DIY: Fabric Softener

You can't have homemade laundry soap without homemade fabric softener, can you? I don't think so.

I found this recipe through Pinterest - thanks to Kat's Custom Kreations for the ratios I used below.

Three ingredients are all you need:

• 8 ounces Hair Conditioner (Cost = $0.40 since I found V05 on super sale at Wal-Mart)
• 12 ounces White Vinegar (Cost = $0.24)
• 24 ounces hot water (No Cost, since we have well water)

In a large mixing bowl, combine the hot water and conditioner. It will be foamy.

Add the vinegar and stir until combined. 

That's it. You end up with 44 ounces of fabric softener.

The total cost is $0.64. Each load of laundry uses 2 ounces of the liquid. This means the total cost per load is around $0.03. !!!

I haven't bought liquid fabric softener in a long time, but the last time I did, I bought Gain. Right now, you can get a 51 ounce bottle of Gain at Wal-Mart for $4.47. The bottle says it has enough for 60 loads. Using that as the calculation, that comes out to $0.08 a load. That is a $0.05 savings per load - might not seem like a lot, but I'll take what I can get.

I put it in a Downy ball, but you can also add it to your fabric softener compartment, if you have one on your washer.

As for the smell, it is lovely while in the bottle, but it does not leave much of a smell on the clothes. It does, however, make clothes incredibly soft, due to the vinegar.

Stuffed Baked Tomatoes

This isn't really a recipe, as much as it is a "Hey, you should try this!" idea. I made Baked Shrimp and Grits a few nights ago. The recipe made a 9x13 pan of cheese grits, which is a lot, even for a transplanted Southern girl like me.

I decided that instead of just heating up the grits and enjoying their cheesy goodness, I should turn them into something even better. And this...this, my friends, is the way to go.

Basically, you take some cheese grits (mine already had a lot of spices added, including Louisiana Hot Sauce) and mix in some green onions, plus a little more black pepper and garlic. Then, you hollow out some tomatoes - bonus points if they are homegrown, because that just adds to the awesomeness of the dish. Mix the tomato guts with the grits mixture.

Stuff those pretty red guys with the cheesy grits mixture and bake them in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. The grits get all melty and the tomato flavor becomes intensified. You could probably sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top toward the end of the baking time, if you wanted to go a little nuts. I am adding this to my regular rotation of recipes to impress guests, because they look fancy, but are so easy to make.

DIY: Laundry Soap

Being unemployed surprisingly has its perks. One of those is having the time to do the things I've always said I wanted to do. An example is making my own household cleaners. I hate using chemicals to clean for a few reasons. I have a very sensitive nose, so even the smallest amount of bleach can send me running for the Kleenex. Also, we live in a cabin in the woods, and we have well water - anything that gets put into our sinks or toilets or bathtubs or washer basically goes right back into our water supply. The more I can do to reduce the amount of chemicals we are exposed to, the better.

The first DIY cleaner I wanted to make was laundry soap. I normally buy the dye-free, scent-free version of whatever brand is on sale, so I wanted to stick pretty close to that. I put an all-call out on Facebook to my other DIY-ing friends, to see if anyone had made laundry soap and what kind of bar soap they had used.

My friend Marissa, domestic goddess and all-around amazing person, gave me her recipe for powdered laundry soap. It even included a cost breakdown, comparing the homemade version to Tide. In her recipe, she uses OxyClean and Purex Crystals. Since I wanted to stay as close to scent free as possible, I left those two ingredients out. Here's what I used to make the powdered goodness:

• 38 ounces of Borax (Cost = $1.52)
• 27.5 ounces of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (Cost = $1.65)
• 32 ounces of Baking Soda (Cost = $1.28)
• 2.75 ounces of Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar, grated ($0.50)

(Note: Since this was my first batch of soap, I didn't want to commit to a full recipe, so I halved Marissa's original ingredients. All measurements above are half of the regular size boxes/bar and all were purchased at Wal-Mart.)

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Store in a lidded container.

The total cost of a half batch is $4.95. Each load of laundry uses 1 ounce (2 Tablespoons) of the powder. This equals a cost of $0.05 per load. According to Marissa's calculations, the average cost of one load of laundry done using Tide is $0.27 per load. Granted, there are only two people in my house, but I do a LOT of laundry. At a $0.22 per load savings, I think I'll continue to make my own soap.

I've already done about 6 loads using this mixture and I like it. A lot. The clothes smell clean and they look clean, too.

One word of warning: if in your brain, Soap Suds = Clean, you need to know that this mixture does not make any suds. Let me assure you, this is OK. Seriously.

ETA: Marissa wanted me to point out that the original recipe for this soap comes from http://www.howdoesshe.com/cheaper-and-better-diy-laundry-detergent/. Give credit where credit is due. :-)

Dehydrator Madness: Dried Cantaloupe

I have been so blessed this summer with fruit and vegetables from local farms that have an overabundance that they just can't sell. Blueberries, grapes, cucumbers, watermelon and cantaloupe.

 

 

I hate to see food go to waste, especially when the food is as ripe and sweet as these cantaloupes were. I turned one of them into popsicles (are you noticing a trend?), but wasn't sure what to do with the second.

 

 

Enter the Food Dehydrator.

 

Dried Cantaloupe? Would it work? Would it just shrivel up and be totally gross? It was worth giving it a try. I sliced the melon into 1/4" thick slices and placed them on the dehydrator trays.

 

 

 

I set the dehydrator at 135 degrees and let it go for 8 hours. The result?

