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!