Ends Monday

Just a reminder that the CSN Giveaway ends Monday. So please go enter!

CSN GIVEAWAY!

Domestic Servitude was recently contacted by CSN stores to host a giveaway on the blog. Yay!

CSN has over 200 stores with a wide range of items for your home as well as other aspects of your life. So many great items that can help in making the home pretty as well as efficient. You can get cookware, flooring, luggage and even a bar stool. So many things added to my wish list after browsing all their stores.

So, what do you get to win? A $45 gift certificate to use at any one of CSN stores!!

To be entered in this giveaway you can do one to 4 of the options. Please do one comment for each entry option:

1. Become a follower and leave me a comment letting us know you stopped by.

2. Head on over to CSN and take a look and let us know what you would love to have in your home.

3. Post this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment with the link.

4. Tweet about the giveaway and leave a comment with the link.

Enter before 10pm (mountain time) on November 1st. Winner will be announced on Tuesday the 2nd.

Cooking Ahead

This is a guest blog post by my friend Rheya who works a very busy schedule so does a lot of cooking ahead. Whenever she talked about, I am always intrigued with the idea so I asked her to write about it for us.

While I would love to be a stay-at-home domestic, the truth is most days I love my job. To me, my job is just another form of service, not only to my Master, but to my community. Most evenings, when I arrive home I am tired and not wanting to think of what I will need to put together a tasty dinner.

So I rely on either meals I’ve cooked ahead and frozen or my trusty crock-pot for dinner during my work week.

By cooking ahead, I can also lower my weekly grocery bill on a weekly basis, thereby allowing room to stock up on basics that I will need for upcoming marathon cooking sessions and taking advantage of sales and coupons.

Before starting a marathon cooking session, I take stock of what I have. That way as I’m making my grocery list, I can make sure I don’t over buy. I try to plan the meals based on a few simple rules:

What freezes well? Generally stews, chilis, raw meat in marinades, casseroles, and things in sauces freeze best.
What does Sir like? Generally, the more simple the better.
What do I have on hand? Lots of canned tomatoes? Is the garden in bloom? Do I have an abundance of cream of mushroom soup?
What are the stores having specials on? Is my local grocery store having a special on ground beef? What about the bulk food club I belong to?

After that I make a list and I go first to the bulk food club. Generally there I stock up on meats, dairy, canned and frozen veggies and dry pasta I may need for the cooking session. Then I go to my local grocery store and pick up other items. One other place I check is my local drug stores if I know they are having a sale on Campbell’s Condensed Soups.

Now that you’ve got all the supplies, start early on a morning and get cooking. First thing I do is get out utensils I may need including my industrial sized cutting board. I tend to chop up a bunch of onion first, then carrots and celery or whatever veggies I have. Make sure phyllo, puff pastry or frozen veggies has been moved to the refrigerator thaw, de-skin the chicken or turkey if needed.

I find that I’m most organized when I can start one pot simmering (such as spaghetti sauce), one pot or skillet stir-frying or sautéing (chili, peppercorn chicken) and something baking in the oven (herb chicken legs). During breaks I put together marinades for raw meat that will freeze in the marinade.

Once everything is cooked, I prep it for freezing. If it is a casserole, it goes in its pan covered in foil into the refrigerator with a label that says what it is and when it was made. Sauces and chilis and I tend to bag in freezer bags. The best way to get things neatly into a bag, I’ve found is by taking a small mixing bowl and draping the bag over the edge of the bowl, lining the bowl with the bag and then scooping the sauce and the chili in.

Everything should be cooled to room temperature and sealed tightly before putting it into the freezer. I take things out the night before to thaw in the refrigerator.

I also make a list of what I’ve cooked indicating how many pre-packaged servings I have and check it off as I go so I know what’s left.

And now for a recipe!

Peppercorn Chicken (makes 4 servings, can easily be doubled, tripled, etc)

1 lb Chicken Tenders
2 Tbsp Cooking Sherry
1 Cup Milk
1 Package Brown Gravy Mix
½ Tsp Ground Peppercorns (I used a mix of black, white, pink and green)

Preheat pan on medium; coat with cooking spray. Cook chicken until brown. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook 2-3 minutes stirring frequently or until sauce thickens.

Store in a gallon-sized freeze bag, label with date and cool to room temperature, make sure all air is squeezed out before sealing and store in deep freeze.

Laundry Soap Change

An update on my laundry soap: I've upped my bar soap from a half a bar to a full bar, and have become a Fels Naptha convert. I like the product a lot better.

For a real whitening boost, try adding a scoop of Clorox OxiMagic to the load. I've been using that in place of chlorine bleach for awhile now, plus I'll toss a scoop in a load of bright clothes, too.

