Make Your Own Laundry Soap...and Love It!

I figured since I use this every single day, I'd share it with you. I was never a fan of powdered laundry soap, until I began making my own. What can I say? It's cheaper, has less chemicals, and there aren't any strong perfumes or dyes. Not to mention it does a great job cleaning our clothes. So, it's a win in my book.

COST:
1 bar Fels-Naptha soap - $1
1 box Borax   - $3.50
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda - $3

Total: $7.50

100 Days of Pinterest: Day 84 - Homemade Tortillas

The fourth of July weekend went as fast as it came. It was a whirlwind of projects and painting. My husband and I finally painted our bedroom. We officially have a grown-up looking room. It was this Easter egg purple that drove me nuts and now it's a rich, warm, burgundy color. MUCH better.

My husband also re-purposed and antique dresser we purchased off of one of those Facebook rummage sale sites. It went from old to new in less than a week. I'll post pics of it in my next post. Today, I'm stuck on the couch. I did something to my back and I can barely walk. Oh the life of a 35 year-old!

This weekend, I worked on some more food pins. Since I have become a foodie (or maybe I've always been one, but just didn't know it), I have been searching Pinterest for recipes that fit my finicky eaters requests. Of course, since we have taco Tuesdays it only made sense to make homemade tortillas for our taco night. The recipe I found, which was originally posted on The Cafe Sucre Farine (thecafesucrefarine.com), was so simple and turned out much better than the store bought, processed discs of flour that I normally have been buying. I couldn't keep my guys from eating them. My oldest son's friend loved them too. He said they were good without anything on them. They are!

If you're like my family and love bread and tortillas, then I suggest you give these a try for your taco night. The recipe makes 16 tortillas and can be easily made in a few hours. If you start them around lunch time, they'll be more than ready for dinner.

Here's the recipe:

BEST EVER! HOMEMADE FLOUR TORTILLAS

PREP TIME

20 mins

COOK TIME

40 mins

TOTAL TIME

1 hour

These are so simple and unbelievably delicious!

Author: Chris Scheuer - http://thecafesucrefarine.com/2013/08/best-ever-homemade-flour-tortillas/

Recipe type: Bread

Cuisine: International

Serves: 16

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup warm water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in the bowl of a stand mixer. With the dough hook attached mix dry ingredients until well combined. Add oil and water with mixer running at a medium speed. Mix for 1 minute, stopping several times to scrape the sides of the bowl. After about 1 minute, or when mixture comes together and begins to form a ball, decrease mixing speed to low. Continue to mix for 1 minute or until dough is smooth.
2. Transfer from mixing bowl to a well-floured work surface. Divide dough in half, then in half again. Continue until you have 16 fairly equal portions. Form each piece into a ball and flatten with the palm of your hand as much as possible. If dough is sticky, use a bit more flour. Cover flattened balls of dough with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest for 15 minutes before proceeding.
3. After rest period, heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Roll each dough piece into a rough circle, about 6-7 inches in diameter, keep work surface and rolling pin lightly floured. Don’t stack uncooked tortillas on top of each other or they will get soggy.
4. When pan is very hot, place one dough circle into pan and allow to cook about 1 minute or until bottom surface has a few pale brown spots. The uncooked surface will begin to show a few little bubbles. If tortilla is browning too fast, reduced heat a bit. If it’s taking longer than a minute to see a few pale golden brown spots on underside of tortillas, increase heat a bit. Flip to other side and cook for about 30 seconds. You want the tortilla to be soft but have a few small pale golden brown spots on surface. Remove from pan with tongs and stack in a covered container or zippered bag till all tortillas are cooked. This will keep them soft and pliable.
5. Wipe out the pan in between tortillas if flour is started to accumulate.
6. Serve warm or allow to cool for later use. When ready to use, place a slightly damp paper towel in the bottom of a container (with a cover) that will hold the stacked tortillas. Microwave, uncovered for 15-25 seconds (start with 15) or until warm, then cover to hold heat while serving.
7. The tortillas will keep well stored in an airtight container or zippered bag at at room temperature for 24 hours or can be frozen indefinitely. To freeze, separate tortillas with parchment paper or waxed paper and place in a zippered bag before placing in freezer.

