Yes seriously, I washed my pillows.
Now some of you will probably be thinking "Euh, you washed your pillows?" The rest of you will probably be going 'and you didn't wash them before? Yuk!" Yes people do seem to be fairly divided on this topic.  I had never thought of this until recently. My Mum is a great believer in the powers of UV, so the only thing I've ever done with my pillows is pop them outside in bright sunshine several times a year. Now this does work wonders, and they always smell better, but my pillows were yellow. In fact so yellow I am ashamed to show them to you, so I didn't take a picture of them before they went in the wash. My pillows were about 15 years old, so I figured that a bit of yellow wasn't so bad. But we have a major damp problem in our house (a problem that my landlord is desperately trying to fix but doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast). I am now getting worried about mould, and yes I read that mould can grow in pillows. Aside from the euugghhhhh factor I was also quite worried about health. Now Mr PTC and I are fairly young and healthy, but mould in pillows is still a big no no. Of course, once I started reading about washing pillows I also started reading about why you should wash pillows. I'm a bit of an obsessive about clean bedding... washing weekly like it is a religion and making sure we go to bed clean. I mean, come on, you sleep in your bed everyday for a week without washing the sheets, but you change your clothes daily? So yes, you should go to bed freshly showered/bathed! But back to the point... pillows are not immune to what you would otherwise launder out or vacuum up. Why wouldn't they be after all? If you have ever looked under your bed after not vacuuming for 6 months you know the type of thing I'm talking about. Yes that dust is mainly human debris (dead skin cells, hair etc.).... euhhhh. And that can be in your pillow as well. Lets just say, dead skin cells, hair fibres, dust, dustmites and everything else you can think about are probably happily living in your pillow. Anyway, I'll stop creeping everyone out right now. So after all that, and having damp issues I've taken steps. 
Channel four's guide to cleaning pillows...one of many resources out there!
Now there are lots of helpful websites out there telling you what to do. They all vary, but basically stick them in the washing machine and pray that they don't get ruined seems to be the general rule of thumb. The care label on my pillows (yup believe it or not it was still readable), suggested that I should 'commerical wash only' whatever that means. Basically use a big washer right? 15 years old and yellow? I'm not paying for a commercial wash when I have a perfectly good washing machine in the utility room. I figured if worse came to worst I think we could afford a couple of new pillows. So here is what I did (bare in mind I wanted to remove any trace of mould, remove the yellowing and have them smelling wonderful and fresh). Disclaimer: I've only tried this with synthetic pillows not down. It may not work for all pillows, so if in doubt please get the pillow cleaned professionally. I take no responsibility for people ruining their own pillows!! 1. Beat your pillows (preferably outside so that you don't fill your bedroom with dust), and then vacuum. This will hopefully release a lot of the debris that you hope washing the pillow will then fully remove. 2. Place one pillow in the machine at a time. Fold it so it ends up follow the curves of the drum of the machine (i.e. try to avoid folding and squishing it too much). You should end up with one of the sides that you sleep in facing the edges of the drum, with the other side you could sleep on facing inwards. I so need to drawer a diagram or something for this! 3. Add the tiniest amount of liquid laundry liquid (I use a super-concentrated version so I really did use a small amount, dabbed onto the pillow itself). 4. Add a half-cap of bleach (about 100ml) into the machine to. I have a dosing ball so it went straight in, but I guess you could put it in the drawer. 5. Turn the machine onto a delicate cycle at no more than 30C (87F). 6. At the rinse cycle add one cap (about 200ml) of vinegar into the softener drawer. 7. Once finished take the pillow out and turn it round so that the side of the pillow that was against the drum is now pointing inwards. 8. Put on for another rinse with another cap of vinegar. 9. Dry on the line on a sunny day (ok so you could put it in the dryer but we don't have one and I still advocate UV as a great way to kill bugs). 10. Repeat for the rest of your pillows. So to sum up wash one pillow at a time and give each one an extra rinse. The verdict: they turned up pretty near perfect! I was quite surprised. They still don't look brand spanking new, but after 15 years I'm not going to complain and they smell wonderful too. No bleach or vinegar residue at all, and basically perfectly white! They did take 24 hours on the line to dry, but we haven't had anything above 20C outside recently, so warmer weather would probably get them drier quicker. I didn't know that cleaning pillows would make me so happy! So go on, clean a pillow or two this weekend. So my next plan is to do this 3 to 4 times a year. Too much or too little? Hmmm I'm not sure. Anyone got any advice?
