Helpful Tips from Martha

It's been a while since this time-starved mother found a few moments of peace and quiet to blog, so apologies for that!  We've been transitioning our 18 month old to one nap a day for about the past week and she has been refusing to take more than a catnap, which has put a big squeeze on mommy's quiet time!  Fingers crossed that today she'll nap long enough for me to finish this posting :).

In any case, in an effort to improve my homemaking skills I recently checked out several books from our library on organizing and managing a household.  One such book is 'Simple Home Solutions', a Good Things with Martha Steward Living book.  Leave it to Martha to compile an excellent pictorial book of helpful tidbits for cooking, cleaning, organizing and gardening.  I thought I'd share a few 'dog-eared' bits of advice that I found particularly inspiring :).

IN THE KITCHEN

How to Roast Garlic - Have you ever been to a restaurant where they roast garlic into soft creamy perfection that spreads on toast?  I have, and I've often marveled at the mystery of roasted garlic.  Apparently, there's no mystery at all to easily roasting garlic!  Just cut a whole head of garlic in half crosswise, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil and roast at 375 for about 45 minutes!  Sounds so easy, I can't wait to try it!

Prevent Ice Crystals on Ice Cream - Don't you hate it when you go to dig into a half-eaten carton of ice cream only to find it's been frost bitten by your evil freezer??  Well Martha says that if you cut waxed paper to size and place against the surface of the ice cream each time you indulge, every scoop will be as perfect as the first! 

Freeze fresh ginger prior to grating and it will grate much easier (not to mention last much longer than if you keep it in the fridge!).

Easily Cut Kiwi by cutting off both the top and bottom end and then gently inserting a table spoon between the flesh and the fuzzy peel.  Turn the kiwi as you gently press the spoon against the peel and the flesh should slide right out - hey presto!

ORGANIZING ETC

Helpful Sewing Table - Attach a measuring tape (one made of metal with peel-off adhesive) to the outside edges of your sewing table to make a cinch of measuring and cutting fabric.

Use a magnetic knife holder in an entryway or home organizing area (e.g. bulletin board in kitchen) to hold things like keys, small flashlight, scissors and other things you need to keep handy, but out of the way.

To organize linen and clothes closets, use simple wooden shelf brackets!  I love this idea and plan to put it into use in several of my completely disorganized closets :). 

Anyway, these are just a few of the MANY ideas and suggestions offered in this book.  I hope you have found some inspiration here friends and guess what, that darling little peach of a daughter is still sleeping and it's been over 30 minutes - yay!  Today is a good day :).