My Baby Sister, Kristen and Her New Baby, Addison

My baby sister, Kristen had a beautiful baby girl on August 3rd. Her name is Addison Kenedy and she is precious. I can't wait to watch her grow up! She's got awesome parents. Here are some pictures that I've taken of them.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Today I made some laundry soap! The ingredients for homemade laundry soap are simple-grated soap, Borax and Washing Soda (not baking soda-they are different things chemically).

The grated soap is not something that you buy, but rather something you make. You take a regular bar of soap and grate or grind it. “Laundry Soap” such as Fels Naptha, Octagon etc are the preference, but you can use any soap. I used a commonly found soap called Zote.  I’ve read stories (although I haven’t tried it myself) of folks using Ivory, or even grinding up all those little hotel soaps that they have collected.

I found all ingredients that I needed at my local grocery store. 

Here are the steps:

1. Grate the bar of soap. I used my food processor, but you can use a box grater.

 2. Measure 1 cup of washing soda and 1 cup of Borax. Add the bar soap to this mixture and stir well.

 3. Use 1 Tablespoon for small loads, 2 Tablespoons for medium to large loads, and 3 Tablespoons for heavily soiled/extra large loads.

I figure that the detergent that I was using (Tide Ultra) cost 23 cents per load. ( It probably costs more than that because we never got the 110 loads we were supposed to because of using too much) This homemade detergent cost 3 cents per tablespoon! So even if you use 3 T because of an extra large or heavily soiled load, you are still saving more than half! That's awesome!!

Happy Birthday, Callie!

Ice Storm

We had a doozy of a storm last week. I've never seen anything like it! There was ice everywhere. The coolest thing was watching the 1 inch thick-sheets of ice slide off of our metal roof and crash to the ground. It was pretty spectacular! The kids had fun crunching on the ice in the yard and looking at all of the ice covered plants. Unfortunately, our beautiful backyard is going to need some major help- come springtime. :-(

Creme Brulee

My nephew, Matthew, turned 15 on February 1st.   I cooked his birthday dinner which consisted of Bruschetta for appetizer, Chicken Parmesan and Linguine, and Creme Brulee for dessert. Complete with the blow torch for carmelizing the sugar. It was delicious!!! Happy birthday, Matthew!

Creme Brulee 

by Barefoot Contessa

1 extra large egg

4 extra large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for each serving

3 cups heavy cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon orange liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the egg, egg yolks, and 1/2 cup of the sugar together on low speed until just combined.  Meanwhile, scald the cream in a small saucepan until it's very hot to the touch but not boiled.  With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the cream to the eggs.  Add the vanilla and orange liqueur and pour into 6 to 8-ounce ramekins until almost full.

Place the ramekins in a baking pan and carefully pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the custards are set when gently shaken. Remove the custards from the water bath, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until firm.

To serve, spread 1 tablespoon of sugar evenly on the top of each ramekin and heat with a kitchen blowtorch until the sugar carmelizes evenly.  Allow to sit at room temperature for a minute until the caramelized sugar hardens.

Bon Appetit!!!

Homemade Blankie (Lovey)

I love baby blankets. I think I kept all of my girls blankets and Aidan's also. I made several blankets for Aidan when he was newborn and have made a few for friends recently. Here's the one I made this week for a friend who just had a baby girl. My oldest daughter, Alyssa, wanted to keep it for herself. I will try and find some more material that will fit her personality!!