Pasta Sauce

I made homemade pasta sauce last night.

That's a pretty big deal for the girl who set all the fire alarms off last week just making a pork roast.

And for the girl who burnt the burger's at her fiance's "man shower."

I normally take some time with the prep of a meal, but when it comes to actually cooking it I get weird.

I either get bored of waiting and give up or I keep it in FOREVER to make sure it really is cooked all the way.

Point is, I'm not your natural chef. 

Yesterday, my mom and I went to this little farmers market right down the road from me. 

Everything looked so good and fresh and somehow I ended up with lots of tomatoes and nothing to do with them.

When I got home I realized I had all the ingredients to try to make pasta sauce;; and if it failed, I had a store bought jar waiting to come to the rescue.

This is what you'll need...

Really try to use all fresh ingredients,  

the best part of the sauce was how

truly fresh it tasted!

1 TBSP butter

4 large tomatoes (dice 'em)

Some fresh basil (chop it!)

1 tsp olive oil

Mince some garlic

A little flour (I used whole wheat)

Salt and pepper

1/3 cup red wine (you can omit this if ya want;; but don't, it adds great flavor) {pour yourself a glass to drink while you're at it, I did ;) }

Take a pan and start with the oil and butter. 

Once heated, add the tomatoes and garlic. 

Then the basil.

Then salt and pepper.

Then the wine.

And then thicken it little by little with the flour.

It was so good! I am pretty proud of myself!

We put it over chicken, eggplant, and whole wheat pasta.

Best news? There's leftovers!!!!

Some more from yesterday.. {diy laundry detergent}

Since we literally just dumped all of our money out into the general economy with the wedding, house, and honeymoon, I'd say we are on a preeeetty tight budget these days. And I don't know about you, but when I am forced to choose between the cutest shoes on clearance I have ever seen and a darn 7$ overpriced bottle of laundry detergent... and have to buy the practical choice... I get pissed. 

So I made my own.

(I used this as my base for the recipe, but while at the store I couldn't find all the ingredients, so it's a tad different.)

This says it yields a year's worth of laundry detergent for a fam of four;; so two years worth for me :)

So get on with it!

I used...

3 bars of Ivory soap (because I couldn't find fels naphtha and this was listed on google as a sub)

                    [The bars came in an eight pack for 4$ and some change at target so I'm saying the soap              

                     cost me 1.50$ since I'll use it for my next batch in 2 years.]

1 box of Borax ( 20 Mule brand was 4.95$)

2 cups of baking soda (1.25$)

1/2 a box of oxyclean (from the stain remover section in the laundry aisle) I can't remember the exact   price on this but I think it was about 6$ and I only used half so let's call it 3$

1 bottle of Purex crystals (from the fabric softener section) I used the little container that was 4.75$

... So all together, two years worth of laundry for my little fam is about 15$ (that's a lot of left over shoe money!!!)

How it's done...

It is seriously so simple! 

I used my food processor to grate the ivory soap and it did a heck of a job! Although I did put some oxyclean in there with it to make it a tad easier (thanks to jillie for suggesting that!)

Once that was done, I literally put it all in a container and mixed it up! (I did it in increments so it was easier to mix)

BOOYAH! All done!

2 Tablespoons per load! 

Naturally, I did a load of laundry AS SOON as I was done, and I think this got my stuff way cleaner than the liquid, expensive stuff. Im sold!!

So let's dive in...

Today was a pretty productive and crafty day so I've got lots to share!!

We love snuggling here in our home, which makes it really hard to get out of bed and ready for work in the morning.

I mean look what I have to try and pull myself away from!!.. It's tough.

So anyway, I'm always looking for quick breakfast ideas that don't require any prep that morning (pouring a bowl of cereal and sitting down to eat it is even way too time consuming most days.)

I stumbled across a recipe on pinterest for an oatmeal concoction that you cut like cake, and it looked pretty easy and healthy, so today I gave it a whirl.

I originally got the recipe from this girl here, but I tweaked it a little bit.

What you'll need...

2 cups of oatmeal (not the fakey microwave kind, the good stuff)

2 Tbsp raw sugar (which I used instead of the brown sugar, up to you)

1 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp cinnamon 

1 tsp salt

Some chopped walnuts

Some blueberries

Some banana

2 Cups of Almond milk (she used regular, again up to you)

2 egg whites (or one whole egg like she did)

3 Tbsp melted butter

How'd ya do it??

Super Easy!!

1st mix together the dry (oats, sugar, powder, cinnamon, salt, fruit, nuts) and put it in a sprayed oven dish close to one you would use for brownies, and spread it out!

Then mix the wet (milk, eggs, butter) and pour it over the dry. Give it a little wiggle to make sure it all seeps in. 

You're done the hard part!

Now just put it in a preheated (375) oven for about 45 minutes or until the wet mixture is all soaked in there like a bread-pudding.

Pop it in the fridge until breakfast time. Then, just cut a piece and microwave it for a half a minute and eat! So speedy and good, and in reality, it taste like fruit cobbler; I had it for dessert.

Warning:: Don't try to feed it to the hubbs! Mine just opened the fridge and said, "EW WHAT IS THAT?!"..... it's great, I promise.

.. I got more from today, but it's time to catch up on breaking bad

Hiya =)

Hi guys! I'm Lis, a newlywed and new homeowner. 

I made a blog in the first place because an old coworker of mine's wife has one that I read religiously, and the only way to "follow" her and show my support was to log onto a blog of my own (which I didn't have.) I had no thoughts of actually using the thing because, well, who is interested in what I have to say?! 

But as I put detail into our new home, I find myself making my way onto blogs where I learn most of what I use in my house. 

So I figured there must be lots of people out there in the same boat, and why can't I be one of those bloggers that new homemakers look to for some advice!

So I will share what I learn and attempt to make it somewhat interesting so people actually read it!! :)

...And by the way the coworker's wife's blog is right here so go follow her!! (not that I have any followers yet!) They are the best little family and I hope my family grows to be just as kindhearted as them. So check em out!