Soap-A-Dope…

July 28, 2015

In one of my posts from last year, I showed pictures of my jewel weed soap.  The jewel weed plant is a natural remedy for poison ivy.  I have given some of my soap to several people and have gotten positive comments on how well it works.  I’m not the first or only person to make jewel weed soap.  In fact, there are many businesses on the internet that sell this type of soap. 

I believe that when God created the world, he also created herbs and other plants to sustain us and allow us to live relatively healthy lives.  Indeed, many modern medications are derived from flowers, herbs, and the bark from certain trees.  I try to use as many of these “natural” remedies as possible before resorting to calling a doctor.

Since my jewel weed soap adventure was what I consider to be a success, I decided to expand my “medicinal” soap making efforts.  I wanted to create a natural soap for my skin that would be gentle, but would still clean my skin.  I threw in an additional requirement for my soap this time.  I wanted it to be pretty…something that I would want to see in my soap dish or that I could give as a last minute gift, if necessary.

A couple of weeks ago I went out to my herb garden and gathered some leaves from my calendula plants, a bit of thyme, some lavender sprigs, and some plaintain leaves from our decidedly shaggy lawn.  Each of these plants has soothing, healing, or slightly astringent properties.  (Exactly the qualities I wanted for this batch of soap.)  I washed the plants, dumped them all into my largest stainless steel cooking pot, and added just enough water to cover them.  Noticing my aloe plant in the window, I pulled off a stem of that and squeezed its juice into the pot as well. 

After letting the pot simmer for about twenty minutes, I strained the liquid and threw the plant material into my compost bin.  Since it was too late in the day to make the soap, I simply poured the liquid into a glass container, put the lid on, and placed it into the freezer.  I find that if I “cook” the herb liquid and freeze it on one day, it makes the actual soap making process easier.  It’s sort of like those breakfast casseroles where you mix the casserole in the evening and then bake it the next morning…you feel like a little elf did some of the work for you.

So this past Saturday, I thawed the liquid and used it to make my soap.  Making this type of soap requires the use of lye, which can be a bit dangerous if you aren’t careful.  However, if you use reasonable caution, wear protective gear (rubber gloves, long sleeves, apron, and eye protection), and work in a well-ventilated area you’ll be fine.  It took me about forty-fives minutes to make the soap and the soap is “curing” as I write.  It will take four weeks for the soap to cure, so we’ll have to wait and see how well it works…or doesn’t.

Eighteen bars of herbal soap!  I purchased Wilton silicone baking pans from
Michael's craft store to use as molds.
(Charming and I both used Michael's 40% off coupons...Yay, Michaels!
Charming doesn't mind shopping at Michael's with  me.)

I also got two sets of "soap stamps" on sale for $1.79 each
from Michael's.  The plastic heart set had three different images and
the second wooden set had various images such as a paw print,
clover leaf, a tree, and a few other images. 

I think the plastic stamps worked better than the wooden ones.
They were easier to center and lift off of the finished soap bars and
will need less final trimming on the rough edges.

The soap bars are about 3/4" thick and it feels and looks
smooth to the touch.  I hope this is a good sign.

A close up of some plain bars that I left unstamped.  (I think
my manly man, Charming, would have a problem with using a
bar of soap that says "Love" on it.)

Above and below are samples of the wooden stamps that I
got from Michael's.  As you can see, they were a bit harder
to center and, since the wood wasn't flexible, it was more
difficult to lift the stamps off of the soap bars.

Beautiful Abundance…

July 20, 2015

Here in Virginia, we are deep in the growing season.  Although Charming and I got a late start in our garden this year, it is proving to be very productive.  We have about six varieties of tomatoes, English cucumbers, bell peppers, Big Bertha long green peppers, banana peppers, asparagus beans, Kentucky Wonder pole beans, zucchini, and potatoes.  We planted multiplier onions last fall and were able to harvest them early, so I used the available space in the onion bed to plant Napa cabbage. 

