The Modern Housewife

Recently my auntie who was moving gave me, among other things an old book called "Here's a Hint" it was printed in the year I was born (1977 shhhh).  Its a book of hints for all parts of the house, easy way to do things, different homemade chemicals to use and ways to reuse things and save money. Yet again it reminded me of what a throwaway society we live in.  People buy disposable wipes, disposable nappies, disposable cleaning cloths, disposable containers for the kitchen, disposable wraps. Basically everything comes in a disposable version.  But do you know what....... we don't have to follow the norm and all the advertisements selling us another throwaway product.  Because although they may say they are disposable they are only disposable to us, not to the environment, hell half these throwaway products will still be hanging around the dump in 30 years time.  So not only do these products cost us more to buy but they are going to c...

Sour Dough kicked my butt once but I will be dammed if it beats me again!  So a few days ago I started small.  Using an old formula scoop I started out, leaving my mixture on the sunny windowsill in my kitchen. Day 1: One scoop flour, one scoop warm water (stir) Day 2: One scoop flour, one scoop warm water (stir) Day 3: Oops Day 4: Two scoops flour, two scoops warm water (stir) Day 5: Half a cup flour, half a cup warm water (stir) Day 6: I drained some of the liquid out that sat on the top then added a cup of flour and a cup of warm water (stir) Day 7: (Today) Since my mixture was bubbly and lovely and ever so slightly stinky (OK quite stinky but I didn't linger to take it all in), I decided to make me some BREAD. Playing it by ear I added 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar and 2 cups of flour and realising it was too dry I added some warm water.  I proceeded to knead it for a bit and was surprised that this time it felt right.  So left it on the bench to ris...

Tomorrow is the day.... One month since I started out on my bread making mission.  I can confirm that I have yet to use brought bread and I have enough bread in the bread container to make it through tomorrow.  I am currently patting myself on the back Whoop Whoop.  Sorry little bit excited here, not often I follow through on something.  Thank you blogging world for pressuring me into finishing, the fear of posting my failure up here helped me make it through those difficult times.  I know I sound like I have conquered a nation or something but no, I just made bread for our family for one month. Although it has been hugely satisfying, at times it hasn't been easy.  There have been a few evenings when I have noticed my husband having unauthorised  bread (aka I didn't realise he was going to have a sami at night time and I only had just enough bread for breakie).  So I have had to start mixing and kneading away, letting the bread rise ov...

Three weeks have passed and still we have not touched the cheap back up bread located in my freezer.  Mew ha ha ha ha (insert evil laugh here).  I feel like some sort of superhuman hero.  I know, I know, its only bread but I think deep down inside my hunter gatherer needs are satisfied by being able to supply my family with something so basic all by myself (insert goofy smiley face here).  If you ever see me in the supermarket  you might think I am a little crazy.  Not only do I talk constantly to my kids, but whenever I go past the bread isle I have a crazy satisfied little smile on my face.  When I go past the nappy isle and don't have to buy any (due to using reusable apart from night time) it is just about too much for me to take lol. So I am on track to make my four weekly target.  It may be a little extra work, but seeing my kids munching down on fresh bread and totally loving it is enough to make it worth it.  Not to mentio...

Well it seems Sour Dough Bread is not fool proof, aka me proof.  I let it rise for 24 hours, ever the hopeful am I.  Yet my Sour Dough is just a hefty solid block of dough.  So hefty I wondered how to dispose of it...................... Didn't want to look all dodgy carrying a big black bag to the car and dumping it in a bin somewhere in an isolated park. I thought of the waste disposer, mmmmm nope it isn't that tough.   One blob of the Sour Dough brick and that disposer would be jammed up big time. "Compost heap", I said to myself, mmm maybe not, it is a growing thing that would mould up and be all smelly and gross.  Plus if some poor bird got hold of that it would loose its ability to fly instantly held back by the Sour Dough weighing down its little intestines. The only other option I had was the rubbish bin.  This worries me, as our bin is black heat seeking oven like contraption, that only gets picked up once every two weeks. ...

Mmmmmm had what could be considered a dubious start to my Sour Dough making experience.  I forgot to feed it, it was only born yesterday and already I forgot to feed it, my bad.  Good thing my kids can tell me they are hungry otherwise there might be trouble.  On the bright side the dough is bubbly and is starting to smell a little nasty.  Just fed it and hope it will forgive me and grow grow grow. In case you are wondering I am using the following website for instructions to grow my little Sour Dough baby. http://www.bakesourdough.com/making_sourdough_starter

In continuation to my bread making mission, I am now trying to make my own Sour Dough starter.  Why you ask would you do that (well thats what I asked when I heard about it), well well well its CHEAP.  The only expensive part of making bread is buying yeast.  I figure if I am making bread each day then why not create my own little live starter instead of buying yeast. So this morning I put equal parts of flour and warm water in a container and left it in the nice warm sun to 'fester' OK thats not the proper word for it but it is growing its alive I tell you ALIVE.  Crazy much, why yes I am surprised you didn't realise already. I seem to be getting way to excited about this, I am thinking I may have been born in the wrong century.  I also think that if mixing flour and water gets me so excited I may want to try and get out more lol.  I don't know if other people get it, but making things from scratch is really satisfying.  Yes I could buy bread from...

For the last few months I have been making bread on a regular basis.  Well in the last week I have made a new mission for myself (and by no means is it mission impossible).  I aim to not buy any bread for the next month.  Now I have 2 loafs in the freezer 'just in case' but will try not to use that either.  So far I have made 2 weeks without using any brought bread.  That is saying something as I go through the bread.  We have it for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. I am making bread from scratch, no bread maker or anything. I feel like such a domestic goddess. OK not so much of a goddess but very domestic. I have to say, I am loving it, it is so easy and not at all time consuming. I simply spend 5 mins getting the bread started in the morning, then let it rise, 5 more minutes spent with my bread at lunch time, then I leave it again till late afternoon to cook. OK I have some mishaps, yesterday it was a bit bigger than normal so I undercooked i...

Well, after another massive power bill and the fact that it isn't getting any warmer around here, we are enforcing a power budget. Anyone who knows me will laugh at that, thinking I am normally on a budget anyway. Yes I know, but as time goes by I seem to slack up, and after watching old re-runs of environmental programs on TV I decided to kick our house back into shape. I refuse to let us be cold, as that is how we seem to get sick. So we heat the room that we are in and only that room. Luckily thanks to my wonderful husband he had the forethought to get heat pumps put in the lounge and our bedroom ready for this winter. We already had a large heat pump in the main living area, but that is in the open living area. It has to heat the entire hallway, any rooms that are open and deal with the cold air coming up the staircase from the garage. So after spending last winter cold and still paying a massive power bill Hubby decided to take action. So we now heat the lounge (door closed)...