spring cleaning

in an effort to be more green, i've been changing over my cleaning products to ones that won't harm the environment. a couple difficulties with this are that they aren't cheap and how to decide which ones to use?! there are so many out there and back to "they aren't cheap" if they don't work, you don't want to just throw it away.

so i've gone to my green resources, my mom & my baby sister. they are always looking for better, greener cleaning products and if it's in their budgets, then they'll try it. so here's what we've come up with...

dish soap - method. cleans the best, easy to find, and one of my book club friends told me that america's test kitchen just put out that this was their favorite too!

floor cleaner - castille soap (the link is to the brand you can find at target). not sure about using it on wood floors (so don't blame me...), but tile and vinyl. it's the best. cleans well, and you can find it now at target in the cosmetics aisle.

counter top cleaner - mrs. meyer's. wow. no more scrubbing. seriously this stuff has changed my life. also easy to find.

have you found a green product that you like? leave a comment and share what it is!

the kitchen and my mom

as you may know, as a kid, i loved to bake. just about anything, but especially apple pie. my apple pie was known throughout the tri-state area. and now, i have my perfected apple pie recipe and maybe one day, i'll post that recipe. then post-college, my oldest cousin (chef, entrepreneur) taught me how to make the most delicious scalloped potatoes. and if you're really nice to me i'll post that recipe. it's a recipe that has made me famous outside of the tri-state area. it requires heavy cream and lots of it -- have no fear, it WILL stick to your thighs, but it's so very delicious.

back on topic. my mother reads cookbooks. you may be thinking, "i read cookbooks too". but no, she READS cookbooks. she cooks from them occasionally, but mostly, she gets ideas from cookbooks and then makes her own dish -- a conglomeration of what she just read. ask her to make a dish the same way twice, she can't do it. we have learned that in order to get a recipe out of her, we need to have her write it down and then you're still not guaranteed to replicate what she created. what i'm attempting to establish here is that she's an expert in the kitchen (did you get that?!). needless to say, she "gets it" -- the kitchen that is. she understands the chemistry behind what happens in the kitchen. how all those chemicals work together to create a dish that's de-lish.

growing up i'm sure i was in the kitchen with her, but i really didn't pick up all that much. especially in the chemistry area. so this begins my first in a series of cooking posts where i will attempt to learn (and educate you if you're interested) some of the mysteries of the kitchen. if there's a mystery you would like solved, let me know and i'll add it to the list that's accumulating in my head.

texas in bloom

where to begin? every day i notice something else is blooming!

my daffodils have bloomed and died. but they were just a taste of what has come...

the pear tree has bloomed and now the petals are scattered across the yard as the fruit prepares to emerge.

the iris in the front yard have popped, they will still be blooming when my mom arrives on friday and they look beautiful in the pre-dawn mornings when i head off to work (also in the early evenings when i get home too!). i finally identified a random plant in my front garden yesterday -- it's snap dragons! who knew?! i also just noticed yesterday that the mountain laurel bushes in my backyard are just starting to bloom so those should be beautiful for mom's visit. and last (but of course not least) i saw some blue-bonnets yesterday. hard to believe i know. seems so early, but it is march and things are coming alive again.

i know i owe you all a post of my garden fence. i have the photo taken, i just need to upload it. so look for it later today or this week.