Heather says

How are those counters looking after last week? Do they need a quick re-visit? It’s absolute okay if they do. Getting your home organized is a process and it takes time.

I forgot to announce the winner of the bamboo cutting boards. An email has been sent, if your email address is martha******@gmail.com, please check your inbox for an email from me.

March’s random drawing from newsletter subscribers will be 3 Method Cleaning Products of the winner’s choice from a list of options, some restrictions apply*.

Read more about my love of Method products: 

Clean Like A Mother
Just Say No To Jugs With Method
Method and Pattern Maker
When Is Clean Too Clean?

This week we’re organizing the junk or catch-all drawer. 

I like to browse Reddit when I’ve got a little buffer time**. A while ago, I saw a great thread, I can’t remember what started it, but people from all over the world submitted pictures of their junk drawers. Yes the names were a little different, but everyone knew what was meant. It’s that drawer, usually in the kitchen, that catches the odds and ends, the odd sized battery, the rubber bands, and receipts, etc. It’s not just us, nearly everyone has this somewhere in their home. 

Your mission today is to dive into your drawer(s). I don’t expect perfection. If you want to be super organized (and think others in the house will cooperate) you can use a divider to wrangle the odds and ends into a sort of order. 

There are at least two tactics you can take, but whatever you do, check your pens to see if they actually work before putting them back:

1. Remove the drawer from its rails and take it to your work area, preferably one that can be vacuumed, trust me. Dump the contents. Return the drawer to its rightful place and sort through the contents without easy access to the drawer.
2. Drag the trash can near your drawer and go through the contents, try to be ruthless in your decision to toss things. 

Have fun and don’t be scared to toss the bent paper clips.  

Receipts can be put into a dated envelope.
Appliance manuals are online, unless your appliance is vintage, you don’t have to hang onto the paper clutter. If you’ve been keeping a binder of family recipes, add a divider tab and write down the appliances / model numbers on another sheet of paper. It’ll make searching for repair information easier. 

See you next week!

Click the picture for the list of challenges

*Restrictions include:

1. The shipping address must be in the continental United States. (This restriction is due to shipping charges)
2. You must be at least 18 years of age.
3. Void where prohibited by law. 
4. The prize is intended to allow the person to choose 3 scents of their choice, not to allow the selection of multiple bulk orders. This is supposed to be a fun, token prize, not something to make Heather’s children go hungry. Capiche?

**Buffer time is the extra fifteen or so minutes I try to give myself to cover traffic, lost keys (which I’ve gotten much better about), and acts of God. I used to keep a paperback or three in the car to entertain myself. Now I’ve got the entire world in my hands via a smartphone. I’m not sure this is necessarily an improvement.

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

        

Comments

• That is a fantastic suggestion. Thank you by Heather
• Another good thing to keep in that binder is a list of details ... by Kate Nolan

 

 

Dear Home Ec 101,

I’m embarrassed to actually ask this, but what is the difference between boiling and simmering? A lot of your recipes say bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. What does that mean and why does it matter?

Signed,

Baffled Beginner

Heather says:

Basic questions like this are encouraged here. If you’re asking, I guarantee there are plenty of other people out there who don’t know either.

Do you remember high school chemistry and surface tension? Water molecules have an attraction to one another caused by the polar nature of each molecule. If you were able to see an individual water molecule it would have a bent shape, something like a V.  The point of the V is the oxygen molecule which hogs the electrons and the arms of the V would be the slightly positive hydrogen atoms. As you may remember opposites attract, the hydrogen atoms of one molecule are attracted to the negative oxygen atom of another and this creates the phenomenon of surface tension. All this means is that water molecules like to stick together and it takes energy to break them apart.

That energy is heat. At sea level water boils at 212°F, it’s a very convenient and observable benchmark when it comes to cooking. When water reaches its boiling point, which slowly drops with altitude the bubbles break the surface. Once the boiling point is reached, even if you turn up the burner, the liquid will not increase in temperature. It may boil more vigorously as more liquid turns to gas, but it won’t get any hotter.

Here’s a handy reference for those of you who don’t live at sea level:

Most of the time recipes will call for a liquid to be brought to a boil first, this is to compensate for the drop in temperature when food is added to the cooking liquid.

The boiling point is too hot for cooking many foods. Turn the burner down.

There are exceptions for starches and vegetables.

Simmering is the stage before the bubbles have enough energy to break the surface tension and the temperature range is from 185°F – 205°F or 85°C – 96°C. Not only does simmering require less energy from your appliance, it also keeps many proteins from becoming tough. This is why soups and stews are simmered rather than boiled, additionally the vigorous bubbling action of boiling can break apart some items like fish.

Most of the time crock pots or slow cookers are designed to cook in the simmering range, but you should test out your appliance by filling it partway with water and allowing it to reach temperature at both the high and low settings before leaving an item unattended for an extended period of time.

Not all stoves or ranges make simmering easy, in fact simmering on some gas stoves can be quite difficult, it may be necessary to move the pot so it is not centered over the flame. Be careful to ensure the pot is still balanced and won’t tip easily.

Just to throw this out there, poaching* is another way to cook with hot water and it’s temperature is even lower than simmering and it covers the range 160°F – 180°F or 72°C – 82°C.  Poaching is often reserved for delicate items like eggs and fish.

Last tidbit, sometimes menus at restaurants will refer to meat as boiled. It’s not, it’s just an inaccurate description.

*Am I the only weirdo who can be merrily writing along and brought to a standstill by a word? Poach. It’s just fun to say, which is weird since roach is just nasty. Moving along*

Send your domestic questions, no matter how basic, to helpme@home-ec101.com.

        

Comments

• When boiling anything, place a wooden spoon across the top of ... by JD
• Yea! Im 63 years old and a pretty darn good cook but I looked ... by Connie Rollings
• I have a gas range as well and I usually use a larger pot when ... by Angela England
• My SIL boils her pasta, but she does not drain it when it's ... by caroline
• It's not you, it's the flame, seriously. With electric burners ... by HeatherSolos
• Plus 10 more...

 

 

Heather says

Last week was a doozy. There was no plan as I was flying back from Salt Lake City on a redeye and I was buried in the day job until Friday afternoon. I don’t enjoy weeks like that, but it was the best kind of work-related busy.

I’m ready for a normal*, routine week. 

*HA!

It’s time for us, probably not you, to Iron Chef it up a bit and make do with what is on hand. This is where items like MustGo Soup really come into their own. Skillets are also super handy on weeks like this.

Skillets = protein + onions + garlic + some kind of leafy green and maybe carrots or bell peppers served over a starch, in our house it’s rice, potatoes, or grits.

How do you use up leftovers?

Here’s a handy printable to help with your menu and grocery shopping plan. Don’t forget to keep it in a binder to build up a repertoire of recipes that work for your family and what’s in season. Cross out recipes that were a total flop that don’t stand a chance of ever being loved by you or your family and make notes on what you’d like to do next time around for recipes that were received favorably. Not only will these plans help you spend less time trying to figure out what to feed yourself and your family, but they’ll let you have an answer for, “Hey, remember that thing you made with the [x] and the [y]? Can we have that again?”
If you have kids, you can give them their own Our Family Recipes binder when they head out on their own. Just don’t be too detailed so they still have to call once in a while. . .

What are you serving this week?

• Monday – Sausage Skillet
  
• Tuesday – Soup – To be determined, depending on what’s in the refrigerator
• Wednesday – Red Curry, Coconut Cilantro Rice (for the liquid sub 50:50 coconut milk and chicken broth, toss with chopped cilantro)
• Thursday – Meatloaf, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans 
  
• Friday – A vegetarian twist on Tortilla Soup – just with lentils and vegetable broth instead of the usual chicken. We may also try buffalo cauliflower bites for a treat, if we do that, there’s definitely be some blue cheese dressing
• Saturday – Lowcountry Boil
• Sunday – Roast Chicken, Carrots, Lentil Pilaf

       

 

 

Remember back in January, week 2 to be precise, when we tackled the entryway? If you are anything like me any free counter space quickly attracts all kinds of clutter. What I quit stashing by the front door, likely found a home on the kitchen counters.

Today your mission is to clear your counters of anything that doesn’t belong.

Take a hard look at your small appliances while you’re at it. Do you have both a coffee maker and a Keurig on the counter? Do you need both? Would one be missed if it were stored somewhere less convenient?

Since I take a lot of photos for this website, I’ve slowly built a stockpile of dishes and cookware that I don’t necessarily need for every day use, but don’t want to box up and hide it in the garage.  I found these shelves on Amazon and they work wonderfully. I really didn’t like storing my large enamel dutch oven (it’s heavy) in a lower cabinet, as it was always a pain to get out. Not everyone needs the amount of cookware I keep on hand, but it’s an option if you find yourself short on kitchen storage with a little room elsewhere. 

