By Popular Demand - Laundry Soap!

I borrowed the original recipe from the Duggar's site and altered it a bit for my liking:

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4  Cups hot tap water

1  Fels-Naptha soap bar

2  Cup Washing Soda

1 Cup Borax

- 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.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.  I like it just the way it is, so I don't add essential oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)  

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Optional, don't dilute and use just half.  But I dilute :)

I use the Bounce Bar in my dryer and I just LOVE how my clothes come out!  If you need some pre-treating or stain removed (Or like me, pee-pee bed clean-up) soak the load in the washer with a little Washing Soda.  That's Washing Soda, not Baking Soda!  BIG difference and you get it in the laundry aisle.  I got all of these ingredients at Fred Meyers.  The Fels-Naptha bar was about $1.50, the Washing Soda about $3 and the Borax about $4 (it's cheaper at Walmart) but you don't use all of the washing soda and borax, so I try to adjust that into the final price.

Now, I keep what we aren't using in the original 5 gallon bucket and just refill our little detergent bottle as needed (or rather, Jason does for me!)  And I'm pretty sure I'm not using the full 5/8 cup, since I just use the top cap that came with my ultra detergent of yester-year.  We do about 10 loads a week and it's lasted me 6 months.  And please, please keep in mind my husband works for the garbage company and does recycling, so his clothes are SMELLY when he comes home and they come out NOT smelly from the wash!

Beef Gyros

Sauce:

1 cup of fat free plain yogurt

1/4 c minced parsley

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 minced cucumber

1/8 salt

Gyros:

1 tsp oregano

1 tspoon minced rosemary

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 pound beef top sirloin steak, cut very thinly

1 large onion, sliced

4 tsp olive oil, EVOO

4 whole gyro pitas/flat bread, warmed

Now Double it all for my family!

Combine top 5 ingredients and refrigerate until serving.

In large ziploc type bag combine oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper.  Add beef. Seal bag and toss to coat.

In a large skillet, saute onion in 2 tsp oil until golden brown.  Remove and keep warm.  Saute beef in remaining oil until no longer pink. 

Serve beef and onion on pitas with yogurt sauce.  We also like to add lettuce and sliced tomatoes.

Raspberry Chocolate (diet?) Cake

Yes, you read that right, it's a "diet" cake.  I'm sure 95% off the female population has heard of weight watchers cupcakes, made with a box of cake mix and a diet soda.  And it's worth 1 point.  Top it with fat free whipped topping and it's a perfect solution to a sweet tooth.  And the combinations are ENDLESS!

Well, my lovely daughter sees a chocolate cake (raspberry mocha chocolate cake OMG!) on tv and says, "Mommy, can you make that for me?"  Oh sure, that'll help my diet a whole bunch!  And then Jason says, "Yeah Mommy, can you make that?"

Yeah, sure, why not.  But I had a plan: Diet Cake!

Bought a box of devil's food for $.88 at Walmart and a 12 pack of raspberry Diet Rite (I love that stuff!) for $2.98, plus deposit.

Whipped it up, just one can, mind you.  Stuck it in a silicone bundt pan and threw it into the microwave for 12 minutes.  

Out came the most yummilicious looking cake that I've seen in at least a week.

Oh yea, I remember what we were watching when she saw that cake on tv:  The National Wedding Cake Decoration Contest!  WOW.  That's all I can say about that!

So, slice of yummilicious on plate with a dallop of fat free whipped topping: 2 points.  

Amazing.

Menu for 2.28 - 3.6.10

I'm going away this weekend and it's going to be L-O-V-E-L-Y!  Aren't you jealous?  A wonderful weekend at the coast with my PMS girls.  I can't wait!  So I set up easy meals for the family to enjoy while I was gone.

28 Meatloaf,  mashed taters and veggies

1 Steak Gyros  & Salad

2 Burritos

3 Creamy Potatoes with Pork Chops

4 Burgers and  potato salad

5 better cheddars and fries

6 Spaghetti

Also, that means there will be a delay in menu planning for next weekend.  Oh well!

