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Defrosting Food on the Woodstove

Here is one more tip for woodstove users. I needed to defrost some frozen food and recently used my woodstove. Here is a photo of my frozen container which I placed into a pan with water on the woodstove.

Defrosting Food on a Woodstove

My fire in the woodstove was burning low so I used the front lower level on the woodstove. If your fire is burning hot, use the back shelf and watch your pan closely. As my frozen container was plastic, you do need to pay close attention that the plastic doesn’t get too hot. Watch your water too so it doesn’t boil down which could cause the plastic to get too hot also.

I hope you find this useful idea of defrosting on a woodstove a good alternative to defrosting in a microwave or on a conventional stovetop. It sames energy and is a handy way to defrost food.

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Cooking on the Woodstove

I love cooking on the woodstove. It is a wonderful stove top and saves on running the conventional range-top burner. I have a step-top woodstove and after some testing, I have found the heat levels for cooking on it. If I have a gentle fire going as shown in the photo, the lower level is medium to high heat temperature. This is a good location for starting a pot of soup or stew to get it boiling. Check your pot often as the heat can be very hot and you don’t want to burn your food or boil over the pot.

Once I have my pot of soup hot, I move it up on top for low heat cooking. I can leave my pot of soup simming here for hours. Do check the heat if you build up your fire as it can still get pretty hot on this top shelf of a woodstove.

I find if my soup pot gets too cold, I can always move the pot to the lower level to get the pot hot again and I do this also before serving the soup.

All woodstoves vary and cooking on them takes some time and testing to perfect your skills. My main advice is to Continue Reading →

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KonMari Method

Here is a cool method for decluttering and tidying up your home. Check out the KonMari method by Marie Kondo. First you have to get rid of useless stuff. You know the stuff, those items you don’t use, need, or want. Is it broken, doesn’t fit, haven’t used or worn in years?

via MakeSpace

Check out the useful cheat sheet above. Use the steps outlined to help declutter and discard those items you really don’t need. Then you can move onto other great ideas Continue Reading →

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Saving Tomato Pieces

Here is a quick and frugal homemaking tip. Save and freeze tomato pieces that you may have leftover or over-ripe pieces. This is also a good tip for freezing as you can use a freezer-safe canning jar and just add pieces as you acquire them.

When I need some tomato pieces, I just pull out the jar and remove a few pieces as needed. I chop them up on the cutting board if I want puree tomatoes for my recipes. Otherwise you can just shake out some frozen tomato pieces directly into Continue Reading →

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Green Depression Glass Measuring Cup

This beautiful green depression glass measuring cup has been in my family for many years. It belonged to my Grandma and was given to me after her death. I believe it dates back to the 1940s or maybe even earlier. I displayed the 4 cup green measuring cup for years in my kitchen and didn’t use it.

The bottom of the measuring cup shows what I believe is an Anchor Hocking emblem. I did some research and found that Anchor Hocking was one of the oldest operating glass manufacturers in the United States. The company was one of the major producers of green depression glass. Continue Reading →

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Freezing Cabbage

I discovered this useful idea for storing fresh cabbage. I cut up this garden fresh cabbage and froze it in freezer bags. A half of a cabbage head fits nicely into a quart sized freezer bag.

Roll up the freezer bag with just a small opening left in the zip lock so the air can escape. Roll the bag up towards the zip lock opening and push out all the air you can.

Close the bag Continue Reading →

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