Oh, my goodness!  This was so easy!!  I’ve wanted to make my own laundry detergent for years, but I’ve always been intimidated.  I just knew it would be too much work, too messy and not worth the money.  Boy, was I wrong!  The recipe below will last my family about six months and all the ingredients (including a 5-gallon bucket with lid) cost less than $10.  TEN dollars for six months of detergent!! (And next time around, the whole batch will be about $1.25 because the only thing I’ll need to buy is an additional bar of soap!)

My mother-in-law made her first batch about four months ago and has been very pleased with the results.  She used to be a tried and true Tide user, so her standards are pretty high!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Need:

1 5-gallon bucket with tight fitting lid  (I found mine in the paint department at Walmart.)

1 bar Fels-Naptha soap  (Kroger and Meijer carry this in my area.)

1 cup Borax  (I can find this at any grocery in my area.)

1 cup Arm and Hammer WASHING Soda  (Not Baking Soda!  I can get this at Kroger and Meijer.)

5 gallons of water

How To:

1.  Grate the entire bar of Fels-Naptha soap using a cheese grater.

2.  Melt the soap in ONE gallon of water that you have warmed on the stove.

3.  Meanwhile, pour one cup of Borax and one cup of Washing Soda in the 5-gallon bucket.

4.  Add FOUR gallons of water to the bucket and stir.

5.  Carefully add the melted soap water to the bucket and stir.

*My bucket was filled to the very brim!!  I used a coffee cup to funnel the first batch into an old laundry bottle.

To Wash:

Simply add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of detergent – depending on your washer and the size of the load.  Voila!

Visit my recipe page for more Homemade Posts.

I haven’t had much experience putting either of these away, so I did a little internet research.  It seems as if the quickest and easiest way to save these veggies for later use is freezing them raw.  What could be simpler than that?

I grated the zucchini and placed it in freezer bags in two cup portions since most of my normal recipes call for about this much grated zucchini.  So far, I’ve frozen 20 cups!

With the onions, I sliced some and chopped some.  I didn’t worry about measuring since frozen onions come apart with a quick tap on the counter.  One website said to place the onions on cookie sheets and freeze before bagging, but I didn’t have time to fool with that. 

Both of these will need to be used in cooked recipes since they won’t hold their original texture.  For the zucchini, the directions said to add any liquid in the bag (after thawing) to the recipe since it will be the juices that are normally in the zucchini.

Mahayla and Caleb grew carrots this year.  They were able to can 10 quarts – and I only had to supervise!  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the finished jars.

Looks like green bean canning will be next on the list!  Anybody have a really good idea for saving summer squash?  I have attempted to parboil and freeze, but it turned out way to mushy to use, even in cooked dishes.

Pretzel and Nut Bark

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup thin pretzels broken into small chunks

2/4 cup salted nuts of any kind (I use mixed nuts)

1/3 cup white chocolate chips or almond bark

2 Tablespoons (more or less) of Christmas colored sprinkles (any style)

Line 13×9″ pan with foil so that the foil hangs over the edges.  In a large bowl, microwave the semisweet chocolate chips 1-2 minutes.  (Stir the chips after one minute, microwave in 30 second increments until chips are melted.)  Stir in pretzels and nuts.  Spread in pan.

In a smaller bowl, microwave the white chocolate chips or almond bark for 1 minute or until melted.  Place melted chocolate in a plastic ziptop baggie.  Snip the corner and squeeze the chocolate over the bark in the pan.  Lightly cover with sprinkles.  Chill for about 1 hour (until firm).

Lift the bark out by the foil, then peel the foil away.  Break the bark into pieces.  Keep chilled until ready to eat.

I thought I’d share one of my favorite indulgences this time of year that’s maybe not so ordinary, but very easy.

Cream Cheese Cookies

1/2 pound butter, softened

1 package cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chopped nuts (I prefer pecans)

2 cups flour

Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar.  Stir in vanilla, flour and nuts.  Roll in a damp cloth (or waxed paper) and place in refrigerator for at least a couple of hours.  Slice thin (about 1/4″) and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or just until edges begin to brown.

For what it’s worth, these freeze well and taste just as good frozen as fresh! 

I got lots of great advice on doing applesauce the easier way next year.  Any advice for an easier way to harvest these little boogers?  (I used a hammer on a large rock to crack the shell – which flew everywhere.  Then used a nut tool to painstakingly get the meat out.)

At this point, I told my son to scatter the rest of the walnuts out for the squirrels!  My husband told him to bag them up just in case I change my mind.  Me, change my mind? 

Since I didn’t make a handout for the meeting, I thought I’d put all my links about the subject in one place.

