Eat your way to lovely, strong nails with blancmange!

If biting your nails is a problem, start growing them from the inside out, with this easy coffee blancmange recipe! All you need is:

One x 400g can coconut milk or cream. 2 tbsp gelatin 2 tsp coffee 1/4 cup hot water Sweetener of your choice, e.g. sugar, stevia or artificial sweetener

Stir the gelatin into the hot water and mix well.
In a separate bowl, put in the coffee and sweetener of your choice and stir, then tip in the can of coconut milk or cream. Pour in the hot gelatin mixture and stir all together well. Refrigerate for one hour.

The result? Delicious, smooth coffee blancmange, with the health benefits of coconut, and gelatin for nail growth!

Tomato paste doubles as cheap puree

Tomato paste saves me valuable dollars on buying puree! Whenever a recipe calls for tomato puree, I just use a sachet of tomato paste and then add water to it to make it up to whatever quantity of puree is required. It works as well and tastes just as good. I like to buy the Delmaine concentrated tomato paste, which comes in four little tubs of 70gm each. It is so versatile, and compared to tomato paste takes up far less room in the pantry!

Inexpensive egg McMuffins

For a great-tasting, quick, healthy and inexpensive breakfast, make your own egg McMuffins.

Fry six eggs, using egg rings, (if you don't have any, check your local discount store), fry bacon if you wish, and toast your muffins. Once all ingredients are cooked, assemble egg McMuffins, including sliced cheese and bacon if you like.

Once assembled, wrap each muffin in alfoil and freeze. In the morning, simply take the muffin from the freezer and cook in a moderate oven for 20 minutes. For an even quicker breakfast, unwrap from alfoil and wrap in paper-towel. Place in microwave for at least one minute, depending on microwave.

My kids love these for breakfast, and they only cost around $0.60c each!

I buy Home Brand English Muffins which are around $1.60.

Bickies in a hurry

I have just read the recipe for nut and oatmeal bickies on this site. I have used a similar recipe many times and find that six dozen bickies in one baking session are just too many. So, I only bake one dozen, shape the rest of the batter into balls, lay them in a single layer on a plate or roasting dish and place in the freezer. Once frozen, I put them into plastic sealed bags so they are free-flow and I can cook as many or as few as I need at 18 minutes notice - a couple of extra minutes since they are frozen to start with.
 
This is great for unexpected visitors, kid’s afternoon teas or $21 Challenge weeks. My friends think I'm so clever!