That's it! Simple enough, right?  I think you'll love these as much as I do. If you don't have a stand mixer, you can knead these by hand. It will just take a bit longer. I'd love to see more recipes for homemade tortillas. These claim to be the best, but are they?  You let me know.

Thanks for reading!

Take care,
NB

100 Days of Pinterest: Day 62 - Homemade Pizza Crust Recipe

I think I may have found the best homemade pizza crust ever. Once you try this, you won't go back to the frozen stuff or prepackaged type. It's light, fluffy, and just plain amazing.

My husband asked me to make a breakfast pizza for Father's Day, so I did some Pinterest searching and came across a dough recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. So, I gave it a try. Glad I did too. It was a hit with all of my guys. My oldest son asked me to make this from now on instead of buying pizza from the local dives. Here's the dough recipe...trust me, you'll want to give it a try:

Homemade Pizza Crust
From: Sally's Baking Addiction
(visit this link for more detailed instructions if needed: Homemade Pizza Crust on Sally's Site )

Ingredients:

• 2 and 1/4 teaspoons Red Star Platinum yeast (1 standard packet)*
• 1 and 1/3 cups (320ml) warm water (105-115F degrees)
• 3 and 1/2 cups (440g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
• 2 Tablespoons (30ml) olive oil, plus more for brushing crust
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar
• cornmeal, for dusting

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment, combine the yeast and warm water. Stir it around and let sit for 5 minutes of until the yeast is foamy and dissolved. This is called "proofing" the yeast. If the yeast doesn't dissolve, your yeast is dead. Start again with active yeast. Add flour, olive oil, salt, and sugar. Mix by hand or with the dough hook on low speed for 1 minute.
2. Once all of the ingredients are mixed, knead for 7 minutes by hand or with your dough hook on low-medium speed. If your dough is too wet, add up to 1/4 cup more flour. After kneading, your dough should be smooth and elastic. Poke it with your finger - if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading.
3. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large mixing bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn it over to coat all sides. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm environment (about 75F-80F).
4. For the warm environment, I heat up my oven to 200F. Then, I turn the oven off and keep the door slightly ajar (I opened it wide for this picture). This will be a warm environment for your dough to rise. After about 30 minutes, I close the oven door to trap warmish air inside with the rising dough.
5. Depending on your type of yeast, your dough will have doubled in size in about 1 - 2 hours. I use Red Star Platinum and my dough took 1 hour, 20 minutes.
6. Punch the dough down to release the air.
7. Divide the dough into two. Roll each half into a ball and let rest in two separate bowls lightly covered for 15 minutes. You may freeze one of the dough balls at this point to use at a later time. Please read above in the post for freezing instructions.
8. Preheat oven to 475F degrees. Allow to heat for at least 30 full minutes. Every inch of your oven needs to be very, very hot. Grease and dust 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray or with olive oil. Sprinkle with cornmeal (preferred for flavor and texture) or flour (not preferred). Please read above in the post for why cornmeal is preferred.
9. Prepare your favorite toppings. May I suggest my recipe for a simple extra cheese pizza?
10. After 15 minutes, flatten each ball of dough 1 at a time on a lightly floured surface or on a silicone baking mat. You could also do this directly on your cornmeal lined pizza pan. Flatten into a 12-inch round circle, flattening and stretching the dough. If using a pizza stone, place the dough directly on baker's peels dusted with cornmeal.
11. Lift the edge of the dough up to create a lip around the edges. I simply pinched the edges up to create the rim like this. To prevent the filling from making your pizza crust soggy, brush the top lightly with olive oil. Using your fingers, push dents into the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Let rest for 15 minutes before topping.
12. Top with your favorite toppings and bake for 12-15 minutes. For the last minute, I move the oven rack to the top rack to really brown the edges. That's optional.
13. Slice hot pizza and serve immediately. Store leftover pizza covered tightly in the refrigerator and reheat as you prefer. Baked pizza slices may be frozen up to 1 month.

