Home-Made Powdered Laundry Detergent

Making laundry detergent is something I've been interested in since we made our move in August.  Money is tight and this is a good way to cut costs.  I also like the idea of making my own cleaning products because I can avoid fillers and, in some cases, leave the nasty chemicals out.  Originally, I made a liquid version I found a recipe for made of blue dawn, borax, and washing soda because it was a small batch recipe.  I don't have the space for the usual huge batch and I generally prefer liquid soap.  The recipe was highly recommended but it wasn't working for me.  The borax and washing soda also began to crystal-ize within a day or two.  Reluctantly I began to search for a small-batch DRY detergent.  I ended up combining a few recipes and this stuff is awesome!  I have never been so excited about laundry detergent.  My whites, which have been getting dingier and dingier in our sad, community, quarter-operated washer with our sad laundry detergent, came out of their first wash bright white!  Seriously, this stuff is working miracles for me so I want to share it!

Home-Made Powdered Laundry Detergent:

• 1 bar Fels Napth soap, grated finely (this soap is pretty soft and easy to grate)
• 2 cups Borax
• 2 cups Washing Soda
• 1/2 cup Baking Soda
• 1 cup Oxyclean
• 2 capfuls Purex Scented Laundry Crystals (this is optional, but it really adds great scent)

Combine all ingredients well.  Use 2-3 tablespoons in a load of wash. (I just use the cap that came with the Purex bottle.)

I found all of these products in the laundry isle of my supermarket.  The detergent took about 10 minutes to make, including grating the Fels Naptha.  It's quick, it's easy and smells great!

Gratitude

So I realize that I haven't posted anything since June and have probably lost interest in most, if not all, of my few followers.  I guess I better explain why.

As I stated in previous posts, we spent most of the summer in Arkansas and Louisiana.  We did our time out there then headed home in the beginning of July, only to move a month later.  It was such a huge move for us that we pretty much started over from scratch, selling, lending out/storing, or giving away most of what we had.  The baby's crib plus two boxes were shipped to our new address.  The only other belongings we brought were our 2 pieces of luggage each plus carry-on.  Saying we were overwhelmed when we arrived would be a definite understatement.  Although everything that could go wrong did, we had so many answers to prayers.  Since it is November I will go ahead and list them as my "Daily November Gratitudes" and add more things I feel blessed about.

1. Finally getting an apartment 5 days before moving out here.

2. James and Jamal, who are other students in the PhD program, for going to apartment showings for us, having never met us before.

3. Jamal for picking us up from the airport.

4. Jamal for driving us to the rental car place once we picked up the apartment keys from the landlord.

5.  For Darren making an accidental phone call to James, when he meant to call Jamal, who got us in touch with a couple in his ward who had a futon to give away.

6. Brett and Heidi, who were on vacation, letting us go into their house to get the futon while they weren't there.

7. Their friend who met us there to convince the landlord to let us in.

8. For this futon that we hate so much and slept on for two weeks and are still using as our couch.  No matter how much we hate you, you were a life saver because we would have been sleeping on the hard, laminate floor without any blankets our first night here without you.  

9.  Finding a good running car for the right price.

10. Finally getting everything taken care of at the DMV after about 5 visits.

11. Judge for excusing the ticket Darren received because our tags weren't up to date because of DMV issues.

12.  Brother-in-law Chad for going online and setting up our car insurance because our internet wasn't hooked up yet.

13.  Finding free dining chairs and an inexpensive table on craigslist.

14. Our first friends out here Heidi and Greg

15.  All the friends we've made since.  We have an awesome social life and haven't been this cool since we got married :)

16. Getting to pick out a perfect mattress and finding it for a great price at Costco.

17. My calling Young Womens.  I love the women I get to hang out with dearly and am really enjoying working with the girls on their person progress.

18. Rarely having a weekend with no plans with friends.

19.  Going to my Tuesday night sewing class with Haley.  She is one of the greatest people I have met and am so glad she liked me enough to invite me to go with her.

