DIY Earth-Friendly Cleaning

In addition to offering a wide array of ready-to-use earth-friendly cleaning products we've also tried some make-at-home versions made-at-home with simple ingredients we carry at Foodstuffs... so if you run out of your favourite Nature Clean stuff you could clean up your act (or just your kitchen) with these environmentally conscious and economically sensible solutions. 

SCENTED SCOURING POWDER

1 cup baking soda
1/4 cup borax
1/4 cup dried sage leaves, finely ground
1/4 cup dried rosemary leaves, finely ground

DRAIN CLEANER

1/2 cup baking soda
1/4 cup washing soda
3 Tbsp cream of tartar
4 cups cider vinegar, heated to the boiling point

 Combine baking soda, washing soda and cream of tartar.
 Shake mixture slowly down the drain. Follow with hot vinegar.
 Wait several minutes, then rinse with hot tap water.

ALL-PURPOSE SPRAY CLEANER

1 tsp liquid castile soap
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cup water

Combine in a spray bottle.
Shake before using.

CAR POLISH

Give your car a normal wash.
Allow to dry.
Then sprinkle corn flour over the paint.
Polish it in and off to get that extra sheen.

Italian Food

by Sheldon Silverstein, 1930-1999

For fans of Shel Silverstein... and Italian food!

Shel Silverstein's poetry lives on in "Every Thing On It ~ Poems and Drawings", published posthumously, in 2011. Must be read aloud to be fully appreciated... as must most poetry, come to think of it...

Oh, how I love Italian food.
I eat it all the time,
Not just 'cause how good it tastes
But 'cause how good it rhymes.
Minestrone, cannelloni,
Macaroni, rigatoni,
Spaghettini, scallopini,
Escarole, braciole,
Insalata, cremolata, manicotti,
Marinara, carbonara,
Shrimp francese, Bolognese,
Ravioli, mostaccioli,
Mozzarella, tagliatelle,
Fried zucchini, rollatini,
Fettuccine, green linguine,
Tortellini, Tetrazzini,
Oops—I think I split my jeani.

© 2011 Evil Eye, LLC

Signature recipes

Ever wonder why your mother's (or a friend's) coveted recipe is just never right when you make it yourself? This excerpt might help to explain it. 

"THE CURE FOR DEATH BY LIGHTNING" 

BY GAIL ANDERSON-DARGATZ 

My mother's recipe was easy, really. It called for:

a quarter pound of butter
a quarter pound of sugar
three tablespoons of golden treacle
one teaspoon of almond extract
and half a pound of oats

I call it my mother's recipe, though she may have copied it from somewhere; she was always copying down a recipe. But this one was not cut from a magazine, or copied from the newspaper, as she did, by rubbing wax paper over newsprint to collect the words and then rubbing the wax paper on a page of the scrapbook, transferring all those little black newsprint letters. This recipe was in her handwriting: "Melt butter, sugar, and treacle, and add essence. Take off the fire, add oats. Mix well, pour into a greased baking dish, and bake in an oven with a moderate fire for half an hour. Let cool. Cut into squares."

"Add essence" By this she meant "add almond extract," but when she made oatcakes she did add essence, her own essence. When I made oatcakes, they didn't taste anything like my mother's, though I followed my mother's recipe to the letter. They tasted good enough, but they tasted of my essence, not my mother's. There are no two cooks that can make the same dish; you'll find that essence in one and not the other. Or the essence in each is just different. I don't know. But you'll know the essence of a good cook when you find it in a dish. You'll just know. It was there in my mother's cooking. My father knew it. He'd eat the oatcakes my mother made, but not the oatcakes I made.

           ~~~ 0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0 ~~~

The Orange

by Wendy Cope
 
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange 
The size of it made us all laugh. 
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave - 
They got quarters and I had a half.
...

And that orange it made me so happy, 
As ordinary things often do 
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park 
This is peace and contentment. It’s new. 

The rest of the day was quite easy. 
I did all of the jobs on my list 
And enjoyed them and had some time over. 
I love you. I'm glad I exist.

.

Wendy Cope, “The Orange” from Serious Concerns.
Copyright © 1992 by Wendy Cope

Proud

by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Dad planted me
a cherry tree
for my birthday
years ago.

We were tiny
tree and me
my arms
his branches
short and low.

Through the window
through the years
we’ve watched 
each other
sway and grow.

This morning
I found cherries.
Tree, you did it!
Way to go!

© Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Helpful Conversions - Imperial to Metric

WEIGHT

1 oz = 28 grams
4 oz (1/4 lb) = 113 grams
8 oz (1/2 lb) = 227 grams
12 oz (3/4 lb) = 340 grams
16 oz (1 lb) = 454 grams
2.2 lbs = 1 kilogram (1000 grams)

VOLUME

1/2 tsp = 2.4 ml
1 tsp = 4.7 ml
1 Tbsp = 14.2 ml
1/4 cup = 57 ml
1/3 cup = 76 ml
1/2 cup = 114 ml
2/3 cup = 151 ml
1 cup = 227 ml
1 quart = 946 ml

HEAT

275 F = 135 C
300 F = 150 C
325 F = 163 C
350 F = 177 C
375 F = 190 C
400 F = 205 C
425 F = 218 C
450 F = 233 C