Click the picture for the list of challenges

That’s it for this week’s challenge, but if you find yourself with a handful of fiddly odds and ends that you aren’t sure what to do with. Don’t just toss them in the junk drawer, you’ll just be dealing with them next week.

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

        

Comments

• My laundry room is right next to the kitchen – and is also ... by caroline
• We have an unused room off of the kitchen, I suppose it's ... by Heather Solos
• Where do you keep the shelves? I have similar ones that lived ... by caroline

 

 

Heather says:

Last week’s refrigerator clean out challenge likely freed up some leftover containers. Today your mission is to pull out all of your storage containers and make sure each and every one has a lid. The lid should actually fit and create a seal. If not?

Toss it in the recycling bin.

I’ve found it useful to use a plastic dish tub to store lids. 

I recently had a question about removing tomato stains from plastic storage containers. It’s a giant pain in the rear and while a chlorine bleach soak can remove the stains, some may remain. I’ll be answering this question fully later in the week. 

Preventing tomato stains in the first place is your best bet. Freeze things like leftover spaghetti sauce in gallon ziplock bags. Lay the bag flat on a baking sheet to freeze to better utilize your freezer space.

Glass storage containers are another option.

Click the picture for the list of challenges

Didn’t feel this challenge was ambitious enough? I’ve got a bonus challenge. Look through your mugs and random plastic cups. Do you use them? Do you like using them? No? Out the door they go.

Cheap freebie plastic cups can be recycled, mugs and old glassware can be donated.

What tip would you add to this list?

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

        

Comments

• Well, I didn't get this week's challenge done due to a health ... by Narariel
• Great point, Jennifer. I probably should have worded that a ... by Heather
• Oh dear. I took the word “refrigerator” in last week's ... by Jennifer

 

 

Heather says

Are you saving the menu plans you’ve been creating? If you have a 3 hole punch and a binder, save your weekly menu plans. As you prepare your meal plans, make notes on what people enjoyed. Over time you’ll build a great resource for yourself and your family. If you’re just getting started with menu planning, here’s a series of articles that may make it easier.

You’ve had these conversations, right?

“Remember when we had that thing with the rice and the chicken?”

“Was there sausage in it?”

“Yeah, it had a funny name, can we have that again?”

“Oh, you meant chicken bog? Do you want to have collards with it, too?”

“Yeah!”

Trust me, we all have these conversations and it is so much easier if you keep a resource that’ll give you a clue as to what they are referring to.

This year, as soon as I finish up the backlog of re-photographing everything (and it is going well, there are just a lot to do), I’ll be focusing on seasonal recipes. 

This week I’m heading to Salt Lake City for a blogging conference. I’m going for my day job, FeedBlitz, but I’m hoping I might learn a few things, too. Ray and the kids are set with easy meals and frozen-planned overs.  

If you participated in last week’s pantry organization and this week’s fridge clean-out, be sure to grab your lists to use up the items you’re about to lose. What will you be having this week?

Here are some ideas from our menu:

• Monday – BBQ Chicken, coleslaw, cornbread
  
• Tuesday – Corn Chowder
• Wednesday – Clean Out Refrigerator Night
• Thursday – Simple Sausage Skillet
  
  
• Friday – Nachos with black beans
• Saturday – Chili
• Sunday – Spaghetti and Meatballs (it’ll be brown rice elbow noodles, but you get the gist)
  

Let us know what you’re having or what worked from last week that you’ll be having again in the future. 

       

 

 

Heather says

Happy Valentine’s Day. We really know how to have fun around here. 

Last week the pantry, this week the fridge. Go ahead and empty the trash before you start as if you’re anything like me,  you’ll need the room. 

I know I say that you should clean out the refrigerator each week, but do you do a thorough job? I don’t, I generally grab the produce that’s definitely gone off and get rid of it. Everything else just becomes part of the landscape. There are condiments of indeterminate age and cheese, well, we’re just not going to talk about it. 

Your mission today is to get rid of all expired food and any random condiments you’re just not going to use. Make note of any food that is nearing its expiration. Remember that list from last week? Use it tomorrow when you plan your menu. Treat this Monday’s Menu Planning as an Iron Chef Challenge. If you want to get started, here’s a printable.

Click the picture for the list of challenges

When you clean out your fridge, you should do it one shelf at a time and close the door while you sort through the contents. 

Think about your refrigerator’s zones as you put your food away.

If you want to learn more about managing your refrigerator’s contents, check out: Minimize Food Waste by Thinking Like a Kitchen Manager. 

       

 

 

Heather says:

Of all the recipes in all the world, never did I think the kids would like this one for tuna cakes. Crab is a bit on the spendy side for a herd of finicky kids, so I figured I’d give budget friendly tuna a try. I expected turned up noses and arguing about at least giving it a try. I did not expect, “Mom are there any more?”

Now, when I ask what should I add to the menu for dinner, I can count on two answers, tuna cakes from the younger crowd and tacos from Ray. Other than that, I’m on my own with the decisions, for the most part.

Since Lent started yesterday, now is a good a time to add a solid recipe for Fridays, when for many, meat is taboo. That’s not the only reason to give this budget friendly recipe a try. If you are gluten free the 4C GF Breadcrumbs work perfectly, no alterations needed as they are very similar in texture to panko style bread crumbs.

I generally triple the recipe, quadrupling if all six of us are here.  (And that’s the real reason they are baked and not fried, it has very little to with health and everything to do with patience) If the mixture seems dry, add another egg. Use your judgment, it’s fairly forgiving.

• 2  5 oz cans chunk light tuna in water, drained well
• 1/2 small, yellow or white onion, diced finely
• 1 generous TBSP dijon mustard (in other words, it’s okay if it’s heaping)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
•  freshly ground black pepper (to taste, if you like pepper, use a heavy hand)
• 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs, divided into 1/2 and 1/4 cups

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In a shallow dish, place 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs and set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the egg, dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir in the onion and then the tuna, finally fold in the remaining bread crumbs and just mix until barely combined. 

Using clean hands, mold the mixture into cakes. (Roll in to a ball and then pat flatter, about 1/2 thick). If you want little, appetizer style, you might get 6 to a can, if you’re envisioning restaurant style, two for a meal, you’ll get 4 total)

As you roll your tuna cakes dip them in the remaining bread crumbs and place them on a greased baking sheet. If you want your cakes to brown more than they would otherwise, brush them with olive oil before baking putting them in the oven. Flip after 12 – 13 minutes and cook for another 10 for small crab cakes and 13 – 15 for dinner size.

Serve with tartar sauce, balsamic reduction, or just dijon mustard.

We like our cakes served with jalapeño cheese grits and okra or sautéed greens.

Enjoy!

Some more yummy tuna recipes: 

• Tuna Macaroni Salad Recipe
• A Tuna Salad Variation

        

Comments

• Yes, ma'am, 4 about the size of the ones in the picture. I got ... by Heather Solos
• Thanks Heather for posting this recipe. So one batch will give ... by Cheryle

 

 

Dear Home-Ec 101,
I have a Corningware tea pot that has hard water stains from too many times boiling dry. A friend suggested straight bleach and bringing it to a boil, removing it from the burner and letting it set overnight. No luck. Suggestions?

Does sodium hypochlorite break down at a certain temperature? Can’t find anything on line to tell me the answer.

Signed,
Lightheaded in Lincoln

Heather says:

Please don’t take advice from this friend, their intentions may be good, but this person sounds like the reason warning labels are needed.

Heating chlorine bleach releases chlorine gas. Please take a moment and review the following:

Sodium hypochlorite degrades 3.5x faster for every 10° Celsius, in other words hotter is not better with with this chemical. When diluting chlorine bleach for household disinfecting, use room temperature water.

If I were in your situation, I would try using Barkeeper’s Friend. Rinse the kettle, but don’t dry it. Liberally sprinkle BKF in the pot and use a damp rag to create a paste. Allow the paste to sit on the surface of the pot for a few moments, then begin using more water, to dilute the BKF and clean the surface. 

If this doesn’t work, rinse the pot thoroughly and try simmering white vinegar. This won’t smell nice, but it certainly won’t be as offensive as the bleach from your previous experiment.

Click this picture to learn more about cleaners!

If you still have hard water stains, it may be time to try CLR, be sure to clean the kettle thoroughly before boiling water for your next cup of tea.

This article on cleaning an electric kettle has a more thorough explanation. Good luck!

