Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Homemade Citrus Extracts

Citrus Extracts -

Sorry I have no photos for this post as of yet. My fancy photo helper - a.k.a my cell phone - is being stubborn and will not send or upload photos right now.. How we rely on our cell phones and other electronics for such things and then they fail us and it just makes things so annoying. Cell phones = a love / hate relationship.. 

Citrus extracts. I love the smell of lemon.. And grapefruit. Orange.. Oh and lets not forget Lime.  Extracts can be easily made at home. I make them all the time. I use the extracts for cooking and cleaning and flavoring anything I would like to add a little flavor to. The hardest part about making extracts is time. It takes time to remove the peel from the citrus fruit and more time for the citrus to impart its flavor to the alcohol.  Most extracts you can buy contain alcohol. There are a few that do not, but most do. I have never made an extract without using alcohol but I hear it is just as easy. Maybe sometime I will try it. But for now, I will stay with the alcohol process as it's the one I know and the alcohol content does not bother me.

Things you will need
  • A glass container with a lid. I have nice bottles with the flip off attached tops. Love these. Clear is just fine IMO but if you find the amber ones I hear they are better. But even a mason jar will work to get started as long as it has a tight fitting lid so that the alcohol does not evaporate.
  • Vodka. The higher alcohol percentage the better. I use at least 70 proof alcohol but 80 proof is better. It does not need to be expensive. Just the highest proof you can find/afford. 
  • Your citrus fruit. 
  • A knife or peeler
  • time

Wash off and dry your fruit. Now you want to remove just the outer peel. Try to avoid as much of the pith as possible. The pith is bitter and will impart that quality to your extract. Depending on the size of your bottle you may need to peel several of your fruit choice.  Also - depending on what you are going to be doing with the actual fruit will determine how many you will peel. Lemon - for example- unless you are going to be making lemonade or lemon bars you might not want to do more than a couple at a time. You can always ADD more peel and alcohol to the extract bottle at a later date. This way you are utilizing the peel on fruit you were going to use anyway.
After you have your peel, place it into your bottle. Now cover with the vodka. You don't need to fill the bottle full of vodka. Just enough to cover the peel. This is how you can slowly add peel over time and still get a good extract. Once you have covered the peel with the vodka, cap the bottle and place it someplace out of direct sunlight. Mine sit on the countertop away from a window. I have never needed to store in a refrigerated area and have never had my extract go bad.
Now you have a few choices. After a few weeks have passed (at least 3 weeks for a good flavor, but more time is better) you can either leave the peel in the bottle - I think it looks cool - or strain the peel out and put your extract into bottles you can store in your cupboard or give as gifts. Make sure you label them, as that is easiest way to tell them apart. But you could always just smell them to tell. After you have let the peel/alcohol mix sit a few weeks, the alcohol will smell like the fruit and not so much like alcohol. It will also gain some of the color from the peel. I do use these extracts for lots of purposes. Not just cooking. I have used them for cleaning, to shoo flies, for making an adult flavored drink. I will post my cleaning solution soon using the homemade extracts.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Homemade Dishwasher Rinse Aid





Dishwasher rinse aid
   
            So I ran out of rinse aid. And my dishwasher is one of those that if you do not have any rinse aid in the dispenser then your dishes DO NOT DRY! Kind of annoying I guess. But there are worse things. Well - I ran out of my rinse aid on a day that I could not get to a grocery to purchase more. NOW WHAT!!! I didn't want to run it without any rinse aid and have to hand dry the dishes later. Or deal with the spots left on the glasses. Ugg. Hate the spots.. And I  also didn't want the dishes to wait to be washed until I can get to the grocery. Especially as in this house, we do 2 or 3 loads of dishes a day. So I began my quest for what might work in place of the commercially made rinse aid. I found several that sounded great but I didn't have everything on hand for most of them. So I used the information I found and put together what I did already have on hand to come up with a replacement rinse aid that I hoped would work until I could get to the grocer. But I discovered that the homemade rinse aid seems to work BETTER than the commercially made one. And so much cheaper! I thought maybe it was just my mind imagining it - so I did go buy a very small bottle of rinse aid a few days later. When the light came on on the dishwasher to refill the rinse aid, I used the store bought and took notes.  And yes, the homemade version worked better for me. So I am going to keep using it. And saving money too. Which is a fantastic bonus. Super clean dry dishes out of the dishwasher and less cost out of my pocket. Love Love Love!!!

This rinse aid is so easy and cheap you will not believe it. I didn't- not until it worked. And worked great. There are many many recipes on the web for rinse aid. You may need to experiment with a few to find one you like. But one thing is for sure, you won't beat the price on most of the homemade versions as they are so much cheaper.

