Day 14: Cleaning your Keurig

For some unknown reason I am in a bit of a cleaning kick.  When I saw this tip on Pinterest I knew I had to do it for 2 reasons.  #1 Mr. J got a Keurig last Christmas and I never thought it needed a cleaning on the inside and #2 My sister in law got one for Christmas (like I am sure many of you did).

I am rating this pin a 4....a great piece of knowledge & relatively easy to do...the last step does take a little time but easy to do while you wipe down the kitchen or have a snack.

The original pin can be found on cleanmyspace.com
If you are going to clean your Keurig I would recommend checking out the website....I will be paraphrasing and she gives much more details.

Items needed:
Cleaning toothbrush
Pure white vinegar
All purpose cleanser, dish liquid
Microfiber cloth

Step 1:  Remember before you start make sure to unplug it!  Safety first.

Step 2:  Remove all the pieces.  The reservoir and lid, drip tray and drip tray cover, the K Cup holder and funnel.

Step 3:  These removable parts can either be placed in the dishwasher (on the top shelf) or soak in a sink filled with hot water and some dish soap.  DO NOT place reservoir lid in the dish washer (it specifies that it should be wiped with a cloth)  Let them soak for 15 minutes and clean gently.  Rinse and towel dry.

Step 3:  Cleaning the machine itself.  It can be cleaned by wiping down the machine with all purpose cleaner and the microfiber cloth.  Take the cleaning toothbrush and gently brush out any stuck coffee grounds in the K Cup holder.  If you notice any lime scale deposits, use a little elbow grease with the help of the white vinegar.

This is the inside of our K Cup holder before I took the toothbrush to it.

Step 4:  Now its time to run what they call the descaling brew.  This is an important because lime scale can build up inside the machine on the heating coil and make the Keurig have to work harder and use more energy to heat the water and brew the coffee.  Hard on the machine and hard on the energy bill.  Fill the reservoir half way with white vinegar.  Brew several "beverages" with no K Cup in the holder to clean the reservoir and tubing.  The vinegar will help break down the build up.  Refill it with water and run more brews of water through to rinse out the reservoir/tubing and get rid of any vinegar.  This step take at least 15 minutes.  (After running the vinegar through the system, I washed the reservoir again with soap and water to help get rid of some of that vinegar...it seemed to help get rid of the vinegar faster).

Step 5:  Time to put the machine back together again.  Be careful when putting the K Cup holder back in to the machine, since it has that sharp needle inside.  Now you are ready to brew a nice, fresh and tasy cup of coffee.

This is what my K Cup holder looked like after I cleaned it all up!!  Can't wait to have a cup of joe....or more like coco

A few tips that the website also listed that I never would have thought of

1.  If you are going away for over a week, don't leave water in your reservoir.

2.  If you brew hot chocolate or iced tea or any other sticky beverage, run a cleansing brew of just water and no K Cup.  It helps rinse out any sugar crystals.

3.  Use distilled water, it has less minerals.

Hopefully you found this helpful or at least informational.

Day 22: Vinegar & baking soda tub cleaner

So once again, I am on a cleaning kick...the stranger the pin sounds the more I want to do it.  This one is using common household items and turn them into a more environmentally friendly cleaning project.  With having a young child around it can be a little nerve racking to try and clean and have Little T not get into the chemicals.

Here is my disclaimer:  My bathtub is usually NOT this dirty...but for the interest for my blog I let the tub cleaning go a little long.  If I am going to try this out I thought I needed to give it a good work out!!

I would give this cleaning pin a 3...it was easy to make, but it wasn't as easy as the pin said it would be.

The original pin can be found at lifecraftsandwhatever.blogspot.com

Ingredients
1 cup vinegar
1 cup dawn liquid dish soap (I used Great Value)
Spray bottle

Step 1:  Heat up the vinegar for 90 seconds to 2 minutes.  Than pour in your spray bottle.

Step 2:  Add equal amount of Dawn (one to one ration) to spray bottle. (Just a side note....when pouring the 2 together don't...i mean don't put your face directly over the bottle!!  I got a face full of these weird vinegary-soapy fume...it was stuck in my nose and mouth for way too long.)

Step 3:  Shake gently.

Step 4: Spray on tub/shower...let it sit.  You can do it any where from 30 minutes to 2 hrs.  Use a sponge or cloth and a little warm water and wipe it off.  That's it!!  Say good bye to soap scum.

