laundry detergent

i have been making my own laundry detergent for about a year now.  it is amazing!  it's cheap and works great.  i've always had issues with getting hives from other soaps so i wanted to try making my own.  luckily it has never given me hives!

i used to make a laundry detergent that i found on pinterest.  it consisted of washing soda, borax, and bar soap.  after learning more from almost exactly, and going to ewg.org, i found out that borax isn't the greatest for you!  so i searched online for a different laundry detergent and this is what i made...

it takes one big box of baking soda, super washing soda, and 3 bars of dr. bronner's castile soap.

first i break up the bars and put it in the food processor to crumble it and then i mix everything together.  i store it in the big jar in the picture.  it makes a ton (will probably last 6 months)!  and you only have to use 1-2 tbsp for each load.  i have a coffee scope that i just keep in the jar.

i have HE front loaders and it works great!  i've been using the new formula for a few washes now and haven't had any issues.  i like this mixture even better than my last because the dr. bronner's in lavender smells amazing!

glass cleaner

I had mentioned in this post that I had made a glass cleaner.  It's super easy to make and did an amazing job! 

• 1 cup of vinegar
• 1 cup of alcohol
• 1 cup of water
• couple drops of dawn

I actually got the recipe from Pinterest to use on laminate flooring.  Although it didn't work great on ours, it might work good for others.

Summer Turkey Chili

This is my absolute favorite meal!  This is a summer chili, so not quite the same as a regular chili, but it's amazing!!

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 can black beans (rinsed)
1/2 cup green salsa
1 lb lean ground turkey
1/2 tsp salt and pepper (each)
10 oz frozen corn
1 cup chopped sweet onion
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup minute rice
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Directions:
1. Heat oil over high heat.  Add turkey and garlic and cook, stirring to break up meat, 3 to 4 min until browned.  Add cumin, salt, and pepper; cook, stirring 30 sec.
2. Stir in broth, beans, corn, rice and salsa.  Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, 20 to 25 min until rice is tender.
3. Remove from heat; stir in onion and cilantro.

Some changes I made:

• I didn't have garlic, so I used garlic oil and some garlic powder.   
• I didn't feel like chopping an onion so I just used the frozen chopped onion I keep on hand.
• I use brown minute rice instead of white.
• And I always serve with a croissant!

Enjoy!