Are you a Right at Home member? Well if not it may be a good thing. Just about a week ago I had this huge box delivered to me containing all kinds of neat cleaning things to try from the Right at Home people. I especially appreciated the Pledge duster thingy which helped me to make quick work of cleaning my icky blinds (I detest blind cleaning kind of like laundry).

Every few weeks or so they have another giveaway but you have to act fast (and if you have received one in the previous three months you are ineligbile). The current giveaway is for a Ziploc® Back-to-School Gift Pack. They are limiting it to the first 10,000 responders so…act fast if you’d like to get some free goodies in the mail.

And while we’re talking about back to school Ziploc stuff  you may want to grab this back to school menu plan from Ziplock. This is hosted at one of my favorite cooking sites Taste of Home You just need to add the UPC codes from any 2 Ziploc products.

I don’t have any pics…yet but I have little green tomatoes all over our many plants. Again this year some are unlabeled (the ones my husband gleaned from our starts). My husband wants to see what will happen when some tomatoes are left to their own devices so we will see.

We have Brandywine (some rogue lonely dying plant that I picked up at a store), Green Sausage, some cherry tomatoe variety I have to go read the pack again. And my favorites, Black from Tula, Amish Paste (these grew well last year) and Gold Medal.

More to come…

A few ladybugs on my carrots

First of all you need to READ the packaging on everything you buy!

That’s a note to self.

And one that would have served us well several days ago.

The story…

My mother who said she was falling into a depressed state over all the damage unknown bugs were doing to her collards (if you have any tips PLEASE leave a comment) asked my husband if he could pretty please pick up a few ladybugs and preying mantis on his way home.

This is the first year she has attempted to grow collards so we weren’t sure what to expect or really how to grow them well.

So he, my husband, lovingly and to the delight of Peanut brought home to mesh bags. One filled with 200 ladybugs and the other with a preying mantis egg casing. He handed over both to my mother with some cryptic tips about hanging the bag of the egg casing and just dumping the ladybugs wherever she wanted them.

Later on she (my mother) came over and dumped some on my garden with a promise to share the preying mantis when they hatched, or emerged, or whatever.

We laughed and played with the ladybugs. Peanut collected about 50 in her bug box and we, thinking they knew that our little porch was home, went smilingly to bed.

The next day we counted maybe 10 ladybugs and about 5 in the bug box since my husband had let the rest out into the garden in the wee hours.

Today I find none on the porch and two in my mother’s garden.

And by the way she (my mother) came over this morning to let me know it might be a good idea if we had read the instructions on the ladybugs.

As nice as the ladybugs are it’s their babies we want and they were supposed to be laying little egg bunches here and there within the garden.  We were also supposed to water where placed them.  We aslo are supposed to be on the lookout for their babies.

The preying mantis will be tiny and the look of their little cocoon thingy won’t change as they emerge.

I found out more about them here Preying Mantis school

So after my last trip to the grocery store I had to ask myself was I doing all I could to keep our grocery bill down.

Our grocery bill has actually increased since we made some food decision choices.

I love to save money as much as the next person but certain dietary choices have limited my ability to be one of those who can come out of the grocery store paying $12 for $150 work of groceries.

Here are some our family food choices…

• We buy hormone and antibiotic free milk and eggs The brands I buy I sometimes can find a coupon for but not always and I have big milk drinkers.
• We recently started buying grass fed beef and my husband LOVES beef.
• We eat free range chicken and turkey…also costs more.
• I’m allergic to soy so that drops A LOT off of our grocery store choices.  Since it would be more expensive to buy items containing lecithin and other soy additives for the family and separate items for me we all eat the same items which do cost more when you remove additives…go figure.
• Here’s the real killer to our grocery bill. We watch a lot of America’s Test Kitchen and have become a bit of snobs in some cooking areas.

Ways I try to reduce the grocery bill…

• Use coupons when I can. Personal care items and some snack foods.
• Growing what I can in a very small space. So far I haven’t had to buy lettuce this summer and tomatoes and potatoes will soon be here.
• I make all of our breads and baked goods, birthday cakes included (hobby so the family is taking advantage). I’m trying to talk myself into making our crackers and snacky foods too.
• Some household products I can find at lower prices online. And I always try to look for free shipping.

And then I read these posts and didn’t feel so bad…

How I Came to Peace With My Grocery Bill

How to Lower Your Grocery Bill By Not Following My Example

Well the giveaway has closed. And we have a winner.

