birthday dessert ideas: the good housekeeper

Showing posts with label the good housekeeper. Show all posts

Showing posts with label the good housekeeper. Show all posts

Turning Stale Bread into Something Tasty

At our red house any leftover crusts or stale scraps of bread are kept in the freezer. Whenever I need bread crumbs, I thaw out the scraps of bread then whiz them up in the food processor.

It may seem crazy to save scraps of bread when at most the money saved is only a few cents. I mean, it's not as if I can't afford to buy a box of commercial bread crumbs, should I so wish.

I save scraps of bread for a number of reasons:

It does save money, even if only a small amount.
It reduces waste, although I am sure our four chooks would happily eat any stale bread I gave them
Fresh breadcrumbs taste better and are better than commercial bread crumbs for some purposes, such as poultry stuffings

Home made bread crumbs can be used for anything for which you might ordinarily use commercial bread crumbs, such as:

Poultry stuffing
To extend burgers or rissoles
To crumb schnitzels or cutlets
Mixed with a little melted butter, to top gratins

Vintage cook books provide numerous ways to use up stale bread. In particular, some wonderful, old-fashioned desserts make a feature of stale bread, most notably summer pudding and bread-and-butter pudding. Desserts using fresh bread crumbs include many steamed puddings and apple strudel.

Tonight I made Apple Betty, a recipe found in my 1950 edition of the Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook. This recipe achieved the double purpose of using up stale bread and using up four apples that had come home uneaten in lunch boxes. Notes are inserted (see italics) where I made changes to the original recipe.

Apple Betty

3 cups sliced apples (I peeled mine, as well as slicing them)

1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

4 Tbsp butter, melted

3/4 cup water

Mix apples, 1 cup bread crumbs, brown sugar and cinnamon. Place in buttered baking dish (I used a corningware casserole) and pour melted butter and water over top. Mix remaining crumbs with a little extra butter (I added a little extra brown sugar and cinnamon) and sprinkle over top. Bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F) 30 to 45 minutes (mine took 45 minutes using a fan-forced oven at 160 degrees C). Serve hot or cold with hard sauce (I served mine with home-made egg custard). Serves 6.

Scenting Drawers with Soap

My favourite way to scent clothes, bed linen and bath towels is with cakes of soap.

Soap holds its perfume longer than potpourri and doesn't create dust. If the soap is unpackaged I put it in a paper bag before tucking it away.

The Savon de Marseille soap in my scarf drawer in the photo above was a gift from a work colleague who recently visited France, but any soap with a fragrance you like will do the trick. I especially like rose-scented and citrus-scented soaps.

I just have to remember where to look when I run out of soap in the bathroom!

One Planet Market

Small community markets are a great way for locals to get to know each other and to purchase goods made or grown near to their homes. One such market in Adelaide's eastern suburbs is the One Planet Market organised by members of Sustainable Communities SA.

The market is held from 9am – 12 noon on the third Saturday of each month at Payneham Community Centre, 374 Payneham Road (cnr Arthur St), Payneham.

A unique feature of the One Planet Market is that while some goods are for sale, other items can be swapped, taken for free, or traded using the LETS economy.

Today's market demonstrated this diverse mix beautifully with the following stalls and stallholders:

Salma, selling home-cooked traditional Greek food
Fifth Creek, a small commercial producer of seasonal produce, fresh flowers and preserves. The owners of Fifth Creek have an orchard at Montacute
Marika, selling preserves, kasundi sauce, plants, and seasonal produce
Julie, owner of an orchard at Lenswood, who sells apples in season, flowers, plants and seedlings
A 'buy and sell' stall for those with perhaps only a few items who don't want a stall of their own. Items on sale today included organic sourdough bread, honey, olive oil, eggs, plants and garden produce
A freecycle stall where goods such as books could be donated and others taken for free.
A swap-and-share table for home-grown produce
a LETS stall
A local native plants stall, run by the Friends of St Peters Billabong. All plants at this stall are free and the stallholders provide planting and care instructions
A tea and coffee stall selling home made cakes and biscuits. The baked cheesecake looked delicious.

Each month a workshop is held from 10.30-11.15am on topics such as solar cookers, making soap, worm-farming and bicycle maintenance.

