I had a bag of mixed salad leaves in the fridge at the end of last week, they were really out of date but looked in reasonable condition, so I decided that they would volunteer to become a nice portion of pesto. I simply whizzed them up in the Nutribullet with some extra virgin olive oil, some garlic, some cashews, a couple of tablespoons of nutritional yeast and a handful of finely grated cheese.
Oh, it was delicious.
Then I cooked some pasta ... which as it happens was also green ... and once cooked and drained poured over the pesto, stirred through some chopped spring onions and halved cherry tomatoes and warmed everything together for a few minutes. Then I served a portion each for me and Alan. It was so tasty I completely forgot to take a photo of the dishes side by side!!
But here for your delight and delectation* are the leftovers which I had for lunch the following day. 😀
My handcream/moisturiser started refusing to come out of the pump dispenser last week. I could tell by the weight of it that there was some in there, but no amount of tapping it down to the bottom would make any appear. So I took it apart and left the bottle stood upside down in one of my Gu ramekins. Even I was surprised at how much I got out after twenty four hours of it standing on it's head.
I popped a lid on the little jar and used what was left around the neck of the bottle for a day of hand cream action and then I peeled off the label and gave the container a really good wash out.
I am going to be using it in the shower for the dispensing of some tea-tree and mint scented shower gel that I am using at the moment. I don't normally use any sort of shower gel as I prefer bar soap, but I am still trying desperately to get some sense of smell back and it's advised to use a lot of scents that you can picture in your head and that your brain should have some memory of.
It's not actually working yet, but the essential oils in the shower gel are definitely giving me a few minutes reprieve from my hayfever which seems to have rushed in on me much earlier than usual this year.
Thank goodness for little pots and their lids.
Sue xx
* A little nod to The Good Old Days, which I used to love watching as a child.
At one time I just cut the tube in half and slipped one half over the other but it felt so utilitarian! I love putting the last of creams and lotions into little pots. The last of a very nice tube of handcream is now in a de-labelled face cream pot by my bedside.
ReplyDeleteOh I still do that with all tubes, handcream and toothpaste included. I've been blogging about it since 2015 it would seem.
Deletehttps://ournewlifeinthecountry.blogspot.com/2015/02/my-ten-top-tips.html
But it's good to put the dregs of a pump dispenser into a cute little pot. :-)
I do the same as both of you, cutting the tube in half and making a lid, but using a pretty pot like that is a splendid idea. A small silicone spatula does a great job of getting the very last of the tube contents :-)
DeleteYour pesto looks fabulous, I shall remember that next time I have tired lettuce, x
That pesto was great, one of the best I've made for a long time. 😀
DeleteThe green pasta looks very green!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how much of creams, etc., are left in the container when the pump dispenser stops working, isn't it? I, too, stand the bottle upside down to get the last little bit (or cut open tubes, etc.)
I hadn't realised that the pasta in the big jar and in use at the moment was also green, it's a good job greens are good for us. :-)
DeleteImagine how many people just throw bottles and tubes away when they can no longer squeeze anything out ... exactly what the manufacturers want us to do!
I'm sure I have already mentioned AbScent to you, the website which gives advice for those of us with parosmia. [Anosmia = no sense of smell, parosmia ≈ it comes and goes] After covid, I first realised mine was coming back occasionally when I washed my hands at my brother's house, and was excited to find that I could smell the liquid soap [Method, pink grapefruit] I think the steamy atmosphere of the shower helps the process too. 👃😀
ReplyDeleteYou have, a couple of times and I have gone through all the proper steps three times now to no avail. I occasionally get a whiff of perfume if someone passes me, but it is so fleeting and if I make an effort to sniff them more (yes, weird I know) I cannot smell anything at all. I can't smell the shower gel at all, but I do get the menthol clarity for a few moments. I can sniff and sniff at essential oils and just end up with a burnt nose lining. It's very frustrating as I used to have a very heightened sense of smell. :-(
DeleteI've switched to Aveeno as one of the few brands that home oxygen users can have. I'll remember that tip. It's quite expensive so it would be very annoying not to use it all.