Here is my shopping list:

	Shopping List:
	Produce $ 12		Meat  $ 27
$4 $3 $2 $3	Salad Red potatoes Shredded lettuce Apple/oranges	$6 $3 $5 $5 $.69/lb	Ground turkey x2 Ground pork Pork roast Steak Chicken (whole)
	Dairy  $ 17		Deli $  12
$6 $3 2/$4 $2 $2	Milk, 2-1% & 1-2% Creamer @eggs Cottage cheese Sour cream	$3 2/$5 $4	Shredded cheese Better cheddars Cheese sticks/string cheese
	Frozen $ 10		Bread $ 21
$3 $3 $4	Mixed veggies/ broccoli fries	$4 $3 $2 $4 $2	Flour tortilla Sandwich bread Lunch bread Burger buns (4) Hot dog buns (2)
	Canned/Staples $ 18		Other $ 6
$3 $4 $2 $1 $4 $3 $2 $1	Mayo Instant potatoes Cream of chicken (2) Cream of celery Tomato products  Spaghetti noodles @SW Ranch @Ranch	$2 $4	Lunch side @fruit snacks

Lower Fat Chicken Cordon Bleu

by DesireeD 

Low Fat Chicken Cordon Bleu

This is a lower fat version of a favorite in my house.

Ingredients

• 7 medium chicken breast
• 7 servings laughing cow
• 7 servings 97% fat free cooked ham
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 Tbsp italian seasoning

Directions

1. "Beat" chicken breast out thin using a meat mallet or whatever you'd like.
2. Place a slice of ham on chicken breast and a wedge of laughing cow light swiss on the ham slice. Roll up and hold together with a toothpick, if needed.
3. Sprinkle with bread crumbs, and then Italian seasoning. Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes.
4. I like to serve with asparagus.

I just copied and pasted this from my fatsecret.com cookbook.  I've got them everywhere!

2.21.10 - 2.27.10 Menu

21 Shepherds pie

22 Chicken Cordon Bleu

23 Mexican Chicken and Rice

24 Chicken Stroganoff w/Rice

25 Burgers and  French Fries

26 Shrimp and broccoli Stirfry

27Creamy Chicken Penne

Lots of chicken this week.  I guess I was in a chicken mood when I made this up!
And here is my grocery shopping list!

	Shopping List:
7.60	Produce $	31.00	Meat  $
2.60 2.00 3.00	Asparagus ($1.28lb) apples Red potatoes	10.00 12.00 4.00 5.00	Ground turkey x2 Chicken x2 Shrimp Burgers
9.00	Dairy  $	12.00	Deli $
6.00 2.00 1.00	Milk 2-1% 1-2% Creamer Sour cream	3.00 5.00 4.00	Swiss cheese @Ham x2 @Cheddar (2lb brick)
3.00	Frozen $	9.00	Bread $
3.00	Broccoli	4.00 2.00 1.50 1.50	Sandwich bread x4 Lunch bread Hamburger buns Thin buns
29.00	Canned/Staples $	14.00	Other $
1.00 1.00 4/2.00 5.00 2.00 2.50 2.50 3.00 5.00 5.00	Diced tomatoes with chiles Olives Green beans x4 @FM juice 3/$5 Cream of mushroom x4 Angel hair pasta x2 Penne noodles x2 Honey Coffee Splenda sub (walmart)	3.00 $6.00 3/5.00	Check out ($?) peanuts in bulk for PB @deodorant Breakfast Mix @Gallon ziplocs

Chicken and Tortellini Soup

Yum in a bowl.  And healthy too!  This is a BIG stock pot of soup and will feed us for days.  As it should!

Ingredients:
6 carrots, diced
5 celery stocks, diced
1 large onion, diced
20 cups of water


4 Tbsp Better Than Bullion paste
3 cups of chicken, shredded or diced (I cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot and then picked it apart)
3 cups tortellini, either dehydrated or refrigerated

Instructions:
Coat bottom of stockpot with 2-3 Tbsp of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and place cut up veggies in pot.  Cook over medium/high heat until just soft.
Add water, Better Than Bullion and chicken.
Bring water to simmer and add tortellini.  Cook about 12-15 minutes until pasta is done.
Tada!  Dinner is served!

  Done!  

