Virtual Cookie Swap

I am interrupting my normal posts for a little holiday fun.

Hillbilly Housewife invited fellow bloggers to join this Virtual Cookie Swap

So here is my recipe:

Peanut Butter Criss Cross Cookies

Cream together:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup lard

1 cup brown sugar

Add:

1 cup peanut butter

2 well beaten eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Stir in:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/3 tsp. salt   

Roll into walnut size balls. Roll in sugar. Place on baking sheet at least two inches apart. Press with fork, in criss-cross pattern. Bake at 350* for about 12 min.

Peanut butter cookies is one of my husband’s favorites. And, my grandma used to make the best. These aren’t quite hers, but they are nice and peanuty. I got this recipe from a cookbook that my husbands great aunt put out for a family reunion.

Enjoy

Jeremy the Cow

WARNING: To all my vegan friends, you will want skip this post. Go read some older post or stir up some all-vegetable soap, while I discuss my omnivore buying habits. Just be sure to come back for my next post about my new Ladies' Castille Shave Soap. 


DISCLAIMER: This is not an ad for a particular farmer, just a rambling about one of the ways I save money. I know that not all of you are close enough to southern MO to buy from the same farmer that I did, but hopefully, you can find a similar farmer in your area.

OK, first off, Jeremy is not actually the cow. Jeremy is the guy that brought the cow. He's a farmer from Missouri Grass Fed Beef in southern Missouri. And anyway, I think, the kids decided that "Jerry" was a better name for the cow. (I know a lot of you have a problem with naming your food, but I grew up on a farm, and as kids,we named most of our food yet still managed to enjoy eating it.)  We recently purchased a whole beef (yep, that means the whole cow) from  Missouri Grass Fed Beef. And Jeremy was kind enough to deliver it to us for a very nominal fee, he combined the delivery with other business in the St Louis area.

When Jeremy came to deliver the beef to us, my 4yr. old was so excited that he starting jumping up and down shouting "Jeremy The Cow is here!, Jeremy The Cow is here!"  I can't say that I blame him, I was excited, too, but not just because there was something going on to distract us from our normal school and chores schedule, but because I knew that the cow meant lots of good meals, and saving money.

Now, I'm not trying to turn any vegetarians to the dark side, this is not the forum for discussing the benefits or risks of eating red meat (plenty of info on that on the web), or for whether or not cattle flatulence contributes to global warming (Google that sometime when you're bored),  but this is a place to discuss saving money while feeding your family. So if you're going to buy meat, you might as well save money while buying top quality meat.

After the cow arrived, in 6 large, heavy boxes; I proceeded to inventory the packages by cut and weight as I placed them in my freezer. I then listed out the local supermarket price for the same cuts so that I could compare the price to see how much I was saving. I have to say, I was very pleased.

One of the mantras of frugal shoppers has always been to buy in bulk when possible. How much more bulky can you get?  Now, I understand that the large outlay of money at once can be intimidating. (Some people find it helpful to split the cow and cost with someone else). But I have analyzed the numbers a dozen different ways (I'm an old school geek), and any way you look at it, we saved huge.

If you just want the bottom line we saved about $700, or about 35% off of the retail for the same cuts at the supermarket. You can also look at it as, we paid for the cheap cuts (ground beef and chuck roast) and got  the premium cuts (sirloin, T-bone, porterhouse) for free, or we paid the ground beef price for everything (the actual amount of ground beef that we received was only 20% of the total weight of meat that we got)  or that we got about 110 lbs of meat (mixed cuts) for free.

I know that not everyone has a large freezer, but if you are a gardener or are serious about saving money on food, it is one of the best investments you can make. Freezing is one of the easiest ways to preserve your harvest of many kinds of vegetables. And I remember times, before I had the big freezer, when I would get frustrated because I couldn't take advantage of an exceptional meat or bread sale because I had nowhere to store it.  As with all purchases, a true bargain shopper can save here too. And the newer models use a lot less energy than the old ones did.