For a degreasing or deodorizing boost, add a splash of regular pinesol to the load. Though it smells quite strong during and just after the cycle, by the time the clothes come out of the dryer, they are just pleasantly scented, much as they would be with a fabric softener. I had found that the homemade laundry soap wasn't so great at removing strong odors (such as my teenage son's tendency to bathe in cologne before school.) But Pinesol works great for this!

And as always, white vinegar as a fabric softener not only keeps your clothes soft and static free, it has the added bonus of de-gunking your washing machine.

Happy laundering. :-)

Fall Cleaning

I have these on the blog already but stored in a different place. The other links might not work much longer so please use these. Included in these links is one that is a more whole house general list instead of broken down into detailed room lists.

Download and Print:
Kitchen
Dining Room
Closets and Laundry Room
Living Room, Family Room and Office
Bedroom
Bathroom
Basement, Attic and Garage
Outside
Smaller General List

Friday Favorites

All food finds today...

Healthy Halloween and Fall Favorites - Pumpkin Spiced Biscuits, Beef Daube Provençal and Maple-Chile Popcorn are among the recipes collection

Cooking Lights Best Banana Breads - The banana fosters bread and the peanut butter banana bread look so very good

21 Crowd Pleasing Chicken Casseroles

36 Yummy Pumpkin Recipes - too many wonderful recipes that are perfect for Autumn

Cocktail Hour Bar Snacks

Product Review: Glass Cleaning Cloth

I purchased a microfiber glass cleaning cloth a few weeks ago. I don't recall the brand name, and didn't think to snap a pic before I tossed out the packaging. But I bought it at Wal-mart, in the cleaning aisle. It's a blue, waffle-weave patterned cloth specifically advertised for windows/mirrors, etc.

It claimed to work with just water and was priced at an outrageous $1.97. ;)

I was in the cleaning aisle because I was low on Windex. I figured, for a price less than a new spray bottle of cleaner, I'd give it a go. Anything that helps me reduce the use of chemical cleaning products AND reduces paper towel waste AND costs less than 2 bucks? I'm game to try.

It works wonderfully. It works so much better than Windex. I love it. I've been on a window and mirror cleaning spree since I bought it.

It doesn't streak. It doesn't leave lint. It's just so easy. I've wet a corner of it under the faucet and it worked great. I've spritzed windows with a water bottle and it worked great. I've used it just barely damp and it works great!

I've had it now, like I said, for a few weeks, use it pretty much daily (we have lots of windows and lots of mirrors!), and today is the first day I've put it in the laundry. I'm not sure how well it'll hold up through laundering, as it seems to me that microfiber cloths tend to not take well to being laundered over time. But even if it only lasts a couple of months, at less than two dollars a cloth, I still think it'll be a money saver. Plus, it just works better!

Bonus Cheapskate Homemaker Tip: Using an electric knife, cut your paper towel rolls in half (so you end up with two toilet paper-sized rolls of towels). Often, especially with the kids or when just covering a dish in the microwave, a full sized paper towel is way bigger than I need. I can always take more if I need more, and this way, I have twice as many towels to use. :)

Friday Favorites

31 Days to Less Messy Nest - Nester did 31 Days last year and I really enjoyed it and got some useful tips so I am sure this year will be just as good

Zippered Case by Design Sponge - Says Sewing 101 on it so hopefully not to hard? It just looks like something that would be practical as well as giftable.

Moving Tips Budget Guide - there are many helpful links on moving in the left sidebar

Thousand Dollar Bars - These look too good to me. That link goes to the blog entry about it - with more photos. Here is a link to the actual recipe.

Toss Out Guide - with fall cleaning here for me - I often go through these type of things too to see what we are hanging on to that we don't need to be

Salted vs Unsalted Butter

A question I received about recipes that call for unsalted butter. It was asked if they could use regular salted butter instead unsalted butter

I recommend using unsalted butter when a recipe calls for it, because it allows you to control the total amount of salt in the recipe. But sometimes I do not have unsalted butter so I do use salted butter and then omit salt from recipe. It is my preference though to use unsalted especially for baked goods.

Cleaning the Iron

Please read your manufactures instruction manual.

Mineral deposits can clog your steam iron. You can dissolve them by pouring some white vinegar into the water tank and letting it steam for several minutes. After cleaning with the vinegar, iron an old clean cloth. Residue will be deposited on the cloth. Cool the iron and rinse with water or distilled water if your iron calls for distilled water. If you get frequent mineral deposits, it might be because you are using tap water.

If you use spray starch, it will stick to the soleplate of the iron and need cleaning. The best way to clean it is to make a paste of baking soda and water and then brush the soleplate with an old clean tooth brush. If it isn't coming clean, then apply it again and scrub firmly. Cleaning it regularly will prevent the stuck on spray starch rubbing off on clothing when you are ironing.

