DIY powdered laundry detergent tutorial

Today was laundry day! I have to tackle the mountain, but first I needed more soap. The last batch I made 5 or 6 months ago finally ran out. Here's how I make it! It smells great and is really effective.

What you need-
Arm and hammer washing (not baking!) soda, Borax (NOT boric acid!!), Purex crystals, Purex color safe bleach, Fels-naptha bar soap, a grater and a big tub.

Grate the bar soap. Get it as fine as you can. I have found that a food processor doesn't do the job well enough.

After that is grated, heres where it gets really complicated. Just dump everything together in the tub! Don't worry about the clumps in the powder, you will break those up.

Now get in there with your hands and mix it up! It helps to have a small helper :) After it is all smooth and mixed up, put it in your containers of choice. I save the Purex bottles, and use mason jars too. Use a heaping tablespoon per load. It won't foam up like commercial soaps, but I promise it is working!

Cost breakdown-
Purex color safe bleach 1.97
Purex crystals $4.76
Fels-naptha bar soap .97
Borax-$3.38
Arm and hammer washing soda $ 2.98

Total cost for about 6 months worth of soap (for a family of 4) = $14.06

For an entire year it only costs me about $30 in soap! Not too bad!

Watermelon slush!

Ahhhhh, summertime. Hanging out poolside, tan lines and clean, light recipes. Finally watermelon is in season! Here's a great recipe for a fresh snack or dessert to cool you off, and it only has two ingredients! And kids LOVE it!

Watermelon slush (serves 4)

3 cups frozen watermelon
2 cups no sugar added apple juice

Throw in blender. Blend till smooth.

A peek in the lunchbox #1

Every school morning for the past three years I get up, roll out of bed, and make Mariah's lunch for school. I LOVE cooking anything for that kid, because she eats anything I give her. This makes lunchtime very flexible! I can pretty much come up with anything and she will love it. I want to share a really good lunch box recipe with you, this is what Miss Mariah is taking to school today in her lunchbox. We had croissants with dinner last night and I wanted to do something to use them up in her lunch.


Things you need-

2 Leftover croissants
1 slice of cheese
6-8 pepperoni
Pizza or Marinara sauce

Slice open the croissant horizontally (hot dog bun style.) Slice the cheese in half, then half again so you have 4 long thin slices. Lay each slice on a side of croissant, and top the bottom half with pepperoni, 3-4 per croissant.



Microwave on High for 15 seconds to melt the cheese.
Put the croissant sides together. Serve with sauce for dipping.



After you make them, if they are lunchbox bound, just wrap them in some foil and screw a lid on the sauce and throw it in the lunchbox! I paired this with carrots,a pear and an oatmeal raisin cookie and ice water.

~Jessica

Wordless Wednesday

Spirit zone poppers at COA mid America nationals!

Teaching children generosity

I feel like one of my most important jobs as a mother is not only to raise my children to WANT to make the world a better place, but to have the resources and knowledge HOW to make it a better place. Being generous is one of the traits i instill in them daily. We certainly don't have a lot of disposable income by any means, but I feel like if you are a generous person and give to others, God will always make sure you have what you need.

One example of this is when we go grocery shopping. We go to 2 or three different stores. (Yes, I know about price matching at Walmart, I try to stay away from there as much as I can.) Our first stop is always Aldi's. Over the week the kids collect quarters. One of the joys of their week is to see how many people they can help at Aldi's. If you have never been to Aldi's or don't have one locally, you have to put a quarter in the cart to get it to disconnect from the other ones. Keeps the carts out of the parking lot. So every time we go the kids fill the carts with as many quarters as we have. One instance a couple of weeks ago I had 4 kids with me- my 2 and my best friends 2 little girls. 3 girls and 1 boy between 4 and 8. So they all scramble around the cart corrall pushing in the quarters and disconnecting carts. A middle aged lady walks up to me and rolls her eyes and says "They ALL have to have a cart?!" I can tell she is just thinking "Ugh that store's going to be so crazy with this lady and her 4 kids each with a cart". Then we walked away with one cart. She goes to get her own and stops and says "Hey! There's a bunch of quarters in these!" I turned around and said "Yes it was intentional" and smiled at her. The kids were excited. I explained to them that, while a quarter may not be much to us, it is a lot to other people who are on a very small budget. That extra quarter you helped them with may make sure they can buy an extra yogurt or canned vegetable to feed their family. They truly don't miss their quarters and have, on more than one occasion, used their OWN quarters when i only had a few.

