Happy T-day and oven cleaning

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. I made the whole dinner this year, with the exception of the candied yams, and it turned out fantastic! Turkey, stuffing, garlic smashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauces, rolls, an apple pie and two pumpkin pies. My ex-husband wanted my yam recipe, so I told him if he made them he could use my recipe, and he did a good job, so he was forgiven for forgetting the green beans. I made everything from scratch, from the bread that went into the stuffing, to the rolls, gravy, pies, etc. My son apparently loved the gravy. There was probably 4 cups of it, and he practically sucked it through a straw! My feet and back were aching by the end of the day, but it was worth it. I love cooking for a group of people. It was a nice day.

The only problem was that my oven was browning everything really, really quickly. Thankfully I have a habit of checking things, and that saved my pies from burning on the top long before they were done. I had to cover the turkey within an hour of putting it in the oven! to keep the top from getting burned. My guess is that the oven is not heating evenly because of baked on whatever that happens over the course of 11 years of cooking.

Apparently it's beyond time to clean the oven. I hate cleaning the oven. I've lived in my house for going on 11 years, and have never cleaned the oven. Bad, I know. Oven cleaner is vile stuff, and I hate it.

I did some looking around on line for an environmentally friendly way of cleaning the oven and found a recipe I'm testing as I type this. 1 cup each salt, baking soda and water. Make into a paste and apply to all surfaces inside the oven. Turn the oven on to 500 degrees for one hour. Allow to cool, then wipe out with soapy water.

In another hour I'll know how it works :)