Old Dog New Tricks

I hate to admit this, but my mother-in-law has rubbed off on me. In the sense that I'm more conscious of what is in the food I buy or the products I use.

The lastest product to be thrown away: Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser.

Because I'm so cool I found my own, better, more economical magic eraser. And they are everyday ingredients you probably have stashed away in your kitchen.

Lemon and baking soda. Bada bing bada boom.

I recently used this method of cleaning on my handy dandy trusty crockpot. The stupid thing has had stains on the side of it that I haven't been able to get off with anything. Not even the magic eraser.

The other night I was looking through a book I have (it's amazing and everyone should own a copy of it) and I ran across a bathtub cleaner. I thought to myself, "If it works on a bathtub it will surely work on my crockpot!"

So I tried it.

And it was amazing.

I sprinkled baking soda in the bottom of the pot part of my crockpot, cut a lemon in half, squeezed the lemon halves, watched in amazement when the baking soda began to fizz, and started scrubbing away with my lemons.

Guess what? The stains DISAPPEARED!

So then I thought to myself, "Well if it performed miracles for my crockpot it will surely work wonders in my sink."

I repeated the process.

Guess what? My sink is gorgeous and shiny and white and bright.

I think the next time I try this I'll actually do it in my bathtub. Lord knows it needs a miracle.

Cloudy Day

I've been obsessed with The Pioneer Woman. Namely her blog and recipes.

Especially her recipes.

Like, Sour Cream Noodle Bake for example. Life changing. Seriously.

I was pokin' around on her blog today and found an entry she wrote about the best ways to write a blog. Or however she titled it. Needless to say, it inspired me. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, no? I'll try and make it my own.

I posted on Facebook the other day about how I made lasagna in the crockpot. I tried putting the recipe up on here, but the HTML wasn't working properly.

Let's try it again. If it's poopy then I'll scream. Loud.

Italian Sausage Lasagna

1 lb. Italian sausage

1/2 an onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 cans (15 oz.) tomato sauce

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

1 container (14 oz.) Ricotta cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

uncooked lasagna noodles

I think that's all the ingredients. Now for the fun assembly part.

Cook sausage, onion, and garlic until sausage is no longer pink. Add the tomato sauce and seasoning. Let simmer.

In a bowl combine all the cheeses.

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Layer in the sausage mixture, 4 noodles, and cheese until full. Cook on low heat setting for 6-8 hours. 10 minutes before serving top with more mozzarella cheese.

I would recommend pouring half a jar of spaghetti sauce over the top of it before serving. And make sure you spray the crockpot like crazy. CRAZY I tell ya. Or you'll end up eating just the middle because the edges will be so burnt you'll want to vomit. Maybe not, but it does stink.

For the Sour Cream Noodle Bake recipe visit thepioneerwoman.com and search for it. It's life-changing. And you should definitely try that recipe before trying the lasagna one. Or try the lasagna one first and then the noodle one, but be prepared to never want to eat anything else in your life. It really is that good.