Vegetable net sponges - useful trash

I was about to throw out the netting from round a large bag of oranges today when I suddenly thought back to this post over at Penniless Parenting.

The idea is to use something you already have to make something you need, rather than going out and buying something completely new.

In this case it was making a scrubbing sponge out of the netting from fruit and vegetable bags.

Because I shop at the farmer's market, most fruits and veggies are loose, ready to be bagged up in your own bags. Hope you remembered to bring 'em, 'cos they do not come supplied (usually).

Except for the oranges.

And they are GOOD oranges so I don't mind.

Mmmmmmmm....

Especially now that I have a use for the netting.

I straightened it out, then tied it in a knot, then in a knot again.

Viola, a new kitchen scrubber!

It's now sitting in the cupboard awaiting the demise of my current one.

Now the kids are in bed and it's time to play!

Is that grass on your scalp?

Have you ever made a grass-head? 

The boys and I put together these little guys after Mr nearly-5 saw them on a tv show.

Aren't they cute??

This is a good activity to do with pre-schoolers and takes very little in the way of materials.

You need a pair of old pantyhose/stockings, some filling for the head (we used cotton wool balls that I unearthed from a cupboard) rubber bands and grass seed. Or wheat grains, which is what we used. Or you could maybe even use brown rice. I did presoak the wheat though for 24 hours, as I was not sure how it would sprout, and I would probably do the same with rice.

Cut a piece of stocking, not the toe part as it's a double thickness and we found our sprouts had trouble pushing their way through it.

Then, put in your grass seeds, followed by your filling. Tie it off just below your filling to make the head.

For the ears and nose, pinch some of the filling so it sticks out a bit and wrap a rubber band around it.

Stick on eyes (not strictly necessary)

Set it in a jar and water it. Place it in a light filled area and water regularly.

Watch it grow.

Ta dah!

The eyes went south when my 'lil fella picked up his head and swung it round by the stocking part that's hanging down.

I think my eyes would pop out too if someone swung me round like that.

And Mr nearly-5 decided if 'lil bro's was eyeless, so was his.

So, blind and hairy.

But fun!

Smarties and two year olds...

I'm sitting here eating leftover smarties as if my life depended on it. They are leftover from decorating cupcakes from my 2 year old's birthday yesterday, and aforementioned 2 year old has just finished exhibiting major 2-year-oldness after waking while being fast asleep for the evening. 

The 2-year-oldness included wailing loudly to get "UP!!!", throwing his dummy (pacifier) across the room then wailing for it to come back, and beating mummy across the head while she was lying down with the 2 year old, trying to get 2 year old back to sleep. 

Well, perhaps beating is slightly too strong a word, but needless to say, his actions made me want to stand there and yell WTF!!!, you WERE faaaaast asleep (after having no nap today I might add) and maybe a few more expletives as well. 

Instead I had a quiet word with God and and my mum in heaven to give me strength.

And 2 year old went back to sleep. 

And I'm sitting here scoffing smarties to regain my equilibrium.

And my hips are gaining pounds.

But they are cute when they're asleep, aren't they? :) 

Homemade chicken nuggets - yum yum yum!

Do your kids love chicken nuggets? Do YOU like them too? 

Well if you'd like to see what's in a McD's chicken nugget, have a look at this post on cheeseslave.com.

Not something you really want to feed your family is it, but there are times when you want something fast-foodish and tasty that you can whip up in an instant.

Try out this recipe, it's pretty simple though not quite instantaneous, but it can be frozen in advance.

Chicken nuggets

(or strips or bites or whatever you want to call them)

• Slice 3 chicken breast fillets into 1cm or 1/2 inch thick strips. Now you can either leave them long or cut them into shorter pieces, I tend to leave them long.

• Marinate them in yoghurt or kefir for a couple of hours. 

• Prepare a plate of breadcrumbs (homemade from the dry ends of the loaves work a treat).

• Add some salt and pepper to the crumbs, and a pinch of paprika. You could actually use any combination of spices you like. Mix.

• Roll each strip in the bread crumbs, then lay them out on a greased tray.

• Bake in a pre-heated oven at about 200c/400F for approximately 20 minutes.  

Dipping sauce

(I am not a fan of sweet sauces, but I imagine if you are, a sweet chilli sauce would work well with these.)

This is the sauce I made: 

• sour cream
• milk
• garlic
• spring onion
• salt and pepper

• Chop the garlic and spring onions very small - DON'T use too much garlic, raw garlic is pretty strong.

• Mix everything together with just enough milk to get the sauce to a consistency you like.

Notes: 

I bake these rather than fry them because if I do fry them I tend to leave the breadcrumb coating stuck to the bottom of the pan...

And the oil spits, which I really don't like.

You could probably use other cuts of chicken successfully.

You can dredge the strips in flour rather than crumbs, but my family prefer the crunch the crumbs give.

If you want to prep these in advance, freeze them individually on a tray while they're still uncooked.

Then bag them up in usable portions.

And if you can, use pastured chicken, like these happy gals below.

Happy eating!

Bake Your Own Bread

I've been making all our bread for a while now, but the latest,

and by faaaaaaar the easiest bread I have tried is Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day.

This is a no-knead bread, which is why it is so quick and easy.

You quickly mix the dough in one bowl, then keep it in the fridge, taking a chunk out and cooking it whenever you need some bread.

And just LOOK at the results...mmmmmmm...

It looks tasty,

It slices well,

(well, it would if you could wait until it cooled to start hacking it up...)

