38 weeks!!!

Ok so it's getting so close now!!! I'm so very excited to meet this little girlie! Here's a couple of belly pics, just for fun! :)

Laundry detergent

First, let me say this is NOT my recipe. You can find it all over the Internet in various forms. Just do a google search for DIY laundry detergent and you'll find a bunch! 

Y'all know I'm thrifty, but refuse to be so at my family's expense. So... I've been using whatever natural-as-I-can-get laundry detergent, and it always costs a pretty penny! So when I decide to finally make the plunge and try to make my own I was super excited, bc I get to choose what goes into it! :)

So this is what I used:

-4.5 oz of a natural bar soap that had tea tree oil in it(bc I liked the way it smelled and it used essential oils so my sensitive kids are ok with it)

-1 cup borax(NOT boric acid!)

-1 cup washing soda

And this is what I did:

First, I grated the soap(not the giant side that's showing here! I used the tiny side!)

Then I took the grated soap and ran it through my food processor. You don't have to do this but I wanted it to be uniform in consistency bc that's how I roll.

Then I mixed it in a bowl with the borax and washing soda.

Then, I put it in a jar with a label, bc, again, that's how I roll. You could totally keep this in a tuperware or plastic bag, or whatever! 

Total cost was about $4. This should do 64 loads, and it took me about 10 minutes to make. Totally worth it! :)

BJ's wholesale club

Ok, so we used to have a Costco membership, but since moving here to NC we let it go. We did this for 2 reasons, first, it's 45 minutes away. Second, they don't have half the stuff we bought from them in Alaska. 

Hubby and I have noticed our food budget rising at an alarming rate, which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that we have 6 kids, 1 of which is a teen, 1 of which is a preteen, and 1 of which is a bottomless pit! So, we decided to re-visit the wholesale club thing. We really are hoping to sell our house and move on post, so we decided to look at our options in Fayeteville before Cary. They're both about a 45 minute drive for us at this point, but Fayetteville will be much closer when/if we move. 

So, first we checked out Sam's club. If I was looking to save money on "safe" cleaners, it would be worth it.  I'm more concerned with food, so that was out! 

We already knew what Costco had, and they don't have a store in Fayetteville, so we checked out BJ's. They don't have a store in Fayetteville either, but they are opening one soon, so it seemed like a good idea to check it out before going back to Costco.

We were very pleased by what they had. They didn't have as many organics/naturals as the Costco in Alaska, but they did have more than the one here, so we bought a membership. Bonus, they were having a special so we only paid $40.

Here's a list of what I found:

-bakery bagels 9/$3.99 (no corn syrup!)

-organic cheddar cheese 1lb/$7.99

-organic celery 3lbs?/$3.59

-organic butter 2lbs/$6.99

-pistachios 2.5lbs/$13.49

-organic salad dressings(Caesar and balsamic vinegrette) 21oz/$$3.99

-organic spring mix 1lb/$5.99

-apple gate sliced provolone $6.99

-organic farfalle 2lbs/$4.99

-organic frozen triple berry(strawberry, blackberry, raspberry) 3lb/$9.99

-organic maple syrup 32oz/$12.99

-unsalted almonds 3lbs/$12.49

-apple gate uncured beef hot dogs-16 (my all time favorite hot dogs BTW!) 24oz/$8.29

-dried mixed fruit(apples, pears, plums, peaches, and apricots UNSWEETENED!) 2lbs/$7.49

-yeast 2lbs/$4.49

-organic naval oranges 4lbs/$5.99

-raisens 3lbs/$6.99

-king authur unbleached flour 10lbs/$6.49

-organic baby carrots 2lbs/$3.29

-organic apple juice 1 gallon/$4.69

-organic diced tomatoes 6 pack of 14.5oz/$5.99

-granny smith and fuji apples (I think they were 3lb bags) $8.99

-organic frozen peas 4lbs/$6.49

-organic milk 2-64oz/$6.49

-organic thyme 3.3oz/$4.99

-organic cumin 7.8oz/$5.49

-organic ketchup 2 pack of 44oz/$6.99

-Annie's Mac n cheese 12 boxes/$10.99

-roasted unsalted peanuts 5lbs/$5.99

There was more stuff too, but this is just a list of what I DID buy that day. I noticed they also had organic juice boxes, organic fruit snacks, z bars, etc!  Hope this list helps SOMEONE! :)

Peanut butter

Ok, so peanut butter is something we use a LOT of at our house, and natural or organic PB is SO expensive! One of my beauties can't have corn syrup, and I've been really trying to cut out all overly processed sweeteners for the rest of us too! Although, my hubby and I STILL can't give up our organic evaporated cane sugar for our coffee yet! 

So... What to do? Continue to pay over $5 for a jar of organic PB(which still has sugar in it) when we go through 4 jars a month bare minimum, find it in bulk, OR make my own.  We recently aquired a BJ's wholesale membership(a whole other post that needs to be made!) so I looked there for "safe" PB. No luck. But what they DID have was this giant bag of unsalted roasted peanuts, still in the shell!  I think I payed $4 for this 5lb bag!

I know, I know, not organic, but really, I'm more concerned with the sugars in my PB anyway! So, here's what you need...

A really good blender(or one you don't mind burning the motor out in!) or food processor

Peanuts-about 2&1/2 lbs before you de-shell them. This gave us about 5 cups after the shells were off. I've heard that blanched ones work good for PB too, but since this is my only experience, I can't say for sure!

Grapeseed, coconut, or olive oil-I think I ended up using about 2 TBS

Maple syrup or honey (if you like your PB sweet)- I think I used 2-4 TBS

Sea salt-I probably used about a teaspoon

First, if you bought the ones that are still in the shell you have to de-shell and de-skin them. The roasted ones are super easy to get the skins off! The kids loved helping me with this, and my littlest man(almost 4) did a super good job at this!

My littlest lady (almost 2) also helped, but she ate all the peanuts she de-shelled! Anyway, after you get them all ready, toss them in your blender or food processor and grind away! You'll need to stop often to scrape down the sides, and to prevent your blender or food processor from over heating! You can add a bit of oil if your machine is really struggling. Once it's smooth and moving in your machine like a thick liquid like substance, you can add in your sweetener and salt. This is really to taste, but I did notice that as the PB cooled it actually turned out sweeter than I thought  it was! Then, just pour your PB into a container of your choice! I store mine in the fridge because I DETEST stirring PB, and this will separate! I used an old pasta sauce jar! I got about 25 oz of PB from this! :)

Strawberry muffins

I found this recipe online, and it didn't work for us at all, so I made a ton of substitutions and they turned out super yummy! This recipe makes 36 smaller or 24 big muffins.

3&1/8 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 TBS cinnamon 

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3 TBS ground flax seed

3 TBS wheat germ

1 cup maple syrup or honey

1 cup mashed strawberries(I used my blender)

1/2 cup butter(melted)

4 eggs

2 cups strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tins.

Slice strawberries and set aside.

Mix together your dry ingredients, then add the wet ones in. Mix JUST until the ingredients are blended. Over mixing anything with whole wheat flour will make them have a yucky texture but you definitely don't want lumps of baking soda either! :)

Bake in preheated oven for 12-20 minutes depending on your oven and the size of your muffins!

If you added another 1/2 cup of sweetener, and slapped some cream cheese frosting or whip cream on the top, these would make GREAT cupcakes too! :)