Summertime Homekeeping Blues

I'm having a hard time keeping up with my home this summer.

Yeah... I got the blues.

Simply put, I don't want to wash the dishes.

Oh yeah. I got the blues.

I would rather be hanging out at the beach with the kids.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got the blues.

Tomorrow is a major catch up day

I really got the blues.

Because I don't want to come home from the beach to a dumpy house.

I got the blues.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got the Housekeeing blues.

Amish Friendship Bread

The other day I was at my daughter-in-law's home. She had little plastic bags of dough on her table, and a couple of loaves of freshly baked bread on the bread board. 

This is not normal bread dough, it's more like batter. It's called Amish Friendship Bread. The loaves of bread aren't like sandwich bread. This is a dessert bread.

The idea behind Amish friendship bread is much like the yeast starter that is passed around from homemaker to homemaker. 

Of course, I now have my own batch of starter.  Oh wait. No! It's been several days since I first received my baggy of dough. Now I have several batches of starter to pass out to my friends! That stuff grows in Ziploc bags right there on my kitchen counter. While the loaves are baking, the house smells amazing.

My Amish bread batter came with directions to make Amish friendship bread. You can find the copy I have on this website: Amish Friendship Starter Dough. The instructions are simple and very easy to follow along day by day.

Bottled Water Is Unhealthy

After reading several articles about bottled water, and impact it has on our world, I'm going to encourage my entire family, friends, and my on-line friends to make the switch to filtered tap water.

Here in the United States, it takes 1.5 million barrels of crude oil just to make the bottles we use in one year.  When it comes to disposing of the bottles, not even 20% of the bottles are recycled. The rest of them end up cluttering up the earth or as air pollution, if they have been incinerated.

Bottled water isn't as highly regulated by the feds as our city water supplies. City water supplies have high standards for purity. Water filters like Brita take care of a lot of the impurities in the tap water. Ther pitcher style is inexpensive and super easy to use.  

I'm going to invest in a few kleen kanteensfor my reusable water bottles. They are stainless steel, and there is no leaching of harmful chemicals into my water.  You can find kleen kanteens at REI and Amazon.

Even if you don't invest in a good quality reusable water bottle, at the very least, make the commitment to stop buying bottled water in containers smaller than 1 gallon.

Make the Switch To Reusable Bags

I have purchased several canvas bags to carry my groceries from the store to my kitchen. Because I purchased mine one at a time, it wasn't a big expense. Many grocery stores carry the reusable bags on racks near the check out stands and at about a dollar each, they are very affordable.

I've been doing a little research on the subject of paper, plastic, or reusable and reusable is my choice.

1. It takes approximately 12 million barrels of oil to produce the plastic bags used in the USA each year.


2. Even though paper bags are made from farmed trees, the process of making them, produces as much toxins released into our air as the production of plastic bags.


3. According to the Wall Street Journal, only 1% of the world's plastic bags are recycled. The rest go into landfills.


4. Paper bags are recyclable, however, according to research, approximately 20% of paper bags are recycled.  The rest end up in landfills.


5. Plastic bags account for more than 10% of the garbage washed up  along the US coastlines. 

Keepers At Home

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 

To bediscreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Titus 2: 3,4,5 ~ KVJ

Party Planning

I'm preparing for a little party we have coming up, so I'm looking for some good recipes that aren't the usual party fare. In other words, I want to impress my family of food snobs.  I tried a really good Chipotle dip recipe and I'm going to add it to the menu. It's so yummy with a slightly spicy and slightly smokey flavor. I loved it!

On the same website I will try a few more of the recipes in the near future. In The Kitchen Recipes has been added to my bookmarks for future reference.

Easy Creamy Chocolate Frosting Recipe

I found a super easy creamy chocolate frosting recipe, and it is so good and creamy this recipe is going into my permanent recipe file. Mmm!

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

Mmmmmmm! I had to  try these no bake chocolate oat bars. During the hot summer months I don't like to use my oven very often. We don't have an air conditioner so it's not wise to use the oven and heat up the kitchen. So I'm always on the lookout for great no bake recipes. These are ooey and gooey with layers of chocolate peanutbutter with a fudgy layer.

Vermicomposting Under the Kitchen Sink

I've been looking for ways to live green and I've made several changes in my life that I think are simple and economical. Real simple changes including switching out my light bulbs to energy saving light bulbs, and using green cleaners.

I'm ready to step it up and do more to live green. One of the things I can do is make a compost bin under my kitchen sink. When I first heard about this, I thought yuk. That sounds nasty enough. But after reading this article about creating a simple compost bin under the kitchen sink, I think this is something I can do.

If it works, in a short time I'll have some beautiful compost for my garden. Compost I usually spend hard earned money on.

It sounds cheap and easy. I'm going to give it a try!