Getting the smell out of things and places depends on one of the following types of things to use: chlorine bleach, baking soda, vinegar, or vanilla.
In the kitchen:
DEGLAZING:
Dying eggs for Easter.
SIMPLE CHEESECAKE TOPPING:
* I boil the chopped onion and celery for the stuffing in chicken stock with a couple of bay leaves tossed in. You can use canned or fresh. I retain the vegetable/chicken stock and cool and put into the refrigerator. All the fat rises to the top and hardens. Remove it. This will be the liquid base of the gravy.
There are a couple of other tricks but these are important products to keep around the house.
microwave: Place a bowl with 1/2 cup of water and a tablespoon of white vinegar. Turn the microwave on for 2 minutes.
dishwasher:
Toss a handful of baking soda in the bottom of the dishwasher in between washings. you can also put some in there before you go to bed and let it stay overnight.
garbage can:
Sprinkle 1/2 cup of borax in the bottom of a large can. A dryer sheet in the bottom of your kitchen trash can or in the bathroom trash can.
garbage disposers:
Baking soda. Let sit for 1/2 hour to 1 hour before you let water run through it. Any time you use lemons or oranges grind those rinds up. You might want to make sure you remove the seeds. Some machines are sensitive to seeds.
refrigerators:
The best way to not have smells is to not create them in the first place. But, we all have problems with this every once in awhile.
An open box of baking soda in both the frig and freezer really helps.
You can also wipe down the walls with a strong solution of white vinegar and water.
Place a shallow bowl of organic activated charcoal on a shelf for a few days. It can be found at an aquarium supply store. (I have used regular charcoal, in a pinch).
You can also dampen a handful of cotton balls with vanilla extract. Place in a bowl in the frig on the middle shelf until the smell goes away.
Lining the vegetable bins with paper towels helps to keep down mildew and growing smells. Then when you are ready to clean out the frig., just toss the old paper towels, wipe clean and put clean paper towels in the drawers. This also helps absorb moisture from and fruits and veggies.
Humidifiers:
Place 1 tablespoon of chlorine bleach to a pint of water. Rinse real well.
Plastic containers:
Sponge with tomato juice then wash thoroughly. You can also wad of a sheet of newspaper and put inside for a couple of days.I just did this, this past week as i had a container with a pickle smell in it. It worked GREAT.
Onion hands:
1 tablespoon of white vinegar in a cup of water. (This can be drying to your hands.)Or cut a celery stalk and rub the ends over hands. Or just wash your hands with a good strong soap and warm water>
garlic hands:
When you are finished peeling and chopping yor garlic, run hands under warm water and then rub them across your (stainless steel* sink. It really does work.
Car odors:
Handful of cotton balls soaked with vanilla in a shallow bowl in a closed car overnight. Or just buy yourself one of those hanging fragrance thingys and hang on your rear view mirror. (heehee)
Once the meat is cooked, you can make all sorts of sauces, some quite elaborate. But a quick pan sauce is very easy and you can be as imaginative as you like.
1) Remove the meat from the pan when it is done, and put on a plate to rest. Cover loosely with foil. The meat will give off some juices that you will want to add back to the sauce at the end.
2) Deglaze the pan with liquid. Deglaze merely means to add liquid to the hot pan, and scrape the bottom of the pan with a spoon to get the bits absorbed into the liquid. This will happen almost immediately.
3) Reduce, or boil off half of the liquid, still keeping the pan at high heat. This does not have to be precise; you can > eyeball the amount. This will only take a few minutes.
4) Add any herbs, spices, or flavorings.
Add back the meat juices that accumulated on the plate, and spoon the sauce over the meat.
The fun of pan sauces is the variety of flavors you can use. The liquid added for deglazing can be stock, juice, or wine. Try half chicken stock and half dry vermouth for the bird. Apple juice, for example, goes very well with pork. Measure ments are not strict.
Chopped shallots or garlic are great. Taste for salt and pepper. Mustard, vinegar, honey, chilies, capers, oriental flavorings, olives, liqueurs, etc. are good, too.
