Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

I hate that cleaning products cost so much.  I hate that cleaning products are so toxic.  I have been seeing a lot of recipes for homemade detergents and I think I'm ready to try some.

I decided to make my own dishwasher detergent first.  It was a simple recipe and it was modified to work with hard water.  We have very hard water here.

I've used this a few times and my dishes come out sparkling clean!  This is especially impressive because I am not one of those people who rinses off dishes really well before I wash them.  I put them in there dirty.  And I often leave the food to dry onto the dishes.  Good job detergent!

Ingredients:
1 cup baking soda
1 cup borax
1/4 cup fruit fresh
1/4 cup salt

Put the baking soda in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.  You are turning it into washing soda by doing this.  Alternatively, just use washing soda.

Mix all of the ingredients together.  I put them in a peanut butter jar and shook it up.

To wash your dishes, put 2 tablespoons detergent plus 2-3 drops dish soap in the detergent cup.  Add 1/2 cup vinegar to the dishwasher and run it.  All done!

Linked at http://www.littlenaturalcottage.com/ and frugallysustainable.com

Co-Sleeping

I know this is counter cultural but we co-sleep with Little.  We have had quite a few different co-sleeping arrangements since Little was born and we have never slept with her in a different room than us.

During the first three weeks, Little slept in our bed with us.  It was so wonderful to spend that time bonding with our tiny baby.  At about three weeks, I was feeling like I needed some more time without a baby attached to me.

From that time until Little was four months old, she slept in a custom built cradle right next to our bed.  The cradle was built for my cousin (he's now 14!) by my grandfather.  It was right next to the bed so that I could reach in and touch Little or I could rock it if she needed motion to keep her asleep.  When she was four months old, she was getting too big for the cradle but it was really sad to move her out of it.

Now, Little sleeps in a crib next to our bed.  Occasionally, she still gets to sleep in bed with us if she is fussy.  She loves to nap during the day in our bed between Husband and I.  At night, I can still reach my arms through the bars of her crib to hold her hand or put a pacifier in her mouth.

Sleeping in the same room as our baby and even sometimes in the same bed has never been an issue for us.  Little is a good sleeper.  She generally only wakes up at night when she is hungry.

We have never had to worry about not hearing the baby if she wakes up at night.  We don't use a baby monitor at night.  Co-sleeping in the same room has been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of SIDS.

I love that Little is in our room with us.  Husband is a very light sleeper and he still enjoys having Little in our room with us.  Co-sleeping (but not only in our bed) has been wonderful for us.

Do you co-sleep with your child?  How does that work for your family?

Marion Berry Hand Pies

I went berry picking the other day and I wasn't very successful.  The heat wave we had a couple of days ago must have killed all of the flowers.  Husband loves berry pies and I was hoping to get enough to make one for him.  Well, I didn't get very many and they were small berries at that.  I decided that the tiny berries I picked would be great in hand pies.  Hand pies have been a fascination of mine  What better time than now to try making some?

Husband loved them.  He got home when they were hot out of the oven and very quickly there were only two left.  I thought I would get more pictures of these beauties but they disappeared before I got a chance!

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 1/2 cups marion berries
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold water

Mix sugar and corn starch.  Mix in berries and heat on medium, stirring frequently until mixture thickens and boils.  Boil and stir for one minute.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool as you make the crusts.

I made my own very simple butter crust.  If pie crust seems to difficult you could buy pre-made crust.  (Remember, "easy as pie" makes sense because pie is so easy compared to other baked goods!)  To make my crust, mix the flour and salt together.  Cut in your softened butter into your flour mixture.  You should end up with bits of dough the size of small peas.  Mix in the water a little bit at a time until it all sticks together.

Divide your dough into four pieces.  Roll one piece out into a circle.  Place it on a cookie sheet.  Spoon some berry filling into the center and quickly fold the dough over.

Use a fork to press down on the edges to seal your pie.  Repeat for the remaining pies.  I didn't make perfect circles so I trimmed the edges of my pies with a knife.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until your crusts are golden brown.  Yum!

Linked at http://www.littlenaturalcottage.com/