20.  Baby girl has many cute friends in the ward that she loves to play with.

21.  She gets to go to nursery now and loves it!

22.  Darren works so hard at school and does everything he can to make sure we have a wonderful life to enjoy now and even more to look forward too.

23.  Living in such a beautiful place.

24.  Getting to go to the beach almost as much as we want.

25.  Little miss 18 month old takes naps and goes to bed for the night so easily, usually with no crying at all.

26.  Getting any sleep at all with sharing our room with our 18 month old because we only have one bedroom.

27.  Desire and willpower to exercise consistently for the first time in my life.  Usually I get excited for about a week then quit.  My husband is my inspiration because the stronger he gets, I want my body to match.

28.  My beautiful, happy, smart, strong-willed, tender, sweet, energetic, loving baby girl that I get to hone, love and protect.

29.  Living far from my parents, I feel that I appreciate all they have done and do for me/us more.  I only wish I was better at showing my gratitude for them.

30.  The sweet songs my girl sings at home, while sitting in the shopping cart, in the car, anywhere and everywhere.  She knows Elmo's World, Elmo's got the Moves, "Arthur" theme song, Popcorn Popping, Twinkle Little Star, ABC's, Book of Mormon Stories, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, Patty-cake, Hello! Hello!, the Ants Go Marching, and many more.

31.  My in-laws for accepting in to their family almost 4 years ago with open arms and for making sure I know that they love me.

32.  My amazingly hot husband, who knows how to make me happy in every way.  He is so kind and never selfish.  I can't imagine my life without him, and I'm so glad we met when we did.  I wasn't planning on getting engaged at 19 and married at 20, but baby I'm so glad we did!

33.  For the complete strangers who walk up to us in public to talk to little miss and tell me how cute and beautiful and good-natured she is.  I know she is but it's always great to know that other people think the same thing.

34.  The new camera we were able to get from our reward points when our old one started dying.

35.  Staying 100% debt free all through undergrad.

36. Finally getting out of this creative rut!  You can definitely expect more from me in the "nearish" future as I have a couple projects planned though not started.

There are many more things that I haven't listed but I can only recall so many things in one sitting.  I'm so grateful for the beginning of the holiday season.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Skillet Enchiladas

The majority of my time in Arkansas was dreaming about coming to Louisiana where I was promised a hotel with a kitchen.  Seriously, having no kitchen and nothing to do was really wearing on me.  While telling my husband how the first thing I wanted to make was enchiladas because it seemed impossible to find good Mexican food in southern Arkansas, he responded that he didn't think the hotels would have ovens.  Whaaa?  My heart completely sank.  Not just for the enchiladas but I was planning on baking to fill up this boring unproductive time in the hotel while he works.  Fortunately, I've found ways to adapt and use the stove more than I was planning.  Still craving good Mexican food, I created skillet enchiladas, made completely on the stove top.  It turned out great and I think it's a great way to make enchiladas for a couple people without having to heat up the oven.  

Lucky for me, the night I figured out a way for this to work, I had leftovers from tacos I made the night before.  The ingredients don't matter so much with this as it is more about the technique, but I used green enchilada sauce, refried beans, ground beef, Spanish rice, flour tortillas, salsa, and cheese.

 I found that the key to doing this was having all the ingredients warm in the first place.  Whether you are using leftovers or starting new, make sure all the ingredients going on the inside the enchilada are heated through.

 I even warmed the enchiladas up for a few seconds in the microwave.

 Put a layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan.  Do not turn on the pan yet or you probably end up burning the bottom of the enchiladas.

 Smear more sauce onto a tortilla then add your fillings down the middle.

 Roll up the tortilla then place it in the pan, seam-side down.

 Once you have filled your pan, evenly poor more sauce over the enchiladas.  I ended up having about a half a can left.  Cover the pan and turn on the heat to medium.  There is no real science to this but you do have to time it right so the whole thing is heated through but the bottom isn't burned.  You just want to keep it on until the centered is heated through.  This shouldn't take long because everything should be warm before going in.  For me, this took about 10 minutes.

