Easter Preparation the GREEN Way

In time for Easter preparation here are a few GREEN tips and tricks.  :-)

Last year I posted Coloring Easter Eggs I and Easter "jello" eggs.  Check those out too.  :-)

Hard Boiled Eggs, the right way :-)  Thank you Jessica for this idea!!  :-)
Serves 12
Nobody likes overcooked, rubbery breakfast or Easter eggs. Here's how to get perfect hard-cooked or soft-cooked eggs every time with no guessing.


Ingredients
1 dozen large eggs

Method
Arrange unshelled large eggs in a pot that is wide enough to allow for a single layer. Cover eggs by 1 inch with cool water. Over medium-high heat, bring water just to a boil.

Remove pot from the heat, cover with a snug lid and set aside for 12 minutes (or 3 to 5 minutes for soft-boiled eggs). Using a slotted spoon, transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water, stirring gently to cool them down. Once cooled, pat eggs dry and store in the refrigerator until ready to use, or peel immediately and serve.

For accurate timing, be sure to choose the right pot for the right job. If you're only cooking a few eggs, use a small saucepan; for a dozen eggs, use a large, wide pot so that the eggs are arranged in a single layer.  No kidding, these are the best hard boiled eggs I have ever tasted.



Nutrition:  Per serving (1 egg): 80 calories (50 from fat), 5g total fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 185mg cholesterol, 60mg sodium, 1g total carbohydrate (0g dietary fiber, 1g sugar), 6g protein

Naturally and Safely Coloring Easter Eggs (and can save you money) II
Color your Easter eggs with dyes made at home using fruits, vegetables and spices. Experiment with other colorful ingredients such as red cabbage, blackberries, coffee, tea, ground paprika or grape juice, too, if you like.

Ingredients
2 cups roughly chopped, raw beets (for pink/red)
OR
2 cups blueberries, crushed (for blue/purple)
OR
1 teaspoon ground turmeric (for yellow)
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
Hard-boiled eggs (see recipe above)
Wax crayon (the ones with no color just wax)

Method
Put your choice of coloring ingredient (beets, blueberries or turmeric) into a small pot with 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, discarding any solids, and then stir in vinegar. Set aside to let cool until warm or room temperature.

To color eggs, submerge in dye, turning often for even coating, until desired color is reached. For more colors, dye eggs first in one color, then wipe dry and dye in a second color.

Happy Easter!!

*Information from Whole Foods Markets webpage.  

Homemade Laundry Detergent (easy and $0.06 per load!)

Well I am starting to settle back in after the holidays, so now it's time to start blogging again.  


So, I ran out of my wowgreen laundry detergent and now it is time to give a homemade version a try.  ;-)  Today is my third time making this laundry detergent and I can tell you that I LOVE IT!  My clothes are super clean and super soft and when I think back to my days of using Tide and Downy, I cringe.  There are so many bad things in most commercially sold laundry detergent.  I always wondered why I had a rash on my arms where my shirt lays on my skin...when I stopped using detergent from the stores.....the rash went away.  And most commercially made detergents do not get rid of the dirt in your clothes, they simply cover your clothes in artificial fragrances.


So, if you have 5 minutes or less, you can make this detergent.   

You can see how it separates.  So shake well.

It will look cloudy.  That is normal.

I bought this shot glass/measuring cup at WalMart.  It has oz and tsp.

I leave my measuring cup in there so it is always clean and ready.

