I love baking soda. I love it not just for baking and cooking, but also for cleaning! I use it to clean my hair in place of shampoo and I use it in my laundry. I also use it to clean hard-to-clean dishes!
That's right, baking soda is a mild abrasive. Since moving in with my hubby, we've been eating foods made with or baked with cheese. I never had so many problems washing dishes with baked-on or stuck-on cheese! In the past, I rarely cooked with cheese so this was a newly frustrating experience for me. However, ever since I started using baking soda for the hard-to-wash dishes, I have been a happy camper. For stuck on food, liberally sprinkle baking soda on it and scrub with a sponge. If a dish needs soaking, cover the dish liberally with baking soda and soak in hot water for a few hours or over night. Drain and sprinkle with more baking soda and scrub with a sponge. For baked on grease, soaking the item overnight in a heavy baking soda solution works wonders!
Did you know you can also use baking soda to unclog drains? Just pour half a cup of baking soda down the drain followed by a cup of hot vinegar. Leave for 15 to 30 minutes and then flush with lots of boiling water. I've tried this in the past and it really works!
I also use baking soda in my laundry. It's not as strong as washing soda, but in a pinch, baking soda will do just as well. Just double the amount of baking soda per amount of washing soda. I've heard you can make baking soda into washing soda, but I haven't tried it. I'm just not sure if it's worth the time and energy when I can just sprinkle in additional baking soda.
One of the things that I hear all the time is using baking soda as a deodorizer. I don't think our fridge is smelly so I never put baking soda in there. I will occasionally sprinkle some in the trash can, but I find that as a trash can deodorizer, there are better materials out there. Still, it's better than nothing. It does work wonders deodorizing carpets. Just sprinkle some on the carpet and vacuum. I used to live in a carpeted basement apartment where the floor would get damp whenever it rained too much. The carpet would start to smell after a while because it would take so long to dry in such a poorly ventilated, dark environment. The baking soda trick worked every time to rid the carpet of musty smells.
Those are the main uses I have for our baking soda. There are many more lists of uses online but what I've written above, I can say works for me because I've actually tried it. Baking soda is awesome!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
What a busy weekend!
I was quite busy this past weekend and now I'm exhausted! Unfortunately, the work week has begun and I can't relax just yet. I know today is Valentine's Day, but I made our Valentine's Day dinner yesterday since I had more time to prep and cook. Beyond the v-day preparations, I also did other things in the kitchen. I basically slaved in the kitchen all weekend.
On Saturday, I had set up my sewing machine in the kitchen and spent a good chunk of time hemming 3 pairs of my hubby's pants. They were already pinned to where they need to be shortened so I needed to measure how much to cut, finish the raw edge and blind stitch the hem. Of course, there was ironing involved in between. It was rather time consuming, but in the end, I'm glad it was done by me rather than to pay 20 bux per pant to get someone else to do it.
I also spent a good chunk of Saturday washing, prepping and blanching food to be frozen. Broccoli and cauliflower were on sale so I got two heads of each. We only eat about half a head each time, so I needed to blanch and freeze all the cauliflower and 1.5 heads of broccoli. I started doing them on Saturday, but didn't finish until Sunday.
On Sunday, I made a version of buckeye balls, which are chocolate-covered peanut butter balls. You can find the recipe here:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/bourbon-blinders/
I used oreo cookie crumbs rather than graham cracker crumbs. The result was that it was more chocolaty than peanut buttery. I think I will try it next time without the cookie crumbs at all. I'll probably leave out the alcohol as well since I can't taste it at all. My hubby has kept these in the freezer because he likes his chocolate covered peanut butter candies (like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups) in the freezer.
For our entree, I made these:
http://www.theppk.com/2010/11/doublebatch-chickpea-cutlets/
I highly recommend this recipe. It turned out delicious! I would, however, lessen the amount of soy sauce called for.next time. This is probably because I used seasoned bread crumbs rather than plain bread crumbs because I didn't have any plain bread crumbs. I'll have to keep this in mind for next time.
While the hubby worked on the mashed potatoes, I also made an easy gravy. Melt some butter, or heat up some oil in the fry pan and add some flour. Just a tablespoon or two of each, depending on how much gravy you want to make. Cook the flour for a few minutes to get the flour taste out. Then add vegetable broth and mix together. Add a little at a time to get the consistency you want. Remember that this will thicken a little more as it cools. I like to use unsalted vegetable broth, so if your gravy needs salting, add some salt or soy sauce to taste. You can also add other flavorings such as oyster sauce or BBQ sauce. Just remember not to add too much. You can always add more but you can't take away.
I had also made a batch of veggie soup out of leftover veggies, but we didn't get a chance to have some. I make a batch of leftover veggie soup almost every week now. Sometimes I'll drain the liquids for freezing and sometimes I don't. Either way, after it's cooked in the crock pot for a number of hours, I'll take my immersion blender and puree the whole thing. I don't add salt until I'm ready to blend so I can freeze the veggie stock unsalted. To make your soup creamy, you can always add milk or cream and/or a good melting cheese like finely grated parmesan.
Sorry, I didn't take pictures. The meal turned out beautifully and it was really delicious! So I had a little bit of everything for lunch today as leftovers. Yum!
On Saturday, I had set up my sewing machine in the kitchen and spent a good chunk of time hemming 3 pairs of my hubby's pants. They were already pinned to where they need to be shortened so I needed to measure how much to cut, finish the raw edge and blind stitch the hem. Of course, there was ironing involved in between. It was rather time consuming, but in the end, I'm glad it was done by me rather than to pay 20 bux per pant to get someone else to do it.