There is a song they play during the holidays called Christmas All Year Long by Sawyer Brown. Here's a sample of the lyrics-

If people smile even when it's against their nature
When the news hunts down something nice to say
And they even get along in the legislature
You know it's not just any old holiday

It's Christmas, it could only be Christmas
Perfect strangers on the sidewalk, singing songs
Giving is such a part of living
Oh, I wish it could be Christmas all year long



Think about how much nicer people are during the holidays. It is like they feel God only during that time of year. Today, vow to take a minute to smile at a stranger. When an elderly person is trying to cross a parking lot, don't sit in your car while you wait for them to pass and feel grumpy because they're going so slow. And bring an extra quarter or two when you go grocery shopping. If you aren't an Aldi shopper, then just leave it on top of the quarter candy machines on the way out. Or tape it to a soda machine. It's the little acts of generosity that add up!

My kid is cooler than your kid.

Driving to school one cold bleary monday, feeling discouraged that it isn't already Thursday, I turned on the radio for a change. Normally I listen to Finding Nemo or Wall-E or any other Disney movie the kids want to put in. I seriously don't know how I drove without a DVD player-they're SO quiet when it's on. Not once in the couple months that I have had this van has anyone asked "Are we there yet?!" Unless it's Miss M, and she has money, and we are going to Justice.

So driving along, on comes Dixieland Delight by Alabama. Aiden hasn't heard this song in a LONG time, but it is one the hubbys favorites. Brings back memories of sitting around a campfire in our younger days...

Anyways, Aiden is listening intently and says "Momma?" I say "Yes baby?" and he says, totally serious, "I freaking LOVE this song."

Yes, he is his father's child. <3

Super Duper Baked Banana Oatmeal Aka Breakfast Cake (Dairy and egg free)

I have been meaning to post this for a couple of days now, but the time just got away from me! Monday mornings I usually like to wake up 30 minutes early. It is just my time with myself, usually I bake something yummy for breakfast and watch the news. Kind of a peaceful start to my week. Last monday I woke up with a craving for http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/11/baked-oatmeal-with-pumpkin-and-bananas.html this pumpkin oatmeal. It's so yummy, and I love anything with pumpkin. I love pumpkin so much I forgot I had used my last can of pumpkin in a pie the friday before. :/ I didn't remember this until I already had slices of banana roasting with honey and cinnamon on them. So I improvised, and made this banana oatmeal. It was AMAZING. Warm fresh out of the oven it was delicious, filling, and a nutritious start to the day. Cold in the fridge it can be sliced into bars! Great afternoon pickmeup. Next time I will add some walnuts to the mix!


Get all of this stuff-

3 cups oats (Old fashoned)
2 cups sweetened vanilla almond milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1 banana, mashed
1/4 c honey

PLUS

3 bananas sliced
drizzle of honey (straight from the bear, I didnt measure. Maybe a bit less than another 1/4 cup?)
1 tsp cinnamon



Here's whatcha do!!!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lay sliced bananas in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Drizzle honey pretty generously all over the banana slices. Don't drown them or anything. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 350* for about ten minutes.

While the bananas are in the oven, mix together the one mashed up banana, vanilla, almond milk and pinch salt and 1/4 c honey. Pour in oats and baking powder, mix until combined well.

Take the bananas out and while they're still hot, pour the oat mixture on top. Bake at 350* for 25-26 minutes until the middle is set.

When it comes out, you have this pan of pure awesomeness.

Take a spatula and cut a square out/ Lift it up and put a plate upside down on top and flip the whole thing over. You end up with this pretty presentation.

