Homemade Dishwasher Powder & Homemade Laundry Detergent

If you read my blog regularly you've probably figured out that I'm cheap and that I don't think cheap is a dirty word. I'm proud to be cheap. I cut corners where I can so that we can put money in our savings account and take vacations. Also, having a bicoastal shared custody 8 year old becomes expensive. Plane tickets go up every day and the reality is that every flight is $200 more roundtrip if you have to pay an unaccompanied minor fee. Also, in general I like knowing what goes into all of my cleaning products. No mystery gels with "super power blaster beads" for me.
Awhile ago I started making my own laundry detergent. I realized soon after that most of the ingredients could also be used to make dishwasher powder and since I already planned on buying some citric acid for bath fizzies it was a double win. I'm putting these in the same post because I tend to try to make both at the same time so that I can determine whether ingredients need to be restocked.

Homemade Laundry Detergent  (batch costs 1.38= .05/load)
(makes roughly 30 oz)

You will need:
A container for the finished detergent
A box grater

1 cup borax 76 oz box is $4 at my grocery store, .05/oz, 8 oz used= .40
1 cup washing soda 55 oz box is $3.50 at my grocery store, .06/oz, 8 oz used= .48
1 bar Ivory soap (I buy 10/pks when they're on sale for $5 or less- .50/bar) .50

1. Gather ingredients.

2. Find a bored 8 year old to grate your soap. 

Fluffy grated soap. It comes out to about a cup and a half.

3. Add your other ingredients.

1 cup borax & 1 cup washing soda

Use a spoon to squash all the clumps out.

Transfer to your container. Mine is an old Charlies Soap Powder Container.

Shake it up to mix, or find a willing kid. 

Label & store. 

I have a scoop in mine that is a .5oz scoop- so one scoop per load. 

Homemade Dishwasher Powder (cost per batch $3.14- 4.50 depending on water hardness)
(makes roughly 28 oz)

You will need:
A quart size glass jar with a rubber seal - washed out and completely 100% dry
1 cup borax 76 oz box is $4 at my grocery store, .05/oz, 8 oz used= .40
1 cup washing soda 55 oz box is $3.50 at my grocery store, .06/oz, 8 oz used= .48
1/2- 1 c citric acid (use 1 c for hard water) 5 lb tub is $27.14/80oz=  recipe uses 4-8oz-  $1.36-$2.72
1/2 cup kosher salt $3.50 for a 16 oz box- 4 oz used= .90
A container to measure into
A measuring cup
A plastic spoon

1. Gather your ingredients.

2. In your tupperware container mix all of the ingredients- 1/2 cup- 1 cup citric acid (depending on water hardness), 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda, and 1/2 cup kosher salt.  It's fairly easy to find borax, washing soda and salt at the grocery store. I purchased my citric acid online. You can find it in stores in small quantities but it's far more cost effective to purchase it in larger quantities through Amazon. 

I use a plastic cup to measure everything. It's a 9oz glass so I fill it close to the top. 

Adding the kosher salt.

After I add all the ingredients into the tupperware I use a plastic spoon to squash any lumps in the powder. Sometimes the borax clumps in the box a bit and I want to make sure that everything mixes evenly. 

3. Transfer the powder to an airtight jar. It is super important that the jar is completely dry. Citric acid clumps if the least little bit of moisture is introduced- your powder will then harden and you will be using a butter knife to chip it out bit by bit (and then if you're me your husband will question whether it is really worth it to make your own dish powder). One trick I have found that works is to put a packet of silica gel (it comes in new shoes) into the container. If you use a needle and thread you can thread through the packet and twist the thread around the hinge on the jar so that the silica hangs above the powder and there's no chance you accidentally dose it into your dishwasher!

The scoop I use is a .5 oz scoop (tablespoon). This means that each load I run costs me .16 (it will be less if you don't have hard water). I also put a bit of vinegar into the rinse aid section of the dishwasher. A tablespoon or so per batch helps make sure the dishes don't cloud. Happy washing!

Last Minute Zombie Birthday Party

The best laid plans go awry. This is what I learned this week. This past Saturday we held my son's 8th birthday party. My husband gave me a hug right before the party and congratulated me on pulling it off. Then he admitted that if we had bet money he would have bet against me. Thanks dear.