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

        

Comments

• No, I don't touch on personal finance in the book. Maybe if I ... by Heather Solos
• Hi I am interested in ordering your book to teach my daughter ... by Michele Trow

 

 

Heather says:

I hope you had a good weekend. I managed to knock out a few more recipes this weekend, feel free to check them out:

1. Spaghetti with Meat Sauce – it’s totally a date night, company worthy meal, just add a salad
2. Chicken Salad – a great way to use up leftover roast chicken.
3. Blue Cheese Dressing – perfect for wings and buffalo chicken sandwiches
4. Meatballs – if you’re going to have spaghetti or calzones or subs, here’s your go to

So what will we be making this week? Well it’s going to be a bit on the chilly and damp side, so we’re going heavy on the soup and chili plan.

What will you be having this week? Here’s a printable to help you plan your menu and your grocery list. If you’ve never tried to menu plan, this series might help.

If you participated in yesterday’s Organizational Challenge: The Great Pantry Clean-Out, grab that list and make sure you use up anything that is going to expire soon.

There’s a new produce option in our area that I’m excited to try. It’s not quiet a CSA, but does try to keep everything as local and sustainable as possible. Menu planning might be a little different in the near future if it works out. Their boxes are delivered on Thursdays which is pretty much the middle of the current plan. We’ll see how it goes, I’m excited to give it a try as I do believe in the concept of eating locally when it is practical. (I hear those of you in the upper midwest, loud and clear. There are only so many potatoes and turnips a person can stand)

• Monday – Beef stew over rice with peas (Hoping for new pics of both of these)
• Tuesday – Roast chicken with potatoes, Vegetable to be determined
• Wednesday – *EDIT* this is moved to Thursday, Wednesday is Ash Wednesday
• Thursday –Chicken and Wild Rice Soup -going for gluten-free this time.
• Friday – Tuna Croquettes with Cheese Grits, aioli, and roasted broccoli (again hoping for pictures)
• Saturday – Out
• Sunday – Sue Polinsky’s No Tomato Chili, Cornbread, 

       

 

 

Heather says:

Aioli is a garlicky sauce that adds an excellent finishing touch to some menu items. We love it with crab or tuna cakes, home made fries, fried potatoes, or sometimes on a sandwich that needs a kick that mayo just won’t provide. 

Aioli is similar to mayo in that it is an emulsion that uses the lecithin (a naturally occurring substance) in egg yolks to keep the mixture stable.

There are lots of recipes on the web for aioli; this is the one we use. I do cheat and use a food processor to mince the garlic finely as I’m usually in a giant hurry and I haven’t bothered to splurge on a mortar and pestle. If you are practicing for a culinary exam, by all means use a mortar and pestle. Otherwise choose the route that fits your needs, energy, and expectations.

This is one of those ratio recipes, meaning you can increase as you see fit. It’s rather high in calories, so… keep that in mind before going nuts. 

• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 egg yolk, separated and at room temperature
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp cold water
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• small pinch of salt

Make sure the garlic cloves are as finely minced as you can manage and then whisk in the dijon mustard, followed by the egg yolk. Now make sure your bowl is stable on your work surface and begin drizzling in 1/2 the olive oil (1/4 cup) while whisking steady with your dominant hand. Make sure the oil is fully incorporated. Add the water, lemon juice, and salt and whisk throughly.

Slowly drizzle in the second half of the olive oil until it is fully incorporated into your mixture.

If your aioli separates, you can whisk in a second egg yolk to re-suspend the particles. 

Enjoy!

If you try this aioli I’d love to hear how it turned out; just leave a message for me in the comments.

If you like to make your own sauces here are some more sauce recipes you can try.

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

       

 

 

Heather says:

Progress adds up over time. Are you starting to see a difference in your house yet? Are you keeping your entry neat with a place for your keys and purse / wallet? Are you enjoying not having to turn the house upside down just to go somewhere? 

I like that feeling.

Today is pantry day. Please keep in mind that I understand that not everyone has a pantry. Almost everyone does have a place or places where they store dry goods (shelf-stable foods) and today, these places are what I’m referring to. (Except your spices, save those for later this month) 

If it has been a long time since you’ve delved into the deepest corners of your pantry, today’s challenge might take a while. Make sure to have your trash / recycling bin and donation bin at the ready. Additionally, find yourself a notebook (or piece of paper, it’s your list, not mine) and a pen.

Start at the highest point in the left corner and work your way to the right.

• Clear the shelf. 
• Use a flashlight to check for any signs of pantry moths or weevils. You’re looking for webbing and bug debris. Make sure you look up in the top inside corners, they aren’t always easy to see. If you find any signs, refer to this post for full instructions on getting rid of pantry moths.
• If you have solid shelves, vacuum the shelf with the soft bristle attachment of your vacuum, this will get rid of any loose crumbs, if you don’t have a vacuum, use a foxtail brush.
• Once the shelf has been vacuumed, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to give it a once over with a degreaser and rag.

With a clean shelf, you’re ready to move on to the next step. 

For each item from the shelf work through the following flow chart:

Repeat for each shelf or cupboard. 

Click the picture for the list of challenges

When you’re through hang on to your inventory, we’ll use it in a later challenge as part of organizing your menu planning and grocery shopping while reducing your grocery budget by building your pantry. If you want to get a jump on that, you can take a look at Stocking the Emergency Pantry.

See you next week!

If you spotted the typo in the chart I threw together, award yourself one free internet.

     

 

 

Hello,
So, on Monday, I came home to my apartment* and there was as best defined as an old cooked broccoli smell coming from my bedroom. Please note that no broccoli was cooked in the house for a couple weeks. I can’t seem to figure out where the smell is coming from in my bedroom. My bed, small rug (the floor is hardwood or that false hardwood stuff), and clothes all smell fine. There doesn’t seem to be any source to the smell. There is no mold in the room that I can see. I checked in the closet and around the window sill, the walls and ceiling etc. There is discoloration on the ceiling, but it is dry. So, I don’t think it is the source. (My friend also has discoloration on her ceiling and her room smells fine.) The smell is only in my bedroom. Airing out the room doesn’t work. The source is in the room.

Your thoughts would be appreciated,
But I don’t cook in the bedroom

Heather says

Well, I have good news and I have bad news. You’ve done all the right things to determine the source of the odor. 

*The original email didn’t mention an apartment at all.

You can do everything right, run the vent / hood while cooking, wipe down your cabinetry to get rid of kitchen grease, change your air filters frequently and still, if you live in an apartment, you’re at the mercy of other people’s cooking habits. 

Close neighbors and intrusive cooking odors are a pretty common problem, especially if there are different cultural backgrounds involved. Some people love the pungent odor of curry, smell it, and are reminded of home and family, but to others it smells like the end of an evening with a few too many pints and the ensuing hangover.

People are sensitive, and justifiably so, about their cooking preferences. As amusing as passive aggressive notes can be on the Internet, they really aren’t a good choice in the “real” world. 

I would approach this issue through your landlord. In some places strong cooking odors can be seen as intruding on the peace of a neighboring tenant, but it varies state to state. Check your lease. Please keep in mind that if there is no odor addendum in the lease, the landlord may not have a lot of recourse and in the case of foods from another culture causing an issue, it’s easy to be construed as discriminatory.

The solution may be as simple as the landlord requesting that the broccoli loving neighbor use the hood over the stove when cooking. If you allow the landlord to handle the issue, you reduce the need for confrontation between you and your neighbor. 

How easily drifting cooking odors can be prevented depends on many things, the age of the building and the type of ventilation it has and the willingness of the offending chef to follow best practices.

You could mitigate the odor by choosing to cover it with something you prefer, coffee grounds in shallow dish for example. I do not recommend using plugin room fragrances or scented candles to cover up the issue. The longterm effects are still being investigated and until they are definitively ruled as not harmful, I don’t feel comfortable recommending. 

While essential oils can be useful to cover up smells be careful what you choose. If you decide that you’d rather smell peppermint or eucalyptus, it could be a good solution, but essential oils are not regulated. You need to do your research to make sure you’re buying what the label claims and not the equivalent of a cheap scented candle.

Air purifiers are another possible solution, but their efficacy varies wildly and the models are quite an investment. If you choose to go the air purifier route you also need to do your homework. Since your main concern is eliminating odors and not allergy triggers like pollen, you’ll need to choose an air purifier with multiple filter types, yours should have an activated charcoal filter. The activated charcoal adsorbs (not a typo) molecules that we tend to perceive as stinky.

*IMPORTANT* Know the square footage of your living space before attempting to choose an air purifier. You also need to keep more than the initial investment in mind; air purifiers need to have their filters changed frequently and their energy use varies by model. 

Further reading:

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com

     

 

 

Heather says

Last week veered wildly off-track due to a short notice business trip to Asheville. Thankfully, I love that city and its food scene. I had lunch with a good friend at a place called 12 Bones and had jalapeno cheese grits with my pulled pork, man oh man. This magical side dish will be recreated here in the very near future. I can see it going well with everything from a twist on shrimp and grits to our favorite fall back meal: Sausage Peppers and Onions. Yes, that recipe is high on the list for re-shooting in the near future.

