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We’ve had great weather here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary in recent days and nothing goes better with blue skies and sunshine than an ice lolly.
These 5 minute healthy homemade ice lollies are a great way to save money and sneak fresh fruit and yoghurt into children. They are so quick and delicious they will never reach for sugary shop purchased ice pops, ever again.
To make these ice lollies you will need an ice lolly mould. There are lots of moulds available occassionally to buy in local supermarkets, but the ones used in our picture are the sturdy Nuby/Nuk Mini Fruitsicle Moulds, available to buy online HERE.
Ingredients:
Strawberries.
Glenisk strawberry yoghurt with no added sugar.
Method:
For the strawberry lollies, simply wash, hull and then mash the strawberries and pour into your mould. Then place into your freezer for a couple of hours, until frozen solid.
For yoghurt lollies, chop up a strawberry into small chunks. Stir the strawberry chunks through the youghurt, pour into your mould and freeze for a couple of hours until frozen solid.
Once ready, remove the lollies from their moulds and leave them for a few minutes to thaw slightly so they aren’t too cold. Alternatively, you can rinse the lolly quickly with water to defrost slightly, before serving.
Other Fruit Lolly Flavours:
You can experiment to make lots of other fruit flavours, including orange, mango, kiwi, watermelon, blueberries and pineapple.
As above, for other fruit lollies, simply wash, mash, pour and freeze, but depending on the fruit you may need to add some water.
For other yoghurt flavored ice lollies make sure to select a yoghurt and fruit that complement each other.
  
Ingredients:
5 large free range eggs.
120 ml milk.
50g grated cheddar cheese.
Salt and pepper to season.
Once you’ve assembled these ingredients, it’s time to add a combination of about 200-250g of any of the following, depending on your taste or what you have loitering in your fridge:-
Grilled or fried rashers
Cooked ham.
Sautéed onion, mushrooms or peppers.
Tomato.
Cooked Spinach.
Cooked broccoli.
Cooked potato.
Spring onion.
Other cooked vegetables.
Herbs.
Method:
Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4.
Chop and prepare any ingredients that need to be cooked beforehand e.g. onions, bacon, mushrooms, peppers etc.
Grease or line a suitable oven proof dish with baking parchment.
Whisk the eggs and milk together.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Pour the mixture into the dish.
Sprinkle cheese.
Scatter your other ingredients over the surface.
Cook in the oven for 30–35 minutes or until contents are set, golden on top and cooked throughout.
Then enjoy hot or cold with a nice bread and some salad.
With ‘Bread & Salad’ same meal can easily satisfy up to 4 healthy appetites.
With Easter eggs so plentiful and cheap to buy and kids getting so many, you’d be forgiven for looking for an alternative to the chocolate egg gift. This year in particular, with everyone continuing to work together to reduce the spread of Covid-19, many of us will be sending Easter gifts by post rather than in person.
For very young children lots of chocolate isn’t always suitable and a toy gift may be preferable. With all these reasons in mind, here are some suggestions for alternative Easter gifts to the traditional chocolate egg.
A Soft Toy
For little ones at Easter, a cuddly soft toy is a great gift and local newsagents typically stock Easter bunnies and chicks at this time of year, from as little as €5.00. If you are looking for something extra special however, take a look at these two bunnies. The Melissa & Doug Jumbo Burrow Bunny is an adorably plush soft toy that you can’t help but cuddle. At 21 inches in height it understandably retails for €49.99. (Click HERE).
Equally adorable is “Flora” the interactive bunny by GUND. Retailing at €36.99, it’s now available to buy in Ireland. (Click HERE).
The Blue Bunny Hopper.
This simple toy has been enjoyed for generations and helps children to develop their coordination skills. The Blue Bunny Hopper retails at €6.99 and is available to buy online. (Click HERE).
Slime Eggs.
Kids love slime and these inexpensive toys come in options that appeal to boys and girls. For boys “Treasure X Alien Eggs” retail at €5.99 and combine goo with alien surprises (Click HERE).
For girls check out the “Compound Kings Mix and Mash Mystery Egg Surprise”. Retailing at €14.99 the set contains 30 eggs, 30 slimes and surprise charms (Click HERE).
Board Games.
Encourage some Easter family fun with “Lucky Ducks”. Children as young as three will love this game of memory match as they watch little ducks swim around the pond. “Lucky Ducks” costs €7.99. (Click HERE).
