Why You Should Schedule Regular Appliance Checks

Looking at that title, you’re asking yourself, `why in the world do my appliances need to be checked?’ 

Right? 

Think about it this way, you schedule regular maintenance for your lawn, your car, your computers, even for yourself and your family, after a fashion. Why are your appliances any different? 

Take your car, for example. By getting it checked and tuned up regularly, you find problems before they start. If there are any problems, say that persistent whining when you’re going down the highway, the mechanic can fix them before they bloom into something truly hazardous, like your transmission freezing up. 

Your appliances need the same regular checking both in order to prevent problems and to keep small issues from growing into large ones. We’ve had some clients spend thousands of dollars on a new range only to have it die within a year because they didn’t get a problem with the interface checked out. A different client had to replace all of their wood flooring because they didn’t have a pipe fully connected for their washer, something a check would have noticed and fixed. A third client had to completely replace their custom bar when their ice machine broke down due to sediment build-up. The common thread here is that all of them had small problems that resulted in LARGE damages, all that could have been prevented.  

On the other hand, these customers are now some of our most prominent advocates. They’ve seen what can happen when you don’t take care of your appliances and are quick to point out the dangers to others. Like clockwork, every six months, we go out to their homes to give them the full check on everything, just to be safe. Because of that, they haven’t had any problems with their appliances that we didn’t catch. 

So now that we’ve covered the why let’s get into the how. 

How does Appliance Rescue Service handle a maintenance check? 

• The process starts when you call or go online to schedule an appointment. You decide whether you want us to take a look at all of your appliances, or if you want us to take care of just one or two. 

  •  As an example, ice machines and refrigerators are the two we service most often, due to the build-up of sediments and dust in or on various parts. Ice machines should be serviced at a minimum every six months, preferably every four if you use it daily. Refrigerators are best on a six-month check-up due to the condenser coils, but you can get away with yearly. Your other appliances should be checked on a yearly basis.

• You pick a date and time that works for you, and we put you into our schedule. 

• The day comes, and we dispatch one of our service technicians. They’ll confirm with you what you wanted them to check, and then offer you a quote for the work, before they dig in. 

• They’ll then start to look over your appliances, in the case of a full maintenance check, this means all of them. Refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, ovens, washing machines, dryers, microwaves, ice machines, all of them. 

• As they go over each appliance, they’ll let you know how things are looking and if they find anything. You can stay with them as they go or go about your day as you usually would. 

• Once they’ve looked over everything, seals, wires, water lines, and all, they’ll talk with you about what problems they’ve found, if any. If they have, they’ll lay out what the issues are, and what the estimates would be for fixing them. They’ll also let you know if you’re better off replacing the appliance entirely. 

• After everything has been gone over and estimates have been discussed, our technician will clean up their tools and be on their way. You’ll know whether everything is working well with your appliances or if you need to schedule for actual repairs. 

  • Because there are few things we don’t handle, we might end up making suggestions to other businesses in the area that we know and have recommended to satisfied clients in the past. An example of this is our friends over at dryerventwizard.com. You can go to their website or give them a call at 214-972-0230. 

• Most importantly, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that everything is well in hand. 

If you’re ready to take that next step and get peace of mind knowing that your appliances are well cared for, head over to our contact page. You can schedule an appointment right there, knowing we’ll take care of you and your home as if you were our own.

Additional Reading

Freezer Deep-Dive

Jambalaya - It's What's For Dinner

Welcome to this week’s recipe post! 

This week we’re cooking up a favorite all over the South, but especially in New Orleans. 

That’s right, we’re discussing jambalaya! This is actually one of my favorite meals, both to cook and to eat. 

This is an excellent recipe to keep in your pocket if you need to feed a lot of people on short notice. It cooks up fast and scales easily. Both of these things make it a great meal for Super Bowl Sunday, 

Ingredients 

3 Tablespoons of butter

¾ pound smoked sausage, cut into ¼ inch slices (andouille is best if you can get it, or make it)

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 large white onion, chopped

1 large green bell pepper, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 can or 14 ½ oz diced tomatoes 

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 ½ cups long-grain white rice 

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon paprika 

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (plus extra for seasoning)

2 bay leaves

3 cups chicken broth

Instructions

In a large skillet with a lid, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sliced sausage and cook till brown on both sides, roughly 5 minutes. Put the sausage in a bowl to the side.  

Add all fresh vegetables and cook until they’re just starting to soften. This should take about 3 minutes. 

Lightly dust the chicken with salt and black pepper on all sides. 

Add the chicken and garlic to the skillet. Cook, stirring continuously until the chicken loses its raw colour, about 3 to 4 minutes. 

Add thyme, paprika, the ½ tsp cayenne pepper, and the bay leaves. Cook until fragrant. ( Should only take 45 seconds) . 

