Best Bathroom/Kitchen Cleaner

I told you in my last post that I was going to be giving you recipes for homemade cleaners.  This is by far the most fantastic recipe I have for grout, and soap scum.  I am going to give you an alternative recipe too, but by far my favorite is the first one. It is well worth going to the health food store to have in stock the essential oils used.  Not only can you use them in homemade cleaners, but you can also add them to other recipes such as the body balms I have posted long ago.

1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup washing soda*
1/2 cup liquid castille soap**
25 drops tea tree essential oil
10 drops lemon essential oil
10 drops peppermint essential oil
2 tablespoon white vinegar

*Washing soda can be found in the laundry soap aisle of your grocery store.  It is usually located by laundry booster type products.

**Liquid castille soap can be bought at the health food store (usually Dr. Bronners is sold there).  A better option is Trader Joes brand.  Dr. Bronners brand has freakish literature on the label which I do not support!

All you do is mix all the ingredients together and store in an airtight container.  I find a Mason jar with the plastic lids they sell for Mason jars to work best.  To use, place a small amount of the cleaner on a toothbrush (for cleaning grout) or a sponge (for sinks).  Dampen it a little, and scrub away! It works and smells so good you will want to clean your bathroom every day!  O.K., maybe that's just me, but nonetheless it works great.

The alternative recipe is this:

1/4 cup baking soda
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/8 cup fine sea salt
2 tablespoons liquid castille soap or dish soap
enough white vinegar to make a paste

Mix and use just as the other.

Glass Cleaner

A big part of my day involves cleaning.  No big surprise there right.  I am a mother of four and I love to entertain so it basically comes with the territory.  A couple of years ago when I took the plunge into making my own laundry soap, I decided to buy as little other cleaning products as well.

My sister and I were so excited to share these cleaning products with others. We used the talent of my oldest daughter (a photographer and graphic designer) to make us labels, made lots of product,  rented a table at the local farmers market and stood in 100 degree heat.  I would love to say it went fantastic, but it did not.  In fact, we had so many left over products that I just recently ran out of cleaners and needed to make more.  

I would like to take the next few posts to give out some of the recipes my sister and I use to clean our homes.  I did post the laundry detergent quite a while ago.  You can search for it in the search bar along the side of this blog.  As for now, here is how I make my glass cleaner.

What you need:

1 spray bottle

1/4 cup rubbing alcohol

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 tablespoon corn starch (optional, but I really to include it)

2 cups warm water

Put all the ingredients in the spray bottle and shake it up (if you are adding the corn starch, shake before each use as the corn starch will settle on the bottom).  Now you have a couple of reasons to smile.  One, you just saved some money over buying traditional glass cleaner and you have a better product.  Two, you don't have to worry about breathing in the fumes! 

Marked

"And you were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked with him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit..." - Ephesians 1:13

It was a crisp fall morning when I entered the house returning from a run.  My husband approached me with a smile and said he bought me something.  A little confused, knowing it was too early for him to have gone anywhere, I asked him what it was.  He winked and said he bought a "toy" and really wanted to keep it.  I knew exactly what he was talking about at this point and played along.  

You see, my son loves Disney movies, especially Toy Story.  Sometimes when I enter a room he spontaneously plops down and stares off into space like he is Woody not wanting to be caught talking or playing by a human.  Well, Ron and I really started playing this up, pretending to pull a cord to hear him speak and soon the conversation came around to Ron putting his name on his foot so that everyone would know he had an owner.  To say RJ was pleased with this idea would be an understatement!  He giggled when Ron was writing his name and then looked more satisfied with the results than Woody did when Andy had done the same to him.  

My husband and I thought at the same time what an example this is of what Christ has done for us.  Ephesians 1:13 says, "And you were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked with him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit..."

The word "DAD" has been washed off my son's foot after a couple of showers, but how comforting to know that our heavenly Dad has him marked with a permanent seal that will never be washed off.  When you trust all that Christ has done for you, you too have a seal, a promise from the Jesus who has never broken a covenant, ever.

Chicken Nuggets

Recently my sister told me she found a recipe for chicken nuggets.  My little guy loves chicken nuggets but I always cringe when buying them because who really knows what are in them?  I adapted this recipe from what I found from this blog.  My family really enjoyed them and I am sure you will too.  I advice three things after making these that I would like to pass on to you.  First, invest in a cookie scoop.  It will make the job go so much quicker! Second, double the recipe and keep some on hand in the freezer for a quick snack.  Thirdly, if you do not have a way to grind your meat at home, using already ground chicken that you buy at the store works just fine too.

Here is what you need:

Chicken Mixture:
 4 1/2 chicken breast cup up (or 2 pounds of ground chicken)
1 egg beaten
1 1/2 teaspoon salt*
1 teaspoon celery salt (I did not have any and likewise left it out, it tasted fine to us without!)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper*
*note that using Kosher salt and coarse black salt taste best, but use what you have on hand

Egg Wash:
2 beaten eggs

Seasoned Flour:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Frying:
I used canola oil in my deep fryer, but you could also pan fry them.

