Tuesday, October 22, 2013

More Homemade Cleaners

I've still been mixing around with trying out homemade home cleaners and beauty products. Most are pretty simple variations on what I've already been doing, but with just a touch of this or a dab of that some products can be even better. Here are the original, basic recipes for cleaning.

Cleaning Paste:
This is a bit more complicated to make than the baking soda/washing soda mix I usually have but, not surprisingly, it works well. About the equivalent of the Magic Erasers.
1/2 cup soap flakes, 1 cup chalk, 1/2 cup baking soda, 3 tablespoons glycerin.

Furniture Polish:
1 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon lemon or orange oil.

Glass Cleaner:
Works much better on glass than the General Purpose Cleaner
1/4 cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 2 cups warm water.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner:
I like just using baking soda to clean toilets but this is a better disinfectant
1 cup borax, 1/2 cup white vinegar.

Oven Cleaner:
1 box baking soda, 1/4 cup washing soda

Stain Cleaning:
        Blood, Chocolate, coffee: Soak in 1/4 cup borax, and 2 cups cold water
        Grease: Cornstarch and water. Let dry and brush away
        Red Wine: Sprinkle with salt
        Grass: Soak in 2% hydrogen peroxide
        Ink: Cream of tartar and lemon juice

Fabric Softener:
1/4 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup vinegar

Mildew:
2 parts salt, 1 part lemon

Mold:
1/2 cup borax, 1/2 vinegar, 1 cup water

Carpet:
1 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup lavender. Sit 30 minutes then vacuum.

Silver Polish:
White toothpaste

Drain Cleaner:
1/2 cup baking soda, 1 cup vinegar, 1 gallon hot water

Car Wash:
7 tablespoons beeswax, 12 tablespoons carnauba wax, 2 cups mineral oil, 4 tablespoons turpentine, 1 tablespoon pine oil


I'm planning to get together all of these recipes onto a printable sheet so you can have it at all time. Be sure to check back for that.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Fall Recipes


Marble Spice Cake:
This is my husband's favorite cake and it falls under that category of "semi-homemade." Its one of the first recipes I came up with mee-self.
I added some ghosts and bats and pumpkins. You know, to give it the appropriate level of Halloween spookiness.

Take a box of yellow cake mix and a box of chocolate cake mix and prepare in separate bowels according to instructions on back of the box. Add about 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ginger, and 2 teaspoons nutmeg to EACH cake.
Drop six big scoops of chocolate cake in 2 round cake pans (three drops per pan), leaving space between each drop. Now add six big drops of yellow cake next to chocolate. Take a knife and lightly swirl the yellow into chocolate. Be sure not to swirl too much or it'll blend.
Bake according to box instructions.
Make basic buttermilk frosting. Add cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. When cakes have completely cooled, frost.


Apple Cheddar Soup:


I got this recipe from the Food Network Magazine, but I made a couple of changes to it. It's surprisingly tart, and really beautiful. Kind of like potato soup but with a much lighter feel.
Cook half a pack of bacon in a soup pot. Remove the bacon and half of the drippings, and add 1 diced onion, 2 peeled and chopped apples (I like McIntosh the best for this, but Granny Smith will work too), and one peeled and chopped potato.Cook until tender. Season and add 3 cups chicken broth, 1 cup applesauce, small bit (2 ts or so each) of cinnamon and ginger. Continue cooking until potato is soft, then blend. Stir in 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. Top with more cheese, crumbled bacon, and chives.


Oatmeal Porridge:


I just learned this great recipe from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. I really love this book because, although it can get a little preachy at times, it mostly just focuses on traditional diets that have been shown by "modern science" to have a lot of really great and healthy things in them, especially when prepared in a traditional way. This oatmeal really sticks to your belly, and it's more like natural yogurt, with a soury taste, which is wonderful once you add honey or maple syrup to it.

Soak 1 cup oatmeal in 1 cup water with 2 tablespoons of buttermilk. Soak for at least 7 hours or up to 24.
Add another 1 cup of water with scant salt and boil for 3 minutes until oatmeal is soft. Serve with butter, cream, honey, syrup, jelly, yogurt, or fresh fruit.



Pepper Pork Chops with Rice:
This is one of my favorite recipes because it's so simple but really packs quite the flavor punch.

Dice small pie pumpkin and 1 onion. You'll need to make the pumpkin pieces small so they cook quickly. Sautee in olive oil and remove from pan when tender. In the same pan, brown pork chops. Heavily salt and pepper, using large flakes of pepper. Use at least 3X what you normally would. Add 2 tablespoons butter and put in oven at 350 for 45 minutes. While the pork is cooking, cook wild rice. Combine onions and pumpkin into rice. Serve pork chops on top of rice.

The Self Sufficient HomeAcre