Friday Funny: My Onions Are Shrinking!

We have one more day of vacation. After 8 hours on the road, we've stopped for the night in Charlotte, NC. I thought I'd share a little humor in this, my final "post from the road".



There is no shortage of garlic in our household. If you're interested in reading about some of the benefits of garlic, check out my Savory Shredded Pork post. Go ahead and scroll through the "rant" section, and eventually you'll hit the nutritional info. Or check out "extreme garlic usage" with this Garlic Herb Roasted Chicken recipe.

So, we're garlic enthusiasts. My one year old actually breaks into the pantry and enjoys chewing garlic cloves. That is some bad baby breath, people!

A couple of weeks ago, my four year old threw open the pantry door, no doubt to look for a snack, and caught sight of a garlic bulb. I heard her say in a hushed tone, with disbelief in her voice, "Oh. My. Gosh!"

I kept unloading the dishwasher, wondering what had shocked her.

Then she yelled across the kitchen, "Mom! Your onions are shrinking! YOUR ONIONS ARE SHRINKING! Come look!"

Cookbooks

Here it is....another post from sunny Florida. We set out on the 16+ hour drive home tomorrow morning. Let's hope it goes as smoothly as the trip down. While I'm singing the fifth verse of "the wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round" and dispensing granola bars from the front seat to keep the kiddos happy, you can check out my cookbook selection.

These are my cookbooks and cooking magazines and recipe files. The files are full of recipes that I tear out of magazines or copy from a friend or print from the Internet. When I get a magazine, I tear out decorating ideas, party ideas, and all of the recipes that I want to try. I file these torn-out pages in labelled folders. Then, I get rid of the rest of the magazine after I read it. I've you are a regular reader you might have gathered that I'm not big on clutter. I keep all of my cookbooks, magazines, and files on a shelf above the stove. Interestingly, I've never ever purchased a cookbook. These are all gifts or hand-me-downs. Most of them from my wedding showers. So, I've been cooking out of the same books for 6 or more years. It's getting a little boring. I'm ready for some fresh inspiration.


Here is where I keep my favorite recipes. It's a little recipe notebook that I picked up at a Kroger a few years back. I know there are all kinds of wonderful computer recipe programs out there, but there's something about having all of my most favorite recipes, written in my handwriting, in a handy notebook. For me, it's kind of like keeping a diary. If there was a fire and I could only grab five things on the way out (beyond my family, of course) this would be one of them. My recipes. Love them.






You can see, it's not the most organized notebook. Here are some new favorites that I need to copy into my notebook. They hang out behind the front and back covers.


Here's a question: What are your favorite cookbooks? What's a "must have" cookbook? I may just consider purchasing one for my very own. It's time.

Also, how do you keep your recipes? Filed on your PC? On cards in a box? Please, feel free to share!

Spring Cleaning Assignment: The Refrigerator and Microwave

Here it is...my second post "from the road". After surviving three days in Orlando. Yes, I said "surviving". I have made it to the East coast of Florida. Disney World is beautiful and magical and fun, but it is anything but relaxing to navigate two small children though the throngs of Spring Breakers in the Magic Kingdom. So, here I sit on the lanai(I've never actually typed that word before, but according to all of those Golden Girls re-runs, that's exactly where I'm sitting). I'm watching the sun set through the palm trees as I prepare to hit "Publish" on this post. This afternoon we visited the National Seashore. Gorgeous. It's been three years since I saw the ocean. Far too long. The farthest thing from my mind today: Spring cleaning! However, I typed these posts before I left for vacation and this one is up. So here you go...

Because this blog revolves around the happenings in my kitchen, I'll share what I do in there about twice a year and whenever it's needed in between. I promise to start sharing recipes again as soon as I get home and unpacked! So, Spring cleaning. I take everything out of my drawers, cupboards, and pantry. While everything is out, I wipe down the drawers and cupboards (inside and out) and then put everything back in an organized fashion. This is a great time to throw away expired goods from the pantry. I also clean behind and under the appliances and wipe down base boards. Haven't cleaned your coffee maker in a bit? This is a good time for that too. Take it apart as best you can and clean that baby!