Our banana pepper plants are producing at a phenomenal rate!  Year-before-last, I canned our banana peppers so that I could add them to sub sandwiches for Charming.  So this year I wanted to eat them fresh from the garden.  A simple recipe that I’ve been making use of lately is to stuff the banana peppers with cheese, wrap them in bacon and broil them in the oven for ten minutes (turning them over halfway through the cooking time).  These are really good and quick.  They’d be great for a party, but Charming and I often eat them for supper.  I’m choosing to believe that they are good for you as the recipe includes a vegetable and lots of protein.  (We won’t talk about the fat and cholesterol in the bacon.)

Here’s how easy it is to make the bacon-wrapped banana peppers… 

I pick a batch of about twelve of these beauties every week from
our garden.

Being the control freak, I line up my bacon, the plastic top to one
of my baking dishes, the cheese, and peppers.  This makes it
easier to get the assembly line in motion.  After cutting off the ends
of the peppers and cleaning out the seeds, I simply fill them with
shredded cheese and wrap each pepper with a slice of bacon.

I place the end of the bacon at the top (open) end of the pepper,
then the bacon is wrapped around the rest of the pepper in a
spiral.  Lastly, I stick a sturdy toothpick in the end and stack
them in a baking dish.  I put them in the refrigerator until I'm ready
to cook them.

When ready to bake, I place the peppers on my roasting pan, making
sure they don't touch each other.  Then I broil them for five minutes
on each side and they're ready to eat.

These would be great for small parties, but we eat them
for supper along with a salad or light vegetables.  They taste
great and also gluten-free!

Going Bananas…

July 12, 2015

I recently came upon a great snack/dessert for kids (and husbands!) that I thought might interest you.  It’s cheap, quick, good….and…gluten-free!  There are kits that you can purchase in the produce section of many grocery stores to make these snacks, but I tend to try to replicate store-bought or restaurant foods in my kitchen and often come up with cheaper and/or better tasting renditions.

I’m talking about frozen chocolate-covered banana pops.  Charming prefers to eat bananas when they are still in a fairly un-ripe stage.  However, during the summer months the bananas seem to ripen before he can eat them so when I see the bananas getting past the stage when he will eat them, I quickly cut the bananas into four chunks per banana and insert sturdy toothpicks.  I then stir up some chocolate, cover the banana chunks with the chocolate, place them in a microwave/freezer-safe dish and pop them into the freezer for a few hours.  They come out like little frozen popsicles that are “sort of” good for you. 

Give these a try some time.  Unless you have family members who are die hard banana haters, I think you’ll find that this recipe is a keeper!

Frozen Chocolate-Covered Banana Pops

2 Ripe Bananas (cut each banana into four fairly equal sections)

8 Sturdy Toothpicks (be sure they don’t have splinters)

¾ Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (Hershey’s is gluten-free)

¼ Cup Premier White Chocolate Chips (again, Hershey’s is gluten-free)

Insert one toothpick into each section of banana and place on a plate.

In a small, flat, micro-wave safe baking dish, melt both kinds of chocolate chips in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Remove dish from microwave and stir well.  (If all chocolate chips are not melted, return to microwave and heat for 15 seconds more.  If chocolate becomes grainy, add a tablespoon of milk and stir.)

Gently pick up each section of banana by the toothpick and spoon melted chocolate over entire banana section.  Place on a freezer-safe dish.  Repeat with remaining banana sections. 

Freeze at least several hours or overnight.  Serve frozen and accept compliments gracefully!

Two bananas were cut into four sections each, making eight
banana pops.  Chocolate chips were microwaved for thirty
seconds.

Stir chocolate chips to combine.  Then use the spoon to cover
each section of banana completely.

Work quickly to cover each section with chocolate.  If the
chocolate becomes grainy or starts to harden up, simply add
a tablespoon of milk (and microwave for another 15 seconds,
if necessary).  Pop the finished pops in the freezer for a few
hours or overnight and they're ready to serve.