I also spent a good chunk of Saturday washing, prepping and blanching food to be frozen. Broccoli and cauliflower were on sale so I got two heads of each. We only eat about half a head each time, so I needed to blanch and freeze all the cauliflower and 1.5 heads of broccoli. I started doing them on Saturday, but didn't finish until Sunday.
On Sunday, I made a version of buckeye balls, which are chocolate-covered peanut butter balls. You can find the recipe here:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/bourbon-blinders/
I used oreo cookie crumbs rather than graham cracker crumbs. The result was that it was more chocolaty than peanut buttery. I think I will try it next time without the cookie crumbs at all. I'll probably leave out the alcohol as well since I can't taste it at all. My hubby has kept these in the freezer because he likes his chocolate covered peanut butter candies (like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups) in the freezer.
For our entree, I made these:
http://www.theppk.com/2010/11/doublebatch-chickpea-cutlets/
I highly recommend this recipe. It turned out delicious! I would, however, lessen the amount of soy sauce called for.next time. This is probably because I used seasoned bread crumbs rather than plain bread crumbs because I didn't have any plain bread crumbs. I'll have to keep this in mind for next time.
While the hubby worked on the mashed potatoes, I also made an easy gravy. Melt some butter, or heat up some oil in the fry pan and add some flour. Just a tablespoon or two of each, depending on how much gravy you want to make. Cook the flour for a few minutes to get the flour taste out. Then add vegetable broth and mix together. Add a little at a time to get the consistency you want. Remember that this will thicken a little more as it cools. I like to use unsalted vegetable broth, so if your gravy needs salting, add some salt or soy sauce to taste. You can also add other flavorings such as oyster sauce or BBQ sauce. Just remember not to add too much. You can always add more but you can't take away.
I had also made a batch of veggie soup out of leftover veggies, but we didn't get a chance to have some. I make a batch of leftover veggie soup almost every week now. Sometimes I'll drain the liquids for freezing and sometimes I don't. Either way, after it's cooked in the crock pot for a number of hours, I'll take my immersion blender and puree the whole thing. I don't add salt until I'm ready to blend so I can freeze the veggie stock unsalted. To make your soup creamy, you can always add milk or cream and/or a good melting cheese like finely grated parmesan.
Sorry, I didn't take pictures. The meal turned out beautifully and it was really delicious! So I had a little bit of everything for lunch today as leftovers. Yum!
Friday, February 4, 2011
Homemade Laundry detergent and fabric softener
Homemade laundry detergent is really easy to make! Not sure if there is a cost savings in doing this, but I like being able to, more or less, control what goes into my washing my clothes. The basic recipe I use is as follows:
1 bar of castile soap, grated
1 cup washing soda (not baking soda)
1 cup borax
Place all ingredients in a food processor and process till it's a fine powder. Let the mixture settle before opening. You do NOT want to breathe in soap particles because let me tell you, it's most unpleasant! Anyways, if you're worried about the grains being too big to dissolve in cold water, let the powder dry out for a day and process again. Put into a container and sprinkle 2 tablespoons per full load.
Once the wash goes into the rinse cycle, I add about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of white vinegar as the fabric softener. Vinegar does everything you want a fabric softener to do, except smell nice. It softens clothes, dissolves residual laundry soap and has anti-static properties. Once the clothes dry, the vinegar smell is gone.
If you're looking for a liquid laundry detergent, I believe you can place the ingredients above in a large pot add about 1 gallon of hot water. Mix until everything is melted and pour into a container. It's supposed to gel up. Use about 1/2 cup per full load.
You can find other laundry recipes here:
http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/
and an FAQ on homemade detergent here:
http://tipnut.com/homemade-laundry-detergent/
I don't have a dryer so I air-dry all my clothes on racks. Applying heat to your clothes makes them wear out faster. It also can shrink your clothes in some cases. That is not to say I wouldn't want a dryer. It's difficult to dry queen-sized bedsheets on racks because you can't dry anything else while the bed sheets are taking up all the space. At the very least, I would dry large items in the dryer. In any case, I don't have one right now so I do the best I can without one.
1 bar of castile soap, grated
1 cup washing soda (not baking soda)
1 cup borax
Place all ingredients in a food processor and process till it's a fine powder. Let the mixture settle before opening. You do NOT want to breathe in soap particles because let me tell you, it's most unpleasant! Anyways, if you're worried about the grains being too big to dissolve in cold water, let the powder dry out for a day and process again. Put into a container and sprinkle 2 tablespoons per full load.
Once the wash goes into the rinse cycle, I add about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of white vinegar as the fabric softener. Vinegar does everything you want a fabric softener to do, except smell nice. It softens clothes, dissolves residual laundry soap and has anti-static properties. Once the clothes dry, the vinegar smell is gone.
If you're looking for a liquid laundry detergent, I believe you can place the ingredients above in a large pot add about 1 gallon of hot water. Mix until everything is melted and pour into a container. It's supposed to gel up. Use about 1/2 cup per full load.
You can find other laundry recipes here:
http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/
and an FAQ on homemade detergent here:
http://tipnut.com/homemade-laundry-detergent/
I don't have a dryer so I air-dry all my clothes on racks. Applying heat to your clothes makes them wear out faster. It also can shrink your clothes in some cases. That is not to say I wouldn't want a dryer. It's difficult to dry queen-sized bedsheets on racks because you can't dry anything else while the bed sheets are taking up all the space. At the very least, I would dry large items in the dryer. In any case, I don't have one right now so I do the best I can without one.
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