Friday Favorites

Sweet Paul's Fabulous Fall eMagazine - I just think it is a pretty magazine with some good recipes and ideas

Homemade Chai - with cooler season coming upon us I am this sounds good

Slipcover Headboard - easy way to change things up

How to connect your computer to your TV - This website has articles on this and many more tech related how-to's

Pie Crust 101 by Smitten Kitchen - also 102 and 103 - This is something I haven't been able to master I am hoping by reading these that it will help me on this quest

Eco Tip

Recycle foam or cardboard egg cartons and use them as buffers in packages. You can cut them to size easily, save money and be green by recycling.

Friday Favorites

12 Steps to Eating Real Food - Just some basic steps to start eating real foods instead of processed or refined. I started to do this a few years ago and then slipped off the wagon and started buying refined again and that bothers me but reality - it came down to price. But I would love to start going back to more real foods and this is a good basic guide.

Mingling is the Word - 5 mingling tips to help when entertaining (beware the font is really small - might be easier to highlight and cut and paste into a notepad or word doc to blow up the font)

VeggieTrader.com - With gardening coming to an end for many this might be useful for getting rid of some of your extras - trade with others.

Giant Ginger Cookies - With all the talk of fall I have seen in the blogosphere when I came upon these cookies they screamed fall to me. They look so yummy!

Responsible Resale Rehab - basically an article on finding furniture at thrift stores or garage sales and what to do to clean them (greenly) and repair them


NOTE FROM YOUR HOSTESS: I apologize for the lack of posts this summer. I feel that with autumn coming - it is my favorite time of year and I nest. So I have started several posts for back to basics series and other tips as well as recipes and book reviews.

Friday Favorites

DIY Hand Sanitizer and Disinfectant - I admit it sometimes I become obsessed about germs - just like I am obsessed with natural products so these recipes I can't wait to make.

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting - with fall right around the corner I imagine this recipe being good on many cupcake recipes

Organic Processing Industry Structure - I just thought this was an interesting read on who owns which organic brands. Many I didn't realize were owned by big names in the processed food industry.

Household Companion: The Home Book Of Etiquette - I absolutely love old household books. And this is one I am sure I would never get to read if it weren't online

10 Tips to Remember when Purchasing Appliances - some good reminders when buying appliances. Last year we had our stove go out right around the holidays and had to buy very quickly and there were a few things I wish I would have asked family and friends about before it was bought

Friday Favorites

September is National Rice Month. Who knew!! I know until recently I had no idea there was such a thing as National Rice Month. But in keeping with that concept, here is this week's Friday Favorites:

National Rice Month
This link is about boosting your health by eating more rice.

How to clean your coffee pot with the use of rice
I never had any idea that one of the ways to clean your coffee pot was using white rice. I found this article and "how to" to be very interesting.

Save your cellphone from water damage Use rice to absorb moisture and perhaps save you from having to replace your cell phone from water damage.

Rice Massage Therapy A short video on how to use rice in massage therapy.

Cooking the perfect cup of rice Often times people have told me in the past that they aren't able to cook rice well. Either it is too crunchy, or too mushy, or too pastey. Alot of that has to also do with the type of rice you are attempting to cook, but here is a quick "how to" on cooking rice.

Linguine with Peppery Beef Strips

I have a few of those recipe cards that you get in the mail. They send them in hopes that you will agree to a monthly subscription of them. I will at times save some of them. This recipe is one I saved and made this week.



Ingredients
1 lb lean beef steak
1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
1/2 Tbsp dried basil
2 Tbsp coarsely ground pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch*
8 oz linguine
1 cup julienned carrots

Directions
Slice steak into 1 4-inch-thick slices. Mix oregano, basil, pepper, olive oil, garlic and green onions in a shallow dish. Add steak; toss to coat. Heat water for pasta. Dissolve cornstarch in broth. Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add steak; stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Remove steak. Stir broth mixture into skillet. Boil, stirring continually, for about 1 minute. Return steak to skillet. Add carrots; cook for 5 minutes. Drain pasta and add to skillet; toss with steak and vegetables. Serve immediately. Servings: 6

* The recipe card left off cornstarch on the ingredients list but not in the directions so I just did a guess on the amount. And it seemed to work good.

NOTES:
- I was out of green onions so I just used some finely grated onion
- I used Top Round Steak - thinly cut
- Added some left over red and orange bell peppers maybe 1/2 of one all together
- Added some red pepper flakes to give it some heat

We liked it and it is something that we would like to have again but I think I would add a little more broth and cornstarch. It soaked in to the pasta quickly. But otherwise it was good. It was a nice change of flavors from traditional stir fry.

Random finds....

I've been on an organization/purging kick lately and found the following resources while surfing in the wee hours when I should be sleeping.

