DIY Cutting Board + Cooking(!)

By Mandi 10/30/2015

2 things that I’m not exceptional at. First. Cooking. I mean I “make food” by putting a bunch of veggies and chicken into a pan and voila! stir-fry! I can also “make” grilled cheese, but following a recipe and branching out of my stir-fry bubble doesn’t happen. The second thing is wood working. Not project “building” like actual perfectly precise wood working. So when Blue Apron approached me about teaming up for a DIY project for the kitchen I thought it would be fun to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Cooking and wood working, who knew they were such a match made in heaven!?

DIY Cutting Board Project

So lets get started with the project shall we? A little bit ago I mentioned that my local Home Depot has just started carrying Walnut. Guys, it is BEAUTIFUL. Every time I walk down the wood isle (which is roughly 4 times a week) I look at it and pet it and whisper sweet nothings to it. But without a specific project in mind I just couldn’t justify spending $6.00+/sq ft to just have it sit in my garage. Imagine my joy when I decided that I was going to try my hand at a cutting board (totally inspired by an actual reason to buy said Walnut.)  The original plan was to build a 3d Tumbling block cutting board, something like this:

But for some reason it wasn’t working quite right, so I googled it and came across this video. Do you know why it wasn’t working right? Because I am not a savant. So I decided to do something a little more on my level.

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I started with a 1”x6”x36” piece of walnut that I cut exactly in 1/2. So each piece measured 1’x6’x18”.

The next step was to take 1 of my walnut boards, and a piece of select pine and cut different sized strips that run the length of the board.

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I cut one strip out of each type of wood before moving the fence. That way I ended up with matching sizes in both types of wood.

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Once all of the strips were cut, I used Titebond III to glue them together. I alternated the sizes (smallest to largest) from different directions so that it looked fancy, and attached it to the second 1/2 of my walnut board.

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Once everything was glued together, I used bar clamps to hold it nice and tight for 24 hours.

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After it was dry, it needed a really good sanding to level everything out. I started with 60 grit and then moved to 150, 220, and finally 400.

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After everything was as slick as ice I used the table saw to trim 1/16” off the edges to even them out too.

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The last step is to season your board with cutting board (or butcher block) oil.

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I am sort of obsessed with it. Especially that wavy corner on the walnut, its so pretty!

Once the project was done, I was SUPER excited to get cooking.

Lets just chat about my level of cooking expertise shall we? Its bad. Really bad. I don’t do it often enough to know what is actually happening. And if I do get on a cooking streak, its not gong to last, so I end up with all of these random left over ingredients that I bought for one meal that just get thrown away because they go bad.

I’d heard of Blue Apron around Blogland but had never subscribed for a meal. Basically, this is how it works. Blue Apron is an amazing company that delivers all of the fresh ingredients (and recipes!) to your front door that you’ll need to make a chef created meal. Just head over to Blue Apron and sign up for an account, from there all you have to do is from there all you have to do is pick your meal preferences and they’ll send you everything you need! If you are impatient like me you’ll probably wait at the front door for UPS to drop it off. The ingredients for the meals come in a refrigerated box with EVERYTHING that you need. Well, except water, your on your own for that one.

Our first recipe was for Beef Stew and Cheesy Mashed Potatoes and it.was.amazing. The meal comes with a full color recipe card and step by step pictures (huge for this non-cooker).

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Then all you have to do is prep the ingredients and follow the directions.

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Everything comes perfectly portioned and labeled so there is no guesswork.

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The stew was so.good.

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Both of the girls loved it, Court loved it, I loved it. Success on all fronts! We’re convinced and have signed up to get a meal a week. I feel like its the only way that my girls are going to be exposed to delicious food without taking them out to eat at expensive restaurants.

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For our next adventure? Crispy Curried Catfish.

Catfish Ingredients

To get more info on Blue Apron check out their site here! The first 50 readers will get two free meals on their first Blue Apron order! Just click here! That is a CRAZY amazing deal, who doesn’t want to try something like Blue Apron for free??!

Thanks to Blue Apron for teaming up with me on this post!

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17 thoughts on “DIY Cutting Board + Cooking(!)”

  1. If you ever have leftover ingredients that you won’t use up right away, package them up properly and throw them in the freezer! Dairy has a tendency to separate once thawed, and cheese will crumble more than grate (because of the ice crystals that form), but they’re still good. Almost anything can be frozen. I currently have leftover green tea cubes for smoothies, egg yolk cubes, homemade bread, cooked grains, chopped onions, extra nuts (they can spoil due to the oil content), frozen fruits, cubes of leftover sauces, and even an entire beef wellington – waiting for a special occasion. You just need ziplock bags, aluminum foil, maybe jars, and an ice cube tray. If you want to do more (cheaper) home cooking look into bowls – grains, veggies, beans & protein in a bowl – think burrito bowl with all different veggies & flavors!

  2. Who knew it was so straight forward! I’m deathly afraid of table saws, I wish I had the balls to work with one. This looks so good! And, i’ve officially been a blue apron member for a year! we LOVE their food and recipes!

  3. Awesome! I signed up. The “two free meals” seems to be just one meal for two people. $20 off your order. Still a great bonus. Thank you!

  4. As a super busy single mom, Blue Apron seemed like it would be a godsend to me and my family. However, after one particularly disturbing package which was delivered with the chicken in an unsealed package and its juices spread through the entire box (including into a busted-open package of gnocchi) I decided it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. When I attempted to contact the company regarding the situation I received no response. That was the end for me. one more thing to keep in mind. while the box is recyclable, much of the packaging and cold-packing materials are not, so every shipment produces A LOT of waste.

  5. I’m obsessed with huge cutting boards so this is definitely going on my to-do list. Hoping my local store has walnut now too! Blue Apron is amazing. When I lived with my sister we had it 2 times a week and the recipes are delicious – and it was fun to cook together!

    amandakatherine.com

  6. Love your cutting board, that is awesome AND totally up my alley! I have some walnut planks that were milled from a friends yard, leftover pine…..and I will be making one for myself! LOVE IT! Shaunna @TemptingThyme

  7. Only a couple comments. I have a place in Minnesota, in the winter the humidity rate is different than in the summer. Walnut shrinks at a different rate than pine, they will cause each other to split apart on the glued lengths. I don’t know how far south you need to be to have more equal epansion/contraction rates. Second comment, if you cut a 36″ piece if wood in half, and the blade measures 1/8″ the result will not be exactly 18″ per piece.

  8. I love wooden cutting boards! They are awesome and beautiful. I just found your blog and simply love it! I will have to add it to my to read list!

  9. Thaaannkksss!!! Just redeemed the 2 free meals offer! First order ships Nov 19th, looking forward to it. Your new cutting board is perfect eye candy in the kitchen. Brilliantly done!

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