• Homemade Mixes
• MSG Questions and Some Mix Recipes
• Shake-n-Bake Mix and Homemade Creamed Soup
• Spice Bargains

Being such quick, easy and frugal mixes, these would make great Christmas gifts, too!

As usual, if there’s anything more specific you’d like to know, just comment with a question.  I’ll do my best to answer it.

We’ve been doing all sorts of hands-on learning during our Colonial History unit and one of the activities I had planned was making butter.  At co-op over the years, the kids have had the opportunity to shake cream in baby food jars to make their own butter, so I didn’t think we needed that experience again.  We don’t own a butter churn, but I had an idea that the Kitchenaid Stand Mixer might give us a modern day look at the butter making process.  And it did!

Easy directions:

• Add heavy cream to your mixer
• Put on the whisk attachment
• Turn it to level 8 or 10 for about five minutes
• Be prepared to cover the bowl with a couple of towels toward the end to keep the liquid from splattering
• When the liquid has separated from the butter fat, take the butter out and squeeze out the rest of the liquid
• You can keep the liquid (buttermilk) for use in other recipes
• Enjoy your fresh butter!  It’s SO yummy!!  )

Then came a great big bag of free apples.  I certainly couldn’t turn away a great big free bag of apples.  And, hey, why not add one more staple to the pantry shelf while trying my hand at a new canning skill – applesauce??

According to the canning recipe, I had just the 21 pounds of apples needed to make a canner load of seven quarts.  That big ol’ bag didn’t seem like it would be too hard to cut, core and slice, UNTIL an hour and a half later when I was finishing the last few.  Cooking the slices until soft didn’t seem like it would take a long time, UNTIL 45 minutes later when I was still stirring the 12 quart cooking pot full of sliced apples.  And sending the apples through the food mill didn’t seem like a daunting task, UNTIL I nearly pulled a muscle trying to get a teaspoon of sauce to come out.

After pulling out the blender (plan B) and finally having a sauce resembling what I buy in the store, I was excited to know that I was almost there.  Applesauce, here we come.  Only 2 hours and 45 had passed!  (insert eyes rolling)

Would you like to see the fruit of all my afternoon labors?

Yep, four quarts.  Only FOUR quarts!  In all, including the canning process, I spent almost FOUR hours canning FOUR quarts of applesauce!   I’m considering this a lesson learned.  I imagine I’ll appreciate the 99 cent cans of applesauce I buy from Save-A-Lot a lot more, too. 

We took a trip last week to the local orchard to stock up on peaches and apples that had been graded out.  (They’re much cheaper that way!)  Again, freezing is easy.  Wash, peel, cut in slices, sprinkle a little sugar over the peaches or dip apples in water with a little lemon juice, place in ziptop bags and freeze.

All of these things can be used in a recipe just as you would use them if they were fresh.  They aren’t great, however, for thawing and eating plain.

I promised a couple of ladies that I would share recipes throughout the year using things I’ve canned or frozen.  Here’s a fried corn dish we had at supper last week.

Ingredients

• fresh or frozen corn cut off the cob
• fresh or frozen green pepper, chopped
• fresh yellow squash, chopped
• fresh or frozen onion, chopped
• butter

Melt butter in a frying pan.  Saute all veggies until crisp-tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Yummy!

A sinkful of fresh tomatoes in our house turns into about eleven quarts of diced tomatoes!

And here’s a new recipe I concocted to use up the canned tomatoes.  I had a quart that didn’t seal, plus some corn and peppers that needed to be used.  I didn’t have any ground beef, but I did have some shredded chicken in the freezer.  So I made a *yummy*….

Chicken Chili

• 1 quart diced tomatoes and juice
• 1-2 green peppers, diced
• a cob or two of fresh corn cut off the cob (or a can, drained)
• a can of beans -any type- with juice (I used great northern)
• shredded chicken, about 2 cups
• about 1/2 cup of chili mix
• extra water to suit your taste

Mix all ingredients together and bring to a boil.  Simmer for about 30 minutes.  As you can see, the recipe isn’t a science, but it sure is yummy!

Now for the serious stuff…..Where are your Charlotte Mason planning and organizing posts???  I know, I know, they’re coming.  I see many of you are procrastinators like me, huh??

We’re not looking for huge, in-depth posts (unless you want.)  Just a simple post about something you have planned or organized to enhance CM-style learning.

• Have you made an artist study plan for the year?
• Have you put together a nature study area?
• Have you decided on a living book list for the semester?
• Have you made a plan for specific handicrafts?
• Have you organized any areas of your schoolroom?

Okay, you get the idea.  Now, go write!  )

Oh, and submit your posts here.