One cup of liquid added before reducing will generally produce 2 Tablespoons of sauce per serving - just right for 4 people.
All pan sauces are also improved with some fat whisked in at the end, such as butter, cream, or olive oil.
For those of you on a strict low fat diet, pureed vegetables can be substituted.
Eggs you buy in the grocery store usually have a fine coating of oil on them to make them look glossy and help preserve them. However, this coating also prevents the shells from taking dye to their fullest extent.
To remove the coating, gently wash your eggs in warm water and dish soap before dyeing them, and you'll have the most brilliantly hued Easter treasures you've ever laid eyes on! If you're using the eggs in a hunt, don't leave the eggs out of refrigeration for more than two hours.
To be completely safe, fill plastic eggs with candy and toys and hide those instead.
For a simple topping on a piece of cheesecake, I melt a small amount of raspberry jam in the microwave and pour it over the cake. It makes a delicious treat. You can also use Apricot, Strawberry, Peanut Butter. What ever flavor your in the mood for.
2. FASTER MUFFINS:
When making muffins, mix your ingredients in a large pitcher. You'll be able to pour the batter into the muffin tins easily and with less mess. This also works when making cupcakes.
3. NO-MESS REPAIRS:
When drilling a hole in the wall, tape a plastic bag to the wall under the spot where the work's being done. It'll catch dust. (I haven't tried this one yet.)
4. SAFER IRONING:
When ironing a shirt with decorative buttons, protect them by holding an inverted metal spoon over them as you iron.
5. NEATER KITCHEN:
Avoid tangling kitchen tongs with other utensils by inserting the tongs into an empty paper towel tube.
6. PAINTING SHORTCUT:
If a painting project is going to take more than a day and you're using latex paint, you don't have to clean the brush every day until the job is done. Instead, place the brush in an airtight zipper bag and put it in the freezer...it'll be ready for work the next day.
7. NONSTICK TRICK: Keep nonstick cookware scratch-free when storing by inserting paper plates, (the real cheap flimsy ones) between each piece.
8. EASIER FILING:
Make sorting or filing papers easier by using a homemade finger grip. Just cut off a fingertip from an old rubber glove and slip it over your index finger while you're sorting.
9. PAIN-FREE SPLINTER:
Before removing a splinter, numb the area with baby's teething gel. You'll be able to get it out with little or no pain.
1. Apply bleach with a cotton ball, to the bite. It takes the itch away. Also, works on ant bites.
I do quite a bit of gardening and when I forget to put something on to keep the mosquitos away, the above hint works very well!
2. Rub baby oil on any bare skin, the mosquitos won't bite. If you add a little vanilla flavoring to the baby oil, they won't even come near you.
3. Take a *BREWERS YEAST* tablet, once a day in the summer. this helps to change the chemical make up of your blood. (They don't like that) You can also give you cat 1 tablet a day and your dog 2 tablets a day. Keeps those pesky critters away from them also. This also helps to keep *ticks* away as well.
This works good if you can get your pets to take the *Brewers Yeast*. I break them up and mix them in their food. Or you can get the *Brewers Yeast* in granulated form. Good Luck
1. Mix 2 gallons of water, 2 cups of bleach and 1 cup powdered dishwashing detergent, to clean your deck. Use rubber gloves and a really good stiff brush. Rinse well with your garden hose.
2. Got paint on your hands? Instead of paint remover, dab a little cooking oil on your hands and rub it around. It should peel right off with out irratating.
3. To help whiten socks when laundering, add 1/2 cup baking soda to your wash.
4. To rid your car trunk of damp musty odors, place some kitty litter deodorizer in a coffee can and wedge behind the spare tire.
5. Kitty litter or baking soda is also good in the bottom of your car ash tray, to keep odor away.
6. Unstick a door lock by rubbing the edges of the key with a point of a pencil.
7. To make short work of watering your indoor plants when your in a hurry, simply add 3 to 4 ice cubes to the pot, depending on the size of the pot. When the ice melts, the water is absorbed into the dirt.
8. Need to clean those metal or mini blinds? Lay an old shower curtain or a drop cloth on the lawn, lay the blind down and spray with cleaner and then hose it off with the garden hose.