Grind up the chicken. Or, open your package of already ground chicken from the store!  Mix the chicken with 1 egg, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon celery salt (if using), 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Using a wire whisk, blend together 1 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, 1/4 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder.

Beat together 2 eggs for the egg wash.

Using a cookie scoop, or your hands, roll 1 1/2 tablespoon of the meat mixture into balls.  Dip the balls into the seasoned flour and flatten the balls down with your fingers.

Take the flattened balls and dip them in the egg wash.  Place them on a cookie sheet that is either sprayed or parchment lined because they will start to stick.

Place the chicken pieces back in the seasoned flour mixture.

Now they are ready to be fried.

I used a deep fryer for mine, but it would be easy to pan fry them also.  Just fry until they are golden brown on both sides.

Enjoy!

Pesto Sauce

This past Friday we were with our small group from church and the hostess made the most incredible pesto pizza.  That reminded me that I needed to gather my basil from the garden before the cold weather claimed it.  I had enough to quadruple the recipe so I thought I would show you a neat trick my sister taught me.  Using muffin tins you can freeze them in convenient portions.

What you need:
 4-5 cups fresh basil
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts, almonds, or walnuts
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cloves crushed garlic

Gather approximately 5 cups of basil and wash it.  Combine all the other ingredients and place in a blender and blend until well combined.  If you are not going to use it right away, it can be frozen.  Follow the next steps to freeze.

Spoon the mixture into muffin tins.  No need to oil it first, there is enough oil in the mixture to keep it from sticking too bad. Place the filled muffin tins in the freezer until frozen through (a couple of hours).

After frozen through, run a knife around each circle of pesto and pop out with a spoon.  Take each pesto round and place in a freezer bag.  To use, defrost and store in the refrigerator.  Try using it like my friend did in place of sauce and cheese on a pizza crust, topped with tomatoes.

Origami Leaves

Fall is many peoples favorite time of year.  I am guessing it is not because we are one step closer to winter, but because of the beautiful fall colors.  I love the oranges and reds that this season of Autumn brings outside.  Gathering these warm colors into my home is something I look forward to every year.
 I was working on an origami project with my oldest daughter a couple of weeks ago and I had so much fun with it I decided to make these leaves to hang from my chandelier and place around my mantle.  I found this great website that has step by step instructions.  You can get to it by clicking here.  I should also mention that you use square pieces of paper to make origami.  To make the "maple leaf" I used pages from a garden book. I chose fall colored pictures.  You could also use magazine pages. If you go this route you only need color on one side of the page.  The size paper I used for this was approximately 9X9 which produced a 4X4 leaf.  For the "dead leaf" I took a 12X12 piece of scrapbooking paper and quartered it first (so I got 4 leaves out of 1 piece of paper).  It produced a leaf that was approximately 8X8.  If you choose to use a magazine page for this kind of leaf, you will see both sides of the page.
I hope you have a great time with this project.  Please post a comment and let me know how it went for you.  I would also love it if you became a member of this blog, it helps keep me motivated to post more things for you!

Pecan-Crusted Pork with Orange-Maple Glaze

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens/Jill Lust

Pork is just not a meat that I prepare very often.  It's not that I don't like it, in fact I love it.  But the only time I really think about serving it is this time of year because it always sounds good with applesauce.  Apples are a fall fruit, so I guess that's why I am thinking about it now.  Although this recipe doesn't call for apples, it does have two unusual ingredients that I never considered putting together with pork, maple syrup and pecans.  I found the recipe in the September issue of Better Homes and Gardens and just made it for lunch.  It was delicious, a perfect spicy/sweet combination.

Here is what I used to make 4 lunch servings:

6 pieces of pork tenderloin cut to 1/2 inch thickness
salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup pecan pieces, finely chopped
2 tablespoons oil (approximately) to brown the meat
2 oranges (1 juiced, 1 sectioned)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Season the pieces of pork with salt and pepper.

Pour 3 tablespoons of maple syrup on a plate.  Pour 1 cup of chopped pecans on another plate.  Coat either side of the pork pieces first in the syrup, then in the pecans.

Heat the oil in a skillet on medium high heat.  Add the pork pieces and brown on either side.  It only takes about 4 minutes on each side to cook it through if your pieces are cut to 1/2 inch thickness.

Set the browned meat aside and make the sauce.  To do this, squeeze the juice from 1 orange (or use 1/4 cup orange juice) and combine it with 1 tablespoon maple syrup, 1/4 teaspoon cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Pour the sauce back in the skillet you browned the meat in.  Let simmer until slightly thickened.

Section an orange and place on the pork.  Pour the thickened sauce over the meat platter.

Serve it up while it is nice and warm.  A good side dish is rice and a steamed green vegetable like beans or pea pods.