Homemade laundry detergent

Homemade laundry detergent is frugal, cleans well, is better for your health, and is FUN to make.  My three year old loves to help me whip up a batch and I love the fact that she is learning the value of homemade items.  If you've never made your own homemade laundry detergent, don't be intimidated.  It's extremely easy and takes less than five minutes.  Also all of the items can be found in just about every supermarket or retail store like Walmart or Target.  Here's a step by step.

Step 1: Grate a bar of soap.  I like Castile soap but any bar soap will work.  I admit, this part is kind of a pain the butt.  This time I used a box grater, but I've used the food processor before and it works well too and is much faster.  But then I have to clean the food processor.  ::Sigh::  So lazy!  :)

 Step 2:  Add 1 cup of Borax.  Simple enough.  You all are smart folks.  There's not much more to this.

 Step 3:  Add 1 cup of Washing Soda.

Step 4:  Mix and place it in an airtight container.  I like these pretty glass jars.  They make laundry time a little more exciting.  Ok, maybe not.  Humor me, ok?  I got mine at Old Time Pottery for $5 I think.

Note:  You may also add 1/2 cup of oxiclean if you would like for more stain fighting power. 

Use 1-2 T per load depending on how soiled the items are. 

Black bean, corn and spinach enchiladas

Mmmmmm enchiladas!  I love them.  Warm, cheesy, saucy, and yummy.  There's definitely no shortage of enchilada recipes out there, especially chicken enchiladas, but hey, what's one more!  I rarely get tired of Mexican and Tex-Mex.  While I adore a good chicken enchilada, this recipe is a bit different because it's meatless, and we love it around here.  This can be made completely vegetarian, if you're into that sort of thing, by using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, but I'm not vegetarian so I used chicken broth because I think it adds valuable nutrients.  If nothing else, this is a great and easy sauce recipe that you can use on any variety of enchiladas that you like.  I use it for chicken, beef and cheese enchiladas and all are tasty.  I recently made and froze this dish for a friend and she said it was a great freezer meal, so this can easily be made ahead and enjoyed later. 

Black bean, corn and spinach enchiladas
Ingredients

2 Tbs olive oil or expellar pressed coconut oil

2 tsp cumin

1/4 cup flour

1/4 c tomato paste (preferably not canned due to BPA)

2 cups broth (homemade is best)

1/2 c. water 

garlic powder to taste

salt to taste

3 cups (12 oz) grated pepperjack cheese

1 can black beans (rinsed & drained) or 1.5 cups cooked dried black beans

1 (10oz) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

10 oz frozen corn, thawed

6 green onions thinly sliced separating green and white

16 corn tortillas (or flour) possibly use 10-12

Sauce:

Heat oil.  Add 1 tsp cumin, flour and tomato paste.  Cook and whisk for 1 minute (it will ball up).  Whisk in broth and 1/2 cup water.  Bring to boil.  Reduce to simmer and cook until slightly thickened (about 5 minutes).  Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and possibly more cumin to taste.  Set aside.

Filling:

In large bowl combine 2 cups cheese, beans, corn, white of onion and remaining cumin, and spinach.  Season with salt and pepper.  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease 9x13 baking dish.  Gently heat tortillas so they are pliable.  Fill with 1/3 cup filling.  Roll up tightly.  Place in pan with seam side down.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.  Pour sauce over top.  Bake uncovered 15-20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.  Cool 5 minutes.  Top with green onions and sour cream.

Note: If freezing, freeze the sauce separately.  Thaw everything the morning before baking.  Pour sauce over top and bake as directed.



Adapted from:  Unknown...I got this years ago from a blog and since then I have no longer been able to find it.  If this is your original recipe, please let me know so I can give you credit.  Thanks.

What we ate: February

Again this was over several weeks of some meals that we ate.  I didn't take pictures of everything because I am a slacker these days.  We also ate a lot of meals with other people as well as some dinners out.  Hope this gives you some inspiration for how to feed your family real food on a budget.  What did you eat?  I love ideas from other people!  Please share in the comments.

