This post highlighting recipes with tricky cleanup has been compensated by Scotch-Brite. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I’m sure many of you out there have a list (or more accurately, a Pinterest board) overflowing with awesome recipe ideas that you just haven’t gotten around to trying yet. I know I certainly do.

In particular, I have quite a few recipes that I seem to be dragging my feet to try for one simple reason: I judge clean up for these dishes to be a nightmare. Any food that is served in a glass, that has marshmallows that have been heated, that has a flaky crust in a small container or that involves syrup in significant quantities keeps getting passed over by me because however good the recipe may be, I’ll be annoyed that I made it when it is time to scrub the dishes.

Follow Stuff Parents Need’s board #ScotchBrite Yummy Recipe Possibilities on Pinterest.

Scotch-Brite recently challenged me to create a Pinterest board with exactly those types of dishes: the ones I’d really love to eat, and even ones I’m willing to make, as long as I don’t have to do dishes afterwards. I was also challenged to actually make one of those recipes, and then face the dreaded dish pile afterwards with the Scotch-Brite Stay Clean Dishwand in hand. The folks at Scotch-Brite were confident that with the right tools, washing those dishes would be a breeze.

Y’all, I’ve cleaned a lot of plates (in Memphis! Like Tina!) so I was not as confident. But I’m always up for a challenge, especially if it means that I get to eat something super yummy.

Miniature Pecan Pies

I reviewed my options, and at the end of the day, just couldn’t stop thinking about those adorable rustic ramekin pecan pies. Head over to Bev’s site to get the recipe (it’s a good one!) if you’d like to give it a try. I’ll show you the process I went through to make the pies, and I think in so doing, you’ll see the increasing level of “Ugh!” I was facing as clean up time neared.

First I cut out the dough to fit the inside of the ramekin (accomplished by using a bowl that was slightly larger than the ramekin). So the inside of my dish is covered in dough, which is flaky, crusty, delicious, and a bear to clean.

But, you know what? That’s not enough crust! Time to put some around the edges! I actually totally agree with Bev on this concept, and I loved the fact that the pie is supposed to look “rustic” so it is ok for the crust to not be nice and neat. But now I’ve got pie crust on the inside AND the outside of the dish.

Time to make the filling! Various yummy and sticky things go into a pecan pie filling, including eggs, sugar, lots of syrup, and to put a little pink in your cheeks, some bourbon (in my case, I used Chattanooga Whiskey…keepin’ it local!). My main concern with stuff like this is that it may come off the bowl, but then it will just be stuck to the sponge. Gross.

The finished product was totally cute and yes, absolutely delicious. My family enjoyed every single bite.

Cleaning up with Scotch-Brite Stay Clean Dishwand

I got my Scotch-Brite Stay Clean Dishwand all ready to go. It is especially designed to keep the food off the dishes AND off the sponge, which means that it can go the distance for you without having to be replaced quite so quickly. I had the perfect tool on hand for the job, so no need to dally, right?

The Part Where I Totally Embarrass Myself

Only I did dally. I dallied like it was going out of style. Honest truth time: I was nervous that the dishwand wouldn’t work as advertised, and that I’d ruin my new kitchen helper on its very first mission. Between the crust, the gooey filling, and the sticky leftovers in the prep bowl, what sponge wouldn’t have to sacrifice itself for that mess??? Also, I hate doing dishes, so that contributed to my procrastination, for sure.

Those dishes sat for 3 full days. And actually, they sat longer than that but I’m just too embarrassed to tell you how long. I avoided this chore like the plague, and in so doing, really just made my poor, cute little dishwand’s job infinitely harder.

And yet, she seemed undaunted (and perhaps even a little giddy) about her assignment (What? Dishwands totally show their emotions, you guys). I put her durable scrubbing surface to work, and what I thought was going to be a horrible chore seemed to be more like a fun game to this dishwand.

Even the crusty ramekins didn’t see to phase her, and bowl after bowl, the dishes were coming clean.

When it was all said and done, I realized that I put off a chore that wasn’t hard at all, thanks to having the right tool on hand. And was the dishwand scrubber ruined by all the sticky stuff it had to clean? On the contrary…it hardly looked used at all!

So now I’ve got a new best friend in the kitchen, and my hand washing dishes aren’t piling up for a week 3 days like they used to. The Scotch-Brite Stay Clean Dishwand is easy to use, actually works the way it claimed it would, and is priced nicely at just $2.99 for the dishwand and $4.49 for a 3 pack of refills (though it will take a while for the sponge to wear out!). The sponges are also designed to fit any Scotch-Brite wand, so if you purchase a different dishwand and want to try out these sponges, that’s no problem!

What awesome recipe are you going to try now that you know cleaning up will be easy??? 

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the full suite of Scotch-Brite dishwands!

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