Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

For a while now, I have been looking for a good homemade dishwasher detergent that I could make.  I was so sick of buying it when I knew I could make it cheaper.  I did a little research and this is what I came up with...

Dishwasher Detergent

What you need:

1 cup of Borax
1 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Lemi-Shine
1/4 cup salt

Just mix them all together and use 1 tablespoon per load.  Be sure to store it in an airtight container so that it doesn't clump.



I used distilled white vinegar as a rinse agent.  I don't know if I actually needed that because I don't normally use anything but since there were a lot of recommendations for it, I thought I would do it.  What would it hurt...

The first time that I ran a load, I couldn't see a difference from the store bought but the second load I saw a difference.  It made the plastic storage containers a little cloudy.  So, since I really wanted to use the stuff I decided to turn my water temperature back up on my water heater (I just turned it down last week).  I am pretty sure that did the trick because the next load of dishes that I ran didn't have the cloudiness on the plastic.  It might cost a little more for the extra heat but it saves a ton by not buying the store bought kind.

Just a note:  Some recipes called for you to use lemon drink packets instead of the Lemi-shine but they mentioned that the drink mix, over time, would stain the inside of the dishwasher detergent slot.  I don't know if that matters to some of you but I decided against it.

Now I just need to find a good recipe for disposable cleaning wipes.  I hate buying those too.  I usually have coupons but it still can get pricey when you have these many boys in the house.  I wish they would just aim...

Blueberry Crumb Coffee Cake

Made something a little different today.  Delicious!!!  It is so moist and tasty...
I got this recipe off of Pinterest and I did pin it to my board if anyone wants to look me up on there.  I try to move the pins that I have done to the folder labeled Stuff I've made, done, or tried.  I am a little slow at that though.  There has been so much that I have done that I haven't moved yet.

Thought it would be good to mention that I left the cardamom out of this recipe.  That isn't a spice I have in my spice cabinet.  It turned out awesome without it...  Oh, and I also made my own buttermilk.  I used 1/2 cup milk with 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice.  Some people use white vinegar in place of the lemon juice (your choice).

Blueberry Crumb Coffee Cake

Ingredients
Crumb topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 cup butter, softened
Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 cups fresh blueberries (or frozen but DO NOT thaw)

Preheat oven to 375F.  Grease a 9x9 inch pan and set aside.  In a medium bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients, mixing together with a fork until crumbly; set aside.  In another medium size bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

In a large size bowl, cream together the remaining butter and sugar.  Blend in the egg and vanilla until smooth.  Blend in the flour mixture and cream alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Fold in the blueberries.  Be careful to not squish the berries.  The batter with be really thick.  Even thicker if you use the frozen berries (which I did).

Spread the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle with the crumb topping.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  Cool and cut into 9 large squares.

Lemon Bars

Of all the recipes that I have for lemon bars, I would have to say that this is my favorite.  It is made with fresh lemons and has a cookie type crust...
I believe this recipe originally came from Pillsbury but I am not completely positive on that.  I've had it a while and came across it on Pinterest so decided to start making it.

Lemon Bars

Makes 36 bars (depending on size)

Ingredients:

Crust
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel





Filling
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice

You will need about 2 fresh lemons for this recipe.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  In a large bowl, beat flour, sugar, butter (I have made these with butter and margarine and it turned out awesome either way), and peel until crumbly.  You can do this by hand or with an electric mixer.  Press mixture evenly in bottom of ungreased 9x13 inch pan.  Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

2.  Meanwhile, in a  large bowl with a wire whisk, lightly beat eggs.  Beat in remaining filling ingredients (except lemon juice and lemon peel).  When all the ingredients are well blended, then mix in the lemon juice and peel.

3.  Remove the crust from the oven and pour filling evenly over warm base.

4.  Return to oven;  bake 25 to 30 minutes longer or until top is light golden brown.  Cool completely (about 1 hour).

5.  In a small bowl, mix 1 cup of powdered sugar and enough lemon juice for desired spreading consistency until smooth.  Spread glaze over cooled bars.  Cut into bars.  These bars are a bit gooey so don't be alarmed if they do not cut into perfect squares.  Store in refrigerator.  The recipe calls for you to serve at room temperature but I like them at refrigerator temperature too.

Kitchen Cabinet Refinishing

This is one of the most time consuming projects I have ever done.  It might not seem like much to the average person but it took me months of working on it little by little.

We are on a very limited budget, as most are, and couldn't afford to replace the cabinets in our kitchen.  I really didn't want to gut the kitchen out anyway.  Also, the cabinets are really sturdy so it didn't really make much sense to tear them out.  It is a very small kitchen which made it difficult to maneuver around everything while working on it.  I still have some things to do but I can't believe what a difference paint and knobs can make...

Before:

My upper cabinets had so much grime on them from dirty fingers and the paint was wearing off from so much scrubbing.

The same with the lower cabinets.
They were so disgusting!!!

The doors had to be cut down  because they would not close properly.  The previous owners just slapped some wood up to use as doors and painted them.  They didn't close and the didn't match.  The wood was all chipped too.  I tried to fill as many holes as I could but there wasn't much I could do with some of it.   

 As you can see, they were really bad...


















After...

The upper cabinets now...

The lower cabinets...

There is still stuff I want to do but until I am able to take a trip to my favorite store (Ikea), it will have to wait.

I plan to replace all of the counter tops with butcher block.  I have already replaced the island top with it and it made such a difference.  Plus, it really isn't that expensive and it is durable.

There are other little things I plan to do too.  I purchased some inexpensive peel and stick tiles from The Home Depot and plan to line the bottom of my cabinets with that.  It will make it look cleaner...







My next project for the kitchen (until I can purchase the butcher block) is to repaint the island.  My brother-in-law built it for their kitchen and when they remodeled they passed it on to me.  I love it but my kids are really making it look grungy.  Plus I want to make it "pop" by painting it a deep red color...

Money Filled Balloons

It's been a couple of busy weeks for this momma.  I enjoyed the time I had with my kids but I am kind of glad that they are back in school now.  The little boogers were really lucky because thanks to the super cold weather their Christmas vacation was extended three extra days.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays.  I definitely did.  So did my kids.  I was going to post this one before Christmas but thought I should probably wait because I did not want my son to see it.  Not that he takes the time to look at the stuff I do but I didn't want to take the chance.
The only thing my son requested for Christmas was a PS4 and I definitely was not willing to get him that.  Since I wasn't willing to do that he asked for money to go towards the purchase of one.  Now that I could do...

I am not the kind of person that likes to give money as gifts so I have to be a little creative.  Gift cards are always an option but I think that limits where the shopping can be done, so I decided against that. It was a good decision because almost all the stores were sold out of the PS4.  I looked at 4 different stores before I found one for him.

My gift to my son...

I really made him work for this.  He had to open a large box and a large gift bag and pop 30 balloons to get his gift.  They were the good balloons too so it took a little extra effort to make them pop. lol
It took him longer to open his gifts than anyone else which in my book was great.  Normally he is done and wanting to take his stuff upstairs before everyone else is done opening their gifts.

I think the hardest part of this gift was finding boxes to put the balloons in.  Plus maybe going to the bank to get a bunch of five dollar bills.  I took a few pictures as I was putting it all together.  Not that you couldn't imagine what everything looked like but pictures are nice regardless.

 









I have a few more posts that I plan to do today so keep checking.  Like I said, I was a busy momma so I have a lot to share.  All it takes is time which is in short supply for me these days.