Pesky Rust Stains Are Gone With "Magic-In-A-Bottle"

Before I begin I just want to say that I don't typically let my shower get this disgusting and dirty but for the sake of this blog post, I wanted it to be pretty bad in order to show the effectiveness of this product. So please don't judge me for these before photos. 

Living in rural New Hampshire, we have very hard water, which means our water has a high mineral content (in our house we have a lot of iron in our water). For those of you who don't have to deal with it - I envy you. Hard water leads to increase in soap scum, spots on our clean dishes, and anything that water touches eventually turns a lovely rust color. White things never stay white - they turn a dingy yellow color and then eventually turn a rust color (gross, right?)

So, I basically stopped buying white clothes because theres no point when I end up throwing them away after a couple months. But one thing that I can't throw out is my custom white shower that has white subway tiles and white grout. I typically have to do a deep clean of my shower about once a month in order to keep it sparkling white. (Again, please don't judge me for these before pictures. They are completely unedited and truly appalling)

See that horrid yellow stain, yeah - that's what we get to deal with.

Up close and personal with the yellow stained mess. 

Remember when I asked you not to judge me - I let my shower get this dirty for you so you could witness this magic!

Enter the most amazing cleaning product ever - Iron Out, Super Iron Out Rust Stain Remover.
If I could buy stock in this product, I would. Honestly this stuff is a lifesaver and gets the job done. There are two different types - a liquid and a powder. I started off using the powder and then tried switching to the spray which I figured would be easier for a shower cleaner but because the powder is much more concentrated I found myself liking it a lot more than the spray. Now this stuff can be used on tile, grout, sinks, toilets, and even laundry (although I have not tried laundry yet!). I will warn everyone though, it has some pretty strong fumes so make sure there a window open and vent going when you're using this stuff.

So what I typically will do is spray down the walls with really hot water, sprinkle Iron Out on a wet scrub brush and then go to town. When you're done just rinse with water and you can go on your way.  You will literally watch the stains go away in front of your eyes. Seriously, this stuff is true magic. 

Look at that! You can literally see it dripping away the stain. What did I tell you? Magic.

POOF and it's gone! Amazing, right?

Now I know you all are just dying to see the finished (and clean) product. It's an oddly satisfying thing seeing these stains completely gone. I took these pictures right after I finished scrubbing. It's already blindingly white but amazingly enough this stuff keeps working for hours. When I go to take a shower later in the day it looks even whiter (if that's even possible) then it did right after I finished. 

Ta-Da!

They pretty much look like newly installed tile.

I can practically see my reflection it's so clean. 

So now you understand why I posted those horrible before pictures - so you could see the amazingness of this product. Like I said, I also use this for toilet and sink rings as well and it works beautifully. But now I'm betting you all want to know where you can buy this magic-in-a-bottle. I've seen it at Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, and various hardware stores. The best part is that you can buy a little one pound bottle for around $5.00 or invest in a five pound bottle for around $20.00. Believe me, you'll use this once and be thanking me!

Orange Creamsicle Cookies

I discovered this recipe many years ago. I don't make it very often but every time I do I wonder why I don't make it more. This cookie recipe is not your normal boring cookie. Yes it has the typical cookie base (butter - lots and lots of butter, sugar, flour, egg) but it is loaded with orange zest and white chocolate chips. It really does taste like an Orange Creamsicle but in cookie form - so how can you go wrong! Now I'm not really a fan of white chocolate, but this seriously is an amazing cookie.

I start by combining my dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, and salt

Then I use a Kitchen Aid mixer to mix my other ingredients - softened butter, white sugar, brown and sugar.

Then grate your oranges for the orange zest - I doubled this recipe so I needed 8 tablespoons of orange zest and I ended up using 6 large oranges and had plenty of zest. 

Then add the rest of the wet ingredient to the mixer egg, vanilla, and orange zest (this is a SUPER thick dough so mixing by hand or even with a hand mixer might be kind of difficult - granted I haven't actually tried)

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixer.

Once the dough is mixed thoroughly - add the white chocolate chips. Since this dough is SO thick - I actually ended up adding the juice of one whole orange (for a little extra orange flavor) and the cookie came out great!

Place teaspoon sized drops onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in 370 degree oven for 8 minutes (I baked mine for 7 minutes because I like to SLIGHTLY undercook my cookies because I like them to be a little softer)

Enjoy fresh out of the oven or several days later (if they can make it that long!)

Orange Creamsicle Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter - softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 tablespoons orange zest (more or less for flavor)

2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt.

Beat with electric mixer butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Once well combined - add egg, vanilla, and orange zest.

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until well combined.