 At this point I covered with cheese and and salsa.  The bottom of my enchiladas were a little brown but far from burned, and my husband thought that was the best part.

 I paired up this husband-sized portion with some salad and peas.  Yum!

Chicken with Creamy French Onion and Mushroom Gravy

I developed this recipe by trying to figure out what to do with a box of dry onion soup mix that I bought, for some reason, when we first got into Arkansas.  There is really no reason why I should have bought it.  I try to avoid using powdered mixes when I feel like I can achieve the flavor on my own using natural ingredients.  So for this recipe, if you want to use this mix for your French onion soup that isn't full of artificial ingredients or extremely high in sodium, I strongly encourage it!

The first thing you need to do is dissolve the onion soup mix in 2 cups of hot water.  Let it sit until needed.  Take 3-4 chicken breast halves and brown the outside in as little oil as you can get away with.  At this point, the chicken will not be cooked through but remove it anyway and set aside.

With about another tablespoon of oil and add 1/4 cup of chopped onion and 1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms.  Cook until the onions have softened and the mushrooms have started to brown and caramelize.

Carefully add the dissolved soup mixture to the pan, holding back some of the dry onions with a spoon.  Bring the soup back up to a high simmer.  Continue to simmer for 2-3 minutes to reduce a little.  Add the chicken and turn down to Medium.  Once there is less of a simmer, cover and let the chicken cook for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is completely cooked, stirring occasionally and turning chicken halfway through.

Remove the chicken once again and add 1/2 cup of milk.  Bring the pan back up to a simmer, careful to avoid boiling because that will cause the milk to curdle. Let it simmer and reduce some more for a couple minutes.(Because I have a child who insists on hanging on my legs and whining anytime I'm in the kitchen, my came to a rolling boil before I got to it...  Good thing my husband doesn't know the difference!)  Remove from heat and stir in 1/4-1/2cup of sour cream.  This is needed to mellow out the strong onion soup mix so use as much as you need.  Add the chicken back in again and let it rest for about 5 minutes to thicken.

I served my chicken with mashed potatoes and ladled some gravy over both.  Rice instead of potatoes would also go well with this dish.

Notes:

Definitely taste the sauce to make sure it isn't too strong for your taste.  Add more sour cream if it is too strong.  

Because I didn't add any thickeners this gravy is pretty thin.  If you prefer a thicker gravy you can thicken the same you would thicken any other gravy.  

If you choose to make your own dry onion mix, you may need to salt the chicken and other as you go as it will probably be pretty mild.

Recipe:

• 1 dry French onion soup mix packet (or 2-3 T. of your own mix)
• 2 cups hot water
• 3-4 chicken breast halves
• oil as needed
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup of milk

1. Dissolve the onion soup mix in 2 cups of hot water.  Let it sit until needed.  
2. Take the chicken breast halves and brown the outside in as little oil as you can get away with.  Remove it and set aside.
3. Add more oil to the pan if needed.   Add chopped onion and sliced mushrooms.  Cook until the onions have softened and the mushrooms have started to brown and caramelize.
4. Carefully add the dissolved soup mixture to the pan, holding back some of the dry onions with a spoon.  Bring the soup back up to a high simmer.  Continue to simmer for 2-3 minutes to reduce a little.  Add the chicken and turn down to Medium.  Cover and let the chicken cook for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is completely cooked, stirring occasionally and turning chicken halfway through.
5. Remove the chicken once again and add the milk.  Bring the pan back up to a simmer. Let it simmer and reduce for a couple minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in 1/4-1/2cup of sour cream.  Add the chicken back in again and let it rest for about 5 minutes.
6. Serve with potatoes or rice.

First Birthday Luau

As I mentioned in my last post, we celebrated my daughter's first birthday party a little early so we could have a party with family and friends before coming out here to Arkansas.  We decided a luau would be cute and with the help of Pinterest, the party turned out great!  Because Pinterest was such a big help, I'll be linking you to the blogs to which these original ideas belong.