Bring the sausage back to the pan (all of it, along with the juices that have dripped into the bottom.) Add your broth and tomatoes, bring to a boil and taste. If you want to add more kick to it, this is when you add in more cayenne. Make sure only to add a small amount at a time to ensure you don’t overdo it. (I’ve made more than one batch that was deemed ‘too spicy.’) 

Sprinkle your rice evenly around the skillet, making sure not to overcrowd any one section. Doing this makes sure that all of your rice absorbs the liquids and heat evenly. You could, in theory, stir it into the skillet, but there’s still the possibility of overcrowding if you’re not careful. 

Cover the skillet, turn the heat down to low and cook until all the liquid has been absorbed and your rice is tender roughly 15 minutes. Remove skillet from the heat and let stand, covered, for an additional 10 minutes. This gives the rice further time to fluff up, as well as making sure that it absorbs the full complement of spices. 

Remove and discard the bay leaves. 

Serve the meal right from the skillet. 

And there you go! A delicious and filling meal that you can make any time of year. 

If you’re working with a cast-iron skillet, keep a few things in mind. 

• It takes time to heat up. Due to how thick the pan is, it’ll take more time for the heat to travel through it and for it to cool down. It might be wise to ‘pre-heat’ the skillet in your oven, say for 10 minutes at 350. Make sure that you put the pan in while the oven is still cool. Take time after you’re done eating for the pan to cool off as well before you start trying to clean it. 

• When you’re getting ready to clean up, don’t get soap on the pan. Cast iron is fantastic for the kitchen, but it takes a lot of TLC. The wonderful people over at Kitchn have gone in-depth on how to care for a cast-iron skillet. 

• After it’s clean, make sure to season it again before you put it up. Doing this seals the flavors into the pan and ensures that it brings added flavor to your next dish. 

Dinner time is a breeze when your appliances work correctly. If yours are giving you trouble, give us a call. Appliance Rescue Service makes repairing, maintaining, and replacing your appliances easy. You can book an appointment online or call us today at (214)-599-0055.

What recipes would you like to see next? Do you have any recipes you’d like to share or suggest? Let us know in the comments or over on our Facebook page, we’d love to hear from you! 

Credit for our delicious looking photo this week goes to Edd Prince.

Ultimate Appliance Shopping Guide for 2020- Part Two

Welcome back, ladies and gents! If you were with us last week, we went shopping for a full suite of new appliances. Our blogger went shopping, looking at things the way people usually did and came up with all sorts of interesting appliances. 

Several of our repairmen, as well as the owner of the company, commented after reading last week’s post that they wanted to purchase some of them as well! 

 This week we sat down with our professionals to see what their thoughts were. We’re going to see what our professional repairmen came up with as their picks for the best appliances that money can buy. 

Refrigerator

Approaching the refrigerator first, like we did last week, this is actually the only one that our professionals couldn’t agree on. “There isn’t just one model or even brand, we’d feel comfortable recommending. There are so many variables that go into selecting a refrigerator; we could spend weeks debating all of them. The most important thing is to find one that has really focused on the necessary features more than the gadgets. It’s not that you can’t get ones with gadgets, let’s face it that’s inevitable these days. However, what should matter is the care that has gone into making the different important points of your refrigerator; the compressor, the seals, how well the ice maker and water lines work. Does it hold temperatures well? Is the water filter easy to access and replace etc? 

Washer

Model: Speed Queen 3.2 Cu. Ft. Inch Top Load in White 

Brand: Alliance Laundry Systems 

All of the bells and whistles have been stripped away for this one leaving you with a dependable washing machine. Simple to set up, simple to use, and reliable seems to be the consensus among buyers. It’s got a deep drum, minimum controls, and is top loading. 

Dryer

Model: Speed Queen 7 Cu Ft Electric in white

Brand: Alliance Laundry Systems 

This dryer matches the washer, and much like it is built for quality and endurance over gadgets. As our professionals put it, ‘there aren’t any electronic displays to burn out, cause fires or malfunctions, and you don’t have test it seven different ways to find out if the board has died or if the dryer did. 

Cooktop/ Oven

Model  KitchenAid 6.4 Cu. Ft. Slide-In Electric 

Brand: KitchenAid 

This range is the best of both worlds. Simple and straightforward but also has several bells that will make any at-home chef happy. It comes with True Convection as well as a steam rack, and also is capable of converting your conventional recipes to convection for you. 

At the same time, though, it isn’t loaded down with dials, controls, or superfluous gadgets. It does what it is designed to do and is the best at it. 

Dishwashers

For our dishwashers, we had a tie in terms of who thought which appliance was the best. 

