Tag Archives: easy

Going Reviews: Medela Quick Clean Products

05/20/2014 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

Can you think of something that has an up and a down side?

Recently, Avery hit a growth spurt and was going through bottles just like her diapers! This is the up side as I was worried she wasn’t eating enough to facilitate growth. But the down side was how quickly the dirty bottles collected in the sink.

Luckily, Medela sent us their Quick Clean™ products for review at the same time.

Each day, I have to clean all of the bottles and the breast pump parts Going Mom uses at work. This can be difficult at the end of the day when Avery is demanding attention while I’m preparing dinner, picking up around the house, and Going Mom is just trying to change out of work clothes.

Medela’s Quick Clean™ product line includes:

Quick Clean™ Breastmilk Removal Soap – Great for home use
Quick Clean™ Breastpump & Accessory Wipes – Perfect when on the go
Quick Clean™ Micro-Steam Bags – Great to use at work, when travelling, and at home

Since I’m not the one pumping breastmilk at work, Going Mom made use of the wipes and micro-steam bags while I used the breastmilk removal soap to tackle the mounting bottles at home. With feedback from my wife, I’ll go over each item providing our pros and cons.

Quick Clean™ Breastmilk Removal Soap

Medela’s description:

Quick Clean breastmilk removal soap removes stubborn breastmilk residue up to 3 days old and is clinically tested under physician supervision not to cause skin irritation. No-scrub soap is safe and hypoallergenic with no added fragrance or taste that might discourage baby from breastfeeding.

I had trouble accepting the “no-scrub” part of this soap, but appreciate that it is fragrance free and didn’t irritate my skin. I followed the directions on the bottle and used 3 pumps of soap for every gallon of lukewarm water. I let Kelley’s breast pump parts and all of the components of the bottles soak for 5 minutes and rinsed with water.

Not using the bottle brush saved a lot of time and it felt too good to be true. Unfortunately, it was too good to be true; at least the no-scrub part. After letting everything air dry, the bottles had a haziness that we haven’t seen before and just didn’t seem thoroughly clean.

But don’t wave this off as ineffective, I tried it again along with using the scrubber and everything came out clean; no haze! So maybe the soap cleans without scrubbing, but I don’t like seeing a haze and scrubbing will fix that.

Pros:

Can be used for all breast pump parts, bottles, nipples, and even dishes
Safe and hypoallergenic
No fragrance to irritate skin or alter taste for baby

Cons:

“No-scrub” didn’t work (for me)

Quick Clean™ Breastpump & Accessory Wipes

Medela’s description:

Convenient portable cleaning, no need for soap and water cleaning after each pump session. Hygienic wipes proven safe for cleaning of breastpumps and accessories as well as high chairs, tables, cribs and countertops.

Kelley used these at work after pumping and liked them for the most part, but they left a soapy residue that needed to be rinsed. Also, it is difficult to get into the small areas of some of the parts with the wipes alone. She still prefers to just have me clean everything with the Quick Clean™ Soap when she gets home and that’s fine with me; she’s busy enough as it is!

Since the wipes are good for more than just pump parts, we are having better luck using them at home. Now that we’re starting baby-led weaning with Avery, I have a feeling they will be quite handy for the highchair!

Pros:

Able to use anywhere when on the go
Good for cleaning more than just breast pump accessories like high chairs, countertops, toys, and more
Hygienic

Cons:

Leaves a soapy film that sometimes needs rinsing
Can’t get into the hard to reach places on small parts

Quick Clean™ Micro-Steam™ Bags

Medela’s description:

Disinfect your breastpump breastshields, accessories, breastmilk bottles, nipples, pacifiers and more in about 3 minutes.

Of the three products, these are hands down our favorite! Going Mom uses the bags at work and home to clean and sanitize all breast pump accessories and bottle nipples. We love how quick and efficient the bags are and they are easily transportable.

Pros:

Kills 99.9% of germs and bacteria when used
Simple to use
Great for storing pump parts and keeps you from losing the small pieces
Each bag can be used up to 20 times and even includes checkboxes to make sure you keep an accurate count
Very sturdy and will not easily rip or get punctured

Cons:

None

Overall, we have been happy with Medela’s Quick Clean™ products but love the steam bags the most. The soap is working fine now that I scrub and I honestly feel better about scrubbing dirty accessories anyway. Although the wipes aren’t the best solution for Going Mom when at work, I’m finding they are helpful for quick cleaning around the house.

Have you tried any of Medela’s Quick Clean™ products? If not, do you want to?

Any favorite cleaning solutions that you use?

Thank you, Medela, for allowing me the opportunity to use and review your line of Quick Clean™ products!