Thanks for stopping by,
Rose
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Monday, 13 August 2012
I washed my pillows!
Friday, 10 August 2012
A very simple risotto
Risotto is one of my favourite quick dishes. I love making it and it is
so easy. I know some people are scared of risotto, almost as if only proper
chefs make it. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are two ‘secrets’
to successful risotto; being prepared to stand there stirring for 20 minutes
and using the correct type of rice. That’s it!
I make risotto all the time, and tonight’s is a vegetarian option (I
will add a photo tomorrow hopefully, but I’m writing tonight’s blog in advance
as I know this recipe works!). You can add whatever you want, beans, peas, pea
shoots, meat of whatever variety you like. I always like to top with pine nuts
and a sprinkle of cheese though. Also you don’t need to be fancy and add white
wine – in my opinion although it changes the flavour it is totally overrated.
This is a mid-week quick meal, no need to be fancy-shmancy about it!
The stock needs to be warm when it is added to the pan. I
always just keep it in one of my glass jugs that seems to keep the contents
warm over the 20 minutes I cook (I start with it boiling). However many people
insist that you need to keep it in a pan by itself on the stove, simmering
away. I am yet to be convinced that this is necessary, but feel free to try it
both ways and let me know what you think!
The recipe below is for four people, but it is easily doubled
or halved. I will actually make half of this tonight for just the two of us,
but using a small onion instead of a large one. I have indicated 200g rice
(i.e. 50g per person), but people vary on this. Many would advocate 75g-100g
per person but I find this too much. It might not look like much but it is a
very rich dish.
Basic risotto
recipe
Serves 4
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Cost: £5.21 (£1.30 per serving), use a cheaper cheese and remove the
nuts to get a budget version for £2.92 (73p per serving)
200g Arborio rice
1 large Onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds (optional)
500ml warm stock, or two stock cubes in 500ml litres warm water
4 cups broad beans pealed, peas or veg of your choice
zest and juice from 2 lemons
Salad to serve
100g grated Cheese (optional)
25g pine nuts, toasted (optional)
Saute the onions in the oil on a medium heat, stirring regularly. Once
they have begun to turn clear (about 5minutes) add the chopped garlic and cumin
seeds. Fry for 1 minute then add the rice and fry for another minute.
Once the rice is covered in the oil add 1 small ladle of stock (about
100ml), stirring the rice and onion mix as you add. If the liquid immediately
evaporates (it probably well), add another ladle and repeat until you have a
small amount of liquid in the bottom. Stir continuously. Turn the heat down to
a medium-low setting.
Keep stirring, adding liquid a ladle at a time as it dries out until the
rice is cooked. If you run out of stock but still need some additional liquid
just use hot water.
When the rice is very nearly cooked (just a little ‘nutty’) add the
lemon juice and zest and any veg. You can add the veg earlier if you like it
well cooked, but I like my vegetables warmed through and still very
crunchy!
Once the rice is fully cooked and the veg warmed serve immediately,
topped with a sprinkling of cheese and pine nuts and with some salad on the
side.
N.B. The cost of the meal is calculated on the day that this blog
entry was published, using Sainsbury's online groceries as a reference for
pricing. Each item is costed by weight used not by the total cost of a
bottle/packet of that product.
Thanks for stopping by,
Rose
Let me know what you think... leave a comment or send
an email to passthecaffeine {at} gmail {dot} com
Oriental salmon with salad
Yesterday was hot! Well it was for us (having had an abysmal summer so far, anything above 20C is hot). This was a perfect meal for a warms sumemrs evening, particularly after having leftover curry for lunch which was quite filling. As it is a fish dish with very little fat other than that naturally in the fish it is a superhealthy meal and also light but still satisfying. To turn it into a more filling
meal (you know, for when its pouring with rain and you just need those carbs),
serve with some rice with lime juice and pine nuts stirred through. We were quite happy with just the light version though. I added some kohl rabi to my salad as we have some in and it is slightly sharp providing a nice contrast to the sweet salmon. So basically I'd advocate doing whatever you want with the salad!
