Friday, November 19, 2010

Home Made Laundry Detergent

‎4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar & Stain Remover (By Purex)
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

This recipe is from my friend Britney. Her son was allergic to store brand detergents so she decided to make her own! No more itchies!! This is soooo much better for our environment.

Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.


Note: All of the ingredients can be purchased at your local supermarket.  Fels-Naptha soap can be found either in the detergent aisle or the soap aisle.  You can also use Ivory Soap or Zote.

* If you don't have any Washing Soda, or can't find it at your local store, you can make it.  Pour 1 cup baking soda onto a cookie sheet, spreading it out evenly.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, stir, bake another 10 minutes.  You now have Washing Soda!

See this link to mix up a large batch of Washing Soda.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5859235_make-washing-soda.html


Monday, November 15, 2010

Home Made Dog Biscuits

Snoopy Sue's Snacks

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup non-fat powdered milk
1/4 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup cornmeal
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 egg
1 small jar strained real beef baby food
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
2 teaspoons sugar free applesauce
1/2 cup cold water

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Mix ingredients and knead for 3 minutes. Dough should form a ball. Roll to 1/2" thick and cut into dog bones. Dough should be stiff. Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet for 30 minutes. Allow the biscuits to dry out overnight on racks...out of reach of your dog!

Dogs love cheese, but most cheeses have a high salt content. If you want to add cheese to your dog biscuits, read the label before you buy this ingredient!

Check the baby food jar label to make sure the salt content is low, or find a no-salt meat baby food.

SALT - This is not good for your dog, because a dog's body cannot process salt. Salt can accumulate and cause kidney disease in old age. At any time in a dog's life, if salt is given in excess, it could cause your dog's kidneys to react and swell. Your dog would have to be totally without water for a period of days if this happens before the kidneys could function normally again (just think about how serious that is) if the dog survived.

Here is a story about these dog biscuits...
A co-worker's wife, Linda, came into the place where I was working in order to meet me because I gave her husband a bag of dog biscuits for their dog. No, I don't have a dog. I just like making the dog biscuits and hearing about how much my friend's dogs love them! Weird, but true. I had a bag left in my freezer and I just wanted to give them away before they got that old frozen fridge taste.

Linda said these were the first biscuits her dog had ever eaten without immediately throwing them up. Her dog has a very sensitive stomach and they've tried every biscuit on the market and her dog could not hold any of them down. Linda said she continued to buy the dog biscuits because her dog would beg for them. I thought that what they were doing must have been wreaking havoc on her poor little dog's stomach. But certainly I can understand that by not giving him the treats the poor little guy might think he was being punished. I have suspicions that her dog could have been allergic to the preservatives in the biscuits. I don't use preservatives, so the biscuits should be refrigerated or frozen until ready to use.

Linda thanked me for the complimentary bag of biscuits. I gave her the recipe (my own concoction above) and directed her to various websites where she could find more dog biscuit recipes to try. Don't you just love happy endings?

Other websites for your dog to peruse are: http://www.fuzzyfaces.com/lrecipe1.html

Another great site is www.bullwrinkle.com They have some really great peanut butter dog treats for you to copy.

This is going to sound funny, but another website with some great veggie dog treats is www.thepoop.com/pooppantry/champcheese.asp . My daughter’s dog went absolutely nuts over these.

Happy Baking!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Home Made Dishwasher Detergent

Today I made home made dishwasher detergent. Everything came out squeeky clean! Cost .81 cents to make 20 oz. In a plastic container mix together 1 cup Borax, 1 cup Baking Soda, 1/2 cup Kosher Salt. Shake. Pour 2 Tablespoons into first dispenser and 2 Tablespoon into the second dispenser.

Just experiment with the amount. It will probably depend on your dishwasher and how hot your water is. I used Normal Cycle. Will try energy miser... next time and see if I get the same results. I pour vinegar in the rinse dispenser instead of using expensive rinse aids. My friend Terry said she has been using vinegar as a rinse agent since forever! I only found out about this a few years ago, and now that is all I use. It's really all you need!

Sam's Club sells 5 lb. bags of Baking Soda for about
$6.00. Paid $3.99 for the Borax at Walmart today. I think I got the big box of Kosher Salt at Sam's Club too and it was relatively cheap. The yield and savings you are going to get from your small investment is enormous!

Dishwasher cycles, water usage and running times vary. If you find your dishes coming out a bit cloudy then just add a drop or two of hand dishwashing detergent. That should clear it up. Also, you should use the store bought dishwasher detergent at least once every 2 weeks to keep your dishwasher sanitized. Let me know how this works for you!