Pour two cups of borax in the jar, add the lemonade packets, then a little more borax (you don't want the soap and lemonade to touch), add a couple drops of dish soap and finally add two cups of washing soda. Put the lid on, shake it all up and its ready to use. We put about an eighth of a cup in for one load. Just half the recipe for a pint. Some of the reasons we make our own detergent is; it's cheaper, and we know the ingredients in it. So that's what we do for dishwasher detergent. If you try it, comment and tell me how it works for you :). Blessings, Lydia [A note from Bethany: Mmm... :) Doesn't that look like powdered sugar?] |
Our family has been using this recipe for about five years now and it works great! It's very simple and easy to make. [A note from Bethany: Before we started making our own, we bought a creamy yellow detergent that was lemon scented. One time Naomi and I told Emily that it was lemon frosting and she tasted it! This was, of course, several years ago. Needless to say, it didn't taste as good as it looked or smelled :p]
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Coconut Cookie Balls- a delicious holiday treat for Hanukkah. Lydia came across this recipe on Pintrest and made a batch to take to a friend’s house. They were so good. I decided to make some of these for Hanukkah because A. They are yummy and B. because they are made with oil- traditionally appropriate for this holiday:) These cookies taste best with chocolate, but they are alright without it (but you may want to add some type of sweetener- depending on how sweet you like them). There is one change that I’ve made to the recipe to make it more Trim Healthy Mama friendly. Instead of the full measure of peanut butter, I will substitute half for a mixture of butter and coconut butter. I have found that the best way to form these cookies is to use a cookie scoop to spoon the cookies onto a cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper) and put them in the freezer. After the cookies have frozen they peel right off and store wonderfully in a plastic bag or Tupperware container. Here is a link to the original recipe:
http://www.primallyinspired.com/cookie-dough-snack-balls/ Here is our version: Dad’s Favorite Coconut Cookies Ingredients:
Instructions:
Pairs well with a hot cup of coffee or a glass of cold, raw milk:):) Hey ya'll! It feels like a lot is changing here in our household and family. I am "in kitchen" for a couple months. So, sometimes when the mornings are busy, I need something quick for breakfast. Overnight oatmeal (oatmeal parfait) is great. One of the great things about this recipe is you can change it to fit just about everybody's taste. Ingredients: 1/2 of oatmeal 1 cup almond milk or milk of your choice or water 1/2 cup water 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla, and or cocoa powder, cinnamon, etc... sweetener of your choice Chia seeds yogurt or cottage cheese bannanas, peaches, blueberries..... Here's how you make it! Heat oats, almond milk and water in a pan until almost cooked. Mix in vanilla, sweetener, cocoa, cinnamon, etc... Now layer- oatmeal, cottage cheese or yogurt, fruit and chia seeds. We usually layer the ingredients about three times. Put the lids on and place in refrigerator until ready to use. This is enough to satisfy a large appetite, so you may need to adjust it a bit. You can change the order of the layering if you want. Most of my family likes it when we put fruit at the bottom of the jar. Sometimes we use peaches and others bananas or apples. Be creative and have a good time! Comment and tell me the combinations you come up with! Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Blessings! Lydia :) Hello everyone! We have been getting ready for so many things recently. Passover....Unleavened bread......Emily's graduation.....Joe and Naomi visiting. This year my family and I are going to Tennessee to celebrate the spring feasts. I can't wait! So many things to look forward to! One of the things I did to get ready is make Granola, yum! Here's the recipe that I use: GRANOLA 1 stick of butter 1/2 C coconut oil 1/2 C olive oil 1 C honey 12 C rolled oats 1/2 C chia seeds 1/2 C sesame seeds 1 C sunflower seeds 2 C raisins or chopped dates 1 Tbsp cinnamon In medium pan add: butter, coconut oil and olive oil. Heat on low heat until melted. Add: honey. Stir well, until melted. (Can add 1 tsp vanilla.) In large plastic bowl put: rolled oats. In coffee grinder, grind: flax seeds, chia seeds and sesame seeds. Add to bowl. Add raisins and cinnamon. Mix wet into dry ingredients, a small amount at a time until very well mixed. Let set for 30 minutes. Preheat oven on 275*. Spray 9X13-inch pans or cookie sheets well. Put granola in pans just until all of bottom of pan is covered (about 1/2 inch). Bake 15-20 minuets, until golden brown. Take out and let cool on racks. Use a spatula to remove. Can store for 3 weeks or more. Well, I got to go! Blessings, Lydia Gluten. Did any of us even know what gluten was ten years ago? But now gluten-free foods seem to be popping up everywhere and many books promote the gluten-free diet as a cure for headaches, bloating, or even excess weight. I don’t find any advantages in the diet (I’ve gone gluten-free for a few months without much noticeable difference) but I have friends who have had great results in going gluten-free. Perhaps you are gluten-free for health reasons. Maybe you can eat gluten but you cook for family members who can’t. Or maybe you like to try gluten-free recipes because you enjoy exotic textures and the challenging adventure of cooking with unfamiliar ingredients. I come from the latter group. I was first introduced to gluten-free by my older sister Naomi who, like