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Vinegar, the unsung hero
Why do I call vinegar the unsung hero? Because of its many uses… Cleaner White vinegar (also called distilled vinegar, also called acetic acid) in a 1:1 mix with tap water is a very effective cleaner and steriliser. Use instead of bleach to clean stove tops, windows, bathrooms, and so on. Be careful with tiling…
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Corn relish
What do you do when your local grocery store is charging 15 cents an ear of corn? Well, if you’re like me, you roast some and use the rest to make corn relish! Yield: approximately 6 pint jars 4 cups white vinegar 1.25 cups white sugar 2 tbsp salt 8 cups corn kernels (fresh, frozen,…
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Fruity banana chutney
Ah, chutney. A loanword from the Hindi chatni, it means “spicy preparations to accompany a main dish”. It is also an awesome accompaniment to grilled foods, roasts, and cheeses. As an added bonus, chutney is a great way for parents to sneak extra fruit and veggies onto the plates of fussy eaters! This recipe combines…
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Bread and Butter pickles
Supposedly so tasty all you need to have with them with is bread and butter, these are the perfect accompaniment to burgers, cold cuts, cheese, and so on. The pickles should be sweet, tangy, and crisp. Bread and Butter pickles 10 cups sliced trimmed stuff* 4 medium onions, thinly sliced ½ cup pickling or canning…
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Strawberry jam
Everyone’s favourite, strawberry jam is very simple and easy to make. The only reason why there are so many ingredients in the commercial versions is to make the jam shelf stable for, apparently, decades. Home made strawberry jam is so delicious you won’t have to worry about shelf life! 8 cups crushed hulled strawberries that…
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Piccalilli
Ah, piccalilli. Condiment, relish, essential ingredient to ploughman’s lunches, and really hard to find at a semi reasonable price in the USA. So, as usual, I make it myself! Before I go any further, I want to say a word about cleaning your produce. If you are anything like me, you want to use organic…
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Fast food is cheaper – right?
Well… no. Not at all. I recently bought a 9.5lb ham for about $10 including tax. I simmered it for 4 hours, making it literally fall-off-the-bone tender. I stripped the meat off the bone, dropped the bone back in the pot, added a little white vinegar, and simmered the result for 2 hours. I pressure-canned…
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An open letter to the Alabama Legislature
Honourable members of the Alabama Legislature, There are bills before the House and Senate to remove the 4% state tax from groceries. Sadly the definition of groceries in this bill includes sodas, chips, cookies, candy, and other such items usually referred to as “junk food”. You have an opportunity to change our state for the…
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Frugal living
This post was inspired by a comment I made on twitter about frugality. The other name I was seriously considering for this blog was “your grandma was right”. Our grandparents lived incredibly frugally – meals were centered on fresh, seasonal, local produce; meat was a once or twice a week special thing; nothing went to…
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Kitchen Failures
It’s something no-one likes to admit to. When you follow the recipe and… you fail. I was looking forward to some nice tangerine and lime marmalade and, instead, I have lime/tangerine soup. Or maybe a marinade or glaze… but not something you can spread on toast, or crumpets, or whatever. I even tried opening up…