Friday Favorite: Muffin Tin as Condiment Dispenser.

Pinterest pin and website link.

I loved using a muffin tin as a condiment dispenser (even though this photo -- with the cheese / avocado squeezed on there -- makes it look a little awkward!).  I didn't have enough burger condiments to go in all the spaces when I did this, but if I did, I would have moved the cheese and avocado to a different plate!  I only had mayo, mustard and ketchup, but in the future, could include ranch, dijon mustard, relish, etc.

My only concern is that for a large group, there may not be enough of each condiment in each little space to go around -- in that case, I would likely prepare two of these trays so that we wouldn't run out!

Verdict: success!

Day 59: Crock-Pot Mac and Cheese (fail).

Pinterest pin and website link.

My kids are huge Mac & Cheese fans, but this did not go over well with them or their friends -- it was really rich and didn't taste at all like the boxed variety they love :)  Plus, I'm not sure if it saves you much, if any, time from just making the kind in a box.  You still have to cook the noodles before putting them into the Crock-Pot, and at that point, you could just mix in the milk, butter and boxed cheese instead of throwing it into the Crock-Pot for a few more hours with a bunch of high-fat ingredients.

Ingredients:
8 ounces of elbow macaroni, cooked
12 ounce can of evaporated milk
1-1/2 cups of whole milk (I mixed half & half and 2%)
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 stick of butter, melted
1 teaspoon of salt
Dash of pepper
5 cups of sharp cheddar cheese, grated (I didn't use quite this much)
Dash of paprika

Instructions:
Using at least a 4-quart Crock-Pot sprayed with cooking spray, mix the ingredients together (with the exception of a 1/2 cup of grated cheese).  Sprinkle the remaining cheese and paprika over the top of the mixture.  Cook on low for 3 hours and 15 minutes, stir, and serve hot.

Done.

 Served warm.

 Verdict: fail.

Day 58: Homemade Flour Paint (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

My kids loved this paint!  Personally, I felt it was a little difficult to get the perfect paint consistency (it tended towards gloppy or runny -- but nothing in between, despite adding only small amounts of water at a time!).  However, that didn't matter at all to my 2 and 4 year old - they had so much fun!

Ingredients:
* Flour
* Liquid watercolor paints (purchased from Discount School Supply)
* Water

Supplies:
* Whisk
* Paintbrushes
* Butcher paper

Instructions:
Whisk about a 1/2 cup of flour with a tablespoon of liquid watercolor and a squirt of water.  If the paint is too thick, add more water a little bit at a time.  Then, I sat back with a glass of wine and watched my kids create!

Verdict: success.

Day 57: Cleaning Grout with Foam Carpet Cleaner (fail).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I thought this pin sounded a little too easy to really work, and unfortunately, I was right :(  Despite using many different cleaners on these floors over the past few years, it's always bugged me that I couldn't get the floor grout to match the grout surrounding the tub (see the difference between the white grout around the tub and the floor grout that has turned gray?).  I bought the Woolite carpet cleaner featured on the website, sprayed it on the grout lines and left it alone for five minutes, and then used a bristle brush to brush / scrape clean.

Dirty grout.

Sprayed with foam carpet cleaner.

"Clean" grout.

Verdict: fail.  Although I do feel like a few spots on the floor grout were eliminated with the Woolite product, there wasn't a noticeable difference with the color of the grout to make this pin a success.  To me, there is still a big difference in color from the floor grout to the grout surrounding the tub.

Day 56: Oven Baked French Fries (fail).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I've never had much success in making oven fries, and still haven't...!  

Instructions:
Soak 2-3 sliced russet potatoes in hot tap water for 15-30 minutes.  

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Grease the bottom of a baking sheet with canola oil.  Drain potatoes and pat dry with paper towels.  Mix with 2-3 tablespoons of canola oil and season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Cover baking sheet with foil and bake for 5 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 14-18 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through.  Flip the potatoes and bake for another 3-4 minutes.  

Verdict: fail.  I feel like my oven usually cooks things pretty evenly, but this was a disaster -- some fries were burnt, others were barely cooked and most were stuck securely to the pan.

