Homemade Washer Soap and Dishwasher Soap

This year I made and started using homemade washing machine soap and love it. It's inexpensive, but makes a ton. I've made this one time and it's almost gone, so it's lasted me 9 months. And that's using it 4 or 5 times every week.

Ingredients

• 1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax- Found in the detergent aisle
• 1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- Found in the detergent aisle
• 1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean- Found in the detergent aisle. (This is optional but I highly recommend adding it)
• 2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Zote Soap- Found in the detergent aisle (I use Fels-Naptha bars.)
• 1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda- Found in the cooking aisle (You could also get two 2 lb box, we couldn’t find the larger 4lb box when we went)
• Optional: 1-2 (55 oz) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener- Found in the detergent aisle (this just makes it smell good and softens your fabric.)

Grate up the bars of soap. (Don't worry, the pieces dissolve during a cycle.) Throw everything into a very large bucket and mix it up really well. You only need 1-2 Tablespoons per load depending on the size, and it works for both top loading and front loading machines. It doesn't bubble up so it seems like it's not working until you see all your laundry way cleaner then before.

To read the original recipe and see what others say about how it works and how long it lasts them check out the post on How Does She.

I don't have a dishwasher so I've never tried this recipe, but if you're interested here's a link for homemade dishwasher detergent.

Chicken Noodle Soup & Dinner Rolls

Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup 
Larissa Terry

Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
3 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium-size carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 bay leaf, use fresh if available
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 quarts chicken stock
1 pound wide egg noodles
1 pound chicken tenders or chicken cutlets, cut into bite-size pieces
 Directions 
Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat with EVOO. Add celery, carrots, onions and bay leaf, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 2-3 minutes then add chicken stock. Bring to a boil and add the egg noodles. Cook according to the package instructions, adding the chicken pieces during the last 4-5 minutes of cooking. Ladle a portion of noodles, chicken, vegetables and soup into a bowl & Enjoy!

Dinner Rolls

Ingredients

2 c. whole milk (if you’re in a pinch, you can use 2%, but whole is best. Don’t use 1% or skim)
½ c. + 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided
1/3 c. (5 1/3 Tbsp.) butter
2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 pkgs. active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp.), preferably bread machine yeast
2/3 c. warm (105-115-degree) water
8-9 c. all-purpose flour
3 beaten eggs

 Directions 

Combine milk, 1/2 c. sugar, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter melts. It’s salty. It’s sweet. Yum.

Remove from heat. Allow to cool to lukewarm. I usually rub some ice cubes along the sides of the pan or pop the entire pan in a sink full of ice cubes to cool the mixture down because this step can take forever. This step is really important because if the mixture is too hot, it will kill the yeast.

 While the milk mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast and 1 Tbsp. sugar in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. If the yeast hasn’t bubbled, you’ll need to repeat this step–moving on with yeast that hasn’t been activated properly will only end in heartache for you and hate mail for us.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 c. flour and milk mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Add yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes.

Add beaten eggs. Why should you beat your eggs first? Same reason you should combine your dry ingredients before adding them to moist ingredients when making cookies and cakes–it ensures everything is well-mixed and can be evenly-distributed through your dough or batter. If you add the whole eggs, your dough may not be as consistent.

Stir in as much remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. This dough should be very soft–it will be coming away from the sides of the bowl, but it will still stick to your finger when you touch it. Don’t worry, it will firm up during the rising process. Part of what makes these rolls so good is that they’re so soft and light; if you add too much flour, they will be heavy and dense. Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean towel; allow to rise 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Lightly flour your work surface and turn dough out onto surface. Divide in half.

Spray 2 9×13 glass pans with cooking spray. Roll first portion of dough into a rectangle and then cut it into 12 equal-sized pieces. I like to use a pizza cutter because it has a blade on each side, so it cuts right through dough without sticking to the blade. This dough should be very easy to work with, almost like playdough. Shape each piece into a ball and place in prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough in the second pan.