And there is my clean tub!!  Holy moly it looks great!!!  Don't know if its ever been that clean!!  I was impressed.

So I think that it turned out pretty darn well!!  I will say that it wasn't as easy to wipe off as the original blog made it seem.  But it did a good job.  I even used it on my sink...and that was a double holy moly!!  Wish I would have done a before and after picture of that!!  My faucet that looks like it has been in the house since it was built...I kid you not...looks almost brand new!!  I will be interested to see if it works better and better each time I use it.

Day 21: Cream Cheese Wontons

Anyone who has even been shopping with me at the mall knows that when its time for a snack I usually pass on the ice cream & sweats and head straight to the cream cheese wontons.  So for day 21...well it might have actually still been the 21st...I made these as a late night snack.  Not the best choice...but oh so good!!

I am rating this recipe a 5...because they are OH SO GOOD!!!  Plus they were pretty easy to make and I only needed 3 ingredients to make them.  I changed what I used from the original pin and folded them in a simpler way...it was late and I just needed my wonton fix!

The original recipe can be found at budgetsavvydiva.com

Ingredients
1 8oz package of cream cheese (softened)
1 1/2 tbsp scallions
pinch of garlic powder
wonton wrappers
oil for frying

I choose to eliminate the scallions

Step 1:  Heat oil in a cooking pot to 350 degrees (you could use deep fryer if you have one).  Mix together cream cheese, garlic powder and scallion.

Step 2:  Place 1 tbsp of the mix in the middle of the wonton wrapper.

Step 3:  Fold wonton wrapper and secure edges with water.  (I followed the directions on the wonton wrapper package, which was shown folding it in half than bringing the 2 corners together...that was a little more work then I wanted to do...plus when I get them at the mall they are just folded in half)

Step 4:  Once oil is heated to 350 drop wonton in the oil

Step 5:  Turn once to get both sides golden brown.  Once cooked to a golden brown, remove from oil and let wonton dry on paper towel.

Now for the fun part...sit down and enjoy!!  They were SO good!!  I could have eaten a ton of them!!  Can't wait to make them again!!  I think even Little T would like them.

Day 20: Texas Garlic Toast

As the weekend continued to go on, so did the snow...blowing and crazy cold!!  Not wanting to get bundled up, warm up the car, going out in the cold to the restaurant and repeating the process on the way back home....plus doing it all with a potty training 3 yr old...I think NOT!!  We decided to stay home and make a night of it.  Spaghetti dinner followed by a family friendly move.  All was going well until....we discovered that we had NO sprinkle cheese aka grated Parmesan which Little T loves with his pasta and we needed it for the bread...Momma S headed to the store.  Thankfully it isn't too far from her house.  Once we got our sprinkle cheese we went back on track!!

This is a recipe for Texas toast that you would or could freeze...just like the toast you buy in the box.  Since I had Texas toast left over from the french toast casserole  what better way to use it!!  We made enough to have 4 whole pieces of toast with dinner and freeze 5 for later.

I am rating this recipe a 4:  It was easy, tasted delicious and it was kid friendly...Little T got involved too!!

The original recipe can be found at themakeyourownzone.com

Ingredients:
6 slices Texas toast
1/3 c grated margarine spread (I used butter)
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley

Step 1:  Mix all ingredients together, stir until well combined.  Spread some on each slice of bread.  Lay bread on a cookie sheet and place in freezer.  Once the bread is froze, you can stack them and package them in a Ziploc bag.

To cook your frozen toast: Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Lay the toast on a cookie sheet and cook for about 5 minutes.  Flip toast if desired to brown both sides.

Making this toast is much cheaper than buying the boxed one and just as tasty!!  This recipe, if you make a large batch using the whole loaf of Texas toast, you can make enough slices to replace 4 boxes.  The cost for the Texas toast was $2.97 at Walmart & the Great Value brand Texas toast (8 slices) is $2.00.  Sounds like a good deal to me!

Note:  If you're like me and cooked some right away I heated my oven to 350 and cooked for about 4 minutes per side.

This is Little T spreading...spreading...spreading the butter on the toast.  That's what he keep saying as he was doing it!!  I have a little chef on my hands...he LOVES ti help cook.  The best part is when he helps us cook dinner or put some of it together he ends up eating more and enjoys talking about what he did to get dinner ready.  Even better...he likes to help with the dishes too!!

Can't wait to see how the frozen batch turns out!!

