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Friday, October 28, 2011

Homemade Laundry Detergent!

I have heard of this on various blogs for a long time, but was always skeptical about trying it.  Well a mood hit and I decided, What's to lose? $4-$5?  I'll give it a shot, If anything Ill just use it on towels or throw it out if its a miss.  Ive only done 2 loads of laundry so far, but so far so good!  Actually, Great!
  The first load I did the yuckiest load I have, the nasty kitchen washcloths and whatnot.
I used the liquid detergent , about 1 cup.  Plus one scoop of Sun Oxycleaner (I always use this on the really dirty stuff).  We typically use powdered Arm and Hammer or Surf, or Liquid Free and Clear Detergents.  I really do think this homemade detergent came out cleaner.  Sometimes the really nasty loads just dont come out as fresh after one load as I would like , but with this detergent every washcloth (yes, I smelled each one, hehe), came out smelling fresh.  I also did not use fabric softener or dryer sheets, and everything came out nice and soft.

I would love to find a recipe I can use on our diapers, however , I will NOT advise you use this on your diapers, simply because it could void the manufacturers warranty.

Here's what I used for the Liquid Detergent (I also made some powdered, its below)  -

LIQUID DETERGENT

I only made half of a batch of liquid, it made over 2 gallons.

1/2  bar of Fels Naptha soap, grated  ( I found mine at Walmart, Kroger also had it , in Knoxville. I've read that you can use Zote also if Fels Naptha isnt available locally.  It's .97 at walmart.  Its found in the laundry aisle)
1/2 c washing soda  (not baking soda, this is also in the laundry aisle, was about $2.20 at walmart)
1/2 c 20 Mule Team Borax   (also found in the laundry aisle, I already had some, but its usually $2-$3)
Optional:
I also added 3 scoops of Sun Oxyxleaner (walmart, $1.97), and a cap and a half of Downy Unstopables.  This did cause my detergent to separate quite a bit and required more mixing, so you may opt to just add them on there own to each wash.  However, 2-3 shakes of each bottle mixes the detergent back up so it isnt a problem.


I grated the Fels Naptha, Then added it to a quart of water on the stove, over medium high heat.
Stir until the soap heats and completely dissolves.
Then add your washing soda and borax, keep stirring until dissolved.
Add about 2 gallons of water (I used slightly less), and then you can add oxyxleaner(optional), stir until dissolved.

I poured the liquid back and forth between 2 containers, and then ladled it into containers to be sure the liquidy parts and foamy parts were evenly distributed. The picture below shows the containers mixed up, the solution will separate but will remix with a couple of shakes.

I used 1 cup for a Large, Heavily Soiled load, with hot water.



POWDERED DETERGENT

I only made 1/4 batch to try it out.
A regular sized batch uses:

1 bar of Fels Naptha, grated.
1 c washing soda
1c borax
( also add 3 scoops of Sun oxycleaner and a cap of Downy unstopables, although it isnt necessary)
Throw all ingredients into the blender, blend for a couple of minutes until powdery.


I used about a Tablespoon and a half for a Large load of lightly soiled clothes, in cold water.
And thats it.   I was more nervous about trying the powder, afraid that it wouldn't dissolve well in cold water washes, but I had no problems at all, the load came out just as well as with the liquid detergent.
From now on I will probably stick with the powder.  Although the liquid did make the entire house smell amazing!

Please Note, I found this recipe online, I have not used it long so I can not attest to how well it keeps, how it will effect all clothes, etc.

Have fun washing!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Blueberry and Farmer's Cheese Blintz

These are SO good!  It has been WAY too long since I have made crepes!  
   I'm going to show you how to make crepe's.  And although the finished product may seem complicated, they are extremely easy to make!
    Keep in mind that once you know how to make crepe's you can make many many kinds (nutella filled with strawberries being one of my favorites).
Ok, you will need:
1 c Flour
2 eggs
1/2 c milk
1/2 c water
2 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 tsp salt
(makes about 8 crepes)

Mix all of your liquid ingredients.  Add in the flour, mix until lumps are gone.  The important thing is the consistency, it shouldnt be extremely watery, but it does need to be thinner than pancake batter.





Heat a small pan over Med High heat, lightly grease with butter.

Pour in about 1/4 c of your batter.


 






Once the crepe becomes firm enough to pick up with tongs, turn it over.


After making each crepe, I quickly rinse the inside of the pan under cool water and wipe it out with a towel, then regrease with butter.  This seems to keep the pan from getting too hot, so every crepe turns out the same.
Finished product:

Now, to make the Cheese and Blueberry Blintz....

