2 Ingredient Houshold Cleaning Solution Works!

Nice clean drip pans were the result of this almost effortless test.

 

 

Recently I read of mixing 2 common ingredients and cleaning inside oven doors with it.  Having noticed my toaster oven door wanting I tried it as well as "painting" the drip pans and burner caps of my gas range.  Both came out well!

Ingredients for Cleaning Solution:

baking soda
water

These are the painted dirty drip pan as I waited 30 minutes.

Mix together to a paste like consistency still loose enough to apply with a brush.  Paint surfaces to be cleaned and wait 30 minutes before cleaning off with a wet cloth or sponge. 

Soiled toaster oven door painted with baking soda and water paste.

Clean as a whistle as I wipe the grime away with a wet sponge,  Who knew?

This worked great on the inside glass of the toaster oven and good on the drip pans.  I did use a little steel wool on a few scorched places on the burner caps but it came off very easily.  For the most part just a couple of wipes with a wet sponge after waiting 30 minutes, netted clean lovely results in an easy, non caustic manner.  I was very pleased with these results.

Restoring a Vintage Cast Iron Roasting Pan

Vintage 12" x 19" cast iron roasting pan after scrubbing and drying.

Last night my husband brought home quite a lovely surprise compliments of our good friends the Linton's.  It seems Mike discovered a bit of treasure he thought I might appreciate and indeed I do!  I have a better than average collection of cast iron cook wear but had never seen a cast iron roasting pan, and it is a dandy!  Measuring 12" x 19" and 3 1/4" deep.  I can see 2-3 hens sitting pretty atop a bed of root vegetables, a beautiful ham, and a turkey, standing rib roast etc. in it's future!

The first step in it's new life with us was to scrub away the debris with a brush, coarse salt, and hot water.  I lined my white porcelain sinks with towels as not to beat them up in the process.

After preheating my oven to 200 degrees F.  I placed the damp roasting pan in the oven and set the timer for 40 minutes to ensure it was well dried before seasoning.  I often dry my cast iron by placing it on the gas burner of my store a few minutes to ensure it is really dry.  JUST DO NOT WALK AWAY IF YOU DO THIS!

Clean, dried, and seasoned, ready to go for years more service.

Upon removing from the warm oven I seasoned well with vegetable oil and wiped well with paper towels.  She is ready to go!  Thank you again to the Linton's.

Vintage Textiles or Things You Just don't See Anymore

Lovely old tablecloth full of hand embroidery.

Finally I have gotten every tote and box sorted and divided.  There were some lovely surprises in a few of the cartons. 

Finding the most delicate of ladies hankies was a sheer delight.  I was amazed to recall how small they were. It took me back in time to hold these sheer and in some instances tiny and faded items of yesterday.  Neither of my Grandmothers would have ever left for Church with out one of these. I cannot tell you when in recent times I have seen anything other than paper to dab or sneeze into!

Tiny ladies hankie of dotted Swiss.

This small hankie with "J" could have been purchased in the 40's and 50's.

Flowers encircle the initial on this hankie.

Then there were toppers with silken tassels meant for small tables and vintage table cloths and matching napkins.  Some were too stained with age to keep but others signaled of the 30's and 40's I think.  I wondered how many picnics some of them may have seen as that was what they brought to mind when I gazed upon them.

Some of these came back with servicemen after WWII.

I find these cut work pieces amazing.

These colors are vibrant after many years.

This entire cloth is windows of painted flowers.

This item is extremely old but a pattern I have seen before.

Then there were things I pitched.  Some of them so old they all but disintegrated in my hands.

Many of the small pieces of fabric will make for great quilt materials.  Others are in big enough pieces they may make any number of things!

The mess remains and I am too tired to do anymore this week.  It will just have to sit until I can get rid of the bags of discards and find home for at least 10 empty totes.  Then  there will be a thorough cleaning.

Up tp my Ears in Fabric so I am Sorting and Purging.....

There are not nearly enough labels made yet!

