Dear Home Ec 101: I just discovered your site – very, very cool – and wondered about easy ways to clean coffee makers. I have been doing a cycle with a few tablespoons of vinegar and the rest of the pot water about once every month or so. I have also heard you can use a …
Dear Home Ec 101, It seems like no matter what amount of coffee I make. There is always a half-cup of leftover coffee in the pot at the end of day. I hate wasting it. Are there any handy uses around the house or garden for leftover coffee? Signed, Something’s Brewing in Brampton Heather says: …
Heather says: This won’t be the world’s most glamorous post on Home Ec 101, but real life is hardly as exciting as we wish. Into every homeowner’s life a little aggravation will fall. Sometimes that aggravation occurs in the form of a plugged drain. That clog can occur in almost any plumbing fixture: toilet, tub, …
Heather says: There’s a rule of thumb when cooking dishes that involve wine: don’t use anything you wouldn’t drink. What if you don’t drink wine or what if you just don’t like the kind of wine called for in a recipe? I know if you look at my wine rack, you’ll usually only find cab, …
Heather says: All homeowners (and renters, too) should know where and how to shut off their water main. Turning off the main water valve can prevent the minor hassle of a broken pipe from becoming a major water damage headache. If you have never needed to learn where the water main shut off valve is, …
Heather says: With the Countdown to Turkey Day Series safely over, I’m ready to jump back into Home Ec 101 Cookbook Reviews. This week I have Cooking Light’s Complete Meals in Minutes. This 5 ring binder style cookbook checks in at 532 pages with “over 700 great recipes.” Now most of you should know by …
It has just been brought to my attention that Pyrex cookware has been receiving some attention from Consumer Reports via the Consumerist. I love glass cookware and I will continue to use my glassware for baking; however, there are a few precautions one should always use. Glass, even tempered glass, is fairly rigid and doesn’t conduct heat …
Dear Home Ec 101, Do you have any tips for cleaning poop off of the cover of a cloth bean bag chair? The tag reads “Do not open under any circumstance.” It’s a $20 bean bag chair from Target and I don’t just want to “get anodder one” as my toddler suggests. As you may have guessed, the toddler was …
Heather says: For a long time, I’ve wanted to help readers with the creation of weekly menus and shopping lists. Up until this point it meant creating the menu, listing all of the ingredients and manually creating a pdf from this list. I’ve been working with Brian Hutchins of SayMmm.com to create an easy way for …
Heather says: Wilted spinach is an incredibly quick side dish. It takes less than ten minutes start to finish. If walnuts aren’t your thing, you can substitute garlic or onion. The point is to infuse some flavor into the olive oil that coats the spinach. Print grocery list. Wilted Spinach with Walnuts Ingredients: 1 9oz …