Cleaning Hack for the Kitchen Sink

For those of you who read my previous post on organization, you might recall that I ended it by saying that I would begin reading Crystal Paine's book, Saying Goodbye to Survival Mode.

That was two weeks ago.

I am still on chapter one.  

Though, in my defense, there was an intro.

Even still, changes have been made and progress has been noted in the household.  I think there's something about even deciding that you are going to make a change that sparks something from deep within, because even though I have made nearly zero headway on that book and it's promise of organizational wisdom, I was able to reclaim the living room.  I have also claimed victory over the dishes, despite the nasty fight they seem put up hour after hour!

It's pretty amazing to watch how one small change within a household can really spread and affect pretty much everyone that dwells there.  Seriously, as soon as that living room was back in order, I noticed that my kids actually started to put things away after they had used them!!  The first time I watched my daughter bring her plate to the kitchen sink immediately after she had eaten, I nearly fell over, and I remember thinking, "Well, I have got to do this again!"

Let me tell you, with the living room and the kitchen and now even the kids stepping up to help, I have been inspired to forge ahead!  Amidst all this inspiration going on, I bring you an all-natural cleaning hack for the kitchen sink (because yes, I did that too!).
Who knows, maybe this could be your turning point in the house, if you've been stuck just like me!

Photo by Ross Brown via Free Images

What you'll need:

Baking Soda
Water
Toothbrush
Vinegar
Paper Towels

What you do:

-Dampen your kitchen sink lightly and sprinkle baking soda over your entire sink area (for the sides of the sink, I just swept the baking soda up with my hands as best as I could).

-Wait about 15 minutes and then go at it with a toothbrush.  I'm not sure about the science behind the magic, but I'm telling you, anything that's on your sink will come right off!  It works best when you work up a paste with the water and the baking soda, but even without it, something about that baking soda all on its own will make your sink shine!

Next time I clean my sink like this, I will provide pictures as evidence to the process, but trust me when I say that I was simultaneously intrigued and disgusted by the amount of "brown/black" that was on that toothbrush!

-Once you're done scrubbing your sink down with the toothbrush, rinse everything with water.  From here, you can either move on to the next step, or call it a day and wipe everything dry with a paper towel.  We had run out of vinegar for the next part, so this was as far as I went this time around, but the vinegar is a great disinfectant and is highly recommended.

-For the vinegar, cover your sink with paper towels and lightly pour vinegar over them until the paper towels have become saturated.  Another way to do this would be to pour some vinegar in a bowl and dip the paper towels in one at a time.  I try to find the fastest way to do things, so, for me, I skipped the bowl and placed the paper towels right in the sink.

-Leave the vinegar for 20 minutes then wipe up with a paper towel, rinse your sink with another round of water and wipe dry.

-Enjoy your new sparkle and shine!  Cheesy of me to say, I know, but that is exactly what I did!  My house still has a long way to go, but that day...I'm just going to say it...that day I was proud!  I'm also pretty sure I gathered my kids around to admire, but with there being so much more to go in my organizational quest, how could I not soak in a little of this victory!

Got any cleaning hacks for me?  I'm trying my best to stay on this home improvement streak right now, so please send me some ideas while I'm on a role!

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

Recently, I'd mentioned my new love for all things natural and simple.

One of my first converts from the world of processed food was with this homemade pizza dough.

Looks good, right?!

When I was pregnant with my little girl, I frequently felt too tired to make dinner and too eager for the comforts of pizza delivery (I mean, who hasn't, right?)!

Once that became too expensive (& unhealthy) of an option, we started going to the freezer section of our local grocer. (Hey, no judging, people! I was pregnant and exhausted...It happens!).

In the name and health of pregnancy though,
I quickly banned store-bought pizza from my diet...

The sodium made me feel bloated and blegh! ... 

I didn't want this for myself, my baby, or any other member of my family!

So, I made the switch..

I tried Boboli....
                        Easy, yes...but too expensive for us.

I tried ready-made dough...
                        That was a disaster by my own hand...
I could never (and I do mean NEVER)  get that dough to stretch and form into any sort of resemblance to pizza...Plus, adding insult to injury, it was always either chewy and thick or thin and burnt, depending on what part of the pie you had sliced into!

But then, one day, 

while walking down the baking aisle of my local grocer, 

I saw it...

Cue the magical lights and mystical music.  

...my very own magical and mystical pizza yeast!!  

Now, I admit that I didn't have much hope for what my efforts could produce, but at $2.12 for 3 packets (which means 3 pizzas!), I figured it was worth a shot!

So, after some tweaking and a few tricks learned, I'm proud to say that I've now got something share-worthy for you all!

Without further ado, my magical and mystical homemade pizza dough!

1 cup flour

1 envelope pizza yeast (I use Fleishmann's Pizza Crust Yeast)

1.5 tsp brown sugar (you can also use white)

3/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup very warm water

3 tbsp oil (I've tried it with canola and olive oil.  Both work great!)

Grease your pizza pan with oil and lightly flour, or line with parchment paper.  I was using a 9x13 pan, but have recently switched to using a glass casserole dish.  It gives me a thicker crust, and it's a favorite with my family.

Oven preheat is 425, but I typically wait to preheat until the dough is formed before I turn the oven on.  It gives the dough a couple minutes to rise and makes it easier to form in the pan.  

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, pizza yeast, brown sugar, and salt.

Add the water and oil, then mix together until fully incorporated (about 1 minute).  I usually use a fork for this...Definitely makes it easier with the sticky dough!

Gradually add a little flour until the dough is no longer sticky, and you are able to knead it without it sticking to your fingers.