What you need......
Gallon jug/jar of some kind (if you use a milk jug, clean well with white vinegar, soap just does not kick the milk smell. I use a white vinegar plastic bottle and I love it.)
1 cup Dr. Bronners liquid castile soap (baby soap-no fragrance) (Target, Whole Foods and Amazon.com sell)
1 cup baking soda or washing soda (I use baking soda)
1/3 cup salt
2 cups of warm water
White vinegar- make sure you only buy vinegar made from corn, Target sells. the bottle will say what it is made from.  Non-gmo is the best if you can find it.  
5 minutes of your time


Whisk or stir with a fork the salt and baking soda into 1 cup of the water, making a roux.  Continue adding the remaining 1 cup of water, pouring while whisking or stirring until the baking soda and salt are dissolved (this will minimize any clumps).  Pour this warm water, salt and baking soda solution into your 1 gallon jar or jug.   Pour the 1 cup of Dr. Bronners into the gallon jar or jug.  And fill your jar with water.  


Shake your jar or jug like crazy before pouring detergent into your washer.  You will see how the ingredients separate.  Use 1/4-1/2 cup per load when you wash.  Depending on how dirty the load of clothes is.  Add a tablespoon or 2 of the white vinegar to your wash during the rinse cycle.  This works as an effective fabric softener and disinfectant.  


All of the amounts (detergent and white vinegar) will depend on the hardness of your water.  You may want to use less water when making your detergent to make it concentrate, or increase how much you use per load and the same with the white vinegar, increase or decrease depending on the hardness of your water.)


We have a water softener, a front load He washer and I am using 1/4 cup detergent and white vinegar every other load.  (I started just using the detergent and no white vinegar, I just wanted to see what the detergent would do on its own, and it did great.  I have had a few loads with static problems, in which I throw a Melaleuca fabric softener sheet in (used only in the winter months, Melaleuca still uses artificial fragrance in their fabric softener sheets, so I don't use unless our clothes snap crackle and pop when I take them out of the dryer.  :-) )


If you want a little fragrance to your clothes, add a cotton ball with drops of essential oils on it to your clothes in the dryer.  Lavender smells amazing.  But don't expect your clothes to smell like they did when you were using Downy fragranced softener.  :-)  The essential oils give a subtle, soft fragrance to your clothes.


I have no complaints and I have been using this recipe for homemade detergent for 2-3 months now.  Like I said earlier though.....SHAKE WELL before using. :-)


Notes:
-Do not add essential oils to your washing machine.  This could break down the fibers in your clothes, which would lead to holes.  Not a good thing.
-Reviews show that this recipe does not work well on cloth diapers.
-I have a friend that LOVES Charlies Soap.  Fyi.  Works awesome on cloth diapers too.

Pricing
Gallon jug/jar---Free. Recycle here.
8oz/1 cup Dr. Bronners liquid castile soap (baby soap-no fragrance) (Target, Whole Foods and Amazon.com sell)---Whole Foods $14.00 for 32 oz, Target $16.99 for 32 oz.  $0.44 per ounce----Total $3.50
8oz/1 cup baking soda or washing soda (Arm & Hammer 2 lbs $1.12).  2 cups in 1 pound---so 4 cups in 2 pound---$0.28 per cup.  Total $.28
1/3 cup or 2.66 ounces salt (Morton brand 26oz $.58).  $0.02 per ounce--- Total $0.05
2 cups of warm water
White vinegar--Target $3.99 for 1 gallon (128 fl oz.....2 tbsp = 1oz) $0.03 per oz.  You are using 1-2 tbsp per load of laundry $0.06
5 minutes of your time--priceless
Add it up $3.50+.28+.05+.06$=3.89 per gallon...I use 1/4 cup or (2 oz) per load that equals $0. 06 per load!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


$0.06 per load!!!!  Are you kidding me?!  AWESOME!! LOVE it!!!


Let me know what you think?



Information shared by my friend Jesicas from the blog Passionate Homemaking  An excellent blog!

Making My Own Vanilla

This is something I have wanted to try for a long time.  The time is finally here.  I just opened my last bottle of Pure Vanilla from Mexico.  I admit, I panicked a little.  Whatever you decide to do after reading this, just promise me one thing....YOU WILL NOT BUY IMITATION VANILLA!  Whether you make your own, buy your own, BUY Pure Vanilla, not imitation.  The imitation leaves a bitter aftertaste, is made from sapwood and coal extracts...yuck.  Stay with the pure, better for us stuff.  :-)  (Since this is a great opportunity, I will also add...try to stay away from artificial coloring and flavoring all together....bad bad bad....it is in so much stuff we eat.)