And the whole family liked it.

Ticks all boxes.

There are a few benefits to making your own bread, and cost savings is only one of them.

Although you can often get fairly cheap bread, sometimes day old at the store or corner bakery, you'll find it's nowhere near as fresh (obviously, right?), or healthy, as your own home made bread.

For example, if you live in Australia, nearly all bread you can buy in the store has been fortified with various things, the latest being folate. (See my rant on that here)

And the long-term effects of extra folate on people who do not need it.....meaning anyone who's NOT pregnant.....are unknown.

So, making your own makes sense all round.

Buy your flour in bulk, either in the store (though check if it's had folate added) or online to keep costs minimal.

To store it, a bayleaf in the bag will keep bugs away, but try and find a lidded container for storing large amounts. Sometimes you can scrounge these sort of containers from delis or bakeries, where they may have stored yoghurt, pickles, jams or something similar.

Ask around.

Try out some of the different types of flours available. I use spelt flour, spelt being an ancient grain, higher in protein and lower in gluten than wheat flour. You could also try kamut flour, or experiment with gluten free bread. Or buy and grind your wheat, maybe sprouting it first.

The possibilities are endless.

And it makes the house smell so good!

Uh oh, there goes my garden....

We had a storm today, quite a storm in fact.

A roads-around-the-city-have-been-closed-because-they-are-deeeeep-in-water kind of storm.

A hail-was-so-big-it-smashed-windscreens-and-left-blooded-pockmarks-on-people kind of storm.

The sort of storm where you stay away from windows.

We were fairly unscathed, apart from wet carpet where a sliding door was left open. I was round at a friends place with the kids and DID entertain the thought of ringing hubby to ask him to shut that door.

Apparently I should have.

But do you remember the tomato crop ripening in the back yard I bragged about yesterday?

Well, here it is today...

(those are golf balls in the foreground, not hailstones :))

And my spinach?

Oh well, at least the ground is now nice and damp for a new lot of planting.

And, I've discovered it's magpies digging through my planter box. Not sure if they're digging out the seeds or snaffling the seedlings but hopefully moving the box to a different location might make a difference to their thievery.

Oh the joys of gardening! I do love it, even with wacky random events like this.

Container gardening - update

Well, despite my best (?) efforts, my container gardening did not produce quite the copious amounts of veggies I was after.

I did have a few tomatoes and I do have what appears to be a late crop ripening in the backyard, but no canning the excess will be needed. The spinach did a couple of rounds with no problems, though I have great trouble sprouting the seeds in 2 particular containers. I have a sneaking suspicion they are positioned in such a way as be attractive to birds, hmmmm.

What has grown though, are the capsicums.

Now, I DO know the reason for most of my failures, and that is the fact I didn't make a great effort to obtain seeds that are appropriate for growing in pots.

That, and I put two tomato plants in each container when they were probably better suited to one.

AND, I used some seeds that had long passed their expiry date.

But despite my best efforts, the capsicums are thriving.

Moral of the story:

-choose plants suitable for growing in containers

-don't overcrowd your containers

-use decent/recent seed.

Maybe I'll try pumpkins this winter....

One man's trash.....Freecycle it!

Ok, I know it should be one PERSON'S trash, but lets not quibble....

I picked up an item today from a fellow freecycler in my area:

A mini trampoline, all the rage in I-can't-remember-what-year for jumping your jiggly bits into shape.

This fine specimen, clothed as it is in brown vinyl, was lurking in someone's back room, just waiting for the loving attentions of two small energetic boys.

One of whom promptly peed on it. Yes, we're all class here aren't we?

Well, it washed up nicely and now we can finally take back the mini tramp we've had on loan from the toy library for........um..........much too long.

What is Freecycle?

Freecycle is an online group open to all who want to recycle something rather than throw it away.

Generally, you sign up online to a group in your area, then you will begin to receive emails posted to the whole group, about items people have that they want to recycle.

You can also post a Wanted request, which is what I did for the trampoline.

Follow one of the links below to find out more.

Freecycle in Australia

Freecycle in the US

Freecycle in other countries

It's worth doing, especially if you're on a budget and it's a great forum for getting some clutter out of your own home too.

Make your own bubble mixture

My boys came home from a party on the weekend each with a small container of bubble mixture in their party bag. Yay, an outside activity we can do in our miniscule backyard!

Now, kids being what they are, in their enthusiasm to blow the perfect bubble the mixture soon got accidentally tipped out. So rather than cut the activity short and bring them back inside where they would run sugared up havoc in our small house, I made up some more bubble mix and decanted it into their jars.

Several times.

This is the recipe I used:

Bubble Solution

• 2 cups warm water
• 1 cup liquid dishwashing soap
• 1/4 cup glycerin

Mix all ingredients together and store in a plastic bottle or glass jar with fitting lid.

It works a treat and can be made up in advance and kept till needed, and is cheaper than buying small containers of the stuff. I found glycerin in the supermarket, by the medical supplies I think and I imagine you could also find it in a chemist store.

This is also a great activity to keep the kids occupied for........as long as they remember to hold their jar upright.

Ok.

Ooh, might be good for a gift too, pour into a decent sized jar, make a label or tie a ribbon round it.

A multi-purpose recipe, the best kind :-)

Free sample of Palmer's Cocoa Butter formula

If you'd like to try Palmer's Cocoa butter, head over to their site and click on 'like some?', to receive a free sample.