DIY "Green" Laundry Detergent

The New Greener Laundry Line up

Can you use "green" laundry products 

and

get your clothes really clean?

That seems to be the question.

Up until now I didn't think so. In an effort to do my part with going green, I tried lots of different environmentally friendly products but found our clothes to be getting dingier and dingier and stains just weren't coming out. Little by little I fell back into the trap of trying the harsher main stream products, including bleach and yet for some reason our clothes still weren't getting all that clean. I shied away from the products with fragrance and dyes due to sensitivities but still ended up with a cabinet full of products that looked like this:

They did not make me happy.

To make matters worse, we currently live in a small space where our laundry is in a community laundry room, so lugging all these bottles with every load of laundry had just gotten out of hand, not to mention expensive. I also learned that hard water and a dryer set to scorch wasn't doing us any favors either. Both seem to cause a stain build up. To be fair we do have a "delicate" setting on the dryer, which just means it scorches our clothes for a shorter period of time. Due to being in an HOA environment, hanging laundry outside to dry is not an option. - Boo!

If you are on Pinterest, I'm sure you have seen the pins of Home Made Laundry Detergent circling around. The main claim is that it saves money, which is always a good thing but as I started to read through them, they were also getting their laundry really clean without a lot of chemicals!

This caught my attention. 

It got me thinking....so when the detergent started to run out, I decided to give it a try.

Some of these posts were written over a year ago and in the meantime have accumulated a lot of comments, user tips and updates. I took all the tips and links into consideration, really concentrating on the tips utilizing biodegradable and the least toxic ingredients, to put them to the test for myself.

I chose to make a dry detergent because there was less of it to store and frankly it was much less of a hassle to make.  The liquid version is just the soap melted stove top and diluted with water. It made me realize how much we are paying for water when we buy liquid detergent in the store.

Making A Kinder Gentler Laundry Soap

 The Basic Soap Recipe:

(1) 4 lb box of Borax (2.15kg or 76 oz)

(1) 4 lb box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (1.81kg)  

          I had to use (2) 2 lb boxes (only one shown above)

(1) 3 lb 7 oz box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (55 oz)

Approximately 15 oz of bar soap of choice

3 bars of Dr. Bronner's or other pure plant based soap

While many reviewers said that this soap worked excellent for even their most challenging laundry,

 I decided to go with the booster version:

The Optional Booster Recipe:

Substitute the Bronner's soap with:

Zote (1) 14 oz bar

And 

Add 3 lbs of OxiClean Free

While Zote is biodegradable and not toxic, I learned that it is also is not Vegan. If that is a concern go back to the Basic Recipe. I also learned afterwards that it comes in a white bar (no dyes) which is a little harder to find. Zote also has the citrusy scent of citronella. You can also substitute Fels-Naptha Soap, which will take (3) 5 oz. bars but be aware this does have petro-chemicals and can have toxicity issues over time.

The other booster ingredient is a 3 lb bucket of OxiClean Versatile Free, meaning it is free of dye, perfumes and chlorine bleach and bio degradable.

Both of these are pre-treaters that help the soap clean better. The Zote has optical whiteners as well. 

Note: If you use the OxiClean version- do not use bleach with your wash. The makers of Oxiclean warn against this.

Whichever soap you make you will only need 1 Tbsp of soap per load! or 2 Tbsp for extra large loads. Yep! That's it!

At 1 Tbsp per load this will do 512 loads!!!!

First step is to grate the bar(s) of soap. 

While you can grate it by hand, the best advice here is to run it through the shredding disc of your food processor and then again with the S blade to break it down very fine. This just helps it dissolve quicker in colder water and also allows it to be used in the detergent dispenser of even your HE machine (although please check your instruction manual and do so at your own risk.) Many have said they have done this safely for years but I'm just covering my tracks here. And the clean up is easy on the food processor. The soap dissolves nicely in water.

Zote after Shredding Disc and again with S Blade 

If you don't have a food processor, don't worry. Many reviewers have said the hand grated works fine as well. Just add to the drum of your washer with water before adding clothes, even with cold water.

Step Two is to mix all the ingredients together.

I suggest a large tub or 5 Gallon bucket, outside. These soaps are very fine particles and they do have a mild detergent odor so outside is best and remember to keep your face turned away as you pour.  I used our cleaned out cooler although I forgot to line it with a trash bag first. I think this was easier than a 5 gal bucket because it wasn't as deep for stirring. Again, clean up was a snap!