many other women, likes to follow health trends (Vegan, gluten-free etc…). I appreciate this about Naomi. She likes to follow health trends but I’ve always been the one who gets caught up in false “health” trends- Low-carb, vegetarianism (the kind high in SOY), using artificial sweeteners etc… Thankfully I’ve had a change of mind when it comes to what constitutes “healthy”; Whatever God gave us as food, as close to the way He made it as possible, with variation and moderation. It’s been about two years since Naomi introduced our family to the highly addictive qualities of Brazilian Cheese Bread. These little breads are actually more like biscuits. I honestly don’t know why they’re called ‘bread’, because they’re not a solid loaf. It would probably make more sense to call them ‘breads’… but let’s just call them biscuits. These are fairly fast and easy to throw together, in fact, my brother (Clayton) made a batch of these the other day and they turned out great- and, having four older sisters, he’s not the most experienced cook in the family. Let me tell you more about the breads themselves. They are a pretty golden color when baked. The texture of these biscuits could best be described as a mozzarella stick with a crusty exterior when hot, and a slightly dry, tough biscuit when cold. For this reason our family prefers to eat these hot and fresh. If your breads do get cold you can to throw them in the toaster oven until hot- but they are best fresh. One good tip to remember- Don’t forget the tapioca flour! Naomi made these once and completely forgot to add the tapioca… thankfully she put them into muffin tins because when she took them out of the oven they were little puddles of greasy cheese. The worst part of this story is that we ate them anyway! We rarely throw food away here. For example; we’ve eaten sugarless brownies, burnt pancakes and stony, dry biscuits. Thankfully we don’t have to endure this type of food too often but it does happen. I tried to track down the recipe source online and I couldn’t find it! I did alter the recipe and re-write the directions so it’s not exactly like the original. I don’t claim to have created this recipe and don’t take credit for it. If I knew the author of this recipe I would certainly give the credit to them. Brazilian Cheese Bread
7 TBS butter 1/3 cup and 2 TBS water 1/3 cup milk 1 tsp salt 2 cups tapioca flour 1/2 cup parmesan cheese 2 beaten eggs Preheat oven to 375* Place butter, water, milk and salt into medium sauce pan, and place over high heat. When mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat immediately and stir in tapioca flour until smooth (However I can never get it smooth, so no worries if you can’t either). Set aside to rest for 10 minutes. ***SPOILER ALERT*** the texture of the mixture is very much like the finished biscuits! Stir cheese and eggs into rested tapioca mixture until well combined; it will be chunky- think yellow cottage cheese. Drop by the spoon full onto an ungreased cookie sheet or into mini muffin tins (We prefer the cookie sheet method best). Bake until tops are slightly golden (15-20 minutes). This batch makes about 12 biscuits. I like to prepare these to accompany our Mexican Black Bean Soup. Actually, I like to make these to eat with any type of bean soup. Eat and give thanks! Bethany Matthew 4:4 “…Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” So I was looking for something to have for dinner one night and I found this on www.food.com. It sounded really good so I decided to try it and it was good! Below is me modified version of the recipe, I hope you enjoy!
Ingredients: 6 cups vegetable broth 2 Tablespoon tomato paste 4 cups chopped cabbage 1 cup green beans 3 cup chopped kale 1 yellow onion 1 cup carrot 8 garlic cloves (or more!), minced 2 cups navy beans, cooked 1/2 teaspoon basil 1 teaspoon oregano salt and pepper to taste 1. Spray pot with olive oil and saute kale, onions, carrots and garlic for 5 minutes. 2. Add broth, tomato paste, cabbage, green beans (I used our home-canned ones), navy beans, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. 3. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes until all vegetables are tender then add Zucchini and simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Serves about 12 We also really liked putting milk or plain yogurt in each bowl when it was ready to serve. . Be happy and Healthy! Lydia No one likes to have a cold! The stuffy nose, sore throat and maybe coughing, it can drive you nuts! But what can you do once you have it? Lydia has put together some tips that will help you relieve some of the typical cold symptoms. -Bethany Tip #1: My mom has found a super easy recipe for natural cough syrup. You can take a spoon full of it straight or mix it with some hot tea. I prefer the tea method. When I tried it, it really soothed my throat! Here's the recipe. Cough Syrup 1/4 cup Olive oil 2 Tablespoons Lemon juice 3/4 cup Honey Mix all the ingredients together and store in a glass jar. Tip #2: If you feel a cold coming on, drink apple cider vinegar diluted in water. It will lessen the effects of the cold. This can also help while you actually have the cold but it isn't pleasant for a sore throat. Tip #3: One of the best ways to relax your throat and stop coughing (When you CAN'T stop coughing) is to suck on really dark chocolate (80% or darker). I know sounds like it would make you cough more but it really helps! Tip #4: Have a vaporizer in your room at night. If you like to use essential oils; peppermint, tea tree and eucalyptus are some great oils to put in the vaporizer's cup. Tip #5 Hot soup also helps. Bethany made up a really good recipe for soup, she is going to post about it soon. Tip #6 