DIY Laundry Detergent

Wow, it seems like forever since I've posted on the blog.  It's been a rough road physically, but I'm ready to get back in to the swing of things.  One of the projects I've been dying to try out, is making my own home made laundry detergent.  You see it all over Pinterest and other blog sites and being that I'm all about saving pennies here and there, I thought well, why not, I'll give it a try.  So here it is:

Here are my ingredients:  Note that the Arm & Hammer is SUPER WASHING SODA and not your kitchen Baking soda.  

Measurements:

2 cups - Super Washing Soda

2 cups - Borax

2 cups - Zote Laundry Flakes

1/4 cup - Fragrance (optional)

1 Quart - Water plus additional

In a stock pot heat Washing Soda, Borax and Zote flakes, just until all ingredients have dissolved.  Do not allow ingredients to boil.

Once ingredients have dissolved, transfer contents in to a 5 gallon pail. It will look a bit chunky.

Fill the rest of the 5 gallon pail with water.

At this point, you have the option of adding additional fragrance.  Alone it smells like Ivory soap, which is nice too.  I added this as I like my laundry to have that fresh scent.  I added 1/4 cup of fragrance oil. (Sunwashed Linen).

I covered the 5 gallon pail and let it sit overnight.  The next morning, I checked it and it still looked a bit chunky so I used my stick blender and schzoozsh it around for a couple minutes until it was creamy and well incorporated (sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step)

VOILA!  Here it is.  I use the same amount I would normally use with regular detergents.  By the way, this works well in high efficiency machines as it isn't super sudsy.  I saved some old laundry detergent bottles and I've been filling as needed.  Of course, I had to experiment so I did a test with my son's socks.  Here are the results:

The sock on the right was washed in Gain with 1/2 cup of bleach.  The sock on the left was washed in the same amount of my DIY detergent and 1/2 cup of bleach.  I couldn't believe my eyeballs!

So here's the cost breakdown for ya:

Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

$3.59

Zote Laundry Flakes

$3.79

Borax

$3.89

TOTAL SUPPLIES:

$11.27

I use 4 oz (1/2 cup) of detergent per load.  The 5 gallons of laundry detergent I made will give me 160 loads.  I didn't use all my supplies, I could easily make about 15 gallons of laundry detergent for $11.27.  So if I broke it down even further this detergent only cost me $1.33 per gallon!  Isn't that insane?

Broccoli Salad

My high school friend Andrea invited our family over to watch some college football this past weekend and hang out with some other families.   They made some great kabobs and everyone brought a side dish to share.  One of the families brought a delicious Broccoli Salad..  Now, for those who know me, I can't stand to smell broccoli much less eat it.  But let me tell you, this salad was fantastic.  So thanks for the inspiration Melinda, here is my spin on Broccoli Salad.


INGREDIENTS:

2 heads of Broccoli
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 strips of cooked bacon cut into bite sized pieces
1 bottle of Sweet Vidalia Onion Salad Dressing ( I used Ken's brand)

Wash broccoli, chop into bite sized pieces and place in a large bowl.  Add carrots, cheese and bacon.  Pour entire bottle of Sweet Vidalia Onion salad dressing in bowl and toss into your broccoli.  Place in a covered tupperware in the fridge until ready to serve.  I would let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours so that the dressing can marry with the veggies, so this is a definite "do ahead" dish. :)

Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping

INGREDIENTS
4 cups sweet potato, cubed

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick of butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup cream or half and half

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

 1/4 cup orange juice

 PECAN TOPPING                   

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees . Put sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash. (note:  you can certainly use canned sweet potatoes for this recipe as well)               
2. In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, maple syrup, eggs, salt, pumpkin pie spice, butter, cream, orange juice, brown sugar and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.

Pumpkin Cake with Pecan Glaze

Good Morning!  Well, weather has been a little chilly here in Florida... a crisp 70 degrees brrr..... lol....  Last night I made this AMAZING pumpkin cake and to make it even better, it was the easiest cake I've ever made!  You use a regular box cake mix and add a few special touches to it and voila!  It came out super moist and not overly sweet.  It's a winner for the family.