I'm in Love

With Hungry Girl  dot  com
Seriously, she rocks major booty.  She has all these amazing swap recipes, where she takes something that tastes amazing and swaps the ingredients and cooking methods with something that doesn't clog-your-arteries-simply-by-reading-it.  And then to make it an even more amazing experience she puts the WW point value.
Now I'm not doing WW currently/anymore but it's a comfortable idea for me to watch points.  I know where I'm supposed to be point wise and the site I'm using to monitor my weight loss/exercise  figures in WW points as well as calories, so it's a win-win for me.
I get the daily HG (m-f) emails with little snip-its and then Jaqui mentioned she had her cookbook so I looked up some recipes on recipezaar.com and fell in deeper-mad-love with the amazing woman that Hungry Girl is.

Here is one of the greatest swap recipes.

Make it, love it, thank me later.

recipes?

I realized last night, in the depths of my bed (I was reading my phone and trying really, really hard not to laugh out loud while I read blogs) I got sidetracked (like normal) and ran over to recipezaar.com to look up Hungry Girl recipes.  Ok, so Recipezaar is my all-time, go-to, favorite recipe website.  I pull up a search, sort by ratings and go from there.  But then it dawned on my, I'm not "using" their recipes, I'm hijacking them!  I take them, mix them up, alter them to my own usage and call it my own.  Is this ethical?  Maybe... Maybe not...


What do you think?

2.14.10 - 2.20.10 Menu

14 Ziti and HM bread

15 Omelets  and toast

16 SW Chicken  Lasagna

17 Chicken Pot Pie

18 Better cheddars and fries

19 Tilapia with Rice and veggies

20 Sausage and Corn Chowder

Ok, so here's this week's menu... but I've already changed some stuff up because this weekend sucked a lot for me (Vday weekend) so I had to make SW Chicken Lasagna on Saturday, the 13th so I will be subbing Tuesday's meal with the tortellini soup from last week, but I'm making it with roasted chicken instead of turkey!

Also, tonight I didn't feel like Omelets, so I made panacakes with turkey sausage and scrambled eggs.  It was oh-so-yummy.

On a side note, Jaizy now calls them panacakes too!  I love it!

Ham and (no) Broccoli cups

But they didn't contain Broccoli because I used it all in another meal... whoops.

This was a change up from a normal Pampered Chef recipe I usually make, the Ham and Broccoli Ring.
I usually change that up to suit my family's taste as well, so I don't follow it verbatim.

But I didn't want to make a ring, but I still wanted to have similar flavors so this is what I made instead:

Ham and no Broccoli Cups

1 pound of ham, julianned
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 can of cream of celery soup
1 bag (smallish) of mixed veggies.  Peas, carrots, corn, green beans.  That sort of thing.  I cooked these so they weren't frozen.
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 brick of cream cheese, low fat, fat free, whatever
5 sticks of string cheese, cut into skinny disks.
So, basically I used what I had available!
I made a biscuit mix and rolled out.  Instead of cutting biscuits and baking, I placed dough disks into canola oil sprayed muffin tins and pressed into cup form.  Then I baked in a 425 degree oven for about 8 minutes until just set.  When I removed from the oven I had to press the muffin puffs in with this cool little tool I have from Demarle.  You could use a spoon, it would work perfectly.
I mixed up all the above ingredients (except the string cheese)  into a large bowl and spooned the mixture into the biscuit cups and topped with 3 string cheese discs.
I had enough biscuits (I tripled the batch) and filling for 30 cups.  (we had leftovers!)
Baked the filled cups for 10 minutes or so at 350 degrees to warm filling and melt the cheese.
Yummmm….  We had it with Salad and my new favorite dressing, poppy seed vinaigrette.   Delicious!

Menu for 2.7.10 - 2.13.10 - CHANGE

Eh, I always change it up, cuz I'm cool like that, so here is the revised menu for this week:

7 Broccoli Ham Cups

8 Tuna Casserole

9 Taco Salad

10 Creamy Potatoes with Pork Chops

11 Swedish Meatballs and red potatoes

12 Beef Stroganoff

13 Turkey and Tortellini Soup

On a really cool note, I may serve rice with our beef stroganoff (which is a really cheap knock-off this week) because I just got my BzzKit full of Mahatma Rice!  If you aren't familiar with BzzAgent, I highly suggest you check it out, because getting free things to try, share and give feedback on is pretty darn neat!

