Day 2 of Making it in March - Frugal Room Fragrance

Day 2 of 31 Days of Making in in March

All Natural Air Freshener / Room Scent

 

Dismal day of rain and fog

My plan to make the effort to get out and walk more has ground to a temporary halt today, owing to the ferocity of the torrential rain and my fair-weather attitude to exercise. I ventured no further than a neighbour's house to hand in a cheesecake. Today was definitely an indoors type of day!

 

Where should I start? I made my bed and made it downstairs - that should count for something on a day like this, shouldn't it? I lit the fire, chatted with a couple of neighbours who arrived and then it turned into a bit of a swapathon - I love a bit of bartering! I now have onions, bacon and hash browns that I didn't have when I woke this morning, not to mention what I've made since then.

 

Making Mango Cookies

 

Mango, apricot & pistachio with fig and almond

As many of you will know, I love experimenting with biscuit baking and sweet making, so today became a biscuit day. I'm still using up the first tin of mango pulp that I bought (4 tins for £1) and I have about a dozen blocks each of the fruit paste that's meant for serving with cheese - another bulk buy for pennies. I couldn't spare any eggs today; neither the hens nor the ducks are laying, so the mango pulp and fruit paste got added to the cookie dough. I didn't weigh or measure anything - I had the last of a bag of wholemeal self-raising flour to be used up, I melted some cheap margarine along with the two fruit blocks, added a spoonful of sugar and then started mixing in the flour, using the mango pulp where I'd normally use eggs. I split the mix, as I have only enough space for one tray in my mini oven, and the remainder of the cookie dough is in the fridge for another day. Next time, I'll omit the sugar.

 

Making Cheesecake

 

Blackcurrant cheesecake

While the biscuits were baking, I made two of the packet cheesecakes (4 packs for £1 from Approved Food*) and left them to set in the fridge while making the blackcurrant topping. It's just a tablespoon of homemade blackcurrant jelly mixed with a couple of handfuls of blackcurrants. I still have about 5kg of garden grown berries in the freezer, so no shortage of these here. One cheesecake went to the neighbours and one we have kept.

 

Making Knitted Blankets

 

The long-awaited pink blanket

Owing to the awful weather, I decided to spend this afternoon finishing off the long-awaited, pink, fluffy blanket. This is the third blanket I have knitted over the past year and this one is for youngest grand daughter, as she loves pink and lilac. I really do hope she likes it - it is so warm and fluffy, but a bit of a nightmare sewing the strips together after having knitted them on large needles! I am pleased with the finished result and equally pleased that it's completed.

 

Making Frugal Fragrance Air Fresheners

 

Citrus fruit, cloves and cinnamon stick

I first saw this 'recipe' on a site called 'The Yummy Life' when it was shared on Facebook. This is my 'frugalised' version, as I used what was to hand rather than wandering outside to rummage in the rain-battered herb garden. I had 3 limes waiting to be sliced and frozen, so I used half and froze the other half. From my baking cupboard, I found cloves (I use these mainly for marzipan fruit making) and a small cinnamon stick.

 

Recycling another jar

Find yourself an empty jar and a piece of something bright - I found this lovely little piece of ribbon among my crafting stash, just long enough to go around the neck of my jar. Warm the jar slightly by swirling some hot water around in it, then place all your ingredients into the jar and cover them with boiling water.

 

 

 

That's it, a simple case of infusing whatever scents you like in a jar of hot water. In the original instructions, which can be found here, the infusion gets simmered and can be used in place of oil in a burner, but I found my combination a strong enough fragrance vaporising from the jar cooling in a safe corner of the room. 

 

I now can't wait to experiment with other scents that look this pretty. Many years ago (about 40!), as a child, my friends and I would do this with rose petals, lavender or mint in jam jars of rain water, shaking them every day and making our own perfume. Today's make reminds me of those days, so let's think of today's scented make as the 'grown up' version. Come summer, of course, I love nothing more than the heady aroma of sweet pea blossoms, which I try to have in all the downstairs rooms.

 

Confession Time

 

I tasted my room fragrance! All the ingredients were food quality from my kitchen and this smelled so good that I had to taste it once it had cooled... and yes, it could easily make a lovely twist for a wee dram of whisky or even as an addition to cheap lemonade. In fact,. with a bit of sweetening - honey, perhaps - it could make a refreshing drink all on it's own! I reckon the liquid would make far better ice cubes than plain water, too. :)

 

That's it, day 2 of March done and dusted and tomorrow there will be something new to write about in the Frugaldom household. Then, it will almost be time to make pancakes!

 

NYK, Frugaldom

 

*Friend referral link