-------------------------

 

Since my husband wanted a breakfast pizza, I used my own breakfast creation. I made some homemade white sausage  gravy. This is as simple as combining 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons of flour in a saucepan over medium heat until the butter is melted (this is called a roux)....once the butter has melted add one cup of milk. Stir continuously until thickened. In a separate pan, fry up some ground sausage. Add one cup of cooked sausage to the white gravy mix as well as 1/4 - 1/2 tablespoon of pepper (depends on desired pepper flavor you want). Stir and keep warm over low heat until ready to use. 

I used this gravy in place of the pizza sauce (set a little aside for placing on top of the pizza if desired). I topped the sauce with some of the sausage, some small cubes of Canadian bacon, and some freshly grated mild cheddar cheese (quit buying the bag of cheese...grate the block of cheese, it's more moist and contains less preservatives...we're not Debbie Snacks, we don't need preservatives). Then I stuck it in the oven for 12-15 minutes. I pulled it out once I noticed the cheese was melted and the crust was a nice golden brown. I have a pizza stone from Pampered Chef, so I only had it in for the twelve minutes. Yours may vary...just watch it and be the judge.

My oldest son liked the breakfast pizza, but he prefers an all-American meat pizza. Since the dough recipe makes two pizzas worth of dough I made a sausage, pepperoni,and ham pizza with mozzarella as well.  He LOVED it! This is the first time we've had pizza in the house and it was all eaten the same day. This is certainly a go-to recipe for a great pizza crust in our house from now on. Let me know if you try it. I'd love to see what sorts of toppings you use.

Take care.

NB

 

100 Days of Pinterest: Days 27-32 - Cannoli Stuffed French Toast Recipe

Yep, I blog slacked again. I've been busy with work, my gardens, and planning my oldest son's 12th birthday. Time goes too fast and we are not given enough of it. On a positive note, I'd like to welcome my nephew, Bruce, to the world. My younger brother and his wife welcomed him to the world on Friday (5/16/2014). He's absolutely beautiful and perfect. I love his face!


See! He's perfectly adorable and lovable ---------------------->

Welcome to the family, Bruce! You have two amazing parents and you are one lucky little guy.

Now, on to my challenge. I have been busy attempting more Pinterest recipes and such. Mostly recipes, not as much such. My guys do not mind one bit! They are loving all of the different recipes. Some more than others. For example, I made the Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf and it wasn't as good as we would have liked. We're going to stick to regular old meatloaf.

Then we had super, fantastic, amazing triumphs. The Cannoli Stuffed French Toast was AMAZING! I'm thinking you could try it with cream cheese if you are not a ricotta cheese fan. However, it's a must try. Just be warned, it's rich and you'll want to eat it while it's hot off the stove. Otherwise, it just doesn't taste as good. Also, be sure to buy a loaf of french bread pre-sliced for the recipe as well. It's worth it. I had to double the recipe to feed all four of us, but it was a bit too much. It's a recipe to experiment with, but soooo good. Here's the recipe, originally found on Two Peas and Their Pod:

 

Cannoli Stuffed French Toast

Yield: Serves 2
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 18 minutes

We love making Cannoli Stuffed French Toast for special occasions. This French toast is definitely decadent!

Ingredients:

1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream (or milk)
4 slices French bread
2 tablespoons butter
Powdered sugar-for serving

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Stir in the mini chocolate chips. Set aside.
2. In a shallow bowl or pie plate, whisk the eggs and heavy cream together. Spread 2 slices of the bread with the ricotta mixture, about 1/2 cup per slice. Place the other slices of bread on top and gently press them together. Carefully dip both sides of each sandwich into the egg mixture until well coated.
3. In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the French toast sandwiches and cook until golden, about 4 minutes per side. Cut the sandwiches in half on the diagonal and transfer to plates. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve immediately.

