Many people know what a crock pot is. Some people also call it a slow cooker. No matter what you call it, it’s an effective and affordable way to save time, money and energy in meal preparation. The last thing that I want to do after working all day is stand on my feet for a half hour or more cooking a meal. If you place whatever ingredients your recipe calls for in the crock pot in the morning you’ll come home to a tasty, ready to serve meal. Crock pots add variety. There are so many crock pot recipes you could go a very long time without eating the same thing twice. And, having a crock pot also means you can buy different cuts and quantities of meat, increasing your variety and decreasing the amount you spend on meat. Crock pots are easy to use, you just plug them in and turn a knob. They don’t require anything special to use them and you don’t have to buy memory for them.You don’t have to constantly open the lid to check the food and you don’t have to stir them. The food is very tasty too. Do you have a crock pot?

I can’t be the only one that hates cleaning out the refrigerator. Here’s the quickest way I’ve found to give a refrigerator a through cleaning, the kind that mine needs because I’ve waited too long between cleanings.

1. Fill the bathtub with your favorite cleanser.
2. While the tub is filling empty the refrigerator.
3. Place all shelves, drawers, butter trays, etc. in the tub to soak.
4. Wearing gloves, use your favorite cleaner or mixture to clean all surfaces inside the empty refrigerator.
5. Dry the inside of the refrigerator with an old towel.
6. Use an old nail brush or tooth brush to get between the cracks of the gaskets around doors.
7. Go back to the tub and wipe the loosened dirt off of the items you have soaking.
8. Remove and dry the items in the tub and put them bck in their place in the refrigerator.
9. Go through the food, checking all expiration dates and discarding as appropriate.
10. Put the food back inside of the refrigerator.

Recently I had a problem with the sink. Specifically, water wouldn’t come out of it. A plumber we know fiddled with the faucet and aerator thingey and the water started flowing once again. It wasn’t until after he left that I discovered one side of the faucet had cracked. Now, if you turn the water on to anything more than low it comes spraying out the crack all over the counter to the left side of the sink. It’s wet and it’s messy. So, after the holidays we’re going to have to get a new faucet for the kitchen. Hubby told me he wants to get one of those bar faucets. I’d like to get one of those elephant faucets with the head that’s also a sprayer. (I call them elephant faucets because of a commercial I once saw for one.) Both are tall, which is what hubby and I agree the next faucet should be. What kind of kitchen faucet do you have?

When I have trash to throw away in the kitchen at home it always seems like I have my hands full with numerous things that need to be thrown away or one big thing. It often seems that I just don’t have enough hands. My Mom recently got a trash can that doesn’t have to be touched to use. It’s an infrared trash can. It’s stainless steel and it looks nice. All you need to do to get it to open is wave something over it. If your hands are full just sort of waver an elbow, a hip or your pile of garbage over it. The lid raises up and you can then dump the trash in. It’s very cool, and it keeps your wedding and engagement rings clean too. My Mom got one because she was trying to keep the dog out of the trash can. Hers is 13 gallons and she got it for about $40 at Costco. I think it makes the garbage smell less too, so I’m considering picking one up after the holidays. Have you seen these or do you have one? What do you think about them?

Where do you store your pots and pans? If you’re like many people, you store your pots and pans in a cabinet when you’re not using them. Mine are in the bottom cabinet under the oven. That cabinet is too much of a pain to get into so keeping the pots and pans there works out. But if it was easier to get into I’d empty it out in a heartbeat to free up some more cabinet space. One way to free up the cabinet space your pots and pans take up is by hanging them. They can actually look really nice hanging. And, they’ll be right there ready and waiting when you need one. So. Where do you store your pots and pans?

In the last couple of years silicone bakeware has become quite popular. I noticed this year that silicone oven mitts also seem to be very popular. Not having any, I didn’t understand why so I did some research. As it turns out, silicone oven mitts are heat resistant and can withstand really high oven temperatures, as much as 600° F. They’re shaped to fit left or right hands.They’re water proof and dishwasher safe. Some even say that they don’t stain. Now I’ve decided I want to get a pair. I’ve found them for as low as $9.99 and as high as $25. Do you have any silicone oven mitts? What do you like or dislike about them? Any recommendations on which brands are good or bad?

Our kitchen is probably a little smaller than 12×12. Two of the walls have cabinets over the countertop. The total countertop area is not all that big. When I ran out of places to put my small appliances, I came up with a solution that allows me to keep the bigger small appliances off of the counter, things like the crockpot, the deep fryer and the rice cooker. I also got myself a little more storage space for things like cases of water or soda. What I did is I went to Target and bought myself a bakers rack for $69. It’s got a butcher block top at almost counter level height and two shelves underneath. There’s a narrower shelf up top where I keep things my Pampered Chef apple peeler and my little chopper, and some cans of cat food too. We don’t have the money to renovate now but hope to some day. This solves the problem nicely for now.

I have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer that has all sorts of attachments. I have an old hand mixer that just has the two regular beaters. I have a Smoothie maker that can handle fruits as well as any of the top rated diet supplements . The problem is they’re all a pain in the butt to drag out when I want to mix something quickly. I think it’d be very useful to have one of these in the kitchen, to use for anything from a quick drink to quick homemade baby food. I found a really nice hand mixer online today called a Braun Multiquick Handblender. It’s got a 400 watt motor and comes with three stainless steel attachments - a blender, chopper, and a whisk. It’s selling for between $70 and $90 right now. RB’s not working now but I’m thinking of adding it to my wish list. I’d love to hear of any similar units you might have so I could compare them.

Empty everything out onto the table. Match up everything.

Recycle anything that has no matching top or bottom.

Recycle anything you don’t or can’t use.

Recycle any containers that are broken, split, stained, smelly, or melted beyond the point of usability.

Nest and stack containers in area you’ll be storing them.

Lay the lids inside of a basket of old container where you’re storing them.

Put containers and lids away immediately after use and cleaning, rather than setting it on top and waiting until later. Later never comes.