Getting the most out of your appliances

EDIT: This has been edited to add several kitchen pics. The one I had before opened into my entire album which I didnt want!
Several days ago I wrote on my definition of the simple life. I have gotten a lot of feedback on that post. That feedback has led to what I'm going to say today. You see, I suggested that we don't need to get rid of our modern day conveniences to live the simple life. Many of you have called or written to ask questions on that post. I think our modern day appliances are tools that when used properly, can actually help us to live simpler lives.

Many people have appliances in their homes but do not use them to their full potential. How many of you have buttons on washers and dryers, dishwashers and microwaves that you've never used? Let's take a look at these appliances and rediscover their role in our lives.

For a long time I have been soaking my dishcloths in a bucket of bleach. It's a good spot to put them when they are wet from the kitchen but there's not enough for a load. The only thing I didn't like about the bucket was the fact that I had to empty the bleach water all the time. About a year ago my husband bought me a new washer and dryer. It was only about three months ago I discovered that on the complicated panel of buttons was one that said, Rinse and Drain. it was like the sun broke through the clouds. Now I dump the entire bucket, water and all, into the wash machine. I set it to Rinse and Drain and all that bleach water is drained out. The cycle takes about 8 minutes. When it's all drained I put in the soap and turn it on to wash it proper. That little cycle has saved me a lot of time. Check your washer and dryer and find out what all the buttons are for and make it your business to use them.

And just a little note on the side here. If your still washing your dishcloths with all the other household tidy whities than please consider changing that. Back in grandmas day when water was carried from the spring it was okay to mix the whites. But think really how unclean it is to wash dishcloths and face cloths with underwear! Its just not a lovely thing to think on. And while I'm on this subject let me go a little further down the rabbit trail and plead with you to put a new bar of soap in the shower when guests spend the night. Need I explain further? I hope not.

Now lets talk about that dishwasher. Have you ever loaded the dishwasher extra full and then moaned because the dishes came out dirty? I have a secret for you. If you have a newer model you will most likely have a button on there that allows you to change the cycle for Heavy cleaning. I have discovered that if I take a tiny little half second to push the button labeled Heavy instead of my usual one labeled, Normal, I save a lot of time. No more sorting out the dishes that didn't get washed and rewashing them. If you have a Pots and Pans option than be sure to use that when you wash your pots and pans. Again it will save you time and aggravation.

Does your dishwasher have a button for delayed wash? Then use it. If you're husband is sitting in the kitchen talking long distance on an important business call and the dishwasher needs running what do you do? Just push the delayed button and set it to begin a half hour later. It sure beats coming back and when its time to unload it and discovering it had never been turned on!

And then there's that slow cooker you always your mother in law bought you for Christmas. She wanted to be sure her dear son was fed properly even on your busiest days so she lovingly bought you a slow cooker. But now it sits on the counter or in a cupboard and you have no idea what to do with it. Use it to simplify your life. Slow cookers are not a scary thing. The biggest thing to remember about crock pot cooking is that the juices and liquids do not evaporate like in an oven so you just use less liquid in any given recipe. Otherwise just throw the ingredients in there, set it to however long you want the food to cook and go your merry way for the day. it couldn't be easier. Most slow cookers say to put meat on top of veggies which is the opposite of how you'd think it would be but really, I've never bothered. I just throw and punch. Once the button is punched get out of the kitchen and let the slow cooker do its work.

Do you have a blender? I hope so. I use my blender for everything. If gravy is a bit lumpy carefully put the the hot stuff into the blender and whir gently. Suddenly the gravy is smooth as silk. Do you need to chop a few nuts? Throw them in the blender. Now I get my walnuts free from my brother who has a huge tree of them. I get a hundred pounds every other year. This means that I need to freeze the nuts after I crack them. I can tell you from experience that frozen nuts do not do well in the blender. They make a wet mess when you try to chop them that way. But nuts that are dried do great chopped in the blender.

Use all the buttons on your blender. If you want to chop ice then don't puree it. If you want to just stir something with it than use that button not the grind one. A close relative to the blender is the food processor. I bought mine at a garage sale 20 years ago. It was seven dollars. It still works like a dream and I use it all the time. It grinds all my vegetables for relish and salsa every year. I use ti to make cole slaw and a million other things. Now if you're going to just chop one onion and some garlic than I would use a knife. I can dice an onion in my hand as fast as I can chop one in the food processor so there's no point in dirtying up all the stuff to it for just a little bit of stuff. And for the record, my sis and I once held a race. We set out to see which was the fastest; the Pampered Chef cutter for onions or cutting one by hand. The Pampered Chef tool beat me by about two seconds but then she had all the cleanup of the tool to do not to mention the seconds used in putting it together in the first place. But back to the food processor, when you have 25 green peppers, a dozen onions, 5 stalks of celery, etc. etc, than I highly recommend the food processor. It also works great for shredding cheese. I have a hundred and one uses for it! So please don't let it sit in that cupboard. Pull it out and use it.

I wont even get into the joys of the Kitchen Aid Mixer of the Bosch mixer. I have all the attachments for my Kitchen Aid but I use the food processor more. However the Kitchen Aid is my right hand maid for kneading bread and mixing doughs of all sorts. It's also great for mashing potatoes. Again use the Kitchen Aid to cut down on bread making time and other cooking chores. I know you're all thinking bread machine about now but I'm not a fan of the bread machine. Oh yes, I have one but I hate the size and texture of the loaf and dough. People always respond with, "Oh you need to use it for the mixing and the rising at the very least!" No I don't like it for that either. I want to feel my dough. I can tell by the feel of that bread dough whether it's the perfect consistency and no bread machine can do that for me. As for the raising of the dough I am blessed to have warming racks on the back of my stove with heat lights shining on them. It rises perfectly. A lot of times I don't even need the lights though because my kitchen is always cozy warm. It's the hub of our home thus it's always kept at a nice comfortable temperature.

I have to wind this thing up because the kids need to go to Awana. But really people, think about using your appliances to make your life easier. There's no sin in it just as there's no righteousness in washing your clothes by hand. Just simplify life and use those appliances!