Soap!

 
  For a few years now, I've been wanting to make my own soap but been busy with the whole baby thing.  I finally found some time to make it, and to my surprise, it is quiet easy.  Yes, there is a chemical involved that will eat your skin (why I haven't done it with little ones around), and yes, there is math involved.  But, the end result is so exciting. 
  I've made 2 batches the past 2 nights.  One batch was soap bars, and the other was shampoo bars.  I plan on making a third batch next week, laundry soap to make detergent out of of.  (I would make it tonight, but we're having a party tomorrow.  I need to do some hosting work)  I'm making so much right now because it has to cure for a month before it can be used, and we move in three months.  I want to make sure I have plenty of everything and cured before we move.  I also want to use up all the lye (the nasty chemical) before we move.  I would have made a 4th batch of castile soap (100% olive oil), but that will have to wait.
 
  Here's the breakdown of cost for the soap (4 oz bars):
    Bath soap--$1.79 a bar
    Shampoo bar--$2.17 a bar
    Laundry soap--21 cents  a bar  (this will drop my detergent cost to about a penny a load)

  If you were to buy these online or in some frilly store (I used good stuff to make these):
    Bath soap--$4-7 a bar
   Shampoo bar--$4-10 a bar
   Laundry soap--97 cents to $1.50

 So, there you go.  I've been up super late the past few nights making soap, looking online for recipes, and doing calculations.  I've even worn my lab coat and safety goggles.  I guess soap will fill my lab need until I can go back to work. ;)

Cereal Bars! Kinda

  My girls love cereal bars.  Many mornings the 1st thing out of Allison's mouth is, "E bar."  Sometimes I give in and other days I don't.  Have you ever looked at the ingredients?  They are aweful, so I definitely wanted to try a healthier version.  I found a recipe online for cereal bar cookies.  I thought this would be good b/c they would be smaller and hopefully not as messy.  Wrong, but they are so good.  They are about the size of muffin.

Some did leak everywhere.

But most of them stayed intact.

  These are definitely healthier b/c A. I can read the ingredients and B. They are made out of oatmeal and whole wheat flour.  Next time I'm going to add some flax meal to them.  There is brown sugar and butter also, but at least my body knows how to digest that stuff properly.  It's basically a muffin made out of struesel topping and has jelly in the middle.  I think I will keep  making these b/c they are easy, but definitely not as neat and car friendly as I was hoping.  Oh well, good thing I'm trying to get in the habit of vacuuming the van once a week.

Busy in the Kitchen

I'm on another "homemade" kick in the kitchen. In a way, it's out of pure laziness oddly enough. I hate shopping of any kind. Unfortunately that includes grocery shopping, and I like to cook and Brandon likes to eats. Therefore I have to go quite often. I make a monthly food menu (its different every month bc again we like food), so I make huge shopping trips 2 or 3 times a month and then supplement trips during the week. Anyway, I kept forgetting to get Goldfish crackers and animal crackers, staples in toddler world. Therefore I made my own out if the desperate cries for crackers and cookies.
Both were super easy to make. The crackers only required 4 ingredients and animal crackers required 8. Both done in the food processor. The cheese crackers are good, but I'm not a cheese fan. Allison and Brandon love them even though they are not as crisp. The animal crackers are pretty darn good and close to the store bought ones.
A few other things I've made are larabars, kefir, and banana pops. The larabars are great a cheap alternative to the store bought one and refined sugar free. Dates are used as a sweetener. I used unsweetened chocolate in mine, and you cannot tell the difference.
Kefir is easy but time consuming but the health benefits are worth it. And I banana pops bc I had many ripe bananas to deal with. I used Wilton candy melts, and the chocolate hardened immediately.
Here is also a picture of the wedding cake for the few people who view this and not on FB. See, I've been busy.

Pop! Goes the Popcorn

No breaking news here, but I made popcorn over the stove today. I found a 2 pound bag of popcorn kernels at the Commissary today for $1.49 and thought, "Why not! If nothing else, I can make noise makers out of them.". Well, it worked great. A 1/3 cup popped about 5 cups of popcorn. There were no burnt kernels or anything. I guess I have good shaking skills. This will save us lots of money bc Allison wants to eat popcorn everyday, and now this is a cheaper and healthier way. Next time I'll have some melted butter on hand for my bowl.

Getting Nutty!

  A few weeks ago Allison started eating almonds and really enjoying them, so I stocked up on them and decided to experiment with them.  I made almond butter, extract, and milk.  The butter turned out well, and everyone enjoyed it (I made cashew butter tonight).  The extract has a few more weeks before I'll know how it turned out.  The milk, well, I won't be making that again.
  Here's how to make the butter:

Add 8-10 oz nuts in food processor

Turn processor on and scrape sides as needed.

 Run processor until smooth.  May take anywhere from a few minutes up to 15 mins.

 Final product!