Disclosure: Medela provided everything mentioned in this post free of charge but did not compensate me for this post in any way. All thoughts and opinions are strictly my (and my wife’s) own.

Going Healthy

Going Healthy: How to Cook Fish in Your Dishwasher

04/20/2014 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Hi there!

Happy Easter to those of you that celebrate, and Happy Just-another-Sunday to those of you that don’t!

So, guess what I did yesterday? You give up? I cooked a big batch of wild-caught cod.

Who cares, right? Well, I cooked the fish in our dishwasher if that interests you.

Hi, I cook your food and wash what you eat it on!

No, its not taking the “clean eating” fad literally (hmm, or maybe it is….), its simply as it sounds. Take your fish, put in dishwasher, and run a cycle.

This was my first time to cook with the dishwasher and I was unsure of how things would turn out. So, I obviously had my concerns. Will my washer smell like fish forever, will the fish just get shred to pieces, and will it even be fully cooked?

But, the end result was perfectly cooked fish! Tender, moist, and still intact; awesome! The dishwasher did smell a little like fish, but nothing overwhelming and it went away after a while.

The prep was quick and easy, and cleanup was a wash! Ha ha, I love laughing at my own corny puns!

Anyway, even Going Mom tried and approved of the dishwashed (steamed or poached?) fish. Good thing since it will be in her meals I prepare for her work lunches!

Why cook food in the dishwasher? No good reason, just because you can and it’s fun to say you did. Will I do again? Maybe, but not anytime soon.

That said, give it a shot and join the dishwashed food club. You could cook with a washer full of dirty dishes as long as your tightly seal your foil pouches, but I prefer not to.

You see this compartment to fill with dishwashing fluid?

Don’t!

Here’s what you need:

fish of choice (I used cod but heard salmon works well too)
salt and pepper
herbs and spices (this is optional, but I used paprika, cumin, basil, and dill)
I didn’t use any, but you could add a little olive oil and lemon juice inside the foil.
aluminum foil
a dishwasher

Here’s what you do:

Pre-heat your oven to 350°F.
Place your fish on a piece of foil large enough to fold over and seal tight.
Season fish with salt and pepper and any additional seasonings you prefer.
Turn off your oven since you don’t even need to use it and I just wanted to annoy you. Sorry…
Tightly seal the foil around your fish.
Place foil pouches in the top rack of your dishwasher and run on normal cycle with the sanitize option if you have it.
Sealed tight and ready for a wash!
Let your dishwasher do its thing and do not open until the full cycle, including the drying cycle, is complete.
Remove fish from dishwasher and enjoy your “clean eating” fish with a side of quinoa and roasted Brussels sprouts….or whatever sides you like.

Have you ever cooked anything in your dishwasher? If not, would you?

Ever cooked food using another unconventional method?

Going Healthy

Going Healthy: Low Calorie Coconut Protein Granola

04/06/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Are you sensing a theme with coconut here? Last week was coconut salmon cakes, this week it’s coconut granola, and who knows what’ll be next? I just happened to be a little excessive when buying coconut flour in bulk a while back, so now I’m trying to make good use of it.

This granola definitely counts as good use to me, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too. High protein, gluten free, no refined sugar, and full of crunchy flavor, how can you NOT love it?

Make sure you make a second batch because the first one will go quick. I speak from experience….

Low Calorie Coconut Protein Granola

Ingredients

2 cups puffed corn cereal; I used Arrowhead Mills
2 cups puffed millet cereal; again, Arrowhead Mills
1 T Cinnamon; I like it very cinnamon-intense, add only 1/2 a tablespoon if like
2 scoops vanilla protein powder; I use egg white protein sweetened with stevia
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup oat bran
1/2 cup pumpkin puree; mashed ripe banana is excellent too
2 T milk of choice or water
1 T coconut oil
3 packets of stevia powder or 25 drops of liquid stevia; I don’t like it too sweet, so if you want add more to taste
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl using a wire whisk.
In a separate mixing bowl, add the pumpkin puree with 2 T milk or water.
Melt the coconut oil and mix into pumpkin mixture.
Add the wet to the dry and stir until well combined; this takes a while, be patient
On a parchment lined cookie sheet spread the mixture out evenly and bake for 30 – 35 minutes. Every 10-15 minutes stir and break up the granola for even baking.
Remove from oven once you see granola turning a deep golden color.
Allow to cool and enjoy however you would. The clusters make excellent portable snacks and smaller pieces can be used for your milk/yogurt “dressing”.

If you don’t care about the gluten free part, feel free to substitute rolled oats in place of the puffed cereal. Or you can use certified gluten-free oats. The oats will actually make for a crunchier granola.