Yes, you read correctly.  I am admitting to having W-A-Y too much fabric.  (Like maybe a couple of dozen big totes plus.)  I have been in denial thinking I may live long enough to use it all but the sheer volume tells me I could not find it if I were to remember I had it!  My intentions were to have gotten this done much sooner but now the day has come.  Actually I made a stab at it last week.  Today I have dug in and have already filled 3 huge 30 gallon trash bags to donate to various community factions.  Especially local the nursing homes and the American Legion Quilters group.  I may even join the the Legion Ladies as they make quilts for needy veterans and have invited me several times.


I have always believed in not "pack ratting" but in giving useful things to others when no longer needed.  I just got overwhelmed by the quantity of fabric Grandma Powell has given me.

Sorting atop the entertainment center.

My goal is to first get rid of the excess.  Then as I go through I am sorting into woven, knits, felt, sheers, etc.  Later I plan to categorize to some extent by color.  That would be most helpful I believe.

This tote will be labeled "WOVEN" for future quilting.

The next thing will be to store in some logical way to be able to get to things.  Then lastly to clean the downstairs really well.  Then I will be very happy and can garden and sew to my hearts delight.


There is a rumor I may soon have a new baby to sew for and a wedding gift to send out.  So I am also thinking on these issues as I toil.

Cobbler to Celebrate Spring Cleaning Project, Phase 1 is Done! Glory Be!

Easy stir together Blueberries and Peach Cobbler to celebrate that Thursday I finished!  Right on schedule and just in time to have my knees worked on first thing Friday morning!  I had planned to have every closet, drawer, cabinet, nook, and the crannies gone through and cleaned.  Every bed moved and cleaned under and behind and I got it all done.  Bags and bags went to the Good Will truck parked at the shopping center.  I will admit to having watched for the response of the trash truck fellas from a hidden window as they came upon my pile of discards!  Glad to say they didn't seem to mind but I know my husband has given them cold beverages on especially hot days and tried to be good to them, so they didn't seem to mind the unusually large heaps of late.

The shots in my knees are not a lot of fun but no worse than a trip to the dentist I'd say.  The next couple of days are a bit uncomfortable because it takes the body a while to absorb all of the medication they pump into the joint.  The pressure is a bit uncomfortable but after that look out!  I feel almost young again.  I fly up and down the stairs with great ease!  I am most grateful.

Next week I plan to get the tax stuff together for my hubby's business and sent off to the CPA we use.

Then the next week I will start on the down stairs!  So, look out here I come! By the time Easter rolls around I plan to be done.  The most difficult part was starting because the project seems always to be so daunting.  I started small and before I knew it I was on a roll and every day I looked back with a feeling of having gotten something done.

So to celebrate I made this special cobbler for Sunday dinner.  It went well with the baked ham, peas and carrots, potatoes and homemade bread.  We had a very nice day.  Our sons Mike and Joel helped with some  computer issues and Emily brought me a sculpture she made at collage!  I think it was her first big completed project.  Elsa,  their new puppy visited too and frolicked with Molly until they both tired and took naps!

Ingredients for Blueberries and Peaches Cobbler:

3 pints sliced peaches (I used 6 cups frozen)
1 pint  blueberries (2 cups)
1 C. sugar
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. flour
1/2 t. cinnamon
pinch of salt

Stir the ingredients listed above well and blend.

Empty into a buttered 9" x13" baking dish.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

3 C. flour
1/3 C. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking powder
pinch of salt
5 T. diced cold butter

Assemble the above ingredients in a bowl and cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender until it is as coarse meal.

1 1/2 C. milk
2 large eggs

2-3 T. sugar

Add the eggs to the milk and beat with a fork to break up the eggs well.  Form a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the milk and eggs.  Stir with a fork until a sticky biscuit like dough forms.

Pinch off pieces and drop across the top of the fruit until it looks sort of "cobbled" together and the fruit is covered.  I use walnut sized pieces.  This is a bit sticky but it turns out nicely!  Lastly sprinkle with sugar to form a sparkle on the top and bake about 30 minutes until browned.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.  Yield 8-10 servings.

This is sort of like a shortcake topping and similar to several recipes I have.   I've "cobbled" them together from what was on hand!

Cheap Tips, Steel Wool Pads

Cut soap pads in half to stretch your $'s!

