Long Live the Baking Soda!!

For those of you that read my blog - you would know I have not been working for the last little while.... :-) which means that just as I have am the happiest I have ever been - money is not readily avaiable, BUT even this has an upside.

For example, I have rediscovered my dormant cooking skills  - I can even make pretty good chocolate chippy cookies, chocolate chip bread, herb & garlic bread and meat patties (that others call rissoles) to die for!! On top of that - I know it only gets better - and this is the biggest breakthrough of them all EVER - given 'my name is M and I am a shopaholic' - wait for it........ I can actually for the first time in decades - I can window shop! I know it's amazing  - and so ridiculously simple yet life changing that I can walk in and out of a shop without spending one cent ;-) Not only that, if there is something that I really, really want - I can leave it behind and wipe it from my mind..... And who said there are no modern day miracles!;-)

Another thing that has happened since I have not been working is that I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time wiping surfaces, dishes, dusting and I guess you would have to call it general cleaning ;-) Although Mr M will heartily disagree with the progress I have made down this path - I will admit I am not very good at cleaning by choice, thanks to my memory of an over enthusiastic clean freak mother ;-), but it seems that I actually like to see tidy surfaces... which leads me to today's blog....

I came across a book by Sophie Gray called Live Well Spend Less: Destitute Gourmet (also see destitutegourmet.blogspot.com) and thought I would go through it. Of interest to me and this blog is Chapter six called Clean Up Your Act.  What got me was the lead sentence which reads "I have to confess that I am not a 'cleanie'. When the dust bunnies escape from behind my fridge, I consider it's time to move" (p.126) And with that I read on!

I had heard through the women's grapevine that baking soda is pretty good for cleaning - BUT I had no idea it was this good!!

Home made cleaning products are easy to make. Really? Really!

The recipe for the main cleaning product in this chapter and newly to be released in my house is a mixture of baking soda, white vinegar and bleach in various combinations. The various combinations suits me - so experimenting we go!

Microwave

"To remove the [splats] of food from the microwave roof and sides [(or is ours the only one that has these??)] dissolve a couple of tablesppons of baking soda in water in a microwave-safe bowl., then bring to the boil in your microwave. Let it sit for a minute or two, then you should easily be able to wipe out any baked on stains; the microwave will smell fresh too" (p.129).... I know? Pretty cool right?

Sinks

"Sprinkle the sink with baking soda and wipe with a damp sponge....."(p.130) I've since done this and I got sparkle - it took a bit of elbow grease - but cheaper and more environmentally friendly than other cleaning products - so I'm wrapped (or overly excited??)!!

Taps

"Spread a thin paste of baking soda on taps and when dry polish off with a rag for the shiniest, shiniest tapes you've ever seen "(p.130) Amen to this!! My taps are looking pretty stunning -  granted I only tried the kitchen ones - the others will follow.... ;-)

Fridge

"Dissolve a couple of tablespoons [of what? you guessed it] - baking soda in a bowl of warm water and wipe the interior for a clean and odour-free fridge" (p.130)

Stains on clothes

"Make a paste from baking soda and water and rub it into the stain prior to washing". (p.132) I did this and it worked!! It is soooo much cheaper than Nappisan or buying frend!! Try it yourself.

The Loo

"An all purpose spray cleaner, baking soda, bleach or white vinegar will all clean the toilet hygenically and cheaply." (p.134) This is about to become my son's favourite!! ;-)

And the list goes on and on... so check out the book or ask Ms Google to help you find more recipes. Besides being a bit of worry that we put baking soda in our cooking (like my chocolate chippy biscuits and banana cake) - in terms of a cleaning agents, and saving heaps of dollars a year - long live the baking soda!!

Yours in friendship,

Mxo

Not Julie & Julia :The Edmonds Cookbook

After watching the movie Julie & Julia, I thought I would do something similar but from the Edmonds Cookbook. I thought I would pick five recipes that I liked and would bake them and put them up on my blog. That was over a year ago! So I thought 2012 I'm gonna get it done - so here are four recipes...