Menu for 2.7.10 - 2.13.10

It's a huge economizing week for us.  A lot of the ingredients I have on hand for this week's menu.  It's also not as healthy as I'd like to see (lots of starch) however with a lot of portion control, it should be fine!

7 Beef Stroganoff

8 Tuna Casserole

9 Taco Salad

10 Pulled Pork Sandwiches HM Onion Flat Rolls

11 Swedish Meatballs and red potatoes

12 Broccoli &   Ham cups

13 Ziti and HM bread

Orange Chicken

This is a kinda-copycat recipe from Panda Express.  Or so I'm told it was originally, but I changed up the recipe I was given and since I've never had Orange Chicken from Panda Express, I can only trust the information I was originally given.
Please keep in mind, this in no way is a "low-fat" meal.  It's definitely an indulgence!  BUT it's made at home, which means no preservatives and ingredients you can't read!  THAT is a good thing!

Ingredients

• 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 whole egg and 1 egg white
• 2 teaspoons salt
• white pepper
• oil (for frying)
• 3/4 cup cornstarch, plus
• 1 & 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon ginger root, minced
• 2 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed hot red chili pepper
• 1/2 cup green onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup water

Orange Sauce for Stir Fry

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons water
• 10 tablespoons sugar
• 10 tablespoons white vinegar
• Zest of 2 oranges

1. Place chicken pieces in large bowl.
2. Stir in egg, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon oil and mix well.
3. Stir cornstarch and flour together in another container.
4. Add chicken pieces, in handfuls at a time, stirring to coat.
5. Heat oil for deep-frying in wok or deep-fryer to 375 degrees.
6. Add chicken, again small batches at a time, and fry 3 to 4 minutes or until golden crisp.
7. (Do not overcook chicken).  While chicken is cooking mix all Orange Sauce ingredients in small bowl and set aside.
8. Remove chicken from oil with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels or coffee filters; set aside.
9. Clean wok and heat 15 seconds over high heat.
10. Add 1 tablespoon oil.

11. Add ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant; about 10 seconds.
12. Add and stir-fry crushed chiles and green onions.
13. Add rice wine vinegar and stir 3 seconds.
14. Add Orange Sauce and bring to boil.
15. Add cooked chicken, stirring until well mixed.
16. Stir water into remaining 1 tablespoon cornstarch until smooth and add to chicken.
17. Heat until sauce is thickened.
18. Add orange zest  and top with chopped green onions, if desired.
19. Serve over jasmine rice with Egg rolls

Egg Rolls

Egg Rolls are a wise way to use leftovers... but in my house, when making Chinese food there are no leftovers!  Here is how I make my Egg Rolls:

• Egg Roll Wrappers, 1 package
• Ground Pork, 1 lb
• shredded broccoli, carrots & cabbage mix , in a bag (buy this by the bagged lettuce or in the refrigerated veggie case.  Of course, you could finely chop this yourself if you're nuts, I mean if you want to!)
• bean sprouts, 1 lb
• oyster sauce, 2 Tablespoons
• soy sauce, 2 Tablespoons
• canola oil for frying.

1. brown pork in frying pan over med/high heat.
2. add veggies and stir until veggies become opaque, or are just cooked, meaning still firm.
3. add sauces and mix well.
4. seperate egg roll wrappers and place as a diamond in front of you.  Place a decent size amount in center of wrapper and fold up from the bottom, fold in both sides.  Moisten the top point of the egg roll wrapper with water, either on your finger or with a pastry brush.  Then roll up egg roll.  Finish all 20.
5. Heat oil for deep-frying in wok or deep-fryer to 375 degrees.
6. fry 5-7 minutes or until golden crisp.
7. Remove from oil with tongs and drain on paper towels or coffee filters.

Serve Orange Chicken and Egg Rolls with some steamed brown rice and enjoy!

Jason was helping roll.

Nice serving dishes, right? lol

Breakfast for Dinner

What kid (or adult!) doesn't love breakfast for dinner. but it seems like so much work at the end of the day! At least it does for me!