Step Three is to store it.

You will need a sealed container or two. It makes approximately 32 cups.  If I had a set shelf in a laundry room where it could sit without moving, I would probably use a larger but similar glass jar to the one shown in the photo below.

My New Laundry Soap and Fabric Softener

Since my laundry cupboard is above my head, I chose to use 2 handled flip top containers for ease of lifting and scooping. They each hold 16 cups, which is heavy. I got these at Wallmart. They also have some nice big glass containers there as well.

Homemade Laundry Detergent and Fabric Softener ready to go.

Step Four is to use it!

1 Tbsp per load, 2 Tbsp if it's extra large or soiled. 

At this rate I know this is going to last me a really long time. At 1 Tbsp per load that's 512 Loads!!!

Wondering about the vinegar in the photos?

This is the best replacement for Fabric Softener!

Ever read the ingredients of fabric softener? Trust me, you don't want to know. But If you have hard water like me, then without it your towels come out all stiff and crunchy and clothes are not as soft.
Not my problem any more... This works beautifully!

1/3 cup Distilled White Vinegar per load

 Your clothes come out nice and soft, 

free from any soap residue and

 smell nothing like vinegar- promise!

Vinegar loses it scent when dry!

Plus your washer gets a nice cleaning as well.

Just add the vinegar to the rinse cycle, either through your softener dispenser or with a downy ball.

If you would like a scent to your laundry, go the natural route and add a few drops of essential oil to the vinegar in the dispenser or add about 15-20 drops to a gallon of vinegar. Since I use this vinegar for cleaning only, I went ahead and added the lavender to the whole gallon dispenser.

Lavender is nice; so is Orange, Grapefruit and even Peppermint!

Our laundry is now brighter, cleaner and softer already. 

Now when I go to the Laundry Room, this is all I need to bring and I love it!

1 Heaping Tbsp Laundry Soap and The Downey Ball with Vinegar

Notes and Facts:

1. Where to find the ingredients?

Most can be found in the grocery store. I found the washing soda at Ace Hardware and noticed they had the Fels-Naptha there too. Zote was in the grocery store as well as Home Depot. White Zote is available through Amazon and frankly if I didn't live as close as I do to all these different stores. I would probably buy these items online with my Amazon Prime to save the running around (and the shipping.)

2. Don't be expecting a lot of suds.

Not a lot of suds here and also why it works in HE washers just fine. Suds are not what cleans your clothes, or your hair for that matter. It's only a marketing ingredient to give you that visual "feeling" of clean while you are using phosphates that are not only bad for you but are bad for the environment.

3. Can you use it in front load washers?

While I presently do not have one, lots of people have chimed in on this one and do. This is a low suds soap which is what you need for a HE washer. If the soap is grated finely enough, it works in dispensers although if in doubt add it to the drum. People say it dissolves just fine in cold water too. Please do this at your own risk as I take no responsibility for what you do in your home. The addition of the vinegar rinse helps keep pipes free of soap build up as well.

4. Is it safe enough for sensitive skin? 

As someone who suffers terribly with multiple chemical sensitivities and reacts to everything, I can honestly say I have no problem with this, even the "booster" version. If you have toddlers in the house or are even using cloth diapers, then definitely I would go the extra measure and use the basic version with the plant based soap and without the oxyclean. The plant based soaps are a little pricer but it's worth it for your little ones.

5. Can you use it in cold water?

Yes.

6. Why the addition of Baking Soda? 

It helps soften the water so that dirt and grease dissolve and soap can clean better. It also softens your clothes and prevents stain build up in hard water. And yes if you have soft water, go ahead and use the baking soda as well. It also has odor fighting agents as well, as does the Borax.

7. How long will it last?

While this will vary by how much you use, it should do 512 loads at 1 Tbsp per load.

8. Will it fade my clothes?

All of these ingredients say they will not fade clothing that is "color safe" as they contain no bleach. If you are unsure if something is color safe, test it first. The optical brighteners are most noticeable on whites. Keep in mind that fading of dark clothes tends to happen with all washing.