Add white chocolate chips to dough (and extra orange juice if you want more orange flavor)

Place teaspoons sized drops onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes

A Mostly Love Relationship With My New Eyes

I have always had perfect vision. But recently I noticed myself squinting to see the TV, unable to read street signs, and getting headaches by the end of the day.  I had only been to the eye doctor once and it was about ten years ago, so I figured it was about time to go. I had to find a new doctor and set up an appointment.


The doctor put up a set of large letters and said, "Read what's clearest".
"None of them are clear", I responded.
To which the doctor responded, "Oookay."
Now I'm not expert but when a doctor seems shocked, its typically not a good thing. So, who would have thought... I needed glasses. Which leads me to this post today. I have only had glasses for about four months but I've learned a lot about glasses in this time.
I will say that I will probably never wear contacts. People are constantly asking me why I don't get contacts. Well, its because I can't even put eye drops in my eyes let alone lenses. So nope, no contacts for me, glasses are the way to go.



Here is what I have learned over the past four months about glasses

-  Hot food or beverages = foggy glasses

- If I don't want to put on eye make up, no problem - you barely notice because the glasses distract from it!

- Pictures of me now have a glare.

- They sometimes make my entire outfit look complete.

- I went to a 3D movie and then remembered, Oh crap.. I wear glasses too. But guess what I totally rocked the 3D glasses over top of my regular glasses.

- "Are those REAL glasses or are they just fake ones with regular glass?"

- One word: smudges.

- People weirdly want to try them on. I never asked if I could try on peoples glasses so why do you want to try on mine?

- I'm weirdly afraid they're going to break

- I can easily forget that I'm wearing them, go to itch my eye and smash my finger in my lens.

Although there are some instances when glasses are a pain in the butt, I am now in love with the fact that I can actually see. Driving at night is no longer a threat to society and watching TV doesn't give me a headache. Hooray for glasses!

Crocheted Blankets: Long Awaited Successes

I have been failing at crocheting for years now. I would try, it would look terrible, I would get mad, rip it out, and claim I would NEVER crochet again but I always tried again (and then the process would start all over). I’m serious when I say this has been going on for years now. I just wanted to just do something simple like a scarf. I’d watch videos, I’d have my mother attempt to teach me but it always ended in me getting mad and giving up.

Skip forward to one year ago when I was in Georgia visiting my brother, sister in law, niece and nephew for nearly 3 weeks - I decided to give it a try again. This time I decided to go all in - I was going to make a blanket. Looking back I don’t know what I was thinking, I had never even done a dozen consecutive crochet rows before, how on earth was I going to make a blanket?

We took a trip to Joann Fabrics where I picked out a beautiful, dark purple yarn and a crochet hook. After this initial trip, I had taken countless more trips of the fabric store to get more yarn and at one point I had bought their entire supply so I resulted to buying it online. Persistence and dedication were on my side this time around because less than 2 months later I had made a huge (and ridiculously warm) crocheted blanket. And boy was I proud of myself!

I was on a crocheting roll and you couldn’t make me stop. I decided, again, to make ANOTHER blanket. This time I had decided on a muti-colored granny square blanket. I spent hours on Pinterest looking at possible color options and different granny square possibilities. I ended up deciding on a simple granny square. Then I had to decide on yarn. I knew this blanket was going to take many skeins so I didn’t want to choose a ridiculously expensive yarn but I also didn’t want an itchy, ugly yarn. So, yet again, I did more research. I came to the conclusion that I could buy Red Heart yarn - it was cheap, came in a ton of colors, it wasn’t itchy, and I found several articles online on how to soften the yarn. 

Off to Joann Fabrics I went again. I spent 45 minutes in the yarn aisle trying to choose 9 complementing color. In the end, I decided on different shades of blues, greens, neutrals, and a pop of purple.

Before I started this project I found an awesome video on YouTube posted by Fiber Flux, Episode 112: How to Crochet A Classic Multicolor Granny Square. I used some old yarn and practiced and practiced until I got it right (this took several hours and lots of cursing).

Finally I was ready to start - on April 4th I started this long (very long) and painful process. Not only did I have to crochet every square (which took about 45 minutes each) but I also had to plan where each square was going to go (I didn’t want two squares next to each other that finished with the same color), I had to keep track of each square so I didn't have two squares that ended up the same, I had to connect each square together, and then to finish the blanket I had to put a border around the entire thing.

Now don't get my wrong, I’m super proud of myself for making this blanket but I was starting to think that I was going to develop carpal tunnel during this process. After 20 longs weeks, 111 squares, 5,600 minutes, 17 skeins of yarn, I finished this blanket.

Each square consists of 5 rows in varying colors. I connected the squares using a contrasting color and by using the Lattice Method (which I found instructions for on Carina's Craftblog). This blanket ended up being slightly larger than a full sized bed (much larger than I planned). Its heavy and warm - perfect for a winter night in New Hampshire.

 I would label this a success. 

