The Urban Homemaker Blog

Category: Homemaking

  • Trying to Burn the House Down

    When’s the last time you forgot about something cooking on the stove?  It happened to me just the other night.  I was expecting my husband home for dinner soon and was reheating some chicken tenderloins (from the night before) on the stove.   I’m not sure why I had the heat up so high, but I thought I’d sit down in the office a bit to quickly send an email, and actually forgot about that chicken, until the smell of something burning assaulted my nostrils!  Unfortunately, the chicken was very done, almost beyond recognition, and my lovely heavy-duty Kuhn Rikon pan was charred black and smoking.  A lesser quality pan may very well have been on fire at this point!  The kitchen was smoky, and although it was a very cool evening, I had to open the doors and windows to get some relief from the smell and smoke.  After the pan cooled, which took awhile, I used some simple tools, and with about 5 minutes of work I had that favorite pan of mine shining again.

    I can imagine I am not the only person this happens to, and I’d just like to share some useful “clean-up” tips I’ve learned over the years.

    burnt pan 002

    Depressing!

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    An inexpensive little plastic scraper is my #1 tool for the job!  Use it to scrape off the majority of the thick, black “gunk”.

    burnt pan 006

    My well-loved and well-used Norwex Spirinett is what I used next.

    burnt pan 004

    And then a sprinkle of this cleanser and a little more scrubbing with the Spirinett.

    One of the very few cleaners I keep in the house!  Brings that shine back to stainless steel cookware!

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    My beloved Kuhn Rikon pan looking good as new!

  • How To Cook The Perfect Egg… or, being thankful for the simple things in life

    How To Cook The Perfect Egg… or, being thankful for the simple things in life

    tumblr_lm110yHDTw1qdcvmcIf you’ve ever tried peeling a “farm-fresh” hard-boiled egg you can probably relate to my frustration over what seems like an impossible task!  We have had chickens for 16 years, and until just a few weeks ago I struggled with removing the shell from a hard-boiled egg!  I’ve read, and been told many tips and tricks to getting it done, but none of those provided a consistent smooth outcome!

    Recently, I came across a brief article in Mother Earth Living that gave simple instructions, which I followed, and got great results!  And not just once – it’s worked perfectly for me several times now!

    Here are my “slightly revised” easy-to-follow steps:

    • Bring eggs to room temperature
    • Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil
    • Carefully lower eggs into water with a spoon
    • Cover pot and boil hard for 14 minutes
    • Drain and put eggs immediately into cold water
    • Lightly crack each shell all over and then gently roll it between your hands and remove shell

    It is amazing what emotions overwhelm us in the process of just the simple things in life!  I can honestly admit to sheer frustration (anger?) in trying to get the shells off eggs for those Deviled Eggs I was taking to the church potluck!  And then – the happiness and thankfulness I felt when I used this method and the shells just slipped off easily!

    Maybe it’s “the simple things in life” that are our true tests.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Homestyle Gluten-free Bread

    glutenfree

    If you’ve been looking for a dependable recipe for a gluten-free sandwich bread- look no further!

    Once you’ve compiled all the ingredients for this bread, the recipe comes together easily and quickly, with family-pleasing results!

    Or, see the Urban Homemaker’s Baking Supplies category for the Urban Homemaker’s NEW Gluten-free Bread Mix* – and make it even easier!

    This recipe was developed for my Bosch kitchen mixer – you could do it by hand, but the Bosch Universal Plus makes it a piece of cake!

    HOMESTYLE GLUTEN-FREE BREAD

    This recipe can be made using one package of the Urban Homemaker’s Gluten-free Bread Mix.

    Makes 3 (1 1/2 pound) loaves.

    2 cups brown rice flour

    2 cups white rice flour

    1  cup tapioca flour

    1/2 cup millet flour

    1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour

    2 tablespoons xanthan gum

    2 tablespoons SAF instant  yeast

    2 teaspoons sea salt

    4 eggs, slightly beaten

    1/2 cup canola oil

    1/2 cup honey

    2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

    3 cups warm water

    Mix all the dry ingredients well in your Bosch mixer bowl using the dough hook.  In another bowl, mix the eggs, oil, honey, and vinegar.  Add the warm water and the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on speed 1 for five minutes, cleaning the sides with a spatula after a minute or so.

    Remove the bowl from the mixer and the dough hook from the bowl.  Using a rubber scraper, spoon the dough evenly between 3 standard size loaf pans, smoothing the tops to improve the appearance and remove air bubbles.

    Set aside to rise approximately 30-45 minutes.  When the loaves have risen nicely, bake in a 350* oven for 35 – 40 minutes, until golden brown.  Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 5 minutes before removing from pans.

