Home Cleaning Tips By Room

Kitchen: Before you start cooking, make sure your sink is filled with hot soapy water. While you're cooking, clean up the dishes you have used so far. In the end, you won't have a whole mess to clean up.

Living Room: Feather dust everyday. It's relaxing, and it keeps the place feeling fresh. I always get the tops of my ceiling fans when I dust. Then, it will never end up being a big project to get on a ladder and clean it off in spring.

Hallway/Entrance: People tend to throw their keys and junk in an area like this. Locate the area people throw things when they first come home, and clean it up twice a day. That way, you can prevent the 'junk drawer' before it happens.

Bedroom: Make your bed first thing every day.

Bathroom: Clean up while you're getting ready. Keep cleaning supplies in the bathroom. Wipe up the tub, sink, and toilet as you are getting dressed for the day. Then, your bathroom will always be ready for company.

I got these habits from www.flylady.org
I figured I'd type up my take on her habits, since their website is really wordy.

Tamale Beef Squares

From the One-Dish Bible (some changes)

1 (6.5 oz) package corn muffin and cornbread mix
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon oil
1 pound of really lean ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup corn
1 can Mex-style stewed tomatoes
2 teaspoons cornstarch
3/4 cup shredded cheddar

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease 12x8 inch baking dish.

2. Prepare cornbread mix as directed using milk, egg and oil. Spread in bottom of dish.

3. Cook ground beef and onion in large skillet until beef is slightly browned. Break up the meat. Drain fat, add corn.

4. Mix together undrained tomatoes and cornstarch. Stir into beef mixture, cook until meat is done

5. Spoon beef mix over cornbread mix. Cover with foil. Bake 15 min. Uncover, bake 10 minutes more. Sprinkle with cheese. Return to oven; bake 2-3 minutes to melt the cheese.
Let stand 5 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

Things I did differently with this recipe:
I didn't have the mex stewed tomatoes. So I just chopped up fresh tomatoes and mixed with cornstarch.
I seasoned the beef with chile and cumin to give it a mex flavor.

Don't use Trader Joe's brand cornbread mix for this one. Their's is as sweet as cake, and it does not go well with this savory recipe.

Weekly House Cleaning

I do this each weekend. It takes about an hour, and it's all the house needs to looked blessed.
BTW I didn't really make this up. I got it from www.flylady.org

1. Put away everything that needs it.
2.Feather Dust whole house
3. Wipe down doors and furniture
4. Sweep all carpets and floors (I don't have a vacuum yet)
5. Mop kitchen and hall
6. Sweep and Dust section of basement (do another section next week)

Wine Tasting

I watched a John Cleese documentary 'Wine For the Confused'. It gives you a basic overview of how to choose wine that you like.

He reviewed the 6 main type of grapes for wine making.

For white wine, there is Reisling, Savignon Blanc, and Chardonnay.

The first one is generally made sweeter, though it can be made dry. Savignon Blanc is slightly acidic which makes it sour, but you should be able to taste the fruit so you think of it as sweet. That's why people may say it has a crisp flavor. Chardonnay has a rich, buttery taste.

The grapes for red wine are Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Savignon.

Now, I'm going to pay attention more to how wine tastes, and remember the name of it. I never paid attention. I would just ask for something sweet, or dry.

Mom's Kitchen

Focaccia

From The Joy of Cooking Book

Made this today. Filip has been turning his nose up at my bread, but he ate this up, sans the tomato and olives. It must be the rosemary.

Prepare Pizza dough:

Combine in a large bowl and let stand until the yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes:

1 1/3 cups warm water

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Add:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

Mix my hand or on low speed for about 1 minute.

Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Focaccia:

Divide in half and roll each piece out to a 1/2-inch thick round.

Transfer to well-oiled 8 or 9 inch round or square baking pans.

Let rise, covered with oiled plastic wrap, for about 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Ten minutes before baking, press the dough with your fingertips to make indentations all over the dough. Drizzle with:

Up to 1/2 cup olive oil

Top with:

2 tablespoons grated cheese, such as romano, parmesan, or Asiago

1 teaspoon dried herbs, such as rosemary, dill, basil, thyme, or oregano

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Optional: Slices of sundried tomatoes, olives, caramelized onions

Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from the pans to a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature, as is, or sliced open horizontally to use as sandwich bread.

Fast White Bread

From Joy of Cooking book.

Making bread is nothing to be afraid of! I'm sure mine would have turned out much better with a bowl mixer with a hook. It still was good. I'm going to make grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Stir together in a large bowl or the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer:

2 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry or quick-rise yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Add:

1 cup very warm (115 to 125 F) water

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted or softened

Mix by hand or on low speed for 1 minute. Add 1/4 cup at a time until the dough is moist but not sticky:

1 to 1 1/4 cups bread flour

Knead for about 10 minutes by hand or with the dough hook on low to medium speed, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn it over to coat with oil.

Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 40 to 45 minutes.

Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Punch down the dough, form it into a loaf, and place seam side down in the pan.

Oil the surface and cover loosely with a clean cloth.

Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 20 to 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450F. Bake the loaf for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350F and bake about 30 minutes more. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.

Remove the loaf from the pan to a rack and let cool completely.