Cover with a clean cloth and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. When dough has about 15-20 minutes to go (depending on your oven), preheat oven to 375.

 Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown.

When done, remove from oven. Rub a stick of cold butter over the tops of the rolls. You must now eat one. Now. While it’s hot.
 Then pop the rest into a bowl and no one will ever know that you cheated.

Chocolate Trifle

Chocolate Trifle 
Amber Hershey 

1 box of either devil's food cake or brownies

1 regular size container of cool whip, thawed

1 large box of chocolate pudding

6-9 heath or skor bars (you could do pretty much any kind of candy bar, I just think these two are exceptionally good.)

Bake cake or brownies according to package directions, allow to cool completely. Once cool, break the cake/brownies up into small-ish pieces. I usually do this part by hand and they don't need to be uniform in size.

Make pudding according to box directions if making instant pudding. If making the kind that you cook, make sure you prepare it well enough in advance that it has time to cool completely.

Smash up the candy bars into fairly small pieces. 

Once all of that is done, start layering into a trifle dish. If you don't have a trifle dish you can layer into glasses or goblets. Do a layer of cake, a layer of pudding, a layer of cool whip, and a layer of candy bar bits. Repeat until ingredients are gone. I usually make this in a trifle dish and typically end up with 3 layers. 

You can serve this immediately and it will be delicious, but it gets even better if you give it time to chill in the fridge for a few hours before you serve it.

Wingers Sticky Fingers: Your hubby will love you even more if you make this.

Sorry No Pictures... My hubby and i downed these before i could get some pictures.

Winger's Sticky Fingers Recipe
Larissa Terry 

1 pkg. frozen breaded chicken strips (We use Tyson brand)

6 Tbl. Frank's Hot Sauce (It has to be Franks Hot Sauce, no other sauce will taste as good)

4 Tbl. water

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

Chicken:

 Prepare the chicken strips as directed on the back of the package.

Sauce:

 Heat hot sauce, water and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, until sugar is dissolved.
Pour sauce over chicken, and enjoy!  Serve with ranch dressing for dipping.
Serves 2-3 people.

We served ours with Sweet Potato Fries... when i find a Really good Sweet Potato Recipe i'll share it with ya.

Mike uses the sauce on EVERYTHING, i just keep it in a jar in the fridge and he puts it one whatever he wants. 

Bagels!

Bagels
Abby Belnap

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water

2 tsp yeast

2 tbs honey

3 tsp salt

3 cups white flour

3 cups whole wheat flour

favorite toppings such as sesame seeds or poppy seeds set aside on a small plate to dip the bagels in

Poaching liquid:

2-3 quarts water

1 1/2 tbs honey

1 tbs baking soda

1 tsp salt

Directions:

Add the yeast, sugar, and salt to the warm water and let the yeast activate for several minutes until nice and foamy. 

Using a mixer or by hand, add the flour slowly while mixing and let mix for about 3 minutes after all the flour is well incorporated.  Let sit in the bowl for 5 minutes and then mix again for another 3 minutes.

Put in a greased bowl, covered, and let rise for an hour.

Divide the dough into 12 equal balls and shape into bagels.  How we did this was we took the balls of dough, stuck our finger in the middle to create a whole we spun the dough around our two pointer fingers until it formed a nice ring.

Place the shaped bagels on a baking sheet covered with wax paper and cover them.  Refrigerate over night.

Remove the bagels the next day and allow to come to room temperature.

Let the poaching liquid come to a boil and give each bagel about 30 seconds or so in the boiling liquid.  After the time is up remove them and put them puffy side down onto the plate of toppings.  Remove and place on a baking sheet bottom side down.  We used a pizza stone sprinkled with a little corn meal and it worked fantastic.

Bake at 450 for about 12 minutes or until slightly golden.  Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Price-Matching at Walmart

I heard about price-matching at Walmart but was kind of wary of it. It seemed scary and hard. Well I started price-matching a couple months ago and noticed a huge difference when I go grocery shopping. I never go over budget anymore (I used to go over all the time), and I feel like I get a lot more for my buck. I thought I could share what I do and maybe it'll help some of you.