BBQ chicken bacon pizza.  Made with leftover chicken and homemade whole grain crust.

Roasted chicken, quick sauteed greens with onions, and mashed potatoes.

 Chicken parm sandwiches with kale chips.  An easy and quick meal that everyone liked.  Chicken strips cooked on the stove in coconut oil.  Topped with a quick tomato sauce, parm and mozzarella cheese all on a sprouted 7 grain bun.

Chicken fajitas made with leftover roasted chicken, peppers, onions, and mexican spices.  Quick and soooo good!

 Red beans and rice.  My momma's recipe.  Quick and delicious.  Sausage, garlic, onions, jalepeno, garlic, chicken broth, and red beans served over rice.

Broiled trout (caught by our neighbor), sweet potatoes roasted in coconut oil, and buttered peas

Homemade sloppy joes on a sprouted grain bun, homemade macaroni and cheese.  I substituted a little honey for the brown sugar in the sloppy joes and red peppers for green pepper since that's what I had on hand.

Mongolian beef

I don't know about you but I love Chinese takeout.  I also have a thing for Pei Wei, the scaled down version of P.F. Changs.  One dish that I am particularly fond of is Mongolian beef.  You know, that sweet, salty, and slightly spicey beef dish with the green onions in it.  Yeah that's the one I'm talking about.  It's delicious.  This is a quick and tasty version of the original healthified so it's made without soybean oil, genetically modified cornstarch and soy sauce, and brown sugar.  We all enjoyed this dish and I'm sure it will be one that I make again and again when I need a quick meal.  I served ours with stir fried garlic green beans and cauliflower "rice".  All three things came together in under 30 minutes.  You can't even order take out and have it delivered in that time.  The price tag was much cheaper too, even using grass fed beef, and you can feel better about your health since you cooked it at home using healthy high quality ingredients!

Mongolian beef:  serves 2-3
1 T coconut oil
1 lb. grass fed steak (skirt or flank both work well) sliced thinly
2 green onions sliced on the diagonal

Sauce
1.5 T coconut oil
3 cloves minced or pressed garlic
1/8 t. ground ginger
1/3 c. coconut aminos (soy sauce alternative)
1/4. c. raw honey
1/8 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1 T arrowroot powder (natural thickener)


In a small sauce pan, heat 1.5 T coconut oil over Med-high heat.  Add garlic and cook for just a few seconds.  Whisk in ginger, coconut aminos, honey, and red pepper flakes.  Cook for a few minutes until well combined and sauce is smooth.  Take off of heat and whisk in arrowroot powder until sauce is smooth and thickened.

 While sauce is cooking, in a cast iron skillet or wok, heat 1 T of coconut oil over Med-high heat.  Add sliced beef and stir fry for a couple of minutes until cooked through.

Pour sauce over top of beef.  Add sliced green onions.  Stir to combine.  Serve hot alongside rice or cauliflower "rice".

UN-rolled cabbage casserole

My mom makes killer stuffed cabbage rolls.  I mean they are just fantastic.  A flavorful meat mixture wrapped in delicate cabbage leaves and simmered for hours in a yummy tomato sauce.  YUM!  I've used her recipe a couple of times, and while the end result was quite delicious, the time and energy it took to get there was more than I wanted to spend.  See in the original recipe, you have to core and boil the cabbage, then let it cool enough to take apart all of the leaves individually, then roll about a bajillion little rolls, then let it simmer for longer than I want to wait.  I'm a little lazy by nature and frankly folks, this is all a little too much work for me.  I usually only have about 15-20 minutes in the kitchen by myself before a three year old is trying to "help" me or asking for a snack and a 10 month old is down around my ankles or dumping the dog's water bowl all over himself.  I require meals that are get in and get out, if you know what I mean.

