Homemade Laundry Detergent

YAY! Finally I'm back with another recipe, however this isn't for your tummy, it's for your clothes! :) My wonderful friend Veronica and I had such a fun time making this TWO GALLONS worth of laundry detergent for DIRT CHEAP! I'm a stay at home mom and with another one on the way I need to find ways to seriously save money. With this recipe each load will come out to about a PENNY in cost! If that's not fabulous I don't know what is, it even smells clean!

You will need-
2 Gallon Bucket (I got a 5 gallon bucket and doubled the recipe)
1 Bar of Zote (soap found in laundry aisle of Wal-Mart, $1.12)
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (it is very important to use WASHING SODA and not baking soda, this is kind of hard to find, I found it at ACE Hardware $2.23)
1/2 cup 20 Mule Borax (also found at Wal-Mart$3.27)
- If it strikes your fancy, you can add about 10-16 drops of any scent of Pure Essential Oil


(A picture of what the Zote looks like so you know what to look for.)

Grate the soap and put in a large pot.




Add 6 cups of water and heat it until the soap melts.



Add the washing soda and borax until it is dissolved.





(it gets this fabulous liquid detergent look and feel)

Remove from heat.
Pour 4 cups of hot water into the bucket.
Now add your soap mixture and stir.
Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir (totals 22cups).
Let the soap sit for 24 hours and it will gel.
You use 1/2 cup per load.



*Don't be alarmed if after 24 hours it has turned into something similar of egg drop soup. It's supposed to look that way! Happy washing!!!

Chicken Squares

3 oz softened cream cheese
3 tblsp melted margarine
2 cups cooked cubed chicken
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2tblsp milk
1 tblsp chopped green onion
1 tblsp chopped pimento
8oz refrigerated crescent rolls

In a bowl blend cream cheese and 2 tblsp margarine (reserve 1 tblsp) until smooth. Add the next 6 ingredients and mix well. Separate crescent rolls into four rectangles. Firmly press perforation to seal when making two rolls into 1 rectangle.
Spoon 1/2 cup meat mixture into center of each rectangle. Pull four corners of dough to top center and twist together to close. Brush tops with reserved maragarine.
Bake one cookie sheet at 375 for 20-25 min.

Want to make it stretch? Use 3 8oz cans of refrigerated crescent rolls (giving you 12 chicken squares), omit the green onion and pimento. Chop one small onion, 4 or 5 carrots, and 4 or 5 stalks of celery- cook in some EVOO or margarine before you cook your cubed chicken, then add chicken to veggie mixture.. It will take a bit more cream cheese and butter- but its fabulous this way too! :)


ENJOY
Best love and dishes!

Grandma Latham's Ground Beef Stroganoff

1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp finely chopped garlic (more if desired)
1 tblsp butter or margarine
1 lbs ground beef
2 tblsp flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
2 small cans of sliced mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cups sour cream

Cook onions and garlic in a little butter or margarine (cook til soft, do not brown). Stir in meat, flour, seasonings and cook for about 5 min or until the meat is done. Add mushroom, then soup. Simmer for 10min. Add a little milk of needed. Serve over hot rice or egg noodles.
*Serves 4-6


ENJOY
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I'm having a bit of problem

Please excuse the funky pictures, I have NO clue why some are cut off and some are WAY zoomed in.

Easy Cheesy Chicken Bake

So, Tim loves Stove Top. As I was in the grocery store yesterday I noticed there were recipes on the back of the box, so I got the Chicken kind and here it is:

1pkg STOVETOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1 1/2lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1in pieces
1 bag frozen broccoli florets, thawed and drained
1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup of milk
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese!

It was pretty good. Tim said he'd like it again, Bella ate it up fast... Here it is, how come food home baked isn't as pretty as they have it prepared in pictures?!



ENJOY
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Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna

First the basic lasagna recipe:
1 package lasagna noodles
1 egg
Basil (to taste, I do a lot of to taste recipes, sorry!!)
16oz container of ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups shredded parmesan cheese
Di Capua Family Marinara Sauce

Boil the noodles according to directions on the box. Combine ricotta cheese, 1 egg and basil to taste. Once noodles and marinara are done, put a couple spoonfuls of marinara down on the very bottom of a 9x13 baking dish, layer noodles, ricotta mixture, mozzarella, parmesan, sauce, then noodles, cheeses, sauce... and keep going til you've topped it off making sure to seal the top with a layer of noodles sauce and mozzarella.

Now for the variations, you can fry up hamburger and add it to the sauce, Italian sausage (just make sure to remove the casing before frying), and finally mushroom and spinach: I bought a package of pre-rinsed spinach and a package of pre-rinsed sliced mushrooms I added them to the sauce til the mushrooms were tender and the spinach was wilted. Just make the lasagna like the basic recipe, except your's will be more interesting because it'll have some yummies in the sauce!

ENJOY
Best love and dishes!

Di Capua Family Marinara Sauce

1 large can whole peeled tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 large can crushed tomatoes, puree works
3-4 finely chopped cloves garlic
1 chopped onion
2-3 turns EVOO
basil and oregano to taste
1 bay leaf

Using either a food processor or blender blend the whole peeled tomatoes til they're nice and smooth, set aside. In a large pot, saute the garlic and onion in the EVOO til onions are clear, do not brown. Bring to a boil the blended whole tomatoes, paste, and puree, bay leaf, adding the basil and oregano to your liking. Lower the temperature to med/low to simmer. Let simmer for 3-4 hours. Add to any favorite Italian dish or some pasta!

Best love and dishes!