Steel wool pads come in quite handy when scrubbing a pot or dish with stuck on goo!  But seldom do I use it all up the first time out only to find a rusted and disintegrating mess when I grab it again.  My money saving and very helpful hint is to cut all of the soap pads in half the day you buy them and store them until needed.  At that time they are ready to go and I seldom if ever have needed more than the half pad at a time.  You now have stretched your purchase 2x's your investment.

Further if you store the previously used half soap pad that still has a bit of life left in your kitchen's FREEZER section it will not rust and disintegrate when you grab it to use again!  It is a little cold but will serve you well.

Spring Cleaning Continues! From Drawers and Cabinets to Closets.

When last I posted about cleaning I was hard at work on all of the drawers and cabinets on the main floor of our home.   It is daunting because once you start you just see and find more and more.  I may plan to do this but am suddenly side tracked by that.  As I plod along I wonder at my enthusiasm and at how marvelous I feel after completing any little drawer or shelf!

I was sidetracked when Brian came down again with pneumonia a couple of weeks ago and I caught whatever he had that led him to contract it initially.  What a sight we both have been, curled up sick and coughing.  But this week we both seem to have recovered and I am stirring up the dust again.

Now I have completed two closets and today planned to start a third but was again sidetracked when I decided to move the kitchen table, then the canisters, and of course you find dust bunnies hiding in those places we seldom look!

I am excited to report I have lost count of the big trash bags I have filled and hauled out to both the good will truck and the trash.  My rule is stern but if we haven't used it in the past season or 6 months or so we must not need it!  This will really get tricky when I get to Brian's "stuff"!  For, he is much worse than I am and could win an award for being a champion pack rat.

There is a master plan.  I have always moved the summer cloths to the main bedroom closet in the spring and rotated them out and the winter things in as the seasons changed.  Now that everyone is grown with homes of their own I came to the realization it would be much more practical to move all my things together in another closet and then just go to the opposite end as the seasons change!  Then Brian can do the same with everything all in one place.  Less work for me in the long run and he shouldn't have to go banging around from closet to closet calling out, "where's my this or that?" as husbands are known to do!

All of this when really all I want to do is sew but I will not allow myself to until this house has had a good "going through" and then I must get everything ready for our tax man.  (A job I REALLY hate!)

So.....my sewing will have to wait!  And then there are the spring flowers I love to plant? 

SPRING CLEANING, Moving the Cedar Chest and Purging a Closet, then Off with the Flanel Sheets, I am expecting SPRING.

Such a lovely storage chest a cedar chest is.

Moving the cedar chest from the back of the Durango to the foot of a bed in an upstairs bedroom has turned out to be a long time coming due to the ice on our driveway!  Oh yes, our son and Brian could have done it but I just kept putting it off because of all of the ice.  Since the garage doors are not only shaded with trees but also on the north side of the house I was beginning to think it might be Easter by the time we had a thaw.  Somebody falling was just not worth it to me so I kept putting them off with, I just wasn't ready yet, or I needed to finish cleaning out the closet, or any other excuse that came to mind.

But hallelujah!  The ice is gone and the driveway is dry.  You cannot imagine how happy this has made me.  So, yesterday afternoon I thought I would move it myself.  Brian always has large sheets of cardboard stored for some reason or another so I grabbed a couple of flat sheets about 2' x 3'.

Next I lowered one end of the cedar chest onto the cardboard on the driveway.  From there I could easily walk it across the garage and to the steps just by moving the sheet of cardboard I had just walked the chest across to the end of the one I just stepped onto.  Then I laid a cotton blanket up the four stairs and positioned the chest on it's flat top and pushed it into the family room.  The hall and stairs were easily navigated by pushing the chest on the flat top up from the bottom.  Then in the kitchen I stood it up and again walked it, inching along on the two front corners in a walking motion.

And there it is ready to be filled with bed cloths and treasure! The funniest thing is that I had no sooner sat down with a glass of ice water when my benefactor, Grandma Powell called to see if Brian and I had ever gotten well.  We are both still coughing but on the mend I told her.

Since I was off to such a dandy start I proceeded to clean out the closet in that bedroom.  Then after lugging out 3 trash bags and hauling a couple of boxes to the Good Will truck up at the shopping center I can tell you I am off and running after a prolonged bout of bronchitis!  Tomorrow I plan to do another closet and each day thereafter.  That plan worked out very well with the drawers and cabinets so I think I will stick with it. 

