Tags
harlequin author, heartwarming author, homemade laundry soap, Kensington author, western romance author, writing life
Families insist upon eating, and since we’re allergic to so much, I don’t have a lot of easy meal options, unless I’ve got a casserole in the freezer. So when I run out of creative steam in a day, you’ll generally find me cooking.
And not because I’m a passionate cook, either. I’m just hungry, and family will be, too, once they’re home again.
In fact, I have a writer buddy whose kids go to school with mine, and whenever we see each other, we ask the same thing: What’s for dinner? Because we both need ideas to keep the growing hordes fed!
So, in the spirit of sharing dinner ideas, I thought I’d share my stovetop with you.
On this particular day, I’d made some spaghetti squash to go with the rest of the leftovers in the fridge for dinner (a casserole, some potatoes), and a nice pot of oatmeal (with mango and black cherries) for a warm snack when my son got home from school.
The pot in the back? Don’t eat that! It’s laundry soap. I make my own, since it’s dirt cheap to do it myself, works very well, and saves me about $20 a month. And if I can save the money on something as boring as laundry soap, I can put it into something much more fun–like books!
So what’s for dinner at your place?
I’m planning on crockpot stew, just potatoes, vegetables and meat on top. But t he potatoes take awhile, so I need to get that going. A crockpot is a lifesaver, for when the time slips away from me late in the day.
That sounds delicious! I haven’t decided on what I’ll make yet today… but I’d better decide soon! 🙂
I’ve been meaning to look up making my own laundry soap. I have a couple of friends who do this and said they’ve saved a lot of money this way. Do you have a specific recipe and portions of how much to use each load? (Also, this would me another GREAT blog post from you, since they’re all entertaining!)
Oh, that is a good idea for a post! 🙂 I’m going to do that!
In the meantime, I use 1/2 cup of Borax, 1/2 cup of washing soda, and half a bar of laundry soap (you can buy the bar in the laundry aisle) all grated up with a cheese grater. Fill a large pot with water, melt the grated soap in it on the stove. Doesn’t need to boil or anything thing, just melt into the water. Then add the dry stuff, stir it up and let it cool. Keep stirring every once in a while as it cools or it gets super thick and it’s harder to smoosh it up again. And… Ta da! Use about half a cup per load. Works beautifully and is super cheap!