Archive | July, 2012

Homemade Manly Soap

My husband loves to work on trucks, cars, tractors, and other greasy things. I have been making our own soaps but he needed something more stronger and thus I created what I call manly soap. I used a Lava soap bar to make this homemade recipe. Lava soap contains pumice which is the important ingredient in this soap that can really cut the grease on your hands.

For those who have been making your own soap, this is just a little more aggressive soap to fight the grease and grim on your hands when you have been working on vehicles and farm equipment.

The ingredients:
1/2 cup grated Lava soap bar
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp honey
1 tsp glycerin

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Testing Yeast if Active


I made some pizza dough the other day and it just didn’t rise. That got me wondering if my yeast was still active as the dough just didn’t rise at all. There are several methods for testing or proofing yeast to see if it’s still active. I used the process that eHow outlined to test my yeast.

I bought this yeast bulk and still have a large jar of it. So I followed the following steps to test it for its potency:

  • 1/2 cup of warm water in a measuring cup. Check the temperature to make sure it’s about 110-115F.
  • Stir in 1 teaspoon of sugar and add 2 teaspoons of yeast or packet.
  • Let it sit for 10 minutes. If foam and bubbles form, your yeast is still active. As you can see my yeast didn’t have much activity at 10 minutes but after 20 minutes this was my results.


    Bottom line — I think my yeast is just okay but will proof it again before using it in a recipe. I hope you find this tip useful and use it next time you want to proof your yeast.

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    Recycling Orange Peels into a Cleaner

    Recently I had a friend who shared that she recycles orange peels into this awesome cleaner. You just add some white vinegar to a jar with some orange peels and let it set for about a week or two. Here is my mix with peelings from just one orange and about two cups of vinegar.

    Just shake the jar a few times as it sits and the vinegar begins to absorb the citrus from the orange peelings. The vinegar will turn a tint of orange after about a week or so. You can add it to a spray bottle and use it to clean counters, bathroom surfaces, sinks, toilets, and floors. This homemade cleaner has a wonderful citric smell and leaves everything clean and smelling great.

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