The child had requested a zombie party. We're still in that phase where none of our friends have kids, my sister and her husband haven't produced any cousins yet, and my own cousins are not quite old enough to have kids. So, our parties tend to be more of adult affairs celebrating the birthday child. The plan had been that I would pick up my son in Boston (closest nonstop for an unaccompanied minor flight) and we would drive back up to Vermont . Arriving home in the early afternoon we'd prepare for the party and go grocery shopping. Easy right? Well, of course it didn't go like that. His flight arrived in over 3 hours late, putting us 4 hours behind schedule by the time we got his bag. We made it out of Boston close to 1pm. With a 3 hour and 45 minute drive ahead of us (not counting any stops) the fact that I'm in my 3rd trimester kicked in. Some annoying contractions which I counteracted by drinking water, translated to many many bathroom breaks. Sore to the core, gravity and my giant stomach were not friends. The boy? He slept happily. Upon arriving home close to 7pm I was so sore and cranky that a nap on the couch turned into bedtime.
Waking up at 6 am Saturday I quickly realized I had to throw an entire party together. I had spent some of my time in the airport writing out a grocery list and doing mock menus based on being cheap and easy. I had some chicken thighs in the freezer that had been marked down by $4 and luckily had remembered to take them out to thaw. I threw those into the crockpot with a can of Verner's ginger ale, a little rotisserie spice and enough water to cover the chicken. And then it came time to tackle cleaning... because the house needed to be ready for both guests and overnight guests. The boy sprayed wood cabinets and windexed things. The toddler loves the Swiffer so I decided to actually put a sweeper pad on it and she did a pretty decent job. My husband shuttled totes of junk upstairs out of sight. Running around like a maniac for a few hours and the house was cleaned, everyone was showered and dressed, 2 loaves of bread had been baked and 2 more were rising. It was time to grocery shop.
Upon arriving at the store I realized my list was home on the counter. So we winged it a bit. After managing a quick grocery run we arrived home with 1 hour to spare before folks were going to show up. After getting groceries put away, I had 40 minutes to throw it all together. The last 2 loaves of bread went in the oven and the 8 year old was recruited as my sous chef.
First order of business, apple slice mouths. I've seen these floating around on Pinterest and I thought they'd be good for the "undead" theme. After slicing the apples using a traditional apple slicer I cut each piece in half again. The skinnier the slices are the easier they are to work with.

Spray with lemon juice/water mixture to prevent browning. 

Spread a slice with peanut butter.

Add 3 mini marshmallows, making sure to leave space at the back of the slice.

Set a 2nd slice vertically upright on the back of the slice.  

Very smiley. 

And now to quickly throw together a meal! Grapes were washed, kiwis were cut, and additional plain apple slices were put out. A cup of vanilla yogurt was mixed with a tablespoon of honey and a teaspoon of lemon juice to make the quickest dip ever. The bread was sliced up, mayo and mustard were dished out, and lettuce, avocado, and cheese were sliced up. We went easy here- items were laid out on one large platter and on cutting boards. My husband was put on chicken shredding duty. He removed the skin and bones and shredded it so thoroughly that my son said "is that tuna?". 

Sliced sandwich making, sliced bread & condiments. 

Fruit plate and dip. 

Shredded chicken and "Zombie Blood Punch". 

And for the finishing touch to lunch we made up some Zombie Blood Punch. The container is a 4 liter container, roughly 135 oz. We mixed 24 oz of cranberry juice, 24 oz of apple juice, 48 oz of Hawaiian punch, and the remainder (roughly 39 oz) I filled with gingerale. It was delicious.

The cupcakes were popped into the oven to bake. I went easy here with a Duncan Hines chocolate mix. I've always found cupcakes easier for kids parties. 

Lunch went well and while everyone was hanging out I did a quick decorating job on the cupcakes. I mixed vanilla frosting with a few squeezes of red food coloring to yield a pink color. It went into a decorating tube with a skinny attachment and brains were created by simply squiggling back and forth on each side of the cupcake and drawing a line up the middle. I thought they looked pretty brainy and if I missed brains then they certainly hit on rib cages :). Mason jar iced tea and more punch went out for dessert. 

Cupcakes, punch, and iced tea.

Brain cupcakes.

And that's my version of the half day prep zombie party. What's the fastest you've every thrown a party together?

Wienerschnitzel, Spaetzle & Green Bean Salad- Oh My!

My husband is German. He's got the build, the forehead, the size and he even gets a little shaky and cranky when deprived of meat for too long :) Last night I had pork thawed in the fridge and decided to do a German dinner. The nice thing about wienerschnitzel is that a little goes a long way with the meat since it's breaded and there are multiple sides. I was able to squeeze two meals out of the meat instead of one (I threw some in the slowcooker with tomato sauce and we'll have pork spaghetti tonight). For sides I made spaetzle and a warm green bean, bacon & pear salad. I'll list out all the recipes & instructions seperately. It all came together nicely and the toddler loved her first taste of spaetzle.

She ate 2 bowls in a row very seriously.

Wienerschnitzel

(serves 2 adults & 2 kids- you'll want to up the meat if serving more than 2 adults)

3/4 lb of pork (I used pork sirloin steak because it had been on sale, pork chops or any other boneless flat pork cut will work.)

