WFMW: No More Soggy Rice!

One of the most frustrating things about cooking rice in a saucepan is how often it turns out soggy. I learned a trick a few months back that has allowed me to make perfect, fluffy rice every time!

The trick is simple: as soon as your rice is done cooking, remove it from the hot burner and place a folded dish towel beneath the lid. Leave it there until you have all the food on the table and are ready to serve.


The dishtowel will absorb the excess steam and leave you with light, fluffy rice! It's easy, it's free, and it Works For Me!

WFMW: Keeping laundry away from my toddler

About a month ago, maybe two, I was lamenting to my husband and my cousin how frustrated I was with my laundry situation. You see, I am one of those people who actually enjoys doing the laundry a little bit, but Ariel was making it impossible for me to take pleasure in it. Every time I would sit down to fold, she would rush to ransack my piles and drag clean laundry all over the house, which would inevitably get mixed up with the dirty laundry and have to be washed all over again because I didn't know what was what. What is a mama to do?

Well, I've finally come up with a solution that works beautifully for me, and I'm really starting to enjoy the process again. Here it is!

First, I gather hangers. I always keep my daughter's empty hangers over the washing machine, along with a bag of clothespins for her pants. That way I can work on the laundry when she's napping, if I want.

I also grab some of Dan's and my hangers. Yes, I color code my hangers. It's one of my few obsessive-compulsive indulgences. I made Dan get rid of his multi-color hangers and buy new ones when we got married. Am I a freak?


As you can see, I position a laundry basket below the dryer to catch the laundry as I pull it out. I don't actually take all the laundry out and put it in the basket - I just leave it there because sometimes you go to remove something and a big old ball of laundry falls out.

So now, it's time to start folding. Pulling directly from the dryer, I start folding items and putting them on top of the dryer, where little hands can't reach them.


Socks get placed in a small container on the washing machine. They will get matched at the very end, when I know they're all present.


Ariel's clothes get hung and returned to their spot above the dryer. Sometimes I hang them on the oven handle, instead, since our washing machine is by the kitchen.


If you're wondering why I hang my toddler's clothes, it's because she gets into her drawers and dumps everything out, and the drawers aren't designed in such a way that I can put toddler locks on them.

I also place Dan's and my clothes on hangers and re-hang them.


For some reason, Ariel doesn't mess with the clothes that are hanging here, but they are still the first thing that I put away. I want to be cautious, in case she suddenly develops a new naughty habit. She does that a lot.

The beauty of this system is that, at any moment, I can walk away to take care of Ariel and Felicity. All I have to do is shut the dryer door behind me, and everything is safe and out of Ariel's reach. If there are still clothes in there that cool and get wrinkly, I just re-heat them for 10 minutes before beginning again. It may sound like cheating, but it Works For Me!

WFMW: Themed Edition!

Today is the Works-For-Me Wednesday "What Do I Fix?" Edition! We are supposed to share our best last-minute meal recipe.

This is definitely one of my top eat-in-five-minutes meals - the Lady Ida's Prize. It is my take on an open-faced sandwich by the same name made by The Truffle Hunter, a restaurant on Powell Boulevard that my family used to go to every couple years as a special treat. Dan took me there on the night he proposed. And this is the only thing that I have ever ordered.

Note: at The Truffle Hunter, they use Swiss cheese, but I have always asked them to substitute cheddar because I'm a cheddar fiend.

Sadly, I haven't been able to eat this myself lately because of Felicity's dairy allergy, but I told Dan that, when I am able to have dairy again, I want to celebrate by going to The Truffle Hunter and eating the real thing.

Yeah, technically it's a sandwich, and it makes a great lunch, too. But it's hot and filling and, when we're ravenous and there's no time to cook up a big dinner, this Works For Me!

You will need:
2 slices of bread per person, cream cheese, sliced ham (deli ham is what I usually use, but ham from an actual ham is always a treat!), sliced cheddar cheese (each slice about 1/8 inch thick), and a can of pineapple slices.

Move your oven rack up close to the burner and turn on the broiler. If you are using brick cream cheese, melt it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it. I used whipped cream cheese here, so it wasn't necessary this time. Spread cream cheese generously on each slice of bread.
Top each slice of bread with several slices of ham, then cover entirely with sliced cheese.
Place the bread slices on a cookie sheet. Put them in the oven and broil, watching carefully, until the cheese is melted but not yet bubbly. Remove from the oven.
Add 2 pineapple slices per slice of bread. The reason we didn't add these earlier is that the cheese won't melt if it's hidden beneath the pineapple.
return to the oven, and broil for another 30 seconds or so or until the pineapple is hot - again, watch carefully to avoid burning the cheese.
Serve piping hot!

MMMMMM... this is making me hungry! Felicity, you'd better be grateful that I'm still breastfeeding you!

If you liked this post, be sure to come back next Tuesday for the next installment of Tasty Tuesday!

