Shortcuts from a Spoonie Mom

Things That Make Life Easier For This Spoonie Mom

1.  Microwave Corn on the Cob:  We get corn on the cob from our weekly CSA delivery.  Frequently, however, it's just one ear which makes is useless for dinner.  Monkey loves corn on the cob so rather than waste it I fix it for his lunch.  Boiling water for one ear is frankly a waste of energy energy expenditure for me so I was delighted when my mom sent me this video on how to microwave it!  Four minutes and it's ready to eat - a perfect lunch for my 4-yr old!




2.  Iced Tea Maker:  I'm a southern girl who loves her iced tea in the summer.  For years I resisted another appliance just for iced tea since really it's so simple to make.  But after a few times of my spoonie brain forgetting that the tea was steeping and ruining a pot - then not having energy to start over, I finally got an iced tea maker.  Yes, it takes up space, but it makes perfect tea and I don't have to remember anything.  For the same amount of energy I can have perfect ice tea every time!



3.  Mint Floor Cleaner: our whole house is hard wood.  I'd wanted a scooba for years but couldn't stomach the price tag.  At half the price, the mint cleaner was the solution for me!  It's still a pretty steep price tag, but the energy it saves me is worth it.  It works differently than the scooba.   It doesn't have a vacuum but sweeps like a Swiffer using re-usable microfiber cloths but as long as you pick up the large debris it does a fantastic job of picking up the dust, pet hair & grit on the floor.  I set it to sweep every night before bed & sometimes in the middle of the day if we're headed out of the house.  For mopping it uses a wet cloth instead of brushes & a squeegee, but the maintenance is so much less that what I read about the scooba.  I am after all trying to SAVE energy.  I haven't tried the scooba so I can't compair the final outcome, but the mopping function works better than me on my hands & aching knees.

4.  Regular popcorn in the microwave:  we gave up microwave popcorn years ago b/c of the chemicals and expense.  A jar of organic non-GMO popcorn is so much cheaper than the pre-bagged variety!  But using the popcorn popper meant a big clean up every time.  Then we discovered that you can put regular plain old popcorn in the microwave.  Voila!  Perfect popcorn - no chemicals, no expensive bags.  Simply put a couple tablespoons popcorn in a regular brown paper bag (like you pack a lunch in), set the microwave to 5 minutes (or use the popcorn setting), stay close & listen like you would store-bought microwave popcorn and remove when the popping subsides.  Dress as desired.  We like olive oil & salt.