    PLEASE NOTE:  The Urban Homemaker’s Gluten-Free Bread Mix is a compilation of gluten-free ingredients, but these ingredients are not packaged in a gluten-free facility.

  • Tribute to Mom

    Tribute to Mom

    The Urban Homemaker is epitomized in my own mother.  I took it for granted, as a child, and foolishly thought most homes were like mine, with a mother who cooked supper every night, baked the best cookies and cinnamon rolls, and actually said she liked doing laundry and ironing!  I did wonder at times why some of my elementary classmates hounded me to trade my lunch for theirs.  🙂

    Mom became an urban homemaker when she and Dad married and settled in a big city out West (where her asthma was supposed to be better), far from their families, and the rural lifestyle in the East where they were both born and raised.  Despite being raised in a large family, in the country, my mom says she wasn’t much of a cook when she got married.  By the time my sisters and I came along though, as far back as my memory serves me, Mom’s food was wonderful!  My dad would take us all out “for dinner” (39 cent hamburgers and French fries) once every two weeks when he got his paycheck, so Mom had ample time and experience to hone her cooking skills.  She made food from “scratch” as it was less expensive than the boxed variety.  She did not own fancy cooking tools, or even a dishwasher (my dad said he had four dishwashers and didn’t need any more)!    After our outing at the burger joint, we would go to the grocery store – Dad would hand Mom $40 cash, and she would buy two weeks worth of groceries while the rest of us waited in the station wagon, listening to the radio and enjoying our time with Dad.

    So… times have changed, yes.  We have been liberated and don’t have to do the mundane cooking and cleaning that was once a natural, necessary task for us.  It’s become easy, acceptable, and excusable to let the restaurant chains feed us more often than we cook.  Losing the art and skills of homemaking has cost us more than just monetarily; it has deprived us of our innate ability to nurture our families, and it has led to a nation of many unhealthy people.

    In a review in Eating Well magazine of Michael Pollan’s latest book, Cooked:A Natural History of Transformation, Pollan says, “Cooking is key to changing our health and the environment.”  When asked about a person who just doesn’t have time to cook, Pollan replies, “Well, that same person has an hour for yoga or surfing the Web.  We put pressure on the kitchen to save 10 minutes to do something else.  I’m just arguing that it’s important – for your health, your family life and your sanity”.

    I am truly grateful for my mother and for her beautiful portrayal of homemaking.  We don’t all have a mother like mine, but we can all be inspired to learn and grow, and transform the way we look at the task before us of raising a healthy family.

    So…what’s for dinner?  🙂

  • Brunch Egg Casserole

    BRUNCH EGG CASSEROLE

    Serves 12

    Here’s a hearty,” assemble the night before” dish

    which includes tasty, basic ingredients!

    1 pound bacon, cut into small pieces

    2 cups cooked ham, chopped

    1 small onion, chopped

    10 slices bread (a French loaf works great), cubed

    1 cup cooked potatoes, cubed

    1 cup cooked asparagus, cut into small pieces (optional)

    3 cups of your favorite shredded cheese

    8 eggs

    3 cups milk

    1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

    1 teaspoon ground mustard

    1/2 teaspoon each salt & pepper

    Cook bacon pieces in a skillet until crisp ; add ham and onion and cook until onion is tender; drain. In a greased 9×13 pan, layer half the bread cubes, potatoes, asparagus, and cheese. Top with all the bacon mixture. Add remaining layers of bread, vegetables, and cheese. In a bowl, beat the eggs; add milk and seasonings. Pour egg mixture over pan ingredients. Cover and chill overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake uncovered at 325* for 70 minutes, or until a knife stuck in the middle comes out clean.

     

     

  • Soft and Simple Yeast Rolls

    1 cup water

    1/2 cup butter

    1/2 cup sugar or honey

    3 eggs

    1 teaspoon sea salt

    1 tablespoon SAF (instant) yeast

    4 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour

    (or substitute part of this with freshly ground whole wheat flour)

    Today I used one cup of whole wheat flour – Excellent results!

    Heat water and butter until butter is nearly melted.  Pour into mixing bowl and add sugar/honey, eggs, and salt.  Mix well.  In a separate small bowl combine the yeast with one cup of the flour.  Add this to your mixing bowl along with the remaining flour.  If you used honey add an extra 3/4 cup flour.  Mix well for several minutes.  I use my Bosch Universal Mixer with the dough hook for this recipe, although the dough is too wet to be kneaded.  You can also do this by hand with a wooden spoon.  Put the dough into a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight.  On the day you want to serve them, shape the cold dough into rolls with oiled hands and place on a greased baking sheet.  For 20 dinner rolls, shape the dough into balls a bit larger than “golf-ball size”.  Let rise for 3 to 4 hours, until rolls look fat and puffy.  A warm room will hasten the rising time and a cold room will slow it down.  Bake in a 350* oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.


