Heather says: The ability to sauté, or cook over high heat with a small amount of fat, is a great method for bringing out great flavors in simple foods. Typically zucchini is a summer vegetable, but there was a bag in the marked down produce for a dollar. Who can pass that up? Sautéed Zucchini …
Ivy says: Here’s a really good reason to start decluttering your house right now. Eventually, someday, you’re going to die. It’s unpleasant to think about, but it’s one of the only sure things about life- eventually, you’ll die. And when you do, someone you love is going to have to go through your stuff and …
If you’re anything like us (and hey, you might not be, we are strange), you have too many books. Go ahead and admit it, you have more books than you need. (We plead the fifth.) Go through them. Keep the ones you want to read repeatedly, keep the ones you plan on reading in the …
Dear Home Ec 101, While my parents were visiting over the Christmas holiday, I made a pot roast for us all to share. We had lots of leftovers and my mother emptied them from the hot crock pot into a tupperware container and left it sitting on the kitchen counter. I saw it sitting there, …
Heather says: The clothes washer flooding the laundry room is not the most convenient* way to clean all the lint from the floor underneath and behind the large appliances, but it is highly effective. *Nor is it a particularly auspicious beginning to 2008, especially when it is the first load of the week.
Ivy says: I’ll be bold and admit that I’ve been known once or twice (har, har) to sit my kids down in front of a television so I can get some stuff done. Sure, there are better and more educational ways for the kids to stay occupied while I’m cleaning up or writing, but sometimes …
Heather says: This pizza sauce can be simmered on the stove or made with a slow cooker (Crock-pot® folks, Crock-pot®). Pizza night’s order of operations are as follows: I start the sauce, begin a crust, chop the veggies, roll out the dough, and finally add all the toppings. The kids help by eating all my …
Heather says: Digging through old cookbooks you may come across some strange ideas, especially concerning gelatin. However, there are many classic recipes forgotten or replaced by new convenience items. A perfect example is tomato gravy. Sure, the name doesn’t invoke images of glamour or haute couture, but not everything in life has to. Tomato gravy …
Heather says: In twenty-nine years of Christmases, the closest encounter I have ever had with fruitcake has been television and a short story I once read in jr high. Tell me Home Eccers is fruitcake a regional phenomenon or have I been sheltered?
Ivy says: Since I wasn’t cooking Christmas dinner, Christmas Eve dinner, or any other dinner over the Christmas 4 day weekend extravaganza, I didn’t bother to take on my least favorite chore. I mean, I had enough to do, why bother with grocery shopping? I managed to put it off until this morning. I looked …