Saving money is always a good thing. Some save by using coupons, others by cutting back on purchases, but on some necessary items cutting back is not an option. Unless a national brand product is on sale…at a great price…I almost always purchase store brands of products. In our home, purchasing generic laundry soap is a necessity. I cringe everytime I see that $15-20 price tag on the large bottles of Tide, Cheer, etc.
I have shared my laundry soap recipe here before, but today I am sharing someone else’s recipe. Many of you are familiar with the Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar Family with 18 beautiful children and their television series. While looking for a tator tot casserole recipe for My Hero, I came across Michelle Duggar’s recipe for laundry soap. Though it called for the same ingredients as the recipe I have been using, the amounts and directions were different. After giving her recipe a try this time, I believe that I prefer her method rather than mine. Check out her LAUNDRY SOAP RECIPE.
Michele’s original recipe calls for a Fels-Naptha Bar, but I used a bit over one bar of pink Zote Soap in my version, which gives it a nice pinkish shimmer. There is a white Zote Laundry Soap that I have found online, but not in my local store yet. You will notice in the photo that I have reused older detergent bottles, but some of the mixture is stored in a recycled juice jug. I just could not throw any of it out…so I stole My Hero’s water jug.
Guestimating the current cost of each of the containers, I figure we saved around $54 with making my own soap. Those boxes of borax and washing soda were purchased well over a year ago..so it almost feels as if this was all free. Not knowing how to figure the energy usage cost, we did not take that out of the total..but I do know that the supply cost is around $2. Not bad!
I thought I would share the recipe, along with some photos. Don’t pay attention to the messy kitchen, please….
2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons cinammon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups cubed bread (about 9-10 pieces)
3/4 cup raisins (optional)
In a medium saucepan, heat milk on medium heat until a foam forms over the top. Add the butter and stir until it is melted. Cool to a lukewarm temperature. In another bowl combine sugar, eggs, vanilla, cinammon, and nutmeg and beat at medium speed with an electric mixer for approximately 1 minute. Using a mixer, slowly add the cooled milk/butter mixure to the egg mixture. Place bread in a lightly greased 1 1/2 quaet casserole. Mix half of the raisins and then sprinkle the remainder on top. Slowly pour mixture on top of bread cubes.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Serve warm topped with Lemon Sauce.
LEMON SAUCE RECIPE
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar ( I added additional 1/2 cup powdered sugar)
1/2 stick butter (I added 1 tablespoon of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter)
4 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice (I added 1 Tablespoon of Mexican Vanilla Extract)
Melt butter. Add powdered sugar and lemon juice. Stir. You can add water 1/4 teaspoon at a time to thin the mixture to the desired consistency.
So don’t poke fun at my Tinkerbell slideshow…I LOVE Tink!
While I don’t think we will have to start doing without the essential items of our lives, I do think that we will be cutting back in non-essential areas….such as eating out. We travel a considerable amount of time, so eating out while on the road may take on a new look….it will most likely never be completely stricken from our budget.
Eating out just because…I am tired….it is late….I don’t want to mess up the kitchen…..OR…because it’s the dog’s birthday….is being cut from the spending budget. We will be eating at home on a regular basis.
Today, while I was organizing some pantry shelves, I noticed I had a few items that were nearing the expiration date. In the past (and please do not flame me…this has been a learning process for us) I might have thrown those expired items away. Not anymore….we are making do with what we have….and USING IT ALL UP! Just the other night I cooked a roast that had been in the freezer for almost two years. It was fine. Another night I found a can of spinach that was 1 month past the expiration date and after checking for any creases, dents, or evidence of spoilage we cooked it up. DH love spinach with boiled eggs…something I never heard of before meeting him…lol.
A few times this past month, our local grocer has had milk on sale for $2.50 a gallon…a bargain. One night DH came home with only one gallon of this $2.50 milk and it resulted in me fussin’ at him for not purchasing a second gallon. Fortunately, I have Hais (DD2)trained to purchase two if she finds it on sale. Three days ago, DH came home with two gallons of the sale priced milk, along with two loaves of sale priced bread. He has been eating sandwiches a lot lately, so I did not see a problem. (Now before I proceed, I would like to preference the remainder of this story with DH normally brings home the freshest….tastiest breads ever when he shops.) When the man eats two to three peanut butter sandwiches for lunch every day, two loaves do not last very long, so I was happy that he thought ahead.