Clean Mama Blog- excellent blog posts on green cleaning, spring cleaning and housekeeping along with project ideas and organizing. My favorite? Her step by step clean ALL your bedding blogpost (I'm not a fan of flat sheets, either!)

Simplify 101- professional organizers that provide online workshops and offer a good selection of free tips and articles on organization. I liked the fact that not only did the tips cover decluttering, organizing and cleaning on both home and office, but it covered productivity and life goals/changes as well.

Crazy Domestic Blog- good articles overall on cleaning and organizing but the one that got me really excited was this guest tutorial on etched glass storage jars. So cute! (I am totally doing this for the holidays).

My new discovery: Podcasts on Organizing (I'm still in the process of finding which ones I like, but it never occurred to me to check itunes for podcasts on cleaning/organizing)

Friday Favorites

I don't know about in your house but in our house dinner time can sometimes be a super busy time of day. Even though it is a busy time of day in our house I still like to get good tasting food on the table in the evenings. With that in mind this week's Friay Favorites are all about the quick and easy meal.

Mccormick 30 minute meals This is one of my go to sites when I need quick meal ideas. It's not fancy food by any means, but it is tastey and quick, as well as nutricious.

Rachel Ray
We are also big Rachel Ray fans in our house. Her recipes are easy to follow, affordable food, things my whole family will eat even the picky eaters, and quick to prepare.

365 No Repeats Cookbook This is one of my go to cookbooks for dinner ideas when I need a quick and easy meal. I like that it gives me so many options without repeating itself. It inspires me not to cook the same 10 dishes over and over again.

Dinner planner This is a great site to utilize if you, like many of us, find yourself in a rut with cooking the same few things often. It's a grea tool in helping to prepare dinner planning ahead of time so that you have a game plan and can excute that plan. That is also a time saver in the kitchen.

30 meals in one day I haven't tried this product out, but I keep coming back to the site because it is a concept that I have seriously given much thought to. I like the idea of being able to prepare many meals all at once. Using say a Sunday to cook up a week or two (or according to this site 30 days worth) of meals all at one time, then storing them in the freezer for future use. In our house we do prepare some meals ahead of time so that on nights that are super rushed we can just grab the already prepared frozen meal, defrost and heat, add a healthy salad or fresh veggie side dish, and we are good to go. This site may be worth checking out for some of you who want to do a lot of food preparation ahead of time.

Friday Favorites

Although summer is still upon us, with Labor Day approaching in a few weeks my mind starts drifting to fall. A wonderful season to enjoy but also one with a lot of yard and house clean up and maintenance. Here are some helpful links for just such an occassion.

Real Simple Home Orgainzing
Fall cleaning Checklist. I always find it helpful to make a checklist when I do spring and fall cleaning. Real Simple has gone and made one up already that you may find helpful if you haven't already made your own list.

Closet Tips
5 tips to organizing your closet. I found this to be helpful although a bit basic. I am always looking for better ways to organize a closet and this was a good place to start.

Fall Backyard Cleanup Tips
Fall cleanup for backyards. This site had a lot of helpful information regarding backyard cleanup for the fall season. They provided ten time saving tips on yard maintenance and care.

Gutter Cleaning
A How to Guide to Gutter cleaning. I put this one in here now because although the leaves are still on the trees, in the northeast they will fall soon enough and if you have to do any maintenance to your gutters it is best to accomplish this before the leaves start to fall so that your gutters are functional when fall does come.

Friday Favorites

This week, I'm celebrating the flavors of summer before it winds down.

Raspberry Limeade Slushies
I've been going through a lime juice phase. So I definitely perked when I saw these luscious slushies with two of my favorite fruit.

French Martini Sorbet
A yummy cocktail inspired dessert from Cooking Light, combining the flavors of raspberry, lemon and pineapple.

Insalata Caprese
Usually by this time of year, we are overrun with tomatoey goodness. My favorite way to use them is Insalata Caprese (the leftovers- if there are any- are great in a sandwich the next day). Best of all, it's a no-cook recipe that's ready in ten minutes. While the traditional recipe only calls for olive oil, occasionally I will cheat and drizzle a few drops of a rich balsamic vinegar on top.

Argula Salad with Peaches and Goat Cheese
This is a new-to-me blog but I love some of the recipes showcased. Make sure you read the helpful Kitchen Notes at the bottom of the recipe. I love using fresh fruits in salads- blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, peaches. So the combination of argula and peaches picqued my interest immediately. Especially with creamy goat cheese and a garlicky dressing. Yum!

And... from the same blog: summertime equals sizzling steaks from the grill for me. But I like to add a fresh, herbal summery kick with chimichurri sauce during these hotter than hot months (plus I can drizzle the sauce on grilled veggies, salads, bread, etc). Blue Kitchen has a recipe that went immediately on my "must try now!" list: Pan Seared Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce

Enjoy!