I encourage you, if you are an Adelaide east-side local, to attend the One Planet Market if you have the opportunity.

Beans with a History

Way back in the late 1950s an Italian man from Calabria brought bean seeds to Adelaide to start a vegetable garden in his new country. Since then, every year, he, his children, then grand children, and now great grandchildren, have faithfully planted the descendants of that first batch of seeds.

Today I was given some of those bean seeds by the Italian gentleman's great granddaughter Sandra, who works with me.

Sandra says the beans are snake beans, and must not be allowed to grow too big or they lose their tenderness.

She told me that her great grandfather also brought persimmons and figs to Australia, which have since become persimmon and fig trees that appear in many of the family's gardens.

I feel honoured to have been given these seeds, and look forward to planting them, watching them grow, and hopefully saving some seeds to pass down to future generations of my own family.

Drawstring Produce Bags

For the past few years, plastic supermarket bags have been banned in South Australia, yet the fruit and vegetable sections of supermarkets still use thin, single-use, plastic produce bags.

One way to avoid plastic produce bags is to buy or make your own thin mesh bags. They need to be very light so as not to add to the weight of your purchases. A drawstring makes the bags more manageable as your fruit or vegetables will not fall out everywhere.

I bought the ones shown below at Ecolateral on Magill Road a couple of years ago. More recently I have seen similar produce bags made out of cotton.

Wouldn't it be great if everyone took their own reuseable produce bags when shopping? Such a small step could greatly reduce the number of plastic bags going into landfill.

My Experiences Going Shampoo-Free

I am constantly trying to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated by my household and one particular area of concern is shampoo and conditioner bottles. Although they can be recycled, I would prefer not to create the need for recycling, if possible.

At various times I have tried several different methods of cleaning my hair without shampoo. In this post I will describe the methods I have used and how successful I have found them.

My Hair
I have fairly thick, shoulder-length, straight, auburn hair. It is not dyed (yet). I usually only wash and blow-dry my hair without adding any extra products - the exception is if I'm heading out to a special event.

Method 1: Baking Soda and Diluted Vinegar
One method often mentioned is to wash with baking soda (bicarb. soda) mixed with warm water and then rinse with diluted vinegar. While this method is inexpensive and leaves my hair feeling clean, it also makes my hair feel limp and flat. The vinegar smell can be off-putting.

Method 2: Homemade Soap with a Diluted Vinegar Rinse
This one doesn't work for me at all. My hair feels sticky and limp and the vinegar odour is unpleasant. I went out for dinner last Saturday night having washed my hair this way and it felt horrible all night.

Method 3: A Commercial Shampoo Bar
I didn't know these existed until a week ago. On Monday I bought a Godiva bar from Lush and have used it three times so far. According to the store it should last for six months if I wash my hair every second day.

So far I love this product. It smells divinely of jasmine and leaves my hair shiny and knot-free. Only a tiny amount is used with each wash.

The Godiva bar comes unpackaged but I bought the silver tin below to store it in, largely so that it doesn't get mistaken for ordinary soap.

No Poo?
The theory is that if you don't wash your hair for six weeks it will reach an equilibrium where it stays clean all by itself. Regrettably, this is not a method I am prepared to try. I am simply too vain to go out looking greasy and I dislike the feeling of itchy, oily hair.

The Verdict
I am keen to keep using the Godiva bar, although I would be happy to try other products in the Lush range. Eventually I would like our household to be free of bottled shampoo, although at present my other family members are sceptical (to say the least).

Have you ever tried going shampoo-free? What worked or didn't work for you?

Drying Laundry Indoors

I am constantly trying to:

Reduce my utility bills
Live more sustainably

These goals means avoiding using my electric clothes dryer whenever possible.

In the warmer months it is easy to peg out all the family's laundry on our outdoor clothesline - I think of it as my solar-powered, evaporative clothes dryer! However, in winter the days are too short and it rains too much to use the clothesline regularly.

That is when having a nice big clothes horse comes in handy. Having managed for years with a really small airer, I recently bought the biggest one I could find at my local hardware store.

Made by Hills, my new airer holds a whopping 22 metres of laundry, just perfect for our family of six. With the money saved from not using the dryer, the airer should pay for itself in no time.