In the rest of this post, I'll walk you through how I clean my fridge and microwave. These aren't just Spring cleaning tasks in my house, however if you've got Spring cleaning on the brain and a sticky substance hanging out on the shelves of your refrigerator or pizza grease on the ceiling of your microwave, then this is as good a time as any. Consider it a friendly reminder from yours truly. : )

I clean my refrigerator on this loosely based schedule:

1) Before every trip to the grocery, I go through the fridge and pitch any expired goods and leftovers that have been in there for more than 3 days. If I'm purchasing more of any item that is still in my fridge like yogurt,eggs, milk, or cheese, I move the existing products to the front. When I return home with my groceries I put the new version of these products behind the existing ones. This is the FIFO principle. First In, First Out. I wipe up any crumbs, stickies, or film left on the shelves.

2) Clean up spills as they happen.

3) Every other month, I take everything out and really clean the whole thing. Hey, you probably clean your toilet every week, and you don't eat out of that, right? If I think about it that way, every other month really isn't asking much.

Step #3 brings me to this step-by-step refrigerator cleaning tutorial. No one loves to do this. I know, it's a pain. We're all busy. Who wants to take the time to stop and clean the fridge? But I promise, this won't take more than an hour of your valuable time.

So first, you have to take everything out of your refrigerator.


I mean EVERYTHING.


I keep a trash bag handy to throw all of the expired items away.


Once the fridge is empty take out every part that you can pull out. All of the shelves and drawers, if possible. Wash them with hot soapy water and dry.





Wipe down the whole inside of the refrigerator; any shelves that don't come out, the sides, and especially the bottom.


Looks good, right?

But wait...we're not finished yet. You've got to clean out the door too. Take everything out of the door.


Even the shelves, if possible.


Now you're ready to put everything back. Here are some tips from www.helpwithcooking.com for organizing your food on the shelves of your refrigerator.

*Keep similar foods together on the same shelf, so you know where to look for them.
Store small items, yogurt, butter, cheese, dips, small desserts and snacks at eye level.

*Place any cooked foods and leftover dishes above raw meat, poultry or seafood.

*Store all raw meat, poultry, fish and seafood products on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Leave these products in their original packaging and also place inside a plastic bag to prevent any leaking juices dripping on other foods.

*Store fruit and vegetables separately. Vegetables should be stored in the warmest part of the refrigerator (bottom drawers), as they require a storage temperature of about 50°F.

*Do not store eggs in the egg trays on the inside of the refrigerator door. The temperature here is higher than other parts of the fridge and fluctuates with frequent door opening. Keep eggs in their original carton and place near the top of the fridge.

*Store fruit drinks, bottled drinks, products in jars, sauces, condiments and generally products with a longer shelf life on the shelves and in the compartments on the inside of the refrigerator door.

*Make sure that all bottles and jars are closed and that all opened products are tightly wrapped in cling film or aluminum foil in order to prevent the food from drying out, spoiling or passing on odors to other foods.

In case you're wondering the best temperature setting for your refrigerator: it's between 35 and 38 degrees Farenheit. The "Danger Zone"(The temperature range in which foodborne bacteria can grow) is between 40 and 140 degrees Farenheit. Of course, if you set the temperature of your refrigerator lower than 32 degrees, your food will freeze. So, shoot for between 35 and 38 degrees.



See, doesn't that feel better? Clean fridge. Love it.

Microwave Cleaning

Since our cleaning juices are flowing and we're already standing in the kitchen with pruney hands, let tackle the microwave.

My first step is to clear the clutter off of the top. Mine seems to collect cookbooks, recipes, and meal planning notes.



Now, I take out the revolving tray.




Wash it in the sink.


I always clean my microwave according to the Big Book of Hints from Heloise. This 842 page book covers everything from microwave cleaning to camping with children. I received it as a graduation gift. Let me tell ya, it's the gift that keeps on giving. Need to exterminate weevils? Consult Heloise. Have a funky odor in your garbage disposal? Just check with Heloise. She's got the answer! I have to say that the microwave cleaning method is both easy and effective. All you need are two tablespoons of lemon juice or baking soda and a cup of water. Mix them in a microwave safe 4 cup bowl. Now, let the mixture boil in the microwave for about 5 minutes so that the steam condenses on the walls.


