Cleaning a Non Self Cleaning Oven

Alright, now I'm gonna warn you about this post. It's sort of gross. It shows the more unglamorous side of mastering the kitchen. In fact- much of that is unglamorous. Anyways... I'm getting real with you.

When we first moved into our apartments I was a bit disgusted from the oven. I tried wiping it with Windex which did nothing... so I became comfortable with it. However, after a couple of spilled over pies and other dishes it was getting harder and harder to deal with. I tried baking soda which did nothing. Time went on. Smoke was coming up from the oven too often! On Sunday I made a chicken pot pie which spilled A LOT. I knew I wouldn't be able to use my oven again until I cleaned it. See take a look....

Take a look at the whole oven actually. It's all disgusting. I don't think it's ever been cleaned.

Take a better look at the pot pie spot. GROSS!

Now that your grossed out let me change the subject to food. Haha. On Monday I made some beef stew and thought, "mmm biscuits". So I whipped some up and had them rolled out and on the pan ready to go. Then I noticed smoke coming from my pre-heating oven. Lots of it. If our smoke alarm hadn't been ripped down from the last time I set it off it would have been beeping. So I had to trash my biscuits :-(

So I texted my mother in law and asked her how to clean an oven because I remembered her talking about it before. She told me about cleaning her oven when she first got married- said she used Easy-Off oven cleaner and a rough cleaning pad and scrubbed a lot.

So that's what I did. I woke up this morning and went to exercise then I headed to the grocery store. Came home and got to work.

Here is what I used:

Note: You have to use the rough stuff. I tried a regular sponge before... did nothing. I used all 3 of these today.

And of course some gloves... I love these things:

I sprayed it in the oven

Then closed the door let it work it's magic and ate breakfast (because I'm not quite as disgusted by these things anymore).

Then I put my gloves back on and got to work:

Over 2 hours later:

I know there are still some spots and it's not perfect but I worked HARD!

And then there was STILL cleaning to do... like all around the oven. And the floor because grease had gone everywhere. But I finally did it. I was very proud of myself.

I changed clothes and folded the clothes in the dryer. Put lots of lotion on my hands and made lunch for me and Blake. Then I went to class! Very productive morning!

Then I enjoyed using my clean oven tonight to make toast for our stew leftovers.

The joys :)

You know I'm loving every bit!