Being Cheap Is The Mother Of Invention…

July 6, 2015

Recently I’ve been very busy designing some knitwear projects.  Some are for things I need, such as a new purse and bath mitts.  I can’t believe how hard it is to find a purse that makes me happy.  The purse design I’m working on now has several requirements:  It must have a strap long enough that it crosses over my body (because I basically carry my life in my purse, I can’t bear the thought of owning a bag that must be either carried on my arm at all times or left exposed in a shopping cart).  It must have several compartments (organization is a must for me because I’m a bit of a control freak).  Finally, it must have some form of closure on it (either zippers or flaps) to keep my “stuff” easily accessible to me, but not to others.  So I’m working on that design and will post that at a future date.

I’m also refining my bath mitt pattern.  I made myself one several months back and have discovered that I absolutely love it.  Wearing the mitt while taking a shower virtually eliminates its being dropped in the shower.  It’s made of cotton yarn, so it’s soft and comfortable to use as well as easy to wash.  Since it has a pocket, it quickly soaps up when I place a small bar of my home-made soap in it.  I would have never guessed that something so ordinary would make taking a shower so quick and easy.

I’ve found that a lot of my design solutions come from having real-life problems that need to be solved.  Take my Swiffer mop/broom/whatever-it-is, for instance.  The kit that I purchased from Costco came with a small pack of dry refills as well as a few wet refills.  Although I have to admit that it pained me to throw the used Swiffer wipes in the trash because I don’t like skunking up Mother Earth with trash, I went through that pack of refills fairly quickly.  After mulling over in my mind how many wipes I could go through in a year, I resolved to find a better way.

On a trip with Charming to the Harbor Freight store, I came upon a pack of four micro fiber cloths on sale for $2.49.  Hmmmm…I thought.  Those might work well for wet or dry applications in my Swiffer mop.  So I purchased them and came up with a pattern that works as well (really better) than the refills that originally came with the mop.  See the pictures below for my pattern and loose instructions on how I make them.

While I’m mentioning the Harbor Freight store, I must tell you that I absolutely love going there.  Although it’s more of a “man’s store,” I have found many items that I have been able to use around the house…such as the sling shot I bought a few weeks ago…but that’s a topic for future blog post!  Hope you all had a wonderful 4^th of July!

A sample of the micro fiber cloths that I purchased from the Harbor Freight
store.  The sew-on Velcro is from Walmart.

My Swiffer mop head measures about 17" long x 5 1/2" wide, so I
cut the 12"x12" cloth into two pieces.  I had to use a half of another
cloth to make the pattern work for my mop.  Three cloths will give
me two re-usable cloths for my mop.  

Using my serger, I serged the short edges together to form a long strip.  

Next, I folded the fabric on one end to make a 4" pocket.  (You could
pin the pocket in place, if necessary.)  I then serged around all of the
edges to prevent raveling.

I slipped the cover onto the mop and marked the spots for two pieces of
Velcro, then I sewed them on securely using my sewing machine.

Finally, I sewed the corresponding pieces of Velcro onto the top side of
the cover and stitched them into place.  (This could be one strip, not
two as shown in my picture...but didn't think of that until I was making
my 2nd cover.)

Here's a picture of the actual dirt that I picked up with my Swiffer
re-usable mop covers.  They work great, are easy to make (after
a bit of practice) and are washable.  I just wait until I get all of mine
dirty and throw them into the washer.  (Do remember to make sure
the Velcro strips are pressed together before washing/drying as
they would otherwise get tangled together.)

This picture shows four mop covers that I made in the space of about
an hour.  The bottom one is a dirty one that I used to mop the floor.
(Easiest way to mop the floor with these is to use a medium-sized
spray bottle.  Add 1/4 cup of white vinegar and fill remainder with
water.  Spray a section of floor at a time and mop with the Swiffer.
Quick and easy!)

A bonus!  I serged two layers of left-over micro fiber
cloth together and use them to mop up spills at the coffee pot.