I did rephotograph one of my very favorite soups, creamy chicken and wild rice. If you have any love in your heart for wild rice, I highly suggest you give it a try while the weather is still chilly.

I spent Saturday afternoon cooking two chickens for use in other recipes, as soon as the chickens were done, the meat was removed and the bones were thrown into a stockpot to make broth. I’ve been playing around with roasting chickens upside down on a bed of potatoes and onions. I noticed the technique when I binged on the PBS Show I’ll Have What Phil’s Having and I truly hope he is picked up for another season. Phil Rosenthal is fantastic and makes me want to approach life and food with the same joy and appreciation.

I’ve noticed it takes a little longer for the chicken breast to reach 180°F when roasted upside down, but it is definitely not dry and worth the wait. The potatoes and onions are an excellent side dish as is or the next day with scrambled eggs. Unless you’re my child who hates potatoes in all ways at all times. –I’d think the fairies swapped him early on if he didn’t match me so closely in sheer stubbornness and sarcasm.– Around here, when it come to starches and being picky, you have to try new things, but you’re welcome to load up on extra vegetables instead

(Click ^ for basic instructions on roasting a chicken, this one was just Chef Prudhomme’s Redfish Magic, 3lbs of potatoes, a couple cloves of garlic added to the cavity, and an onion sliced into thin rings, placed over the potatoes)

The pan drippings were drained into a storage container and stored in the fridge for use in any recipe calling for stock. After it was cold, I scraped off the layer of fat and the liquid had gelled.  This indicated that it was rich with collagen, which makes soups feel and taste richer, even if it looks like a Jello experiment gone wrong in the refrigerator. If you’re going to be roasting a chicken any time soon, go ahead and make another one at the same time. It really isn’t extra much effort and is great for use in future recipes.

This week we’ll be trying to stick to the plan, with the exception of adding more recipes to this site.

Here’s a handy printable to make planning your menu easier. Feel free to let us know what you’re trying this week in the comments.

• Monday – Corn Chowder with Chicken, I’ll probably toss some kale in there at the end to up the veggie ratio
• Tuesday – Sausage Peppers and Onions, Jalapeno Cheese grits
• Wednesday – Red Beans and Rice, Okra, Collard Greens
• Thursday – Spaghetti and Meatballs (Wheat free (brown rice pasta, rolled oats instead of bread crumbs)
• Friday – Salmon with Lemon and Rosemary, Roasted Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts
• Saturday – To be determined based on energy levels and progress on the photography front
• Sunday – Same

On the docket for photos:

Chicken Pot Pie, Cream of Chicken Soup (for use in recipes), Chicken Noodle Soup 

     

 

 

Heather says

The winner of the Life Changing Magic of Tidying-Up has been sent an email. Next month as we’ll be spending time in the kitchen, I’ll be giving away one  set of color coded cutting boards to a subscriber, no purchase necessary, void where prohibited, you just need to be signed up for the Weekly Organizational Challenge. (If you received this in your email, you’re signed up, no further action necessary.)

I’m sure you saw this week’s challenge coming. Two weeks ago, we straightened up the linen closet and last week we made room in our closets. This week, it’s time to head into the laundry room and anywhere else your laundry lurks. Today your mission is to put away all the laundry that is anywhere other than where it belongs. This is why we cleaned up the closet(s) and linen storage first.

Learn more: There are a lot of laundry tips and tricks on the Wash It page.

There generally is a method to the madness around here. Not always though, not always.

If there is a shirt waiting for a button on the dryer, either replace the button OR admit you’re never going to and get rid of the shirt.

Do you have socks without their mates waiting for their loved ones to return? Into the rag pile, if it’s meant to be one day they’ll be dust rags together in the great laundry basket in the sky. 

Do you have a stack of delicates waiting for their turn on the delicate cycle? Today’s the day.  

Tip: How To Launder Unusual Items

Click the picture for the list of challenges

If you have empty detergent jugs or boxes, get rid of them. Clothes waiting to be donated? Into the donation bin they go. (I have a mental image of that scene in Monty Python: Bring out your dead! No one around this house would appreciate my satire of a satire, if I went around collecting socks in this manner.)

If space allows, set yourself up for success, bring hangers into the laundry room so you can hang items straight out of the dryer. 

Next week we’re going into the pantry (cupboard). Get ready. 

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

     

 

 

Heather says:

I spent yesterday re-photographing a couple of recipes here on the site. 

I am rather happy with how that project turned out. Slowly, but surely, the backlog is shrinking. I’ve finally figured out how to get rid of the extra food without waste, which is very exciting for me.

If you are in the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast, I sincerely hope you have power and that you’re staying warm and shoveling out from under that mess. 

What will you be having for dinner this week? Here’s a handy printable to help with your menu and grocery shopping planing.

• Monday – Sausage Skillet with Cheese Grits
• Tuesday – Corn Chowder, Salad
• Wednesday – Clean Out Refrigerator Night
• Thursday – Chorizo Tacos, Cabbage Slaw, Refried Beans
• Friday – Oven Fried Fish and Chips, Coleslaw
• Saturday – Burrito Bowls
• Sunday  – Roast Chicken, Greek Potatoes, Tzatziki, Wilted Spinach

Have a great week!

     

 

 

Heather says:

The scope of this week’s challenge will depend on your time and energy level. Today, starting with your own closet hang everything in it neatly. This sounds simple, but as you go through and hang items, immediately put those you no longer need or want in your donation box (from week 1).

If you want to go the extra mile, instead of hanging your items normally, hook the hangers from the far side of the rod. As you wear your clothing during the year, hang them normally. In a year, as the challenge comes back around you’ll get rid of anything that you didn’t wear.

If the clothing is in decent condition, donate it to your favorite charity, if it’s in poor condition, look for clothing recycling to get rid of your items.

If you’re feeling ambitious tackle (or assign if age appropriate) the closets of other family members. If you’re not up to the task tackle one closet a week, until you’re through.

Click the picture for the list of challenges!

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

     

 

 

Heather says:

Eating locally and seasonally is a popular trend, with good reason. Choosing foods grown locally and in season reduces the amount of energy that is needed to bring the food from the farm to your table. In colder climates it isn’t always convenient or practical as late winter can mean nothing is in season. Winter menu options generally consist of a lot of root vegetables that store well. Here in the South, cruciferous vegetables are the late winter hotness and I won’t lie, I get a little excited when cabbage drops to $0.39 a pound.

All of the seasoning needed for this recipe is provided by the sausage and the aromatic vegetables. You can add a little salt and pepper if you like, but taste it first.

As written, this meal takes two skillets unless you have an 18″ or 20″ skillet. Just put half in each pan. With the technique used in this recipe, the shape of the pan doesn’t matter much and you can use a large dutch oven or pot if that’s what you have on hand.

If you are cooking for one or two people, halve the amounts (use two carrots) and cook it in a single pan. You don’t have to halve the sausage, but if you’re trying to keep to follow the Michael Pollan adage, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” you’ll want to.

Smoked sausage will keep in the fridge for a few days and makes a great addition to eggs in the morning. (If you have any leftovers this dish makes a great base for a scramble, just heat it in your skillet, beat a couple of eggs and stir them in.)

     

 

 

Heather says

I hope all of you are doing well. I think there may be a slight misunderstanding as to what the Menu Mondays here on Home-Ec 101 are. These are the weekly meal plans for my family. Generally the plan includes at least one item that I have not yet posted on the site, but am considering. If the recipe seems like a good fit for Home-Ec101 and I have the time to photograph it, I will post and link to the recipe. The intent for the weekly menu planning exercise is to inspire some of you to plan menus that fit your family’s needs, not to dictate what you should eat each day of the week. I appreciate those of you that participate.

If a recipe does not turn out well, I will not be recommending or linking to it. This is for your good and mine. I frequently use  older Menu Mondays on this site to figure out what I want to make next week or a year from now.

If you are looking for ideas or have questions, a comment or an email is a wonderful way to participate in the community. However, if you’re feeling the need to send a rude email about how a plan doesn’t meet your preferences and I need to do better, just hit unsubscribe. It’s okay, I keep the unsubscribe link right at the very top of the newsletter for this purpose. 

And for the record, yes, I know, we eat a LOT of tacos. I believe that menu planning for a family is a collaborative effort. 

My goal is for this space to be a positive place where we encourage one another. Constructive criticism is welcome, rude comments are not. 

Here’s a printable to make planning your weekly menu and grocery list easier. 

