End ant invasions pronto with Talon gel

I have found a truly fantastic product which gets rid of ants like no other pest treatment I've ever seen. Upon my recent invasion of ants, the faithful old borax and sugar mix was barely making a dent in their numbers. I couldn't use my own kitchen bench, guests were commenting and while I hate killing anything, it was driving the whole family crazy.  Thank goodness for Talon Ant killer gel! It works immediately (I saw ants leaving food and running to this gel), they swarmed it and as the product promises, they are gone in 48 hours. I can leave food out on the bench now and there are none to be seen. The gel works for 14 days, but at $8 for 5ml, it is totally worth it!

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!

Free on-line classes for computer skills

Save hundreds of dollars on learning computer skills with Hewlett Packard. Their website (www.hp.com) offers free online classes. Become proficient in Microsoft Word or Excel, take better photos and learn heaps of craft ideas to use them with. There are assignments at the end of each part of the course and a short quiz. There is also a message board to leave messages for the instructor and see how others are finding the course or even share ideas. There are two lessons available per week and you receive an email to let you know when each lesson is ready. You even get to print a certificate at the end, stating you have completed the course.

There are various courses available - some for small businesses and others for hobbies such as scrapbooking. Another bonus is you can print each page of the lessons as you go and keep them for future reference. Similar privately run courses or through WEA can cost a minimum of $100!

Make your own chicken nuggets

Follow Jamie Oliver's example and make your own chicken nuggets - it's healthier and cheaper! We used to buy the cheap brands of chicken nuggets but after realising how much of their content was fat/skin/fillers and other unmentionables, we switched to only buying breast nuggets or pieces. However, this soon proved really expensive and they often still have fillers. So I came up with a better way and found this home-made version is much tastier too!

Buy chicken breast fillets or tenderloins on special - I usually get them for between $9 and $10 a kilo. If using breast fillets, slice them into smaller and thinner pieces. Remove the tenderloin as one piece, then fillet the chicken into similar sized bits. Dip them in melted butter, then roll in breadcrumbs (press on firmly). I often use hot and spicy breadcrumbs, or stuffing mixes to add more flavour to the crumbs, but you can just use leftover stale bread crumbed in the food processor and save even more money! Layer the chicken in baking paper, then cover in plastic and freeze until frozen. Remove and separate into ziplock bags or suitable storage container.

When ready to cook, place in preheated oven and bake at approximately 200°C for half an hour, depending on the size of the pieces. Small boxes of prepared commercial fillet pieces/tenderloins cost approximately $7.00 for as little as 400g. In comparison, a one-kilo batch for $10 makes at least three times that amount - and without any junk fillers, additives and skin!