Thursday, May 22, 2008

Steam Cleaner

One of my online friends got me hooked on the steam cleaner. Ever used one? It's pretty amazing. Fiberglass showers are not my favorite thing to clean. The steam really cuts through the hard water stains. I also love it for my floors. Very fast! The only thing I miss when using the steam cleaner is the smell of essential oils. I used to clean with EO's diluted with water. I found a trick for that with the floors. I just put a few drops of my favorite EO's on the mop - the steam comes up and the scent is distributed all through the room.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Electric Pressure Cooker

Well, I've got to start somewhere. Recently I purchased an electric pressure cooker. This appliance is amazing. For example, last night I wanted to make meatball sandwiches. This is usually quite a lengthy process (I like the homemade French bread) and I ran out of time. The bread was cooking but I hadn't even started the meatballs. They usually take 25 minutes to cook (if I remember right). It takes a few minutes for the pressure to build, but the actual cooking time was 6 minutes. 6 MINUTES!!! It was also a quick release recipe (meaning you let the pressure out as soon as the beeper goes off) so that only added another 30 seconds or so. If anyone is interested in trying an electric pressure cooker, I recommend the book, "Pressure Perfect" by Lorna Sass. She has the most extensive list of pressure times for many foods. My favorite list is her meat times. She has them listed by type of meat (chicken, pork, beef) and the cut of meat. She also tells you how much time to add for frozen meat. That's kind of important in our house.