Day 19: French Toast Casserole

Mr. J was going to be out of town at a curling tournament this weekend...so whats a girl to do?!?  Head to her momma's.  Little T and I went to spend the weekend with my mom, so I thought what better way to say thank you for having us was to make breakfast.

I found this recipe and thought I would give it a try.  It was something that could be made up the night before when Little T was already a sleep and the next morning I just needed to put it in the oven.  Not a lot of work to do, which I good when you have a 3 yr old around who LOVES to help with EVERYTHING!!

Rating this recipe a 3:  Fairly easy to put together and bake.  The whole "problem" was that after you cook it & it cools it kind of sinks.  Its nice and fluffy right away...maybe I need thicker Texas toast.

The original recipe can be found at sheldonrachel.blogspot.com

Ingredients:
1/2 c melted butter
1 c brown sugar
1 loaf Texas toast
4 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
Powdered sugar, cinnamon & extra brown sugar (for sprinkling)
9x13 pan

Note: For my recipe and only did a half recipe.

Step 1: Melt butter in microwave.  While the butter is melting get Texas toast ready.  (I cut the crusts off mine, but you don't have to).

Step 2:  Once the butter is melted add the brown sugar and stir together.  You might need to microwave the mixture for 30 seconds than stir again.  You want the butter and sugar to be mixed together.

Step 3:  Spread the mixture evenly to cover bottom of the pan.

Step 4:  Beat eggs, milk and vanilla together.  Spread an even layer of Texas toast on the butter/sugar layer.  Ladle half the egg mixture on top.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar.  Repeat same steps with the next layer.

Step  5:  Refrigerate over night.

Step 6:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for 45 minutes.  After baking sprinkle with powdered sugar.

The top will be crusty, the middle soft & moist and the bottom is full of caramely goodness.  You could serve this with warm maple syrup, but we ate it just as it is.  With the brown sugar bottom it really didn't need it.  Yummy..yummy!  Might pull this recipe out next time the in laws are in town!!

Day 18: Irish Stew

The winters in MN get cold....REALLY cold!!  What better way to warm up than with creamy mash potatoes topped with Irish(ish) beef stew?!?  Yummy...yummy!  So that is what I made for day 18!!

Since Mr.J is trying to stay away from carbs this was a prefect way to satisfy his eating habits and mine and Little T's.

I am giving this recipe a 4:  its a little bit more work, but totally worth it!!  The majority of the work is the waiting for it to finish cooking...2-4 hrs to get everything all nice and tender.

The original recipe can be found at laurenslatest.com

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lbs. stew meat
4 large carrots
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt & pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp rosemary
1 large bay leaf
2 cups beef broth
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
heaping 1/3 c frozen peas
mashed potatoes (optional)

Step 1:  In a large stock pot, brown stew meat in olive oil until all sides are brown.

Step 2:  Add onion, carrots, garlic and all the spices.  Cook about 5 minutes.  Add beef broth.  Cover and simmer 2-4 hrs or until meat is very tender.

Step 3:  Right before you are ready to serve, in a small bowl stir softened butter and flour together until smooth (making a rue).  Before adding the rue remove the bay leaf.  Stir butter mixture in the stew along with the frozen peas.  Once the gravy thickens a little, its done!!

Step 4:  Serve over creamy mashed potatoes or serve in bowl with a crusty piece of bread.

This was an amazing stew!!!  I will be making this again soon!!  The whole family loved it...I wish I could say that there was some leftovers, but the pot was scrapped bare.

Day 17: DYI eye makeup remover

Another DIY beauty project!!!  The shaving lotion worked out so well that I thought I would try another one.  This time it was eye makeup remover....yup...that stuff that you usually pay a lot of money for I basically made it for free...FREE!!  Gotta love that!  I had all the stuff on hand so I didn't even need to buy a single thing for it.

Original recipe can be found at cookingwithkaryn.blogspot.com

I am rating this DIY a 4: super easy to make and it works just as good as the MaryKay stuff I usually buy.

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 1/2 Tbsp baby shampoo (tear free)
1/8 tsp baby oil

Step 1:  Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a small container.

That is all there is to it!!  I made a double patch...that way I won't have to do it again later.  The only thing that I will tell you is that the next day there are a few little "chunks" floating in the solution.  Shaking it a little before you use it and those chunks become no problem.  Used it and it worked perfect...no more make up stuck to my eyes the next day!!