My master plan is to consolidate and purge everything in this house and believe me when I tell you that is a tall order.  It seems to me you spend the first 2/3's of your life accumulating "stuff" and then you wonder what you are doing with all this.......and so it goes!

Pre-Spring Cleaning. Just start with a drawer!

Battery drawer!

Frustration is my companion because I have arrived at the determination that my husband and I live in a 2000 square foot closet!  This has been driving me so nuts!  I have lamented over where to start and how to, and where to put,  and on and on.  Finally last week I thought to just start with a drawer or two, or three per day, and get moving on this project.  This morning I completed my 20th drawer and it feels so good!  I am certain when the drawers are done the closets will be an easy next step.

No, we do not live in a messy un-kept house.  We have just accumulated too much stuff over the more than 35 years we have lived here.  I know there are cloths we will never wear and stuff galore that needs to go to someone who can use it or to the trash.

I know how much easier it is to live with ease when things are organized and all like items are together.  I probably have found batteries in 5 drawers and crayons in as many too!  But now they are all together and I know just where they are! 

A tidy organized drawer.

Now when I open the kitchen drawers they glide easily and are not over stuffed and catching.  All of the seldom used items are in a less convenient drawer and I am really way more excited about this small deed than I would have ever guessed.

There are big things that will need to happen before I am done but the first hurdle has been cleared.  I quit thinking about it all and just started.  After all, if you think you can you do.  If you think you won't you don't.  I have started and hope to be dome by Easter!

Thanksgiving Menu, Cleaning, & Pre-Holiday Preperations

Noodles rolled and left to dry before slicing.

It is past time to get into the spirit of things and begin the holiday preparations.   Even before the menu I start making the noodles.  It will take at least three batches for Thanksgiving and the same for Christmas.  I have batch one made and rolled out on the big white porcelain counter of the Hoosier Cabinet.  These are made ahead, rolled, cut and then frozen until time to drop them into the bubbling stock.    thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2011/11/make-egg-noodles-for-now-or-store-in.html    This is the link if you would like our family recipe and detailed instruction with pictures.

I will turn these and when they are no longer tacky slice.

Thanksgiving Menu:

Roast Turkey Breast
Baked Ham
Mashed Potatoes with Gravy
Dressing
Noodles
Green Bean Casserole
Sweet Potatoes
Crudites & Dip
Rolls
Cheesecake
Pumpkin & Pecan Pies
Iced Tea
 

Confession.  Today I have started what I have been thinking about for at least a year? What has possessed me to drag down the vacuum and a whole box of trash bags I cannot say.  First I have thought to start here but then I think no, maybe there......Finally I have decided to just start somewhere as no progress can be made just thinking about this task!

The task.  What needs to be done is to go through and reorganize every room, closet, bookshelf, tote, nook, cranny, box, and drawer in this whole house!  What has not been used in the past?  Say six months, well, maybe year needs to go away.  We are pack rats, collectors, appreciators of the vintage to a fault.  My husband even more so than I.  Would you believe he has a ceramic black panther about 10" long that some old lady who owned a jewelry store in the town where he was born gave him as a little boy?  It has moved with us at least a dozen times and sits on the shelf in his side of our bedroom closet?  I of course have an entire drawer devoted to every color style of ladies hose for the last 40 or so years. Doesn't everyone?  Nuts!  Just plain nuts!

My goal.  I would like to get everything shifted around so as to be able to decorate and use the downstairs family room  over the holidays.  Previously our Grandsons were to young to go downstairs so the door remained locked and we all stayed on the top floor.  Now at age 5 they are perfectly able to navigate if I am able to consolidate.  There stands the big if!

So today I start and we shall see how far I get before dismay overtakes me.   I shall keep you posted! 9 AM.,  11/19/13.

Well gang, it is 2:30 PM and I have torn into the down stairs closet and taken a SUV filled with coats, equipment, and decorations to the Good Will.  Next I gave the stove a good cleaning .  After that I was pooped so I made noodles and had a sandwich!  More fun tomorrow!