Easy Laundry Detergent Recipe

Sometime after we had our first baby, we realized how fast we were going through detergent. Every time we went to the store we were buying another jug. So I decided to try a homemade laundry detergent and was hooked!

At that time I was making a liquid detergent and it would make 10 gallons at one time!

It worked great for the 1 1/2 years we used it. I have since moved to a powder recipe and have to say I love it even more! The liquid recipe is pretty time consuming with melting down the bars of soap. So I decided to try a powder detergent recipe I haven't looked back since! 

There are no perfumes or dyes in this detergent and is safe for those with sensitive skin. However, this is not a good recipe for washing cloth diapers. The Fels Naptha can build up on the diapers and create repelling.

This recipe is a modified version of one I found online. I can't remember where I first saw the original recipe or I'd post a link. 

Homemade Laundry Detergent

3 bars Fels Naptha

1 box Baking Soda

1 box Washing Soda

1 box Borax

First, pour the baking soda, washing soda and borax into a large bucket. We bought a 5 gallon bucket at Lowes for around $3.

Coconut Oil Play Dough

All I have to say is coconut oil!

I was looking at different play dough recipes that looked easy, I had all of the ingredients and had good reviews. 

I stumbled upon a couple recipes that used coconut oil and I immediately decided whatever recipe I used it would have coconut oil in it. We love coconut oil over at our house. My husband enjoys poking fun at me- I'm alway suggesting coconut oil to cure everything! 

This one was fast and easy and my little ones were excited to help! I combined a couple of recipes and came up with this:

Cilantro and Lime Chicken Gyro Recipe

A couple months ago the hubby and I had a lunch date at a delicious mom and pop restaurant called Mama's Gyro in Sherwood. I love supporting small business America and even more I love buying quality food! This was a little Greek family owned place that sold gyros. 

I am not sure how I went my whole life without having a gyro before now!?!? 

They were SO good!

Since our gyro experience, I have been dreaming and thinking about their deliciousness.

Really they were that good!

We are on a budget and that means eating out is pretty rare. So I started experimenting with making our own gyros.....

We tried a BBQ version and it was okay, but it didn't quite match up to the ones in my dreams.

However, if at first you don't succeed, try try again! Seriously I could probably eat a gyro every day and not tire of them! There are truly that many different ways you could make them. So this week I combined a few family favorites and came up with these awesome, from your dreams, delicious Cilantro Chicken Gyros!!

Chocolate Cupcakes

We finally found a cake recipe that is dairy free and doesn't taste dairy free!

These cupcakes were a hit with the whole family!

I even got a "Thank you mommy! That's so yummy!" from Brooklyn!

It always makes me happy when I can make something sweet for my dairy free kiddo.

I feel bad that she misses out on so many desserts and treats.

I found this recipe on Pinterest from snapguide.com. For some reason I am unable to pull up the page right now. So I will update when I can figure that out.

Banana Muffins (Dairy Free)

 

This banana recipe is an all time favorite at my house! If your family is like mine they will eat them as fast as they come out of the oven. I found this muffin recipe at greenmamaspad.com.  I did modify it slightly, leaving out the nutmeg and using whole wheat white flour instead of all purpose flour. 

 Ingredients
1 ½ cups whole wheat white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup oil

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use muffin liners or lightly grease the muffin pan. 

     (Ahh! Please ignore how horrible my non-stick pan looks.... I only use it with liners since it has lost it non-stickiness!)

2. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon).

 Mash the bananas and beat together with the egg. sugar, vanilla and oil in a second bowl.

 

 3. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture.

  Be careful not to over mix. Spoon into muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full.

Yep definitely time to replace the pan...blah! I was cringing as I edited the photos!

4. Bake in preheated oven. For mini muffins bake about 12-15 minutes. For full size muffins, bake about 18-20 minutes. Insert toothpick into center of muffin to test. 

Enjoy some dairy free goodness!

 

It feels great to find new recipes that I can feed my no dairy girl! Let me know if you have a non-dairy family favorite! 

Wacky Cake (Dairy Free) & Brooklyn Turns 2!

My sweet little girl turned two years old a couple weeks ago. I am in disbelief that she could possibly be two!! You hear people say "time flies"..... I don't think anyone fully understands how fast it does fly until you have a child! Sigh... So my baby is a big girl now. Makes me want to go cry for a bit, yet at the same time I am excited to watch her grow and learn!

Unfortunately, on the day of her party she was not feeling well and we had to cancel. It was quite the let down.... Although, I think I was the one most upset! ha All the planning, buying, and preparing. We still had our families come over so we did celebrate after all.

I had fun making the banner and pom poms with the help of my sister, Brooklyn's Aunt Reyna!

 I didn't end up setting everything out since the whole party wasn't attending. Here is what we did have out.

Brooklyn was a "little" clingy since she wasn't feeling well. She did get excited about blowing the candles out though! 

 Eli wanted to get in a picture too! He was so precious to Brooklyn on her Birthday.

Do you see the exposed drywall behind me in the above photos? That has been a work in progress for a LONG time. You will see more on that project soon. :)

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Brooklyn is allergic to milk which includes ALL dairy products and anything with milk in it. It has been quite the challenge finding good substitute recipes. Right after Christmas we went on a short trip to visit my mom in Tennessee. Literally, we decided Friday night at 9pm we would leave around noon the next day! lol It was a fast trip, but we had fun surprising them! While we were there my mom made a Wacky Cake! She found the recipe in a old church cook book. This recipe reminded her of a cake her mom (my grandma) used to make when she was younger. The exception was this Wacky Cake is DAIRY FREE!! Yay! And it is tasty as well! Double Yay!

 (*Note, the ice-cream was not dairy free!)

 So for the party I made my own Wacky Cake and added a sweet coconut frosting. I found the frosting recipe over at ohsheglows.com. I did it a little differently....ah hem (clearing of throat)... I didn't put the coconut milk in the fridge overnight! It wasn't as solid as it probably should of been, but I think it looked and tasted great!

So here is the Wacky Cake Recipe! 

Ingredients:

-3 c. flour                        - 2 Tbsp. Vinegar

-2 c. sugar                       - 3/4 c. vegetable oil

-1 tsp. baking soda          -2 c. water

-3 Tbsp cocoa powder 

Sift together flour, sugar, and cocoa powder. Add vinegar, oil, and water. Mix well. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Coconut Frosting- (I highly suggest going over to the excellent step-by-step process at ohsheglows.com found here.)

Ingredients:

 -Full fat coconut milk (placed in refrigerator overnight)

 -2-3 tsp maple syrup (or whatever sweetener of your choice)

-1/4-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

She LOVED her Birthday Cake

Eli went all in and forgot about his fork! lol oh boy!

 Happy Birthday Big Girl!

(You can see how she wasn't feeling well.)

Let me know if you try the Wacky Cake or have another great dairy free cake recipe!