9. What did it cost me to make this?

All the ingredients cost me around $33.20 which works out to .06 cents per load. That's half a penny per load! The equivalent in Tide plus one box of both Borax and Oxiclean (because the Tide alone doesn't cut it) would be $113.76 or .19 cents per load. This doesn't even take into consideration the money saved by buying vinegar instead of Fabric Softener. 

10. What about for stubborn stains and pre-treating?

In the next Raw Home post,  I'll be sharing some more back to basic laundry tips for stain cleaning and they too really work!

Have You tried making your own detergent? 
And if so how are you liking it?

Something Light and Refreshing

Grapefruit, Tangelo, Fennel, Red Onion and Arugula Salad in a Honey Citrus and Poppyseed Vinaigrette

I'm still working my way through all the citrus from our little Citrus Hurricane wind storm that I last posted about and enjoying the grapefruit granita from that post still.

Last year I stumbled upon the great combo of citrus and fennel and decided to revisit that idea. I also added in some arugula and onions. It's different from a traditional green based salad and I purposely go light on the arugula because of it's spicier flavor. I don't want it to overwhelm the delicate flavors of the fennel and citrus. The addition of fennel takes away the tartness of the grapefruit while the red onion adds the little pungent flavor.

The whole salad is a nice balance blend of spicy, tart, sweet and pungent and is quite good!

But please add as much as you like to your tastes.

These were our pink grapefruits, cut this way just to show the color

Grapefruit and Fennel Salad

2 pink grapefruits, segmented

2 tangelos, segmented

1/4 red onion

1 smal fennel bulb

handful of arugula

1 Tbsp lemon zest

2 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp olive oil (EVOO)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

Black pepper to taste

Segment your citrus over a bowl to collect the juices
Then squeeze out whatever juice is left in the fruit to get all the juice you can.
(see below for how to segment)
 Then set citrus aside

Slice the red onion and fennel on the mandoline or with a knife
Place in a big bowl
Toss in your arugula (I purposely didn't use much arugula)
Carefully add in your citrus segments

Honey Citrus Dressing

Take juices from citrus and place in a covered jar

Add in the honey, lemon zest, EVOO, sea salt and black pepper

 Close jar and shake

Add poppy seeds right before serving and shake again.

Gently toss salad with about half of dressing or to taste.
Plate and serve right away.
Will make 2 main salad servings or 4 side salads

Grapefruit and Fennel Salad Close Up

Note: You could easily also add some chopped avocado to this. 
The flavors would marry well.

Easy Video Tutorial on How to Segment Citrus

Tool Tips:


The Mandoline is perfect for this recipe for getting everything nice and thinly sliced!
If you want to see where I spoke more about this gadget and others that make life in the kitchen a little easier, check out my post about Cool Tools.

Another great kitchen gadget that I  am really enjoying is the Microplaner, which makes zesting and grating super easy!

No more scrape knuckles with this one!

Even fresh nutmeg is easy to grate!





I hope you give the salad a try and if you do please let me know what you think!

A Citrus Hurricane

Grapefruit Granita- Raw

If you don't follow professional golf and weren't watching the televised tournament last weekend, then you probably missed the little hurricane wind episode we had here in the California desert. The golf tournament formerly known as the Bob Hope Classic, now called the Humana Challenge was in full swing when hurricane force winds over 90 mph swept into town and blew over stands, leader boards, etc on the course and trees everywhere. It was so dangerous, they halted the play and called it a day. President Bill Clinton was here so you might have maybe heard something but probably not. With our mostly sunny climate, we get very little sympathy from the national news around here during the winters.

It was wild how the wind storm came out of nowhere and attacked us for the better part of the afternooon.  But during the winds our citrus trees were pelting out fruit to anyone that might get too close, kind of like the scene in the Wizard of Oz with the apple trees throwing apples at Dorothy and her crew except these trees had no visible arms. The fruit just came a flying!

The next morning it was completely still, the course was miraculously cleaned up and the golf tournament continued and looked like nothing happened but the rest of us where left with the aftermath of massive debris everywhere.

Eucalyptus trees were the biggest casualties, as they are just too bulky for the high winds around here.
This is our neighbor's unit as one of the golf course trees came colliding with their unit across the cart path and fence.

Trees out of the ground, roots and all.  See how "foggy" the sky is? Thats' sand!

The best little surprise out of the whole ordeal were scenes just like this one...