Homemade Dishwasher Rinse aid

A bottle of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (any brand- just needs to be 3% hydrogen peroxide)
and your favorite essential oil
a glass container
a metal spoon

Pour 1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide into your glass container. I usually use a measuring cup or small glass that I can easily pour the rinse aid into the dishwasher opening with. Once you have your hydrogen peroxide in your container, add 2-5 drops of your favorite essential oil. Start with 3. If you don't think it has a strong enough smell add more 1 drop at a time. Stir with your metal spoon. Now pour into the rinse aid opening and wash your dishes. You should be able to just barely smell the essential oil after your dishes are clean. If the smell is strong then you should add less essential oil to your rinse aid. You should only just barely smell it. I estimate that the cost for this amount of dishwasher aid is $0.10 cents depending on your essential oil. Maybe even $0.20 if you are using a costly oil and more drops. If you have any leftover rinse aid you can use that to clean off the front of your dishwasher. Or the refrigerator. Your sink. Cabinet top. Whatever. Or save it and add it to the dishwasher rinse aid reservoir after you have washed a few loads of dishes and can then top it off. My reservoir does not hold a large amount of rinse aid. Depending on your dishwasher you may need to double or more this recipe to fill your reservoir.

 I bought a nice large bottle of Hydrogen peroxide from my Costco for $1. The essential oils can run anywhere from $5 to $75 a bottle depending on the type and brand. You only need a few drops so a bottle will last a long time. Many of the posts I read about making rinse aid only used "antiseptic" essential oils like Lemon for the scent. In my research I have found that most essential oils are antiseptic and so I use whichever smell I like at the moment. Be that Lavender or Orange, lemon, lime, clove. I have even used a blend. Whatever I feel like the day I make my rinse aid. I only make what I need right at that moment. I do not make any ahead of time as it is just so easy to make I don't need to make it ahead. Literally takes less than a minute to make.






My Crazy Mom life




Hello - And welcome to my blog. If you are here, it's probably because you clicked on one of my posts about one thing or another that was interesting. Or maybe you are a MOM. And possibly crazy. If you were not sure if you were the only crazy one - I am here to say no. We are all crazy. And (imo) if you are a mom then crazy is just part of the normal every day. Because being a mom is crazy. Crazy fun. Crazy tired. Crazy busy. Crazy Crazy Crazy! And I love it all.  This blog is about my adventures as a crazy mom. The things we do. The things we make. Our life and all that it entails.You will notice (if you follow along) that I will post in spurts. And in no specific order. I post as I think of things. Or as we do them. Things we enjoy or things that save us time or money -if not both. I will post food recipes, cleaning recipes, things to do for fun, things to do for your own sanity. Read what is helpful to you. Leave comments if you would like. But I do get distracted with this crazy life so if I do not post often, it could be because of the craziness. I always eventually come back to posting things. Like I said - it goes in spurts. I welcome you all to enjoy what I have to share, and then you can take from it what you need and pass it on to others that might be able to use it too. 

So let me introduce myself -
My name is Beckey. I was born in early December, many moons ago. My photo (above) was taken just a few years back. That wonderful older lady there is my grandmother. But she did raise us, for the most part, so I always thought of her as my mom. She was one of the greatest women I have ever known. She reached the age of 98 before she passed on. We laid her to rest on my 40th birthday. And I couldn't bring myself to even acknowledge my birthday for a long time afterwards. My wonderful husband arranged a 'surprise' party one night several months later. This coming birthday will mark 3 years since her passing. It does not feel like its been that long. It still seems like just a couple months ago. I dream of her often. And still think of her every day. I am not sure that I won't continue to for the rest of my life.
I am the mother of 4 children that are growing up fast. In fact, my oldest child is now a legal adult. How did that happen??!!??  I still cannot believe it. How the years fly by.  I have 2 daughters and 2 sons. And no matter what age they are, I am still a crazy mom. Newborn to full grown adult. The crazy starts the second you bring life into this world. And it never stops. Oh, some things change and get easier for sure. But others take over on the crazy scale. I don't think I have any more time now than I did when they were babies. Or any more sleep. No. Pretty sure I am still running around crazy all the time. But these days its not with a bag full of diapers and wipes or extra clothing for the child that didn't quite make it to the potty in time. Or 2am feedings. Now its run to this venue or that. Take me to the pool. Take us to the movies. Lets go hiking. Or fishing. Or exploring. Come help me build the koi pond. Or feed the ducks. Lets make bath fizzies. Or perfume. Or massage oil. Lets make cookies or snacks. Or the 1am text from the child that is having an almost panic attack from the spider or other scary creature they see on the wall and cannot move or it will attack them. Or a movie they just watched that freaked them out. Yup. that has happened. And more than once. This is my life now. And I love it.