• Monday – Smoked sausage and cabbage skillet 
  
• Tuesday – Chicken and Dumplings
  
  
• Wednesday – Sheet Pan Dinner for Two (Chicken, Potatoes, Broccoli) Again, I hope to get this on the site
• Thursday – Venison Stew (an experiment that will need practice)
• Friday – Fish Tacos (baked with blackening seasoning) in warmed corn tortillas, Refried Beans, Spanish Rice, Cabbage Slaw, Chipotle Sauce
• Saturday – Hoppin’ John, Cornbread, Collard Greens
  
• Sunday – Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Brown Gravy, Green Beans
  

What are you planning serving this week?

     

 

 

Heather says

This week’s organizational challenge will tie neatly into the next couple of  weeks. We’re getting started on clothing and laundry. I usually see it recommended to start by putting all of the clean laundry away. In my experience, clean laundry generally piles up because it feels like there isn’t a good place for it to go or that it’s simply too much hassle to deal with the whole . With this in mind, we’re starting with those storage areas.

Open the linen closet, cupboard, under your bathroom sink, or wherever it is you store the majority of your household’s linens. Some of you will have a bigger job than others if you use your linen closet to store first aid supplies and household cleaners. 

This week’s goal is to get this space organized. If you have towels or blankets that you no longer need, they go into your donation bin. In general, animal shelters are glad to take these items. If it’s not near you, it’d probably be a good idea to call first as wasted trips are never fun.

How many sets of sheets and blankets do you need for each bed? In general two sets is enough, but I can understand a third with small kids in the house. (Have you seen what the stomach flu can do in a night?) And if you like having flannel sheets in for cold months, I get that, too. If space is really at a premium and you could use this room for something else, consider storing your spare set of sheets under the mattress of its bed. If you choose this option, don’t fully fold the items or you’ll encounter Princess and the Pea Syndrome. 

If you have more than that and storage is at a premium, keep only your favorites.

Learn more: How Often Should We Wash Our Sheets?

Click the picture for the list of challenges

If it’s a jumbled mess in your linen closet, pull everything out, one shelf at a time. Neatly fold and put the items away. 

If you live in a humid climate, it might be a good idea to invest in a something like Damprid to keep mildew from getting out of control. Grabbing a warm blanket on a cold night is one of life’s pleasures until you get a face full of a funk.

Good luck

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

     

 

 

Hello Home Ec 101,

I love and desperately need your site! Thank you! Adulting IS hard.

I didn’t see anything in the windows section about how to clean the window muntin (mine appear to be painted with a non-slick paint) or the window frames (mine appear to be painted with some kind of slick paint).

I imagine those are not the technically proper terms for the paints used…

Can you help me know what is best to use to clean these surfaces and/or the best way(s) in which to do it, please?

Thank you so much!

Sincerely,
I Do Windows

Heather says

If adulting is hard, home ownership / maintenance is the hidden, secret bonus level everyone talks about. Sure there’s a great reward, but man it can be a pain. 

It’s absolutely okay to admit not knowing all of the technical terms for things. Most of us are just muddling through. Here, we have a basic window anatomy lesson and how to clean the tracks and sills of your windows. (Think of these as the dust and debris collecting interior bits of the window).

While it’s possible that there were different types of paint used on the muntin or the strips that divide the panes of glass in your window.  It’s also possible that these strips simply weren’t sanded as finely as the rest of the wood in the makeup of the window. This depends on a few things including the age of your home and the interior finish level of the house which was determined at the time it was built.  Obviously, if the muntin is stained and the sills are painted, different products were used.

Cleaning interior window frames and sills ranks somewhere around having my teeth scraped on the list of things Heather enjoys. Therefore remember that the more regularly you dry clean the windows the less often you’ll need to do the deep, damp clean. 

If it has been a long time since the muntin was cleaned you’re going to want to start with the soft bristle attachment of your vacuum. This will reduce the number of rags, paper towels, and q-tips you burn through. Remove as much as you can with the dry method before proceeding to the wet.

Once the dry cleaning has been performed, get a small bucket, a terry cloth rag, plain dish soap, and a microfiber towel. Add a small squirt of soap to the water and then use the damp terry cloth rag to clean the frames.  Follow up the cleaning with a wipe from the microfiber towel to prevent streaking the glass or having late drips appear.  Be especially careful if your windows have the false frames on the outside of a single pane of glass. Some professional window cleaners refuse clients who have this window design. If professionals don’t want to take on the headache, that says a lot about the hassle factor, remember this when it comes time to replace the windows.

If the corners of the individual frames are particularly grody (see I speak in technical terms, too) you may want to try a combination of baking soda and vinegar. Make a baking soda paste with a tiny bit of water, apply with a q-tip or soft bristled tooth brush, then dampen the mixture with white vinegar. The chemical reaction will lift the dirt and it can then be removed with paper towels or additional cotton swabs. 

Remember that wood absorbs water and the goal is to work quickly through the wet phase exposing the wood to as little water as possible. 

I highly recommend queuing up your favorite music or podcasts as you’re going to be busy for quite awhile. If you have a lot of windows, don’t take the whole house on at once. Work your way through one room a week, but don’t forget to regularly dust the ones you’ve already done so you can postpone the need to revisit this particular pain in the neck.

If you need help cleaning the windows themselves, that post is here.

If you need help cleaning extremely dirty windows, that post is here.

Good luck!

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

     

 

 

Disclaimer: If you’re teaching  a young child to cook, these are intended to be a good starting point, but children will still need supervision as knives are sharp and stoves are hot. Capiche?

Heather says:
♫ Let’s start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A-B-C
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi ♪

Whether you’re looking to teach your child the very basics of cooking or you barely know your way around a kitchen and are looking to change that, learning to make a grilled cheese sandwich is an excellent first step.

The secret to a good grilled cheese sandwich is to keep the heat medium low (3-ish on many electric stoves, but stoves vary and you’ll have to experiment with your setup. If your bread is dark brown after two minutes, you’ll want to lower the heat for your next one). The lower heat allows the outside of the sandwich to cook slow enough that the cheese has time to melt before the outside of the bread burns.

Make sense? Let’s go.

You’ll need the following:

Ingredients

• Bread (cheap is fine, but not so cheap that it’s full of holes that will let the cheese escape)
• Butter
• Cheese that melts (American, Havarti, Meunster, or Pepper Jack are all good starting points)

Tools

• Stove or hot plate
• Skillet or Frying Pan (anything with a flat bottom can be used in a pinch, your pan does not have to be fancy. I’ve taken to using restaurant grade aluminum that I get from a restaurant supply store. There’s no stress with these pans)
• Spatula
• Butter knife
• Plate or paper towels / napkins
• Knife – if you want to be all fancy and cut your sandwich.

Allow your butter to come to room temperature. Slice off about what you’ll need, in thin slices or pats, and set those on a plate rather than softening the whole stick. Surface to volume ratio is your friend. 

Put your pan on the burner or stove and set the heat to medium low and allow the pan to heat while you assemble your sandwich. 

Butter one side each of two pieces of bread. Pro-Tip: stick the butter sides together if you’re making more than one sandwiches so that you can lay out your cheese before cooking.

Add two slices of cheese to the unbuttered side of one slice of bread. Place the butter side down in your frying pan and let it cook for two – three minutes based on your preferences. During this time, add the second slice of bread with the butter side up.

Slide your spatula under the sandwich and use the side of the pan to help. Gently flip the sandwich so the uncooked side is now on the heat. Wait another two – three minutes and remove from the heat. 

If you want to see the photos larger, click the image below. 

Enjoy.

IMPORTANT: This is the first in a new series of Cooking Lessons on Home-Ec101.com. Mastering these simple recipes and techniques will help a cook feel confident in their abilities and get them ready to tackle more complicated endeavors.

     

 

 

Clothes can get clean with just the basic soap and water, but good laundry supplies make doing the wash much easier. There are many detergents, softeners, and accessories and we’d like to help you figure out which ones work the best for you. Following are articles answering reader’s questions and sharing tips that we have learned; just click on the title of the article you want to read more of.

Ask the Audience: Where to Find a Fine Mesh Lingerie Bag

I was hoping you could help me find some lingerie bags. I’ve been looking for the kind with a very fine mesh so the bra hooks don’t snag my other clothing. I have been looking in the usual stores and all I can find are the bags with the large holes.

Borax and washing soda and where to find it all, oh my! (updated)

I have long wished to use washing soda and borax–suggested in all sorts of green home guides for everything from dishwashers to washing
machines–but I cannot find them locally. Internet searches have been to no avail either. Do you know where I can buy them online?

Can I Use Dish Soap in the Clothes Washer?

So, uh, how bad is it if I add a little liquid dish detergent when I’m running out of laundry detergent? I swear my momma didn’t raise me this way.

Fabric Softener Debate

It’s been awhile since we had a good, rousing debate about householdy stuff.

How to Use Bleach Safely

Over the past few years, I have gotten the impression that many people are using chlorine bleach in an unsafe manner. Chlorine bleach aka sodium hypochlorite is a powerful disinfectant and is one of only a few widely available, inexpensive sanitizing agents.

