Home made laundy soap!

It always bothers me that laundry soap is so expensive.

Recently I found a recipe that I just HAD to try for homemade laundry soap.

It only has 3 ingredients

I found all three ingredients at our No Frills store for less than $12.

I started by grating the sunlight soap with a cheese grater - it was easy!

I put the grated soap in a pot with about 4 cups of water and carefully heated the mix until the soap was dissolved, stirring frequently.

I had a clean 4.5 gallon pail with a lid, and filled it 3/4 with HOT water.

To this I slowly added 3/4 cup of the washing soda and 3/4 cup borax and stirred until dissolved.

Then I added the soap mix and stirred well, then topped up the pail with more hot water.

Put on the lid and allowed the pail to sit overnight. When I opened the lid the next day the mix had gelled. No, that OK ... it was supposed to do that!

All this needed now was a good stirring. I decided to make it easier by using a paint mixer on a drill

And VOILA! Time to bottle it up. This was the whole batch ... not bad!

 

 

I thought I would test this out on Father's dirty work pants before I sang the praises of this stuff. If this can clean Father's work pants it will clean anything!  I put a load of his dirtiest,  greasy work clothes in and added only a cup of laundry soap. I had to remember this was soap and not detergent and so it would have less bubbles. I popped it in and couldn't believe my eyes!

 

It was the dirtiest water I have ever seen in my washing machine!

I was almost tempted to add more soap, but I wanted to see how well it worked.

I had just barely pulled it out of the dryer when Father came looking for clean pants, so no photo I'm afraid. But they were CLEAN! And so this recipe gets thumbs up from me.

The best part is that I only used 3/4 cup from each box so there is plenty left for the next few batches. And it was so EASY to make!

Now I need to find a recipe for dishwasher soap!

Another helpful gadget ...

We love pie around here!

Fall time is apple picking time, and also PIE making time.

Country Boy loves apple pie!

Unfortunately, Netty does not like peeling and cutting apples.

Then I found this handy gadget!

 This apple peeler makes peeling and slicing apples so easy.

Simply put an apple on and start cranking that handle

In about 5 seconds you have an apple that is peeled, cored and sliced!

Once slice with a knife and each apple is ready and perfectly sliced for pie!

And since I discovered that Country Boy doesn't like CRUST, I found this simple recipe for a crustless apple pie from Betty Crocker.com

Impossibly Easy Apple Pie

 It is simple to make and tastes great!

Big Country Girl likes to have a slice for breakfast!

YUM!

Apple peeler available at 

Lee Valley Tools 

Another use for all that zucchini....

Am I the only one that gets such a thrill out of feeding their kids vegetables SECRETLY?

My family was so sick of eating zucchini this fall that I couldn't even say the word 'zucchini' without someone getting upset. Not a good thing when you have a freezer full of the stuff!

Today I found a recipe that I just HAD to try!

Zucchini Brownies

I decided to try this while I was home alone, just to make sure it was as good as it sounded.

The batter seemed a little thick, but it looked good. No sign of the zucchini at all.

I popped it into the oven. It took a little longer to bake than 30 minutes suggested. I think I baked mine an extra 10 minutes. It smelled really good! Here it is after it was baked...

It sure LOOKED like the brownies I usually make! 

I cut into it.

Hmmm....I can't see any zucchini in there, can you?

And it tastes GOOD! I haven't even put any icing on it yet!

The kids are never going to figure this one out...

:)

Squash casserole

It's a rainy, cold fall day.

It's the kind of day I like to cook.

I had a few squash I'd been needing to use up - 2 of these were actually from LAST years garden! I honestly had no idea that squash lasted this long!

In the end, the small acorn squash that turned orange was going bad from the inside out so I didn't use it in this recipe.

I peeled and sliced thinly the other 2 squash and sliced a large onion. I then sauteed it in about 2 tbsp of butter until it was soft and the onions were translucent - about 15 minutes.

In another bowl, I grated about 2 cups of cheddar cheese,  added a half cup of sour cream, some salt and pepper, cayenne pepper, and a bunch of Ritz craker crumbs (finally a use for all those broken crackers no one wants to eat!!)

I then stirred the squash and onion into this mixture and put it all into a greased casserole dish.  I topped it with more cheddar cheese, some Parmesan, and some more cracker crumbs. 

Popped it into a 350° oven for about 20 minutes.

This was to be served with pork chops and steamed broccoli for dinner tonight.

I couldn't wait!

Yum!!