Fabric Softener & Wrinkle Release Spray

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!! Why? Because from the store it is extremely expensive.  Also I get IMMENSE satisfaction from making fabric softener because you can, from your homemade fabric softener, make HOMEMADE WRINKLE RELEASE SPRAY!!!! and also… HOMEMADE FEBREZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Admittedly, I haven't made the Febreze yet but I kind of use the wrinkle release as Febreze, but I know there are recipes for homemade Febreze which uses fabric softener.

Okay here's where I got my recipe.

Very simple. Basically 1 part conditioner, 1.5 parts vinegar, and 3 parts hot water. LET ME, HOWEVER, SHOW YOU MY TRICK.

You buy the cheapest  conditioner (and seriously Suave has some great scents but don't do nothin' for my hair -- and if you think I really speak in that manner you have clearly never met me, that is just for effect) in whatever delicious scent you want, and you dump all of it in your largest pot. Then, you fill it up 1.5 times with vinegar, and then you fill it up 3 times with water. RIGHT?!?! Oh man, so great. Here's why this is a good idea:

1. It involves dirtying minimal dishes (i.e. measuring cups which, seriously? You want to squirt conditioner into a measuring cup?)
2. None of the bottles are an even 2 cups, as the website's recipe calls for. It's either a little less or a little more than 4 cups or whatever.
3.  By using the container to measure the vinegar and the water, you will get the most conditioner possible out of the bottle.

So do that.

After you add the REALLY HOT WATER, I recommend using a whisk to mix. Now listen - I'm all about least mess, but a whisk will speed up the process and as long as yours is dishwasher safe, it's not such a pain to wash, really. Mix that junk up in your giant pot and then transfer it to a pitcher. "But Cari," you're thinking, you smart person, "why mix it in the giant pot if you're going to make me pour it into a pitcher?" Well, I'll tell you. Because your pitcher probably has a spout. And that will make it easier to transfer into bottles or mason jars or whatever (I save the coffee creamer bottles that I purchased on rare occasions. Gallons or half gallons work super well, or *gasp* YOUR OLD LAUNDRY BOTTLE OF ANY SORT!). Also, because all of it wont fit into the pitcher, so you'd have a big donkey mess (when you figure that one out, you will laugh) to clean up. Whatever, this is what I do, if you find a better way leave it in the comments. Also, just use the NORMAL AMOUNT for laundry. Like it was legit, from the store, expensive stuff. Okay picture time.

Here's my fabric softener in a pitcher. It's the first batch, lavender. It looks the right consistency, right?? Because it IS!!!

Here it is in my giant pot. See? Bubbly and perfect. Green apple this time. 

Now behold - all three of these are FULL! (Okay the one in the middle isn't *full,* but mostly. I drew the blue line where it filled up to. Here's some math. The Downy bottle contains 34 oz. The bottle on the far left (an old vinegar bottle. I buy a much bigger size now.) holds 32. Plus the one in the middle, that's at least 12 oz. So that would be 78 oz. of fabric softener made from a $1 bottle of conditioner plus 2 cups of vinegar. Um…how many syllables can you stretch "cheap" to be? Because that's how cheap this is. 

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

Wrinkle release spray. 

This crap is awesome.

So you take a teeny blob, like a teaspoon of fabric softener per CUP of water (guesstimate, people), glob it into a spray bottle and add hot water, shake, and spray the wonder all over your stuff. I use this on our bed, as we have a duvet cover which gets very wrinkled. I also freshen our sheets and pillows with it, and you could probably use this exact recipe as Febreze but there's a fuller recipe here which includes baking soda. Clearly that wont hurt anything so, go for it! I probably will be as soon as I finish these blog updates. 

  

I made both of these. I keep the big one in the bedroom and the small one in the laundry room. If you ever do that thing where you don't take your clothes out of the dryer right away, you can spritz this in there before you run the "mercy cycle" as I like to call it and you're good. ALSO -- I stopped using dryer sheets because of this fabric softener. No joke, friends. No. Joke.

Stay tuned for homemade laundry detergent next!!! 

Oh and if you aren't my friend in real life and don't enjoy reading my rambling writing for it's entertainment value deep intellect, here are the abbreviated versions:

Fabric Softener.

2 C. conditioner (any kind, I use Suave)

3 C. vinegar

6 C. SUPER HOT water

Mix (I recommend in a giant pot), pour (I recommend first into a pitcher, then…) into bottles (I recommend old laundry bottles, vinegar bottles, gallon jugs, half gallon jugs, coffee creamer containers, whatever). 