  • Healthy Blender Pancakes

     

    We were hungry for pancakes this morning, and I’ve been wanting to try Marilyn’s Blender Pancake recipe in her wonderful cookbook, Breakfasts for Busy Moms. We were not disappointed!  If you haven’t put your Bosch blender to the test yet, try it out with this recipe!  It’s AMAZING!  Put the ingredients into the blender (all except the baking powder and baking soda) and blend on high speed for 4 minutes.  Add the baking powder and soda and blend briefly.  Pour batter right from the blender onto a hot, lightly oiled griddle.  One recipe makes enough for 4 people, and it got “thumbs up” from the whole family!  I used 1 1/2 cups of a cracked 9-grain blend that I’ve had awhile, but a whole 7-grain blend would work great, as well as the combinations Marilyn suggests in the cookbook.  Even using just one whole or cracked grain, such as wheat, spelt, etc., would work just fine!   Wouldn’t it be interesting to try buckwheat as a gluten-free alternative?  I used buttermilk, but for those of you who are dairy-free, fruit juice would work as the liquid.   These healthy, hearty, yummy pancakes are a wonderful way to start the day.

    MARILYN’S FAMILY FAVORITE BLENDER PANCAKES

    1 3/4 cup buttermilk (or fruit juice)

    1 egg

    2 T. olive oil

    1 t. vanilla

    2 T. honey

    1 t. salt

    1/2 cup raw brown rice

    1/2 cup pastry wheat or Kamut

    1/2 cup rolled oats

    1/2 t. baking soda

    2 t. baking powder

    Blend at high speed for 3-5 minutes, until smooth.  Then add

    baking powder and soda and blend in briefly.

    Pour batter onto hot, greased griddle and cook until bubbles on unbaked side

    begin to break; turn once and cook on second side until done.

  • Urban Homemaker ~ How are you Managing?

    I will be the first to admit that I am over stretched in what I do and accomplish in a day. Yes, I do plenty that is good and right, but what I want is where my Lord wants me to be.  Over the last several weeks I have heard the same things that are from the mouths of my peers, other Urban Homemakers,  just like me- probably just like you too?

    We have “10 things”<please insert your own list, but it may look like this: work, feed, clean, canning!, garden work, bill paying, dog washing, piano lessons, meeting off-site, laundry, dishwasher, etc> that we think need to be done in the course of 10 minutes. Seriously, that sounds fabricated and not rational. Thats the point.. My driving-ness (if that is a word, but you get me?) fabricated the need for those 10 things to be done in the next 10 min. and it isn’t rational! Heavens! I am my own worst enemy and this is the well worn path to tearing me apart.  Let me interject that there are a ton of fun and wonderful things happening, yet He has my attention in the area of “needing improvement” and I am persevering to get this right.  All those things that seem so important can just stay where they are! I mean they are there even when I forget about them! Heck, they might even be there to mold and shape me into the woman I am meant to be.  Hope so! Such the process isn’t it?

    Here are 2 quotes that I have heard in the last few weeks that have STUCK! and they keep STICKING..

    1. The Volunteer Lady who met us at the JEFFCO Action Center in Lakewood, CO. said “Never come here thinking you will accomplish all that needs accomplishing. The work never ends. There is always more to be done.”

    2. From a dear, sweet friend of mine: paraphrased somehwat: “I want to “mother” instead of “manage” – and I’ve been managing instead of mothering.”

    Quote 1 & 2 both have changed my thinking. It is a mindset challenge for me. I can do all the tending I physically do, but the mindset behind that seems like it has to be done NOW rather than seeing it for what it is- it is an endurance walk in life. The “work” will always present themselves, and tasks will continue.. If I “attempt” to finish all those things with the mindset of finishing and nothing else, I find myself MANAGING. When I manage I get crabby, tired, fried.. or please insert your own yuck feeling/action of choice here. Of course, if I am in that mode of managing how can I possibly “mother” in the way I should?

     

    Don't look too far off from today- that other grass to be cut is for another day!

    This morning Hubby and I set out to take an hour or so off and be together. Instead of managing another (HA!) task we did an 11 mile bike ride and breakfast in town. It was glorious! As we came down the hill towards home I saw the photo illustration of my whole theme here.. So have a gander at the pretty cut grass and lines. Think of yourself as the tractor and everything that needs to be done (the grass) and just do the few lines you set out to do. Know that you may not accomplish everything in 1 day, but it may be ongoing(see grass surrounding cut grass). Also notice the tractor is turned off and not moving. Yes- there is a purpose in that too! Other things besides the grass need to be done instead of cutting, i.e. bike riding with Hubby. The grass will grow and it will be cut. I am thankful for the neat rows that I can see, but be careful not to look beyond too far as the field goes on and on and that is for another day!

