle once playing the Get it From the Back Game. The box won. I’m sure I will miss that game but I think that storing my large bags of flour and sugar will work better. I will only need to get to the bags when my canisters are running low.

My kitchen is like most kitchens in that the bottom corner cupboard has a large two shelf lazy susan in it which is supposed to be a storage solution to the Get it From the Back Game. I tried putting baking supplies on the lazy susan but I often still lost things in the back. We have all done it. When you have a heavy load on a corner lazy susan and you get a good spin going, off pops all your little things like muffin liners, vanilla, etc. I think the use of lazy susans is limited. However, I moved the canned items, including a couple of bulk canned items that I leave in boxes from Sam’s Club, to my corner lazy susan and it is working better already. So the answer for corners I think is to store the least-used items there and those larger items. If you are vertically challenged as I am only put rarely used large items in that top corner shelf unless you want to play the Get if From the Back Game. Wish my husband good luck when he looks for his canned soup that (which he shouldn’t be eating anyway), has been moved.