Make Your Own Laundry Detergent Using Zote…

Looking for a way to save money on the high cost of laundry detergent?  Then MAKE YOUR OWN!  Sorry I didn’t mean to yell…but this is a no-brainer and really easy!  Does it work as well as the name brands?  Heck yeah it does!

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Shortcut Strawberry Shortcake…

What do you do when you’re suffering from a head cold and it’s pouring down rain outside? Why, what else…you cook!!  And this shortcut cake is so easy to make you can even do it with medication running through your body…

But first an introduction…

Meet my friends helping me today- Rawleigh’s Medicated Ointment and Coca-Cola!!!

With enough Coke flowing through your veins and medicated salve on your forehead you can conquer the world!!  Well, at least a cake.   Now on with the recipe!!

Bake your cake according to the instructions on the box.  I used Pillsbury’s Butter Cake mix.

I then mashed about 2 cups of strawberries with a couple tablespoons of sugar.

This will create a wonderful and tasty syrup.

Once you spread the berries put the cake in the freezer for 10 to 15 mins.

This will make the strawberries stay in place while spreading the frosting.

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas {Cooking}…

I love Christmas and I love giving gifts.  The problem is not having enough money to buy those gifts with.  So this year my friends and loved ones will be getting homemade gifts from the heart….and my kitchen!  And if you didn’t know- Christmas is only 164 days away!!!  So you may want to get on the ball with your Christmas List…

First off I think I’m going to make some homemade vanilla extract.

Chickens in the Road has a great tutorial for making this.

And for my friends and family members with dogs maybe some homemade doggie treats. 

A Cozy Kitchen has a delicious recipe for these treats.

Cinnamon rolls always make a great gift.

I have made The Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls twice as gifts on Christmas Eve.  They are always a huge hit.

Give these out on Christmas Eve so your friends and family can have them for Christmas breakfast.  YUM!!!

After all of that…how about some delicious peppermint bark?  Get the recipe straight from Martha Stewart’s website.

How can you go wrong with chocolate and peppermint??

Ok, are you as hungry as I am now??

Outdoor Party- Finally!…

OK, OK…so my son’s 19th b-day party was in May.  It’s now July and I’m just getting around to posting the pics.  You can see how I prepared for this party in part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

I started off by making bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers.  Nothing fancy. I  just split them in half and clean out the seeds. I then made the filling for them.  I used shredded cheddar cheese and mixed it with cream cheese.  I filled the jalapenos with the mixture and wrapped them with the bacon.  I then baked them for 10-15 mins. in a 450 degree oven.  I didn’t take an after picture but you can imagine how delicious they looked.  This wasn’t all I made  but I forgot to take pics of the other “treats” we had.

I then proceeded to make a cake.

Chase plays the guitar so I used one of his as my model.

My husband then suggested using Chase’s Flying V as the model.

Much better!  Thanks Mr. C.!!

I am in no way a cake decorator so this was the end result.  Not bad for my first decorated cake..not great either but not bad.

It was very moist and everyone seemed to enjoy it!

Here Chase is blowing out his candles.

And Chase enjoying his cake.  MMMMM Good!

I had the kids at the party pose in the field beside our house.  I thought this would make such a great picture.

I love the old house in the background.  See my cute little nephew Jake in the far right posing?

He’s such a ham!!  And I love it!!

And lastly my son, JR, gives his little brother a birthday hug.  AWWWWW

Happy 19th B-day Chase!!!

Snake Bubbles, Cupcakes and a Ghetto Slip-N-Slide…

Happy 4th of July…  I hope everyone had a great day…  I know I did.  We had friends and family over for a cookout.  I absolutely love getting together with family.  When we get together its always a lot of fun.  We eat way too much, laugh too loud and have a blast!!  Here are a few pics of our 4th of July!!!

I started out by making tie dye cupcakes. Click HERE for a great tutorial at Skip to my Lou.

I frosted mine with a cool whip/white chocolate pudding mix instead of frosting.  I mixed white chocolate pudding with 1 cup milk and beat it with a mixer.  This will be thick.  I then mixed it into my thawed cool whip.  I refrigerated it after I mixed it until I got ready to frost the cupcakes.  I then decorated them with sliced strawberries and blueberries.

My cute niece, Makayla, thoroughly enjoyed the pinwheels on the cupcakes.

The cupcakes are a huge hit!!!

