Freezer Friendly

Protect your leftovers! Use the freezer instead of the fridge... but forget those impossible jars that take forever to unthaw.

Pour leftover chicken broth, soups, sauces or tomato paste into ice-cube trays. Freeze, and transfert the cubes to a zip-lock bag for easy storage in ready-to-use doses for your future recipes!

Pop Bottle Greenhouse

GREENHOUSE

Cut your soda bottle in half one inch above the point where the curved bottom becomes the straight side.

SEEDLING POTS
On a toilet paper roll, make four, equally spaced, vertical cuts, each ¾ inch long, up from the bottom of the tube to make four tabs. Crease each tab as you fold it down to form the bottom of the pot. Fold the bottom shut like a cardboard box. Trim the sides of the pot to the hight you like.

Fill each pot with damp potting soil, then plant your seeds or cuttings. My photo is a happy little zucchini plant soaking in the moisture and sun!

Place the pots into the bottle base. Although it's a tight squeeze, four pots should fit snugly inside.

Water the pots, then slide the top of the greenhouse over the bottom piece. Don't be afraid to press the bottom in creating an indent while slipping the lid in place.

Set the bottle greenhouse in a sunny windowsill and observe the humidity level over the next few days. You'll see moisture collecting on the sides of the bottle. This is proof that your greenhouse is working. As the water evaporates it is caught and redirected to the plant! Voilà! A homemade automatic watering system!

No Scrub Splatter Spank

Spank Your Splatter!

Lime's citric acid is the perfect weapon to cut through grease and gunk. Here's how to get rid of food splatters in your microwave...

Squeeze a fresh lime into a mug filled with water. Heat in the microwave until boiling. Allow the steam to fill up the microwave for a few seconds. Wipe the moist microwave walls with a damp soapy dish towel. Dry with a dry towel.

Love isn't love until it's given away - Donate Reusables

This week I sorted stuff to give away. My fridge benefited from a total makeover. And when I saw these two gigantic glass jars half empty, I immediately thought of our local Soup Kitchen.

At the Soup Kitchen they sometimes run out of seats at the tables, so they serve to-go meals to the rest of the crowd standing outside. The really large jars allow them to serve generous 1 1/2 Cup servings to-go. Piping hot soup on a cold day is just one more way we can help our friends on the street to keep warm.

When they run out of giant jars they resort to using the smaller 1 Cup jars, and I happen to know they are looking for donations of larger jars right now. I emptied my two large jars into two smaller jars. That way my fridge enjoys more space and I can reinforce the stock at my Soup Kitchen at the same time !

La Machine Qui Fait Pétiller La Vie

Plus besoin d'apporter des bouteilles plastique à la maison.
Plus de dépenses pour des boissons soft.
Pas de déchets inutiles !
On peut toujours recevoir à l'improviste et surtout c'est fun ! et les amis s'amusent à donner un coup de main en plein soirée !

Cette curieuse machine j'ai découverte il y a deux semaines. Elle est entrée dans ma vie quand elle était offerte à mon mari pour son anniversaire. Je suis déjà accro !!! Nous ne savons plus vivre sans notre Soda Club !

Comme de la magie elle transform l'eau du robinet en eau petillante avec l'aide d'une bombe de gaz et toute ça sans augmentation de ma facture EDF. Le système fonctionne sans pile ni électricité, le gaz contenu dans les cylindres (CO2) fournit toute l'énergie nécessaire au fonctionnement de l'appareil.

Comme vous pouvez voir, les trois impéritifs du Soda Stream : simplicité, économie et écologie - me parlent beaucoup.

Simplicité, parce-que... La simplicité absolue est la meilleure manière de se distinguer. - Charles Baudelaire

Économie, parce-que... Je préfère voir mes sujets rire de mon sens de l'économie plutôt que pleurer de mes goûts de luxe. - Oscar II de Suède

Écologie, parce-que... La Bible nous dit : Dieu donne le monde, l'univers et le cosmos à l'homme pour qu'il les régisse et les domine, ça nous donne l'écologie. - Karl Zéro

Faites pétiller votre vie en 3 étapes !
1.) Remplissez la bouteille d'eau jusqu'au niveau indiqué puis vissez-la dans l'appareil incliné vers l'arrière.
2.) Appuyez sur le bouton en haut de l'appareil. Dévissez la bouteille.
3.) Ajoutez vôtre arôme dans la bouteille d'eau gazéifiée à l'aide du bouchon doseur.

LES RECETTES
L'eau de Paris + CO2 = Super super savoureux et parfaitement pétillante !

Orange Fizz
Une litre d'eau pétillante fait maison.
Une orange pressé.
Un demi dose de parfum Orange Soda Club.

Today Dimly ; Tomorrow Face to Face - Glass Stovetop

I like shiny things.
I like sparkle.
I like clean.
I like order.
I especially like spaciousness - a rare commodity in the Latin Quarter of Paris.
So, if I can clear off the kitchen countertops I feel at peace. Of course I have to find nooks and crannies to hide my stuff in for that to even be possible. Sometimes small kitchen appliances end up in the guest room, but any cost is worth a clear shiny countertop.

My glasstop stove also plays a big roll in this illusion of orderliness. If it's not shiny then life feels cruddy and out of place.

I used to buy that chemical stuff that comes in a microscopically small spray bottle carrying an inflated big price tag.

But now-a-days I'm trying to save the planet (or am I trying to save money $$$, I always forget ;p) and so I've started making my own stovetop cleaner. My first attempt was a little scary.

Knowing what I've learned about natural cleaning I got out my favorite gentle abrasive - Baking Soda.
Dampen your sponge, sprinkle baking soda on the stovetop, rub-a-dub-dub.

Water is safe, but was taking too long. I had a big baked on mess. Take-two!

Moisten the stovetop mess with vinegar. Sprinkle baking soda on the vinegar. Watch it fizz. This happy little all-natural chemical reaction is going to fizz away your baked on food. Wipe with a dry cloth. Repeat as necessary.

Fizz. Fizz. Fizz. I just love it!

Grease Lightning

aie!
What a sticky mess!!! A roll of sticky packing tape got stuck to my stovetop, combined with oil from recent cooking adventures, I've got sticky goo galore!

So what do I do to fight this goo?

My first thought was *bring out the heavy artillery* I thank God for my lovely husband who saved me from a near disaster...

He reminded me of an old trick where you can dissolve stickiness with vegetable oil. Yeah! I let out a cheer, for natural ingredients!

So my hubby grabbed the bottle of oil from our pantry and let it soak for a while then wiped it up with a towel. A little fingernail action took care of some stubborn tape residue.

Don't forget a quick wipe over with lemon juice to remove the oil and leave a shiny finish and a fresh lemon scent.