The Best Cleaning Tips

Rubbing Alcohol for Cleaning

Instead of throwing away citrus peels, run them through the garbage disposal.  Not only does it deodorize and clean the garbage disposal, it makes your kitchen smell fresh!

Put rubbing alcohol in your mopping water to disinfect and make your floors shine like new.

Rubbing alcohol is also great for streaky stainless steel.  It will clean and remove smudges and fingerprints from refrigerators easily.

Most bottles of rubbing alcohol can be topped with generic bottle sprayers you can buy at the store.  Just screw one on and use as a cleaner for anything.  It's great for bathroom mirrors, windows, and kitchens as it kills bacteria and dries streak free!

Vinegar for Cleaning

The main component of vinegar is acetic acid. This makes it an excellent cleaning agent as it easily removes residues, dissolves mineral deposits, and is effective at eliminating 99.9% of bacterial like most other household products.  The best part is it's environmentally-friendly, safe, insanely inexpensive and can also be used in cooking.  Not to mention when mixed with baking soda you can make a volcano!

Seal orange peels and vinegar in a mason jar for two weeks to make a scented cleaner.  Not only does this make the smell of vinegar less harsh, it also takes on the excellent cleaning properties of citrus.  You could also do this with any other type of citrus and/or herb mixture.  Personally, my favorite is orange with a few cinnamon sticks.

Run your dishwasher empty with 2 cups of vinegar to clean out the residue.  You can also fill the Jet Dry compartment with vinegar.  It works better than solutions you buy and costs only pennies.

Remove rust by submerging affected area in diluted vinegar for a few hours.

Put a half cup of vinegar and two cups of water in your electric teakettle.  Heat through one heating cycle, let sit and cool, then rinse and wipe dry to make it good as new with no scrubbing.

Soak your shower head in vinegar to clean it up.  If you have trouble unscrewing it try putting vinegar in a plastic back and zip tying it around your shower head.  In as little as an hour it will look brand new!  I soaked mine overnight because the build-up on it was pretty bad.

Creamy Kielbasa Potato Chowder

After deciding to add a little something more to my simple potato soup, a new favorite was born and it was so delicious I had to share.

Creamy Kielbasa Potato Chowder

6 Cups Chicken Broth

1 Head of Garlic

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

3 Bay Leaves

1 Tsp Thyme

2 Tbs Butter

5 Large Potatoes, diced about 1/2 inch thick

1 Leek, green part removed, halved, and sliced thinly

Salt and White Pepper, to taste

8 ounces Frozen Corn

1 Pint Half and Half

Kielbasa, halved and sliced about 1/2 inch thick

For garnish:

3 Slices Bacon, fried until crispy, crumbled

In a Dutch oven or cast iron soup pot, sauté sliced leeks in butter, about 10 minutes, add minced garlic cloves until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Pour in chicken broth and add thyme and bay leaves.  Cut off the top from the head of garlic removing flaky outer layers and add to pot. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, for 30 minutes or until garlic head is soft.  Add potatoes and return to a boil for about 30 minutes additional until potatoes are soft.  Remove garlic head, cool, and push out each clove from the head.  Mash garlic cloves with fork or pestle and mortal until a paste.  Add garlic paste to taste.  Stir in corn and half and half. Purée 6 cups of soup in blender and add back to pot.  Add kielbasa and heat through but do not bring to a boil.  Serve with garnish of bacon or unused green parts of leek.

Bri's Famous Breakfast Sausage Gravy

I've been making biscuits and gravy for as long as I can remember and it is by far my favorite breakfast food.  I thought I would share my recipe for my favorite biscuits and gravy that is always requested when I have company staying over.

If I don't feel like making homemade biscuits, I'll just put a can of biscuits in the oven.  A piece of toast is also a great and super easy option.

This recipe can easily feed 1-2 people if halved.  If feeding more or for left-overs, make the full amount.  You get the best bang for your time/effort with this one.

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Bri's Famous Breakfast Sausage Gravy

1 pound breakfast sausage
3/4 cup flour
4 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoon butter
optional: 1 teaspoon hot sauce adds a kick

Start by browning thawed sausage over medium heat in a large saute pan.  Once the sausage has browned and is crumbly, stir in the flour and continue stirring until the flour has been saturated and no longer white, 1-2 minutes.  Slowly add milk, and continue stirring until fully mixed.  Reduce heat to low and heat and bring to a very light boil until desired consistency, stirring frequently.  Stir in white pepper, butter, and optional hot sauce.  Serve over freshly baked biscuits.

Tips: For left-overs, add a little milk before reheating as the consistency tends to thicken.  I always keep a couple pounds of sausage in the freezer just for this recipe.  They thaw easily in the defrost setting in the microwave.  The "hot" breakfast sausage gives a really nice kick, but I also really like the sage.