 

 

 

It is very similar to dried mango, but with a slightly earthier flavor. It would make an excellent addition to trail mix, and also to the Hurricane Kit, but to be honest, I haven't eaten much of it on its own. This is one of those foods that I could see making again if I had too many cantaloupes and no desire to eat them right away.

 



 



 



Cucumber Lime Mint Popsicles

It is officially summertime. You can tell, because every single day this week, it has rained. And not just rained, but dumped buckets on our yard. This generally lasts for about 10 minutes and then, back to that famous Florida sunshine. That's the thing about Florida in the summertime - if you don't like the weather, just wait 10 minutes and it will change.

In addition to the daily rainstorms, it has also been hot. Sweltering is probably a better way to describe it, actually. Temperatures in the 90s, sometimes breaking 100, are not unusual, but combined with the humidity, it makes for a steamy atmosphere. Steamy, not in a sexy way, but in a shirt stuck to your back, hair the size of a Texas beauty queen, kind of way.

When it gets like this, there is only one thing to do: Make popsicles. I've gone through a popsicle making phase over the past few weeks, combining mostly traditional ingredients like fruit, yogurt, and simple syrup, but I wanted something different.

Cucumber Water has always been something that in my head, I know I love, but I never actually make it at home. We had an over abundance of cucumbers, thanks to a farmer friend with a bumper crop. With those cucumbers, we made pickles until the entire house, and my skin, smelled like pickle juice for days. I infused some vodka with cucumbers. And of course, we ate cucumbers sprinkled with sea salt and pepper for lunch and dinner, and sometimes breakfast.

In the haze of the heat, I became obsessed with the idea of making popsicles out of cucumbers. The idea to just shove a stick up the end of a peeled cucumber and pop it into the freezer might have crossed my mind, but I wanted other flavors in there, too. I know that Cucumber Mint salad can be simply heavenly, and I know that when you combine mint and lime, you basically get a Mojito. So I put all three into a blender and the result: refreshing, light, crisp. Lovely.

Cucumber Mint Lime Popsicles
Ingredients:

• 2 Cup diced cucumber (approx. 3 small cucumbers, that have been peeled and seeded)
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (one medium lime)
• 3/4 Cup Mint Syrup - recipe below

Place all ingredients in to a blender. Puree until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds. Let freeze for 1 hour, then insert popsicle sticks. Continue to freeze for an additional 3 - 4 hours.

Yield: 6 Popsicles

Mint Syrup
Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Water
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tbsp. fresh Mint Leaves, roughly chopped

Combine water and sugar in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat, until sugar dissolves. Add chopped mint leaves and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Set aside to cool.

Before adding syrup to the blender, strain to remove mint leaves.

Just a Nice Saturday

Things that did not go according to plan on this, the last Saturday of June:

• We did not make it to the Watermelon Festival, since there was a crazy thunder and lightning storm going on this morning.
• I did not get to sleep in, not even a little bit, since Nubbins has decided that she absolutely must knead my head and hair by 5:00 am each morning. Thanks, Nubbins.
• I broke our Sun Tea jar, because sometimes, I don't think before I act. A little tip for you: If you have a jar full of hot water and tea bags in the sink, don't pour a pan full of room temperature water into that sink. The result: a sad, sad cracking noise and the need for a new tea jar.
• The living room didn't get cleaned, even though we have company coming tomorrow and they will be sleeping on the pull out couch. Not sure when that's going to happen, since I'm going to church tomorrow morning for the first time in a really long time AND we're heading to Mom's house to help clean out the garage in the afternoon. We might need to get the air mattress out, just in case we don't get around to cleaning.

In spite of everything above, today was a really good day. We went to the Dollar General and attempted to "super coupon" our way through the store. We succeeded in getting a really good deal on shampoo and conditioner (with 2 free samples of moisturizer/styling cream as a bonus) and on cat food, but not much else. I am proud of myself, though, because the girl ringing us up had trouble get the coupons to scan. There were people in line behind me, and in the past, I would have just said "Nevermind, don't bother with the coupons" because I wouldn't want to keep anyone waiting or annoy the cashier or the people behind me. The thing is, we are really trying to live on less right now, and I'm not going to let a little register issue be the cause of more stress for me.

This doesn't seem like much of a revelation if you don't know me, but I am generally a people pleaser and hate to inconvenience anyone. And to a point, I still am - but for something that normally would have sent me into a shame spiral (I can't believe I am waiting in line and making a big deal over a $1 off coupon!), I think I handled the situation very well.

After our shopping trip, we had our Cowboy Shooting friends Hollifer A. Dollar and Kay Sadeeya over for lunch and a Crafty Girls' Day/Wii Shooting Games Guys' Day. This afternoon was planned because Kay liked a picture on Facebook of these fancy-schmancy high heels that were super sparkly and covered with rhinestones. They looked something like this:



I said, "Those look easy! Let's make some!!" So, we did. Here's what mine look like:



A bit more understated than the ones that inspired our craft day, but I love them. I guess it's time to finally learn to walk in high heels, huh?

Blueberry Yogurt Pops

Three ingredients, one blender, 6 popsicle molds, and a freezer. That's all it takes to make these and they are so refreshing and light, especially on a hot Florida summer day.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Plain Greek Yogurt
• 1 Cup Blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 2 Tbsp. Honey

Place all ingredients in a blender and puree. I used the "Smoothie" button on my blender and it blended perfectly.

Pour into popsicle molds. Let freeze for about an hour and then insert popsicle sticks (or in my case, lollipop sticks) into each popsicle. Continue to freeze until firm, for about 4 - 6 hours.

Yield: 6 - 8 popsicles.