Model: Built-In Dishwasher with Hidden Controls and 3rd Rack in Stainless Steel

Brand: GE

“This one has one of the better rack configurations that we’ve seen. It means that you’re more likely to be able to fit your dishes and less likely that they’re going to be damaged. It also has a bar handle, which is more durable than the hidden latch models. It’s also surprisingly quiet.” This was our professionals’ opinion, but I’d like to point out something else that caught my eye. It has a wash zone feature. This means that you can choose to wash only the upper or the lower racks, thus saving you water if you use it. 

Model: 39 dBA Dishwasher with Fan-Enabled ProDry System

Brand: KitchenAid

Our second dishwasher has many of the same features as the previous one, although it has a few interesting ones as well. Like the GE, this KitchenAid has a third rack, a bar handle, and is remarkably quiet. It also comes from a very reliable brand. Unlike the GE, however, it has foldable tines on the top rack as well as a set of durable plastic pieces that fold out to add extra space for small items such as sauce dishes or ramekins. 

Thanks for coming back this week ladies and gents, we hope you found this series of posts useful. If you’re not ready to replace your appliances and instead want to repair them, give us a call! We want to help you live better.  

If you did, please consider heading over to our Facebook page and posting what other series or posts you’d like us to do. 

Lucky New Year's Black-Eyed Peas

Although we’re a bit late to eat this on New Year’s Day, we wanted to start something new for weekends and share a recipe.

In my family on New Year's Eve, we make this dish in order to have good luck in the coming year. Also, because it’s a family tradition that goes back several generations. It goes by many different names, although to my brothers and me, it was just black-eyed peas. 

It’s not entirely clear how far back the dish itself dates, although one of the more interesting ideas is that it goes back to the Civil War. 

“One of two popular explanations for the South’s association with peas and good luck dates back to the American Civil War. The first is associated with General William T. Sherman’s march of the Union Army to the sea, during which they pillaged the Confederates' food supplies. Stories say peas and salted pork were said to have been left untouched, because of the belief that they were animal food unfit for human consumption. Southerners considered themselves lucky to be left with some supplies to help them survive the winter, and black-eyed peas evolved into a representation of good luck.”

Well, need is the mother of innovation, and from it came this delicious dish. 

Ingredients:  

3 Tablespoons butter

3 stalks of celery, chopped 

1 small green bell pepper, chopped

1 medium yellow onion, chopped 

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 ham hock, rinsed and patted dry 

2 cups ham, cooked and cubed 

2 cups frozen black-eyed peas OR 2 cups canned black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained 

2 cups cooked white rice

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper 

½ teaspoon salt 

Hot sauce to taste

Instructions: 

1. Start by thoroughly rinsing your beans if you’re using canned ones. You don’t need the added salt when you have both the cubed ham and the ham hock. 

2. Bring a large pot to the stove and turn it to medium heat. Melt your butter and then add bell pepper, onion, celery, and garlic. Stir regularly and cook till the vegetables are very tender. Roughly 7-10 minutes. 

3. Add in your ham hock and the cubed ham. Pour enough water to cover the top of the hock and ring to a boil, uncovered. Keeping it uncovered, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. 

4. Stir in rice, and black-eyed peas, leaving it to simmer for another 15 minutes. 

5. Season it with hot sauce to taste. (We keep our hot sauce on the counter so that everyone can add as much as they like. I know our little one doesn’t add any!) 

Tips: 

• If you can’t get a ham hock at your local store, you can go with just a ham bone and a rasher of bacon.

• You can also make the dish a little more flavorful by cooking the rice in the liquid before adding in your beans. This gives it more time to absorb the flavors of the mix. Don’t add the beans for a longer cook time, though, as they’ll end up too soft. 

• If you use frozen black-eyed peas, don’t worry about defrosting them before-hand. You can toss them into the pot straight out of the freezer. 

• IF however, you opt to use dried peas, please make sure that you soak them overnight and then rinse them once more with cold water before adding them to the cooking pot. 

A well-cared-for kitchen is needed in order to make any recipe. If you’re seeing issues with any of your appliances, consider making an appointment. Or you can check out our post from earlier this week if you’re looking to buy something new. We’d love to help you continue making memories and delicious foods with your family. Call us today for fast and reliable service.  

Tell us below in the comments or over on Facebook, have you tried black-eyed peas before? Love them? Hate them? Have an entirely different recipe for them? Let us know! We’d love to hear from you.

Adapted From: Paula Deen's ­South­ern ­Cook­ing Bible, I think. I’ll admit that when I asked my grandmother where she got this recipe, she just pointed me towards a giant collection of cookbooks. On one hand, I grew up thinking that the recipe had been handed down for generations through our family. On the other hand, she said that she’d modified the recipe after reading it somewhere else.

Looking for this recipe was not easy. This is the closest to the recipe as I grew up making it, but it’s not precise. There’s also the fact that Paula Deen calls the dish Hoppin’ John. So, who knows?

Credit for the background image for this post goes to Jud McCranie.