Sadly this meal is limited by what you can do with your salmon fillets,
so although it is easily halved and doubled it isn’t so good for leftovers (my
favourite form of cheating on weekday lunches).
As with all my recipes (particularly of the fish variety), this will
work with many types of fish so don’t feel constrained to salmon. Pick and
chose. Go on, try something different!
I did adapt this from somewhere, but I have no idea where. So please
forgive me for not linking up correctly!
Summer deliciousness
Oriental
salmon with orange salad
Serves 4
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Cost: £8.08 (£2.02 per serving)
4 tbsp soy sauce
3 tsp+1 tsp honey
4 oranges, zested and segmented (see below)
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
4 salmon fillets, or equivalent fish of your choice
Salad leaves or watercress (the bitterness of the watercress is a perfect accompaniment to the sweet glaze on the fish), washed and drained
1 kohl rabi, peeled and sliced (optional)
Zest the oranges and set the zest aside. Then segment the orange, removing the
skin on each segment. If you have never done this before, have a look at this
tutorial.
The basic concept is to slice off all the peel, rather than peeling it,
thus exposing the flesh. Then cut the segments out of the skin rather than
splitting the segments with their skin in the normal manner.
Once you have done this, set the segments to one side and squeeze the
juice out of the remaining flesh.
Make the glaze for the fish by mixing 3 teaspoons of the honey
(reserving the final teaspoon for the salad dressing), the orange juice squeezed out of the orange remains, zest and soy sauce. You shouldn’t need to add any salt as the soy sauce
contains plenty, but you may wish to. Remove 1 tbsp of the glaze and set aside. Rub the rest of the glaze into the fish.
Turn on the grill (broiler in other countries I think). Place a piece of foil on a baking sheet, drain the excess liquid off the fish and place the fish on the baking sheet and then under the grill. Grill for about 10 minutes, turning every few minutes, until cooked through. If it gets crispy in places don't worry, this is absolutely delicious!
While the fish is grilling finish the salad. Make the salad dressing: in a separate bowl mix the 1 tbsp of glaze that you kept to one size, the remaining 1 tsp honey, rice vinegar and oil. Mix the salad leaves, kohl rabi (if using) and orange segments in a bowl and drizzle with the salad dressing.
Once the fish is cooked through, serve immediately with the salad.
N.B. The cost of the meal is calculated on the day that this blog
entry was published, using Sainsbury's online groceries as a reference for
pricing. Each item is costed by weight used not by the total cost of a
bottle/packet of that product.
I'm trying something new today and linking to parties! Please have a look at the hosting websites. Thanks: Serenity Now
Thanks for stopping by,
Rose
Let me know what you think... leave a comment or send
an email to passthecaffeine {at} gmail {dot} com
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Thursday, 9 August 2012
Elderflower cordial
What says ‘summer’ more than elderflowers? They grace the British
countryside, up and down hedgerows and along every road the length and bredth
of the country. Elderflowers are almost a weed, given how prolific they are and
yet the smell and the light little blooms make me forgive the bushes for
everything! And better yet they are great in cooking!
I remember as a child my Mum making all sorts of things with
elderflowers, including bucket loads of elderflower wine (does that make my Mum
sound boozy – she’s not I promise!). Well I’m not a big drinker but Mr PTC and
I do drink quite a lot of squash and cordial in the summer. So what better than
making my own elderflower cordial?
Traditionally this is a May/early June activity as this is when
elderflowers are at their best. However, living in Scotland in one of the worst
summers I can remember meant that I didn’t see a single elderflower until the
end of June! I then meant to make this all the way through July, but just
didn’t have time. Elder has really stopped flowering now, but on Monday evening
I managed to scrape together enough flowers for one batch of this, and it
tastes wonderful!