Day 55: Lemon Sugar Scrub (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

For my second attempt at making a homemade hand scrub, I went for one that promised not to contribute to my already dry hands!  This one worked great, and is also super easy to make.

Ingredients:
* sugar
* extra virgin olive oil
* lemon essential oil

Instructions: Mix 2 cups sugar with 1 cup of olive oil.  Add lemon essential oil to your liking (I added 16 tiny drops).  To use the scrub, rub about a teaspoon of lemon scrub onto wet hands. Rinse with warm water and pat dry. Apply your favorite lotion while hands are still damp, as lotion will absorb better on damp hands.

Verdict: success!  Although I've been using this frequently and my hands are less dry than before, I wanted to mention that the sugar and olive oil separate between uses.  That might be an issue if you're planning to make this as a gift (see picture below), but for my personal use, I just mix it up again with a spoon each time and it's ready to go.

Day 54: Imitation Mary Kay's "Satin Hands" Scrub (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I had a few people try this recipe (one of whom is a loyal fan / user of Mary Kay's "Satin Hands" treatment), and this got all-around rave reviews.  Plus, it gets bonus points for being super easy and inexpensive to make, and it now looks so pretty sitting on my new soap / sponge stand in the kitchen.  

Ingredients:

* Sugar
* Dawn Ultra Hand Renewal with Olay Beauty Scent Dishwashing Liquid (found at a drugstore for $4)
* Container

Instructions:
Add the sugar to the container first (leaving room at the top so you can easily stir the sugar and soap together) and then slowly add Dawn Ultra Hand Renewal.  Do this slowly, as you don't want the consistency to be too runny.  The original author suggests that the consistency should be similar to creamy peanut butter.

Verdict: success!

Suggestion for Dry Hands: I had others try this recipe because I felt like my hands were unusually dry after trying it -- but no one else experienced this.  If you tend towards dry hands, the author suggests using vegetable glycerin in the scrub.  I haven't tried that, but likely will the next time I make this!  Or, you could try this Lemon Sugar Scrub, which worked great for my dry hands in this cold weather.

Day 53: 5-Minute Microwave Cleaning (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I've tried multiple ways of cleaning my microwave in the past, and have had the most success warming up a mug of water on high.  Even after doing that, however, I still have to scrub the inside of the microwave quite a bit to remove all the food splatters.  This pin was so quick and easy that I will be cleaning my microwave this way from now on!

Instructions: pour a glass / mug of distilled white vinegar and place it in the dirty microwave for 2 minutes on high.  Let it sit in the microwave for 5 more minutes without opening the door.  Then, take a wet towel and wipe clean -- no scrubbing required!

Dirty microwave.

Clean microwave!

Verdict: success!

Friday Favorite: Dessert Stand as Soap/Sponge Holder.

Pinterest pin (the website link looks suspicious, so I didn't go to the site).

I love my dessert stand turned soap / sponge / paper towel kitchen organizer.  It makes me happy to look at while I'm standing at the sink...for the seventeenth time that day...because my kids constantly eat and dirty every dish in the house!

Day 52: Tub and Shower Magic (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

Instructions: Mix equal parts Dawn and (warmed) vinegar in a spray bottle.  

This vinegar and dawn cleaning solution smells so good and works really well to remove soap scum and dirt, plus it eliminated much of the "yellowing" in my white sinks.

 Dingy kitchen sink -- before using the solution.

 Clean kitchen sink -- after using the solution.

 Dingy and stained laundry room sink -- before using the solution.

 Cleaner sink -- after a 10 minute soak with the solution.

 And even cleaner sink -- after soaking 12+ hours in the solution.

Although I was hoping this solution would remove all the old paint stains in my laundry room sink, that wasn't the advertised result.  I was so excited about how clean the sinks were that I ran around cleaning out the rest of the house sinks, plus garbage cans and dirty Sterilite bins scattered throughout the house!  I'll be using this cleaner again!

Verdict: success!

As I was looking through these pictures, I realized I should also try rubbing alcohol on the laundry room sink, as I had good results in using that to remove old paint from hardwoods (link here) and moldings (link here).  Within a few minutes of scrubbing with straight rubbing alcohol, the inside of the laundry room sink looks considerably better!

