Practical Homemaking | Cook, Clean & Bake with Me

 

 Join me for some Practical Homemaking. We are going to sort through the tablecloths, cook a one-pot enchilada pasta, deep clean the dryer, and finally, make some whole wheat blueberry muffins. Won’t you join me? 

Welcome back to The Daily Connoisseur. Practical homemaking is about getting it all done and enjoying the process. Cooking a one-pot dinner, baking for the freezer, and tackling seasonal cleaning tasks are all efficient strategies to run a home. 

 First on the agenda, we are going to go through the tablecloths and placemats. My tablecloth storage has become a tad messy lately and I want to go through the inventory to see if any of our table linens need to be retired. I often encourage readers to go through their closets to see if there are worn-out things you need to retire: especially in your sleepwear and undergarments, but the same holds true with nearly every category in our homes: even table linens. I’ve had some of these placemats for years. You can tell we use them nearly every day because some of them are very worn out and it’s time for them to go. I’m separating what will stay and what will go and also rediscovering some old favorites in the process. Sometimes your table linens will be stuck at the back of a shelf and you forget what you have.  I wrap this up and now and admire the table linens before they go back onto the shelf. 

Are you hungry now? Ok, I’m going to show you how to make this one-pot enchilada pasta recipe. It’s seriously good.

One-pot Enchilada Pasta

Ingredients

• 4 cups uncooked penne pasta
• 4 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 1/2 cups ground beef (cooked and drained)
• 1 can (14 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 cup corn
• 1 4oz can sliced olives, drained
• 1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce
• 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Fresh cilantro leaves, cherry tomatoes and lime wedges for garnish

Instructions

1. In a Dutch oven or large skillet, combine all the ingredients except for the cheese and garnishes. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, until pasta is cooked, around 12-15 minutes. Serve each portion with cheese on top, cilantro, cherry tomatoes and lime, if desired.

And now for a rather unusual cleaning task… One you not only need to do, but maybe didn’t know you needed to do. Ok, I’ll stop speaking cryptically. You need to frequently clean the lint out of your dryer. Have you ever looked in there? It is madness. So much lint. So, I’m going to get the laundry room ready first by folding the dry tablecloths (yes, we have tablecloths everywhere) and taking out the dryer racks to give myself room. Now I’m going to take my handy wet dry vacuum that I love. This thing is old school. And I’m going to add this attachment that I found on Amazon. This vacuum attachment allows you to go deep in that lint trap area to get all the debris out. It’s brilliant. This might take some time if you’ve let the debris build up in here over time. Look at what I’m able to get out! Yikes! And yes, I realize my apron is not only inside out but wrinkled too. It’s one of those homemaking days where things are getting crazy. Also, I didn’t even plan it but I’m wearing another striped shirt ha! Even though this might seem like an undesirable task to you, I tell you, it’s actually very satisfying. If I can’t get everything out with the vacuum, I bring out this crazy looking cleaning device. The curved nature of this scrubber thingamajig along with the bristles allow you to break up some of the lint down there that then allows the vacuum attachment to finally pick it all up. I’ve been putting this job off for a while because it’s kind of a big production, but now that I’ve cleaned this area, I feel the satisfaction of a job well done. 

 And finally, let’s make whole wheat blueberry coconut muffins. I’ve gone muffin mad over the past year. I find that making batches of muffins and keeping them in the freezer is a wonderful way to keep and enjoy baked goods. 

Whole Wheat Coconut Blueberry Muffins

Yield: 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 3 Tbs chia seeds (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Stir together the flours, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. In a stand mixer, beat egg, milk and oil. Slowly add flour mixture to the liquid mixture until well-incorporated. Mix the blueberries, coconut, and chia seeds with a wooden spoon. Pour the batter into paper lined muffin pan cups.
3. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until cooked in the center.
4. (Please note: the whole wheat flour makes these less fluffy. If you want fluffy muffins, use all-purpose flour instead of whole wheat.)

 I hope you enjoyed this homemaking video and that it gave you motivation to carry on with your own practical homemaking. 

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I hope you enjoyed today's video. Let us know what practical homemaking you did this week in the comments. 

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