English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches and Laundry Questions

So I joined pinterest mostly to see other people's sewing and quilting links, but I've been getting caught on all the recipe links.

One of the links that I saw on a bunch of friend's boards is for breakfast sandwiches. It's simple enough to do and you probably don't need a recipe.

I used cheddar and colby jack for the cheese, whole wheat muffins, and eggs. I also added turkey sausage to half of them.

Here are the finished sandwiches. I will be freezing these for Q to grab in the morning for work.

I've gotten a few questions about the laundry soap:
Can I use it in a high efficiency washer?
Yes, I think so. I googled a number of things to determine the difference between HE detergent and regular detergent and also the differences in the machines themselves and how they handle the detergent. I also found a couple of quotes from the manuals of HE washers and letters from the manufacturers of the machines in response to this question. The general consensus is that HE detergent does not create as many suds as regular detergent, and the laundry detergent I made makes very few suds. Chemically they should act the same for cleaning. The recommendation from others using this same detergent in their HE machines is to use only 1/4 cup of detergent for each load. Also, I've read the recommendation to occasionally run a hot wash in your HE washer with just vinegar to clean the system regardless of whether you use this recipe or a store-bought detergent and that seems like a really good idea.

Aren't you worried about it causing rashes on your babies?
Well, I really didn't consider this at all. I didn't consider it when I used regular detergent when I first had the nerdlet and everyone was recommending to make sure I got a really gentle soap either, but this soap is going to be more gentle than store bought detergents on both your baby and the environment. However, the diapers have all been through the wash using the new detergents and Darth Baby actually seems to have less pinkness than before even when I use the plastic diaper covers that usually cause it.

How long did it take to make?
It took me about an hour, but that is because at every step I had to go searching for something. Where is that bucket? What in the world did I do with my immersion blender? How am I going to stir the five gallon bucket? Nerdlet, can you go get the funnel from your toys in the bathtub? Anyway, you get the idea.

Well, that is way better than making lye soap.
I think my MIL thinks I'm too nutty crunchy. She thinks I'm a bit weird for breastfeeding and making my own baby food. I get the impression that she isn't entirely comfortable with my using cloth diapers (and when she has had them they have been in disposables for the most part - or at least they come home in disposables). When she heard I was making my own laundry soap, she obviously was picturing the old way her mother used to make soap. Just for the record, I will never be doing that.

I was actually surprised at how much interest there has been in the laundry soap, but the way I figure it is that if it doesn't work for you, you have wasted $7.00 and an hour of your time. If it does work, then you have a product that is much cheaper (even accounting for your time) and that is better for the environment.

Laundry Detergent Update and Making Crayons

I used the laundry detergent on the load of diapers which included some quite nasty ones. After the first wash, instead of just starting the wash again like I normally do, I pulled out the diapers one by one and examined them and smelled them. This isn't really a fair test as I have never done this, not even once, with my regular detergents (Tide or Wisk). Most of the diapers were spotless and completely odorless. One of the diapers was obviously a poopy diaper and still had a very faint coloring and a few of them still smelled when I put my nose very close. After the second wash, they were all clean when I pulled them out. I went ahead and ran them again since that is what I am comfortable with. After going through the dryer, I put my nose to every diaper and none had a scent. I'm also going to mention that my nose is extremely sensitive and Q says that my pregnancy nose hasn't gone away. So I would say that it looks like the detergent is definitely good. There is absolutely no trace of the scent of the essential oil I added and I used 1/4 teaspoon, so I'm not sure if I would even add it at all in the future or quadruple the amount.

The nerdlet asked what we were going to make today when she got up. I was already planning on melting crayons so that is what we did, but when she asked I wondered if I shouldn't pull back a little on all the things I've been trying to do lately so she didn't come to expect it and get upset if I didn't have a major activity planned.

I've been saving the broken crayons since the nerdlet was a baby. Most of them were crayons from restaurants or that were stepped on by either me or Q. My girls tend to be very gentle with their crayons so I can't really blame them. You can see the fancy storage container I use for the broken crayons here. The brown silicon pan is for brownie pops. The other two are for regular muffins.

These are the broken crayons distributed in the pans. I used very little in the brownie pop pan on purpose and distributed the rest as evenly as I could in the smaller of the regular muffin pans.

This is what they looked like straight out of the oven that was set at 375 degrees F. I left them in just until they looked pretty melted, but I didn't time it so I can't really tell how long. If I had to guess I would say about 10-15 minutes.

You should wait until they are completely cooled. If you don't this is what happens.

No problem though because I just remelted them. This time I used the microwave. Did you know silicone pans are microwaveable?

Here are the smaller ones from the brownie pop pan, which I did wait until they cooled completely. I don't know if the clear wax that separated out was because of the large variety of crayons I used or if they were overheated from being such as small amount and cooked at the same temp and for the same time as the much larger muffin pan. I suspect the latter. It is wax though so easy enough to remove.

Here is the reason why I chose the brownie pop pan and why I made them so small. They are perfect for little hands and also perfect for teaching the correct grasp for holding a writing utensil. They are so perfect that if crayons are still on sale for school starting I will buy some specifically for making into these shapes.

If you have a little one that is starting to write, especially one that has special needs and will need to develop the right finger and hand positions, I cannot recommend this enough. Both the nerdlet and the bear cub showed that they can and will hold these the correct way and didn't have to be shown. Even the muffin tin crayons make them hold it between their fingers, but the brownie pop crayons were definitely better at getting the exact finger position.

Laundry Soap

I made laundry soap. We do a lot of laundry. Besides cloth diapers (I typically wash the cloth diapers three times, once with vinegar) and currently lots of training pants and outfits for the bear cub, I also end up washing a ton of rag towels because we use them to clean up messes by the kids and animals, water spills, and whatever else, and all that is in addition to the normal laundry that accumulates by a family of five.

I found the recipe here. It's pretty simple to do. All the ingredients cost me less than $7.00 and should make 192 loads, and that will leave a lot of extra Borax and Washing Soda so each additional 192 loads will cost about $1.00 until I run out of those.

The ingredients. I also added sage citrus essential oil, but I think that was a waste since the Fels Naptha Soap has such a strong scent.

This is the grated Fels Naptha Soap being dissolved in water on medium low heat. The Fels Naptha Soap has a really strong odor and gave me a headache. I might try a blend of Ivory and Fels Naptha in the future. The nerdlet kept telling me I was the best mom the whole time I was making soap. I'm not sure if this is because I let her help or that she thought that making laundry soap was so cool.

Before pouring it into the gallon container. I lost a bit of it because I wasn't patient enough to let it completely drain from the funnel before adding more.

After using the two gallon containers we had in the recycling bin, I had to scavenge for another container to put the remainder in. So I used this bottle that was waiting it's turn in the kiln.

The total amount for 1/3 bar of soap and 1/2 cup each of Borax and Washing Soda was 62 loads (1/2 cup each), plus a few extra in the grape juice bottle. I'll let you know how the soap works after trying it on the next load of diapers.

FYI: For those wondering, before potty training we used around 2000 gallons of water a month. Our neighborhood average is about 6 times that. So the washing of diapers doesn't take that much water, even when running the loads 3 times. I have heard the argument that the water waste is worse than throwing away diapers and I just wanted to dispel that horrendous myth. I also think that likely three times isn't necessary, but I'm just more comfortable with that.