Speedy ‘never buy mayo again!’ Mayonnaise

This recipe accompanies the video of the same name.  This recipe is the latest version in order to create thicker, Hellman’s-like mayonnaise, so is slightly different from the proportions discussed in the video.

Ingredients

2 whole eggs
1 tsp cider vinegar/lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
a good pinch of white pepper (I use black as I don’t mind specks of black in the mayo)
12 fl oz/355 ml mild olive or sunflower oil (not virgin o o because flavour will be too strong)

For the speedy mayonnaise, place all the ingredients in a narrow bowl or jug and mix on a high speed with a stick blender (this is key – it won’t work in a food processor because it needs the speed of the blender to make it emulsify). It will thicken at once to create a creamy mayonnaise.

If you want a looser mayonnaise, add a tbsp more cider vinegar/lemon and the resulting mayonnaise will be more like the softer French style mayo.

Simple clothes conditioner

This post won’t take long.

Ingredients

Distilled white vinegar

Method

Pour approximately 60ml of the vinegar into the softener section of your washing machine drawer per wash.  And that’s it!

Distilled vinegar has a long history of being great for softening and conditioning clothes.  You cannot smell the vinegar smell at all after the clothes have dried especially good for those who react to high, octane commercial conditioner smells.  I’ve recommended this for my friend as her daughter suffers from croup which seems to be exacerbated by her overly perfumed clothes.  It also has a deodorising effect.

Keeping motivated

 Recently, I posted a link to an article on another website that I thought might help keep that group motivated through diet and lifestyle changes we were all trying to implement. Those that started doing it were really encouraged by this simple device. I wish I could take credit for it, but it was devised by Jerry Seinfield (yes, the US comic). Anyway, he gave a tip to a young comic writer that the only way he (Jerry) got good at his craft was because he made himself write something everyday. To see this, he had a large wallchart that he added a nice red cross to every day that he wrote ‘something’ anything because he knew that the only way you get good at something is to do it every single day. Then when you start to see the chain developing across days, weeks, months, you really don’t want to break the chain and that motivates, visually and mentally. Some people on the other website reported that thinking of how they wanted to put the next red cross on their chart stopped them from eating cake, having a drink or whatever.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this device and find it useful to keep you on track on whatever it is you might be trying to achieve.

Happy red cross day to you.

Moisturise me up, baby.

 In my beauty quest to find less toxic, less expensive and less hype where beauty products are concerned, I stumbled across jojoba oil being touted as a relatively inexpensive facial moisturiser as it mimics the skin’s own moisturiser, sebum.  I have now been using jojoba oil for approximately 3 months and I’m more than satisfied.  I had been using coconut oil as my favourite natural moisturiser, but I found that it was too greasy for my facial skin (fine on legs/feet etc.).

Perfect cold breakfast in the hot, hot summer.

I won’t bore you with the obvious, “hasn’t it been blimmin hot?” chat, but I have regularly indulged during the recent hot spell, in a tall glass (or two) of my ice-cold, Breakfast Oaty Smoothie.

Ingredients:

1 handful of oats
330ml approx milk/almond/coconut/hazelnut (well, I pour up to the 500ml line on the liquidiser measure on the side of the jug)
2 handfuls of frozen berries (I use blueberries and raspberries)
1 banana (the riper the better)
a few drops of vanilla extract
(sometimes I add a 1/2 tsp of cinammon too)

Put the oats and milk in first and then add all ingredients to a liquidiser, so that the oats can get a bit of a soaking initially.  When all in, whizz until reach desired consistency.  If too thick, add water or a little more milk.

Speedy ‘never buy mayo again!’ Mayonnaise – the video.

I’m a lover of the easy route, the time-saver but also a huge fan of delicious, wholesome, additive-free food.  This recipe was originally first aired on Saturday Kitchen on the Beeb but I missed it, only hearing about it on another forum.  Couldn’t find a video anywhere, so made it myself, talked it up on the forum, got ignored, so thought (moving) pictures speak louder than words, and created a video to show that it really is that easy to make your own thick, mayonnaise in 30 seconds with minimal washing-up and better-than- Hellman’s-flavour.  It will be better than Hellman’s as you can tweak the taste notes to suit YOUR taste.  You’ll never buy shop mayo again!  (See Recipes for more detail, as I’ve tweaked it since first videoing).

Don’t let that voice on the video put you off, I’m not really that middle-class.  Gor blimey, guv’nor.