Make Your Own Lavender Laundry Detergent--for Pennies

Make Your Own Lavender Laundry Detergent--for Pennies: "Simple Washing Powder 

16 cups baking soda
12 cups borax
8 cups grated castile or glycerin soap flakes*
3 tablespoons lavender, lemon or grapefruit essential oil

Combine baking soda, borax and soap flakes. Add essential oil and mix with a wire whisk. Use 1⁄8 cup per load.

Yield: This recipe makes enough powder to last a family of four one year.

*Try Sun Feather Natural Soap Company, or buy bars of castile soap (e.g. Dr. Bronner’s) and grate with a kitchen grater."

Homemade Dish Washing Recipes

Powder Recipe #1

1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Borax

Powder Recipe #2

1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Borax
For the above two recipes:
Mix thoroughly and store in a plastic container, use approximately 2 TBS per load.
Use vinegar in the rinse compartment as a rinse agent to help prevent residue
Try adding 2-3 drops essential oil
Powder Recipe #3

1/4 cup Washing Soda
1 TBS Liquid Dish Detergent
Use the above for each load of dishes.

Liquid Dishwasher Detergent Recipe

1 part baking soda
1 part borax
1 part water
1 drop lemon or orange essential oil per cup of detergent
Mix the ingredients thoroughly and store in a seal-able jug.
Use 2 to 3 TBS per load.
If you’re having a cloudy dishes problem after using the homemade detergents:
Try adding a few drops of liquid dish soap to the powder compartment when you add the powder.
You could also try cutting back on the amount of soap used (if you’re using 2 TBS, try cutting it back to 1 – 1 1/2 TBS).
Make sure to use vinegar in the rinse cycle
*Update: There are several comments from readers reporting both success and problems (namely that the homemade detergents below cause issues including a cloudy residue left on dishes). I don’t know why there’s a discrepancy, but it may have something to do with water temperature (not hot enough) or water quality (too hard, etc.). My dishwasher is still going strong with no problems, dishes are consistently clean with no residue and it’s about 20 years old–good old Maytag!

Because these recipes I’ve collected below are at least 10 or 15 years old (I’m going from memory here), the problem could be with newer models of dishwashers? How much water is used to flush & rinse the dishes? I’m not sure. I would suggest you watch carefully how the homemade detergents affect your dishes when first trying them (do they leave a powdery residue?).

If you have any advice or feedback, please feel free to share them below.

Ginger Ale Water Kefir Recipe - Whole Traditions

Ginger Ale Water Kefir Recipe - Whole Traditions


Ingredients
4 to 5 tbsp sucanat, rapadura, agave nectar, maple syrup, or other crystalized sugar

1 tbsp water kefir grains
about 1 quart filtered or spring water

3 to 5 slices peeled ginger

1 slice lemon or squirt of lemon juice (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Add water kefir grains and sweetener to a non-airtight quart sized jar or bottle.
Add enough water to fill up the jar or bottle while leaving about 1 inch of space at the top.
Shake or stir until the sugars are completely dissolved. Add ginger slices.
Cover with a non-airtight lid and allow to brew at room temperature for 24 to 48+ hours.
When it's done to your liking, strain out the grains, discarding ginger slices. Add lemon if desired, and store covered, in the fridge.
For an especially fizzy brew, strain out grains and decant water kefir about 1/2 day before it's done into airtight bottles and allow to ferment at room temperature for another 1/2 day before storing in the fridge. Open with caution as the drink may be strongly carbonated.

Homemade Bouillon

This recipe requires a food processor. I have a 8-cup / 2 liter / 2 quart model, and needed every cubic inch of it. I found the best approach if you are tight for space in your food processor is to add a few of the ingredients, then pulse a few times. The ingredients collapse and free up more space for the next few ingredients. If you don't find yourself using much bouillon, I will suggest making a half batch of this. And for those of you wanting to do a version with no salt, freeze the pureed vegetables in small amounts - say, ice cube trays, just after pureeing them. Introduce salt in whatever amount you like later in the cooking process.

5 ounces / 150 g leeks, sliced and well-washed
7 ounces / 200g fennel bulb, chopped
7 ounces / 200g carrot, well scrubbed and chopped
3.5 ounces / 100 g celery
3.5 ounces / 100g celery root (celeriac), peeled and chopped
1 ounce / 30g sun-dried tomatoes
3.5 ounces / 100g shallots, peeled
3 medium garlic cloves
9 ounces / 250g fine grain sea salt
1.5 ounces / 40 g flat-leaf parsley, loosely chopped
2 ounces / 60g cilantro (coriander), loosely chopped

Place the first four ingredients in your food processor and pulse about twenty times. Add the next four ingredients, and pulse again. Add the salt, pulse some more. Then add the parsley and cilantro. You may need to scoop some of the chopped vegetables on top of the herbs, so they get chopped. Mine tended to want to stay on top of everything else, initially escaping the blades.

You should end up with a moist, loose paste of sorts. Keep 1/4th of it in a jar in the refrigerator for easy access in the coming days, and freeze the remaining 3/4 for use in the next month. Because of all the salt it barely solidifies making it easy to spoon directly from the freezer into the pot before boiling.

Start by using 1 teaspoon of bouillon per 1 cup (250 ml), and adjust from there based on your personal preference.

Makes roughly 3 1/2 cups.

Inspired by The River Cottage Preserves Handbook by Pam Corbin. The U.S. edition of the River Cottage Preserves Handbook will be available this summer.

Prep time: 40 min

Cherry Chocolate "Moose" Bark

Ingredients:

* 1 15 ounce can pumpkin
* 1 cup fresh cherries, pits removed
* 15 Tbsp cocoa powder
* ¼ cup warm water

Make a simple chocolate sauce by combining cocoa powder with ¼ cup warm water. Fifteen tablespoons may seem like a lot of cocoa powder, but I got the chocolate flavor I was looking for from this quantity compared to less.

