Linda, i know, it does make you wonder, why money? they say hey can't take things because the of the high shipping charges and sizes might not be right so they can get exactly what is needed. but the battered woman's shelter here, takes any clothing, housewares and furniture, the food bank will take food or money, Saint Vincent society, anything, PACE - people who don't have alot will take anything, march of dimes, used wheelchairs etc., red cross - money, and if you want to donate winter knitted items, you have to use their pattern and make only the sizes they want. We also have alot of Native Canadian persons and they have alot of agencies and they are looking for and gratefully accept it. the value village -- who supposedly helps the diabetic association, picks us your unwanted things and diabetic association is paid something really stupid like 3 CENTS A POUND (they weigh the donations). so this is what it is like in my city (about 120,000 people), also we have about 6 or so privately owned seniors homes (they run about 2,000.00 a month) and about 6 city owned homes. very interesting post PeaBee i am enjoying finding out about how generous other cities are! debbie

In the old days --- uh-oh, there's the chronic old fart warning klaxon -- we used to heat the oven to warm (about 200F), shut it off, put in a bowl with a cup of ammonia, and leave it sit over-night. Then, toss the ammonia down the sink, and scrub the walls etc. with a scrubby and dish detergent. There were commercial (i.e., restaurant and institutional grade) oven cleaners but they were incredibly caustic and a big problem for anything that was not stainless steel. (Old fashioned Lutefisk might have smelled worse, but it was a pretty close call!) The instructions for my NXR say not to use "commerciaL" oven cleaners and I'm pretty sure (and have been told) that this means the actual "commercial" products not the residential grade stuff like Fume-free Easy Off, I've used the latter several times with no apparent ill effects (basically after the massive cooking marathons of Thanksgiving and Christmas). "No ill effects" means that I have not stripped the shine off the oven lining. As I understand it it, the warnings about not using "commercial" oven cleaners refer to the restaurant/insitutional grade products, not the "residential" products like Easy Off. (Do be aware, however, that some Easy-Off products are pretty d@*& strong. So, during your stove's warranty period, you want to use the "gentler" stuff like Fume Free rather than the Extra-Strength. What I do most of the time is a modified version of what Whirlpool calls "Acqua-lift."Basically, I get the oven very hot and let a bunch of water vapor in. (Typically, by putting a CI pan of water in the bottom of the oven when I'm baking bread.) Once the oven walls have cooled past the too-hot-to-touch stage, I scrub the walls using Dawn and blue scrubbie. That usually takes care of the problem. When it does not, I use the Fume Free Easy-Off. This post was edited by JWVideo on Fri, Apr 25, 14 at 23:48

Not to hijack either, but I've used microfiber cloths and regular 'ol Ajax Liquid Dish Soap used to make hot, soapy water to clean my granite. Nary a problem...ever. My granite is just as shiny as it was the day it was installed almost three years ago. Now for the food sticking problem. Granite is cool, typically, and when any warm food drips or hits it, it starts to cool fast and will stick. I especially notice more things 'stuck' when we have company and I use the island as a buffet. I use a plastic scraper that I use for my pizza stone to clean up stuck food on the counter. I think I got it from Pampered Chef. I also keep a single blade razor handy just in case I need a sharper edge than the plastic scraper. It just depends on what I'm cleaning. Neither the razor blade or the plastic scraper hurts or scratches my granite. Awhile ago, I was using Crazy Glue and literally got it everywhere on my granite counter. I was in shock. I went ahead and let it dry then used the razor blade to get if off the granite. It came off without a problem and no evidence that it ever happened appeared. As a matter of fact, the fabricator suggested using the razor blade and I pulled out the plastic scraper because I did not DH or my kiddos using the blade in an unsafe manner or irresponsible manner to clean off the granite.

Don't cook the breasts to 165....that's bordering on stringy. I would have cooked the veggies a bit before adding the chicken...but if the deed is done trmove the chicken, keep warm and finish the veggies....then remove the veggies, deglaze etc....and re warm the chicken in the sauce and serve all together. Does sound yummy! Linda c