Here are a few pictures of the decor:

Balloon Streamers

I really didn't want to give my baby a sugary cake topped off with sugary frosting.  This is an applesauce-sweetened cake with whipped up cream cheese with maybe a tablespoon of powdered sugar for the frosting.  The flowers are actually made out of fruit rolls!



Apple Spice Cake
Fruit Roll Cake Flowers



Here are some pictures of the party girl:

 

YUM!



We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner and they were delicious!

After dinner we sang to the princess and let her eat the cake.  I took the flowers off the cake but some of it glued itself on and wouldn't come off.



After picking at it for a minute she dug right in!  She didn't even know the difference without the sugar.

Summer Plans

It has been way too long since I have posted anything but I have many good excuses.  Really, I do!  I went through a pretty tough bout of mono... actually still going through it but life goes on.  My husband came down with it before I did but was diagnosed with strep throat (no throat culture was done).  When I came down with it we rushed to urgent care because it was a Sunday morning.  I tested negative for strep but because my husband "had it" the doctor said the test he did was wrong 20% of the time and it looked like strep to him.  He wrote me a prescription for some strong antibiotics and sent me home.  (I say wrote me a prescription and sent me home like he did it in a timely manner... ha!)  My husband at this point was pretty much back to himself after only having it for a week, but for some reason mine wasn't going away.  I finally made an appointment with my doctor after about 2 weeks of pain.  She asked me a few questions then told me she thought I had mono so she sent me into the lab for a blood test for mono to which I tested positive.  At this point I was a little stressed out because of all we had going on (which I will dive into later), and I was worried because we had a 10 month old baby girl.  After much googling, I found that the younger you are the less mono affects you.  Some children can have it with no symptoms while others will seem a little tired with maybe a runny nose.  With that information I decided that our Little Miss most likely had it first and gave it to us because about a week before my husband came down with it  she had been a bit cranky and sleeping for a good 12-13 hours at night.  She also had a runny nose.  So there we have it.  I still have no idea why my husband was able to get through the mono so fast and I still am dealing with it.

Not long before this whole mono thing happened, my husband was accepted into graduate school to obtain his PhD in psychology!  He was accepted very early in the process, before most students even get interviewed.  It is very nice knowing that he is already so valued by the professor he will be working under.  He has worked so hard to be qualified to work with this man in his field of study.  With this acceptance comes a HUGE move for us.  Although I'm not comfortable making our location known on here, I'm talking we can't take very much with us.  We have already had three garage sales, sold things off craigslist, and given stuff to family.  We still are trying figure out what else we can leave behind.

We are currently in Arkansas where my husband has joined a team doing sales for this summer, hoping to make up for the lack of income we will be experiencing very soon when we move.  I am fine giving up this location because it is so short term.  By this weekend we should be heading to Louisiana for the team to finish up the summer!  We will be leaving early in July so we can tie up loose ends before the big move.  But right now I am living it up, exploring this part of the country I have never been, and making good memories with these cuties!

My baby girl turned one out here in Arkansas!  I was in a frenzy before we left to get her birthday party planned and done before we came out here.  It was a big success and I will be posting about it soon!

A Healthy Snack -- Strawberry and Feta

Doesn't that look delicious?  This is a really easy and quick snack that is healthy and satisfying.  Just cut up a few strawberries and crumble some feta cheese on top!  It amazes me how something so simple can be so delicious.  The strawberries and feta provide a salty/sweet combo that I LOVE.

If you are trying to control your portions, here is the "recipe":

• 3-8 strawberries, depending on the size (about a 1/2 cup)
• 1 square inch chunk feta

Do you want to know the best part?  That's ONLY about 70 calories!  Plus a lots of vitamin C and some protein.  

Spicy Strawberry Boneless Wings

I hope everyone had fun watching the big game this weekend!  My family got together and we had a TON of food that probably could have fed the neighbors.  All of it was good but I must say that my boneless "wings" were a hit.  

