Nifty Tip: Clean Your Dishwasher The Natural Way

Feb 6, 2013

I hate buying chemicals to clean especially I have items in my pantry that will work just as well.

I tend to remove and clean my dishwasher filters before I put it thru a wash cycle and then repeat at the end.

Then sprinkle a good amount of bi carbonate of soda in the bottom of your dishwasher. Place about 1 cup of vinegar in a dishwasher safe container/jug and place it on the top shelf of the dishwasher.

Close the door and set it to run on the highest temperature cycle. Press start……it’s as easy as that!

Linda

Bi-Carbonate of Soda + Salt = Clean Sink

Jan 29, 2013

You don’t need fancy cleaning products to clean your home. I remember spending many a day helping my grandmother clean with basic material that you find in your pantry – lemons, bi-carbonate of soda, salt, and vinegar.

When it comes to cleaning most things bi-carbonate of soda comes out on top.

Tonight I looked at my kitchen sink and realised it was looking a bit ordinary.

So all I did was sprinkled some bi-carb in and some ordinary old cooking salt (coarse kind) and just rubbed with a damp cloth. With a little elbow grease I was all done…

So give it a try….why waste money on expensive cleaning materials that are made up of who know’s what when simple methods and simple materials work wonders!

Linda

PS: I also use this technique to clean my shower 😀

Little Dutch Pancakes (Poffertjes) – Thermomix Conversion and Without A Perfottje Pan

Sep 22, 2012

Ever since eating perfottjes at the Tesselaar Tulip Festival in Melbourne last year I have been wanting to make them but been put off because I don’t have a proper perfottje pan (see pic below).

However, this morning when getting the Thermomix ready to make standard pancakes for the kids I thought I would improvise, find a perfottje recipe and use a golden syrup container to control the amount of batter….so this was the result……

The recipe I used was from the Best Recipes website. For those with a Thermomix the weights in brackets are the Thermomix conversion.

Prep Time: 15 to 30 minutes | Makes: 42

Ingredients:

• 2 cups self-raising flour, sifted (330g)
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar (25g)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup milk (250g)
• ½ cup water (100g)
• 3 eggs
• Maple syrup, icing sugar and vanilla ice-cream to serve

Directions:

Combine flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl.

Add milk and water and mix with an electric mixer until smooth, scraping sides if necessary.

Add eggs and mix until combined and smooth.

Directions (Thermomix):

Combine flour, sugar and salt in Thermomix bowl and mix for 5 secs on Speed 5.

Add milk, water, and eggs to bowl and mix for 30 secs on Speed 5 for 30 secs (scrape down sides half way through to make sure all flour is mixed in thoroughly.

Cooking without a perfottje pan:

To control the amount of mixture for each pancake I found an almost empty golden syrup container that had a flexible cross cut plastic nozzle (some honey containers may also have this) and washed it and put the perfottje batter into it.

Put the lid on and we were ready to go!

I heated my non-stick fry pan and then squeezed out small pancakes – it was super easy to control the amount of batter and best of all it was mess free! No more dripping batter across benches and having batter covered spoons everywhere.

I cooked them for a few minutes then turned them over.

Poffertjes are cooked when they are golden brown and puffy.

Remove from pan and drizzle with maple syrup, icing sugar and ice-cream.

Serve immediately.

So there you have it – perfottjes mess free! I will also be doing this from now on for standard pancakes due the mess free nature and you can also store left over batter in the container in the fridge!

These are a few that were left!

Linda

Cleaning The Stove Top – The Easy Eco Way

May 27, 2012

Well, I looked at the top of the stove this morning and was a little shocked at the state of it so I had a “spare” 5 minutes and decided to sort it out.

All you need is some bi-carbonate of soda (I put mine in a chocolate shaker so I can sprinkle it onto to things), a little cooking salt and a spray bottle with a mix of 50/50 water and vinegar.

1. Sprinkle bi-carb over the surface of the stove top.

2. Spray with the vinegar and water spray to dampen and then wipe down with a damp cloth.

3. For stubborn burnt on areas, sprinkle them generously with the cooking salt and rub.

4. Wipe off excess salt  and bi-carb with a clean cloth and all done! Easy as that!

Linda

Reduce Wastage – Freeze Vegetables and Herbs

Apr 29, 2012

I hate vegetables going to waste before I have had a chance to use them.

So as to reduce spoilage and save money I often but vegetables when they are in season and freeze them.

I don’t use a lot of celery but it is cheaper to buy a bunch than half a bunch or pieces. So I just cut into pieces ready for use in soups, casseroles and sauces, put in a container or freezer bag and freeze.

This also works well for capsicum and onions.

 

 

I have also had success freezing herbs such as thyme and rosemary – just putting the sprigs straight into a bag and freezing them.

You can do the same for parsley too – just chop and put into a bag. Or if you are a bit lazy like me, just pull the leaves off and put them in a bag and freeze. Just before use you can crumple the bag and because the parsley is brittle it will break into smaller pieces so on need for chopping.

I hope this saves you time and money!

Linda