We had a great Thanksgiving at our house this year with all the children and grandchildren and some family friends. I did my best to use mise en place in the preparations so that I could get it all together a little easier this year. The usual family favorites were on the menu, as well as one new recipe that I tried. I made a Southern Living Sweet Potato Casserole, and it will now be a regular Thanksgiving dish. Too bad I didn’t get pictures of it for a post, but I’ll have my camera ready next time. If you have ever been the “designated cook” for a holiday meal, then you already know how much planning has to go into efficiently rotating the various dishes through the oven. It’s kind of like a relay event because the casseroles have to be grouped by oven temperature, then various timers set, then the oven temperature adjusted for the next round, and more timers set, and on and on until the last pie is baked. Amazingly, everything turned out great. There were no disasters this year unless you count the oven door.
By Friday this was the look my glass oven door was sporting! It wasn’t only the Thanksgiving meal preparation that caused it to look this bad, because it’s a rare day that my oven is not used. But man, did it ever need to be cleaned now! I really hate using oven cleaners, so I took the advice at DIY Home Sweet Home and let baking soda do the work for me.
I used to only buy baking soda in small boxes for baking purposes, but I have found it to be it so useful I now also buy the large size for cleaning purposes.
Once I had it all covered well, I set the timer for 20 minutes, then went to play on Pinterest while the baking soda did the work. If you have more pinning to do, you might want to leave it as long as 30 minutes.
I have a self-cleaning oven but it doesn't do much for my oven door. I am going to try this! Thanks for sharing it 🙂
What temperature did you set the oven? I would like to try this!
Pam
scrap-n-sewgranny.blogspot,com
Pam, my oven is self-cleaning. The self-cleaning feature never gets the glass clean though. I just used the baking soda paste on the oven door glass to clean it and used no heat. The baking soda did a super job!
Wow! I'm thrilled to see this and I'm pinning it so I won't lose it. 🙂 blessings, marlene
Great idea, as usual, Anita! I'm giving this a try in my self cleaning oven because the door never get clean.
Just added the paste mixture to my oven door plus gave my kitcken drain a baking soda/vinegar bath as well. I am excited to see the out come!
This was so easy and what a beautiful job it did!
WOW! That is amazing! For a second there, I was sure you had a photo of MY oven door! ;-} I MUST try this soon. I laughed at your fun post because you mentioned it can be like a 'relay' in your oven. I definitely did that this year…and thankfully,
WON that crazy race too! Thanks so much for the tip.
Goodness me – I almost forgot! CONGRATULATIONS! Wanted to let you know YOU are the winner of my GOOSEBERRY PATCH CHRISTMAS 2012 COOKBOOK giveaway. Send me your mailing address and I'll get it right out to you. Thanks much for entering.
I was just thinking how horrible the inside of my oven, and the window looked!! It has the self cleaner, but I've been a little afraid of using it, since it can get so hot! Thank you for sharing this … I'm pinning it, as well! 🙂 Love your site! Also tried your Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken … it was amazing!! And thanks for following my food site … I need to get back to it again! Circumstances have taken me away, but the cooking does go on!!
So glad to hear and see that this method works! I have a hard time trying to breathe using the canned cleaner on the glass,(I also have a self cleaning oven and the glass is never thoroughly cleaned) so this will be the way to go from now on. Thanks Anita!