1. Read Wal-mart's Ad-Match Policy. It's short, don't worry. You will be prepared about what you can and can't do.
2. Optional: read How I Grocery Shop by the Fun, Cheap, or Free Queen. I read this post when I wanted to start doing it, and I feel like it really prepared me to price-match. She has some really great tips.
3. I go to savvy shopper deals which is a website that puts all the deals into one easy place. I choose Utah as my location and then go to the shopping wizard. I go through the categories to see what's on sale and then plan my meals around what's on sale. 
4. On my shopping list I write all my regular items, then I write down my price-matching items. I write down the item, the on sale price, and what store it's on sale. I never bring my ads in because the policy says you don't need it.
5. While shopping I try to keep my items organized in regular items and price-matching items. At checkout I put up all my WIC items, then regular items, than price-matching items. I let the cashier know up front that I have price-matching items at the end. When we get to those items I tell them the price of each item and they type it in. Tip: bring sticky notes with you and write the price on the item when you pick it off the shelf. Then when you get to the checkout, you don't have to tell the cashier. They just read the sticky note and type it in themselves.

In all the weeks I've gone, I've only had problems once. The cashier was an older gentleman and kept telling me I needed to bring the ads in next time. I didn't know that I didn't need the ads, so I will be better prepared next time. If you have more questions, feel free to ask me. I love talking about how this has helped me and would love to see it help other people too!

The Family Committee in the stake has created an FHE resource guide to act as an aid for helping members within the stake to study The Family: A Proclamation to the World during the month of October. The document is posted on our RS facebook page.  You can download it there!

Teriyaki Tuna and Veggies

For those of you who have lots of canned tuna and can't eat it quickly, I have a recipe for you. I don't really like tuna, but I do like this recipe. Original recipe found here.

Teriyaki Tuna & Veggies

Heather Paulsen

Ingredients
2 sheets (12x18–inches each) aluminum foil
2 cans tuna (5 oz. each), drained and broken up with fork
1 can (16 oz.) pineapple chunks in juice, drained
4 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bag (16 oz.) frozen mixed vegetables for stir fry, thawed
cooked rice

1. Preheat oven to 450°F or grill to medium–high.
2. Half the frozen vegetables and center each half on the aluminum foil sheets. Half the pineapple chunks and put each half on top of the vegetables. Top each with a can of tuna. Combine the teriyaki sauce, ginger, and salt; spoon evenly over tuna, pineapple, and vegetables.
3. Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to seal packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside.
4. Bake 16 to 18 minutes on a cookie sheet in oven OR grill 8 to 10 minutes in covered grill.
5. Serve over cooked rice. Add salt, pepper, and more teriyaki sauce as desired.

Zucchini Bars...

I have had many requests for this Recipe and i know many of you have so much Zucchini you don't know what to do with it, this may only take about 2 cups or half a Zucchini but but you can make to if you want :)

Zucchini Bars

Larissa Terry

4 eggs
2 C. Sugar
1 C. Vegetable Oil
1 c. unpeeled grated Zucchini
1/2 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. backing Powder
2 1/2 C. Flour
1/2 C. Chopped nuts (optional)

Cream together the eggs sugar and oil. Add zucchini (stir in). Stir together in a separate bowl Flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix Flour mixture & egg mixture. add nuts. Grease a cookie sheet & pour mixture into pan. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. Frost Cake when they are cool

Frosting!!
4oz. package great cheese
1 Tlb milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. Margarine
3 C. Powdered sugar

Mix all together with electric mixer.

Enjoy.. it's really good with ice cream too. 

Bruschetta Pizza

Brad and I have a lot of fun with pizza.  Last night we made bruschetta pizza.

