Nap Time

Well, the baby is asleep, it's raining, and I have water brewing for peppermint tea, sounds like a perfect time to catch up on blogging.  I've been trying to upload some video's that I've finally gotten around to looking at of Ingrid's birthday party, but it doesn't seem to be working right now!  (If any one knows of any "tips" to get it to work, please share!)

So instead, I will share my recipe for home made whole wheat bread!  I got this recipe from my mother-in-law, who is the master of all things home made!  In fact, in this recipe I use white whole wheat, if you've never tried it drop whatever you are doing and run to the grocery store!  It's fairly expensive, but we get it from Michael's mom, who has a flour grinder.  She buy's it from a farmer in New Richland.  I don't think I could ever go back to regular whole wheat!  In fact, yesterday I made cookies with it (and since it's whole wheat I don't feel so bad about giving Ingrid a bite..or two...or three).  It tastes a lot like white four, so the possibilities are endless!  It makes me feel good that I know exactly what is going into this daily "staple", and really-what smells better than home made bread?!  (Last night we watched Food Inc. and it encouraged us even more to know where our food is coming from, and exactly how it got to our plate...more postings on that to come)

For the Bread Maker:

Ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

1 1/4 cup of hot water

2 Tablespoons of oil

3 cups of white whole wheat flour (regular flour will work too)

3 Tablespoons of sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast

Directions

Put Ingredients in bread maker in order listed above, set your bread maker and enjoy!  It's that simple!!


Now it's time for me to go down stairs, enjoy my tea, the rain, and the last few chapters of Order of the Phoenix! (I love love love love Harry Potter...do you still like me?)

Wordless Wednesday

Decorating with Vintage Hats

Finally!  I finally finished the last "weird" corner that was undecorated in Ingrid's bedroom!  Since we've moved in I've been trying to decide what to put on this unfinished wall space, and when Michael brought home a few of his Grandma's vintage hats, I knew I had the answer!!  (I tried them on, and clearly wearing them was not the right option)  

My favorite pajamas

I love when Ingrid wear's these pajamas...they just scream "cuddle me"  (good thing she is such a snuggle bunny lately!)

Walking to mommy....(she is getting better and better everyday.  Just the other day she walked from the living room into the dinning room!  It's weird....and wonderful!)

Home Made Floor Cleaner

For a few years now, Michael and I (okay, really just Michael) have been making our own home cleaning products.  It's amazing that you can make everyday products like floor cleaner, window cleaner, and even oven cleaner from ingredients in your own pantry.  I am sharing the recipe we use for home made floor cleaner, and best of all-it will hold up to even the most obsessive clean freak (pointing fingers at myself)!

HOME MADE FLOOR CLEANER

1/8 cup liquid dish soap (we like to use method, or seventh generation)

1/2 cup of white vinegar

1/2 cup of very strong peppermint tea

DIRECTIONS

Mix ingredients well.  Add a few tablespoons to hot water, crank up the tunes, and clean the house!

(one of our favorite things about this recipe is that it is non-toxic and won't aggravate my husbands asthma, also (and this is a BIG plus) if little hands happen to get into it, the most it would do is give an upset stomach.  No need to call poison control if ingested!  Although we wouldn't recommend drinking it....)

Family Favorite

This is a couldn't be simpler recipe that we like to use for lunches (but it works great as an appetizer as well).  It's fast, easy, and best of all-Ingrid Nightingale loves it!  

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Butter

Garlic Salt

Dry (or fresh if you have it) Parsley

Mozzarella Cheese

Tomato and Basil Feta Cheese

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees (we like to use our toaster oven as often as possible-it's a great energy saver!).  Split pita bread in half, and butter.  Sprinkle on garlic salt and parsley.  Top with cheeses.  Seriously, an you get any easier?  We like to pair it with fresh vegetables from the garden (courtesy my in-laws) like cucumber, bell peppers, and carrots.  In the words of Rachel Ray..."Yum-O"

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Since Michael and I have been married we have tried to make anything and everything homemade.  With both economical and environmental benefits, searching how to make everyday items from scratch has proven to be a fun challenge.  So I am starting a string of postings about the items that we make at home.  This first posting will be about our homemade laundry detergent.  We have been making our own detergent for about two years, and it has worked great!  

Ingrediants

2 cups of Arm & Hammmer Washing Soda (found in laundry detergent aisle)
2 cups of BORAX
1 quart of water
2 gallons of water
Essential Oil (any kind you like, we used lavender)
5 Gallon Pail

Directions
1. Grate 2 cups of Kirk's Castile Bar Soap and add to 1 quart of boiling water, stir well until dissolved.

2. While soap is dissolving in boiling water, measure out 2 cups of Washing Soda, and 2 cups of Borax into 5 gallon pail.
3. Once soap is well dissolved in boiling water, add to 5 gallon pail of Washing Soda & Borax and stir well.
4. Add 10-20 drops of your favorite essential oil and stir well
5. Add 2 gallons of water to mixture and stir well.
6. VUALA! Homemade laundry detergent- average cost per batch, $3.00- better for you, the environment and your pocket book! Fun stuff.

NOTES
*We poured desired amount into an empty laundry detergent bottle-use 1/4 cup per load of laundry. This mixture will become very gel-like, so make sure to shake very well before each use. 

*On average this cost $0.01 per load!  Can't beat that!!!