Any "nastyness" will easily wipe away now. No scrubbing required!


Ah...clean, clean, clean!


So what do you all do for Spring cleaning? Any tips?

Recycling: Getting Started

We have made it to Georgia! The trip has been a breeze so far! We're staying with our good friends and old neighbors for the night. My neighbor Molly is the person that inspired me to start recycling. So, in honor of our visit and my recycling idol Molly, I'm posting this "from the road" today.

I confess, I just started recycling a couple of months ago. Before that, I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to be doing and to be honest, I didn't want to bother. There was a different pick up day for recycling where we lived before. It's a big enough hassle to remember to drag my trash to the curb once a week, but twice? Forget it. It all seemed a little too inconvenient, for lack of a better word. Then, quickly after we moved here, I started noticing the little blue bags opposite the trash cans at the end of my neighbor's driveways on trash day. And I couldn't miss the blue tubs left by our land lady in the garage.


I decided to do some investigating. It turns out that my new town allows co-mingled collections. That means that all types of recyclables can be grouped together and put out. No need to sort glass from plastic, from paper, from metals. That's pretty simple. And here trash and recycling day are the same. However, now that I've got the hang of it, I'd take my recycling out on a different day if I needed to.

If you're like me, you might wonder, "How do they sort all of this stuff out?" I had visions of the poor little man down at the city dump going through each little blue bag. Glass in this pile...plastic over here... Talk about awful jobs. Of course, in this day and age, a job is a job. I know, I have quite an imagination. Then I found this awesome video on recyclebank.com. It shows just how single stream recycling works and how the materials are all separated out and recycled accordingly. I'm serious, it was super cool to watch. My four year old was fascinated. We had to watch a few times. Please, check it out! Just click here.

If you're already recycling or ready to get started, here are a couple of tips:

1. Wash and squash!
Rinse out recyclable containers. Don't go crazy here. Don't run them through your dishwasher (that wastes water and energy) rather, just rinse them out. Squash cardboard boxes and crush cans and plastic containers if possible. You can fit more recyclables in your containers this way.

2. Remove labels and lids.
Especially the lids from plastic jugs and bottles. Plastic caps are often made from a different polymer type, and therefore have a different a melting point when compared to the plastic used for the bottle itself. Too many lids will contaminate the load, so remove and throw away plastic caps where possible.

3.Paper tip: no paper clips
Also remove staples and plastic windows on envelopes from paper. Paper fibers cannot be recycled if they are contaminated with food. Throw out greasy wrappers or better yet, put them in your compost pile. Tear out contaminated portions like a greasy pizza box lid and recycle the clean remainder.

Here are a couple of our milk jugs, rinsed with the cap removed.


I've made it convenient to dispose of our recyclables. I put the covered recycling bin just outside of the sliding kitchen door. After I eat a container of yogurt or empty a cereal box, it goes out the door and into the bin. Easy!

Some communities specify the type of plastic that they will take. Like I said, I'm new to this, so I did a little research to find out what those numbers printed inside of triangles on the bottom of my plastics represented. Here's what I found:

1 Polyethylene terephthalate - Fizzy drink bottles and oven-ready meal trays.

2 High-density polyethylene - Bottles for milk and washing-up liquids.

3 Polyvinyl chloride - Food trays, cling film, bottles for squash, mineral water and shampoo

4 Low density polyethylene - Carrier bags and bin liners.

5 Polypropylene - Margarine tubs, microwaveable meal trays.

6 Polystyrene - Yoghurt pots, foam meat or fish trays, hamburger boxes and egg cartons, vending cups, plastic cutlery, protective packaging for electronic goods and toys.

7 Other
Any other plastics that do not fall into any of the above categories. An example is melamine, which is often used in plastic plates and cups.

To find out what types of plastic recyclables are accepted in your community, you can do what I did, Google "recycling in _________". Insert the name of your town or city in the blank. Or you can directly contact your local waste management facility.