  Here's the extract:

  Just add 6 almonds to 8 oz vodka or rum, store in a dark place, and wait 6 weeks.  That simple!

And the milk...

  I'm not wasting people's time by posting pictures.  You basically soak almonds for 12 hours, grind them up in the blender with water, strain through cheesecloth, then blend again with vanilla bean and dates.  For all the work, it only makes about 10 oz of milk.  Super easy to make but not worth my time.  I'll just buy almond milk on sale with coupons.

In 7 Minutes or Less

  Yesterday I had 7 minutes to spare.  Mary-Kate was napping, and Allison was content eating a snack at the table (very rare).  I decided to do a few things that I've been wanting to try for awhile.  I decided to make body scrub and blowing bubbles.
  The body scrub:
       1 Cup sugar
       Slightly more than a 1/3 Cup olive oil
      10-15 drop essential oil
    Mix all ingredients and store in a jar.
  The results were great!  I made 2 kinds, lavendar for nighttime and orange mint for morning.  My skin is so soft.  I will definitely be making this for gifts.  I just need to learn to make cute labels.

  Blowing bubbles:
    3/4 Cup water
    1/4 Cup Dish soap
    1/2 Tbs glycerin or corn syrup
   Mix ingredients and leave in an open container (left mine in the mixing cup) overnight.  It was super windy today, and the bubbles worked great.  The glycerin made the bubbles super strong and wind resistant.  Once we get done with the gallon of milk in the fridge, I'll be making a gallon of the solution to have on hand.  Plus, I'm trying to use the dish soap so that I can make my own dish soap. 
  There you have it, you can make simple things in very little time.  The only reason I know how long it took was because I was talking to my husband on the phone while doing all of it. :)

Bottomless Vanilla Extract!

  I bake a lot and use a lot of vanilla, so I was so excited to find this in the Farm Store the other day.  It's so easy that I might make into gifts someday.  It's a recipe for bottomless vanilla extract.  It takes a month for the extract to be ready, but it's worth it to have extra for years.  Here are the easy steps:
  1. Get a 10-12 oz bottle that seals tightly (I think a mason jar will work fine)
  2. Split 3 vanilla beans and then cut them in cross sections
  3.  Place beans into bottle
  4.  Fill bottle with light rum
  5.  Close bottle and shake
  6. Store bottle in a dark place
  7.  Shake bottle occasionally for 4 weeks
  8.  As you use the extract, replace volume with the rum.

Here is a picture of my extract just a 2 days after I started the process:

The Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth

  One I like is great teeth.  Seriously.  Back when Brandon and I were dating and he told me he had a fake tooth, I had to think about our relationship and if I could handle a flawed mouth.  Anyway, for a few years my teeth have been extremely sensitive, and it's all due to over brushing and brushing too hard.  I switched to super soft toothbrushes and sensitive toothpaste.  Recently, my teeth were even more sensitive with the sensitive toothpaste.  With all my DIY stuff, I decided to look into making my own toothpaste.
  Well, did you know fluoride is outlawed in most of Europe?  It's not good for your teeth at all.  There are so many natural ways to clean your teeth and make them strong and healthy.  One way is gargle pure cranberry juice, and another is way is tooth soap.
  Tooth soap?  It's exactly what it sounds like, and it is super easy to make. 

  Here are the ingredients: 

    1 T Castile soap

    5 T coconut oil

    1 T olive oil

    Essential oil

    Clean dispenser

 Mix all the ingredients

 Put mixture in dispenser and use

    Ok, I have to admit these are my pictures of my 1st attempt.  I had to redo it.  I melted the coconut oil the 1st time around, and it didn't work.  2nd time, I warmed up the oil to soften it, and then mixed with the others.  I added quite a bit of peppermint and orange oils.  The verdict:  it tastes like flavorless soap.  But, my teeth feel super clean, and my breath doesn't seem to get bad as quickly even in the morning.  I'm giving it a month before I make my final decision on it, but so far no nerve pain.

Bribery with Fruit Snacks

  1st off, I'm not pushing Allison to potty train, but we have found some type of agreement.  Until now when I mentioned the potty, she would run away and act like a cat getting near water.  Now when I offer fruit snacks, she happily sit on the potty while eating them (and has the phone).  She has yet to pee in the potty, but sitting on it is a big improvement. 

  Since fruit snacks is her new thing, I thought I would make my own since the store bought ones are so bad, filled with corn syrup and artificial colors and flavors.  They were somewhat a success.  They are made out of fruit (strawberries in this case) applesauce, apple juice, and gelatin.  Allison likes them just fine, but I think I will tweak it a little.  More fruit of whatever kind I'm making, and instead of apple juice, I'll make juice from the fruit with my juicer. 

See I even make Lego shapes. (they are the only molds I have)

 I even separated them in 1 oz servings in little baggies.  It made 12 baggies. 

It's Greek to Me!