Wrinkle Release Spray

1 t fabric softener

1 C hot water

Add to a spray bottle in whatever appropriate proportions (for a 3 C spray bottle, use approx. 3 t. fabric softener). Shake. Enjoy. 

Sweet and Savory Chicken or Turkey Meatballs in the crockpot

This was super good. I tried it out on Husband and best friend, too. They agreed.

Here is the original source I used. I modified a few things.

Ingredients:

-1 lb ground chicken or turkey
-1 egg
-1 tsp kosher salt
-1 tsp ground black pepper
-1 green apple, peeled and shredded
-1/2 c shredded sharp cheddar
-1/2 c dried cranberries
-1/4-1/2 c panko bread crumbs
-1/2 onion, sliced or diced

1. Put the ground meat in the bottom of a large-ish bowl. Since you will soon be mixing this with your hands, I recommend you leave it at room temperature for a bit so you don't have icy meat hands.

2. Put everything on top of the meat EXCEPT the onions. 

3. Get in there with your hands and mix it all together. 

4. Make ping-pong sized balls and layer them sort of staggered in your crock pot. 

5. Throw the sliced onions on top. 

6. Turn on the crockpot and wait, excitedly. Wait, though, until they have browned, which they will. 

Okay so the original recipe uses onion salt instead of fresh onion, but I didn't have any onion salt and I did have fresh onion, so that's what I did. Also the original recipe doesn't include panko bread crumbs, but I just felt like adding them so I did. I also used plain Craisins because that's what I had and they weren't too sweet. The original recipe says she was able to pull the meatballs apart and mine were more stuck together, but no one cared. I think I might have let mine cook longer than the person from the blog above, but really it was awesome. I mean maybe not ideal for sophisticated company but you could easily use this same recipe and cook them on a baking sheet if you want them to look like actual meatballs. 

Husband thinks they need some sort of tangy sauce, even though they were really good. He is like that, rarely eats meat without some moist component. If I find one, I will add it here. 

Here are my raw meatballs in the crockpot: 

Cheesy bacon chicken and potatoes in a crockpot

This recipe is awesome.

I adapted it from here - fantastic website. I love the writing style of the author as well as her recipes.

Ingredients:

-Some potatoes (I used two russet potatoes and sliced them into small circular slices and then quartered those)
-Some chicken (I used about 6 strips, but honestly breasts or thighs would work, too. I recommend using a portion that does not have bones)
-1/2 c Ranch dressing
-1/4 c Teriyaki sauce
-A hearty serving of bacon, cooked extra crispy, crumbled
-Enough shredded cheddar to cover the entire concoction

1.Wash and slice the potatoes however you'd like, toss in the bottom of the crockpot.

2. Lay the raw chicken on top

3. In a separate bowl, combine the Ranch and Teriyaki sauce. It's good, trust me. I thought it would be weird but it wasn't. Then pour it over the chicken.

4. You can put the bacon in now, or you can wait until later. It will be less crispy if you add it now, but it will give you the sensation of "hey I just put everything in the crockpot and left it and came home and it was perfection. Sweet." So, whatever suits your fancy.

5. Definitely put some cheese in at the beginning, but I would also maybe just top the finished product with some extra cheese, or throw a bit more in about 30 minutes before serving, especially if you add the bacon later, too. Either way, deliciousness is sure to ensue.

Then you just leave it, because that's the beauty of cooking in a crockpot. It's the typical high for 4-6 hours, low for 8-9 cooking time. Perfect for leftovers.

So the original recipe cited above does not include potatoes, but I'm all about a one-stop shop when it comes to the crockpot.

I can't tell you how delicious it was. I mean, the chicken tenders can be weird to cook stove-top, but they were perfect here. And the weird sauce was just tasty, just plain tasty. The potatoes I thought were perfect thinly sliced, but again, you could do whatever. You could probably even use frozen hashbrowns or maybe even frozen chicken (!!!) but I haven't tried that yet so I am unaware of the effects the extra moisture might have.

Here are some kind of gross pictures because everything is raw. Enjoy!

Re-motivated

Well, it's been forever since I've made a post but the time has come, and I have returned. So here are two easy things I've made recently and then I'll tell you what has been going on.

