Frugal Fridays

I read a lot of Blogs. I love when they have theme days. it helps if you can only check once or twice a week you know what days interesting topics will be posted. So I'm thinking of trying this out myself. Help me stick to it...
I love making things that my family uses, eats, wears and so on. Lately on Pinterest (which is so fun and addicting, it's a virtual cork board of sorts where you can keep track of all your favorite things online and in blogs) I have been seeing alot of homemade home care products. So I had to try some.
So for my first Frugal Friday, I bring to you a way to make your own common used household products
The first

We have 4 cats and jeff who brings home some wonderful smelling greesy, sweety clothing, needless to say Febreeze is just about a weekly item. I never really felt super good about always spraying the stuff, one never knows what cleaner rumors are true. When I saw this I was all ears and eyes...
Fake it Frugal blog
breaks it down to costing 0.15$ rather than 3-5$ per bottle, who can't use that savings?
Here it is so simple - 1/8 cup of your current fabric softener, 2 T of Baking soda and a hot water to fill your spray bottle (for safety sakes use an empty Febreeze bottle or clearly label your new one).
Loved it, it past the white sofa test too.
Homemade house item #2

Dishwasher soap
This sounds like a bit to make but it also seems like it will last forever. I'm keeping so I'll keep you posted.

1 box Borax (love this and use it with every load of towels and Jeffs work clothes, and great tile cleaner)
1 box Arm&Hammer Super Washing Soda
24 packages of unsweetened lemonade drink mix (no worries, it sounds odd but it is to add the citric acid agent into the cleaner and give a lemony scent. Just make sure its sugar free)
3 cups Epsom Salt

If you need a rinsing aid use vinegar.

Mix Borax, washing soda, salt and lemonade together in a large, very large, bowl. When ingredients are mixed together well put soap in a container of your choice. A large cereal keeper or pitcher will work out great.
Use 1 Tablespoon per load.

Great look making and using these, I am. Let me know what you think.
I'm off to catch up on some BB DVR and eat some homemade salsa!

Gonna get Dirty

I've made some pretty big physical changes over the past year and a half. Losing about 30+ lbs for one. Training and running my first half marathon. Breaking out of my comfort zone and just giving my all to have some healthy fun. So when a girlfriend of mine suggested we do a mud run.... I "jumped" in full force.
In order to prep, I need to get some upper body strength. It has always been a major weekness of mine and a strong desire to have "pipes".....

Kinda like these (do you know how hard it was to find a "clean" arm picture?)
I've since started boxing and I love it. It is awesome to feel my arms getting used and I'm having fun learning a bit of safety too.
To help piggy back that and use some muscles that haven't been used and also began Power Yoga (often called weight loss Yoga). What I love here is there is a strong focus on using your own body weight to strenghten and lengthen the body and the "meditation" part of yoga is for the most not.
Add in my 3 mile runs and things will come together nicely. I am also signed up for the Niagara Falls International Marathon which is in Oct0ber and I'll start back into more of a regular short long run schedule about mid August.
Let the games begin..........And stay tuned to the updates

Spa Plate

I've mentioned a few times how different our summer meals look and I've been meaning to explain. Today's lunch was the perfect example

We call them spa plates.
It just feels good to eat cold juicy watermelon as a snack on a hot day rather than a dry pack of snack food. The watermelon actually cools you down while nurishing you. And saves you some time in the kitchen when the sun and the pool are calling your name.
I have really been trying to stay out of the grocery store this summer for a few reasons (more on that later) so we visit the farmers market, use our CSA share weekly and just toss it all together.
The results are things like todays lunch (watermelon, fresh corn and mini maters (as Sophia calls them), farm made cheese and crackers. if your not convinced, it really does satisfy

(Can you say "corn coma")




Or last nights dinner salad of fresh picked lettuce, radish, corn, early zukes, black beans, salsa with Pita chips. It just seems to make the body work better in the heat, when all you want to do is lay around

And for those who always wonder and ask about protein, I found this that really sums it up. Alicia Silverstone really has some good resources and knows her stuff on the topic. She is very "granola' and extremely vegan down to not using or wearing leather goods. So you will feel that she is a little preachy but put that aside and enjoy.

What's for dinner?

So for the first time in a while I was lacking any inspiration for dinner!
I have been trying not to be at the grocery store as often and make good use of the pantry this summer. Our summer meals also look a lot different than other meals due to needing to take advantage of the yumminess that the local farms produce.
I have 2 small farm stands close by that we frequent and just picked up a wealth of peas in the pods so I knew I needed to use them up along with a strong constant summer fix of bbq beans but I needed some kind of "main" to go with them.
I was at a loss and also in a pinch for time, as I had tore apart the kitchen to paint durring nap time. Sooooo thank you MorningStar farms for coming to our rescue. I'm not a big fan of fake meat but every now and then a good old veggie burger does fill the void on a plate pretty good in a hurry.

I found this patty style, which has a different kick and texture than the typical veggie burger. Jeff likes to fry an egg and top it off with a bit of swiss american.
Everyone seemed just fine with my lack of gourmetness today so I felt the need to pick myself up with dessert, and with the last of the fresh strawberries calling out to be used I got to work and came up with this tweek scone.

Strawberry and lemon glazed scone

Here's what you need:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons maple sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5-7 tablespoons cold smart balance
1-1/4 cups Coconut milk
1 cup strawberries, chopped

GLAZE:
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon smart balance
1 tablespoon Coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon almond
here"s what you do:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Smoosh in butter until you get coarse crumbs. Stir in Coconut milk just until moistened. Fold in strawberries. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10 times.
Pat into a 9-in. x 7-in. rectangle. Cut in as shown

Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
For glaze, in a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, smart balance and milk and almond; drizzle over warm scones.

Do as we did and sit the porch enjoy the calm of the end of the day (and get ready for Big brother (my 1 summer TV fix)!