9. Did you cut your flowers to short for the vase you want to put them in? Then slip the ends of the stems in drinking straws and arrange away. Make sure you have plenty of greenery to hide the straws.
10. To keep your kids or your shoe laces from coming untied durning the day, simply dampen the laces with water before you tie them. ( I said dampen, not soak ..lol)
11. For dust free, ceiling fan blades all summer, put a coat of floor polish on each blade.
1. To keep (fresh, not frozen) french fries from clumping together or sticking to the bottom of your pan, soak the fresh cut potatoes in cold water for 5 minutes. Remove and pat dry with paper towels. This removes the starch that makes them stick together.
2. To keep celery fresher, longer, wrap in foil before storing in the refrigerator drawer.
3. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of your ice cream, before closing the lid. This keeps ice crystals from getting into your ice cream.
4. Pour the juice or syrup from canned fruit into the NEW small size Ziploc containers, or small Tupperware containers, or even into an unused ice cube tray. It makes a natural fruit flavored icee for you or the kids. And it's so refreshing.
5. Have too many fresh herbs left over from your garden? No time to get them ready to dry. Then chop them up, place in an ice cube tray, add water and freeze. Once frozen, drop them into a labeled freezer bag and store in the freezer. When making soups, stews, sauces or what ever, just drop the cube in & you have you herbs to flavor.
6. Hate it when your hamburgers dry out while frying? Then add a small chip of ice to the center as you are forming the burgers. The melting ice will add moisture back to the burgers.
7. To get a new bottle of ketchup started, insert a drinking straw into the bottle, push all the way to the bottom and then remove.
8. Small hands sometimes have a hard time gripping a drinking glass. So, put a rubber band around the glass, it sure helps little hands to hold on easier.
9. An easy and quick way to frost cupcakes. About 2 minutes before removing the cupcakes from the oven, put a marshmellow on the center top of each cupcake.
10. Do not wash strawberries until ready to use. Store them in a colander in your refrigerator for up to 5 days, depending on how ripe they were when you bought them.
11. To keep those cookies from drying out in the cookie jar, simply put a slice of bread in there with the cookies. When the bread dries out, just remove it and replace with another slice. If the cookies last that long!
12. To freshen your microwave, put a Tbls. of lemon juice in a cup of water (microwave safe cup) and heat on HIGH for 1 to 2 minutes.
13. When making iced tea, make a little extra and pour into ice cube trays. Use the *tea* cubes, instead of regular ice cubes. No more watered down tea.
14. Want bigger *ice cubes* for the pitcher of iced tea or lemonade? Freeze extra tea or lemonade in a muffin tin, viola BIGGER cubes that won't water your drinks down.
* I make my gravy in a saucepan not in the roasting pan. If you are a dedicated roasting pan fan... no problem.
* I pour the drippings into a big measuring cup so that the fat can go to the top. You want a little fat but not a whole lot. A time saving tip is to put a couple of ice cubes into the drippings to separate the fat fast. Ice cubes won't hurt the gravy.
* If I've got tasty crumbles in the pan, I deglaze. After you've empitied the roaster, turn the heat up. Once the pan is hot, stir in a litte white wine or water and scrape off all the good tasting bits. Add this to the saucepan for the gravy.
* In a cup or a bowl mix several tablespoons of flour with 1/2 C of the stock, COLD from the refrigerator. Use the whisk and make sure this mixture is absolutely smooooooth. Very important! This is the trick to lump-free gravy.
Put the drippings and whatever amount of fat you want... zero to 1/2 c depending on how much gravy you are making and how rich you want it. I add the remaining stock to the drip- pings and bring to a good solid simmer. In a nice thin even stream, add the cold flour/stock mixture to the pan. Use that whisk in a nice motion...too fast and it will encourage the starch molecules so break down too fast. Remember that it's going to take until the flour mixture is fully heated and the granules pop for the thickening to happen. Here's the way you can control the thickness of the gravy... if it's to thin, have a standby of additional flour and cold water or white wine mixture...too thick, add white wine or water or stock.
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