I thought to share this recipe that has been used in our family for many years. My Nan made it during the war years and I recently got the recipe from my mom to share with everyone. It's been used as a tonic and an aid to digestion by many a generation in our family. Plus it tastes delicious!

Ingredients:

• 5 oz. parsley (stalks and all)
• Pint and a half of water (20 oz)
• 1 lb. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. white vinegar

Directions:

Using a nice large saucepan, add your washed parsley to the pan then add one and a half pints of water.

Simmer the liquid until you think that it's reduced to about a pint of liquid. (Mom has now means of measuring, this is just done by 'eye').

Now strain that liquid into a jug then return just the strained juice back to the pan. Add 1 lb. of sugar and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Add 1/2 tsp. of vinegar.

Bring to the boil then simmer til the liquid looks like the consistency of honey.

Then take off the heat to cool before putting in hot jars (that have been washed in very hot water, otherwise the glass will crack).

That's it!

Monique :)

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If you purchase a new bike for your child, place their
picture inside the handle bar before placing the grips on.
If the bike is stolen and later recovered, remove the grip
and there is your proof who owns the bike.

I thought this was a terrific idea!

Monique :)

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I bought a small pump spray and filled it with Listerine. It has so many uses!

 

• I use it as a mouth spray to freshen breath. Extremely thrifty instead of buying all the branded mouth sprays. Saves me a fortune.

   

• Spray under your arms as an alternative to deodorant - if some of you are sensitive to the chemicals in roll-on and spray deodorants.

   

• Spray on kitchen work surfaces to kill all bacteria.

   

• Spray a little under your car seat. As the engine warms up it releases a mint fragrance to get rid of stale odours.

   

• Spray a little on a tissue and dab onto a developing spot.

   

• Use as an anti-bacterial spray for your hands when out and about. In case you sneeze of course, and for general cleanliness (For example- after pushing the supermarket trolley- you have no idea how much bacteria lives on the pushing handle!)

   

• Spray in between your toes and leave for a while then dry thoroughly. For the treatment of athlete's foot or overheated feet. If you are on your feet all day do this in your lunch break and it will revive tired feet too.

   

• Massage a few sprays into your scalp to treat and prevent dandruff.

   

• Spray a little onto a tissue and apply to any insect or bug bite, it lessens the swelling and relieves the itching.

So you see, one product does an awful lot. Now that's what I call being thrifty!

Source: Myself and various other sources (Books and the Internet mostly.)

By MONIQUE63 from Somerset, UK

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If you use a breadmaking machine as I do, here are a few tips that help me. Firstly, once a week I measure out my dry ingredients in large recycled (coffee) jars so I have enough bread mixes to last me a week. (It saves me having to measure out the ingredients every day and cover myself in flour!) I measure out a cup of flour with my measuring 'spoon'.

Now here's a great little tip, use the bottom end of a 2 litre empty lemonade/cola bottle to pour the contents in the jar. Cut a washed and dried empty plastic bottle about 4 inches from the bottom with a pair of scissors. Now use this as your scoop. Put a cup of flour inside the scoop then gently squeeze it so the flour just slides into the jar.

My bread requires 2 cups of flour but only put a cup of flour in at a time. Now when each of your jars has the flour inside measure out the rest of your ingredients. For my wholemeal loaves; that is 2 x tablespoons of sugar, 2 x tablespoons of dried milk powder and 1 teaspoon of salt. Always put the teaspoon of dried yeast in lastly.

For extra vitamins in your bread, I add either poppy seeds or dry-fried sesame seeds I had prepared earlier and put a teaspoon of either or both in the flour mixes. I have also added onion powders for my cheesy bread or any variations of herbs for delicious herby bread.

Now for the wet ingredients. I add one cup of warm water to the bread machine's baking tin and 2 x tablespoons of oil. When I add the second tablespoon I drop some on my fingers and I smear the sides of the tin with the oil. Makes the bread easier to remove when baked and cooled.

If I want a loaf, now all I do is add the water and oil to the baking tin then drop the contents of one my pre-prepared jars inside, I set the breadmaker then leave it do it's thing! Simple, easy and I'm not covered in flour! I always have good results and my loaves taste divine! That is unless I have forgotten to put the metal paddle inside after washing it, then I get a half cooked half flour dough disaster instead!

I hope these tips might help my fellow Thriftyfun bread makers!

By MONIQUE63 from Somerset, UK

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