Here's how I got mine. Almost four years ago, our fridge died and our dishwasher was ready to be terminated for unacceptable job performance. It was one of the few times that such a circumstance was well timed, we had just gotten our tax refund so we had ample cash in the account, and we had just gotten a coupon in the mail from the appliance store for 20% off any purchase over a certain dollar amount. With coupon and checkbook in hand, we headed to the store for a fridge and maybe a dishwasher. After drooling over all the latest bells and whistles available, I chose the least expensive, "big" fridge in the place and the least expensive dishwasher with the features I was looking for. As we went to write up the sale, the salesman noticed me glancing at the freezers, and swooped in like a vulture. My husband tried to stand his ground saying we didn't need one, but he was outnumbered, and in spite of his substantial stature and extensive military training, was quickly overpowered. The final victory came when I spotted a sale sign on one that was by the front window, away from all the others and asked why it was by itself. The salesman answered that it was a scratch and dent. Yes! It was also a discontinued model.  So, we got the freezer for about $150 (similar models run $450 to $600). Woo hoo! Even my cheap husband couldn't resist that bargain. To make my husband feel less used, and restore his dignity, I took him to the hardware store.

The freezer has not only enabled us to make large food purchases, but also allows me to cook in bulk. I'm not talking about once a month cooking, I do my own version. I'll do a post about this in the next week or two.

Now back to the beef. I haven't really addressed the quality of the beef. Search "grass fed beef" if you want to know about the differences between it and "regular" beef. When I was calculating the $ saved, I compared it to the local supermarket, because that is where I would be buying our beef if I didn't have a freezer full. But I know that is not completely fair to "Jerry". To truly compare apples to apples, I would have to compare the price to that of other grass fed beef. Which, of course, I did.

We do not have a market to get grass fed beef around here, so I had to compare it to what is available online. This is where it got complicated, and you must read carefully before buying. With Missouri Grass Fed Beef, they take the cow to a meat processor that then cuts and packs the beef how we order it, size of roasts and steaks, # of steaks in a package, do you want soup bones, stuff like that; and you get the whole cow, all the various cuts. With the others that I found, if you order a whole cow, you get the amount of meat, by weight, of a whole cow. But it you read the list of cuts and packs,  you are actually getting a few of the premium cuts that would come from the cow and a whole lot of ground beef, 75% of the total weight (compared to 20% with "Jerry") so they can sell the rest of the premium cuts at premium prices.

So, I did a comparison to their per pound price, according to cut, too. The results are almost scary. Based on the whole cow price we saved about 50%; and at the per pound price, we saved over 66%. The main reason I can figure, for the price difference is that the other sites seemed to be "middle men" rather than farmers.

Buying from the source is always cheaper. In past years, I have bought sides of beef and whole pigs from my brother-in-laws. Since, in those cases I got a "family" discount, or had to do the butchering and packaging myself, I knew most of you would not have the same opportunities to save; so sharing about it would have been a little unfair.

And in keeping with my general "Waste not want not" philosophy, I make soap from the fat of these animals,  too. See my Almond Joy, and Bit of Honey soaps made from the lard of this years pig, and I will have some tallow soap ready in a couple of months.

Vinegar Hair Rinse

As promised, here's some info on using vinegar hair rinse.

Many people are shocked when I tell them that my family uses a vinegar rinse in our hair. It's really not that weird. Just search the web and you'll find lots of references to it. Here are a few that I have read:

•  Little House in the Suburbs, 
• Chagrin Valley Soap (this one goes into a lot of detail and gives some recipes)
• official Heinz Vinegar site
• Urban Beauty Collective
• DocLocs: Sisterlocks

The science behind it is fairly simple. Think of the cuticle of the hair like shingles on a roof. When all is well, the shingles should neatly overlap, providing a protective barrier between what is inside the shingles (your house) and what is outside the shingles (the elements). Alkalinity (soaps and many hair products) causes the hair cuticle to open up, exposing the hair to the elements and making it drier, less shiny and more prone to tangles and breakage. Kind of like, if a storm were to raise the shingles on your roof, leaving the house exposed to the elements. Most commercial conditioners coat the hair to make it appear smoother, but do little to actually improve its condition (Listen closely to the TV ads for hair products, most are very careful to say it will improve your hair's appearance or will make it appear healthy, but they won't say that it will be healthier). This would be like putting a tarp over the damaged shingles, but not repairing the roof. Here's what the vinegar does. First, it removes soap residue left in the hair after washing, leaving hair less weighed down; and soap, by its nature attracts oil and dirt, so less soap left behind can mean that the hair looks and feels clean longer. Second, being a mild acid, it balances the PH and causes the cuticle to lay back down, leaving the hair smoother and shinier; thereby, repairing the shingles on the roof.


