Simple Buttermilk Bread

So, I prefer this recipe with white flour only, but it can be done substituting 1/2 wheat flour and increasing the buttermilk by 1/4 cup.

Again, I use a bread machine and I LOVE it!  However, I NEVER let the machine cook my bread else I get something that's better suited for a dog because it's so tough and chewy.

So, the recipe is simple:

3 1/2 c white flour
1 1/4 c buttermilk
3/4 Tbsp bread machine/quick yeast
1 tsp salt

Dough setting on the bread machine.  Come back in about an hour and a half, shape the dough into whatever (makes 1 standard loaf or you can make rolls, whatever).  Allow to rise 1 more time, bake at 400* until top is golden.  Cover when cooling to allow the top of the crust to soften again.  Now enjoy a nice hearty, flavorful, fantastic and homemade loaf of bread :)

Good ranch dressing is no longer worth its weight in gold!

So, anyone want to guess what a half gallon of GOOD ranch dressing costs?  I don't mean that Great Value stuff, I mean something good.  Light House, Hidden Valley, or Wild Coyote good.  Well, to buy it from one of those companies, the cheapest you're going to come up with is about $20.  Probably more.  

So....what if you make it?  

A half of a gallon--64fl oz of homemade, creamy, buttermilk ranch costs about $4.

Here's what we will need:

What we have here is a quart of buttermilk, a 32oz jar of MAYO.  I do NOT advise using salad dressing!  

These are followed by:

black pepper

parsley flakes

thyme leaves

salt

garlic powder

onion powder

I have actually borrowed this recipe from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/dry-ranch-style-seasoning-for-dip-or-dressing/ but I felt it was a good one to repost because (1) this is Utah and we love our ranch and (2) that's a cost savings of nearly 80% if we make it ourselves!

• 1 teaspoon dried parsley

• 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1 teaspoon salt (allrecipes calls for season salt.  I just used plain sea salt)

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme (I liked the recipe better with about 1/4 tsp thyme, personally)  

1 C mayo

1 C buttermilk

Mix everything. 

Enjoy.

Keep refrigerated!  

FREE (or almost) cat scratch post!

Got a dividing wall or an door frame that's not frequently used?

Nails and a hammer?

What about a few old carpet remnants?

Yes?  Ok, lets go!  

Place carpet, nail to wall with sturdy nails and voila!  Beau has never had so much fun and I was even able to get my bratty cat to stop scratching that bottom stair!  With a little more time, this post can totally be more aesthetically pleasing too, but I just threw mine together in all of 2 minutes.  

This post stands about 5 feet tall.  If you were to buy this in the store as an actual post, you would spend what?  $100, $50 on a good day, so yeah.

1/2 priced chocolate bars, anyone?

So, we all know that convenience costs and here, I'm going to show you what I mean.  A 6oz Hershey's chocolate bar costs about $2.  A 11.5oz bag of Hershey's Milk Chocolate Chips costs about $2.40.  Can you see where I'm going with this?

If not, no words will be needed for this next part:

Oven 200* for 10-15 minutes

Yay for giant, cheap chocolate bars.  PERFECT for 24th of July S'mores :)

Teething biscuits

So, my little man has started teething.  It's LOADS of fun.... NOT!!!  Well, I really didn't want to buy him the messy, staining, store-bought teething biscuits, so I decided to make some.  I didn't take pictures of this one, sorry guys!

What you will need:

1/2 c Baby single grain cereal (I used rice)
1 c Flour (I used white, you can use wheat, but you will need to add a little extra water)
1/4 c oil (I used canola)
1/2 c applesauce (preferably unsweetened, babies don't need added sugar)
1/4 to 1/2c water

Preheat oven to 350*

Mix all ingredients.  Be sure to add water slowly.  You may find you only need 1/4 c you may find you need a bit more.  Just remember, you can always add more of something, you cannot add less.

Dough will look similar to pie dough, but softer.

Lay out on a lightly floured surface.

You can use a rolling pin if you'd like, but it's not necessary.  Dough should be about 1/8" thick.

Cut into whatever shape you desire/is kid safe and place on a non stick or greased baking sheet.  These won't spread, so they can be side-by-side.

Bake for about 10 minutes.  Check them.  If they still seem too soft, let them go a little longer.  If not, cool and happy teething to your munchkin too!