Here is our yummy breakfast for dinner from tonight:

Scrambled Eggs

Homemade biscuits and gravy

Applesauce

Remember those yummy pancakes from the other day? They started from a baking mix and this is the same baking mix I made my biscuits from. Oh yum. Seriousy, the best biscuits ever.

So, I browned up some country sausage and made a gravy. If you don't know how, don't be ashamed to use a packet or pre-made, whatever. Gravy is gravy. It's just really good if it's from scratch. I will cover this on another post. Cuz a good gravy deserves it's own post. But don't worry, a lot of the time I cheat too.

Then I cracked 15 eggs into a blender and blended with a splash of milk until fluffy. This is the secret to awesome scrambled eggs. I saw it on food network, can't remember who though. I think that was the only channel ever on when I was pregnant with Jaidelyn. It was like watching heaven all day long.

Scramble eggs in frying pan. I mean, this is pretty elementary and probably the first cooking-on-the-stove I ever taught my kids.

Wa-lah! Breakfast for dinner:

Tortilla Soup

So, if you're my friend on Facebook you may have noticed there was a bit of a debate about Tortilla soup: Thick or Thin? This is because I have never had it before I made it myself but it was requested by the husband. The first time I made it from a WW recipe and it was pretty good! His complaint: It wasn't thick enough. Hence the question on FB.

So I was given a recipe of a thicker recipe to try. I altered it. A lot. But here it is to begin with and with my changes.

Original Pampered Chef Recipe, Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup (Thanks Geli!)

To prepare and freeze

1 portion Make-Ahead Chicken 3 cups tortilla chips, finely crushed

2 cups frozen corn kernels 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies

8 oz pasteurized process cheese spread,cut into 1-in. cubes

2 tbsp Chipotle Rub

To finish and serve

2 cans (14 oz each) reduced-sodium chicken broth

Optional toppings, such as shredded cheddar cheese, snipped fresh cilantro, diced tomatoes and additional crushed tortilla chips

1. Prepare and freeze

• In Bag 1, combine chicken, chips and corn. • In Bag 2, combine cheese spread, tomatoes and rub.

• Seal Bag 2 and place into Bag 1; seal. Freeze for up to three months.

2. Finish and serve!

To cook and serve immediately

• Add contents of Bag 2 and broth to (4-qt.) Casserole. Bring to a simmer over medium heat; cook 12-14 minutes or until cheese is melted and mixture is smooth, stirring

occasionally.

• Add contents of Bag 1 to Casserole; simmer 4-6 minutes or

until soup is thickened.

• Serve soup with optional toppings, if desired.

To cook and serve from freezer

• Cook contents of Bag 2 and broth as directed above,

whisking occasionally using Silicone Sauce Whisk.

• Add contents of Bag 1 and cook as directed above,

breaking chicken apart as necessary using Bamboo

Spatula.

• Serve soup with optional toppings, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings

Nutrients per serving (excluding optional ingredients):

Calories 370, Total Fat 16 g, Saturated Fat 7 g, Cholesterol 75 mg,

Carbohydrate 29 g, Protein 30 g, Sodium 1770 mg, Fiber 2 g

Ok, looked fine and dandy but as I started going through my kitchen there were some major flaws. Like I didn't have any extra chicken. Whoops. And as I was cooking and adding things to the pot it didn't look like very much, so here are my adaptations:

One nice piece of Steak, sliced thin and into bite size pieces. Brown in pan until just cooked.

Pour in 1 can of chicken broth and 4 cans of water to pan. Add 1 Tbsp Better than Bullion, Veggie flavor. Put 2 cans of diced tomatoes with chilis into food processor and blend until smooth. Add to pan with diced cheese cubes (full 24 oz). Bring to a simmer over medium heat until cheese is melted and mixture is smooth, stirring occasionally.

Add Crushed Tortilla chips (About 20 small corn tortillas, cut into 6 pie pieces with pizza cutter and baked to a nice crisp in the oven and then smashed into itty-bitty pieces.) and about 3 cups of frozen corn.

Cook until soup is thickened and corn is not frozen any longer.

Serve in a bowl with a nice drop of sour cream!