    May you be encouraged to have a different mindset and may you whole heartedly Mother rather than Manage!

    Kathy

     

     

  • Plastic Eggs, Little Kids and an Object Lesson


    I came up with this idea with a little help after hiding little plastic eggs in our backyard Saturday night while the house was sleeping. It has never been warm or dry enough to do a little hunt in years past and since my “Littles” are getting older, I wanted them to have this experience.

    I am one blessed Mama to have 3 young children to know and confess a relationship with Jesus. He being raised from the dead is right where our faith starts! I want them to understand so they can live in that relationship their whole lives. To have them know and understand early in life is AWESOME!

    I’ll get back to Easter morning, my children are waking, the coffee pot is brewing, and I open the blinds to find our little “Dixieland” dog carting around a yellow plastic Easter egg. The slider opens, I say “drop it,” ~ she does. The yard is covered with about 5-6 eggs and their contents. I manage to put back all but 3 emptied eggs.

    The hunt begins, then it hit me. ~ Children don’t forget the empty eggs!”

    In my mind they represent the empty tomb! There are 3, an opportunity for all 3 of my children. I hope and pray they will pick them up.

    I hear “They aren’t valuable Mom,” “Nothing of value is in them Mom,” “We’ll get them later Mom.” I reminded them a few times and then said no more.

    So I run inside and collect three $1 bills and wait.  ~ “So did any of you get the empty eggs?” “No”, but then the light bulb goes on in one of our son’s face. He knows!!! Then our daughter~ she knows!  And then the other son. He knows too! YES!

    They acknowledged they all missed a “valuable” opportunityto collect something (an empty dog licked egg) that was the most valuable!  That empty egg represented an opportunity to see the message of the Risen Christ; our best gift! The reason we believe.  They also missed the $1 that each empty egg represented.  They also understood that I asked a few times and then stopped asking.

    No one got the dollars that glorious Easter morn, the empty eggs were picked up, yet they still got “it.” They got that the most valuable was maybe the least desired or not shiny. They got that the empty eggs could represent a narrow gate and only a few get them. ~ Remember they stood there with baskets filled with several intact eggs (the wide gate).   They got it as they played hide the eggs and left 1 or 2 open so an opportunity missed could be found!

    So if the dog ever gets your eggs have this idea for a teachable moment! It is exactly why there is an Easter to celebrate in the first place!

    Happy Easter folks! Kathy

     

  • Flaking with “The Bosch”

    I am a FLAKER! and proud of it…

    Yes, even the Urban Homemaker buys already flaked oats and 7/9-grains.. Until tonight, that is! One of my New Year’s goals was to “flake” or “roll” or to simply “flatten the heck out of a whole grain!”  So tonight, as I prepared a granola recipe out of Breakfasts for Busy Moms, I considered taking a hammer to each piece of grain, but then realized there is an easier way…  So out came the Flaker for the Bosch and I flaked my 9 grain whole grain for the recipe! I am so impressed with myself  and the Bosch Universal as it handled itself perfectly on it’s side and flaked it’s heart out to give our family optimal nutrition and excitement for a Sunday night.

    The Bosch is tipped to it’s side with resting pads built onto the unit. The Flaker attachment connects and a lever is flipped as a locking mechanism. When I flaked, I put the Bosch on a “1” setting. Just pour the grain in. The directions do not indicate that the unit be on to flake, but out of habit with the Wondermill I followed that routine.

    Few minutes later I had actually “FLAKED!” I ended up flaking 14 C of rolled 9 grain and steel cut oats into flat little flakes. Granola went into the oven, and rolled steel cut oats and about a cup of 9-grain whole grain was set aside for breakfast tomorrow. Please note: I “flaked” steel cut oats because that is what I had. This flaker does not “steel cut” them- it just “rolled” them into flakes. The oats after flaking resembled a beautiful Amish Oatmeal. For us, I added flaked 9 grain to add variety to our hot cereal. It all looks GOOD!

    This is the end result. This is steel cut oats & a scant cup of 9-grain.

    BEAUTIFUL

    Flaked Oats, flaked whole grains can be utiltized in a variety of ways in all the ways you would think to use “oatmeal.” Hot cereals:just adjust water/liquid as necessary. Rolled oats to water is 1:2-3, 9-grain is 1:4, Barley 1:3, etc.

    Also- this is just one way to “flake.” I intend to try other tools of the trade, but maybe if you flake with one of them, you could note your experience on our website in the review section on the specific part? Here is a link to the page with a few on them. The Flaker attachment for the Bosch is in the Bosch catagory under the main unit where all the attachments are!

    Here’s to being a Flaker! Happy Flaking- Kathy, a Happy Urban Homemaker