Close your eyes just for a sec and imagine taking a bite from a chilled, ripe, juicy watermelon. Imagine your mouth filled with the sweet juice as you chew the imaginary fruit? Did your mouth water as you ran the thought through that beautiful mind of yours? If you swallowed, it’s physiological proof that you have a great imagination and your body responded viscerally to the thought.
Think how powerful your imagination is! You can use this power to solve all kinds of problems, like this one, for an example. Say you want to make Wiener Schnitzel and most recipes call for one inch thick, boneless pork loins to be flattened to a quarter of an inch thick. What if you don’t have one of those wooden hammers you see in fancy kitchens? What could you use?
When I was confronted with this problem, I actually had one of those hammers, so I took one of the loins and started pounding it to ¼ inch. At the time I was writing a cookbook (The Phony Gourmet) with my sister and I wanted to be able to tell my readers correct times for my recipes, so I timed it—five minutes! If I’d continued the marathon pounding I would have had to say this particular dish (for four) would take 20 minutes of pounding time! Who has 20 minutes to whack at a bunch of pork before ever starting the recipe?
I got quiet and asked myself, what can I use instead of this stupid decorator hammer? Five seconds later the answer came to me!
Use the car! Whoop whoop! I couldn’t wait to try it. I put a loin in a zip-lock bag, put the bag under one of the back tires of my Ford (in front of the tire) and slowly rolled the car forward over the pork.
SCHPLOTT! the piece of meat cut through the bag and sailed out behind the car into the street! I looked to see if the meddlesome neighbor had her nose on the window but her blinds were closed so I peeled the pork off the pavement and went in the house to consult with my imagination, this time with more information.
I would need to find a way to keep the loin under the tire, but how? That’s when it occurred to me I could put the meat in a zip-lock bag and wrap the bag in an old towel or rag. I found an old dishtowel in the rag bag and wrapped another victim up for the crunch. IT WORKED! The fabric kept the protein in place and the tire pressed that loin into a beautiful specimen for my Wiener Schnitzel.
Within minutes I realized I could use the Ford in place of my Cuisinart for making crumbs, crushed nuts, and to tenderize any tough cut of meat.* I actually took my act on television recently and you can actually see how well this works.
So how do you use your imagination for helping you keep messes at bay? As you begin making a meal, imagine what you’d like the kitchen to look like when you’re ready to sit down with your family to eat. Would you like the kitchen counters clear of all ingredients, and utensils used for preparation? Would you like pots and pans to be soaking in a sink of hot sudsy water while you eat? Imagine it. Keep the vision in your head as you prepare the meal and watch what happens! You’ll sit down with your family leaving a neat and tidy kitchen just waiting for the family to bring their dirty dishes in to put in the dishwasher and ready to help wash the soaking pots and pans.
*If considering this tip, use a mid-size car (no SUVs or Hummers) and make sure you don't have studded snow tires on the vehicle.
If you liked what I did with the pork, I think you’ll like The Phony Gourmet Cookbook (the recipe for that pork dish is called Wiener Schnitzel Michelin and it's in the book!). I’ve even got a clearance price and now this hardback book is just $5 (original price $15.00).
http://shop.cluborganized.com/everything-is-5-phony 
Happy Imagining,
Kids have messy rooms? End the arguments about cleaning them. Check out my House Fairy program. http://lp.housefairy.org/lp-joy-of-being-disorganized-chapter-seven-9?hs_preview=GpnbKrVf-3590384407