Rosemary Braided Bread

So I've never made real bread before - you know, the kind of bread where you have to let it rise and knead it. But last weekend I decided to give it a whirl. I'm not the most patient person so waiting over an hour to let the dough rise and then spending many long (and painful) minutes kneading the dough wasn't something I was looking forward to. But the end result was definitely worth it.

I found this recipe on Pinterest (where most of my recipes come from). So all the credit goes to Super Healthy Kids. I picked this recipe because I just so happened to have all of the ingredients and the bread looked really impressive (it's not just a plain boring loaf of bread, it's braided and golden on the top - all great qualities of a delicious bread)

I started by adding the rosemary, yeast, salt, water, and oil olive. Mix until combined and yeast is fully dissolved (it took a couple of minutes)

Add flour and knead for 8 minutes (I am lucky enough to have a mixer with a bread hook, if you aren't as fortunate you'll have to knead by hand on a floured surface - good luck)

Place in a grease bowl and then flip dough over so it is lightly coated in grease.

Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let it rise for 1 hour in a warm place. Now, it is November and I live in New Hampshire where the temperature was hovering abound 45 degrees (not warm at all). I happened to be doing a load of laundry while I was making this bread so I rose my bread over top of the dryer (it was the perfect warm place).

The dough should nearly double in size after it has spent an hour rising.

Punch down the dough (I don't understand the purpose of this step but I did it anyways) and knead the dough for 5 minutes (I did it by hand this time because I wasn't sure if it was allowed to go back into the mixer. After 5 minutes of kneading my hands were sore and I was wondering if making this bread was really worth it.)

Divide dough into 3 equal parts and let them sit for 10 minutes.

Roll each part into an 18 inch rope. 

Braid together and pinch the ends. 

Let rise for 45 minutes or until it is doubled in size (So I actually completely forgot to do this step. I was clearly impatient because I braided it together and then threw it right in the oven.. Whoops!)

In a small bowl, combine an egg white and about a tablespoon of water. Brush mixture onto loaf. (This wasn't in the original recipe but I topped my load with more rosemary and some salt)

Bake at 450 degrees on a greased sheet for 30 minutes (or until bread sounds hallow when you tap it)

Slice, Butter, & Enjoy :)

Considering that I completely missed a step in this bread baking process (letting it rise the second time), I will admit that it came out pretty good. I would highly suggest adding the extra rosemary and salt to the top of the bread because it gave it even more flavor. This was the first real bread I've made and it certainly won't be the last!

Rosemary Braided Bread

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 tablespoons rosemary (the original recipe called for dried rosemary, I used fresh because I wanted more flavor)

2 1/2  teaspoons (1 package) active, dry yeast 

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup warm water 

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

3 cups flour

1 large egg white

In a large mixing bowl, combine rosemary, yeast, salt, water, and olive oil. Stir until combined and yeast is dissolved.

Add flour and combine.

Knead dough in mixer with dough hook for 8 minutes (if you do not have a mixer you can knead the dough by hand on a floured surface for 8 minutes)

Place dough in a grease bowl and flip dough over so the top is lightly greased.

Cover with a clean towel and place in a warm place for 1 hour. Dough should nearly double in size.

Punch dough down. Knead for 5 minutes. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Roll each dough part into 18 inch rope. Braid ropes together. Pinch ends.

Place on a grease cookie sheet. Let rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in size in a warm place. 

In a small bowl, lightly beat an egg white and 1 tablespoon of water.

Brush mixture onto braid loaf. Sprinkle with extra rosemary and salt if desired. 

Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes or until bread sounds hallow when tapped.

This bread tastes delicious when it is covered with butter and served warm!

"Mexican" Caviar

Now if you don't like attention and don't like talking to people then this is NOT the dish that you would bring to a pot luck. I can't count the number of people at various pot lucks who have asked me for this recipe. People who don't even like peppers and beans have told me that they love this dish. I don't know what it is but this dish is seriously delicious (and highly addicting)!

I got this recipe from a coworker while I was at a clinical rotation as a student. She brought it in for the Christmas potluck and I have been hooked since. She didn't have a name on the recipe so I've decided to term it "Mexican" Caviar. "Mexician" because it isn't exactly Mexican - it has beans, corn, and peppers - which are all in Mexican dishes but it doesn't exactly taste Mexican. Caviar because it is cut into tiny little pieces (plus its fun to write Caviar on potluck sign ups and see people's faces).

I start off by draining and rinsing the black beans, pinto (cannellini) beans, and corn

Cut the green pepper, red pepper, and red onion into small pieces

Combine black beans, pinto (cannellini) beans, corn, green pepper, red pepper, and red onion in a large bowl

In a small saucepan combine sugar, vinegar, and oil and put on high

Once dressing mixture starts to rapidly boil, continue boiling for 1 minute than remove from heat.

Pour dressing over veggies, refrigerate over night. Pour off the liquid before servings.

