Declutter the closets while getting dressed

Ivy says:

Every once in awhile you come up with an idea that is so simple, you wonder why you didn’t think of it before.  I was trying on outfits and hating most of them. The shirts were too short, the pants caused camel toe, nothing was right. And then I thought, “Why in the world am I hanging onto pants that cause camel toe? Is it really ever going to get better? No. I need to get rid of those pants.”

Then it occurred to me that I need a box in my closet for clothes I try on and hate. The fastest and easiest way to declutter is to do it while you go on about your everyday life. Life’s too short to have to sort through a closet full of clothing you hate. So put a box in your closet for clothes you really don’t like. Eventually, the box will fill up and you can Freecycle it!

Stupid Questions Volume 10

Dear Home Ec 101:

I know Kathy T usually sends you stupid questions, but I have a few for you, too.

1. What does salt do? I used to feel snottily superior about leaving it out of all my recipes, trying to be healthy, but realized that didn’t work when I tried to bake bread. So what are some of the top uses of this wonder seasoning? (It’s a seasoning, right?)

2. What is the best way to clean cast iron and stoneware? It’s my understanding that one should not use soap on these porous materials, but I’m a bit of a germophobe, and not using soap seems really gross.

3. Say I go to the store to buy bananas. They already are bundled in bunches of 6 or 7, but I only want four bananas. Can I separate a bunch, or am I supposed to leave them as they are? Same goes for grapes in the bag…..

Signed,

~Curious in Clarksville

Heather says:

We love stupid questions, always feel free to send them our way. Kathy T has been pretending to be busy, because publishing a book isn’t time consuming or anything. If we don’t already know the answer, we will do our best to find it.

1. What does salt do?

In bread baking salt is essential for flavor in simple breads, helps control yeast growth, and plays an important role in gluten formation.

When cooking meat under high heat, salt aids in the carmelizing process. (It’s a beautiful thing.) Salt also affects the moisture content of meat through osmosis. Yes, even here, Biology rears its ugly head.

Salt enhances the flavor of food, like MSG, but without most of the side effects.

Salt raises the boiling temperature of water, this aids in the cooking of some foods.

Salt is vital to good health, but in our world overconsumption is much more common than under.

Judiciously seasoning prior to cooking will help stop you from reaching for the shaker at the table.
If you want to be smart about cutting out sodium avoid most canned and other prepackaged foods. Many soft drinks often contain a surprising amount of sodium.

While researching to double check my opinion I found this interesting tidbit, “Only 20 -30% of  total dietary sodium consumption is discretionary– or consumer-controlled– through the addition of salt to food after it’s preparation.“  Read your labels, if you have been warned about sodium intake.  No, I’ll take that one further.  If you are hypertensive it is crucial to avoid processed foods.  If you are healthy, with normal blood pressure, restricting salt intake is typically unnecessary.  As always, check your health care provider.

Part B) Is salt a seasoning?

Yes, anything added to food to enhance or alter the flavor can be considered a seasoning.   This includes: salt herbs, spices, and condiments.

2. What is the best way to clean cast iron and stoneware?

With hot water and a nylon scraper. If you are terrified of germs you can kill any lurkers by sterilizing the pieces by heating them in your oven.

3. Can I separate a bunch, or am I supposed to leave them as they are?

Grocery stores are businesses, their goal is to make as much money as possible. What? You thought they only wanted you to feed your family nutritious, economical meals. Ha!

If you only want two bananas, take two bananas, just try not to damage the remainder of the bunch.

The same with grapes*, if you don’t want a huge bag, carefully remove some and place them in a neighboring bag. You can choose how much you want to purchase, unless there is a sign denoting otherwise.

*As proof of how dedicated I am to y’all. I called my neighborhood Piggly Wiggly. Ms. Rebecca assured me the grapes are just packaged for convenience.

Thank you for submitting your questions.

Dream House Giveaway: Want!

Ivy says:

Why, yes, I could use $500,000 for a dream house, thank you very much.  Or 50 grand for a kitchen makeover. Heck, it’d probably only take $10,000 to make my kitchen fabulous. It’s awfully small.

How do you win? Go to the Dream House giveaway website for official rules, but it’s pretty simple. Look for game pieces on participating products.  Collect both halves of the game pieces and collect your prize. That’s pretty simple, I know I’ll be looking out for the game pieces. Hope I win!

Menu Monday

Heather says:

Autumn weather has finally arrived in South Carolina. Hurray!

Lunch:

1. leftover soup, grilled cheese
2. tuna melts, broccoli florets
3. chicken quesadillas, refried beans
4. humus, pita, raw veggies
5. PB&J, chips, fruit
6. vegetable soup & salad

Dinner:

• Monday - Lentil casserole, baked sweet potatoes, cornbread
• Tuesday - Taco salad, tortilla chips
• Wednesday - Halloween pasta with marinara and roast vegetables, garlic bread, baked apples
• Thursday - C.O.R.N*
• Friday - apple brie soup, grilled salmon, pilaf, and spaghetti squash
• Saturday - Fair food.
• Sunday - Spare ribs, collards, butter beans, and cornbread

*Clean Out Refrigerator Night

Tis the season to clean your closets

Ivy says:

Since the weather is finally changing from hot to cold, now’s a good time to go through all your kids’ clothing and get rid of the stuff that doesn’t fit or just generally looks like crap. I use two methods to do this: at the source (drawers and closets) and during laundry time.

First, I go through the entire house and look under beds, dressers, and all the other places tiny little clothes like to hide. I have no idea why clothes like to hide so much under dressers, but they sure do in my house. I suspect my kids are trying something on, hating it, and then kicking the clothing item under the dresser. I’ve never been known to do that myself, no, never.

I have 2 boxes in my laundry room. One is marked “consignment” and the other is marked “goodwill”, even though I have generally stopped giving to Goodwill and have started giving things away on Freecycle instead. Clothing that is too small, but looks practically new and is a good brand goes to the consignment store. Clothing that doesn’t look horrible, but doesn’t look practically new, or is an off-brand goes to Freecycle. Anything that looks horrible goes into my rag bag.

Once the laundry is finished (is laundry ever really finished? I don’t think so) I go into the closets and dressers and take a look. All the summer clothes are moved to either the top dresser drawer or the outskirts of the closet. I check the tags and take a look at each item. Clothing that is the smaller size my kids can still fit into goes either to the consignment or goodwill box. Larger size clothing stays.

Then I go through the winter clothing, making notes of what is needed, so I can go to the consignment store and buy more clothing for winter. Since my kids have such vast age differences, very little clothing is able to be passed between them, but anything that might stand the test of time is packed and placed into boxes in the attic with the size written on the box. Since I don’t have a lot of clothing that can be passed down, I generally use shoeboxes for this purpose.

Since I’m busy cleaning for all the guests that are coming, now is a good time to do this chore.

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