How to Use Vinegar and Borax in the Laundry

You mentioned using vinegar or borax to remove detergent build-up from towels.  We have hard water in our area and I believe this could be a problem for us, even though I haven’t had a problem with odor.  I have a few questions.

Just Say No to Jugs with Method

There’s no measuring. There’s no sticky laundry cap. There’s no guessing and there’s no need to buy the ginormous jugs of laundry detergent to prevent extra trips to the store

Make your laundry detergent stretch farther

I wish I could remember where I read this tip, so I could properly credit it.

More Laundry Soap Is Not Always Better

If I have a particularly dirty load of laundry (say, woke up to find the cat had puked on the bed), does it do any good to add extra laundry detergent? In other words, does more detergent=cleaner laundry?

Quick frugal tip

about dryer sheets

Sodium percarbonate? What is it again?

Where can I get sodium percarbonate?

Sunlight as a Disinfectant for Laundry

I’ve seen a couple of posts where you’ve mentioned that sunlight is a disinfectant… I wondered if you had any idea how effective it actually is, and whether the temperature outside influences its effectiveness?

What About Soap Nuts?

Are soap nuts ok to use in my high efficiency washing machine? Since HE washers don’t agitate like standard top loading washers, I was curious if the soap nuts would be effective.

Click the picture for more tips!

Who Needs Dryer Sheets?

Method has a new line of dryer sprays and as you would expect I’m a happy person. Those of you begging me to give you an alternative to vinegar as a softener, HERE YOU GO. You can have your non-headache causing scented towels and eat it, too. As with the scented laundry detergent, I’m happy to report that I can use Method’s products headache free.

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

     

 

 

Heather says:

Before I get started on this week’s menu plan, I want to know:

What simple or “basic” recipe do you wish you’d been taught. 

I’m planning out a tutorial calendar for the year and this will help me deal with that whole paradox of choice thing that I let turn into mental paralysis. 

As always here is a printable to help you plan your meals and grocery shopping this week. 

• Monday – Sweet Potato Skillet with Kale, Bacon, and Blue Cheese
• Tuesday – Pasta e Fagioli (with the wrong shape pasta, but it’s gluten free, so there’s really only so many choices)
• Wednesday – Chopped Salad with Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Vinaigrette 
• Thursday – Chorizo Tacos, Cabbage Slaw, Refried Beans
• Friday – Tuna Cakes (kids request), Cheese Grits, Wilted Spinach
• Saturday – Clean Out Refrigerator Night (CORN)
• Sunday – Roast Chicken, Gravy, Balsamic Carrots, Rice and Peas

     

 

 

Heather says

If Home-Ec 101 were a magazine, there would be a photo gallery of entryway tables and adorable mail sorters with chalkboards to write your inspirational quotes on.

I’m not that person. If you are, I probably drool over your inspirational Pinterest pictures. 

 I’ve also lived in apartments with no foyer, just hello, welcome to the living room.

Home-Ec 101 isn’t a magazine, it’s a site written by a person who has a track record of being scattered and generally disorganized.

I have been getting better by setting myself up for success. 

When I walk in the door I hang my keys and put my purse in a specific spot. This prevents the frazzled, hectic, where is my [x] that is on top of the usual mess that is getting four kids out the door. If I’m being honest, it was hectic getting out of the door even before I had kids to blame it on.

Your mission this week:

Identify what can you do when you walk into your home that will simplify your life when you leave.

Click the picture for the list of challenges

If you have an entry table or mail sorter filled with bills, keys, and other things, clear it.

Wipe your slate clean.

Simply paying attention each time you walk in the door will reduce the stress the next time you walk out.

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

     

 

 

Dear Home Ec 101,
My husband and daughter have allergies and I am sensitive to certain scents, so when our beloved Tide began to irritate my daughter’s skin and their perfume seemed to get stronger with every bottle, we switched to a Free and Clear detergent with no dyes or scents. This has helped with the skin irritations immensely. However, now that we’ve been using it for a while, I’ve noticed our towels never smell “fresh”, even when they are straight from the dryer. It isn’t the typical musty or moldy smell you might get when leaving them in the washer too long and not truly stinky but just not nice. How can I make my towels smell better without resorting to perfumey detergents or dryer sheets?
Signed,
Breathless in Bel-Air

Heather says:

You are in luck, what you seem to be experiencing is a simple case of detergent build up.

Some of the molecules in detergent have an interesting property, part of the molecule loves water and part of it loves oil. This allows the molecules to surround tiny particles of dirt and oil and bring it into the wash water. The problem is, there has to be enough water in the washing machine to have all off these molecules in the water and not clinging to fabric. If these molecules are clinging to the towels, they aren’t getting washed down the drain. These molecules tend to trap odors.  The solution? Get rid of the excess detergent.

Gather a few of your towels at a time wash in the hottest water available with either Borax or vinegar. Vinegar lowers the pH of water, making it slightly more acidic, which can make it easier for the detergent molecules to go into solution. Borax works on the same principle, but on the basic or high pH side of things. If you use both at the same time, they tend to balance each other out and you just make some salt and waste a little money and time. Look for suds. If the water is sudsing and you didn’t add any detergent, you may have to repeat the process.

It’s very easy to get detergent build up in areas with hard water, you need to have enough detergent in the washer to surround all of the minerals in the water and enough to remove the soil, but too much and you’re back to not having fresh towels.

Make sure your towels are completely dry before they are folded and put away.

In the future use the least amount of laundry detergent possible and make sure the clothes washer is not overloaded, so the clothing can be fully rinsed. It will help reduce the chance of detergent redepositing on your towels.

Click the picture for more tips!

*Note* Apparel should not be over-dried, this causes premature wear.

Finally, pay attention to where you store your towels. If it’s under a sink or in a a small closet, dampness may be an issue. Consider a product like Damp Rid to control the humidity and use an old fashioned sachet with your favorite, non-irritating scents to add a pleasant odor. I have pretty severe allergies, myself, and I’ve found that orange peels, cloves, vanilla, or real cinnamon tend not to bother me. It’s their synthetic counterparts that set off the sneeze machine.

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com

     

 

 

Heather says

It has finally cooled off! We ran the air conditioning through Christmas, so it’s a pleasant change of pace. I hope you and yours had a lovely holiday season. We’re excited to begin working toward our goals for 2016. A big part of that is sticking to a budget and not justifying splurges every time we turn around. A menu plan helps us achieve that goal. If you’ve never tried menu planning we’ve got a great series to help you get started.  

And just for fun here’s a printable to make your weekly menu plan and grocery shopping a little easier. 

• Monday – Smoked Sausage, Collard Greens, and Northern Beans – it’s a riff on a recipe seen here.
• Tuesday – Red Curry with Shrimp
• Wednesday – Bean with Bacon Soup, Corn Bread 
• Thursday – C. O. R. N. 
• Friday – Nachos (I’ll be in Las Vegas for work, so I’m keeping it easy for everyone at home)
• Saturday – Pot Roast with Carrots and Potatoes
• Sunday – Leftovers from the Pozole (An adventure in which I learned an important lesson about carefully reading labels, especially if they are in Spanish. The meal became a rice dish to dilute the heat from the wrong kind of much more potent dried pepper).

What will you be making this week?

     

 

 

Heather says:

This week you’ll need to repurpose or buy two containers, the type of containers will depend on two things, your budget and space. Personally I like Rubbermaid style totes, if you have the room they will work for most of our projects and you can find them at any big box store. One will hold items for donation and the other to take to your county’s waste disposal. Most of the time the items you’ll be getting rid of will be clean and dry, but there may be a few weeks where this isn’t the case. 

If you are short on space heavy duty trash bags or reusable shopping bags will work. The goal is to have containers that are easily accessible.

Put the containers somewhere that makes sense for you. If you have room in the garage, great. Otherwise it may be the bottom of a rarely used closet or in a corner of the laundry room. Whatever works for your household.

Now here’s the catch, finding the two containers isn’t this week’s challenge. Since you had to get the containers ready, we’ll keep the challenge simple.

Organization Challenge #1

Take a look at your coat closet (or entry way or mudroom, if that’s where you keep your winter coats and shoes). Donate any coats that no longer fit (whether it’s due to kids getting bigger or your own changing taste). If you don’t love it and you already have a replacement, it’s time to  ♬ let it go. 

Easy enough, right? 

That’s the plan, most weeks we’ll tackle a section of the house and by this time next year, those little changes will have turned into a big one. 

Click the picture for the list of challenges

*Want to earn a little extra credit?* If you’ve got a pile of shoes in the bottom of that closet, consider some cubes to divide and conquer.  The problem with this solution is you need to make sure the other people involved actually use it. This may take coaching and guidance. Good luck!

