And the Winner Is...

In order to choose the winner of our competition in the most egalitarian fashion, we intended to conduct a poll. By utilizing a privately-contracted statistician from Gallup, your responses were to be rigorously scrutinized in order to determine which one most appealed to this blog's target demographic. Unfortunately...that would be really really really expensive. So the results were decided by a 10 year old picking his favorite number out of those that correlated with each poster. Congratulations goes to Kristie Taylor! Thanks to all who left comments. We enjoyed them all!

End of Summer Giveaway

The official end of summer is almost upon us. We would love to hear about your summer! Leave a comment below about your favorite part of this summer, and one reader will receive a $50.00 http://www.restaurant.com/ gift card. The winner will be announced on September 22nd (the official last day of summer).

Sparkling Windows (or at my house ones you can at least see through)

I have stacks of newspaper waiting to go to the recycle center in my husband's shop. He was thrilled when I found out you can clean your windows using newspaper! This is actually a preferred method, because it does not leave the "dust" that paper towels tend to leave. It's also greener! For a light cleaning take one sheet or even a half sheet and wad it up until its soft and pliable. When the paper is the right texture use it to clean your windows...no cleaner necessary just elbow grease. For heavier cleaning follow above directions and add cleaner; 2 great ones are :
  Vinegar Window Cleaner:
Use 1 part vinegar for every 1 part water
spray on glass and use softened newspaper to wipe off
Hopefully, you always have white vinegar on hand. It's great stuff & we'll have lots of uses for it to share with you soon!

Lemon Juice Window Cleaner:
Use 2 parts water for every 1 part lemon juice
spray on glass and use softened newspaper to wipe off

Air Freshener

I recently started using homemade air freshener. My first batch was sweet orange flavored, the second clove. This is a great air freshener to spritz throughout the house. The baking soda works as a deodorizer as well. The recipe is very simple and a great alternative to burning candles.
You will need :
1 spray bottle
1/4c baking soda
HOT water - use enough to fill spray bottle

approximately 1tsp essential oil of your choice (depending on how strong you want the fragrance)

Mix all ingredients in the spray bottle and shake well before each use. If you don't have essential oils you can use 1/4-1/2c lemon juice.
Amazon has a great price on essential oils!

Freezer Meals=Double Meals

picture from www.30daygourmet.com/

Doubling recipes is not a new concept, I know. But I feel compelled to post this because it has made my life so much easier lately. I have been doubling almost all the recipes that I prepare each night, then freezing the second meal. No joke. It's that simple. Freezer bags and a few extra ingredients of what we are buying already is all I need.
Unless a meal cannot go in a freezer bag (ie. lasagna), there is no need to buy disposable containers. Freezer bags lay flat and do not take up a lot of space.
Over the past two weeks I have frozen mexican casserole, chicken casserole, olive bread, sloppy joe filling, taco filling, brown sugar-glazed salmon, corn salad, and chicken salad. All waiting patiently in my deep freezer for a night that I don't have time to cook. It is so much easier to just double what I am already preparing than to prepare it a second time.
Let us know if you have any freezing tips to share. We will have more posts to come on freezing soon! Cut back on your kitchen time and let us know how you spent it instead!
                                                

And the Winner is...

Congratulations to Kelly Brownlow for winning the No Dining out Challenge. She will be rewarded a $25 gift card for Restaurant.com! Thanks to all who participated and be looking out for upcoming challenges and an awesome GIVEAWAY!

Change Is In The Air

We are excited about our blog's new look! Don't you think it's cute? We are adding cool new features everyday! Please sign up to follow us or click our button below to link us to your site. We will gladly link back!

Challenge 1

 Last week we mentioned that we would be issuing a few challenges this month. Well, the first is NO DINING OUT! This idea from originally came from www.couponingtodisney.com and we  added a few adjustments to make it our own. If you don't eat out very often try going ONE week without making ANY prepackaged meals. The Challenge will last for ONE week, Starting the 6am Sunday July 11 ending 9pm Sunday July 18th. Come on guys you and your family can avoid eating out for ONE week, right? To enter the challenge you must 1. be a follower 2. make a comment on THIS post. At the end of the week one lucky winner will receive a gift card to www.restaurant.com for $25. This is a great reward for taking a fast from eating out. This may be a BIG challenge for some, but just give it your best effort. Even giving up a few meals out would be great! We'd love to hear about the creative meals you planned. Also keep checking back we will be posting some recipes that you might be interested in this week!