Homemade Furniture Cream

Over the years I have experimented with a number of home-made cleaning products. One that I rather like is this recipe for beeswax furniture cream.

I haven't used the cream a great deal because I rarely seem to get around to polishing my wooden furniture, but should the urge strike, I have an enormous amount ready to go.

This recipe comes from How to Clean Practically Anything.

Beeswax Furniture Cream

125 ml (1/2 C) water
2 tbsp pure soap flakes
125 g (4 oz) natural beeswax
2 C turpentine
2-3 drops lemon pure essential oil

Put the water in a saucepan, add the soap flakes and heat over a low flame. When dissolved set aside to cool. melt the beeswax in a double saucepan over boiling water. remove from the heat and beat in the water and soap flake mixture. Cool a little before blending in the turpentine. Beat together until smooth. Pour into a wide-mouthed jar or container and cover with an airtight lid.

Use on sealed or polished wood furniture. Apply with a soft lint-free cloth. Polish afterwards with a soft dry lint-free cloth.

Citrussy Goodness

Flourless orange and almond cake glazed with home-made marmalade

Home-grown Emperor mandarin

Lemon butter (with child scraping out the saucepan behind!)

Winter in South Australia is citrus season, and it seems just about every backyard has a glut of something.

Adding to the fruit from my own mandarin and orange trees, I have also been given grapefruit and lemons this week.

All this citrussy goodness has led to a burst of productivity. Earlier in the week I made 16 jars of three-fruit marmalade out of lemons, oranges and grapefruit, and three jars of fruit mince that included home-made candied lemon peel. Today I made a few jars of lemon butter and tonight's dessert is a flourless orange and almond cake.

It is a lovely feeling to line my cellar and pantry shelves with home-made preserves, and I feel very fortunate to live in such a bountiful part of the world.

30 Days of Thrifty Tips: The Complete List

image source unknown

Now that we have reached the end of June, my series of 30 Days of Thrifty Tips is drawing to a close.

I have really enjoyed writing the 25 tips I published over the past month, and I hope you have enjoyed reading them.

As I said back at the start of the month, one of my purposes in writing the series was to get me back into the habit of blogging. And I'm happy to say that I feel I've got my blogging mojo back.

I've listed the entire series of tips below. Happy reading!

Thrifty Tip # 25: Join or Start a Babysitting Club

One of the best things we ever did when our kids were small was join a babysitting club. Without the club, my husband and I would almost never have gone out.

Here's how it worked:

There were about 25 local families in the club but we usually babysat for, or used as baby sitters, families that we knew well.
The geographical boundaries of the club were clearly defined, so no one had to travel too far
Those who babysat received points for each hour that they worked. The same number of points was subtracted from the points tally of the babysittees. Bonus points were given for sits in December and for sits that ended after 12.30 am.
Anyone who had a high point score was encouraged to use up some points by going out. Likewise, anyone with a negative balance was encouraged to do some babysitting.
The member families took it in turns to look after the club books, which involved finding sitters for anybody who rang needing one. We looked after the club books for one month every two years or so.
The children being babysat had to be bathed and ready for bed when the sitter arrived, the dishes had to be washed, and supper was left for the sitter - it was heaven!

Now that my eldest three kids are teenagers, I have home-grown babsitters for my youngest son, so I don't need a club anymore.

However, I would thoroughly recommend either joining or starting a club for anyone who has little kids and no family nearby to help out.

Have you ever been involved in a babysitting club?

This post is part of my series, Thirty Days of Thrifty Tips.

Thrifty Tip #24: Holiday at (or Near) Home

Image is courtesy of http://www.1900s.org.uk/1940s-trains.htm

During World War Two, when petrol was rationed, the British government encouraged people to holiday at home.