Day 51: Crock-Pot Quinoa Stuffed Peppers (fail).

Pinterest pin and website link.

Ingredients:
6 bell peppers (tops removed, cleaned out)
1 lb lean ground beef (I used ground turkey)
Onions, diced
Carrots, chopped
Celery, chopped
Mushrooms, sliced
Tops of peppers, chopped
Italian seasoning (I only had oregano and basil)
Salt and pepper
1 jar of tomato sauce or pasta sauce
1 box of organic quinoa , prepared as per box instructions

Saute veggies and meat before mixing together with the pasta sauce and quinoa.  Stuff the peppers, add two cups of water to your Crock-Pot, place your stuffed peppers inside the Crock-Pot, and cook on low for 3-4 hours.

I added cheese 30 minutes before dinner -- and the peppers looked promising when we were ready to eat.

Verdict? Fail.  These were a mushy mess and didn't have much taste.  Apologies to our good friends / dinner guests who I made this for -- they were good sports and ate it anyway!

Day 50: Cleaning Stove Burners without Scrubbing (success).

Can you believe it??  We're 50 days into 2014 -- and even more surprising, I've posted 50 consecutive days!  Okay, back to business...

Pinterest pin and website link.

I had no idea what a Viking stove top was when we bought our house, but despite all the hype, I haven't ever been that happy with it (who wants to cook six things at once anyway?? My family is lucky if there are two things on the table!).  I can't complain about how it cooks, though, but instead, how dirty it always looks.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

When I saw this "no scrub" pin, I decided to try it -- and it really works!  Be warned -- it's not a miracle, so my perfectionism is a bit bothered that not all the spots were completely removed, but with a good 12+ hour "soak" in ammonia fumes and a quick scrub with a bristle brush, most of the spots were removed and the end result is so much better!

One thing I did notice is that my burners are huge (I had to buy XL Ziploc bags instead of gallon size) and the burners seemed to clean up better when I used 1/2 cup of ammonia in each bag versus 1/4 cup (like she says, you're not trying to soak the burner since it's the ammonia fumes that do the cleaning).  Also, make sure to position the top of your burner (the greasy part with spots) down to the ammonia fumes when you lay it on your cookie sheet outside.  As you can see, I did that with the front burner in the following picture, but not the back one.  I noticed a distinct cleaning difference when the fumes were facing towards the part of the burner you wanted to be cleaned rather than away from the burner.

 Clean!  

I want it to stay this way, so I may never cook again...

Verdict: success!

Day 49: Quinoa Fried Rice (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I was fairly certain this wouldn't be good because I've never had much luck in cooking Asian-style dishes at home, but I was pleasantly surprised -- it tasted much like the fried rice I've had in restaurants!  And as a bonus, it's actually pretty healthy since it has tons of veggies and uses quinoa.

Ingredients (from the website link above)

• 1 cup quinoa (or 2½ to 3 cups leftover cooked quinoa)
• 1 ½ cups water or low-sodium chicken stock
• ¼ small onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 scallions, chopped and divided
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 eggs, lightly scrambled
• ½ cup frozen peas, thawed
• Sauce:
• 1 ½ tablespoons teriyaki sauce
• 2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
• ¾ teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions (from the website link above)

1. Rinse quinoa a few times in cold water.
2. Bring quinoa and water or chicken stock to a boil in a medium saucepan, and then reduce to a simmer. Season with salt.
3. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until quinoa is fluffy and cooked through. Remove from heat and let set for five minutes or so. Fluff with a fork.
4. Cool and store in the fridge, preferably overnight.
5. Mix teriyaki, soy sauce, and sesame oil in a small bowl. Set aside.
6. Heat ½ tablespoon olive oil in a large saute pan over a high heat. Add onion and carrot, cook about two minutes. Add 2 scallions, garlic and ginger to the pan. Cook another two minutes. Add in the rest of the olive oil and the quinoa. Stir-fry about two minutes. Add sauce and stir-fry until incorporated, about two minutes. Make a well in the center of the quinoa pour eggs in, scramble. Throw in peas, then toss everything together until the peas are warmed through, add remaining scallion and serve.

Voila!

Verdict: success!