If you decide to make this make sure you collect flowers that are just
opening and are at their peak. You don’t want flowers that are ‘falling over’
as my mother told me. The flowers are best collected on a dry day, but not too
warm so that they don’t wilt too quickly. However, if you have had a terrible
summer like we have then quite frankly, just collect them whenever you can!
Ideally you don’t want to wash them as you will loose all the flowers and some
of the flavour. If you do want to wash them just gently swish them in a basin
of cold water. Make sure you collect them from bushes that are not by a road
and ideally not by a field where pesticides are sprayed.
This is my neighbour’s recipe. There are many variations upon this theme
available if you have a quick google on the internet, but having made this one
I can thoroughly recommend it!
I have to admit that I am being slightly selfish by writing this recipe
up on the blog – I don’t want to loose it for next year! It is currently on a
scrap of paper that I know will get tossed at some point. Hopefully having a
version in electronic form will mean I can find it easier next year.
Sarah’s Elderflower
cordial
Preparation: 10 minutes + 24 hours resting
25 heads elderflower
1 ½ litres water, recently boiled
1.2kg sugar
3 oranges
2 lemonds
50g citric acid
Remove the zest from the fruit and set aside.
Roughly slice the fruit (leaving the zested peel on) and place in a
large pan or bowl. Cover with the sugar and then the hot water. Add the citric
acid and citric acid and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Finally add the
elderflowers and give a gentle stir.
Rest for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
Mixing the fruit and flowers.
Drain the liquid from the fruit. I used a piece of muslin cloth in a
sieve over a large bowl. I then pressed all the fruit to get as much of the
liquid out as possible (though this makes it more cloudy, but more fruity).
Draining the cordial from the fruit. I squeezed each piece of fruit to increase the liquid.
Bottle the drained liquid (I got about 2 litres out of it).
To serve, dilute to taste. I like the cordial quite strong so I dilute 1
part cordial to 5 parts water. Mr PTC likes his weaker and uses 10 parts water.
The cordial freezes well and can provide you with a nice summer drink at
Christmas! If you plan to do this I advise using small bottles so you don’t
have to drink too much at once. I expect the shelf life to be about a week,
though I haven’t tested this yet.
This post is being shared on the following link-parties: http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2012/08/the-sunday-showcase-party-no-114.html
Thanks for stopping by,
Rose
Let me know what you think... leave a comment or send
an email to passthecaffeine {at} gmail {dot} com
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Wednesday, 8 August 2012
Chickpea, tomato and spinach curry
This is one of my favourite vegan recipes at the moment. It doesn’t look
like much but it is very filling and super healthy as well (even though I don’t
understand why something this tasty is healthy). The added bonus is the high
proportion of veg and pulses mean that you get 2 or 3 of your 5 a day in one
portion. As it is super healthy you can add a sprinkling of chopped nuts and a
dollop of yoghurt to serve and not feel very guilty about it (use Alpro yoghurt
if you want it to be truly vegan – the alpro natural yoghurt is actually really
good).
I made this recipe (serves four), eating half last night with the second
half for lunch today. Unfortunately this recipe is limited by the use of whole
tins of chickpeas and thus scaling is dependent on whether you can find a good
use for a part-tin. Of course, what I should have done to keep the costs down
is use dried chickpeas and then I could have used any quantity I want. But you
get the picture. Tinned chickpeas make this recipe a breeze. The only difficult
bit is remembering to stir it while the lentils are cooking.
As always, this is adapted from another source to fit my needs. Please
feel free to play around with my recipe, but check out the original on BBC Good
Food for other ideas too.
My tip of the day for getting coconut cream: if you don’t have coconut
cream in but do have a tin of coconut milk, put the milk in the fridge
overnight or in the deep-freeze for 30 minutes. You’ll find the liquid and
solids separate and you can use the solids as coconut cream (and drink the
liquid which is divine!).
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1260646/chickpea-tomato-and-spinach-curry
Chickpea,
tomato and spinach curry
Serves 4
Preparation: 15 minutes
I so need to take lessons in none-blurry photos. I'm always so desperate to eat my yummy dinner though!