I had read about vinegar rinse for hair for years but had never tried it. I don't know why, it goes completely against my frugal nature to continue to throw money at commercial conditioners that weren't even working for me instead of trying the cheaper homemade alternative. For some reason, I always thought I would eventually find one that worked, but I never did. I'm not a very demanding person when it comes to my hair, I just wanted to be able to brush it without it feeling like I was yanking it out of my scalp, and it would have been nice to not have so much frizz. When I started researching my recipe for shampoo bars, I kept reading more and more about the vinegar rinses. After making the shampoo bars, but while they were still curing and could not be used yet, I decided to try the vinegar with the commercial shampoo. I was very pleased with how much smoother my hair was. It had a little more shine and a lot less frizz. But with the commercial shampoos (as well as "regular" soaps), I still needed to use heavy conditioners at least twice a week, as well as the vinegar to keep it nice. Still, this was an improvement. The real improvement, for me, came when I started using the rinse with my shampoo bars. The recipe for my shampoo bars was designed specifically to be highly nourishing. The oils that I choose are high in vitamin E and protein as well as natural moisturizers. The combination of the Moisturizing Shampoo Bars and the vinegar rinse have given me the smoothest, most manageable hair that I have had in 25 years, or more.  I no longer use any other conditioners. It has had as great of improvement for my 2 girls as well.

The "how to" part is really simple. Just put a little vinegar in a bottle, add water, pour on your hair after washing, rinse and have fun. The amount to use depends on who you ask. I have seen everything from full strength to 1 tablespoon per cup of water. I go for a happy medium and use about 1/4 cup(2oz.) in a 32oz. bottle and fill with water. This lasts me 1 to 2 weeks. The bottle that I use is just an old shampoo bottle with a dispensing lid. What type of vinegar is also a bit of a debate, Heinz says white, everyone else says apple cider. I don't think it matters as far as performance goes, but I use the apple cider. There are also different opinions about how long to wait before rinsing, and whether to rinse at all. This I believe, is just a matter of opinion and could vary for different hair types, experiment and see what works best for you. Talk about frugal, at the rate that I use this, it costs me about 4 cents a bottle.

Until next time when I'll ramble about..... "Jeremy the cow".

Moisturizing Shampoo Bars

The shampoo bars are, and I say this in all humility, FABULOUS! Even though I did make them, from a recipe that I did develop myself. I mean, look at them aren't they beautiful? All golden and swirly.

Seriously, my family and I have been using them for several months now and we love them. They have far exceeded my expectations.
I would not, however, say that they are ideal for everyone. I think that if you had oily, flat hair you would probably need a different recipe. So I am calling these "Moisturizing Shampoo Bars". And, I will work on developing a more deep cleaning formula for those with oily hair.
I'll give you a breakdown of how these have worked for each of us and our hair types.

My Husband- before the shampoo bars his hair was like normal, guy hair, drier in the winter less dry in the summer, but so short you couldn't really tell the difference. Since he is a construction worker and and all around dirty boy, he shampoos daily. His first reaction to the shampoo bar was "wow, this is really great." He went on and on several times in the first month or so about how soft his hair was and how shiny it seemed. But as the summer got hotter and his hair got nastier (think cement dust and rust mixed with gallons of sweat and baked under a hard hat for 10 hours), he found that the shampoo bar was not harsh enough for his sweaty head. So, he alternates the shampoo bar with a deep cleansing shampoo, as he feels necessary, to maintain his lovely "do".

4 Year Old Son- thick golden, little kid hair with a dirty scalp thanks to sand boxes and mud pies. His hair is still as glisteny as ever (maybe even a little more), but his scalp seems to come cleaner with the shampoo bar than with the baby and kid shampoos.

