Homemade Laundry Detergent (Bulk Recipe)

Making my own laundry soap has been one of the biggest money saving moves I've ever made. After seeing how long it has lasted & how well it works, I bout kick myself at how long I've gone without doing this. So for my family of 5, this recipe has lasted us for little over 6 months. I've not changed or reduced the amount of detergent I use in any way to make this supply last longer, so the savings are even more awesome.  This recipe is adapted from a recipe I found online. I scoured the internet to find a powder recipe because frankly I really didn't want to deal with liquid detergent, and a dump & mix way of making the detergent is much more my style.

What you'll need:  (Double click on the photos to see a close up view)

6 Bars Fels Naptha Soap
1 3lbs. Box Washing Soda (approx. 6 cups)
1 4 lbs. Box Borax (approx. 9 cups)
6 cups Baking Soda
Lg. Food Processor with a grating disk and a chopping blade. or a simple Cheese Grater (not pictured)
Lg. sealable storage container approx. 2 gallons.

*All ingredients can be easily found in the laundry section of your grocery store. If you can't find the Fels Naptha they sell them online @Amazon or use your favorite bar soap like Ivory. Fels Naptha is specifically a laundry soap that targets stains.

1. Cut the bars of soap into smaller bars so they'll fit through the feeder tube of your food processor.
If you don't have a machine, a simple cheese grater will work just fine.

2. Grate your bars of soap. I used my grater attachment for this step.

The grater will produce shaved pieces.
3. Using your blade attachment, process the soap to a finer consistency.

This is how the soap will look like after using the blade attachment.
The hard part is done...now on to the dumping...

4. Dump all the ingredients into your sealable storage container.
(An empty 3 gallon plastic icecream container would work very well, you know those tubs you buy from Sam's or Costco)

 I only had to measure out the Baking Soda because I bought a bulk package size from Sam's Club.

5. MIX

6. Clean...I only needed a damp rag to clean off my machine.

The machine parts went into the dishwasher.

The amount I use for a normal wash is a little under 1/4 cup. For a really stinky or soiled load I use a heaping spoonful.

 I have no idea how many loads I have washed in the past six months to compare with store bought detergent, but I know I spent roughly $15.00 for all my ingredients. I think it's just ridiculous not to at least try making & using it. It is hypoallergenic. I've used this laundry detergent on the baby's clothes since my baby was born (has cleaned baby stains well), and on a child who has eczema. If the grating is just not for you, try using the mix (without the soap) to extend your store bought powder laundry detergent. All those ingredients are already in the pre made stuff anyway & will serve to boost the cleaning power of your detergent.

Let me know what y'all think.

Fresh from the garden: Chicken Salad Recipe

 

I love chicken salad on a soft buttery roll. It's so easy to make & it's one of those recipes that allow you to substitute a few of the ingredients with what you have on hand and the outcome will be delicious every time. To me, Chicken Salad is like Fried Rice, it helps you use up what you already have. Basically my chicken salad consists of chicken, a crunchy vegetable, a sweet fruit, nuts, and binding like mayo.
For the chicken I prefer using boneless skinless chicken breast, coated in olive oil, & house seasoning, then grilled. It depends on my mood how fine I want my chicken meat cut up, some days I like it diced into little squares, on other days I like it very finely chopped. You can achieve the finely chopped in a food processor but it's just as easy to do with a very sharp knife. I prefer to just use a knife, but you really have to have a good sharp knife. I'll list the ingredients I used today & in parentheses the substitutes I use on occasion.


Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast: Finely Chopped or (Small Diced)
Crunchy Vegetable: Sweet Banana Pepper or (Celery, Any color Bell Pepper, cucumber, jicama)
Sweet Fruit: Dried Cranberries or (fresh grapes, raisins, fresh apples, dried apricots, mango, nectarine)
Nuts: Slivered Almonds or (chopped walnuts, macadamia nuts, pecan, pine nuts, or sunflower seeds)
Binding: Mayonnaise or (miracle whip dressing, ranch dressing, plain yogurt)
House seasoning to taste or (salt & pepper)

Mix it all up & assemble sandwich...I used thinly sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and some basil leaves from the garden to finish off my sandwich. The basil really made this sandwich pop. Ate it up with some of the blueberries we picked last week. 

Fresh from the garden: Summer Italian Bread Salad

What a wonderfully refreshing salad this is and I got to use fresh from the garden ingredients. I used my friends at a small group meeting as my guinea pigs. They certainly didn't mind since the salad turned out to be very delicious. It was such a big hit with the ladies, I suggested that my husband take the salad for lunch the next day. Instructed him how to assemble it & when he got home he gave it rave reviews. So of course I couldn't wait to repeat the salad. Our tomatoes from the garden aren't ripe yet so this morning we bought some home grown tomatoes from the local farmer's market. Made this for lunch and served it with panko coated talapia. I hope you try this recipe out, you will love it.

 Summer Italian Bread Salad

I wish you could smell the basil.

Serves 4
Prep time: 10 min.     Ready in: 30 min.
Ingredients
    •    1 (1 pound) loaf Italian bread
    •    1 cup chopped tomatoes
    •    1 cup cucumber - peeled, seeded and chopped
    •    1/2 cup chopped red onion (can use regular white onion)
    •    1 clove garlic, minced
    •    2 cups chopped fresh basil
    •    1/8 cup chopped fresh thyme
    •    1/4 cup olive oil
    •    2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or balsamic vinegar)
    •    1/2 cup shredded or cubed mozzarella cheese (optional)
    •    Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

    1.    Pull apart or chop the bread into bite-size pieces. Coat in olive oil. Toast in oven.

   2.    In the prepared salad bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, garlic, basil and thyme.  

    3.    Add olive oil and vinegar to lightly coat, toss refrigerate for 30min.

    4.    Pour salad over bread cubes when ready to serve, let sit for a minute or so.

    5.    Top with cheese, mix, and serve.

Manicotti Roll-Ups/ Improvising in the Kitchen

Manicotti Roll-Ups

by Evangeline Bungie Andrews on Friday, December 4, 2009 at 2:06am

Didn't have Manicotti Noodles so instead I rolled up some Lasagna noodles...here's a pic of how I did it...

Just finished prepping dinner. Will be serving this with salad & Garlic cheese bread...

here's the recipe if ya'll need a dinner idea...
Manicotti Recipe