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Cost: £5.26 (£1.32 per serving)
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
3cm piece of ginger, coarsely chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
pinch of chilli flakes to your desired taste
1 tsp marmite
4 tbsp red lentils
4 tbsp coconut cream
1 head of broccoli, chopped into florets
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed, or equivalent of dried
chickpeas, soaked overnight and boiled for 30 minutes
100g baby spinach
1 lemon, halved
Chopped nuts (such as cashews)
Rice and yoghurt to serve.
First if you are using brown rice get it cooking. If you are using white
rice start it cooking once you have the curry simmering.
To save time pop the onion, garlic, ginger and tomatoes in a food processor
and blend to a puree. If you don’t have a blender just chop finely and mix
together.
Heat up your pan, add the oil and then fry the cumin, coriander,
turmeric and chilli flakes for 1 minute (it will smoke so put your extractor
fan on first). Add the puree and yeast extract and cook for 2 minutes until
bubbling.
Add the lentils and coconut cream and cook until tender, stirring
periodically (depending on your lentils this will be somewhere between 20 and
25 minutes). You may need to add additional liquid periodically (I added about
a pint in total), in small increments to stop the sauce sticking to the bottom.
In the meantime cook your rice if you are using white rice.
Once the lentils are tender add the broccoli and chickpeas, cook for 4
minutes. Finally add your spinach, lemon juice and nuts, stirring until the
spinach is just wilted (about 1 minute). Serve immediately with the rice and
dollop of yoghurt and chopped nuts if desired.
N.B. The cost of the meal is calculated on the day that this blog
entry was published, using Sainsbury's online groceries as a reference for
pricing. Each item is costed by weight used not by the total cost of a
bottle/packet of that product.
Thanks for stopping by,
Rose
Let me know what you think... leave a comment or send an email to passthecaffeine {at} gmail {dot} com
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Pork escalopes with cheese and chive coleslaw
Yesterday was day 7 of my menu planning experiment and believe it or not, it is still working! Better still, I think I am actually spending less on food. I expected to spend less on ready-food and takeaways, but I didn’t expect my weekly shop to cost less. The great thing is I go in with the list, and I seriously don’t buy anything else because I know all the meals are sorted. I thought forcing myself to stick to the plan rather than buying what was on offer would be more expensive, but it turns out it isn’t because I don’t waste it! I didn’t even think I was very wasteful before, so this is great.
Anyway, down to business. Yesterday's evening meal went down wonderfully. It is a variation on a theme I’ve used many times, but adding cheese and chives to the coleslaw makes a wonderful side dish. I view pork chops as a ‘ready-meal’ really as they require very little attention, but it is quite an expensive way to buy meat. However, this works with pretty much any type of pork chop/steaks/escalope, whatever section of the dear pig that can be sliced up, as long as it hasn’t been turned into bacon or gammon. I’ve even in the past taken a roasting joint and sliced it up myself. Take your pick really! Loin is great, but I choose whatever is on offer (or in the freezer). This is also a quite pricey meal, partly because having a pork steak a-piece is quite a lot of protein along with cheese and nuts. You can leave out the pine nuts or replace them with a cheaper nut of your choice if you like, and choosing a cheaper cheddar cheese will help (I have to use goats cheese which is quite an expensive option, but there are plenty good quality cheaper cheddar cheeses out there). I made enough of the pork chops for just the two of us (half the recipe), but the full quantity of coleslaw so that we have some for lunch the next day. Add in a few nuts and possibly pitta bread and it is quite a well-rounded meal. I didn't bother with the pitta bread for dinner as for just the two of us I like to keep down the carbs, and we had the leftover mac 'n' cheese for lunch (ahem). But if you have kids, or you just need a bit extra, choose pittas, wraps, or some new potatoes boiled with a knob of butter. Delicious!