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 egg

1 lemon juiced and an additional 1/2 lemon for slices to serve with wienerschnitzel

1/3-1/2 cup vegetable oil

1. Mix together the breadcrumbs, flour, salt, paprika, and black pepper. I used a food processor because I was using homemade breadcrumbs and I wanted them to be a little finer. Pour the final mixture onto a plate. In the measuring cup beat an egg. Then pour the egg onto a second plate. Squeeze the juice from one lemon onto the plate with the egg. The juice will "fluff" up the egg a bit, so give it a quick stir to mix. 

2. Put your pork on a cutting board and cover with waxed paper. Pound each piece to flatten a bit. Your goal is around 1/4 inch thickness but it may be a little more depending on the cut. Think whack-a-mole. I hit my pork with a cast iron skillet because I don't have a meat tenderizing gavel thing. I pounded two pieces and cut them in half after they were flattened to make 4 servings. 

3. In a pan pour roughly 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. I used around 1/3 cup. You don't want to skimp on the oil because the less oil in the pan the more oil the crumb coating of the wienerschnitzel will absorb. Plus burning coating makes the whole meal taste gross. Heat the oil over medium until flicking a drop of water in it makes a sizzling noise. 

The whole bottom of the pan should be covered.

Dip the pork pieces first in the egg and then into the crumb coating. Flip to bread both sides. You can scoop more onto the pork to cover all spots but don't press the coating into the pork- this will make it fall off in the pan. Gently take the pork and put it into the oil. Cook for 4-5 minutes on the first side and about 3 on the second. You want the coating to be browned and crispy but not burnt. 

Serve warm with a slice of lemon. 

Spaetzle

(serves 4)

1 cup flour

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 eggs

1 TBS butter (not for dough- for later)

1. Start a large saucepan of water boiling on the stove. In a mixer, blend together dry ingredients and then add milk and eggs. 

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2. Spaetzle dough will come out very sticky and thick. Use a spatula to scrape the dough into a strainer (a plastic or metal one- not a mesh one!) unless you are lucky enough to have a spaetzle maker (I'm not). 

When the water is boiling bring the strainer over the pot and using every ounce of elbow grease you have scrape the spatula back and forth to force the dough through the bottom middle of the strainer. If you shake the strainer slightly little pieces of the dough will fall off the bottom and plunge into the boiling water. 

Push it through with the spatula. 

The pieces will fall through the bottom. 

The spaetzle will drop into the water and boil.

I cook the spaetzle for 4 minutes once the last one has dropped in. This takes a lot of elbow grease. If you're short you get better leverage standing on a footstool over the pot. Now an important note. Be lazy- don't try to wash the strainer and spatula that night. Spaetzle dough is like glue and it takes forever to scrub off. But if you let it dry it will peel off and poke out with a chopstick far more easily. 

3. Drain the water from the spaetzle and return to the pan with a tablespoon of butter. Give it a quick 2-3 minute saute. Serve warm. 

Green Bean, Bacon, and Pear Salad

(makes 4 side dish servings)

8 oz package frozen french cut green beans

4 slices of bacon

1 1/2 pears, diced

3 TBS white vinegar

1/2 TBS sugar

1. In a saucepan cook the 4 slices of bacon until crispy and then place on a paper towel to dry out. Do not dump the bacon fat. 

2. Make sure you have 1-2 tablespoons of bacon fat left in the pan. If you have more than that you can discard the excess. Add the green beans into the pan, they'll defrost and saute quickly. While they're cooking peel and dice the pear. I used 1 1/2 pears because I diced 1/2 of the second one for the toddlers dinner. Feel free to adjust to your taste. Add the pears to the pan. 

3. Cook for a minute to warm pears. Crumble the sliced bacon into the pan and add vinegar and sugar. Mix to coat and cook for a minute to make sure everything is warm. Pour into serving dish. 

Enjoy!

Make a Giant Fabric Softener Sheet

The pretty lavender towel is really a giant fabric softener sheet I made , and it makes the diapers smell nice :)

I make most of my own cleaners. I make a new batch of laundry detergent every couple of months, dishwasher detergent every month or so and some oven cleaner on occasion. I plan to felt some wool balls for my dryer but I haven't gotten around to it yet. In the meantime, I'm left with an assortment of laundry "accessory products" such as fabric softener and scented tablets that I don't use. Our laundry shares the front hall closet with our coats so minimizing items that need to be stored is at the top of my list as I reorganize that space.


I had seen posts flying around in cyberspace saying that you could create your own fabric softener sheets so I decided to give it a whirl. I was skeptical, I mean how long could it possibly last? Since I had extra fabric softener and was almost out of dryer sheets I decided I had nothing to lose.