1. Muffcakes. Pa-muffins. Whatever.

So here's what you do, you make pancake mix (I had some Bisquick so I used that but whatever your batter is will work, I'm sure)  and then you pour it into muffin tins. One Bisquick batch made 12 muffcakes. Then you can just bake them like that, or you can add stuff. I added thawed frozen blueberries, but bacon would be a good idea, or any other fruit, or brown sugar, or whatever. Mmm, bananas? Whatever. Just put it on top, maybe push it down a bit, if you feel creative and like you have extra time you could half fill the holes, put your fun stuff, and then cover it with the rest of the batter and sprinkle some more on top, whatever. They freeze well, stay good in the fridge for several days, basically a no lose situation.

2. Chicken (and probably most meats) with any marinade and any potatoes.

I defrosted 4 chicken thighs and tossed them in the crockpot. Then I washed and cut two small-ish russet potatoes into bite size pieces and threw them in the crockpot, too. Then I threw in about 1/4-1/3 a bottle of Lawry's marinade on top and let it cook. The husband smelled it and was like WHOA, awesome. Then we both tasted it and were like, WHOAAAAA AWESOME!!!!! It was ready after 5 hours but was totally fine after 9, I cooked it on low for a while and then left it on "simmer."


Okay so here are some accompanying thoughts:

You might recall a time when I was extremely domestic and picky about what I fed my family. Well, then I left the country for 3 weeks and came back realizing we had a bit of a budget issue. Once we figured out our food budget for the month, I was like OH CRAP and so we ate grilled cheese sandwiches and PBJ's a lot for a while. Well of course that led to eating out more than necessary which obviously is bad for the budget, right? So finally I was like, OKAY ENOUGH, back to being domestic. However I realized I had to make some choices: I can't fully devote myself to all of the following: God, my husband, my music, my fitness, my house, and my cooking. There must be balance, no one can do 100% to all things or something will suffer. My relationship with God and my husband trump everything, but my house, fitness, and cooking are certainly not disconnected from God and Husband, and my music is my music, it's my calling and my service (not to mention my job) so I certainly can't just totally neglect that. So I worked some things out:

Get up and be with God first thing.

By doing this, all things in my life went better (Matthew 6:33). I had strength and motivation again to be a good care-taker of my husband and household. I desired to be a good steward of money, it wasn't a burden.

Nurture your talent.

I'm ridden with guilt when I don't have make time for my music. Obviously I teach and perform, but what about actively listening and practicing and spending time finding God's path for my music? It's important and it needs SOME time, not all the time, some time. I wrote a long thing about practicing and balance and gave it to my students. Little did they know I was speaking directly to myself as well. Holding them accountable for their practicing impacts my practicing in a positive way.

Make some realistic choices.

At this current time, I am choosing NOT to go fully unprocessed, organic, etc. Sometimes we will eat Velveeta Shells and Cheese. Sometimes (obviously, you read above) I will use Bisquick and Lawry's overly-salted marinades. Sometimes we will have to order a pizza. I will not choose homemade tortillas over sleep or practice time (obviously I wouldn't choose it over time with Husband but I am rarely in a situation where that is the case). I WILL however make wise decisions about how we spend our grocery money and making sure we have portable food. (I commute 3 hours to and from work once day a week and I take food to the Husband 4 nights a week for dinner and send him with lunch three days a week. There are 0 nights a week when he and I sit down to an evening meal together and only one day a week when we have lunch together. We hope to have one morning a week where we can have coffee together…so you see how this is weird.) I have accepted that it is okay when I eat alone to have hummus, celery, and a fried egg and to make something for Husband that grosses me out (hamburger helper, Lord forbid) for me to take him at work. This doesn't mean I think processed food is acceptable or good, it just means I have to buy groceries and not go out to eat all the time, and right now that occasionally means getting Chef Boyardee if they are on sale for $.75/can. It also means printing the Food Lion $X off of $Y spent on produce coupons like it's my job. BUT IT ISN'T MY JOB, I HAVE A JOB, and so I can't do that all the time, AND THAT'S OKAY!!!!

But the crockpot…oh, the crockpot is going to help me. I generally have time to cook, it just isn't at times that make sense. The best solution to that is the crockpot. I can even prepare something the night before, stick the whole pot part in the fridge, take it out when I get up and leave it until it reaches room temperature, and then turn the thing on and leave it so that when I get home from teaching 6 lessons in 3 different locations or whatever, I can rush some over to Husband and then come home and eat some, myself, without having to microwave or whatever. HA! YES!!! So here are two sites I'll be exploring and sharing from:

Crockpot 365

Get Crocked

I am also on Pinterest and have this board for you to see the recipes I've pinned, but I'll generally post the recipes I've actually tried on this blog. 

Blessings!