My lovely assistant (Peanut) is currently getting her beauty sleep so I used my backup which is random.org

Number 11 was chosen (sans my own trackbacks) which is Liz. Congratulations Liz! I will be sending you an email (yawn! Tomorrow) but if you read this first please email me your mailing information.

Thank you to all the participants. I liked reading all of the comments.

I have to say I enjoyed this challenge and giveaway. I have a load in my washer that technically I could put in the dryers since my own challenge is over but I think I’m going to continue on for now. The hanging of the laundry is going rather smoothly and I don’t think I could stand to stick my head in a hot dryer right about now so on with the show!

Today’s the last day to enter my Seventh Generation Laundry Line Giveaway.

I’ve been enjoying drying our clothes on the line. It’s really painless and it keeps the house cooler. We’ll have to wait to see about the bill because I’ve been running enough fans in this heat to…well to do something big. Just not sure yet.

Well hurry up folks. Giveaway ends tomorrow at midnight.

Have I mentioned before my love/hate relationship with lettuce?

I love it. It’s so fresh and adds so much to a sandwich, or salad.

I’ve been trying to grow it forever.

I’ve discovered I’m not patient enough and I usually start cutting and picking leaves long before the stuff has matured.

This year I bought a lettuce bag and planted tons of little tiny lettuce seeds.

As I mentioned before I’m impatient and I got my nose out of joint because they didn’t sprout soon enough for me.

So now I have tons of lettcue.

I wanted to plant a succession of lettuce crops but that means planting thinly which I did not.

My other pet peeve is washing lettuce.

This is my method…

1. Spray lettuce before cutting.
2. Soak a few minutes in a cold water bath in the sink
3. Drain the water and soak again.
4. Drain the water and soak again
5. Spray leaves as I’m pulling out to spin (my mother finally gave me back our lettuce spinner)

On my drain yesterday an earwig went down the drain…

WHAT?!

I had washed the mess THREE times!

I still love lettuce and we ait it anyway.

BTW I’ve had the stuff from the grocery store hatch larvae in my fridge before sssshhhhuuudddderrrrr!!!! It was organic

By the way this week’s e-newsletter from Molly Green was about lettuce. Recipes and all. If you don’t subscribe you should. It’s free for the weekly newsletter and you get nice tips and some free resources.

How do you wash your lettuce?

I’m almost to the end of my challenge and giveaway (enter please if you haven’t already) and here are some of my reflections on this whole hanging the laundry to dry thing….

• I have plans to keep this up for the rest of the summer. At least while it’s so hot. It keeps the house cooler, cuts on our energy usage (smaller bill), and things dry so quickly in this heat.
• I’m keeping up better with the laundry since I only have so much hanging space.
• It’s not that much more work than using the dryer and I feel very vintagey, homemakey while attending to the task
• An apron is a good thing to have while doing this. It holds the pins well and adds to the feeling mentioned above.
• Note to self keep clothes pins away from Peanut. She managed to remove the springs from half of my collection. It’s a little difficult to put them back together so I’m just going to get some more.

So heres some great techy information on what’s in many laundry detergents.

Masking Agents: What Are They Hiding?

·         Truly fragrance free products have a scent. If there is no scent, it is likely that the product contains a masking agent.

·         Masking agents are actually synthetic fragrances that neutralize the scents so that there is no appreciable odor in a product.

·         Masking agents have similar effects to fragrances – some people have skin and respiratory sensitivity to them.

·         If a product does not contain fragrance it may still contain a masking agent – “no masking agents” claims indicate to consumers with sensitivities to fragrance that there are no fragrances present.

Optical Brighteners: Not a Brilliant Idea

·         Optical brighteners are chemicals that make fabrics seem brighter or whiter than they are.

·         They remain behind on clean laundry as a coating and when invisible ultraviolet light hits this coating; they convert it into visible light to create an optical illusion that tricks the eye into thinking our clothes are super clean.

·         Optical brighteners are designed to remain behind on clothes/laundry which means they come in direct contact with skin.

·         They can cause allergic reactions in some people.

·         Some are poisonous to fish and other aquatic life.

·         Many are not biodegradable and remain in waterways.