Why the Edmonds Cookbook and especially for those of you who don't live in New Zealand? Well,  although it says that the cookbook is seen as "a favourite aunt in many families - thoroughly reliable, always helpful and regarded with great affection..." (Edmonds, 2006, p.8) - it actually reminds me of my mother...  For as long as I remember, we have always had one in the house. The recipes I remember the most were the scones - but those aren't featured today - why ruin that memory? ;-).

Before we start - a warning or two or three.... 1) Julie & Julia was an awesome movie that I have watched more than once and loved it everytime, but just confirming here that my baking is no Julie or Julia. 2) Julie & Julia was a very cool concept - but this is more about me, my mother and a New Zealand classic book so not copying I promise and 3) just in case you missed it - my baking is no Julia Child or Martha Stewart or even one of the blogs I follow called Chef in training.... so I'm asking you to have a look and use your imagination ;-)

Madeira Cake
We love Madeira Cake and the little loaf-like cakes you buy in the supermarket are getting both smaller and  more expensive so I thought why not make one myself and what do you know - the Edmonds Cookbook had a recipe and here it is.

Preheat oven to 180C and grease a 20c square tin and line the base with baking paper. Cream 250g butter and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Add 4 eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in 2tsps grated lemon zest. Sift 2 1/4c flour, and 2 tsps of baking powder together and gently fold into creamed mixture. Spoon mixture into prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Leave in tin for 10 mins before turning out onto a wire rack. Before serving, dust with icing sugar. Verdict: «««1/2 loved the lemon flavour which came through nicely. Quite moist and proved popular in the Turketo home (popular meaning it didn't get thrown out for the birds) ;-)

Shrewsbury Biscuits

Shrewsbury Biscuits have been one of the staple snacks in our boys school lunches since they were little as I am sure is the same across the country. Anyway, one day I thought - let's see if the Edmonds Cookbook has a recipe for these and - da-dah!  I know you know what they are meant to look like - but here are my ones. Don't laugh, and if a chuckle slipped - don't worry - you aren't alone. They had to be the UGLIEST Shrewsbury biscuits I ever did see! the good news is that if you google these biscuits - there are plenty UGLY biscuits there as well ;-) Verdict: ««1/2 surprised they didn't brown more, they needed waaaay more jam than the recipe had, were quite hard and kinda spicy (the lemon zest coming through strongly)- probably more about me than the recipe ;-) Preheat oven to 180C. Cream 125g softened butter and 1/2 c sugar until light and fluffly. Add 1 egg and 1tlb grated lemon zest and beat well. Sift 2 c flour and 1 tsp baking powder togehter. Mix dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Knead well. On a slightly floured board, roll out to 4 mm thickness, Cut out rounds using a 7cm cutter. Cut a 1 cm hole in the centre of half the biscuits. Place on greased oven trays. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. When cold, spread whole biscuits with 1 tsp raspberry jam (I don't agree!) and top with biscuit with holes in them Makes 22.

Chocolate cupcakes

I have friends who have a little business called KK's KupcaKes which are yummy - so one day I thought - I'm going to try and make some chocolate ones. In my clearing up I even found my tupperware icing tools so thought at least they would like okay.... BUT - note to self, wait until cupcakes are cold (as in cold, cold no warm) before icing ;-) Verdict: ««1/2 These weren't very popular (yes, made the throwing out for the birds standard ;-)) and will be trying again with another kind of cocoa and ice when really cold and will let you know how I go.... The recipe for these are found on page 40.

Pancakes/pikelets

The last one are piklets/pancakes. In the more recent editions of the Edmonds Cookbook the recipe for pikelets are gone so I use the pancake recipe and add sugar. Over the years I have made adjustments to the recipe to suit the tastebuds of my family but the basic recipe or formula is 1 egg to 1/2 c sugar to 1 cup of flour to 1 generous tsp of baking flour to 3/4 c of milk. For my family of four I usually do a batch of 3-4 eggs. I use butter on a hot plate and the rest is yummyistory ;-) Verdict: ««««1/2

I don't know how Julie did it, following a years worth of Julia Child's recipes and blogging about it when I have only managed to do four - but it was fun. I'm yet to get into the dinner recipes, but looking forward to the challenges those will bring and who knows - there might be a part two of this blog to come ;-)

Yours in friendship,

Mxo