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

     

 

 

This year we’re going to focus on getting our house in order. This concept applies to the literal and the figurative. Yes, we’re going to organize and find a place for everyone’s things, but we’re also going to work on creating and sticking to a family budget, we’re going to work hard to give back to our community, and we’re going to have fun along the way.

In this new series, Organizational Sunday, we’re going to build on the Sunday chore concept of getting ready for the coming week. A new easy organization challenge will be posted on the site every Sunday, but it won’t be in the regular newsletter. You’ll need to sign up for it below.  At the end of each month, as a reward for sticking through it, I’ll be randomly selecting one email address from the list and sending a gift.

Every Sunday we’ll post a challenge for that day or week. Some of the challenges will be focused on physically organizing your home and some will be less tangible, focusing on finances, schedules, and technology.

Organize In January

1. The Coat Closet
2. The Entryway
3. The Linen Closet
4. The Clothes Closet

Organize In February

1. Laundry Round Up
2. The Pantry / Cupboards
3. The Fridge
4. Leftover Containers

Organize In March

1. Clear Your Counters
2. The Junk or Catch-all Drawer

Let’s make it a great year together as we organize our houses!

     

 

 

Heather says:
Last year was a year of big changes and uncertainty. Ray and I knew our feelings for each other, but as people with children and co-parents who will always be actively involved, there’s more to life changing decisions than our own feelings. We began navigating the uncertain waters of “Can we make this work for everyone?”  We can and we will. 

Last night, before ringing in the New Year with a Settlers of Catan and Just Dance marathon and more bacon than common sense allows, we had our first family meeting.

*To fully understand the effort involved, please insert the groans and eye-rolls of four sugar-addled kids*

I used to think the idea of a family meeting was silly and hokey. I was wrong. For all of 2015, Ray has been referring to the six of us as a team. I’m not used to being a team player, but he’s opened my eyes. Life is more than a struggle for self-preservation and settling for good enough, we have to give back, too. To be able to do that, we have to know who we are, our goals, and how to achieve them.

We are a team of six, smart, capable people who can contribute to making this world better. We also have many allies on our side, in our friends, colleagues, and community. In 2016 we’re going to focus on getting our house in order. This concept applies to the literal and the figurative. Yes, we’re going to find a place for everyone’s things, but we’re also going to work on creating and sticking to a family budget, we’re going to make sure this site is more than an afterthought squeezed into late nights and early mornings, we’re going to work hard to give back to our community, and we’re going to have fun along the way.

Home-Ec101 will always focus on teaching life skills and in 2016 we’re going to add organization to that set. Ever since the chore chart was first posted on Home Ec in 2009, I’ve mentioned that Sunday’s chore is getting ready for the week ahead. We’re going to build on that concept and release a new series, Organizational Sunday. While it will be posted on the site every Sunday it won’t be in the regular newsletter. You’ll need to sign up for it here.  At the end of each month, as a reward for sticking through it, I’ll be randomly selecting one email address from the list and sending a gift.

January’s will be The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying-Up and will awarded via Kindle or paperback. (But Heather, you say, that book is a completely different take on organization, why would you give that away? Because there’s more than one correct approach to the same problem.)

Every Sunday we’ll be posting a challenge for that day or week. Some of the challenges will be focused on physically organizing your home and some will be less tangible, focusing on finances, schedules, and technology.

We’re excited about 2016 and all that is to come! 

     

 

 

Heather says
I’ve always found the week between Christmas and New Years to be a strange one. It’s not a holiday, I have to work, but still it’s a bit more festive and laid back than every day. 

Yet, there’s still work to do, people to feed, and another holiday to get ready for…

To make that easier we make a plan. Last plan I mentioned wanting to switch to planning from the circular. I didn’t get that far, but this week is almost all either pulled from the freezer or using up things in the refrigerator.

Thank you for sticking with us through another year. We’ve got a lot planned, and more than meals, for 2016.

Stay tuned.

• Monday – Leftover soup (I made mussels in a butter wine sauce for Christmas Eve, then remade the leftovers into a soup. Now we need to finish that off)
• Tuesday – Tacos, Refried Beans, Cabbage Slaw 
• Wednesday – Penne Bake (Meat Sauce with Ricotta and Mozzarella, baked ’til bubbly) 
• Thursday Appetizers and Snacks as we let the kids ring in the New Year
  Bacon wrapped jalapenos, sausage balls, chicken wings, blue cheese dressing and a vegetable platter
• Friday – Hoppin’ John, Cornbread, and Collard Greens
• Saturday – Kale and Cabbage Chopped Salad with Pulled Chicken – Chipotle Ranch Dressing 
• Sunday – Sausage, Bell Peppers,  Onions and Kale over Roasted Potatoes

     

 

 

This post is important enough to share yearly. The holidays are a difficult time of year, especially so if you have recently suffered a loss or are in a period of transition, like divorce.

Please remember, if you ever do feel hopeless, help is available, whether it’s through IAmAlive.org, 1-800-SUICIDE, 211, or reaching out to a friend. You and your loved ones are worth making that effort. This was originally published on August 18, 2011.

~Heather

Dear Home-Ec 101,

I am a slob. My house is a disaster area most of the time, though I’m starting to realize a lot of it is clutter. My husband hates coming home to this chaos, and while I thrive in some forms of chaos (my desk will never make sense to anyone but me) it’s even starting to get to me. We have two young children, a 2-year-old and a 5-week-old. About this time last year CPS was involved because of the mess, and it’s not an experience I want to repeat.

Do you have any advice on slob salvation?

Sincerely, 
Living in Chaos

Heather says:

• You are living in one of the busiest and most stressful parenting points of your life.
• You are sleep deprived. Your hormones are out of whack.
• You have not one, but two tiny, irrational dictators controlling your every move.
• New babies are hard. Toddlers? Hard.
• A baby and a toddler? That, my friend, is very hard.

I’ve been there twice. My kids are all just two weeks shy of two years apart. (We’re in birthday season right now, they are now 7, 5, 4 -and 16, but I wasn’t around for her earliest years). I started this site while I was pregnant with my youngest and the chaos of life after she arrived made me feel like a hypocrite.

This part is very important, more important than anything else I will tell you today.

If you are fighting this feeling of being completely overwhelmed and that feeling is winning, you MUST talk to your doctor.

He or she is there to help you and post-partum depression is serious, as is antenatal depression.

Will it make you feel better to know that my desk is a mess, too? I stay on top of the rest of the house pretty well, but my work area is a constant battle of paperwork and school books, pencils, pens, and cords.

image from freeimages.com

Today:

When you read this I want you to do a household triage. Today we’re not worried about clutter. Today we are only worried about the things that would cause child care services to be concerned. Today -and the hardest days- we are working around the clutter.

1. Feed, bathe, and dress the kids.
2. Make sure there are no dirty diapers sitting out.
3. If there are animals in the house, all of their waste must be removed immediately.
4. Take out the trash, especially any food waste that may be on the counters / coffee table.
5. Dishes.
   Empty the dishwasher, load the dishwasher. If this doesn’t take care of all the dishes, fill the sink with soapy water and soak the rest.
   If you do not have a dishwasher, rinse, scrape, and stack neatly the dirty dishes. Begin washing as you can.
6. Laundry
   Gather it in a place that makes sense. It’s ok to be behind on laundry, you just have to appear to be making the effort.

These are your mandatory things and on some days even they will feel nearly impossible.

One thing at a time, with the baby and toddler coming first and you coming in a close second. You need sleep and probably a lot more of it. The world will not end if you go to bed at 8pm for the next few weeks. You’re probably getting up at 2, 4, and 6 any how.

 TMI personal side note:

My kids were all terrible sleepers, six months after my second kid I was so sleep deprived I was hallucinating. I thought I was headed for the psych ward -and scarily was looking forward to the idea of 72 hours of peace- and called my insurance’s hotline. I sat shaking in a psych’s office dreading who knows what kind of diagnosis to be told, “You know there’s a reason they use sleep deprivation as torture.”  I’m a very light sleeper by nature and my body just conditioned itself to not fall deeply asleep. I ended up with a prescription for sleeping pills that fixed everything in less than two weeks. I can laugh now, but at the time I was utterly terrified. 

Do me a big favor and email me your mailing address. I’m going to send you a copy of my friend Tsh Oxenrider’s book Organized Simplicity and one of my book Home-Ec 101: Skills for Everyday Living between the two of us, I’m sure there’s an approach to getting out from under the weight of your clutter.

Weekly Chore List To Keep You On Track

In the meantime, do you see that yellow sticky note in the upper right hand of this post? Right click it and open the link in a new tab. That will bring you to a breakdown of the weekly chore chart.