10 Year Old Daughter- medium thickness straight hair between chin and shoulder length. Before the shampoo bar she always, always, always woke up with horrible rat's nests  bed-head, tangles. Her older sister has made an art of describing what it looked like had happened to her hair in her sleep. And while some of the stories were admittedly funny (especially those involving huge, 8ft tall bed bugs and aliens), 10YO usually ended up in tears either because of the story or the detangling process.  I had tried for years to put an end to the tangles with no luck, and my husband would not let me shave her head.  Thankfully, the shampoo bar and vinegar rinse combo (see my next post for more info on vinegar rinse) have made her mornings go much smoother. And as far as the texture and appearance of her hair goes, it looks and feels like spun silk. Light and smooth and golden. I have actually made other people (who know me and my soaping ways) feel it.

12 Year Old Daughter and Myself (I'm clumping us together because she is my Mini Me (a clone really) and just about anything said about one of our hair can be said about the other's.- we both have extremely thick, coarse, dry hair with oily scalps. And it takes forever to dry. If you've ever seen the commercial for "pyramid hair", you have some idea what it looked liked. Since using the shampoo bar both of our hair is smoother and more manageable and easier to get a brush through (that is a big deal in itself). I no longer have to use heavy duty conditioners, or any conditioners for that matter, just the vinegar rinse. For the first time in nearly 4 decades my hair has movement and is touchable and we both have more natural wave showing instead of just fuzziness. As far as the oily scalps go, even that seems to be more under control now. My guess is that the commercial shampoos stripped the skin of natural oils, resulting in an over-production  of oils (kind of like treating acne with alcohol).

In summary, I don't think most of our hair has ever been this healthy feeling and looking.  But, as I said this recipe is not for all hair types- which means I must go back to the drawing board for another formula.

These are currently available on my website.

Shampoo Bars

I am working on making shampoo bars and head-to-toe soaps (for hair, body, and shaving). I have researched and developed recipes and I’ve ordered all of the special oils and plant extracts. Now I’m just waiting for the last of them to arrive. I’ll be using some old tried and true recipes and some new ones that I developed from recent research.
I will be posting some special hair rinse recipes to co-ordinate with the shampoo bars.
I was just reading a post about using soap instead of shampoo on Little House in the Suburbs. I think it is cool that this came up on the day that I was making these.
I’ll do a follow up after these are ready to let you know how the new recipes turn out.
By the way, I may have made some progress on the liquid laundry soap, but the jury is still out so I’ll will say more on this later.

Dishwashing Powder and Laundry Soap

The last couple of weeks have been fairly quiet as far as my soap-making goes. (I’m supposed to be doing that “spring cleaning” thing, just haven’t gotten too much of it done either.) However, I have been experimenting (insert Mad Scientist laughter here) with dishwasher and laundry soaps.
The dishwashing powder that I have made is fantastic. It is all natural, works better than any of the commercial brands that I have used, and I have found that it works great as a powder cleanser-think Comet. My only problem is figuring out the best way to package it. My local customers are supplying me with their own re-used containers. Making it even more economical for them because they don’t have to pay for packaging. However, I’m not sure that will work well for my web-store listing. I always try to keep packaging costs low and as “green” as I can. Anyone with a good suggestion just let me know.
My new laundry soap is also presenting some minor issues. Don’t get me wrong, the product is wonderful; it’s the packaging and presentation that is keeping me from being able to concentrate on my Kakuro game. I made both a powder and a liquid version. The powder is, like the dishwashing powder, wonderful. We’ve used it for several loads and everything is clean, soft and fresh smelling; even after line drying.  The only questions I have here are-how to package it and what scents to offer it in. The liquid, on the other hand, is being my problem child. It doesn’t stay in solution, and takes some serious re-mixing each load to get it measurable. It does work wonderfully, so I will keep working on it to make it more user friendly.

Here are my test notes

Dishwasher Powder- keep the following in mind as results will vary based on machine, water, and soiling

• I have a newish dishwasher (3 years old)
• we do not pre-rinse our dishes before they go in the machine, just scrape off the big pieces, the machine has a grinder that takes care of the little bits
• we have regular city water, not particularly hard but also not softened
• since I’m a “from scratch” kind of cook and 4 of us are home all the time (3 meals plus 2 snacks a day) we do a lot of dishes (7 to 12 full loads a week)
• our previous routine was as follows: Cascade tab (with shine shield and Dawn grease fighters) in main cup with a cheap liquid in the pre-rinse cup and Jet-Dry in the rinse cup- anything less than this resulted in a lot of tiny particles in the glasses and white film on glass and metal, and a lot of re-washing

New routine:

• 2 to 3 tablespoons of my homemade powder split between the 2 cups and white vinegar in the rinse cup

Results:
Shiny, clean dishes. No streaks or film. What more is there to say?
*Side note: I was experimenting (moowahaha) with this as a powder cleanser in the bathroom- it did an excellent job. Do wear rubber gloves as the ingredients will dry your skin. I used this in the toilet; and not only did it clean the porcelain nicely, but it also made the toilet brush look like new (something the commercial cleaners had not done.) I also used this to clean the bath mat which had become dull and grayed, while it doesn’t look like new it is brighter than it has been in a long time.

