Heather says: I have a few tips for you and feel free to guess which ones I learned today and which I had done ahead of time. Keep your appliance manual and warranty information taped to the back of large appliances. Know which local appliance repair companies are certified and reputable before there is a problem. …
A dear commenter named Amy asked this: I searched the site and could not find exactly how a toilet cleaning is done. Besides the obvious – Outside first: top, sides, bottom then Inside: scrub. I have read you can use toilet bowl cleaner, diluted to clean the whole toilet. One must wear gloves of course. …
Heather says: Below every sink is a shut off valve. A simple way to prevent water waste is to use this valve to turn down the flow. This is especially helpful for households with family members or roommates who cannot grasp the idea that there are more than two flow speeds for water: off and …
Heather says: I’m not a gardener, but I’m lucky enough to have family that is into that sort of thing. Produce is rolling into my mother’s garden faster than she and my stepfather can eat it. We are the lucky recipients of the excess. This weekend I had planned on preparing three tomato pies for …
Dear Home Ec 101, I would like to know if it is possible to freeze cooked rice. I would like to cook a bigger batch and freeze single servings. Cooking a single serving for lunch just takes too much time, but I really don’t like the quicker cooking alternatives. Also, we frequently have stir fry with …
Ivy says: Sam’s Club. Costco. You know you love ’em. Anywhere where you can buy a thingy of toilet paper that is nearly as big as my whole car and will last us 6 months is a fabulous place, if you ask me. But is the $50 membership worth it? Let’s take a look. Like …
Ivy says: Watch out, world! Ivy’s back! I’m sure you’ve been wondering where I’ve been. Well, between dealing with several family emergency-type things, trying to pull myself out of the very serious depression I’d been in for over a year and a half, and starting a new project, I was completely harried and needed some …
Heather says: I promise, I’m not going to wax all nostalgic and talk about how no one ever wishes they’d have swept just one more time. No, that’s not my direction at all. Yesterday, I was listening to This Week in Tech, mostly because I’m a huge geek and partly because my cabinets needed scrubbing. …
Dear Home Ec 101, On Sunday you mentioned you didn’t like adding Cream of Something Soup. A lot of my recipes call for Cream of Chicken or Mushroom. Am I just not supposed to make those recipes? Signed, Connie V. Nience Heather says: Not at all, there is a very easy substitute and unless you …
Heather says: I had totally planned on starting a new series today, Kitchen Bravery. It’s meant to be an encouragement for cooks to step outside their usual bounds and try new things, but there was a comment on How to Use Dry Beans in Recipes Bottled water for cooking? That’s pretty wasteful. Not to mention …