Hatchimal CollEGGtibles.
Another egg shaped toy that packs lots of surprises is the Hatchimal CollEGGtibles range with CollEGGtible toys from as little as €5.99. (Click HERE and HERE).
A Book or Book Token.
(Click HERE)
Do remember to shop local when you can.
For more chocolate gift alternatives, visit HERE to order your toys and gifts from Stakelum Office Supplies, located at Parnell St. and Rossa St. Thurles, Co. Tipperary. [Tel: (0504) 21888].
Here at Thurles.info we’re in no doubt that Thurles homes are among the cleanest in the County, given the positive email response to our recent Spring Cleaning Tips and Hacks article.
For all our readers aiming to have their homes shining by the end of the season, here are four miracle products which help greatly with your spring clean.
Vinegar
Anyone who lives in Thurles has had to deal with the problem of limescale built up on showers, taps and basins. It’s like scrubbing rock!
One of the most effective limescale removers, thankfully, is the everyday ordinary white vinegar sitting in your kitchen cupboard.
Spray or soak the area covered in limescale with vinegar, leave it for about 20 minutes and the limescale should more easily scrub away. Beware however, Vinegar isn’t safe to use on all surfaces because of its acidity, so be careful to check that it doesn’t damage certain surfaces.
Another great cleaning hack with Vinegar is the dreaded black burnt pot. Yes, it happens to everyone. You get distracted from your cooking and suddenly where once stood a delicious pot of food now lurks a burnt smell and a black pot end.
It can take hours and cycles of scrubbing and soaking to fix the problem. Indeed many a pot has found itself on the scrap heap after burnt on food.
Next time this happens don’t throw out your pot or spend hours scrubbing. Pour on some vinegar and leave it overnight. In the morning the vinegar will have descaled the pot and the black burnt-on mess will simply wipe away.
The Pink Stuff.
Next time you see this little tub on the shelves of your local supermarket pick it up. Using 99% natural ingredients, it’s advertised as a miracle cleaning paste and it really is. Great for cleaning the oven, hobs and pretty much anything you put it to work on.
The Magic Eraser
One other item you should pop into your shopping trolley next time you are in the supermarket, is the Magic Eraser. Every cleaning press should stock a few Magic Erasers. They are sure to solve some of your tougher cleaning problems. Magic erasers are great for removing biro off walls, restoring grubby trainers to white, cleaning car rims and removing scuffs and dirt from skirting boards and plastic.
Happy Spring Cleaning, but remember, before using any cleaning product, do wear protective gloves and be sure the product is safe to use on your various surfaces. Store all cleaning products out of reach of children.
When we’re all at home during lockdown, many of us are taking this opportunity to finally tackle those household spaces that are in desperate need of tidying up. When it comes to spring cleaning, projects typically involve a bit of washing, decluttering and reorganizing.
To this end, here are some top tips and links for spring cleaning that are sure to help you save space and freshen up areas in your home.
Tips for a Full Household Spring Clean
If you are determined to scrub the house from top to toe as part of a lockdown spring clean, then check out the YouTube video above for great cleaning life hacks featuring Mrs Hinch and Lynsey Queen of Clean. They’ll show you how to freshen up grubby doors with fabric softener, refresh a smelly mattresses with bicarbonate of soda and keep your toothbrush free from toilet germs. For more household cleaning hacks from Mrs Lynch visit her YouTube and Instagram account or Click HERE.
For more cleaning tips from Lynsey Queen of Clean visit her blog by clicking HERE.
Organise Your Fridge and Freezer
We all agree that it’s important to keep our fridge and freezer clean to avoid bad smells and maintain good food hygiene. It’s also important however, to keep your fridge and freezer organised. Why? A well organised fridge and freezer is important because it actually saves you money. How many of us end up throwing out food and wasting money because we forgot about an item we couldn’t see tucked behind the milk and cheese?
For top tips on keeping a clean, organised and economical fridge and freezer, follow these links and watch organization guru Justine Pattinson advise on containers, hygiene and space.
Click HERE and HERE
Organise Your Clothes
When it comes to organizing drawers and wardrobes of clothes, it’s all about folding and the folding guru is Marie Kondo, a professional organizer from Japan who has revolutionized the way millions of people declutter and organise their homes all over the world through her website (konmari.com), books and a series on Netflix.
To master the Marie Kondo method of folding clothes to save space, Click HERE.
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