Pork escalopes with cheese
and chive coleslaw
Serves 4
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Cost: £7.99(£2.00 per serving); remove nuts and use a different cheese
in the coleslaw for £6.09 (£1.52 per serving)
4 pork loin steaks, chops or equivalent
3 slices white bread, torn into pieces and breadcrumbed
zest of 1 lemon
50g grated parmesan (we used a goat’s milk cheese instead)
50g pine nuts
Leaves from 2 rosemary springs
3 tbsp plain flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp olive oil
1 lemon cut into 4 wedges (to serve)
For the coleslaw
1 white cabbage (about 400g)
1 carrot, grated
1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
3 tbsp mayonnaise
3 tbsp yoghurt (goats milk yoghurt or low fat is fine)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Bunch of chives (about 20g), chopped
100g cheddar cheese, for serving
Trim the fat from the pork steaks. Tenderize (optional, but provides a
much better flavour and texture): place one at a time on baking parchment and
bash with a rolling pin/mallet until 5mm thick. Season the pork and set aside.
Make the coleslaw: shred the cabbage, add the carrot, onion, mayonnaise,
yoghurt and mustard. Snip in most of the chives. Mix well.
In a food processor mix the bread, lemon zest, cheese, pine nuts and
rosemary until you get a fine crumb.
Spread the flour onto a plate, dust each pork steak with the flour and
dip into the egg. Press into the breadcrumb mixture until each steak is evenly
covered.
Heat the oil in a frying pan or griddle and cook the steaks for 2-3
minutes on each side until golden and crunchy. Serve immediately with the
coleslaw and lemon, sprinkling the cheese and remaining chives over the
coleslaw.
N.B. The cost of the meal is calculated on the day that this blog
entry was published, using Sainsbury's online groceries as a reference for
pricing. Each item is costed by weight used not by the total cost of a
bottle/packet of that product.
Thanks for stopping by, Rose Let me know what you think... leave a comment or send an email to passthecaffeine {at} gmail {dot} com |
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
How to clean the bathroom in 10 minutes
I've seen a lot of pins on pinterest recently on 'Cleaning your bathroom like a pro' so I thought I'd add my tuppence worth. Now I'm not a professional (I don't believe cleaning swimming pool toilets as a teenager really counts as real experience of cleaning in a professional capacity), but I do like a clean bathroom. I get all yukked out when I'm staying with someone and their toilet is dirty, or their shower is so bad that I feel dirtier when I get out than when I went in. I've also been known to clean someones bathroom for them, but I'm pretty sure that breaks all sorts of etiquette rules.
So I have a system. Luckily for me, with just Mr PTC and myself I can get away with doing this twice a week (Mr PTC is well trained), but when we have guests I do it daily. But at 10 minutes, I hardly complain. The exception to the rule is the sink. My lovely little kitty Lavender likes to drink from the bathroom sink tap (we tried to break the habit but failed), and so I have to wipe down the sink several times a day to get rid of the paw prints. But we just keep a sponge under the sink and it takes just a moment. 
I might have to get a less blurry picture of my bathroom!
So here are my steps to keeping that bathroom sparkling! If this is done often enough you can even get this routine down to 5 minutes, but you do need to keep on top of it.
Once every six weeks or so I do a 'deep clean' of the bathroom, sometimes more often if it is just bad! This involves bleach and all sorts, including wiping down all the walls. However, the more frequently I do my 5-10 minute clean the less often this needs doing. It really makes a difference. I also keep a stash of my cleaning cloths under the sink and the mop lives in the cupboard handily located next to the bathroom. Rubber gloves and hair bands are also stored in the bathroom so I can be ready to go before you say 'clean'. Oh dear, yes I really did just say that. I've had this routine for about a year now, and it makes 'cleaning the bathroom' far less daunting. Before I used to do a deep clean every 10 days and just wipe things down every few days. I dreaded my deep clean because it took ages, I got soaked (don't ask), and the flat smelt of bleach for days. Not nice. This new method skips all that, and if I'm on top form it can actually take as little as 5 minutes.
Most of this is common sense… but it helps to have a list. If you have other ideas I'd love to hear them!
Thanks for stopping by,
Rose
Let me know what you think... leave a comment or send an email to passthecaffeine {at} gmail {dot} com
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