Simplify July

For the month of July we will be issuing some challenges. On Friday we will announce the first challenge that will begin on Sunday, July 11. At the end of  EACH challenge a winner will be awarded a $25.00 gift card to restaurant.com. To enter you will need to:
1.sign up as a post follower (not to worry we won't overload your inbox!)
2. make a comment on the week's challenge. Good Luck!

Sheets!

Ok, I'll admit, this post is a little out there. I myself had serious doubts when I heard a new idea about bedsheets. BUT, it would truly save me some time, so I thought, why not give it a whirl? Here goes friends, we're livin' on the edge!
First, wash your sheets as usual (using your favorite homemade laundry soap, of course).
Next, take your sheets from the washer, and put them on the bed. Fitted sheet on like normal, then lay the flat sheet over as usual, just don't tuck it in. Leave any blankets or comforters off and let the sheets air dry. Wait a few hours. I like to do this in the morning, and then finish making it up before bed.
That's right, straight from the washer to the bed.
No dryer, no clothesline. I told you this was out there.
The washer's spin cycle removes all the excess water. I promise this really works, and you don't have to dry your sheets. This saves time, money, energy, and wear and tear on your bedding!
Kellye did this in the late afternoon and her sheets were dry in just a few hours. She, however, really lives on the edge!
Let us know how this turns out for you!

Basic Bread

I am so excited about this post! My favorite thing right now is making this bread. I find it to be a stress reliever in all the craziness of life. Some may think that is crazy, but even if you don't find joy in it like I do, it is still worth the effort. I won't go into all the health benefits of making whole wheat bread, but I would like to share a few things. First, store bought bread has the healthiest parts of the wheat taken out so that the shelf life will be longer. Then, lots of unhealthy preservatives are added. True whole wheat bread contains the entire wheat kernel which makes it a "good carbohydrate." I have played around with this recipe to work for me, and I encourage you to do the same. The flour, yeast, and water are the essentials-get creative with all the other ingredients!

You will need:
3-4 cups whole wheat flour (I like King Arthur brand- some people grind their own which is even better!)
OR
2-3 unbleached all purpose flour (this is not near as healthy, but some just don't care for whole wheat, and it is still healthier than store bread)
1 teaspoon yeast
1 cup warm water
5 teaspoons sugar
OR
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup milk (I have used nonfat dry milk before, and it works just fine)
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons honey, molasses, or maple syrup
1/4 butter, melted or oil
*An optional ingredient that works well is vital wheat gluten. It makes the loaf fluffier. I have found it at Publix. However, you can get almost the same result by letting the dough rise 3 times.

First, warm your bowl by filling it with hot water, then dumping it out (this is so you don't kill your yeast). Add yeast and water to the bowl, and let sit 5 minutes. It should look like this:

Next, add all other ingredients except flour. Add 2 cups of the flour. It should look like this:

Now, we mix; then knead. If you have a standing mixer with a dough hook, it is handy. If you don't, just mix with a wooden spoon. Kellye puts her dough in a bread machine for the mixing and kneading, then takes it out to rise and bake. I love my Kitchen Aid mixer for this.  The idea is to get your dough to the point where it is not sticky to touch, but isn't dry. I can always tell when I stick my finger in the dough, and I can pull it out without dough sticking to it. If it is still sticky, add more flour. If it is not holding together, add more water. It is not a perfect science, and you won't go wrong by adding more flour or water until it is the right consistency. If you are kneading by hand, give it a good 10 minutes. I knead it in my mixer for 3-5 minutes. Now it should look like this:

Put in a greased bowl (I just hold the dough in my hand, grease the bowl with my other hand, and slap the dough back in). Place in a warm spot to rise. I put my on the stovetop in the winter, and out on my deck in the summer. Just make sure it is covered! Kellye found that putting a damp towel over the bowl keeps the dough from getting hard on top. This works great!

First Rise : 1hour- 1 1/2 hour

Take your dough out of the bowl, and put onto a floured surface. Then just mash it down and flatten it out. Add flour as you need it to keep the dough from sticking. Roll it back up into a ball, and put back in the bowl.