Why Seventh Generation Laundry Products are Different

·         Plant-based laundry detergents are non-toxic and biodegradable

·         Hypo-allergenic

·         Free of phosphates and optical brighteners

·         Safe for septic and greywater systems

·         Not tested on animals and are Kosher certified

Learn more about Seventh Generation’s line of laundry products at http://www.seventhgeneration.com/Natural-Laundry-Detergent

My baking day is generally Thursday but this past week it landed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I wish I had pictures for you but I was so involved in the baking process and now the items are mostly gone from the home (I share with neighbors) and what is left is half eaten, so not so pretty anymore.

But WHAT did I make is what is important and do I have recipes or ate least links to recipes to share?!

Of course!

Well the first thing I made was some delicious Cinnamon Bread…

Now bear with me. Although the recipe looks long it’s really straight forward. I mix everything in my bread machine and then pop it out to rise. I replaced 1 cup of the flour with 1/2 cup of graham and 1/2 cup of buckwheat flour. I also added 2 tablespoons of gluten but that probably was not necessary. I did use King Arthur Flour, cause I always do.

Dough

* 1/4-ounce packet “highly active” active dry yeast; or 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast; or 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
* 7/8 to 1 1/8 cups lukewarm water*
* 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
* 1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes
* *Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.

Filling

* 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 2 teaspoons King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, to brush on dough

Directions

1) If you’re using “highly active” or active dry yeast, dissolve it with a pinch of sugar in 2 tablespoons of the lukewarm water. Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded. If you’re using instant yeast, you can skip this step.

2) Combine the dissolved yeast (or instant yeast) with the remainder of the ingredients. Mix and knead everything together—by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle—till you’ve made a smooth dough. Adjust the dough’s consistency with additional flour or water as needed; but remember, the more flour you add while you’re kneading, the heavier and drier your final loaf will be. If you’re kneading in a stand mixer, it should take about 7 minutes at second speed, and the dough should barely clean the sides of the bowl, perhaps sticking a bit at the bottom. In a bread machine (or by hand), it should form a smooth ball.

3) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise, at room temperature, until it’s nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Rising may take longer, especially if you’ve kneaded by hand. Give it enough time to become quite puffy.

4) While the dough is rising, make the filling by stirring together the sugar, cinnamon, and flour.

5) Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and pat it into a 6″ x 20″ rectangle.

6) Brush the dough with the egg/water mixture, and sprinkle it evenly with the filling.

7) Starting with a short end, roll the dough into a log.

8 ) Pinch the ends to seal, and pinch the long seam closed.

9) Transfer the log, seam-side down, to a lightly greased 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan. Tent the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap.

10) Allow the bread to rise till it’s crested about 1″ over the rim of the pan, about 1 hour. Again, it may rise more slowly for you; let it rise till it’s 1″ over the rim of the pan, even if that takes longer than an hour. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.

11) Bake the bread for 40 to 45 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil after the first 15 minutes. The bread’s crust will be golden brown, and the interior of the finished loaf should measure 190°F on an instant-read thermometer.

12) Remove the bread from the oven, and gently loosen the edges with a heatproof spatula or table knife. Turn it out of the pan, and brush the top surface with butter, if desired; this will give it a soft, satiny crust. Allow the bread to cool completely before slicing.

“Recipe courtesy of King Arthur Flour.”
Then I made some Amish Sugar Cookies. I’ve had this recipe for years but I did some altering to it this time. I swaped out 1/2 cup of the flour for graham flour, used  King Arthur’s Vanilla Bean paste and about 1/8 of a teaspoon of Fiori Di Sicilia. Then I rolled the cookie balls in sugar crystals before flattening (with a cat faced cookie presss) for baking. You can’t really see the cat face but here is the end result. Yummy!

So how’s it going so far (this is me talking to myself). It’s week 3 in Project Laundry line and again so far so good. We’ve moved the laundry line out of the garage and upstairs where I can open windows and let a good breeze dry our things in a few hours.

As I’ve said before our outside setup is not the best for laundry so I’m improvising. It’s going well.

I’m a bit shocked that it is going so well. I thought I would get behind in the laundry due to the dry time and the additional work of hanging. But not so. Yes there is the additional time of hanging but it seems a bit therapeutic and old timey. Anyway not bad.

Here are my pros so far:

• Cooler home without the dryer running.

Want to get in the hanging your laundry to dry act? Here is a really great post on hang drying your laundry, hang drying laundry.

And please don’t forget to enter our giveaway and win a pack of your own laundry supplies.