----------------------------

My boys had some friends over this weekend and they were all outside playing basketball, so I made some Mini Pizza Cupcakes. These were a hit with the boys. I made one batch and within minutes they were asking for more. I ended up making two dozen of these suckers and it took barely any time at all. I used a fruit can to cut the tortilla rings and then I stuffed them with the pizza stuff, fresh grated mozzarella, and cooked them for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. They were good and a better alternative to pizza rolls.These are a great idea for a sleepover or even a football party.

Another nice discovery was the Easy Chocolate Buttercream Icing.  Since it's never a bad time to make cake, I called my youngest son to help me and we went to work. Since plain old vanilla cake is good, we decided to make it great. We added color to each level we made to add that little bit of color. My youngest son loves blue and my oldest likes pink, so we used both colors in our cake. In the icing it called for half and half. I don't use that, so I substituted Vanilla Soymilk instead. If you do not use certain ingredients in your home, Google search what items can be substituted. You'll be surprised what you can use in place of some ingredients (example: I Googled: substitutes for half and half).  I made this icing in my mixer and it turned out really nice and light. I didn't tell my husband I used the Vanilla Soymilk in the icing. He's already grossed out by anything that even remotely sounds healthy. He loved that cake and icing though. ;) Win!

One of my favorites this past weekend was the Mini Ciabatta Grilled Cheese sandwiches using Heini's Amish Milk Can Cheddar. Freakin' amazing. I added some roast beef to my husband's sandwiches. They were like mini Cheesesteak sandwiches. So good. I purchased the mini Ciabatta bread on markdown at my grocery store. I needed a break from making bread and these sounded good. They were. 



Yesterday, I decided to make some Crockpot Spicy Apple Butter. This was a lot of apple-peeling. I threw the peels into my compost pile afterwards, because it's good dirt nutrient. I threw a few of the peels into my crock pot for the vitamin aspect as well. The peels have all of the vitamins, so I couldn't resist. After I peeled the apples, quartered them, and added the other ingredients I set the timer for ten hours and walked away. Now, I did not make the full recipe. I actually cut it in half. I wasn't about to sit here and peel eight pounds of apples. Especially not knowing if it was a good recipe. Anyways, about an hour before the timer went off I used my potato masher to squish the crap out of the bigger chunks. I just wanted to make sure there weren't any apple floaters.  Afterwards, I canned them,put them in the water bath to seal them,  and I am planning on passing them around to friends and family. One word of advice for this recipe, do not buy the Chinese Five Spice in the regular spice section of the grocery store. I looked there first and it cost almost $7 for the bottle. I went to the Asian food section and found the Five Spice for just under $3. You can also purchase it on Amazon for pretty cheap too.

The nice folks at Dr. Bronner's sent me a sample pack of some of their amazing products to try. So far, all I've tried is the Lemongrass Lime Shikaki Soap and Sal Suds Liquid Cleaner. Both were equally amazing. I used the Sal Suds Liquid Cleaner to do a few loads of dishes and it had a really fresh, clean smell. It cleaned the dishes well and I'm considering switching to it over Dawn. The Lemongrass Lime Shikaki soap smells so good. You can smell lime right off the bat. It's invigorating smell is great and it doesn't seem to be drying out my hands either. Once I test the other ones I'll let you know my favorite one.


 To finish this post off I wanted to share our Kiwi and Grape Turtles. I made them and surprised my son with it. When I handed it to him and he first looked at it he immediately asked if he could keep it. Now, we have a lizard, a toad, two dogs, and a cat. I think rotten fruit would stink worse than our pets do.

I tried a few other Pins, like Panera Mac n Cheese and Jello Shaved Ice. If you want to see those recipes follow me on Pinterest at Woman in the Man Cave.

Take care.
NB