Second rise : Repeat the rising process another 1 hour- 1 1/2 hour.

Take it back out, and repeat the flattening process.
Then, roll up the dough like this:

Tuck the ends under:

Place it in a greased loaf pan. As you can see, I had a little helper! Elizabeth loves making bread!

Let rise another hour. We like to do 3 rises, because it makes a fluffier loaf, more like store bread.

Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. If the top is too brown, tent a piece of aluminum foil over the top. Beautiful bread!

Remove from pan, and slice when cool. This bread is wonderful toasted, and my kids love it for sandwiches. We are no longer buying any bread from the store! This recipe is a starting point for so many other things. I have done garlic bread, rolls, and hamburger and hot dog buns (thank you, Janine!). We will post these items later. Have fun baking bread!

Smaller Batch of Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap

Julie mentioned that I make a smaller batch of liquid laundry detergent. I've had several people ask for the smaller recipe. So I decided to post it. The "how to" is the same, only the amounts are different.
I use:
 1/3-1/2 ivory bar soap(grated)














1/2c washing soda
1/2 c borax














I melt the soap in 4c water. on the stove. Place borax and washing soda in a 2-21/2 gallon bucket

and in 6c HOT water. Stir well until dissolved. Pour in melted soap. Add 1 gallon and 4 cups of water. Let sit over night. Break up clumps then leave in bucket covered or pour into smaller containers. I use 1/2c to 1c per washing load.

Kellye

Homemade Laundry Soap

Our current project is homemade laundry detergent. I saw this made on TV, and decided to try it since I had a visual. Kellye and I have gotten so many requests for recipes and lessons, so this seemed like a good place to start our blog! I have been using a liquid detergent recipe for about a year, and I just recently made powdered detergent. I have had lots of fun using different scents and Kellye and I look forward to posting more about that soon. Pictures of our process to come...

My last thought for those of you who ask why? My motivation is saving money! At an average cost of $2 for 5 gallons of detergent vs. $13 for 1 gallon of Tide, I had no excuse not to try. Also, our detergent contains no phosphates or chlorine, so it is easier on clothes and skin and better for the environment. And, it REALLY DOES CLEAN! My boys' baseball uniforms are as fresh as if I used Gain! If this all sounds good, but way too intimidating, send us an email and we can sell you premade detergent or a kit to test it out at home.

Julie

When I first heard about making my own laundry detergent from Julie, my first thoughts were "That's nice...for you". As I thought about it the idea intrigued and intimidated me. I began researching the process and found several recipes and even a place that sold a small kit. I opted to buy the kit out of fear of making it and hating it. The end result was I loved it. I now buy my own ingredients and plan to start experimenting with adding scents. Making my own laundry detergent has saved me money and has become a fun task.
Kellye

*All laundry detergents are safe for front load and high energy washers (Kellye has used the liquid detergent in her front loader for a while with great results). They are also safe for sensitive skin.

Liquid Laundry Soap
First gather your materials and ingredients:

1 5 gallon bucket

1 bar of soap (We use Ivory, others have had luck with Kirk's Castile, Fels-Naptha, or Zote. Ivory is easiest to find and cheap!)
1 cup Washing Soda (we use Arm and Hammer; you can find it at Publix or Kroger)
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
Lots'o hot water!
Grate the bar of soap and put in a deep pot or wide pan:






Add 2-4 cups water and cook over medium heat until soap is melted. Be careful, it will boil over!

Put Borax and washing soda in your bucket. Add enough hot water to stir ingredients until they dissolve. Add melted soap and stir. Fill bucket with hot water and stir again.

Cover and let sit over night. Soap will form a gel. Break the gel up with a spoon, and mix as well as possible. Keep in bucket and scoop out 1/2-1 cup as needed for wash. Or divide into empty detergent bottles. Mixture will be lumpy, and it is important to stir or shake well before each use.

This recipe can easily be halved for a smaller amount. Kellye uses a 2 1/2 gallon bucket. It is easy to play around with the amount and concentration to suit your needs.

*Essential oils can be added for fragrance. We are trying out some yummy new scents, and we will let you know how they turn out!

Powdered Laundry Soap
All ingredients are the same (no water), just grate soap, mix together, and place in an air tight container. Easy!

*We are using some scented castile soaps that have turned out wonderfully!