Heather Solos's Blog, page 29

Organizational Sunday Challenge #6 Into the Pantry (or Cupboards) We Go

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 the linked 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. 

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.

 

 

 

The post Organizational Sunday Challenge #6 Into the Pantry (or Cupboards) We Go appeared first on Home Ec 101.

                

Help! The Bedroom Smells Like Broccoli or When Your Neighbor’s Cooking Gets Obnoxious

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 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

The post Help! The Bedroom Smells Like Broccoli or When Your Neighbor’s Cooking Gets Obnoxious appeared first on Home Ec 101.

               
Commentsomg rotten potato. surprisingly putrid. by Karen LWhile that's bad, I think “escaped rotten potato” is top of ... by Heather SolosWorst.Smell.Ever. I once couldn't figure out why my house ... by Martha  

Menu Monday Week #5 2016

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 

The post Menu Monday Week #5 2016 appeared first on Home Ec 101.

                

Organizational Challenge Week #5 – The Great Laundry Round Up

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.

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.  

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. 

The post Organizational Challenge Week #5 – The Great Laundry Round Up appeared first on Home Ec 101.

                

Menu Monday Week 4 2016

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!

                

Organizational Week 4

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.

 

 

 

 

                

Smoked Sausage and Cabbage Skillet – A Basic Cooking Lesson

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.)

Simple Sausage Skillet 2016-01-19 06:42:04 Serves 6






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Prep Time
10 min

Cook Time
40 min

Prep Time
10 min

Cook Time
40 min
Ingredients 1 lb smoked sausage 1 sweet onion, sliced 3 carrots, grated 2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 small heads of cabbage, roughly chopped 3 - 4 large handfuls of kale
Instructions Place the skillet or large Dutch oven over medium low heat (3 - 4) on an electric stove. Slice the sausage into coins and add to the pan. While the sausage cooks prepare all of the other vegetables, stirring occasionally, when the sausage reaches your desired level of doneness (I prefer the sausage fairly brown) Add the onions and stir occasionally until they begin to soften. If you aren't a huge garlic fan, add it now or hold off a bit if you are. Add the carrots, stir occasionally until they start to soften. Add the garlic, now if you didn't earlier. Add the cabbage, stir, and cover and cook until tender. Add the kale, stir, and cook until it turns bright green. You want the kale to retain its texture to contrast with the softer, cooked cabbage. Serve and enjoy
Home Ec 101 http://www.home-ec101.com/

                

Menu Monday Week 3 2016

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 (We eat this so frequently that it’s my hope to get a good photograph of it this week)
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?

 

               
Commentshttp://www.home-ec101.com/meal-planning-a-primer-pt-1/ by Karen LThat's pretty funny. The kale salad we have every Saturday is ... by Karen LThere's a restaurant here that has a kale salad they call the ... by Heather SolosSunday – CORN Monday – pork tenderloin, mushroom gravy, ... by Karen LYou know you're always welcome. I just know that we're a little ... by Heather SolosI'm coming to your house for dinner! by Michael Carnell  

Organizational Sunday Week #3

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.

                

Cleaning Interior Windows, Sills, Frames, and Muntins

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.