For those of you who have been following along on Snapchat and my Insta Story, you know what the current state of affairs is in my home. We are living in total chaos right now during a kitchen and main floor renovation. No one said this was going to be a walk in the park, but we have learned to manage without a kitchen, and to be honest, I’m quite proud of US. Here are a few things we are doing to get us through the next few months.

1) We set up a “mock” kitchen – The location of this kitchen is in our boy’s old bathroom upstairs. Well? There’s a sink, a counter, a toilet and a shower in there, so what more did we need? Nothing. 2) Our new pantry area – We placed boxes of the contents of our cupboards and flatware drawers in my youngest son’s old bedroom. Perfect space to store all the large tubs of dry goods, sauces, oils, cleaning equipment etc. (My first thought about using our every day dishes was NO WAY. Why not just live on paper plates for the next three months? That didn’t bode well when you actually have to cut something on your plate and you saw right through it to the table. Besides, it wasn’t an eco-friendly idea anyways…despite the fact that I’m a total lazeball when it comes to doing dishes without a dishwasher. God, I’m spoiled. 3) Cooking with no stove – Yes, we have NO STOVE, but the good news is we have a fridge, microwave and I bought a hot plate for my food videos, so basically we are GOOD to go. The microwave comes in handy for reheating meals and the hot plate is just the best thing on earth for making everything from stir-frys to soup. 4) Our new dining room – We set up a bridge table and two folding chairs in my office/studio. It’s fine, with the exception of the days where we had the heat turned OFF by the contractor and sat shivering with a small space heater at our feet while eating our dinner.

This turkey vegetable egg drop soup is the easiest reno recipe ever. Everything is made in one pot on the magic hot plate and voila…….you have a meal in a bowl. In fact, you have a meal that you can actually eat right out of the pot – to save yourself from cleaning the bowl!

TURKEY VEGETABLE EGG DROP SOUP

- 2 tablespoons olive oil - 1 medium onion, minced - 1 clove of garlic, minced - 1 large carrot, chopped - 1 large tomato chopped - 4 cups chicken broth, homemade or boxed organic - 1 cup cooked turkey, shredded - 2 eggs, beaten - salt and pepper to taste - 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped - 3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese

1) In a medium pot heat olive oil over medium high heat. Saute onion for 3-4 minutes. Add minced garlic. Saute for another minute. Add chopped carrot. Add chopped tomato. Continue to saute for a few more minutes. Add chicken broth and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add shredded turkey. Remove from heat. Start stirring in a soup in a circular motion. Slowly drop beaten eggs. Stir for about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add chopped flat leaf parsley and grated parmesan. Top with additional parmesan and parsley!

Click here to see a quick run through of these steps!

See you next week! debi @simplybeautifuleating Simply Beautiful Eating