Knead the dough for about four minutes on a clean, lightly floured surface.
Update:  Some may prefer to knead the dough on a floured surface, but I am just fine with kneading the dough right in the bowl I was using to mix my ingredients.  It saves me a clean-up step afterwards and anything that saves me a cleaning step has got my vote for sure!

On that same floured surface, shape your dough, then get that bad boy in your pan/baking dish!  Update:  Again, some may prefer to shape the dough on a floured surface, I have recently taken to just shaping the dough directly in the pan.  I really saw no difference in the two, and having the dough already in the pan is simpler for me than transferring it afterwards.

Next, add your sauce and other essentials...

Pop it in the oven and bake for about 8 minutes or so until the crust is browned and the cheese deliciously gooey.

Seriously, it's so delicious...

One bite and you'll never think of ordering delivery again!  My entire family agrees!

Easy Homemade Tortilla Recipe

In the last year, I've really gotten my family following after a much simpler way of living.  The types of things we buy at the store now are drastically different from just even 6 months ago.

We've gone from store-bought shampoo to homemade.  Same with toothpaste, hand soap, laundry detergent (that recipe is up for debate still, but here's another I totally love) and dish detergent.

Our first switch was with the shampoo, and I've gotta tell ya, this change in lifestyle is addictive.  Once you start to simplify, you start looking for another way, and another, and another.

I love knowing what's in the products we use. 

I love that it's healthy 

and safe 

and made by my own hands. 

Anyways, all this simplifying has eventually sneaked its way into my kitchen, where sandwich bread and granola bars have made it into the mix as well.  But the simplest of all has been these fantastically quick and easy homemade tortillas!

Seriously, look at these puppies...

don't they look delish?  

I mean, I guess as delicious as tortillas get to lookin'!

So the recipe for these homemade tortillas... 

It's another goodie from Pinterest...Simple.  To the point.  I like!

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup oil
1 cup warm water

Preheat your griddle...the hotter the better with these puppies.

Measure out the flour, salt, and baking powder and combine with a fork.

Pour in the oil and warm water and mix.  I usually start mixing it up with a fork (wire whisk isn't worth it, if you ask me..it's so sticky at this point that you wind up spending valuable time picking the pieces off the whisk itself!).  

Once it's mixed enough, I get in there with my hands and knead the dough...Nothing crazy like with bread or pizza dough..just enough to form a dough ball.  If the dough is still sticky, sprinkle a little more flour in there and voila, you've got homemade tortilla dough!  

Next, start breaking off pieces (I usually half the dough into two balls and then half those, etc until the dough ball fits in the palm of my hand).  Next, roll them out nice and thin with a rolling pin on a floured surface.  I usually end up with about 10.

Heat them up on your griddle, flipping over after a few minutes once they puff a little.

That's it!  Easy, right?
My girl and I make these all the time, and we have a blast!
Now, if only I could figure out a way to keep her from eating these homemade tortillas before they find their way to the griddle!!

Going All-Natural & Homemade

It's swiftly approaching 1:30 in the morning, and a loaf of freshly baked bread has just come out of the oven...

Ummm...awkward timing on that one, wouldn't you say?  At least around here, everyone else is fast FAST asleep...(and I swear I'm not jealous!)

Really, I could blame this whole "going natural & homemade" kick on that first set of cloth diapers I bought back at the beginning of the year.  After all, that is the catalyst that brought me to here anyhow!

Actually, no...the catalyst...the true catalyst would be when our home went from a double to a single income back in September.  My husband and I both agreed that we wanted me to be home with the kids each day.  It's something I've always wanted to do and am so overwhelmed with gratitude for.  With this switch, however, we are finding ourselves face-to-face with a feisty challenger commonly known as The Budget.  We have been doing just fine with keeping within the realms of our budget, but with our income taking such a drastic cut, I've started to look for cuts where cuts can be made.

The first, and most obvious, of these cuts was the diapers...I mean seriously, $30 each month for something my daughter plans to fill with poop and pee?  I couldn't take it anymore and finally bought our last box around mid-December.  Let me tell you, BEST decision I ever made, in regards to making that turn away from products I can actually do myself.  A post for another day, but I love, love, LOVE her cloth diapers!!  Only change I would make is having put my lady in these sooner...like from birth...straight from the womb and into one of these puppies...that's what I would've done!

Anyways, that transition to cloth pretty much started a landslide over here for us...every ticket item in our house I've wound up circling like prey and have one-by-one eliminated from our household purchases.  I'm really looking forward to doing up that post about everything I've changed in our household, but like I said, it's 1:30 in the morning for crying out loud!  Girl's gotta sleep sometime...right?  I mean, seriously, right?!  Because, sometimes I feel like I never get to have my hand at that!!

I will quickly say though, that this freshly baked bread is my latest "going natural & homemade" endeavor.  Last week at the grocery store, I realized that I had to put items back from the cart,  and the bread didn't make the final cut.  We all ate peanut butter sandwiches on homemade tortillas for the first portion of our week (not a best sell for my son with his classmates, but hey, if he's hungry enough, that boy'll find a way to eat it!).  Now for the 2nd half of the week, we have our fresh baked bread (yes, I will continue to use the entire phrase of "fresh baked" bread, because for crying out loud...as mentioned, it's 1:30 and I feel I've earned this small, insignificant right!)....

So here it is, folks....

I think it came out pretty stellar for my first time around...

Next time I'll plan ahead for the whole "dough rising" experience (Who knew it all took that long!  Well, I'm sure many knew, but I did not!)

Until next time, folks!