If you have kids (or adults!) who are a little banana shy, leave em underneath. :)

Serve hot or cold! Amazing either way.

Good Morning Meal Planning

*In my best Ty Pennington voice- GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MOOORRRNNIINNGG People!!!
I have a lot of big plans for today- Exercising(i have 20 lbs that have to go!) Organizing my linen closet, putting away laundry, and the biggest one- planning out my meals for the next week. Oh the life i live is oh so exciting. Lol! I find that if I don't plan out my meals, I am completely useless at the grocery store. I get a bunch of stuff that sounds good, but even if I do buy meat with intention of making (insert really awesome sounding recipe here) then when I look up said recipe on the day of, I am always missing one ingredient. Which means a quick run up to the store, where I notice that Cheez-its are on sale, who cares if I just bought a box of Scrabble Cheez-its because Miss M has a new obsession with Scrabble, these are on sale... Oh Look! Chocolate! And before I know it a 3 dollar shopping trip turned into a 30 dollar one.

So every Thursday morning, I pour myself a glass of iced Earl Grey tea and get to work. I look at the grocery ads for the week and see what is on sale. We do one meatless day a week minimum. I am not a fan of heavy meats (beef and pork) in general so we try to not do a whole lot of those. I am cooking for some picky eaters (not my kids, my bff/roommate's) so I am a bit limited in trying new exciting recipes, unless I have chicken nuggets on standby. I dont like to do that though because then my kids see the chicken nuggets and say "Well that does sound more appealing than these tofu lettuce wraps Mom is making!" So I save the adventurous nights for when it is just us.

After I look at our grocery ads for the week, I go to my cookbooks or online for recipe inspiration. Usually my searches include "cheap and easy" so a lot of the recipes I post on here will be both cheap and easy.

This is what this last week looked like for us. It was pretty typical for us, except it was New Years eve and we hosted a get together, so our grocery bill was a bit more than usual...

Friday-We went out to try the new Italian restaurant in our small town. 2 star service, 5 star food. It was very good. (Except the fact that not only did they not have balsamic vinegar, the waitress didn't even know what it was?!)

Saturday- Pork Chops (at the request of the kiddos) veg medley and couscous.

Sunday- Black bean and cheese burritos and spanish brown rice, roasted cauliflour.

Monday- NYE- Pasta and Salad for dinner, and the appetizers I made included sausage dip, cream cheese mints, cookies, Alton Brown's homemade guacamole, and salsa and chips.

Tuesday- Shrimp in a lemon butter garlic sauce served over brown rice, roasted carrots.

Wednesday- Today was "use up all the little meats in the freezer" day. When I buy large packages of meat I usually have one or two pieces that I don't use because it is too much for us, but the smaller ones aren't big enough. Tonight I made Hoisin-glazed Tilapia, Grilled chicken, burgers and hot dogs all on my indoor grill. Served it with a full salad bar and sour cream and onion mashed potatoes. Pick your own meal kind of meal. I was proud that Miss M chose fish and a burger. Not suprised that Mr A chose a hot dog. (Theyre nirtate free turkey dogs,so I dont feel so bad)

Thursday- This is today! On the menu is Roasted Chicken legs, couscous and Salad.


Salisbury Steak has been requested on the menu this week, so I will go through and find a good sale on ground beef. After I plan out the menu for the week, I like to go to pennypinchinmom.com and look for coupons for all the filler stuff I need- snacks, yogurt is big in our house, tp and paper towels, etc. Looking at the grocery ads, the winner for this week is Price Chopper. Not only do they have family packs of ground beef for 1.99/lb but they have chicken breasts for 1.69/lb and blueberries for 1.99 and shred. cheese on sale for 1.69! I like price chopper not only because I can save on gas (Yes i am aware hyvee does this now too) but my kids love to find that chicken they hide throughout the store (His name used to be Peep but now its Clifford. He had an identity crisis, like so many paper chickens go through. Sad, really.) If they find him they get free stuff. Once it was a lunchable, once an orange, on time they each got a whole box of hot chocolate. Worth the search!)