Enter the un-stuffed cabbage casserole.  It's all the flavor of a cabbage roll without the boiling of the cabbage and the work of rolling.  The original recipe also called for rice.  I'm certainly not against rice, but I'm trying to get more veggies in our diet, so I substituted cauliflower instead.  I know you're probably thinking that doesn't sound too appetizing but really it is.  If you chop the cauliflower into tiny bits that resemble rice, you can hardly tell the difference. If you prefer rice instead, by all means, use rice.  You might want to add only a 1/2 cup raw rice and maybe add more liquid ingredients.  Basically, you'll have to play around with it. 

My husband and I love this dish, while my three year old still isn't sure of it.  I've made this twice now and the first time she wouldn't even touch it.  The second time she took a couple of bites, so we're making progress.  She's not a big fan of ground meat.  Crazy girl.  :)  So here's the recipe.  Hope you like it.

Un-rolled Cabbage Casserole

1.5 lbs ground beef or a mixture of ground beef and sausage (grass fed is best)
1 small head of green cabbage
1 cup cauliflower (chopped very small to resemble rice)
1/2- 1 c diced onion depending on how oniony you like your food
2 cups diced tomatoes
2 cups strained or crushed tomatoes (divided)
1 T. dried oregano
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic or 1/4 t. garlic powder
sea salt (1 t. divided) and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Core and chop up a small head of cabbage into bite sized pieces and place in the bottom of a deep 9x13 casserole dish.  Sprinkle with a 1/4 t. salt and drizzle about 1 c. tomato product over the cabbage as well.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, combine meat, cauliflower, onion, 2 c diced tomatoes, 1/2 t salt, garlic, and spices.  Mix well with hands.  Crumble meat mixture in an even layer over the cabbage.  Drizzle remaining 1 cup of tomato product over top.  Sprinkle 1/4 t salt and a generous amount of pepper on top.  Bake covered for 50 minutes and uncovered for 10 minutes.  Make sure meat mixture is no longer pink before serving.

Note:If your meat is not very lean, I would recommend draining off some of the grease that will accumulate on the sides.  If you use lean grass fed beef, you shouldn't have much problem.

What we ate: Jan 22-Feb 4

I skipped a couple of weeks with the "What we ate" series so here I am trying to play catch up.  Honestly I don't remember exactly what was on the menu the last couple of weeks but here are some pictures that I have taken of our food.  This was made with all real food, no processed ingredients except for the pastas which have very few ingredients.  Hope you get some good ideas from this.  What was on your dinner plate?  I LOVE getting ideas from you so please share!

 Homemade chicken nuggets and mac and cheese made with quinoa pasta.  

 Broiled halibut, roasted cabbage and roasted butternut squash.  An extremely easy and fast meal.

 Huge batch of chili that lasted several days.

 Basil pesto chicken, buttered carrots and roasted broccoli.  So quick. Literally just spoon some pesto on top of chicken and pop in oven for 20-30 minutes.  Done.

 Chili mac:  leftover chili on top of rice pasta.

 

Chili cheese fries.  Homemade french fries (yum) with leftover chili and cheddar cheese.  Looks unhealthy but it's really not...all real food!  Fries were cooked in coconut oil.

 Pork chops, roasted brussel sprouts and buttered carrots

 Chicken parmeasan bake made with homemade sprouted bread croutons.  Extremely easy, fast and tasty.  Served with a salad.

 Philly cheesesteak bowl

Letter of the Week: N

Bailey has been so independent in her crafting lately.  She wants to do everything her way and without my help.  I'm certainly ok with that, but I'm having to make the projects a little more simple so she can do it all herself.  Sometimes she doesn't like my "plans" either so they get scrapped for something else she comes up with.  I think I've created a monster!

 

Noodle N

Simple craft just involved gluing noodles onto the letter N.  Anything that involved glue is a hit with a 3 year old though.

Nest

I thought this one was hilarious but it was all her ideas.  I had gotten a package in the mail and this weird packing material was in it.  Bailey thought we could make a nest out of it.  She cut it up and put some cotton balls in it to look like eggs.  Then she put her robot bird on top of the eggs to keep them warm.  We fed the bird birdseed and worms and waited for the eggs to hatch.