Official attempts to dissuade people from making such trips led to the campaign for was ‘Holidays at Home’ in 1942 and 1943. The scheme encouraged local authorities to draw up a programme of events and amusements for the summer months, using local parks and local sports facilities. M-O’s Holidays 1937-51, in File E, deals with the ‘Holidays at Home’ campaign for 1942, and contains programmes, newspaper cuttings and reports on events in various London areas, including Beckenham, Willesden and Paddington. Open air concerts, dances, children’s games, swimming galas and other sports competitions were typical ‘Holiday at Home’ events. Other institutions added their own contribution, like Westminster Abbey’s historical lectures. There was a special cricket match at Lords over August Bank Holiday weekend in 1942, Middlesex and Essex played Kent and Surrey, attracting a crowd of 22,000. Local collections often contain programmes and publicity material about the arrangements, usually preserved with the Parks Department records. Among the records of the LCC Parks Department is correspondence about outdoor summer entertainments such as Sadlers Wells’ ballet season in Victoria Park in July 1942, LCC/MIN 9014. Council Minutes may refer to the appointment of temporary organisers for such schemes. East Ham, for example, advertised for one in Theatre World in 1943, offering £6 a week from April 12 to August 31.

Quoted from http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/War/londonLeisure.html

These days, holidays at or near home can save money compared to travelling a great distance. In addition, by visiting local attractions we support and strengthen our local economy.

Having only lived in South Australia for a few years, I'm keen to holiday near home for the next few years as there are so many beautiful places that I haven't visited yet.

Have you holidayed at home? How do you make such holidays memorable?

This post is part of my series, Thirty Days of Thrifty Tips.

Thrifty Tip #23: Ride a Bike

Instead of telling you (again) how fabulous cycling is for saving money, improving fitness and health, and cutting down on fossil fuel consumption, I thought I'd share the following video about cycling in the Netherlands.

This post is part of my series, Thirty Days of Thrifty Tips.

Thrifty Tip #22: Cook in Bulk

Do you cook in bulk?

By cooking in bulk we can save time and save on fuel costs. We can reduce the temptation to buy takeaway meals on busy weeknights, which saves money.

I have found preparing food in bulk to be very helpful, especially as a busy mum who works four days each week.

On the weekend I usually spend a few hours preparing food for the week. I often bake cakes or slices for school snacks, make a big pot of soup, and prepare a couple of dishes that will last longer than one night.

For example, tonight I marinated enough chicken to last for two days and soaked chickpeas to make a double batch of felafels tomorrow. Tomorrow I plan to make the felafels, a pot of vegetable soup, a carrot cake and scones. I will also roast a chicken for dinner that will provide meat for sandwiches, and make a leek gratin that should last a couple of days as a side dish.

This post is part of my series, Thirty Days of Thrifty Tips.

Thrifty Tip #21: Avoid Shopping

Yeah, I know, this one is kind of obvious.

However, for many of us (including me), shopping is a social activity, almost a recreational sport.

And while we may only plan to window shop, so often we can be tempted by what we see.

I find that the best way for me not to spend is to avoid going anywhere near shops. I have a "no advertising material" sticker on my letterbox so I am not tempted by catalogues. I often do my grocery shopping at 7.30 on a Friday morning, and one reason I go so early is that none of the non-food shops are open.

How do you avoid the temptation to shop?

This post is part of my series, Thirty Days of Thrifty Tips.

Thrifty Tip #20: Avoid Products with Consumable Parts

A few years ago I bought a highly recommended Miele vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner works a treat. The only problem I have had with it is the high cost of replacement vacuum cleaner bags. I now wish I had purchased a bagless model.

Whether it's bags for the vacuum cleaner, printer cartridges that cost almost as much as the printer, 'pod' coffee machines that require the purchase of brand-name coffee pods, or Swiffer mops that require special replacement pads, canny businesses can make a killing out of products with consumable parts or accessories.

The business model where one item is sold at a low price in order to increase sales of a complementary good is called the razors and blades model.

According to Investopedia:

The Razor/Razorblade business model owes its name to one King Gillette, founder of the eponymous razorblade company. The story goes that Gillette's idea for creating disposable razors stemmed from his personal experience with a straight razor so worn it was rendered useless. Gillette reasoned - and rightly so - that if he could offer consumers a sturdy, permanent razor supplemented by cheap, easily replaceable blades, he could corner the men's facial grooming market and create a massive, repeat customer base.

While a great idea for the businesses that create these products, constantly having to pay for replacement parts is a bad idea for consumers, and an even worse idea for the environment.

Wouldn't it be lovely to return to a world where goods were made to last and "razors and blades" marketing was unknown?

