Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Baking Soda & Vinegar

I am always on the lookout for natural cleaning products.  If I can make it in my home with what I have on hand, that's even better.

We just bought a house a few months ago and it was vacant for probably a year before we bought it.  To put it nicely, the house hadn't been taken care of properly in a very long time.  We should have asked for the sellers to pay for it to be cleaned before we moved in, but we didn't.  Ew.  Bad mistake.

Anywho, the grout in the master bathroom always looked dingy and dirty even after I mopped the floor.  I got it in my head that I was going to try to clean the grout yesterday.  I popped the girls in the bathtub and got on the internet to see what I could find to clean grout.  Everything I find is bleach and baking soda.  Blech.  I don't want to use bleach.  I keep searching for an alternative and find vinegar can be used instead of bleach!  Hurray!  I grab some vinegar and baking soda from the kitchen and off I go.

These pictures aren't the best but the vinegar an baking soda solution works wonders!!  The left side has already been scrubbed.  What a difference!



I used an old tooth brush and made a paste with the vinegar/baking soda.  When I was done, (it took me a good 40 minutes to do) I took a very wet hand towel and wiped the whole floor down.  I love walking in my bathroom and seeing that clean floor now!

 After the girls went to bed I thought, I wonder if that magic solution will help with the kitchen grout.  I HATE our kitchen floors.  I mop/clean them and they still look dirty.  So nasty.  Well, I grabbed my magic solution and did one square of the tile and let it dry.  These tiles are terra-cotta and are very absorbant if not sealed every year.  Of course the previous owners didn't do that so anytime we drop any liquid on the floor and don't immediately wipe it up, the spot gets absorbed into the tile and looks like a stain.  Fabulous floor for a kitchen right?  Boo!

Well, I didn't think it worked very well as I was doing it.  But once it dried...what a difference!!  I guess I better stock up on vinegar and baking soda....

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes


My husband is part of a BBQ team that enters into competitions once or twice a year.  This year they entered into a KCBS contest for the first time.  This competition had two new entries, Anything Butt Dessert and Anything Butt Meat.  I helped them out with the dessert category.  We had 3 trial runs with desserts and decided on this Mini Raspberry Cheesecake recipe that I found at Cookin Up Good Times.

The first time I made them, I followed her recipe exactly.  We thought the presentation was nice but that the white cheesecake filling was too fluffy and didn't have enough cheesecake flavor.  Below are our changes.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp lemon zest

1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tsp honey

1/2 cup softened cream cheese (she used whipped, which was nice, just very light)
1 cup whipped cream
1 tsp lemon juice

chocolate sauce of your choice
whole fresh raspberries

Directions:

Heat your rinsed and dried berries in a small skillet over medium heat.  Add sugar and lemon zest.  Squish berries down into a sauce.  Allow for berries and juice to reduce to about 1/3 volume and sauce thickens.   Refrigerate until cooled.

Microwave cracker crumbs and honey for 10 seconds.  Stir together to moisten, set aside.  Whip cream cheese and lemon juice, by hand or mixer, until smooth.  Add whipped cream, whip together.

Add crumbs to the bottom of shot glasses and press down to create crust.  Add cheesecake mixture (putting it into a large ziplock bag and cutting the corner makes for very easy assembly), add a layer of chocolate sauce, your cooled berry sauce and a dollop of whipped cream and a fresh raspberry.  We also added some chocolate shavings for a nice touch.  :)

So.  We thought we had a winner.  Wrong!!  We got last place out of 6!  Ouch!  There are 6 judges and everyone really liked it except 1 judge.  He gave us a 4 when all the other judges gave us a 7 or 8.  Someone must really hate raspberries!  :)  

That's okay, we'll just try even harder for the next time around.  But it still is a fabulous dessert.  This recipe will make 3 shot glass desserts.  (We tripled the recipe for the competition)  Great for a party and beautiful presentation.  Flavor isn't too bad either.  If you like raspberries.  :)





Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Salt Paint



With the girls being out of school for the summer, we have been looking for some new activities to keep everyone happy and busy.

We gave salt painting a try today.  We've tried something similar in the past but it didn't work out.  Today's attempt was a huge success!

Most of these items you will have in the house already, which is a huge bonus.

We used a large piece of paper and drew a design on it with glue.  Sprinkle salt all over the glue, just like you would with glitter.  Shake off excess salt.  Fill small containers with water and add a few drops of food coloring to create the colors you want for your picture.  Using a small water paintbrush, dip the paintbrush in the colored water and gently touch the salt/glue.  Watch your children's eyes light up as the color spreads through the salt!

Not a keeper to hang on the wall, it is heavy and the salt will fall off, but it was a fun activity that lasted for 45 minutes!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Grilled Nectarines with Blue Cheese, Honey & Black Pepper


Grilled fruit is so delicious.  Nectarines, pineapple, grapes, peaches....so good!

We had some nectarines sitting in the fruit bowl and I really needed another side to go with dinner.  I had the meat and a salad but I didn't have any potatoes or rice.  I saw the nectarines and thought, I could grill them!  I searched for a recipe online that would work with what I already had on hand and I found this one from Food Network.  Score!

I only used 2 nectarines since we have a family of 4.  Each person gets one half of the nectarine.

Other ingredients you'll need:
Olive oil/vegetable oil
Honey
Blue cheese crumbles
Crushed black pepper

Directions:

Heat the grill.  Brush both sides of the halved/pitted nectarine with oil.  Place face down on grill and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Flip over and finish cooking until almost soft.  (I over cooked mine a little bit but they still tasted great!  Don't worry about overcooking - just don't burn them!)

Place nectarines on a platter with cut side up and place a dollop of cheese in the center of each nectarine.  Drizzle with honey and fresh black pepper on the top.  I left the black pepper off for the kiddos.  



Enjoy!