Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

 

 

Enjoy the long weekend. Surround yourself with good people and good food.

 

 



Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Only a few more products to go and this house will be au naturel.  This afternoon I said buh-bye to the expensive Finish Powerball Dishwasher Tablets that I've used for years.  Don't get me wrong, they work so well however those bad boys will run you about $8.00+ for a 25 pack and who knows that type of chemical crap is going down the drain.  I just made a huge batch of homemade dishwasher detergent and it worked out to be about $0.12 a load. Can I get a BOOYA!?! It was super duper easy and only took about 4 minutes to make.  Amaze-balls.

*Update: I ran 1 load using 1 tablespoon and it sucked.  I tried again today and used 2 tablespoons and it was pretty good. Not as spectacular as the Finish tablets I usually use. It left some water spots so I'm going to take the advice of some other bloggers and add a splash of white vinegar in the bottle of the dishwasher before running it next time.

*Update #2: I decided that this recipe is a bust.  It works best when you use at least 2 tablespoons with a splash of vinegar but the cost savings wasn't enough as I'd like so I have converted back to my power ball detergent tablets. There are a few commercial household products that I cannot seem to face getting rid of, and this is one of them.

Yield: 50+ loads

Ingredients
2 cups borax (laundry isle)
2 cups washing soda (laundry isle)
2 cups Epsom salt (personal care isle with bubble bath)
1/2 cup citric acid (this is hard to find this time of year.  Bulk Barn carries it year round)
1 of those silica gel packets you get in shoe boxes or vitamin bottles (this keeps it from clumping)

Method
In a large bowl mix everything together (except the gel packet).  Pour into an air tights container and put the silica gel packet on top.  Put 2 tablespoons of powder for each load of dishes.  If you have hard water apparently you can put a splash of vinegar in the bottom of the dishwasher.

Pear & Brie Wrapped in Crescent Rolls

I'm not just saying that either. Cubed, sliced, melted -- I'll eat it any way it's given to me (that's what she said).  It's a bad habit. The only cheese that I don't like is blue cheese.  (Side note: Don't ever order Spicy Buffalo Chicken Pizza from Boston Pizza -- it has blue cheese and tastes like vomit).  For a treat every once in a while I bring home a small wheel of brie cheese.  I shouldn't but I do. It usually disappears fairly quickly however a few weeks ago I found that I had a half wheel left over and it needed to be used up asap or it was going to go be tossed (gasp! That can't happen!).  I made a rare purchase of Pillsbury crescent rolls at the grocery store to use with the leftover brie. I wrapped sliced pear and the leftover brie in the rolls. It was delish!  They were ridiculously easy to make and amazing for breakfast with a mug of coffee. I have some puff pastry in my freezer that I'd like to do this with next time I need to take an appetizer somewhere. mmmmm......



Forgot to take a picture but this is what they looked like (sortta!)
Pic borrow from here

Ingredients
1 package of Pillsbury crescent rolls
2 ripe pears, thinly sliced
1/2 small wheel of brie cheese, thinly sliced
a pinch of nutmeg

Method
Preheat oven to 375F. Unroll and separate out each dough triangle.  On each triangle place two sliced of pear and 1 slice of brie, sprinkle lightly with nutmeg and wrap dough around.  I didn't create the crescent roll shape but rather made sure the pear and cheese was sealed inside the dough so it wouldn't ooze out everywhere.  Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for about 12 minutes, or until the dough turns golden.  Serve warm.

Broccoli Bites & No Damn Jerk Sauce

We are home from our amazing 5-day vacation in Jamaica and are feeling well rested, re-energized, and more than a few pounds heavier.  We had a great time away and spent some much need down time on the beach, tuned out and livin' the dream.  We experienced quite the adventure en route home which eventually lead us to having our bags searched and our beloved jerk chicken sauce confiscated at security. Long story short, I'm destine to be without jerk chicken sauce. Thankfully and fellow foodie colleague of mine has agreed to hand over his rumoured amazing recipe to me.  Fingers crossed.

One of the challenges of preparing for a vacation is working on emptying your fridge out as best you can before you hit the road to avoid wasting food.  We were scheduled to head to Detroit after lunch on Saturday and I knew I had an entire head of broccoli I needed to use up.  I stumbled across a broccoli bites recipe here and thought they would be tasty served with a bowl of soup.  I adapted the recipe a bit and they turned out pretty good! I dipped mine in ranch dressing while the hubster dipped in franks hot sauce. Yummy!

Yield: 8-10 patties

Ingredients
1 large head broccoli, cut into small-medium pieces and steamed
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons minced onion
3 eggs
1 cup of seasoned Italian breadcrumbs or plain breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon of each basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, garlic powder
salt & pepper

Method
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. With your hands, form small patties (about the size of slidder burgers) and lay on a parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Bake at 375F for 25 minutes, turning the patties after the first 15 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Picture borrowed from here

Ya Mon!

Remember last March when I had a pretty unhealthy obsession with trying to create a jerk chicken recipe (proof; here, here, and here).  Well, the obsession has come to a whole new level.  My husband and I have planned to return to Jamaica again this March Break and I am determined to find an amazing recipe (or bottle of sauce) to bring home with me to enjoy when we are going through vacation detox.  I will keep you posted.  Not that you  actually care.  I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who gives two shits about the jerk chicken. Ah well, bring on the beach, drinks, sunshine and jerk chicken BABY...I mean Mon. Ya Mon. Ok wow, I'm out.

Mason Jars

A while ago I posted about organization here. I'm definitely not the most organized person but I have come up with yet another system that seems to work for me.  Enter; mason jars. My brother and sister-in-law were looking to get rid of a whole bunch of these guys and I decided to take them off their hands.  I have a ton of different baking ingredients on hand and the clutter and mismatched containers were driving me bonkers.  Thanks to my label maker (have I mentioned I LOVE my label maker!?) and an assortment of different sized mason jars my baking shelf is much more efficient.  My plan is to go to bulk barn to refill my missing ingredients so I don't have the packaging to contend with and I only purchase enough to fill the jar again. Check it. Booya!

Phone photo -- damn, I need an iphone!

Freezer Cooking - Beef Stew

Pic taken with my phone -- poor quality

A few weeks ago I posted about a batch of freezer cooking I did.  I've eaten three meals so far and I wasn't at all happy with one of them.  I ended up throwing half of it out because it was so Blah!  It was Pineapple Pork Tenderloin.  A chili recipe I used was alright, but it was pretty over cooked.  I won't even bother sharing either of those recipes because they totally weren't worth the work.  My classic chili recipe is far better.  I still have a few more meals to sample so I will keep you posted on how yummy/nasty they are. A recipe I actually liked was beef stew. It made enough for 6 large servings.  I'm not sure that I'll invest more time in freezer crock pot cooking, but rather do up some more freezer meals like muffins, lasagnas, pot pies, etc.  I've always wanted to have extras in the freezer to hand off to friends/family who might need it (a new arrival of a baby, a death in the family, or an illness).

Ingredients

1 pound stewing beef, cubed
4 carrots, sliced
4 red potatoes, cut into large cubes
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup of frozen green peas or whatever you have (I tossed in some celery and corn too)

Method
Place all ingredients in a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag. Mix together and zip bag closed. When ready to eat, remove from freezer and cook in crock pot on LOW for 8 hours.