You will need:
One spare hand towel or several washcloths (I chose to do a large hand towel as we have a dog and frequently wash large items like comforters and blankets)
Fabric Softener of your choice
A tupperware container that is missing it's lid (It's a good way to use up those lonely containers- I used my laundry detergent mixing container.)
A chopstick, or a poking tool of some kind
Plastic Gloves
Something large, plastic and flat to lay the towel on to dry (I used the lid to a rubbermaid storage tote)

1. Pour about 2-3 inches of fabric softener into your plastic container. I used a Target brand lavender scented one. I love lavender. Fold up your towel and shove it in on top of the softener.

Pour another inch or so on top.

Using a chopstick (we always seem to have some laying around) or another poking object push the towel down into the softener until the entire thing is saturated. Let it sit for about an hour occasionally poking it down into the softer to cover it.

Ok, at this point I stopped taking pictures. I was home by myself with the toddler and hadn't really thought through the fact that I would need two hands and not want to get my phone covered in lavender goo.

Put on gloves if you want, fabric softener can be really hard to fully rinse off your hands. Bring the tupperware container over to wherever your flat plastic drying surface is. Make sure that surface is out of the reach of little hands. Now you want to squeeze out the excess liquid without wringing it out. The idea is to leave some liquid to dry into the towel but not have it sitting in a puddle. The towel will take 1-2 days to fully dry depending on what kind of climate you live in. Mine ended up a pale shade of purple which is great. My husband knows we don't own any purple towels so he always puts it back in the dryer if he's the one to take the laundry out. One month later it is super soft and still smells fabulous, so the verdict is that it was worth it! Not only did I eliminate a bottle that I had been storing but my laundry smells awesome. 

Lime Coconut Sugar Cookies

I love treats. I do not claim this to be a healthful post, the cookies are sinfully delicious emphasis on the sin. Butter, sugar, coconut- they marry into a melt in your mouth cookie and the addition of lime zest and lime juice drive them over the top into magical territory. For years when I lived down in Boston one of my favorite treats was Dancing Deer Lime cookies. I had no self control. They came in 6 packs and they'd be gone in two days. These cookies remind me of them a little.

Lime Coconut Sugar Cookies (2.09/batch)
(makes 3 dozen)

1 stick of butter, softened a bit (1/2 cup) (2.99 for 4 sticks) .75
1 cup of sugar (3.99 for a 5 lb bag- 11 1/4 cups/bag) .35
1 egg (2.95/18 pack= .16/egg) .16
1 lime- you will use all the zest and all the juice .33
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt (reduce to 1/4 tsp if using table salt)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour (I buy 25lbs at a time for 11.99- it breaks down to 13 cents/cup) .20
1/2 cup coconut (14 oz bag is 2.69= .19/oz) .30

1. Preheat oven to 350. Put the butter in the mixer (if you're using one). If the butter isn't softened make sure you lock the top of the mixer otherwise it will "bounce" around as it mixes the cold butter. While the butter is creaming zest the lime and juice it.

I put the zest & juice in the same bowl since they're going to the same place.

2. Add 1 cup of sugar and beat until fluffy. 

Fluffy creamed butter and sugar.

Add the egg, lime juice & zest. Whip it until well mixed, then scrape the sides of the bowl to grab any missed bits and push them into the batter.

My father-in-law got me this cool finger scraper spatula thingie.

Start whipping the batter again and it will get to look like this:

3. Now it's time to add the dry ingredients. I add the baking powder, baking soda & salt first and mix it a bit to make sure they blend in properly with no clumps. Then the flour, and the coconut is added last. 

4. In a little bowl put a few tablespoons of sugar- in my experience it takes about a TBS per dozen. You want to use a spoon to scoop little pats of dough. Then gently roll them into a ball shape- it doesn't have to be perfect and spin them around in the bowl of sugar to coat. They will cook 1 dozen at a time on a sprayed cookie sheet. 

Make sure to keep the scoops small. They expand a bit when cooked.

Roll in sugar.

Space out on cookie sheet- I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't have parchment paper to cover my loved cookie sheet. 

The cookies will cook at 350 for 9 minutes. You can put the dough in the fridge between batches so that it doesn't get too soft but I do not recommend refrigerating the dough for any longer than 10 minutes. Because the dough is butter-heavy refrigerating for too long makes the cookies "melt" when they're cooking in the oven. When the cookies come out let them sit on the pan for a minute. Make sure when removing them from the sheet that you slide the spatula all the way underneath. If you press too high up on the side they can crumble. After removing them from the pan let them cool on a cookie rack. 

Enjoy! One of the things I love about these cookies is even though they aren't "healthy" they're perfect because I only want one or two with a cup of tea, whereas some other cookies I want to eat a dozen in a sitting.