Bruschetta Pizza

Abby Belnap

You need:
-Your favorite pizza dough (purchased or homemade)
-Enough fresh tomato that when chopped it will cover a pizza
-A large handful of fresh basil, chopped
-2 tsp balsamic vinegar
-1 tbs olive oil plus another 1 1/2 for the top of the crust
-4-6 cloves of garlic
-Salt

Roll out the dough and put it on a pizza pan.  Mince the garlic and mix with the 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt to taste.  Spread the garlic mixture over the crust.  Bake the crust until golden.
While the crust is in the oven- stir chopped tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinegar, 1 tbs olive oil, and salt together in a bowl and let it set until crust is done.
Top the baked crust with the tomato mixture and serve!

Chicken Pasta Salad by Crystal Erickson

1 pkg of Bowtie Pasta
2 cups of cooked chicken2 cups grapes
1 can pineapple (chunks are better than tidbits)
1 bottle of Coleslaw dressing

Cook the Bowtie pasta as directed. As the pasta is cooking drain the pineapple and slice the grapes in half. Add the drained pasta, pineapple, grapes and chicken to a large bowl. Add the entire bottle of dressing. Mix well and chill for an hour.

You can use canned, grilled, baked, or even boiled chicken. It just depends on what kind of flavor you want to add to the pasta salad. I like to use leftover grilled chicken. Feel free to add more of any of the ingredients. I do, depending on my mood.

Cake Mix Cookies by Elisa Simmons

Any cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil (I use canola, but any kind should work...you also can substitute 1/2 the oil for a pureed fruit or veggie like applesauce or squash)

mix all the ingredients together. Make little round balls of the dough and place them on a greased cookie sheet, not too close together (I do three to a row). bake at 325 for 8-10 minutes. 

if you want, you can add chocolate chips, or nuts, or whatever. i like to take a chocolate cake mix, roll the dough balls in powdered sugar before baking, and the cookies come out fun looking and a little extra sweet! 

Easy Fruit Salad by Larissa Terry

2 Granny Smith Apples
2 Bananas
2 Oranges
2 small can Tidbit Pineapples
2 6 oz. cups Strawberry yogurt
2 8 oz. Tubs of Cool Whip
Cut and Peel fruit into Bit Size pieces and Drain Pineapples (I usually cut up the apples & bananas then pour the pineapple juice over them so they don't go brown.)& combine together. In a Large Bowl fold together Cool whip & yogurt.Gently Stir in Fruit. Let the salad chill before serving
Note: This recipe is doubled for a large group. I half it and put it in the fridge for a quick snack. 

Easy Coleslaw Salad by Crystal Erickson

1 bag of Coleslaw

1 cup of Roasted Peanuts

1 bottle of Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing

Mix and make sure your dressing is cold so the coleslaw doesn't wilt.

Dark Chocolate Brownies by Sunnie Payne

1 cup of butter
1 cup of cocoa
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of sugar
4 eggs
1 cup of flour

1 . Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and cocoa. Mix until smooth.
3.Add baking powder and sugar, stirring until slightly mixed.
4.Add eggs and flour; stir until completely integrated.
5.Pour into a 9 x 13 baking pan, lightly coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle chocolate chips (and/or nuts) over top of brownie mixture.
6. Cook in oven between 10-15min. depending on oven.

Clam Dip By Elisa Simmons

8oz package of cream cheese, softened

16 oz of sour cream

small can of clams (minced or whatever, but not whole)

Drain most of the juice out of the clams, but not all.

Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend away till it's nice and smooth. If you need to add a little teeny tiny bit of water to make it blend smooth, you can. Pour into a cute dish, chill, then serve with chips, veggies, or whatever you want!

Easy Punch by Julie Eagan

One liter of Diet Grapefruit Shasta
One white grape juice concentrate
Add lots of ice
If not adding lots of ice you might want a little water
Just do it to taste.