CPK

Almond (or any type of nut) Butter

Dudes, look:

This is super creamy. So creamy, I poured it out of my food processor. And yes, into a former sour cream container. Don't judge. Or do, whatever.

Okay. Ready?

Ingredients:
Almonds

That's it.

Seriously. Just enough to about halfway fill your food processor.

Things you need:
Patience
A food processor
A cookie sheet

Okay. Step one, roast the almonds (or whatever nut). Do it! Don't skip. It draws out the oils and that is important. Roast them at 350 for about 10 minutes. Better to under roast than to over roast. If they smell hot and delicious, they're ready.

Then, dump them into your food processor. Now turn it on. Now wait about 15 minutes or until it is the desired consistency. Like I said, I like it really creamy. Like this:

See how it was pouring out? Amazing. But you have to wait! Just wait. If its like nut dust at first, great. Wait. Paste? Wait. Unless you want paste.

Reasons to make nut butter:
Cheap
Easy
Healthy

Reasons not to:
You don't possess patience or a food processor or are obsessed with chemicals in your food.

If you want sweetened nut butter, honey is great. Or sugar. But I like mine either with jelly, which makes the perfect sweetness, or on an apple. Same result.

Make it!

Fiesta Chicken with Corn Cakes

To me, this looks like summer:

I plan to try a recipe soon from scratch instead of using Jiffy corn cake mix, but whatever.

Ingredients:

1 box of Jiffy corn cake mix
1 3/4 tbs melted shortening (or butter, or margarine)
1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk (any fat content)
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
Chicken (I prefer thinly sliced boneless skinless breasts)
Some sort of lime-margarita-citrus something marinade
Salsa of choice
Avocado, sliced
Cilantro, chopped
Lime wedges
Thinly shredded cheese (a white Mexican cheese is best, mozzarella works well, too)

1. Marinate the chicken. The closer to an hour, the better. If they are frozen and you can somehow get them into the marinade as they thaw overnight, that is great, too.
2. Cook the chicken (in a skillet or bake it). Keep it warm while you make the corn cakes.
3. Combine the Jiffy, shortening, egg, milk, drained corn, drained beans, and diced jalapeño and mix until the dry lumps are gone.
4. On a hot griddle or large skillet, (greased if it isn't sufficiently non-stick) scoop about 1/4 cup of the corn cake mix on at a time. When there are bubbles coming up through the whole corn cake, it's ready to flip. You can watch the sides and edges to get a pretty good idea of when the other side is done.
5. Now you're ready to plate! Stack as follows: corn cake(s), shredded cheese, chicken, salsa, avocado, cilantro, then squeeze the lime over it and leave it on the plate for a garnish.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry White Chocolate Cookies or Cupcakes (yes you read that correctly)

Behold. Cookies first, cupcakes after.

Yes. They are delectable and extremely rich and horrible for you. Also very easy. 

Ingredients:

Cookies:

1 box of strawberry cake mix

Some white chocolate chips. I don't know, like, around 1/3-1/2 a bag. 

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

Ganache, for dipping:

1 cup chopped dark chocolate (any chocolate, really, I prefer dark)

1 cup heavy cream

1. Dump the cake mix, chocolate chips, oil, and eggs in a bowl and stir. 

2. Spoon them onto a cookie sheet (I use an ice cream scoop) and bake them at 350º for 12-15 minutes or until just the slightest bit brown. Let them cool ALL THE WAY. 

3. Make the ganache (heat the cream in a double boiler or a microwave, but not quite to the point of boiling and add the chopped chocolate and stir). Also let this cool quite a bit. If it is too hot, or the cookies are too hot, the cookies will just crumble into the ganache. 

4. Once the cookies and ganache are at acceptable temperature (the cookies should be room temperature, the ganache should be just warm), dip half the cookie into the ganache and return to a rack (if you want to dip the whole cookie, you can use a potato masher to fish it out of the ganache however they will likely break, just saying. The cupcakes that follow are better for complete dipping.) I sprinkled them with pearl sprinkles but those were just for looks. 

NOW, a cupcake variant. 

1. Make the strawberry cupcakes as the box directs. You can add white chocolate chips, but they don't work quite as well in cupcakes as they do in cookies. They just sink to the bottom.

2. If you used wrappers, unwrap them. If not, I trust you sprayed the pan, etc. 

3. Wait for the cupcakes to cool, and dip them in the ganache using a potato masher. It is the perfect size to scoop the cupcake out of the ganache with minimal contact and can gently push it down so that it is fully covered. Messy, but delicious. 

(I promise I unwrapped those, you can just see the little indentations through the shiny ganache.)