WFMW: Shorter Trips to the Grocery Store

Now that I'm a mom of two kids under 2, it's harder than ever to go to the grocery store. At the same time, I've lost so many brain cells over the past 2 years (you know, the ones that die during pregnancy and 2:00am feedings?) that I find myself doubling back through the same grocery aisles over and over again. And when I finally get home and start unpacking, I realize that I've forgotten some vital item (Milk? Bread? Oops.), so I have to go back in the next day or two for one or two more things. Which becomes 5 or 10 by then. And the process repeats.

In September, I came up with the oh-so-bright idea of listing out EVERY SINGLE ITEM THAT I EVER BUY on a sheet of paper. I went through my cupboards and took note of everything that we use, and where I would buy it. I then made up 4 lists: one for the pricey natural store, one for the super-cheap grocer, one for the conveniently nearby store, and one for the cheapest store to get personal and paper supplies.

Some of the foods go on twice - I definitely want to buy tortillas at the cheap store when I'm there, but I might need more between trips, so I'll pick them up at the nearby store, too.

I arranged each list of everything by aisle, in the order that I go through the store.

I keep them stuck to my fridge, with a pencil on top of the fridge. When I discover that I need something, I star it, and take notes if needed. Before I leave for whichever store I'm going to, I run my eyes down the list to make sure that I have everything starred that I could possibly need from that store.

Ah, relief from the chaos! I hope that you're inspired to do something similar if you're having trouble in this area. It sounds like a big project, but it took me maybe half an hour. SO WORTH IT!

This post is in participation with Works For Me Wednesday at www.rocksinmydryer.net.

WFMW: Those Pesky Little Buggers!

We keep a constant supply of bananas in our home for Dan's protein shakes, which means that, once or twice a month, I manage to bring home a few dozen fruit fly eggs. There are few things more obnoxious than walking into your kitchen in the morning only to be greeted by little black dots swirling around you and alighting from any bit of leftover food that might still be exposed from the night before (I never said I was Martha Stewart! I'm workin' on it, though!).

A few months ago, I found a home remedy for killing fruit flies that has been working like a charm for us! Here it is!

In a shallow bowl (it doesn't have to be big AT ALL - I use a 3" diameter condiment bowl), mix equal parts apple cider vinegar and water. Add a dab of dish soap and swirl it around.

Leave the bowl out on the counter for the day, and I guarantee you that you'll have a few dead flies in there by the evening. When you get too grossed out by them, dump the mixture out and repeat. You'll be down to one or two flies in just a day or two!

TAKE THAT, SUCKERS!

WFMW: Clean and Chlorine-Free Dishes, Cheap!

Ever since I started thinking about the chemicals in my home, if not before, I've been disturbed by the thought that my dishwashing liquid is full of chlorine.

When I was in 9th grade, my science teacher told us a story about when he used to work at a facility that housed chlorine gas, and how he was told that if he ever saw a green cloud creeping along the ground and under the door, he should run for his life. Ever since then, I've imagined chlorine as a scary monster or alien being, creeping along trying to kill me and those that I love. Yes, it won't kill you in small doses - NOTHING will kill you in small doses - but still, who wants to ingest a poison?

You can't avoid chlorine in your water unless you buy a very high-grade filter or a distiller, which I am not currently able to do, but I can sure as heck-fire avoid putting it in my dishwasher. Especially when your dishwasher isn't working super-well, it's nice to know that you're not eating off a chlorine film at every meal. Organic detergents can be pricey, and you never know how "organic" they really are, since the term is not regulated in anything other than food, but the stuff I use is known to be safe, non-toxic (well, you shouldn't eat washing soda, but it's not nearly as toxic as chlorine), and inexpensive.

SO.... here's the "recipe" (do not actually mix these together or you'll end up with nasty goo) for natural, poison-free, clean dishes:

*1 T Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer makes it, but it's different from baking soda - it's in a yellow box in the detergent aisle at Fred Meyer)
*1 T Simple Green (I use the lemon kind because we like that scent better for our dishes - Linens N Things carries it)
*White Vinegar

Put the washing soda in one of your dishwasher dispenser holes and the Simple Green in the other. Put white vinegar in the Jet Dry dispenser (otherwise you'll end up with white film all over your glasses).

I've been very happy with this and have seen NO NOTABLE DIFFERENCE between using this and liquid Cascade. Maybe they don't rinse QUITE as clearly (the vinegar really helps), but I'm not trying to impress anyone, just to take good care of my family. And now, when I unload the dishwasher, I can feel good about what I'm doing for them!

WFMW

Okay, so I'm finally getting on the Rocks In My Dryer bandwagon. Today is BACKWARDS DAY for Works-For-Me Wednesday, and I am supposed to ask all ya'll a question.

So here it is: how do you care for the teeth of a spastic 20-month-old? At this point, I just give her a tooth brush when she asks for it (which is every couple days), and she chews on it and gives it back. I'm concerned that this may be inadequate.

I can't imagine her ever sitting still and letting someone else brush her teeth - she is NOT that kind of baby - but she certainly isn't accomplishing a thorough tooth cleaning on her own. Do I need to be concerned about this? I can't be the only person faced with this problem. What do you do?

Thanks!