Cut slices of Farmers Cheese, and roll them into your crepe
Place in a baking dish, and bake at 325 for about 15 mins, or until the cheese has melted.
I used frozen blueberries, just pour sugar over them and microwave until bubbly and soft.  There's no need to add liquid, they will make their own syrup.
Voila!    Thanks for Looking!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Bumgenius 4.0 Review

Ok, its about time I review these!  I have to say starting off, that of all of the diapers I have tried I absolutely LOVE these!
The diapers in the pictures below have had over 6 months of use on one child and are washed every other day, so you can get an idea as to how they are holding up.
The only diaper I have used that is MORE absorbent is a prefold. My 14 month old is just now starting to need to double up on inserts at night.
These are by far the easiest to stuff, the pocket is nice and wide.
It's also very convenient that they come in snaps and aplix, we have an equal number of both.  I always send aplix with the grandparents. The snaps DO hold up better than the aplix tho, althought the aplix on the 4.0s is really good.  I do caution against buying seconds with aplix, I bought 2 solid colors in aplix that were seconds and they had 3.0 aplix and laundry tabs, which doesnt hold up nearly as well.
Sizing them up and down is a cinch since with the 3 rows of snaps on the front.
Ok, the pictures:

Here is the front and back of the Retail Therapy artist series print, in aplix, snapped to the smallest setting:


Here is the front , and the back (the one on the left snap closure, the right aplix)
The diaper with the 2 inserts that it comes with.  The larger insert is the one size microfiber insert, it snaps down to small medium and large settings.  The smaller insert is the newborn insert / doubler.  It isnt nearly as absorbent as the larger insert, but will work well as a doubler  :

Here is the 'pocket' where you stuff the insert. It is nice and wide, you could get a prefold in there if you tried. Note that it has 2 flaps, which have been amazing at keeping messy explosions from coming out!  You can also see how I have the tabs attached to the laundry tabs.


How the aplix is holding up after 6 months:

The diapers, from left to right, snapped in Large (butternut), Medium (jet setter) and Small (retail therapy) sizes

For comparison, the Bumgenius 4.0 (left) next to a Fuzzibunz One Size (right)  , the Fuzzibunz is trimmer through the middle, whereas the Bumgenius is wider, however this does allow you to stuff the Bumgenius easier.

Another comparison of Fuzzibunz OS (left) next to the Bumgenius 4.0 (right), both sized to a medium setting:

My 14 month old, almost 20 lbs, in the Bumgenius 4.0 (concrete jungle print)  :

At 7 months (in eiffel tower):
 At 11 months:

Mini Quiches for Kids Lunches

I threw this together today and they were so good I ended up having a couple too!

I used :
4 eggs
About 1 c milk
Whatever veggies you have on hand (I microwaved some broccoli and cauliflower), diced.
About 3/4 c cheese ( I used mozzarella because I had an opened package)
And whatever meat you have on hand (or none at all).  I used diced up hotdog this time, but any leftovers you might have from the night before would be great.  I bet it would be amazing with some leftover chicken!

Mix all of your ingredients in a bowl, add a touch of salt and pepper.  Grease 10 muffin cups with olive oil, use a measuring cup to pour the mixture into the cups.   Bake at 375 for about 20 mins, or until a knife comes out clean.
Yum!

House Buying = Nightmares.

The title pretty much explains our home buying process, but thanks to Tricia Andrews and Dianna Mubarak we are finally in our new home!

We have a lot we still need to do, but these are the current before and afters:

Living room before:



After :  (sorry, these are cell phone pics)

TV up: (wires still need covered)
And the hall bathroom before:
And after:

And get this, the 3rd bedroom was already this color, and we already had the bedding! 

We painted one bathroom, the living rooms and dining room, moved everything, unpacked and set everything up within 48 hours of closing and getting the keys.  Yes, yes we are insane.

Artisan bread in 5 minutes!

Ok, first of all, I must apologize for not keeping up with this as I had planned.  Its been a busy few months, we bought a house!  That will be a separate post tho, right now I have to share this.
 
   Wow!  How did I not know about this!?  I came across someone elses blog that mentioned this, and I looked up the website. This is amazing!

   It's a dough that takes less than 5 mins to make. You literally just mix your flour , yeast, salt and water in a big container. Let it rise. Then you have dough you can keep in the fridge up to 2 weeks!  It really rivals Panera, just a touch softer (which in my opinion is a good thing!).  I was skeptical to try it,  Bread that requires no work?  How good will that be?  Try it!
  We have so far made a loaf , and buns for hamburgers with it.

The recipe and instructions:
Artisan Bread in Five a Day

Here are my pictures.
The initial rise:

The loaf:

The rolls: