How to get rid of ants

Just saw this on Facebook and had to share with everyone who visits my blog and this also ensures I don't lose the info. :)

This is a LOW COST method to get rid of ANTS once and for all.
Instructions:
~One Cup Sugar
~THREE Tablespoons Boric Acid or Borax Laundry Soap
~THREE Cups of Warm Water

Mix the Sugar and Boric Acid together and slowly add the warm water, stirring all the time so the mixture will not get lumpy. Store is in a sealed jar and whenever you see ants simply take a used soda bottle or milk jug lid. Put a cotton ball in the lid and saturate the cotton ball with your sugar and boric acid mixture. It will not take much, just enough to fill the lid, if you spill any over the edge leave it, this will only attract the ants even more.

When you see the ants drinking the mixture, DO NOT kill them, let them drink and take the mixture back to the colony. This should kill the entire colony. In a day or two the entire colony should be gone. If you have small children or pets make certain they cannot get to this mixture since Boric Acid is hazardous.

Here is another solution, that doesn't involve any hazardous products:

1 empty water bottle
(Cut it down to about 2" tall)
5 Tbsp of baking soda
5 Tbsp of powdered sugar
3 Tbsp of water.

The very best way of eliminating ants is truly simple:

Take a small amount of powdered sugar (also called icing sugar) and mix it with an equal amount of baking soda (formally called sodium bicarbonate) and water.
Powdered sugar is essential. You cannot use the larger grains of sugar for this..

Mix the two powders together and then place small amounts against the walls or other areas where you would not normally walk but where you would normally see the ants.

The ants will be attracted to the sugar and will eat some of it and collect more to take home to feed others, so all of them will get their share.

The sugar and baking soda powders are similar in size and, once mixed together, the ants cannot separate the two items, so, as they eat the sugar, they will also ingest the baking soda, which they would otherwise never touch. This is the reason for using powdered sugar.

Once the ants eat the baking soda it will react with the formic acid in their stomachs and cause gas. The bodies of ants are unlike humans and they cannot eliminate gas so it will build up inside and eliminate them.

Ham Omelette

Ingredients:

4 eggs
8 egg whites
60 ml (1/4 cup) 1% milk
2 ml (1/2 tsp) curry or paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
20 ml (1/4 tsp) olive or canola oil
175 ml (3/4 cup) diced ham
125 ml (1/2 cup) finely chopped tomatoes
60 ml (1/4 cup) finaly chopped green onions

Instructions:

1. Whisk eggs and egg whites until fluffy, add milk, curry, salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat 5 ml (1 tsp.) Oil. Pour a quarter of the egg mixture and cook over medium heat, shaking the pan until the eggs are slightly firm.

2. Sprinkle with 30 ml (2 tbsp.) Ham, 30 ml (2 tbsp.) Tomatoes and 15 ml (1 tbsp.) Green onions. Remove from heat. With a fork, lift up one third of the omelet and fold toward the center, tilt the pan and flip the omelette on a plate. Repeat for the other three omelettes.

Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Portions: 4
Recipe from IGA (Canadian grocery chain)

Zucchini Parmesan Crisps

Great recipe found on Facebook today, must try this very soon, sounds so yummy.

Ingredients:

1 lb. zucchini or squash (about 2 medium-sized)
1/4 cup shredded parmesan (heaping)
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs (heaping)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground pepper, to taste

Instructions:


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with foil and spray lightly with vegetable spray. 

Slice zucchini or squash into 1/4 inch-thick rounds. Toss rounds with oil, coating well.

In a wide bowl or plate, combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan, salt and pepper.

Place rounds in Parmesan-breadcrumb mixture, coating both sides of each round, pressing to adhere. The mixture will not completely cover each round, but provides a light coating on each side.

Place rounds in a single layer on baking sheets. Sprinkle any remaining breadcrumb mixture over the rounds.

Bake for about 22 to 27 minutes, until golden brown. (There is no need to flip them during baking -- they crisp up on both sides as is.)


Adapted from Ellie Krieger's recipe in The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1600850219/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1600850219&linkCode=as2&tag=blackjackbake-20

Because I follow a Weight Watchers diet, I inputted the ingredients into their recipe builder to find out the point value. Assuming this is a recipe for 4 servings, the WW Plus Point value per serving would be 4.

Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients:

3 zucchinis
1/2 large onion, chopped fine
1 Tbsp butter
5 - 6 slices crispy bacon, chopped
1 Tbsp sour cream
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp curry powder
1 roma tomato, seeded and chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
fresh cracked black pepper

(you can also make these vegetarian and take the bacon out or use a meat sub. or replace with some olives or any other veggie)

Give the zucchini a quick wash for good measure. Slice in half lengthwise. Leave the ends on to keep the filling in. Scoop out the flesh with a melon baller or a spoon. Leave a ledge of zucchini around the edges. For the life of me, I couldn't make straight lines. That's okay. They were still delicious. Arrange the zucchini boats in a baking dish. Chop the zucchini flesh as small as you like.

Finely chop half a sweet onion. Chop up some good smokey bacon. You could leave this out for a vegetarian side dish (maybe add some chopped mushrooms?)... but my family goes through quite a lot bacon, so it's going in! Add the curry powder... cook until desired doneness of onions and remove from heat. To the zucchini flesh, add sour cream. (How can this be bad?). Rough chop some fresh thyme leaves. Mix onion and bacon mixture with other ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Stir in the tomatoes. Seed them or else there may be too much moisture in the filling. You don't really want the filling to be all runny when you cut into it. Refill the zucchini shells with the filling mixture.

Grate some good aged Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on top and sprinkle with fresh cracked black pepper. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes. Of course you know me. I'm gonna grate even more cheese on them again... Smokiness from the bacon. Salty from the Parmesan cheese. Soft and buttery zucchini. Mmmm....

Homemade Mosquito Trap

It's been a while since I posted anything on here and I just came across a great idea on Facebook, which I hope really works. Summer will be upon us soon (I hope) and as we all know, mosquitoes are as pesky as ever and hard to get away from them. So I hope this tip will work for everyone.

Modern technology has brought us many benefits, including mosquito traps that cost hundreds of dollars, but sometimes we overlook simple solutions to difficult challenges such as mosquito control. When it comes to controlling pests, research tends to focus on chemicals or concepts that can be patented. Unless someone can make a profit from an idea, the public may never become aware of it.

HOMEMADE MOSQUITO TRAP:

Items needed:

200 ml water
50 grams of brown sugar
1 gram of yeast
2-liter plastic bottle

Or US conversion:
1 cup of water
1/4 cup of brown sugar
For the yeast, the exact US mesasurement is a hard one to figure as it turns out to be 1/32 oz
As for the 2 liter bottle, that equals to 67 US fl. oz. or 70 Imperial oz.

HOW:
1. Cut the plastic bottle in half.
2. Mix brown sugar with hot water. Let cool. When cold, pour in the bottom half of the bottle.
3. Add the yeast. No need to mix. It creates carbon dioxide, which attracts mosquitoes.
4. Place the funnel part, upside down, into the other half of the bottle, taping them together if desired.
5. Wrap the bottle with something black, leaving the top uncovered, and place it outside in an area away from your normal gathering area. (Mosquitoes are also drawn to the color black.)

Change the solution every 2 weeks for continuous control.