This post is part of my series, Thirty Days of Thrifty Tips.

Thrifty Tip #19: Make Do and Mend

During the Second World War, the British people were encouraged by their government to 'Make Do and Mend'. Food, fuel and clothing were all rationed.

How different to today! These days, most clothes are comparatively cheap and disposable, often made in slave labour conditions in China. I can't remember the last time I saw an item of clothing made in Australia. Most people, it seems, throw out damaged clothes rather than mending them.

It is with great fascination that I have recently read Make Do and Mend: Keeping Family and Home Afloat on War Rations. This handy little book is made up of reprinted World War II pamphlets. Until I read it I didn't know the correct way to darn a hole vs. a tear,or how to make children's slippers out of rug wool. I have never even considered reinforcing the family's underwear to make it last longer - who would? Similarly, how many people today would cut down men's pyjamas for a little boy, or alter a man's old suit to become a skirt and coat for a lady?

Yet while many of the suggestions in the book seem extreme by today's standards, the techniques found there are both thrifty and environmentally friendly.

While I will probably never be a great seamstress, I do hope to improve my skills at simple clothing repairs, with Make Do and Mend as my guidebook.

This post is part of my series, Thirty Days of Thrifty Tips.

Thrifty Tip #18: Swap and Share Kids' Clothes

http://www.museumoflondonprints.com/image/68222/john-thomson-the-old-clothes-of-st-giles-c1877

I have saved a great deal amount of money over the years either by keeping my older kids' clothes for the younger ones, or by gratefully accepting outgrown clothes from other people.

In particular, just before we left Melbourne a friend rang to say that she would like to drop off some clothes that would fit my younger boys. As I was busy decluttering for our move to Adelaide, I was rather unwilling to accept her offer, but eventually she just showed up at my house. And boy am I glad she did!

This kind lady had bags full of brand-name boys' clothes, some with the labels still on, that she had bought on sale for her two boys. However, her sons had outgrown the clothes before they had time to wear them.

I was very happy to accept these clothes and many of them have been well-worn now. Any of the clothes my boys didn't like have been passed on to others.

My daughter has not had as many hand-downs as the boys, but she did receive many clothes from an adored friend in Melbourne who was a few years older.

How do I store excess clothes? Because my two younger boys share a room and have limited space, I store excess clothes in a large old suitcase in the garage. I get the suitcase out once or twice a year to swap over clothes.

I don't think there is any shame at all in accepting hand-down clothes, or indeed, any other goods for babies and children. Hand-downs can save a lot of money, and little kids in particular don't care where their clothes come from.

Do you accept hand-downs for your children?

This post is part of my series, Thirty Days of Thrifty Tips.

Thrifty Tip #17: Use Your Library

Image source unknown

Local libraries are a wonderful resource for thrifty living.
Not only are there loads of books, CDs and DVDs that can be borrowed for free, as well (usually) as free internet access, most local library networks also offer a range of free or inexpensive community activities.

My own local library network currently offers knitting lessons for beginners, healthy living talks, children's reading times, on-line homework tutoring and a free computer school. They have just started loaning Kindle e-readers as well.

So I recommend that, if you haven't done so recently, go and visit your local library, or find out what it offers online.

Do you visit your local library?

This post is part of my series, Thirty Days of Thrifty Tips.

Thrifty Tip #15: Use Found Items

The idea for this post came to me as I collected pine cones on the way home from work yesterday.

You see, pine cones make excellent kindling and they are freely available in the park I ride through each day. At this time of year there are so many littering the ground that I can be picky; I choose the biggest, chunkiest ones and leave the smaller ones alone.

As I collected pine cones I thought about the other found items that we use around the house. There's the rectangular worm farm tray that made its way home on the back of my bike - I had been looking for an extra tray for years. My daughter had a lovely fabric-covered cork board that someone left out the front of their house with some other junk.

Best of all is hard rubbish collection week each year. A year or two ago I collected a lovely bookcase that I painted and now lives in our family room.

The trick with hard rubbish collections - or any other found items, for that matter - is to only take things that you know you will use. Otherwise, it is easy to end up with far too much clutter.

Have ever found anything wonderful that someone else has discarded?

This post is part of my series, Thirty Days of Thrifty Tips.