Trash Bags

I have been pulling out my tightwad gazette lately, so watch out.....

When you go to the grocery store, wal-mart, etc., you usually leave with a ton of bags whether paper or plastic.  In my area, the little plastic ones are pretty much illegal, so we get paper.  So I now have a ton, and I use them for lots of things, including wrapping books and packages for mailing since they protect the package nicely.  I have also been putting them in my trash can (with plastic glad bag lining the can).  This way, I just pull the paper bag up by the handles about once a day and toss it, instead of pulling out the much more expensive glad bag.  Plus, the paper bag is at least biodegradale, whereas the plastic bag is not. 

I wonder how long I can make one glad bag last

Homemade Mayonnaise

Yesterday we were going through a few things we would need at the grocery store and hubby mentioned we were out of mayo. I wrote it down on the list, but then remembered I had a recipe to make my own!

So, I decided to whip up a batch to save a few dollars! Plus, I love knowing exactly what is in my food!

Here is the recipe:

Homemade Mayonnaise (Yield: 2 cups)

1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika (I omitted this)
3 Tbs vinegar or lemon juice
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (I used canola)

Put egg, salt, sugar, mustard, paprika & vinegar in blender. Cover & blend for a few seconds. With blender still running, add the oil very slowly. Blend until thick and smooth.

Note: you can substitute pasteurized egg substitute for raw egg for pregnant women or elderly persons.

Personal notes: This recipe turned out really well. It was a little tangy, so I think I'll play around with the vinegar and sugar. Next time I will use 2 tablespoons vinegar and add an extra teaspoon of sugar.

Hubby is pretty specific about his mayo and how his food tastes and he approved this, so it was success. No more buying mayo for me!!!

Let nothing go to waste *edited*

I was peeling oranges yesterday and it got me thinking. How many times have I tossed the peel? More often than I would like to admit to!

So, I started thinking about all the things I could do with the peels and I did a google search. Here is what I came up with.

1. Put peels and water in a pot. Then put it on the stove and simmer to release a (hopefully) pleasing aroma.

2. Pet deterrent. Rub the orange peel on the leaves of your plants and animals shouldn't bother them. They don't like the scent.

3. Insect repellent. Rub the peel on your skin for an all natural, healthy alternative to commercial repellents.

4. Sugar softener. Brown sugar a bit too hard? Toss a peel or two in with the sugar and it will soft in a few hours.

5. Orange oil. This one is by far the most interesting to me. For the full details you can visit this site and it will give instructions as well. I think I'll be doing this over the next few days!!

For more ideas you can visit here and here. Or you can google "orange peels" (or some variation of that) and you'll see the ideas pop up before your eyes!

No peel will ever be tossed by me again!

edited: I needed to make laundry soap this morning (see this site for homemade laundry soap recipes) so I decided to add several orange peels to the soap/water mixture just to add a nice, natural scent. So far it seems to working pretty well. It's cooling right now so I won't really know until later on today or tomorrow. I'll keep you posted though.