ReplyDeleteIt is a brilliant brand, I didn't know that about it being one of the few that home oxygen users can have. I was involved in the marketing trials of it via my old blog. It was very good to use way back then. I only buy it when it's on offer these days, as like you say it's quite expensive.
DeleteThat's a lot of hand cream left in the bottle. I try to get every last bit out of my tubes and bottles but I wonder how many bottles get thrown away with so much left in them....
ReplyDeleteIt must be awful still having no sense of smell, Sue, I do hope that you can recover it sometime soon.
Angie x
It would be nice to get my sense of smell back for sure, it's been a long time now. I bet a lot of 'product' ends up in the plastic recycling centres. The manufacturers are very clever using mostly non-see through tubes and bottles.
DeleteHi Sue, I always enjoy your blog. I'd like to ask, where did you get those lovely wooden lids for your Gu pots? I have a few saved, but no lids! Many thanks, Lizzie in Wales.
ReplyDeleteThe wooden lids are from Amazon, and the plastic ones are off Pringle tubes. 😀
DeleteI always get the absolute dregs out of everything! Norrie will say the toothpaste is finished and gets a new tube-I then cut the old open and use it for two or three days at least until it is finished! I bought some Cornish Seaweed shampoo on special offer and it’s the first shampoo I have been able to smell since I had Covid last year. Catriona
ReplyDeleteI'm trying all the strong scents I can remember liking, anything to get my sense of smell back. It's amazing how much toothpaste is left in the tube when it's 'empty'. :-)
DeleteGood job getting the cream out. I do the same. I have to agree that Aveeno is really good. I always use their moisturizing bath body wash in the shower. Funnily enough, I found a tube of one of their skin cream products at Boots on one of my trips over the Pond that they don't seem to sell in the US (same for a toothpaste I buy over there), so it is on my (ever growing) list of items for me to pick up when I come over next week. Always pack an extra folding bag to bring back my goodies. :)
ReplyDeleteI bet it's lovely to shop for all your old favourites when you visit. :-)
DeleteVery green!! My mum had no sense of smell at all - it went following a bout of rheumatic fever she had as a child and never returned. How sad not to be able to smell anything, flowers or food especially. I must have missed you saying your sense of smell had disappeared. My hayfever, which always starts early, has been worse this year than last. xx
ReplyDeleteI lost it after I had covid on our holiday a couple of years ago. I think I'm allergic to Spain, every time I go I come back ill. 🫤
DeleteI lost my sense of smell for many many months - worked out it was stress that had caused it with me. I couldn't smell TCP, mint, curry - nothing. Whatever I tried didn't help. With hayfever, and you blowing your nose so much I assume, that won't help the nose lining. My asthma nurse years ago told me to start taking my antihistamines a month before I normally got hayfever, and I still do that.
ReplyDeleteYour pasta couldn't be any greener if it tried! Well done for using up the limp lettuce rather than chucking it.
Nope I can't smell anything. Strong things burn my nose, but I can't smell them. I can 'sense' garlic the day after I eat it, which always seems a bit weird!!
DeleteI do exactly the same with getting every little drop out of a tube, jar etc. Even the Heinz salad cream is turned upside down and then I have a rubber thin spatula I use around the sides😁 My sense of smell isn't that great but it's always been the case. Fingers crossed you sense of smell will return🤞
ReplyDeleteOh yes, everything is squeezed out, tipped out or inverted here. As it's just me, I use my little finger to get every last bit from round the neck of an inverted bottle. 😄
DeleteNow I am going to have to search out some small pots and give this a try. Love how much you got from your pump bottle. I do hope you get your sense of smell back very soon.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I'm not expecting it to, it's been a couple of years now since I had Covid. 🫤
DeleteBrilliant idea for pesto, thank you so much. xx
ReplyDeleteIt was a good one for sure. 😀
DeleteI hope your sense of smell eventually returns. I love the little pots and your idea for pesto. Aveeno has been a help to me in the past.
ReplyDelete