Apple Snicker Fruit Salad By Larissa Terry

5 Granny Smith Apples
6 Regular size Snickers (or any other Candy bar):Frozen are easier to cut
8 Oz. Tub of Cool Whip
1 Small Box of Vanilla Pudding
1 Cup Milk
Prepare Pudding with Milk and  Let it set up while you Chop up the Apples and Candy Bars into Bite size pieces.
Fold together Cool Whip & Pudding. Gently Stir in Apples & Candy bars. Let the Salad Chill before Serving.
Note: I would double this recipe for a big group. Also you could try other fruits that you think would be good with candy bars.

Recipe's

Hello Everyone,

I was asked to start collecting recipes and get them out to the ward. I was working on creating a cookbook, but this blog is such a great place to post them. I will continue to collect them and for those of you who would like a hard copy cookbook I will make them. Otherwise I'll just post them on this awesome blog. Sound good? I'm new to the whole blogging thing so I'm going to try to post them under the Recipe tab. Wish me luck. LOL

Veg Chili

Some of you ladies expressed interest in what Brad and I eat as vegans.  We have a lot of fun and love to explore new foods.  I guess a better question is what don't we eat as vegans.  I thought I would share some of our favorites every now and then for those who are interested. 
I'll begin with this great chili recipe!

Veg Chili

Abby Belnap

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles
3/4 cup uncooked quick-cooking barley
3/4 cup strained tomatoes (or puree)
1/4 cup water
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup frozen corn

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add onion and saute until soft.  Add bell pepper and cook another 3 minutes or so.  Add chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic and chilis - cool for 1 minute.  Stir in remaining ingredients - except for the corn.  Bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes or until barley is tender. Stir in corn and cook until heated through.

Spiriutal Thoughts from this weeks lesson...

Here are the talks we discussed this week in Relief Society

In Tune with the Music of Faith by Elder Quinton L. Cook

Faith, Fortitude, Fulfillment: A Message to Single Parents by Elder David S. Baxter
And a Little Child Shall Lead them By President Boyd K. Packer

Sacrifice by Elder Dallin H. Oaks 

If you Ladies want to read through a couple of them that would be awesome... we can have discussion via comments that are posted, or if you just want to share a spiritual experience you have had so far this week that would be awesome. 

Tonight 8/28/2012:

Relief Society Extra Activity...Dinner and Budgeting Class by Sister Egan 

Dinner at 6:30 lesson at 7:00

This Weekend:

This weekend 8/31/2012-9/1/2012: 

 Ward Camp out at Heber Valley Camp..

Arrive any time after 2:00 on Friday.

Games, Food, Fun, and GREAT Company!

Next Week 9/2/2012:

Fast & Testimony Meeting Starting at 1:00!

Intro to this blog & Orange Waffles with Buttermilk Syrup

So some of the Ladies and i were talking and thought it would be fun to start up a Ward blog.. so here we go. we can pretty much post whatever we want... and learn as we go i guess. Some ideas we had were posting recipes once a week, a spiritual thought from the lesson or just one we had during the week, and maybe "Spotlight" a blog once a month or once a week.

To start us off I will share one of my favorite Recipes...
 

Orange waffles

Larissa Terry

6 eggs
3 cups milk
3 3/4 cups flour
6 oz Orange Juice Concentrate
1/2 cup butter  (melted)
pinch of salt
1/4 cup sugar
dash of vanilla

In a bowl, seperate egg whites & beat till stiff peaks form.  In another bowl combine egg yolks, oj, butter, Sugar & salt. Add milk & Flour slowly (i add a cup of each alternating milk & flour) FOLD in egg whites.  cook in Waffle maker & enjoy

Buttermilk Syurp

Larissa Terry

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter milk (1/2 cup of milk & 1/2 tsp Vinegar)
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

combine sugar, butter & butter milk. bring to a boil of medium heat (stir often to keep butter & milk from curdling) boil for one min. add baking soda & vanilla; remove from heat & stir. Serve over waffles or pancakes.

(sorry picture from an old blog I started and changed the name of, it is now justanotherbloglt.blogspot.com  )