Cleaning Le Creuset Pans Safely

I love my Le Creuset pans.  Love love love them.  They are my most favorite things to cook with, but I continue to stain the inside of them.

My children request crepes every day for breakfast.  They get there way at least 4 times a week, so this pan gets used a lot.  I don't always have the time in the morning to clean it before we are out the door.  That is my excuse why it looks this bad.

Going online tells you all kinds of chemicals you can buy to clean your pots, but that really bothers me.  Why would I clean my pots with something harmful that is possibly going to be ingested by my children.  So I researched safe ways.  Someone suggested bleach.  UGH!

Luckily I read that baking soda paste can work.  

So, I just dumped some baking soda into my pan, added enough water to make a paste and then scrubbed with one of the many toothbrushes we have saved from the dentist office (we use electric).

It does take a little elbow grease but in less than 10 minutes, my pan went from a mess to beautiful.  And I'm totally fine with my children ingesting baking soda.

Pots and Pans

Love my Le Creuset and love it even more when I can get a fabulous deal on items I really need!  I have slowly but surely been collecting my Le Creuset pots, pans and baking dishes for years.  Two of my smaller pots (not Le Creuset), which I've had for 10 years, are starting to fall apart and so I very happily went to replace them.  And I couldn't have found a better deal, not only did I find the perfect pot, but it came with a frying pan that sits on top of it and I received not only 35% off my whole purchase but also a free baking dish.  Cooking on quality cookware really does make a huge difference.  The first time I tried it out my new piece, I made homemade mustard, since I had 3 BBQ's to go to and that's always a great "thank you for inviting me" gift.  I had to laugh when my mom told me that she had just made homemade mustard in her new pot and it worked great (we both purchased the same one).  Great minds real do think alike.

One of the best parts of having fabulous cookware is that you don't have to worry about chemicals leaking into your food and you get to use very little butter/oil when you don't want items to stick.  Everything in moderation, and when you realize that what you eat makes a lot more of difference on your healthy, your weight and your overall well being than anything else you do, you really don't want to be adding things like butter to your dishes if you don't have to.

The Hard Parts of Parenting

"The most important thing that she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one." ~ Jill Churchill
This is my most favorite quote about parenting. And yesterday I the fact that I'm not a perfect mother hit me full force. The morning was easy enough, but instead of being able to purchase a new set of contact lens, I was informed that I needed an eye exam. The first available was right after I picked up Sawyer from school...so I figured it'd be no big deal. I'd just take my sweet little 5 year old with me.
On the way to the eye doctor I told her that I would take her to one of the fast food playgrounds for lunch and some playtime, if she was well behaved at the appointment. I don't normally take her to those places, so she was so excited. I explained that I just needed her to sit and be quite while I got my exam.
I got right in, my appointment only took about 20 minutes...but we headed straight home when we were done.
Sawyer wasn't horrible, she just talked the whole time, and kept getting out of her seat. She went back and sat down after every time I told her, or gave her a dirty look when the doctor wasn't looking...but it was the fact that I had to KEEP reminding her that was disappointing.
Unfortunately after we were done but while we were waiting for them to trace my frames, Sawyer asked about lunch. I asked her if she thought she'd been good and followed directions. She said no. Then she asked about lunch again. I told her no. She started crying. And she kept crying until we right before we got home, when she fell asleep in the car.
I don't think it was hard taking her home.
I don't think I was wrong in not taking her out to lunch.
I do think it was hard to realize, through all the crying, that normally I would have told her she wasn't great, but good enough to still go to lunch.
She was devastated when I told her no.
I never back out. I always give in, even if she wasn't behaving like I'd ask. I am lazy sometimes with my daughter and that has taught her what?
Sawyer knows right from wrong, but there are no consequences if she's wrong....she gets the same either way.
The hard parts of parenting occur when you realize you aren't perfect, and now you have to figure out how to change your own behavior, in the hopes that you can lead your child by example. If I change, can she?

At least she holds nothing against me. Here my darling daughter is,, this morning wanting to help with cleaning day. And after cleaning toilets, she asked if she could vacuum.

8 Random Things

8 Randoms Things About Me

1. My grandmother, father and I all have the same hands.
2. I sat next to Demi Moore and her toddler Rumer at a Clogging Festival in Idaho.
3. I won the State Title in the 800 meter dash, in high school.
4. My hair was straight, until I turned 13, got a perm...and I've had curly hair ever since (natural, I've never had another perm)
5. My sister teaches school (like my mom), my brother saves lives as a firefighter (like my dad), and I bring it all together by owning a company where I teach people how to save lives.
6. I've seen "When Harry Met Sally" over 30 times.
7. By age 14 I had hunted and killed 2 deer.
8. By age 18 I was a full fledged vegetarian (and stayed that way for almost 8 years).

If you read all my random things, you've been tagged....and now you have to either reply with your 8 or post them on your blog!!! Have fun.