A Yummy, Wholesome Breakfast...

I thought I would share a wonderful recipe that our family

enjoys for breakfast. It has been alot of fun to make and

customize to our family's tastes and the current season.

In the spirit of vintage-inspired things I just love, I can

imagine (do I sound like Anne of Green Gables??) an old

relative of mine from long ago assembling a breakfast

cereal like this (with similar ingredients more or less).

Our family hopes you will enjoy it as much as we have!

Homemade Granola Cereal:

10 c. oats

2 c. wheat germ (or coconut flour for wheat-free option)

2 c. shredded coconut

1 c. brown sugar (I usually use less)

1 c. chopped nuts (pecans, almonds, walnuts, etc.)

1 c. dried fruit (dates, raisens, etc.)

1/2 - 1 c. coconut oil (or other healthy oil, if Olive, go "extra light"

1/2 - 1 c. raw, unfiltered honey or real Maple syrup

2 tsp. real vanilla extract

1 tsp. sea salt

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix together all the ingredients except dried fruit. Use

hands to mix well, pressing clumps together. Pour mixture

into shallow pans (I usually use 2: 13x9 & 2: 8x8 glass dishes)

Toast at 275 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Turn oven off, stir in dried fruit, and let sit in oven for 30 min.

Different Themes:

Tropical: macadamia nuts and dried pineapple

Autumn Harvest: pecans, dates & maple syrup (instead of

honey)

Other wonderful additions:

raisens, pumpkins seeds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, bannana

chips, carob chips, flax seeds.....

Blessings!!

Malinda B.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Sometime last year, I began to closely examine our grocery budget and narrow in one ways to trim it. With a large family, the "grocery" category in our finances is a handsome chunk.

I was ready to get creative and commit the time and sacrifices necessary to when I came across a newsletter I subscribe to that proposed....."MAKE YOUR OWN LAUNDRY SOAP".

What? Can a woman make her own laundry soap? Looking at my beloved Tide, it looked very complicated to me. I also imagined the women I saw on a missions trip to Guatemala. They scrubbed clothes with a bar of soap on a rock at the edge of a lake. I was a little (to say the least) intimidated. Leave it to the professionals at the Tide factory, and enjoy all my money.

Intrigued, however, I began researching recipes for laundry soap and discovered a wonderful recipe! This is the recipe that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar with their family. We have used it for almost 9 months now and will never go back to my once-beloved Tide again. Our grocery budget has been trimmed (more blogs to follow on other ideas!)

Our cost for every 5-gallon bucket (which lasts for 5 months with a family of six) that we make is about $2. We have saved $144 a year! Here's what the ingredients you'll need:

4 cups of hot tap water

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 cup Arm and Hammer WASHING SODA

1/2 cup Borax

essential oils (opptional for added fragrance)

1. Grate bar of Fels-Naptha soap with 4 cups of hot tap water.

Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is

melted.

2. Fill fill 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted

soap, 1 cup Washing Soda, 1/2 cup Borax. Stir well until all powder

is dissolved. Fill rest of bucket to top with more hot water. Stir,

cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

3. Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser (old, used Tide

container, etc.). Shake before each use. (It will gel.)

4. Optional: you can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per two gallons.

Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: Lavender, Geranium, Rosemary,

Tea Tree Oil.

Top-load machine: 5/8 cup per load

Front-load machines: 1/2 cup per load

(We have a Front Load "HE"-the soap works beautifully!)

God bless your homemaking efforts!!

Malinda

The Genesis of it all......

Genesis of my ponderings here, began several months ago on a cold & snowy Colorado day. After lunch and reading "Johnny Tremain" with my children, we bundled up and headed to the library.We have discovered the library to be pretty quiet after lunch and a great time to go. The small children have gone home for lunch and to take a nap. The Public School children are not out of school yet. A perfect time to slowly graze through the aisles with the children and choose our "friends" to borrow for a of couple weeks.
There is a large variety of interests and ages of my children and their topics of choice in library books. My little Olivia wants pretty books with babies and ballerinas while my Isaac requests we find books on the R.M.S. Titanic, Tornados or the Civil War. I pray for the Lord's discernment for myself and each of my children.
My two eldest daughters are again, a mix of interests. Horse training manuals, Chicken Coop building, American Girl stories, Anne of Green Gables and biographies on Queen Victoria.
After all has found a number of "friends" to take home, we discover a corner of the library to quietly read. I leave my teenage daughter in charge and steal away upstairs. I quickly pass the long isles to the books for myself to bring home for awhile...
Later, as we warm up again with a cup of hot chocolate or English Tea at home, silence falls over our home. We become engaged in our treasured library books.
I usually choose a variety of books; gardening, interior design, cookbooks, fiction and theological books from a classic patriarch or martyr of the Christian faith.
This time, several of my treasures from the library affect me deeply; Dietrich Bonehoffer, Shonda Parker's "Mommy Diagnostic's" and a large encyclopedia-type book on Essential Oils.
The more I read the later, the more intrigued I become and I found myself
reading labels on everything from my shampoo, toothpaste, lotion and cleaners and thus the genesis of this began...A way to make beauty, body & cleaning products for my family and myself that I knew was natural and/or organic. The way my family of long ago would have done in their homes with their families.
Vintage Homestead Emporium
This blog is a collage of ponderings of my heart and the Lord's guidance....of mind, body and spirit for families, homes, marriage & children. Also the products I make.
I pray you enjoy the journey with me...

Blessings!
Malinda B.

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