...And My House Still Smells Like Bacon

You may remember me mentioning yesterday that I almost burned my house down making those asparagus spears wrapped in bacon for Thanksgiving dinner. No lie. See, I'm not the most careful person in the world. I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants mostly. I don't really see danger when I should and I probably don't take some things seriously when I should. I like living my life like that, I'd rather be a free spirit than be so tightly wound that I die of a heart attack at 50. That said, there are times when I know I should be more careful. And yesterday morning was one of those times.

I got up early so I could make my asparagus to take to Mama and Daddy's for dinner along with some green beans, Brussels sprouts and an apple cheese pie. I wrapped my asparagus spears in the bacon and put them on a cookie sheet (a FLAT cookie sheet), put them in the oven on 400 degrees and went to take my shower. When I came back into the kitchen, white smoke was rolling out of my oven! I opened the oven door and bacon grease was ALL OVER THE BOTTOM OF THE OVEN and I freaked out. The FIRST thing I did was go and Google "bacon grease oven fires" and guess what? They happen. A lot. Seems bacon fat is highly flammable (who knew?) and if it gets anywhere near the oven's element, it could very easily start a fire. Duh. I turned the temp down on the oven and took the cookie sheet out, trying to be careful not to spill even more grease onto the oven's floor. By this time, the fire alarm in the hallway was screaming YOU IDIOT YOU IDIOT over and over at me and I was scared to death. The oven was too hot to try to get the grease up so I moved the asparagus over to a cookie sheet WITH SIDES LIKE THE RECIPE SAID and prayed while they finished cooking. It all turned out beautifully. The asparagus was awesome and my oven didn't catch on fire. Lesson learned. That won't happen again. But, see, it takes things like that to get my attention. Drives my sister nuts.

I waited until my oven was ice cold before I left to go home to Mama's. While I waited, I fanned the fire alarm with towels and it finally shut up. God, that thing could wake the dead. And that ain't no bad thing since I'm the one it would be waking.

SO. I come home last night and start working to clean the oven. NO WAY could I go to bed with that thing all nasty like that. I wouldn't sleep a wink. I had some Easy Off way back in the cabinet under the sink and although I hate using it 'cause it makes me cough and gag and sneeze and it's terrible for the environment, I knew a mess like that called for Easy Off. I followed the directions and sprayed it in my oven, left it for the 20 minutes and came back. Most of the gunk came off but there was this one spot about the size of my hand that was still there. I tried scraping it with my fingernail. Nothing. I sprayed it with some more Easy Off and even though I turned my head away from it, I still coughed up half a kidney. I waited and still, that patch would not budge. I gave up on it, grabbed my bottle of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Countertop Spray (in yummy Lemon Verbena, my favorite!!) and I cleaned up the door and any residue left behind by the Easy Off and was about to call it a night when I thought "what the heck?" and I sprayed that spot with Clean Day, too.

Guess what again??? When I wiped it lightly with my sponge, that crusty, dried, baked-on bacon grease spot came right up!!! I knew this stuff was awesome. I use it every day cleaning stuff and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. All of the Mrs. Meyer's products are made with natural essential oils, are biodegradable, phosphate-free and are never tested on animals. I use the whole line and I love every single thing. I like the Lemon Verbena the best and it makes my house smell so good and clean and fresh. I never dreamed my little bottle of Countertop Spray would cut baked-on grease, though.





Go ahead, little bottle of Countertop Spray.
Take a bow.