Laundry Soaps- again results will vary based on machine, water and load size and soiling- you’ll need to adjust amount of soap and water temperature to suit your needs

• I am using a 15 year old, heavily used washer
• my washer is the largest they made in its time, some new HE’s are larger, so amount of soap used will be more than is necessary for most washers
• we do not sort the laundry by colors (I know, I should be ashamed of myself for this and I probably just lost all of your respect for me as a housekeeper)
• my husband is an Ironworker so we wash some very dirty clothes- muddy, rusty, concrete-y, smelly, grungy (you get the picture)
• I have 3 children, 1 that’s potty training and 2 that are learning to cook (lots of messes)
• due to the dirtiness involved- most loads we do are in warm or hot water
• when the weather allows, we hang our clothes out to dry
• most loads got fabric softener (liquid)

Routine- powder:

• 2 to 4 tablespoons (1/8 to 1/4 cup) powdered soap per load with 1/2 cup white vinegar added to the fabric softener dispenser

Results- powder:
After 2 or 3 loads. Everything seemed at least as clean as with the commercial detergents. My daughter loved hanging these out. She liked the scent and felt the clothes were a little less stiff when she took them down.

Routine- liquid:

• shake or stir the mix (a lot) to return it to suspension
• add 1 to 2 cups of liquid soap per load (no need to add the vinegar, it’s in the soap)

Results- liquid:
After 15 loads (I’ve done more with the liquid because I’m obsessing over how to keep it in suspension-the whole “squeaky wheel” thing) Again, everything is nice and clean. Most things seem much softer than with the commercial detergent and liquid softener. The biggest difference is in my husband’s socks and our bath towels. My husband’s work socks were so bad before that a lot of time I rewashed them because they were still stiff after washing and just didn’t seem clean. They are so much nicer now, not stiff and you can tell they have been washed. The bath towels we use are beach towels that are cabana striped in bright colors and white. They had become quite dingy, but now they are bright and white again.
Summary:
I am very pleased with these products and can’t wait to offer them for sale. In the mean time I, and others, will be doing more testing.

Hi, welcome to my first blog. I am BobbieSue Hill and I am the owner of Fusion Handcrafts. My website, www.fusionhandcrafts.com lists all of my currently available items with new items being listed weekly. Here is an excerpt from my wholesale catalog as an intro.

Like I said this is my first adventure into the world of blogging. As soon as I figure out how, I will post some photos of my soaps and a little more info. In the meantime, at least say "hi".

What it is

Fusion Handcrafts is a business that offers accessories and home items made by blending modern and old-fashioned methods, materials and designs.

How it Started

Fusion Handcrafts is the result of a lifetime of making things with my hands. From simple embroidery and ornaments to pass the time with my Grandma when I was child, to woodworking and remodeling to be with my father as a teenager, to sewing wedding dresses to pay for college, to making cloth diapers and diaper covers to save money when my kids were little, to now, as a Homeschooling mom of three I find myself knitting and crocheting to relax and maintain my sanity while I oversee the children's schoolwork. And let’s face it, there are only so many knit items that one family can wear, once there is an afghan (or two) for every bed and a scarf and hat (or two) for every head, something has to be done. Eventually you’ve got to sell some of them. So I started selling stuff online. First I sold on eBay, now I have my own website.

Where it’s going

For a few years Fusion Handcrafts has been mostly about yarn– buying yarn, winding yarn, knitting yarn– then last year my daughters and I did a soapmaking project with a couple of their friends. And that started a new obsession. So I had to make room in my knitting studio for soap supplies. I currently offer a constantly growing line of soap and bath products as laid out in this catalog. I will soon be adding liquid soaps and laundry soaps.