Ask The Audience: What Foods Do You Not Like?

Ivy says: Just for fun, in the wake of yesterday’s post on picky eaters: What foods do you not like to eat? Sure, I’ll go first. I really do not dig tomatoes. I don’t like them in sauces or stewed or any other way, really. Occasionally I’ll enjoy a tomato fresh from the garden with …

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Grandma’s Home Remedies: Mosquito Bites

Ivy says: My kids must be extra sweet because they are covered in mosquito bites, and I (luckily) have none. You know how kids can get when they’re itchy and uncomfortable- they whine a lot. And when they whine a lot, my patience gets thin, and then we’re in for a miserable day. On Saturday, …

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Learn How to Menu Plan (part 2)

Dear Home Ec 101, I need to get our food budget under control. We spend a ton of money eating out.  It’s starting to cause fights.  I can’t cook, I can’t plan, and even if I could, I wouldn’t know where to start. Signed, Hopeless in Hopeswell Welcome to part two of this series on …

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Killing slugs for fun and (not really) profit

Ivy says: Oh, Twitter, how I love thee. I tweeted recently that I’m very short on ideas for Home Ec 101 lately and I got this tweet: You can tell me about how to get all the slugs that have taken over my backyard, dog bowls, and screen doors to die or getting them to …

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The Cascade Vs. Electrasol War

Ivy says: Recently I was sent both Cascade Complete liquid dishwasher detergent and Electrasol liquid dishwashing detergent to test side by side to see which one was a winner. For full disclosure, let me tell y’all a few things: 1. I haven’t used Electrasol in years because I thought it did a crappy job of …

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Learn How to Menu Plan

Dear Home Ec 101, I need to get our food budget under control, and we spend a ton of money eating out. It’s starting to cause fights. I can’t cook. I can’t plan, and even if I could, I would just quit. Can you teach me how to menu plan? Can you teach me to follow …

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Simple Alfredo Sauce

Heather says: If you load this dish up with steamed broccoli it’s easy to pretend it’s healthy. This recipe makes four servings of alfredo and can create a variety of meals by varying the accompaniments.  My favorites are blackened beef, chicken, or shrimp.  If spicy foods are not your style, try grilled chicken, shrimp, or …

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Weekly Project: Survive The Week

Ivy says: This week I only have one goal, and that’s to get through this week. Every once in awhile, we all have weeks like this. Overscheduled, too much to do, not enough time for it all. I keep my schedule on my MacBook’s iCal program, and I’ve been watching this week loom for the …

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Seasoning Your Cast Iron Cookware

Dear Home-Ec 101, I got this set of cast iron pans last year for my birthday and I know that you have to do something with them before you can use them. I “googled” it but I find soooo many different things I don’t even know where to start. I figured you ladies would be …

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Weekly Project: Getting That Email Under Control

Ivy says: Anyone who has ever emailed me knows- I’m very haphazard about whether or not I’ll reply. It’s not that I don’t want to reply or anything, I just am extremely disorganized when it comes to email. I’ve been using the email program that comes with my Mac OSX software lately, and I’ve been …

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