I had never guessed how easy Cole Slaw was to make. We had already started the BBQ Pork in the crock pot and I wanted slaw to go on our sandwiches.
I read quite a few recipes online and decided they were all very close to being the same. I pulled out the head of cabbage from the fridge and chopped off a chunk. You can slice it to your desired thickness, but I put ours through the food processor. We ended up with about 2 cups of shredded cabbage. I grabbed a small carrot and peeled it. I cut the carrot into smaller chunks and pulsed it in the food processor as well.
All in all, we used about 1/4 cup of Hellman's Mayonnaise, Salt and Pepper, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 2 cups of shredded cabbage, 1 small carrot shredded and 1/8 cup of apple cider vinegar.
Voilà! Easy, delicious, homemade slaw! Serve it with some Homemade BBQ Pulled Pork in the Crock Pot and call it a day!

I love strawberry preserves! When strawberries went on sale, I knew this was my calling to finally give it a shot and try my hand at canning. I read dozens of articles and finally decided to pull a little from each and make my own recipe. I started out by hulling 4 lbs of strawberries.

After that, I juiced 2 large lemons and got just under 1 cup of lemon juice. I put the hulled strawberries and lemon juice on the stove in a large stock pot. After about ten minutes of medium heat, I could see the magic happening. I placed a small plate in the freezer. I know, sounds crazy but  it helped later. I used a potato mashed to help mash the strawberries to release their natural pectin. Once there was a good bit of liquid from the fruit, I used 4 cups of sugar as sweetener. I let it boil for about ten minutes.

After that, I reduced the heat and let the strawberries simmer while I lined up my canning supplies. I put the metal lids in a small soup pan and cover them with water. I put them on the back burner on a low heat; enough to warm them but never get near boiling.

I started my large stock pot with water and lined up my heated jars. After that was all ready, I took a spoonful of my preserves and set it on the plate in the freezer. I checked it in 5 minutes to see how my preserves would eventually turn out. Man, they tasted amazing! However, it wasn't quite at the thickness I was hoping for. I let my strawberries reduce for about a half hour longer and tested them again. Much better. I used a canning funnel to pour my preserves into my clean, warmed jars. I used the magnetic wand to lift the lids from the hot water and place them on each jar. Next, I tightened the metal bands like a normal jar. I used the heat resistant jar-grabbers to  lower the jars into the stock pot of warmed water.

Make sure the jar lids are covered in water at least 1 inch deep. I turned the heat to high and let the water boil for ten to fifteen minutes. I used the jar-grabber again and set these jars on the counter to cool. Within five minutes, I could hear the seals popping! I was ecstatic! I had successfully made 9 jars of strawberry preserves!
I cannot wait for them to cool! Better yet, I cannot wait to can again!

Just an easy, no fail marinade that is in almost any kitchen, Soy sauce and oil (we use olive oil). I had never heard of this until about three years ago. I tried it fearing that I would ruin   my dinner. I usually use about 1/2 cup of each and add in garlic and any seasonings that I'm craving. When I first made this marinade, I expected it to come out tasting like Chinese food but that's far from the case. Today I added a Costal Seasoning Packet from The Tea and Spice Exchange. I have mainly used the soy sauce/olive oil combo on  chicken but today I'm trying it with Pork chops:)

This will marinate for about six hours while I am at work. I am excited to try this new blend of spices!

This is the final product! They came out incredibly moist and tender. This is definitely going on our favorites list!

This is an easy recipe that everyone will rave over!
All you need is a Boston Butt, BBQ Sauce (BBQ sauce recipe coming soon ), a crock pot and time! I like to soak my Boston Butt over night in a ziploc baggie with the BBQ sauce. This isn't necessary but I think it gives the pulled pork a little something extra.
When I start my day, I pull out the crock pot, empty the ziploc into it and set it on low for the day. I try to make the fatty side up, just so when its time to eat it's easier to pull off the strip of fat.
By the time we both get home from work, dinner is ready and the house smells amazing! Estimated cook time on low is about 6 hours. As long as the meat is covered with liquid, the longer it cooks, the better it tastes!  We take as much of the BBQ sauce from the crock pot and simmer it on the stove. If needed, add corn starch to thicken the sauce.
Last week, we made Homemade slaw to serve with the pulled pork sandwiches.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap.
I have read about this all over. I have watched it on The Duggar's.  I am constantly doing laundry! Who isn't? Why not try this homemade laundry soap? Will this soap come out smelling funny? Would it really CLEAN my clothing? What is this going to do to our new HE washing machine? Would it be worth the time spent? Then I started thinking, it will cost just as much as buying it. There's only one way to find out! I bit the bullet and made some laundry soap.
Your ingredient list:

1. Arm & Hammer  All Natural Super Washing Soda
2. 20 Mule Borax All Natural Laundry Booster
3. Fels-naptha bar soap
4. old cheese grater
5. Five gallon bucket
6. Storage for your laundry soap! (we chose mason jars)
7. ***optional ingredient*** You can also buy Purex Crystals for different scented laundry soap. I choose to leave mine plain.

The only place that I was able to find all of these ingredients, was at Walmart. Not the biggest fan of Walmart, but we can save that for another post. I had the old cheese grater and 5 gallon bucket at home. My total at Walmart was just under $8! I was excited with $8 for a 5 gallon bucket of laundry soap. Little did I know, my next few buckets would only cost me a bar of fels-naptha soap (which runs about 97¢!).
This is the hardest part... Grab the fels-naptha bar soap and the cheese grater and grate away! This takes the most time. Make sure to use the smallest grate because you will be dissolving the soap into some hot water.All together you will need:1 Fels-Naptha soap bar1 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda1/2 cup of BoraxAnd a lot of HOT water Next, I filled a medium sized soup pan halfway with water. As soon as the water is boiling, add the grated fels-naptha. Stir until all of the soap has dissolved.  Fill a 5-gallon bucket a little less than half way with super hot tap water. Add the hot melted soap, 1 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax. Mix well.
After that, I boiled a few pots of water and filled the bucket pretty close to the top. Stir well. I used a ladle and divided up my 5 gallons into Mason Jars for easy storage. These jars took about 10 hours to cool off. The larger your container, the longer it will take to cool off. We use about 1/4 cup in our top loading HE washing machine. As far as the smell, it smells like clean laundry to me!  It has gotten any stains out of our clothing and even takes out the smell from my husbands work clothing. To make sure the dog blankets aren't stinky anymore, I add a half cup of white vinegar in with that load. I haven't noticed a difference in our machine, this detergent doesn't leave a residue.  I spent less than an hour making homemade laundry soap. I also knoeve ything that is in our soap. I don't think we will ever go back to using prepackaged laundry soaps.
Is borax safe?