Day 48: Avocado Chicken Salad (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

My husband and I loved this, but our kids wouldn't try it because of the avocado.  We didn't force the issue because that meant we could eat more of it!

Ingredients:
Chicken, cooked and shredded (I threw three frozen chicken breasts into the Crock-Pot with about 1/2 cup of chicken broth.  It was done and ready to shred after 3-1/2 hours on high).

One avocado.

A little bit of mayo.

Sliced green onion, to taste.

Cilantro, to taste.

Lime juice, to taste.

Salt & pepper, to taste.

I'm planning to enjoy the leftovers of this on a sandwich tomorrow, but we used it as a dip for dinner tonight with Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips (purchased from Costco).  Delicious!

Verdict: success!

Day 47: Salt Water Soak to Keep Apples from Turning Brown (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

Simply slice your apples and put them into cold, salted water (I used almost 1 teaspoon of salt for this size container).

The original author doesn't say to rinse with water before serving, but I did taste a little bit of salt on the apples before I did that, so my suggestion would be to do a quick rinse before serving.  

This is how the apples looked after soaking for one hour + a quick rinse off + forgotten about in my fridge for 6+ hours.  They're still not brown and tasted great!

Verdict: success!

Day 46: Cleaning Stainless Steel Appliances with Cream of Tartar (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

This recipe worked great!  Mix 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar with a few drops of water to form a paste.  Locate your dirty stainless steel appliance:

Rub the paste onto said appliance (I used a Scotch-Brite non-scratch sponge) before wiping clean with a wet paper towel.  Voila!

Verdict: success!

Friday Favorite: Snack Bin.

Pinterest pin and website link.

This tip has made getting out the door so much easier for us -- whether we're heading out for school, to play with friends, or just to run errands, the kids know to pick up a snack on our way out the door.  I try to stock this with healthy options, but the kids have a way of convincing me to buy that gigantic box of Costco goldfish every few weeks!

Day 45: Heart Pancakes (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

Happy Valentine's Day!  I made these today, and they were a hit (as you know, I am not a professional baker, photographer or food artist, so these wouldn't win any awards for perfection, but my kids and husband thought they were fun!).

First, mix up a few batches of your favorite pancake mix.  We were gluten free for a few years and discovered this mix.  It tastes amazing, is very filling, and, although we no longer need to be gluten free, is still our go-to pancake mix.

Then, put some of the batter into a separate bowl to color pink with food coloring.  When it's the pink color of your liking, spoon / pour into a squeeze bottle.  If you don't have a squeeze bottle (like me!), feel free to get creative by dumping out a squeezable food item already in your fridge and filling it with the pink pancake mix!

Add the batter to the griddle / pan and then use the squeeze bottle to draw a heart, to the best of your ability.

 Ready to eat!

Verdict: success!

Day 44: Cheesecake Mousse (fail).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I was excited to try this out as an early Valentine's Day treat -- but I'm glad I didn't surprise the kids with this on actual Valentine's Day.  It would not have gone over well, and they would have been disappointed :(

Ingredients:
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk or cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 small container (8 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed

red food color (I used more for the red color and less to make pink)

candy corn (for garnish)

Directions (from website link above):

Beat cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer until fully smooth.  Slowly add powdered sugar, then milk (or cream).  Add vanilla.  Continue mixing.  Beat about 1 minute on medium to medium-high speed.  Fold cool whip into cream cheese mixture, and stir until fully combined.

Scoop about 1/3 of the Cheesecake Mousse into a bowl, and color red.  Color another third of the mixture pink.  Leave the remaining third white.  One color at a time (starting with red), scoop mixture into a piping bag or large Ziploc bag, and squeeze a layer of the Cheesecake Mousse into small dessert dishes of your choice.  Repeat with pink and then white Mousse.

Refrigerate 30 minutes (or up to 1 day) before serving.  Garnish with candy corn if desired.

Verdict?  It was a presentation fail (ours looked nothing like the pinned picture; it was really difficult to squeeze the mousse into the glasses while making it look presentable!), plus the actual mousse taste wasn't a big hit.  My kids love dessert and didn't like it much -- and my husband didn't even want to try it.