Combine chocolate sauce with pumpkin and cherries in blender and blend until smooth.

Spread thinly on dehydrator trays covered with paraflexx® sheets or parchment paper.

Dehydrate at 135° for eight hours. Employ the flip trick as discussed above after five hours. Dried consistency will be more leathery than basic pumpkin pie bark which is brittle.

Tear bark into pieces and enjoy as a trail snack. Cherry Chocolate Moose Bark tastes like Tootsie-rolls® to me. To make pie, combine ½ cup bark with ½ cup hot water and stir until creamy. This pie reminds me of chocolate mousse. Try garnishing with chopped nuts and/or dried coconut.

Granny Smith's Pumpkin Apple Bark

Ingredients:

* 1 15 ounce can pumpkin
* 1 large apple
* 2 tsp apple pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice

Peel and core apple and cut into pieces. Combine with pumpkin and spices in blender and blend until smooth.

Spread thinly on dehydrator trays covered with paraflexx® sheets or parchment paper.

Dehydrate at 135° for eight hours. Employ the flip trick as discussed above after five hours. (“flip-trick” as follows: Place a spare dehydrator tray on top of the Bark and flip the two trays over so that the bottom side of the Bark is now facing up. This will ensure complete drying. The flip-trick is very easy with Excalibur Dehydrator trays. If you don't have an Excalibur, just peel the bark off when the bark is dry enough to hold together and turn it over.) Dried consistency will be more leathery than basic pumpkin pie bark which is brittle.

Tear bark into pieces and enjoy as a trail snack. To make pie, combine ½ cup bark with ½ cup hot water and stir until creamy. I like this dessert garnished with granola.

Pumpkin Pie Bark & No Crust Pumpkin Pie

Uses for Pumpkin Pie Bark:

* No-Crust Pumpkin Pie! Just add water.
* Makes a chewy snack while hiking.
* High in Vitamin A and fiber.

Ingredients:

* 1 15 ounce can pumpkin
* ¼ cup real maple syrup
* 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice

Combine pumpkin with maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice. Use real maple syrup for best results. Stir until ingredients are mixed well. You don't need to use a blender.

Spread thinly (about eighth inch) on dehydrator trays covered with Excalibur Paraflexx® sheets, parchment paper, or plastic wrap.

Dehydrate at 135° for eight hours until brittle. After about five hours, flip the bark over using the “flip-trick” as follows: Place a spare dehydrator tray on top of the Bark and flip the two trays over so that the bottom side of the Bark is now facing up. This will ensure complete drying. The flip-trick is very easy with Excalibur Dehydrator trays. If you don't have an Excalibur, just peel the bark off when the bark is dry enough to hold together and turn it over.

Yield: One 15 ounce can of pumpkin barks down to 1 ½ cups weighing four ounces.



No-Crust Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients:

* ½ cup Pumpkin Pie Bark
* ½ cup water

Pumpkin Pie Bark dissolves in hot or cold water. If you want hot pie, stir the Bark with hot water until creamy. I use my candle stove to gently warm the water for pumpkin pie.

Garnish with chopped walnuts or pecans if desired.

Pioneer Vinegar Pie

by Back to the Basics--Hope for the best, Prepare for the Worst on Saturday, January 8, 2011 at 9:21pm
The Request: This search is for my friend and third grade teacher, Wava, who will soon celebrate her 90th birthday. She remembers her mother making Vinegar Pie when she was a small girl and Wava’s grandmother made Vinegar Pie as a Kansas Pioneer, while living in a sod house in Western Kansas. Vinegar Pie was a pie that pioneers made in the winter when the dried fruits had been depleted. I’ve included two Vinegar Pie recipes. The second Vinegar Pie recipe is very basic (the instructions are a bit vague) and probably more like what the pioneers made when supplies were low. The pie is suppose to have a rather fruity flavor.



Vinegar Pie

2 tablespoons butter
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. ground allspice
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 cup water

1 9” pie crust that had been briefly baked (about 3 minutes) at 450 degrees

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Sift together flour and spices then add to flour mixture, mix well. Beat in egg, vinegar and water. Pour into a double boiler and cook over boiling water until thick. Pour into the pie shell and bake about 30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Pioneer Vinegar Pie
1 egg
1 heaping tablespoon flour
1 c sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat these ingredients together and add 1 tablespoon of sharp vinegar and a cup of cold water. Flavor with a little nutmeg and pour into an unbaked pie shell. Cover with second pie crust and flute edges. Bake for an hour.

Sausage Cake

Sausage Cake

1 pound unseasoned pork sausage (ground pork)
3 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda (in coffee)
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup cold, strong, brewed coffee
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) grease and flour a 9 inch Bundt pan. Pour boiling water over raisins and let stand 5 minutes. Drain well and dry raisins with a cloth towel.
In large bowl, combine sausage and brown sugar. Stir until mixture is well blended. Add eggs and beat well.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and other spice.
Stir baking soda into coffee.
Add flour mixture and coffee alternately to sausage mixture, beating well after each addition. Fold raisins and walnuts into cake batter.
Pour batter into greased and floured 9 inch Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 1/2 hours or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack.

Pork Cake

Pork Cake

1 lb. salt pork
2 c. boiling water
2 c. dark-brown sugar
1 c. molasses
1 tsp. soda
1 lb. raisins
1 lb. chopped dates
1/4 lb. citron shaved fine
4 c. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. nutmeg

Chop the pork so fine as to look almost like lard, pour on it the boiling water, add the sugar, molasses, and soda, stir in the raisins, dates and citron. Add the flour with the spices and pour the batter in a loaf cake pan and bake in a moderate oven.