Pumpkin Cake with Pecan Glaze

For the Cake:
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
1 tbsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 Box Yellow Cake Mix

For the Glaze:
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup chopped pecans
3 tblsp of Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla

For this recipe, you will be using all the normal ingredients you would use in making your box cake, with the addition of the canned pumpkin and spices. 

Empty the contents of the boxed cake mix and it's ingredients along with pumpkin puree into a large bowl.  Using a hand-mixer or stand mixer beat until well incorporated. The batter will be very thick, but will come together nicely.

Pour batter into a greased 7 x 11 X 2 pan.  Bake at 375 degrees for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not over bake.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan, then flip onto a platter.

Make the glaze while you're waiting.

Combine powdered sugar, vanilla, milk,  and  pumpkin pie spice.  Whisk until combined.  Glaze should be thick but pourable. Add more sugar or milk if needed. Add chopped pecans.  Pour over the cake while still warm. Reserve some to pour over each slice when served.

Serve warm or room temperature. 
 

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Mark and the kids are chocolate milk obsessed but these days, chocolate syrup can cost up to $4.00 or more.  So I found a recipe by Baby Good Buys and made it today.  Let me tell you......................... this is DELISH!  I find that it's better than the store bought version, it's half the price to make and it doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup.  You're family is gonna LOVE you.  This can also be drizzled on cakes, ice cream, anything you would normally drizzle syrup on.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup Recipe

Makes about 16 ounces (2 cups)
Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Dash salt

Directions:

• Use a big saucepan – at least 2 quarts. This will expand when boiling, and overflows will make a big mess on your stovetop!
• Combine the cocoa powder, water, sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Mix with a whisk until smooth.
• Stir constantly with a whisk or a wooden spoon until it boils.
• Allow it to boil for 3-5 minutes.
• Remove from heat.
• Allow to cool.
• Add vanilla.
• Syrup will be very thin/watery. Allow to cool completely and it will thicken to about the same consistency as store bought syrup.

Store the syrup in a mason jar or any other container. It will keep for several weeks in the fridge.

Note: I added a tablespoon per cup of milk to make chocolate milk. As with the brand-name chocolate syrup, you can experiment with the proportions to get the taste you’re looking for.

Made these wall letters for my great nephew Isaac. These are wooden letters decorated with printed scrap paper using mod podge technique.  I painted each letter with a coordinating color, then I traced each letter on the plain side of the scrap paper, cut them out carefully, then with mod podge, I used a sponge brush and brushed 2 coats of mod podge letting each coat dry in between.

Mai Tai Tiki Popscicles (Adult Version)

With summer upon us, and especially with the heat here in Florida, a refreshing homemade popscicle sure makes for a great snack.    I made these for Father's Day and the Adults loved them.   I altered the original recipe somewhat to accomodate what I had on hand and they came out great!  This recipe can certainly be done without the liquor in it and would taste just as delicious.  Keep in mind, too much liquor in these popscicles will not allow the liquid to freeze so it's best to just stick with the bare minimum on these.  The picture that I took of them, didn't actually turn out with my cheesy camera, so I took used the stock photo of them.  They came out really cute!!!

MAI TAI TIKI POPSCICLES

Coconut Colada Layer

1 container Fat Free piña colada or Key lime pie yogurt

1/4 cup canned coconut milk, well stirred (not cream of coconut)
1 teaspoon coconut rum

Mango Mai Tai Layer

1 cup frozen mango cubed

3 tablespoons sugar
¾ cup mango nectar, chilled
4 tablespoons coconut rum
1 tablespoon Orange Liquor
1 tablespoon Amaretto liquor
1  tablespoons fresh lime juice

Step One

In small bowl, beat coconut colada layer ingredients with whisk until smooth. Divide mixture among eight 3-oz paper cups. Cover with foil; insert craft stick (flat wooden stick with round ends) through foil into center of pop. Freeze 2 to 3 hours or until frozen.

Step Two

Meanwhile, in blender, place mango mai tai layer ingredients. Cover; blend on medium speed about 45 seconds, stopping frequently to scrape sides, until smooth. Cover and refrigerate while waiting for first layer to freeze.

Step Three

When first layer is frozen, remove foil from pops. Pour mango mixture over frozen layer. Return foil to pops to help support sticks. Freeze about 8 hours or until frozen before serving. Store remaining pops covered in freezer.