Ok, so do you have 5 minutes?  Let's make some homemade vanilla!


Picture of my new vanilla beans.

 









When deciding what vanilla bean to buy, there are 2 that stand out to me as the best...
1.  The Mexican Vanilla Bean-has a smooth, strong, rich fragrance and flavor.  But buy from a reputable supplier.  Some suppliers add coumarin which can damage your liver and kidneys.   
2.  Madagascar or Madagascar-bourbon vanilla bean-has a smooth, rich sweet flavor and are the thinnest of the vanilla beans.   

I bought 2 vanilla beans from Whole Foods and paid $11.99.  Then I went on Amazon.com and found out that I can buy 16 Madagascar-bourbon beans for $14.50 and 54 beans for $26.50.  Ouch!!!  Live and learn.

What you need....
3 vanilla beans (split in half lengthwise)
Vodka 80 proof or higher (buy the cheap stuff)
Glass bottle that closes tightly (recyle here and save money)












Split 3 beans lengthwise with a sharp knife on a cutting board, but stop 1 inch from each end so that bean stays together but the centers are split.  

Place in a glass bottle with a tight fitting lid.  Fill with 8 ounces of vodka.  Place in a cool, dark place for at least 6-8 weeks (mine will steep for 1 year, as I don't need any right now).  Shake at least once per week.

Mark your bottle with the date you are making your vanilla...cause....drum roll....for 1 year forward, when you run out just add more vodka.  Your beans will flavor your vodka for 1 year.  Pretty cool huh'?

At the end of the 2 months, it is ready to use.  Leave beans in the bottle.  And remember vanilla is a forever food.  It will not spoil.  Just make sure to store in a dark pantry.













Note:  -You will need 3 vanilla beans per 8 oz of vodka.
-Do not add pure vanilla to hot liquids, the alcohol will evaporate and so will some of the vanilla flavor.
-If you make homemade ice cream with vanilla beans, wash the split bean thoroughly after cooking the ice cream mixture.  Place the cleaned bean in a bowl and cover the bean with either 1-2 cups of granulate cane sugar (not beet!) or 1-2 cups of powdered sugar.  Cover with tight fitting lid and let it rest for 2 weeks.  Use this vanilla sugar in your recipes for an amazing flavor.  1 tbsp of vanilla sugar is equal to 1/4 tsp pure vanilla.  Recycle!!  :-)
-If you want a bolder flavor use spiced run or brandy instead of the vodka.
-Once your vanilla is finished you can pour it into cute bottles and give as Christmas presents with ribbon or bows or from the beginning give as a gift but put a note on the bottle that says "do not open for 2 months."
-I read from another blog that she has had her bottle going for 14 years, she just leaves the beans in there, adding 3 new beans every year and a cup of brandy.  She said its tastes fantastic. 

Happy vanilla making and money saving!  :-)  I will post more after my vanilla beans arrive and I make my first batch. :-)

**Changes/Updates:  I would highly recommend using Organic vodka.  With all of the gmo corn, organic is a smarter choice.

I thought I would show you some recent pictures.  The vanilla extract is beautiful.

The 2 on the left I started brewing November 2011.  The 2 on the right I just started.   Cool, huh'?

Simply beautiful.

Homemade Playdoh

My friend LE has made this and I ran across the recipe today on the Internet, so I thought I would post it.

Homemade Playdoh
1 cup flour
1 cup boiling water
2 Tbsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup salt (seems like a ton, but I have never made this so we will see)
1 Tbsp oil
Food coloring

Mix and knead together.  This playdoh is not sticky and does not dry out.

Let me know what you think!!