Each day of the week has a major chore and a minor chore, if you attend to these consistently, your house will slowly become cleaner, these two chores are outside the bare minimum which includes:

• Do the dishes and sanitize food preparation areas
• Wipe down the bathroom sink and toilet
• Sweep or vacuum as needed
• Put your stuff away
• Check your schedule
  Currently you have well baby visits, well mom visits, etc. Do not miss those.

And please, listen closely when I tell you that life will get easier. At the moment your life has shrunk to pretty much what goes in and what comes out of your babies. It will expand again,
I promise. When you have a moment, where you feel good enough to really start cleaning, here’s a strategy for when you’re overwhelmed by mess.

Click the picture for more cleaning help!

I know a lot of you have been in her shoes, please share with this reader what helped get you through.

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

     

 

 

Heather says:

Over on the Home-Ec 101 Facebook fanpage someone asked:

What would be on your list of skills to know for a homemaker and adult in 2015?

This list is by no means complete:

• Prepare a meal without setting fire to the kitchen or poisoning guests. 
• Keep a living space clean.
• Encourage a guest feel to comfortable in their home. 
• Know how to behave in other people’s homes and in public. Generally we refer to this as having manners.
• Know how to balance their budget and not go into debt via inattention. Life comes with hard choices, but paying 17% interest on a Starbucks habit is stupid. 
• Make their own appointments. 
• An adult should be aware that traffic and weather affect travel and it is their responsibility to adjust accordingly. There are times when being late is unavoidable, in those cases, pick up the phone and call.
• Know how to navigate customer service respectfully. The person on the other end of the phone is human, probably didn’t cause the issue, certainly not purposefully, and doesn’t deserve abuse.
• Know that compromise is often uncomfortable, disappointments happen and sometimes you don’t get the job, the raise, or the romantic partner you thought you deserved. 
• Know how to ask for help on a personal and professional level. There are times when life is too much for one person to bear alone.

When I started first started writing this response, I was focused on specifics, how to fry an egg, how to do laundry, how to clean a toilet, etc. The more I thought about it, the more I realized the more important over arching skill is that adults should learn:

How to take stock of a situation, identify and research the problem, find potential solutions, and make / execute a plan.

Sometimes it’s simple, the toilet is clogged and you research how to plunge it. You start with the simplest potential solution – a plunger, if that doesn’t work, then maybe escalate to a basic DIY like a coat hanger, and finally you weigh the pros and cons of calling a professional or trying more advanced DIY -and possibly still calling a professional if that goes badly.

Your budget, time, and your enthusiasm all play into the chosen course of action. 

Life happens whether we’re comfortable in situations or not, sitting back and doing nothing is also a choice. In the example of the clogged toilet, if there’s no landlord to call you’re going to have to do something.

Closing the door and using the other toilet, if you have one, is an option until that one gets clogged.

And? That second toilet will get clogged when you’re sick, late for work, or have people on their way over. 

This is how simple problems snowball and people get stressed.

It’s not just active problems, it’s things like getting into the ‘there’s still room in the trashcan standoff’ with other people in your household. Who exactly wins when the bag breaks and coffee grounds go everywhere?

Becoming an adult means learning to accept the consequences of one’s choices and actions. 

Stop letting life happen and make conscious choices. 

Start small and build on it.

Take out the trash, leave a little earlier than you have to, and text a friend you’ve neglected after you arrive before you have to.

Life skill achieved, adulthood unlocked.

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

     

 

 

Dear Home-Ec 101,
I cannot remove a burned out flood light. I guess I have to break it first unless you have another suggestion.
Thanks,
Donna, in the Dark

.
Heather says

The good news is we have a couple of ideas to try before resorting to Hulk smash to remove the floodlight. Even if you have to resort to breaking the bulb to start the removal process, the most important step is to turn off the power. Turning off the power means walking to the garage or wherever your breaker box is located and turning off the power by flipping the breaker or removing the fuse. 

Cross your heart and pinky swear you’ll turn the power off at the breaker.

Houses are frequently wired incorrectly, spouses and children walk by and absentmindedly flip switches. You’ll likely be on a ladder for this chore and that’s a bad place to get that kind of shock.

Make sure your ladder is tall enough that you can stand solidly on it and still comfortably reach your lightbulb with a little leverage. This means no tiptoes with your arms stretched nearly to the max.

Falls aren’t fun.

There are two tools that may help you skip the whole bulb breaking and needle nose pliers route. This isn’t a promise though.

A strip of duct tape about 12 inches long. While it doesn’t have to be exact, you want it closer to 12 than not.

OR

A suction cup like this one. You can find these at home supply stores like Lowes or Home Depot. Check the reviews of the suction cup before purchasing, but if you plan on using it to insert bulbs as well as help with stuck bulbs make sure it has a string to release the suction.

Duct Tape Method 

If you want to go the duct tape route, apply the middle of the strip of duct tape across the diameter of the flat surface of the bulb. You will have two trailing ends, take each end and fold it back on itself, sticky side to sticky side so that you now have two not-sticky tails hanging from either side of the lightbulb.

Plant your feet firmly on the ladder and grasp the handles you’ve created as far from the bulb as you can. *DO NOT PULL DOWNWARD* 

Begin twisting counter-clockwise, not pulling down. The handles you created allow you to apply more force without applying unequal points of pressure (from your fingers’ grip on the bulb). Simple machines ftw!

Remember, pulling downward will increase the friction of the threads in the socket making the stuck bulb even harder to turn.

This may give you enough torque to remove the bulb without breaking it. Clean the socket with fine steel wool and wiping it with a cloth to remove the metal bits, to prevent the next bulb from sticking.

Do not lubricate the socket.

The suction cup method is an alternative to the duct tape method, it is not step 2.

Suction Cup Method

As you know the concept of the suction cup is centuries old, but in this case, instead of sucking water, we’ll be . . . Sorry, got carried away. 

First clean the surface of the bulb, then moisten (eew) the suction cup. These steps will ensure the suction cup can get a good seal on the bulb’s surface.

Apply the suction cup to the bulb and press firmly to push the air out of the cup and create the suction. 

Do not pull downward when twisting this increases pressure on the threads and will make it harder to remove the bulb.

Twist slowly to release the bulb. 

Just like with the duct tape handles this method more evenly distributes the force you’re applying to the bulb and should let you loosen it without breaking it.

The suction cup tool is great to have on hand if you have recessed lights where the housing is too close to the bulb to grip it properly. It’s also an economic and morally sound alternative to child labor.

If neither of these methods work, get some eye protection, break the bulb (while it’s wrapped in a towel), and follow the instructions here for removing a broken bulb from the socket. 

Good luck!

Send your household questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

     

 

 

Heather says

If you’re in the US , I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. The rest of you, I hope you had a pleasant weekend, as well. If you are like my sister and love the hustle of Black Friday, I hope you scored the deals you were looking for. Me? We enjoyed Thanksgiving at my mom’s and I binged on West Wing*. Except for some serious yardwork on Sunday it was very quiet. I think more than anything we needed a break from busy and hectic.

The gal who used to babysit my kids has really gotten into hunting this year. So much so that she filled her family’s freezer and then asked if I would like one just for processing fees. HECK YES.

I’ve never really cooked with venison much over the years, but now I’ve got 50lbs in the freezer. If you have a favorite recipe, please share it. So far the chili and tenderloin steaks have been a hit.

My goal for next week is to begin working from the circulars to better plan our meals around loss leaders. It’s taken me some time to get used to cooking wheat free, so I’ve been a lot less strict on the planning, while I’ve been making sure I have enough recipes in my repertoire to feed everyone with minimal complain.

If you cook for anyone more than yourself, it’s not possible to please everyone all the time and maintain your sanity. Sometimes, especially with a bunch of kids, dinner is dinner and you’ll eat it and like it or you won’t like it, but I won’t sweat that either. And to further clarify, I’m not saying you foods that everyone hates, just that you remember there’s only so much compromise you, as an adult, need to make in your household.  Budget, time, and tastes are the order in which to plan. If your budget is super tight, you’ll have to accommodate by spending extra time, and if you don’t have enough time to be accommodating, taste is where to make the next sacrifice. 

Do you need a printable to make planning this week’s meal a little easier? We’ve got that right here.

Here’s what’s for dinner this week:

Monday – 

Ground beef (venison) and cabbage – this dish is excellent as it’s versatile, you can use ground beef, pork, or turkey. It’s simple, one skillet, and fast. Mondays can be busy nights around here with soccer and homework.

Tuesday – 

Lentil patties, sauteed kale, balsamic glazed carrots

Wednesday – 

Chicken bog, broccoli

Thursday – 

C.O.R.N.

Clean out Refrigerator Night

Friday – 

Fish tacos with cabbage slaw, refried, beans, Spanish rice

Saturday – 

Venison Stew – recipe to come

Sunday – 

Chipotle Burrito Bowls