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  • Tuesday Tip – Baby Food Jars

    Aah! It’s Tuesday night and I’m just getting around to this!  It’s been on my mind all day, I just haven’t been able to post. Our 1yo has been battling a stomach bug, so she’s been in my lap most of the day.  But on to my tip.

    What do you do with grease after cooking? How long do you let it sit in your kitchen, before doing something with it.  I love greasy foods (mmm, bacon), but I never knew what to do with the grease. I knew I shouldn’t dump it down the sink, unless I wanted clogged drains.  So I started using empty glass jars and cans.  I did not like the cans, because they had no lid, and it still made a mess in the garbage bag.  Glass jars became my friend. I started saving every glass jar we emptied (spaghetti sauce, pickles, etc).  Then I started saving the baby food jars.  They became my new best friend.  You see with tall jars like the spaghetti jar, it would sit and sit and I’d keep adding more and more grease to it. It looked ugly though!  Baby food jars are the PERFECT size for storing grease.  One pan of bacon can pretty much fill those up.  Then you screw on the lid, wait for it to cool and toss it out.  Another amazing feature is the ability to hide them in your kitchen.  So if you only fill it halfway, and you want to add more grease to it later, you can easily just toss it behind some kitchen appliance so company won’t have to see it (you won’t either for that matter).

    I hope you enjoyed this Tuesday Tip!

    *If you have any household tips you’d like to share please email me at familyroom2@gmail.com I’d love to feature your tips!

  • Tuesday Tip – Light Switches

    It’s the little things that matter.  We’ve all heard that saying.  What could be smaller in the home than the lightswitches? They’re just a button on a wall, hardly worth noticing unless you need to turn the light on or off.  When we moved into our home, one of the first things I noticed was we had different light switches in each room.  No biggy really, but I thought it was pretty funny that the previous owners did change all the light switches.  I do think it will make a difference in our home if they are all the same though. It will just add that feeling of unity as we move from downstairs to upstairs, and one room to the next. 
    So of course this week Mark has asked me to switch the old switches to the newer kind. Of course I was thrilled he asked me to take this on, because I’ve been itching for a house project to do.  Mark went through the house last night, and made a count – 5 upstairs and 4 downstairs need to make the switch (pun intended), from old flip switch to the cool flatter ones.  I’m hoping it’s a simple fix, because I really don’t know much about electrical work!

  • Tuesday Tips – Quiet Time

    Tuesday Tips – Quiet Time

    I was thinking today how I really enjoy some quiet time.  Especially since my children seemed to be non stop screaming today, and my head hurt.  How do you find some quiet time for you? Is there a time that you set aside to just sit and ponder?

    For me I find the best time is early in the morning before anyone else is up.  I used to be a morning person, getting up before the sun, to just have that time to myself.  Listening to the birds wake up and begin singing, and watching the sun come up.  It’s such a pleasant time.  Having three kids, that started to change, I reveled in my sleep, and didn’t get up until the kids got up.  I am slowly starting to change that though.  I want to be a morning person still.  For me, the morning should start right with a little pondering on the day and reading my scriptures.  I personally have a better attitude and more patience with my kids when I follow this routine.  I become less lazy and more gets done around the home.  So watch out, I’ll be getting up early from now on!!

  • Tuesday Tip – moving

    I know, I know it’s been awhile since I’ve done a Tuesday Tip.  I started them, and then got so busy with house hunting and moving, that I just never got back to them.  So todays tip

    When you’re moving, do it all in one day!  I’m so serious, the longer you take moving your stuff the longer it will take to feel like you are home.  We had the whole month of April to move in, and we took the WHOLE month of April.  I was at the apartment for a couple hours Saturday (the 30th!) trying to get it all clean to avoid any extra charges.

    Another problem with the slow moving, is that regular life still goes on.  You still have to cook meals, clean bathrooms and floors, and make sure the children get the attention they need and deserve.  So you don’t have time to slowly unpack all the boxes.  If you do it all in one day, you normally have someone else there to help watch children, you grab some takeout, and you get it all moved and unpacked quickly. 
    If I had a good working camera, I might have shared a picture for motivation. As it is you’ll just have to take my word for it.  Move in one day (maybe two), but don’t spread it out, you’ll regret it. 

  • Whole Wheat Banana Mango Bread

    Originally this would’ve been my Tuesday tip, but it’s now thursday. Life gets busy when you’re trying to move!  
    I went late night shopping with my neighbor yesterday.  She shops sales, and pretty much has prices memorized. So she KNOWS what a good deal is.  We left the kids at home with the dads, which really made for a peaceful shopping trip.  Whoa, little ramble there. Back to the point!
    There was a basket of overripe bananas on sale (ok apparently ripe bananas are cheaper elsewhere, but that didn’t stop me).  I love buying overripe bananas! It means instant banana bread, no waiting and hoping no one eats the ripe bananas before I can make the bread.  Now I purposely bought one less banana, because I wanted to experiment! 
    Here is the recipe I created, with my mom’s recipe as a base. See if you can find my cooking tip!

    Whole Wheat Banana Mango Bread
    Ingredients
    – 1 cup shortening
    – 2 cups sugar
    – 4 overripe bananas
    -4 eggs
    – 3.5oz banana mango baby food
    – 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
    – not quite 2 tsp baking soda
    -1 tsp salt
    Directions
    1. Mix the first 5 ingredients together.
    2. In a separate bowl mix the last 3 ingredients.
    3. Add the dry to the wet, and mix well
    4. Grease 2 loaf pans. Pour batter in. Bake at 350 F for 75 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean
    Did you find the tip? It was an ingredient in the wet mixture.  That’s right, baby food!  We have an 11 month old who has decided to stop eating most baby foods.  She much prefers “real” food.  Last fall we stocked up, and I mean stocked up on baby food.  So what in the world was I going to do with all this baby food? Cook with it of course.  It will add some extra nutrients to our food, and works great when missing a simple ingredient (like one banana).  The plus side, I couldn’t taste the mango, but the banana flavor popped out more. 
  • Tuesday Tips

    Tuesday Tips

    This is going to be fun!  Every tuesday I want to start sharing household tips.  Whether it be cleaning, organizing, or exercising.  I was sitting around during the week, just thinking about life in general.  That happens periodically.  When the thought came to me…vacuum the kitchen!  Now before you think I’m crazy, I don’t mean the whole kitchen.  There are vacuum’s out there that have a hard surface setting, and work great.  My vacuum actually has that setting, but I’ve only used in a quick pinch and usually just over the edge of the carpet.  So here is where my tip comes in.  What’s the hardest place you find to clean on your kitchen floor?  For me it is between the fridge and the counter and the corners under the cupboards.  
    I always think I’ve swept it good enough, but then I mop and my rag comes out covered in crumbs.  I hate crumbs on my mopping rag!  From now on, I will always run the vacuum hose into the corner before mopping.  It makes so much sense, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner!  I’d love to hear any tips you have!