Mini not-so-chemical peel

So, this isn't quite the same as an actual chemical peel, but I can attest to the fact that it does make for some nice, bright, clean skin and even some bonus reduction of fine lines like crows feet.  It's super simple to make.  If you have really sensitive or really dry skin, I would NOT recommend trying this.

You're going to need these:

Uncoated aspirin (you can use coated in a pinch, but you're going to have to crush them)

Lemon or lime juice or something of similar acidity

A little bowl

Baking soda

Cotton balls 

A little water

You're going to take about 10 aspirin.  If they're uncoated plop them right in your dish.  If not, crush them, they may take a little longer to dissolve too.  Add a little lemon or lime juice (I personally like the smell of lime), just enough to get on all of the tablets so that when they dissolve, they make a paste.  If your paste is too thick, then add a few more drops of lime juice.

 

Your paste will look something like this.  Fair warning, this facial can sting a little.  If it does, it's normal; think about it.  Salicylic acid and citrus juice... pretty wicked

So, smear it on, do NOT get it in the eyes and let it dry.  

Now, you can either use the rinse in the next paragraph to remove the paste or you can do what I do and just rinse it with water first, then follow up with the baking soda rinse.  Depends on your own preference.  

Now, either get a new dish or rinse the old one and put a bit of baking soda in it. Add a bit of water.  You're going to make a thin baking soda rinse.   

Using cotton balls or a wash cloth, dab the paste onto your face.  This part more than likely will sting!  Again, it's normal!  You're just put some pretty wickedly acidic stuff on your face, and now you're using a base to neutralize it.  There's a bit of a chemical reaction there.  

Rinse your face (again) and pat dry.  

When I do this, I usually opt to follow up with a light moisturizer as well since this can be a little too drying around my nose, but otherwise I LOVE the way this works and how my skin looks and feels afterwords :)

Make your own liquid hand soap

So, we live by this recipe in my house.  My husband is OCD about handwashing (anyone else wash their hands 40 times a day?  Not me....)  and I'm cheap, so the fact that this recipe costs about 90 cents a 1/2 gallon is very appealing to me.

I also love it because it's easier on hands.  I find a lot of the commercial liquid soaps to be really drying and they were leaving my husband's hands cracked, bleeding, and ashy.  Neither of us have had that issue since I started making our hand soap.

It's also quick.  Like, it takes about 5 minutes to prep it.  The rest is wait time.

I've played with this recipe a few times and you probably will too because the amount of water you need varies with the bar of soap you choose.  This particular recipe has been used very successfully with Dial Gold, and Ivory

To start you need.... 

A pan that you never intend to cook in again as the soap will never fully come out of it.

Cheese grater

Cutting board or plate

A bar of soap of your choosing

A bottle to put the finished product in

A funnel

A spoon that won't be used for food again

And this cool little guy:

I suppose you can make the soap without it, but it leaves the soap WAY more moisturizing and allows for a friendlier viscosity.

Alright!  Are we ready?  Let's begin.

Measure eight cups of water into your pot and begin to heat it.

Grate your soap 

Kind of looks like cheese, I know.  If you chose to use Ivory, it grates as easy as cheese too :)  Now, some people prefer a finer grate, but honestly I'm lazy and this one works fine for me.  It just takes it a couple of extra minutes to melt...

On to the hard part!  Well, not really, it's easy, but there's a word of caution at the end of this.  Into your boiling or near boiling water, you are going to dump in 2 Tbsp of glycerin and mix.  You don't need to return your water to a boil, just go ahead and add the soap flakes now.  

Assuming your stove is on high right now, let me strongly encourage you to TURN IT DOWN!  Oh sure, you can leave it on high.  It won't hurt the soap.  What it will do is cause an unstoppable boiling over that will cake to the inside of your stove and take FOREVER to totally get out of there.  I speak from experience here.  The goal here is simply to melt the soap flakes.  Once they're melted, shut the heat completely off.

Congratulations!  Your soap is now complete.  You will need to wait until it is cool enough not to melt your container for the next step.  Once it is, grab your spoon to give it a final stir first, then grab your funnel and place it in your container, which we're going to assume you've placed in the sink to avoid spills.

Go ahead and cap your bottle.  It will be a few hours before you can use your soap since it has to be completely cool in order to thicken.

When it's done, it will act solid in the container.  Now, you don't HAVE to do this next part, but it saves a LOT of vein -popping squeezing of the soap into a dispenser later, so save yourself the trouble and just do this.  Shake it.  A LOT.  The more the better.  It breaks it up making it pour much easier.  

So, there we have it.  Enjoy!