Make sure you're getting enough sleep! These are some tips that my family finds helpful. If you have any tips or suggestions please share them! Blessings, Lydia I had never cooked with rhubarb before... until our friends gave us some from the overflow from their friend's garden. Their friends happened to be our friends too and I want to share this recipe with them :) The friends of the friends I mean. Since rhubarb has a lemony tartness many people use it in recipes that require large amount of sugar. I am a bit of a health nut and didn't want to make a sugary rhubarb dessert. This is when I turned to my best source for recipe ideas. After googling "Healthy Rhubarb Bread" I decided to get more specific and search the internet for "Healthy Whole Wheat Banana Rhubarb Bread Recipe". I figured that a recipe with bananas in it would help cover the rhubarb's tartness without using as much sugar. If I was making this recipe for myself I would have halved the sugar but I was making it for my family too so I thought it best to leave the recipe alone. It's a slightly altered recipe from SnoWhite from Finding Joy in My Kitchen It is a tasty recipe so I thought I'd share it. Whole Wheat Banana Rhubarb Bread
Ingredients
Cream together the sugar with yogurt. Add in honey, mashed bananas, eggs and vanilla. Mix. Pour in flour, salt and baking soda. Stir well. If batter is overly thick, add in a splash or two of milk (up to 1/2 C) to thin slightly. The batter will be thick, but shouldn’t be like cement :) Stir in chopped rhubarb. Pour into 2 lightly greased 8-inch bread pans. Bake at 350 for until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about an hour then check it every 5 minutes). If I remember correctly my loaves took around 70 minutes. This is the finished product. Here is what you need: Two pop cans Tin snips A metal file Gasket glue A pair of needle nose pliers A punch and small hammer A sharpie 1 penny a small handful of attic insulation Draw a level line around both pop cans, one should be slightly higher than the other, the higher one will be the top of your stove. Cut about an inch above the line on both cans. This gets the can out of the way so you can cut on the line. After cuting, file the sharp points off. With your penny mark where it will sit in the center of the larger can. Within the penny's cirle punch 5 small holes. mark 16 dots around the edge, then punch holes carefully. bend in the edge of the smaller can and put attic insulation in the larger one Push the cans together leaving about a 1/4 " showrng on the smaller can. File off sharp edges. Glue all the way around the place where the cans meet. This is to make a seal. Fill with denatured alcohol through the center fill holes. Light and slide the penny over the fill holes in the center. I like my short one better. Be safe! Clayton It's a Flip-Flopped Friday because an un-healthy dessert was flipped and made into a healthy one! I love peanut butter. Growing up my mom would occasionally make Frozen Peanut Butter Pie. Not healthy. Basically it was a pie that contained refined sugar, cream cheese (which isn’t too bad… but it’s not from healthy grass fed cows or goats), refined sugar, whipped topping, peanut butter (not the two ingredient kind, if you know what I mean), and refined brown sugar. Recently my mom asked me to make this pie to take to my grandparent’s house- actually she asked Naomi to make it and I volunteered to make a healthy version instead. So here’s the challenge- How do you make a healthy peanut butter pie? Even if I used our home made peanut butter and replaced the refined sugar with (slightly) less refined sugar it would still be full of refined sugar, hydrogenated oils, corn syrup (from the whipped topping) and enough calories to feed an army. After some brain storming and recipe book searching, I turned to the resource I always turn to when I just can’t do it on my own…google. Googling “healthy peanut butter pie recipe” brought up an abundance of “healthy” peanut butter pie recipes… Not healthy… I don’t know exactly what’s in low-fat peanut butter but I bet it isn’t any healthier than sugar-free whipped topping or fat-free cream cheese. My second search (“healthy frozen peanut butter pie whole food”) brought up exactly what I was looking for. Five results down the page was a link to Chocolatecoveredkatie’s blog and a recipe for “No-bake Peanut Butter Pie”. I skimmed the recipe ingredients and felt confident that this pie would definitely be healthier that the one I ate growing up. Bananas, peanut butter, vanilla, salt, coconut oil and only a small amount of honey (or stevia)-enough calories to feed half an army but it is all whole foods that weren’t made in a factory! And a crust recipe that didn’t require store bought graham crackers? *bonus* :) So, now you might be wondering, did it taste good? Was it as good as your mom’s pie? The answer is more complicated than you may think. I thought it was one of the best desserts I’ve ever tried, but I also prefer a healthy dessert to a non-healthy one. If you usually like whole food desserts better than their highly refined alternatives then you will probably love this recipe. But if you always prefer store bought ice cream to banana ice cream then you will probably find this recipe less than satisfying to your sweet tooth. Chocolate Covered Katie has become my all time favorite dessert blog. Check out the Peanut Butter Pie Recipe by clicking this link- Chocolatecoveredkatie Have fun! Bethany p.s. I made this for Shabbat tonight and it was very tasty! Minus the peanuts I threw in for crunch, they weren't such a big hit :p "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." |
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