I found the tutorial for these water bottle bubble blowers HERE at How Does She?  These make the longest “snake bubbles” I’ve ever seen.  Jake and Sydney try them out with great success.

Chase entertained us with some tunes.

My niece, Kendall, gets the Ghetto Slip-N-Slide ready!!!

Don’t be jealous of our slip-n-slide…you can make one yourself.  Just lay down a tarp, turn on the sprinkler and find some kids that REALLY want to cool off!!!

This is how we spent our 4th…how was yours???

Is my Amish Bread Supposed to be Green??…

Okay…so here’s the scoop… I only have one glass loaf pan so I used 2 small disposable aluminum pans along with the glass.  WRONG thing to do!!!  The bread turned out great in the glass pan but not in the disposables.  The disposables didn’t give the bottom a good crust…it was gooey and GREEN!!!  It was edible but not very appealing. What happened?? Well, after Googling “Amish Bread turned green”, I found out I am not alone.  I know the recipe said not to use aluminum to mix the dough in but it didn’t say not to use aluminum pans to cook the bread in.  I used devil’s food chocolate pudding and so did the other cooks whose bread turned green.  There’s a reaction that occurs with this pudding when it is baked. Its edible, but I just couldn’t eat it!  I actually didn’t notice it until well after it cooled.  Mental note to self: DO NOT USE DEVILS FOOD CHOCOLATE PUDDING AND ALUMINUM LOAF PANS!!!  The one I cooked in the glass pan was fine.  Not sure if the others used aluminum pans too but I am not doing that again!  I also wasn’t crazy about the pudding in the bread.  I tried one my co-worker made without pudding and I liked it so much better!!  Oh well…live and learn…and don’t use aluminum pans to bake in!!!

A Ziploc Bag Full of Goodness!!…

Inside this bag contains a secret bread starter that only the Amish claim to know how to make. This secret recipe is handed down from person to person 1 cup at a time. And if you give all of yours away you will have to travel to the Amish country to get them to make you some more.

Or you could just Google “Amish Friendship Bread” and start your own. Don’t you love how they put that on the recipe? Like we have time to hunt down an Amish woman and have her make us some starter.

Anyway, my co-worker Gina was sweet enough to give me a bag of it and I can’t wait until it’s time to bake. I’m on Day 5. Only 5 more days until I can bake 2 wonderful loaves and then share the starter with the ones I love…or just keep it for myself.

Amish Friendship Bread

Day 1: Do nothing.
Day 2: Mush the bag.
Day 3: Mush the bag.
Day 4: Mush the bag.
Day 5: Mush the bag.
Day 6: Add to the bag: 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of milk. Mush the bag.
Day 7: Mush the bag.
Day 8: Mush the bag.
Day 9: Mush the bag.
Day 10:
Add 3/4 cup of milk, flour and sugar. Mix well. Remove 1 cup of the batter into a new bag.

To the remaining batter add:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil (or use 1/2 oil and 1/2 applesauce)
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
3 cups flour
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding.

This will make three smaller loaves or two large loaves or muffins. Grease the bottom of the pans and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Pour batter into pans and sprinkle the top with sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 325 about and hour for bread loaves or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool until the bread loosens from the pan easily.

Variations:

For chocolate bread omit the cinnamon and replace the vanilla pudding with sugar-free chocolate fudge pudding, add 3 oz. of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup chopped pecans.

For blueberry-lemon omit the cinnamon, use sugar-free lemon pudding plus a teaspoon of lemon extract and 1 cup of frozen blueberries that have been thawed and drained.

Thanksgiving Eve…

Oh my gosh!!  Can you believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow?  I love Thanksgiving; it’s the cooking and prep work that I don’t particularly enjoy.  Well, let me take that back…I love the cooking but detest the clean-up.  Calgon, take me away!!!

After working all day, I am now busy making a Pumpkin Gooey à la Paula Deen, sweet potato casserole and a honey glazed ham!!  In the immortal words of Rachael Ray, “YUMMO”.

I have to work on Thanksgiving…cue the violins…but hopefully I will be able to scoot out early enough to go home and get my YUMMO dishes and head over to my mother-in-law’s house in time to fill my belly!! Then back home for a few hours of sleep before heading out with my cousin and sister-in-law to grab those Black Friday deals!!  Happy Thanksgiving Eve!!!