Here are some reasons to recycle from buzzle.com:

1. Recycling Saves Energy
When new products are manufactured from the raw material obtained from recycled products, it saves a lot of energy which is consumed for the production. When new products are manufactured from ‘virgin materials’, the amount of energy consumed is much higher. Besides, the energy required to acquire and transport the ‘virgin’ raw materials from their origins or natural sources is also saved. Add to that the energy which is required to clean and protect the environment from the pollutant waste products, especially those which are non-biodegradable (plastic) and fill up the landfill areas.

2. Recycling Saves Environmental Conditions and Reduces Pollution
Recycling helps in preventing global climate change to a great extent. By minimizing the energy spent on industrial production, recycling also helps in reducing greenhouse gas emission. Some of the major fossil fuels used in most industries include coal, diesel, gasoline etc. All these emit harmful gases such as methane, sulfur dioxide, carbon-dioxide to the environment. The processing of fresh raw material also creates toxic materials which pollute the environment. By reducing the energy used, recycling also minimizes the amount of fuel usage which in turn reduces the amount of harmful pollutants in the environment.

3.Recycling Saves Natural Resources
We know that recycling involves the processing and usage of the core elements of an old product for the production of new products. This helps in saving our natural resources to a great extent. For example, once an old newspaper is recycled we do not need to use the resource of another tree to produce new paper products. This way, proper recycling can help us preserve our natural resources for our future generations and maintain the balance of the nature.

4.Economic Benefits
Similar to energy and natural resource, recycling also helps in saving a lot of expense, demanded for the production of new products from ‘virgin’ materials. These expenses include the entire production cycle starting from acquiring the raw materials, transferring them from their origin to production places, processing and manufacturing costs.

5.Recycling process creates employment opportunities for a lot of people, involved in the various stages of the process. This in turn contributes to the economic development of the state or country.

6. Recycling Saves Space for Waste Disposal
Most of the landfill sites are filled up with a lot of waste products that could have been recycled effectively. Some of these waste materials belong to non-biodegradable category which takes a long time to decompose. Recycling enables proper usage of these waste products and saves space for landfills. The pace with which landfills are getting filled up, soon we might run short of landfills unless we start following recycling at our own home and spread the word to others.


Not convinced yet? Follow this link to more surprising recycling facts like this one:

The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.

That one hits home...especially after paying huge gas bills all winter!

Alrighty, end of my infomercial for recycling. I promise I'm not "crazy recycling lady". Although, if you are, more power to you! Sometimes I still forget and everything goes into our waste basket. Just thought I'd share some of my findings. At least I feel that the little bit that we're doing in our home is helping. And if everyone did just a little bit...
Anyway, I hope all of you can find a way to do a little bit too.

There and Back

We're pulling out early in the morning. I've been packing like crazy today. No small task. One child likes to take everything out of the suitcase the minute I turn my back and the other likes to pack what she thinks we will really need. I was constantly taking things out (Barbie Dream House furniture) and putting things back in (the pile of now un-folded shorts and tee shirts) While I'm on vacation, I thought that I'd introduce you to a couple of my favorite things.

Here's what's we'll have with us on the way there:


These are the bees knees of graham crackers as far as I'm concerned. I just stumbled on them about a month ago when I had a coupon. Boy, am I glad that I did. The kids love em'. I love em'. They are yummy! There are real chunks of banana in these. At first it threw me off a little. What are those chewy bits? I wondered. Then I realized that they were actually little pieces of banana and I embraced them. Warning: they are addicting!

And here's something that I'll be bring back, Seven Keys Coconut Toast Spread:



When I was growing up, my great-grandparents worked in an orange grove down in Florida while spending their winters there. They were just too active to really retire, I guess. We'd trek down every Spring to see them and visit the orange grove. Have you ever smelled orange blossoms? I can't be grouchy with the smell of orange blossom in the air. I smile just thinking about it. Anyhow, they sold this fabulous toast topping in the gift shop at the grove. I think that it tastes heavenly. I love it on my bagels or toast or... if no one is looking...warmed up a little and straight from the jar. I should point out that this product did get mixed reviews in my house. My 4 year old informed me, "That tastes like sunblock!" She probably associated the coconut taste with the smell of suntan lotion. Oh well. I still love it.