Disclaimer #1:  This recipe is an adaptation of two recipes that I combined and added my own flare to from allrecipes.com.  

Disclaimer #2:  I usually try to cook healthy, nutritious meals... but we all deserve a little indulgence every once in a while right? 

The chicken:

• 1 bag frozen chicken tenderloins (thawed, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces) -- this is a PARTY sized recipe

For the sauce:

• 3/4 cup strawberry jam (no chunks)
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 2-3 pinches red pepper flakes (could certainly be left out if you don't want them to be spicy)

Put all of the above in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Keep it for a rolling boil for a minute or two until it becomes the consistency of a thin syrup.  You can set this aside while you cook the chicken or make it ahead of time and reheat it prior to coating the chicken.

For the batter:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp. cayenne (optional)
• 3/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk

Combine all the dry ingredients in a shallow dish.  In a separate dish, whisk the egg then stir in the milk. 

Fill a large frying pan with vegetable or canola oil about one inch deep.  Prepare a baking sheet lined with a couple layers of paper towel.  Once the oil is hot, dredge the chicken in the egg mixture then the flour mixture two times.  You want the breading to be nice and thick.  CAREFULLY place the chicken in the hot oil, flipping after about 3 minutes.  Once all sides are golden brown, transfer the the lined baking  sheet.  Because there is so much chicken you will have to fry it in batches.  A deep fryer would work excellently too.  

In batches again, fill a gallon sized plastic-zip bag with the chicken and pour in some sauce and gently shake it up until all pieces are coated.  Enjoy!

Grocery Sack Holder

A couple months ago I had a very stinky problem in my daughter's room.  I cloth diaper my baby girl, which is great, and I certainly wouldn't do it any other way, but it does cause a slight complication in the poop arena.  Luckily, there is a wonderful thing called a diaper liner.  This magical invention is placed between the diaper and the cute baby tush to catch the "yuckies".  You can either flush the liner and its contents or toss it in the trash.  I don't really trust the plumbing in our old house so that leaves to tossing the liner.  This is where the stinky problem lies.  I always have tons of grocery sacks lying so this provides an opportunity to reuse them, but its certainly not safe to have plastic sacks floating around in a baby's room.  This is where my project began.  Keep in mind that I didn't really measure anything, I just worked with what I had.

You will need:

• A rectangle piece of fabric (whatever size you want--this will depend on how big you would like it)
• Ribbon (cut a couple inches longer than the length of the rectangle)
• 1/4" elastic (cut AFTER sewn in)

Along the length of the rectangle that you want to be the top, lay your ribbon down so you can fold the edge of fabric over and it will extend past the ribbon.  This should allow room for the ribbon (which will act as a drawstring) and a decent amount of seam allowance.  Mark the fabric so you know where to pull the edge to.  Oh and raw edges of fabric don't matter on this one :)

Pull the edge over to the pencil marking and sew, making sure their is enough space for the ribbon.

Once sewn, thread the ribbon through the "sleeve" you created.  My ribbon was pretty stiff and easy to pull through.  You can also attach a safety pin to the end of the ribbon and guide it through the sleeve.  Or you can use the technique I used in the next step.

Do the same on the opposite edge of fabric using the elastic instead of the ribbon (remember to not cut the elastic yet).  This time pin the fabric into place with elastic still there.

When sewing, make sure not to sew over the elastic.

This is where the gathering is created.  Sew one edge of the elastic in place.  Once secure, pull the elastic to the tightness you want, gathering the fabric along with it.  Pin and sew that edge of the elastic.  Now you can cut the elastic.

Pin the raw edges together.  Tuck in the edges around the ribbon.  Once that is done, sew the edge but be sure not to sew over the ribbon.

Once that's done you have a grocery sack holder, wasn't that easy?

Just stuff and pull the drawstring shut.  I hung mine on the wall above my daughter's changing table.

**Just a safety note:  If you are using this in an application like mine, make sure the bag is out of your child's reach.