For some reason our bread stash was not dwindling and I soon discovered the reason. The brand (which will remain nameless) was not something we had purchased before and it was NOT (by any means of the imagination) fresh. The crust was somewhat hard and it was tasteless. What to do? There is an entire loaf sitting on the shelf! What can I do with this? The wheels started turning…and my stomach was growling…so my first idea was a grilled cheese sandwich with LOTS of butter…..yum. That didn’t make a dent. Now what? We could have french toast for dinner tonight…even though I prefer a thicker french toast. BREAD PUDDING! The entire family loves bread pudding. Luckily, I did have some raisins on hand…so right now…my house is fresh with the warm aromas of nutmeg, cinammon and vanilla and in another 40 minutes or so…..HEAVEN!
Peter Piper Picked a Profoundly Plump Pumpkin — Now What does he do with it?
Every fall I get many questions about what to do with pumpkins. Many people find curious fascination in imagining what it would be like to grow these versatile little gems, as if growing something that produces a large fruit is somehow more respectable than growing, say, a serrano pepper. Many people eventually venture into pumpkin experimentation. Some succeed and many fail. Much like a dog that chases a car, many people never give thought to what they would do if they actually succeeded in successfully raising a patch of these fall favorites. Whether you have found yourself with more pumpkins than you know what to do with or you are one of the people who had to buy pumpkins and duct tape them to the vine, these tips for roasting and using pumpkins are sure to help you make the most out of them (no matter how you acquired them)!
How to Roast a Pumpkin
You can only do this with a freshly carved pumpkin! Do not use on a pumpkin that has been
carved and sitting out for several days.
To bake a fresh 6 to 7 pound pumpkin, halve the pumpkin crosswise and scoop out the seeds and strings. Place halves, hollow side down, in a large baking pan covered with aluminum foil and add a little water. Bake, uncovered, at 375 for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until fork‑tender. Remove. When cool, scrape pulp from shells and puree, a little at time, in food processor or blender. Mix with a little salt.
To freeze pumpkin puree. Put 1‑2 cups in freezer bags along with spices and use in pies.
To use pumpkin puree for recipes: Line a strainer with a double layer ofcheesecloth or a flour sack dish towel and let the pumpkin sit to drain out the extra moisture BEFORE cooking with it. Pumpkin is very moist, so in order for your recipe to come out correctly, you MUST strain it.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Boil seeds in water for 5 minutes. Drain well.Sprinkle with salt or seasoned salt. Place a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 250 . Stir after 30 minutes. Bake ½‑1 hour more or until crunchy.
*Squash seeds may also be used.
. Pumpkin Smoothies
½ cup pumpkin
¾ cup milk or vanilla yogurt
¼ tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. brown sugar
4 ice cubes
whipped cream (optional)
sprinkles (optional)
Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into 2-3 glasses. Serve with a small amount of whipped cream on top. You may also add orange sprinkles if you like.Serves 2-3.
Pumpkin Pancakes
2 cups flour
2 Tbsp. brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 ¼ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
½ cup nuts, chopped (optional)
½ cup pumpkin
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1cups milk
Combine ingredients. Stir just until moistened; batter may be lumpy. Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat; brush lightly with vegetable oil. Pour ¼ cup batter onto hot griddle; cook until bubbles begin to burst. Turn and continue cooking 1 to 2 minutes. Serve with Pumpkin Maple Sauce and nuts.
Pumpkin Maple Sauce
1 cup maple syrup
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
1 ¼ cups pumpkin
Mix together until well blended.
In 5 years, Tawra Kellam and her husband paid off $20,000 personal debt on an average income of $22,000 per year. Tawra is the author of the frugal cookbook Dining On A Dime. Dining On A Dime has over 1200 recipes and tips to help you eat better and spend less. For more free tips and recipes visit her web site at http://www.LivingOnADime.com/.
About an hour after dinner tonight, everyone was saying that they were still hungry….so I decided to make some homemade biscuits and gravy. I made a batch large enough for breakfast tomorrow and then fried up our first taste of our local hog sausage. Yum!
Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/3 cup butter flavored shortening
1 cup buttermilk
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the shortening until the mixture appears crumbly. Stir the buttermilk in slowly, mixing until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead. Roll out about 1″ thick. Cut biscuits and then bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 12-14 mins.