Serve with Scoops Tortilla Chips & Enjoy :)

"Mexican" Caviar

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans

1 can of pinto beans (cannellini)

1 can of white corn

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

1/2 red onion

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup white (or cider) vinegar

1/4 cup of cooking oil (don't substitute olive oil)

Drain and rinse black beans, pinto beans, and white corn

Cut red pepper, green pepper, and red onion into small pieces (about the size of corn)

Combine black beans, pinto beans, corn, red pepper, green pepper, and red onion in a large bowl.

In a saucepan combine white sugar, white vinegar, and cooking oil - set on high. Once dressing mixture starts to rapidly boil, continue boiling for 1 minute than remove from heat.

Pour dressing over veggies.

Refrigerate over night. Pour off the liquids before serving 

Serve with scoops tortilla chips, enjoy, and be ready to share this recipe with everyone!

Spaghetti Squash Carbonara

This recipe contains cheese and bacon so really.. how can you go wrong? I am a big fan of pasta but I do like to find healthier alternatives, especially when it comes to my lunches. I work in a hospital setting, I have a 30 minute lunch and then I'm back to my busy day. I hate eating a huge, filling lunch because then I get the "post meal sleepies". By taking the pasta out and substituting spaghetti squash, I am able to get another vegetable into my meal, take out a carb, and truthfully it tastes amazing!

I started by preheating my oven to 400 degrees.

I washed the outside of my spaghetti squash, prick it with a fork, and placed the entire squash on a cookie sheet (This is the first time I am trying this technique. I usually cut my squash, remove the seeds and then bake the squash. I figured I would try something new this time)

I baked my squash for about an hour and forty five minutes (I had a pretty large squash, but I would normally only bake a smaller squash for about an hour)

After the squash came out of the oven, I let it sit for about twenty minutes. I then sliced it lengthwise, heavily salted the squash, and let it sit on its side for another fifteen minutes. (The reason I did this was to drain out the excess water in the squash so that my carbonara wasn't watery. Adding the salt helps to release some of the fluid carried in the squash). Then remove the seeds and scrape the flesh of the squash with a fork and place in a separate bowl (I have come to the conclusion that I really liked baking the squash whole, it seemed to draw out even more moisture, it kept the squash the perfect consistency, and it was so much easier to cut)

Meanwhile, cook several slices of bacon. Some recipes I've seen only call for two slices (this is insane, bacon is amazing so more is always better), I ended up doing about half of the package.

After the bacon was cooked (I went with a crispy bacon so that it didn't get too soggy when I added with the other ingredients), chop into small pieces.

In a saucepan, combine the bacon grease, garlic, chopped bacon, and chicken broth. Cook this down until hardly any liquid is left.

Combine egg mixture, parmesan, and milk.

SLOWLY add the egg and parmesan mixture to the bacon mixture (if you do not add this mixture slowly then there is a possibility that the eggs could start to scramble, and trust me, that wouldn't taste very good with spaghetti squash)

One all of the ingredients are combined in the saucepan, continue to cook mixture until cheese is completely melted.

Add the spaghetti squash to the cheese and bacon mixture, coat thoroughly.

Serve hot and enjoy :) 

Spaghetti Squash Carbonara
Yields: 4 small servings (side dish); 2 average servings (meal)

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash
1 1/2 cups of grated fresh parmesan
1/2 package of bacon (more or less for taste)
2 egg yolks, 1 whole egg
2 tbsp garlic
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup milk
Salt & Pepper to taste and preference

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Wash spaghetti squash, pick with fork, place on baking sheet and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on size (you will know when it is done when the outside starts to brown and you can stick a fork into the flesh and it feels soft)

After spaghetti squash comes out of the oven, let rest for 20 minutes. Then slice lengthwise, generously add salt, rest squash on its side and let it sit for another 15 minutes (this helps to draw out extra moisture). Then scoop out seeds and scrape the flesh with a fork (it will come out stringy)

Meanwhile, cook bacon until crispy (either on the stove or in the oven); cut into small pieces

Add bacon grease (left over from pan), garlic, bacon, and chicken broth to a saucepan; cook on medium heat until no liquid remains (make sure you continue to stir or the bacon will start to burn)

In a small bowl, combine 2 egg yolks, 1 whole egg, parmesan, and milk

SLOWLY add the egg and parmesan mixture to the bacon mixture. Stir until parmesan is completely melted.

Add spaghetti squash to the parmesan and bacon mixture, coat thoroughly

Serve hot and enjoy (I added a little parsley to the top of mine when serving)

I've never made any type of carbonara before, and I must say, this came out delicious. I didn't really use any one recipe. I did reference several and took aspects of each that I liked. I was a little worried that this wasn't going to be cheesy enough (if anyone knows me, they know I'm obsessed with cheese), but the amount of cheese was perfect in proportion to the squash. I would absolutely make this again!