  I've been making my own yogurt for awhile now.  I use a crockpot recipe, and it's pretty good.  Since it's homemade, it's a little on the runny side.  Makes you wonder what they do to the store bought ones to make them thick.  A while back I read how to make Greek yogurt but just never did it.  It's super easy and yummy!  After making the yogurt, you just drain the yogurt in a cheesecloth for 8 hrs (do it for 24 hrs, and it becomes cream cheese!).  I didn't have a cheesecloth, so I cut an old pillowcase in half.  It worked well.

Here's my yogurt draining.

 Here is all the leftover whey:

  That's a lot of whey!  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it.  It's good for months and full of nutrients.  I've done some research, and I can make soda, replace water in recipes, bathe with it.  Right now I just add some to my juices and drink it.  Tomorrow I'm going to soak some oats and then cook it.  Suppose to make oatmeal much more nutitrious.  I'm such there will be more posts on what I end up doing with it.

Laundry, Laundry, Laundry

  With cloth diapers and 2 babies, my washer stays busy, but I haven't bought laundry detergent for 2 years or dryer sheets and stain remover for the past year thanks to great simple recipes are gentle yet tough on clothes and HE efficient nevermind being dirt cheap, about 3 cents per load.  Here are my recipes for laundry care:
   Detergent
     1 bar Zote or Fels-Naptha (I prefer Fels-Naptha due to grinding ability but both clean equally)
     1/2 C Borax
     1 C washing soda
   Let bar dry out and then grind to fine powder in processor (some people grate their soap w/ a grater).
   Add other ingredients and pulse 10 times or until will mixed.
   Use 1 T per load.

  Softener
    Add 1-2 T baking soda in wash, and then add 1/4 C vinegar to rinse cycle.

 Stain remover (Oxyclean)
   1 C water
   1/2 C washing soda
   1/2 C hydrogen peroxide
  Mix all ingredients.  I usually pour over stains.  Here is a before and after of MK's shirt.  Literally took one minute for the stain to go away, and just think, all natural ingredients!

Before 

After!

I could not believe how good these results were, especially since I didn't do this until 5 days after the mess.

Bonus recipe- Dishwasher detergent

   While you have the processor out to make the laundry detergent, whip up a batch for the dishwasher.  It costs the price from 12 cents a load down to 4 cents a load.

   Equal parts of dish detergent, borax, baking soda, and washing soda.  Mix well in processor, and you are done.  I use dish detergent in it b/c you have to citric acid to get rid of  streaks, and I have yet to find citric acid in the store.  

Oil of O-WOW!

  I have been known most of my life as someone with skin problems.  Before kids, I had to use something with benzyl peroxide, but after having Allison, my skin developed an allergy to it. (Didn't have to use it while pregnant and breastfeeding b/c my skin was clear)  So, I started making my own.  1st, I made a face wash out of yogurt, honey, and lime juice.  It worked great except I smelled like spoiled milk all day.  I also used green tea as a toner, also worked great.  Allison's daycare teacher, noticing my acne, recommended Burt's Bees tomato soap.  That stuff is awesome.  I've been using it every since, until now...
  I'm almost out, and I can't find it anywhere.  So, instead of buying more expensive organic face washes, I decided to make my own with a recipe that my friend Danell found.  This stuff is even better than the tomato soap.  Ready for this, it's castor oil and olive oil!  You just adjust the ratios of oil based on skin type.  1:1 for normal, 2:1 for oily, and 1:2 for dry.  I, of course, did oily.  I took the pictures after the fact.

The ingredients.

I used an old honey jar which turned out great b/c it had a stopper so the oil didn't spill out, and it had the tbs marked on the sides.  Made the dilutions easy.  I just filled the container 2/3 full of castor oil and then topped it off with olive oil.  Another 2 minute thing that will last months and cost very little.

  To use, squeeze a quarter-size drop into your hands and massage on your face for a minute.  Then take a hot rag and cover your face for another minute.  Then wash off oil and pat dry.  You are left with awesome beautiful skin that doesn't need lotion.

Minty Fresh!

  I ran out mouthwash not too long ago and was waiting for it go on sale.  Once you start couponing, it's hard to buy anything at full price, and you get used to things being a certain price, like I expect contact solution to be free.  Anyway, I was looking at how to make tooth soap (more on that later) and came upon a recipe for moutwash. 
  DIY mouthwash is so basic that I decided to try it.  It took a few minutes to make and will last months.  I think it cost 50 cents or so to make a liter.

 1st. Add 1/2 a tsp of baking soda per cup of water.

 2.  Add a pinch of salt.

 3.  Add however many drops of essential oil you want.  I added close to 20.

 4.  Wisk well to dissolve everything.

 5.  Pour into container.

 6.  Finish!  Yes, I'm reusing a Listerine bottle.

 This is all you need to have a good mouthwash that is alcohol free.