So, according to the sale ads this is what our menu looks like for this week-

Friday- Salisbury Steak

Saturday- Crock pot shredded chicken tacos

Sunday- Homemade chicken noodle soup

Monday- Monday is Cheer Night, we are at the gym from 5 to 8. I have to make something that can be brought to the gym and eaten on the bleachers with minimum mess. Ziploc's divided rectangles are the container of choice for this. Every week they line up on the bleachers and eat dinner. Some people are impressed, some people are ticked I am taking up space. It's purely out of necessity! I cant feed them before (too early, they get off the bus at 4 and we leave at 4:25) and if i wait to feed them after not only would they be grumpy but they would have to go to bed with full bellies,and probably have nightmares and keep me up all night.) So this monday it's breakfast burritos for dinner with a fruit salad and yogurt.

Tuesday- Roasted Chicken salad in pita bread

Wednesday- Open faced tuna melts

Thursday- Homemade loaded veggie pizza with homemade grilled pizza crust.

I dont usually plan my side dishes, the kids do the day of. I ask Miss M what she would think would go well with what we are having. I try to have most kind of frozen veggies, fresh fruit and veggies, stuffing, couscous, brown rice, baking and sweet potates avaliable for her to choose from. She is to pick at least one veggies and one other thing.

Thats my meal planning technique! Pretty easy, only takes about 20 minutes out of my week. Breakfat choices are Cereal, oatmeal (Which i think will happen a lot this week now that blueberies are on sale!) smoothies (Love my immersion blender!) french toast, homemade waffles and pancakes (I usually spend a morning every few weeks making a bunch for the freezer, no Eggos for us- homemade waffles can be frozen and popped in the toaster just as easily, for cheaper and less preservatives and crap i cannot pronounce) or eggs eggs eggs. I have egg crazy kids! Lunches are a whole seperate post. :)


Off to start my day!!! <3 Jessica

Things I am excited for, in the new year!

Here is a list of things I am looking forward to in 2013, in no particular order!

1. Chickens!!! We are going to attempt to have egg laying chickens this year! We have a coop in our backyard already. (It's one of the things that I was most excited about with this house!) I really hope I don't kill them, or worse- my dog kills them. I know Apollo doesn't want that on his conscience.

2. Finally gardening! We had such a plentiful garden in our old home; I miss it terribly. Last spring was kind of hectic and we didn't end up planting anything. This year we are planting in pallets along our fence line so the dogs can't dig them up. (we have an invisible fence (within our chain link because boxers= escape artists)and if we put the pallets right up against the fence they can't get to them.) The pallets will help contain the plants, divide them, and hopefully keep weeds down. I'll make a post about this adventure, and the chickens, when it is time for all of that! Can't wait!

3. My baby starts KINDERGARTEN this year! (Sad!!!) and Miss M starts 3rd grade! (I'm OLD! WAAAA!)

4. Progress to be made on Derek's side venture, building and selling industrial-sized gasifiers. Alternate energy anyone? :) Maybe we will sell one or hopefully a LOT and we can pay off our house! I can dream, right?

5. Painting my stupid bedroom!! I have had a mural on my wall since we moved in. It is a nice mural, but man, it is just NOT my style. I don't know what kind of stuff the previous people were into, but the moon rising over the beach at night and three dimensional fish ain't my cup of tea. Ready for a neutral color with an accent wall. Since I haven't had time/money/energy to paint for the last year and a half I am making it a serious goal that WILL HAPPEN!

6. NOT being lazy about keeping this blog up. We will see about this one! Hoping to do a little food blogging, crafting, ranting, that kind of stuff.


I really hope 2013 is as good to me as 2012 was! :) <3 Jessica

The beginning of this thing!

Hello there! One of my goals for the new year (2013! Take THAT Mayans!) is to start a blog. So here I am!! I am hoping I will be able to share recipes, tips, trials and troubles here. Being a mom of 2 (Miss M is 8 and Mr A is 4 1/2) and wife to Derek is a super fun, time consuming, sometimes frustrating, heart warming job. It's a crazy life, but I love it!! Hopefully much more to come...


<3 With love...

Jessica