Finally!  After several months of tweaking, fine tuning, dumping out and starting all over and many, many soapy overflows onto the kitchen floor (one spill in particular comes to mind – sorry ’bout your ass babe!)….I have done it!  Well, at least I think I’ve done it.  I never had a dishwasher in my home until we moved here.  I just always felt like they were energy and water wasters.  We never really even talked about getting one in our old place and when we bought this house, I figured I’d do with mine what my Grandma did with hers.  She kept her booze in it.  But once I had the chance to fire that baby up and take her on a test drive…I was smitten!  I love my dishwasher and all that she does for me!  I make sure I run full loads (I can pack a dishwasher like no one else…trust.) and I only run it once a day and sometimes skip a day or two.  But what I hate the most is buying dishwasher soap.  First, it’s super expensive if you buy green-detergents and second I feel like I waste it.  I am a little, ehem, heavy handed so when I squirt the stuff in to the cup…I fill that sucker to the brim.  And the other little cup gets a full squirt as well.  I was buying Seventh Generation in bulk from Amazon and felt like we were saving some money..but there had to be a way to do it cheaper.  So I started my quest for the perfect formula for homemade dishwasher soap.  I think this one is the best by far so I wanted to share.  Feel free to try it out and let me know what you think!  If you come up with different ingredients or measurements, let me know cuz I want to check them out too!

Sals Suds Homemade Dishwasher Soap

1/2 cup Sals Suds

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup water

3 tbsp lemon juice

couple of drops of your fave essential oil  (I used tea tree)

How pretty is that?

I use about 1tbsp per load or two if I’m washing pots and pans.  Play around with the amounts and see what is best for your dishwasher.  You should be able to get about 48 loads if you use 1 tablespoon.  I also use straight vinegar for my rinse aid..no diluting with water.  It’ll get plenty of water with the dishwasher running!  Not only does the vinegar do a great job rinsing the dishes – it gives your washer a good cleaning at the same time.  Good luck and let me know how this works for you!

Naturally yours, Dallas

OMG!  This thing was soooo good!  I got a juicer from “Santa” have been going crazy with that thing!  I use it about every other day but have enough pulp left over to make smoothies for everyone for two days.  Today’s recipe was by far one of my faves!  Try it out and let me know what you think.

PS The Nugget totally drank his entire smoothie this morning…could not believe it.  I think the red cabbage helped because when I hand him a smoothie – if it even looks like the lightest shade of green, he makes a “yuck” sound and hands it right back.  Today, he gave it the once over and sucked it down.  What am I gonna do when he can talk and asks me what’s in it?  I tell ya what I’m going to do.  I’m going to walk through the door to the Dark Side of Parenting and LIE.  Not very AP but it’ll do for now.

Red Cabbage Juice

Couple of chunks of red cabbage

2 celery stalks

tons of collard leaves

two apples

handful of parsley

1 cucumber

carrot

handful of cherry tomatoes

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to save the pulp in an airtight container with foil wrapped around it.  Foil keeps out the light.  Be sure to use the pulp in a smoothie either that day or the next.  For the smoothie recipe add pulp, water, honey, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, PB if you want or maybe some berries. Let her rip!

Naturally yours, Dallas

Kiki is starting to become what I like to call a “selective eater”. He will try pretty much anything but if he doesn’t like it he makes a weird gagging sound, hisses like a cat and promptly spits out whatever was in his mouth. So I’ve had to get pretty creative with his meals. Here’s a quick recipe that I came up with the other day for lunch. I was able to cover all the basics -protein, dairy, starch and vegetable all in one quick dish. Enjoy my random recipe for a veggie/black bean quesadilla!

frozen veggie medley

shredded cheese

black beans

whole wheat tortilla

Cook the veggie medley first and then add to beans and put in tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and cook up until golden brown. Serve with quac or salsa if your kids prefer. Takes all of about 15 minutes to prepare and Kiki ate the entire thing!

Naturally yours, Dallas