Good Friday Chores

We do not have a self cleaning oven.  So when it gets dirty you have to roll up your sleeves and get in there, you can't just push a button.  I wish I could just push a button.  Our oven is coated in burnt on grease from roasting whole chickens and what not.  Regular soap and water is not going to take it off.  In my attempt to remove cleaning chemicals from our life using Easy Off isn't really my first choice.  The idea of cooking food in an oven that might be burning off those chemicals onto my food is not appetizing.

Awhile back I tore out an article from Martha Stewart Living where they gave a tutorial cleaning the oven using baking soda.  I decided to use my Good Friday off work to give the method a try.  You mix 3/4 cup baking soda with 1/4 cup water.  Then brush the paste all over the oven and let it sit overnight.  The next day use a plastic scrapper to remove the paste, wetting as needed.

I am too impatient to let it sit overnight so I let it sit for about 3 hours.  I was really skeptical that baking soda would clean some of the seriously baked on grease.  After three hours it didn't take it all off, it really only took a little off.  But I didn't think it would clean anything and it definitely did do some cleaning.  I am sure if I left it on overnight it would have done a much better job.  I will probably try it the right way again in a month or two.  My only complaint is that it was messy to clean up and a lot of work for it to only be partially clean.  For now we have an oven liner on the bottom of the oven to help prevent future messes.

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day today we are recognizing our need to take care of our planet.  In reflecting about what to say I have realized that in the last year the Kennedy's have made many changes to help lessen our impact on the Earth.  Here are our significant 2010/2011 changes:

*Using canvas bags at the store.
*No longer using chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
*Buying as much local food as possible.
*Supporting and buying from sustainable farmers.
*Keeping Bees.
*Using less chemical cleaning products inside and making our own counter cleaner.
*Composting.

We definitely have many more changes to make and aspects in which to improve.  In 2011 I would like to transition from many of our plastic food storage containers to more glass containers, reduce our water usage, and RECYCLE.  Yes many of you might find it surprising, I do too, but we actually don't have a recycling bin.  We never had to set up our trash service since the city works it into our water bill.  In order to have recycling service you have to set it up yourself and we just never got around to it.  It's a lame excuse but its the unfortunate truth.

I hope all of you are finding ways that fit into your life to help our planet.

Counter Cleaner

I am a generally clean person, I like the house to always be picked up and clean.  But I like my kitchen to be eat of the floor clean.  I have used all sort of conventional cleaners in the kitchen to achieve this.  Then this year it hit me: If I am trying to get rid of chemicals in the production of my food why would I want to then cook them on surfaces with chemicals on them?  So I have tested out a few different varieties of homemade cleaners.  This one so far has been the best. 

I did use up my conventional cleaner first since putting it into a landfill isn't very green.  Then I cleaned the bottle well and have repurposed it for the homemade version.  I have been very pleased using a homemade version.  You have to retrain your nose a bit since it doesn't smell artificially clean like most cleaners.  But I rest easy knowing that when I roll out pie dough on the counter it isn't picking up anything I wouldn't be willing to put in my body.

Veggie Wash

Even though we grow everything without chemicals I still wanted a wash to rinse off the veggies when we bring them in because they are grown amidst bugs and we do use natural sprays.  We also bring home produce we can't grow from the store and this food needs something better than a rinse under water.  The following recipe uses all household items and I feel like it is better than rinsing with just water and is safe to use.  The vinegar and lemon provide high acid levels to clean away germs and I am assuming the baking soda aids in cleaning due to it's fizzing reaction to vinegar.

1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
2TBS lemon
2 TBS Baking Soda