Citrus Fruit Everywhere!

Grapefruit both regular and pink, Tangelos, Meyer Lemons, Regular Lemons

It was all so exciting to get so much fruit but then we realized we only have so much time to eat it all! I'm a little acid sensitive so I can't do too much at once but Rich just loves "eating off the trees" as he calls it. This year they hacked up our beautiful Minneola Tangerine tree, the one I wrote about as giving off the juicy "Tangelo Bombs" last year. There are hardly any branches left to bear fruit. (That really irks me as it was totally unnecessary and we look forward all year to these delicious fruit!) Hopefully next year!

So in honor of all the fruit we have at our... table, I'm going to be exploring some citrus options for the next few posts, hope you don't mind. It's just that time of year.

First Up.... 

Grapefruit Granita- Raw

This is so simple and yet so refreshing. 

2 cups fresh grapefruit juice, strained

1/4 cup filtered water

1/4 cup agave syrup

1/4 cup lemon juice, strained

Blend together agave and water in a blender until well combined 

(room temperature water makes this easier)

Then add in the grapefruit and lemon juices and blend again. 

Pour into a non-reactive pan, I used a 8x8 baking pan.

 And freeze. 

Check every hour and scrape back the frozen top with a fork or back of spoon. 

3 times should be enough. 

It should take about 6 hrs but can be left for 3 days if you like.

Serve in a chilled glass with sprig of mint for garnish 

and eat right away!

Alternatively, you can let freeze solid and when ready

 break into chunks and pulse in food processor to get ice crystal shavings.

Add Some Booze!

For those non raw peeps reading this, 

you can add in a little vodka too- about 2 tbsp

 (this will keep it from freezing solid, among other things.)

Another option to dress this up is place in a chilled glass and 

pour your favorite champagne over for

 a specialty drink style bubbly slushie.

That's it for now!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and are ready for a great week ahead!

And The Fun Continues...

Raw Vanilla Cashew Creme Parfaits

I have to tell you, I feel like I've discovered something brand new! I've been making cashew creme for a while now and while I thought it was a good substitute for regular creme, I wasn't too excited about it to tell the truth.

Then I stumbled on a blog, TheRawtarian.com and saw her raving about this "fruit dip." I had to try it! I wrote down the recipe and made it while I was playing with the raw Nutella (last post.) 

It seemed all too familiar but...

I was surprised! and R, who was always a little mediocre about the creme, really liked it too! 

So I was all excited to share a new recipe with you, only to find as I compared it to the previous one I've posted about here, that it's pretty much the same with just a subtle difference- vanilla! and a little less sweetener.

It's like a whole different thing and I'm amazed! 

Just a little tweak and it made all the difference!

So in the interest of being complete here is the new version and I'm calling it:

Vanilla Cashew Creme

aka "Fruit Dip"

1 1/2 cups Cashews, soaked 1- 2 hours

1/2 cup Water

3 Tbsp Coconut Oil, in liquid form

2 Tbsp Agave or Honey

1 Vanilla Bean or 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 tsp Celtic Sea Salt

splash of lemon (optional)

Blend until creamy

Chill in Fridge

This really is amazing with fruit!

Vanilla Cashew Creme Paired with RAWtella, Bananas and Raspberries

For the Crepes, I tried a couple different ways to go. I came across a video of Ani Phyo making crepes and she uses flax seeds with either apples or bananas. Some reviewers said that the apple was a little less sweet so since I was pairing mine with raw Nutella and fruit, I thought that might be better.

I found the recipe and was a little bummed that it was vague about how thin to spread it or really what the desired doneness would look or be like. She also said it should make 4 crepes and I spread it really really thin and only got 3 crepes. Plus I let it dry almost twice the time she suggested and it still wasn't completely dry. But my thinking was, if it's completely dry, won't it be more of a chip? How will I fold it without it breaking? So I had to guess when to remove it from the dehydrator and let it go as long as it was dry-ish and still pliable. It wasn't tacky to the touch. She said her recipe with the flax would be less leathery but it still was. Maybe I did something wrong? Not sure but...

Apple Crepes with Bananas and RAWtella and Chocolate drizzle

It looked good! It tasted good!  Very mild in flavor and a little hard to cut through but I get that it won't really be like a crepe and I'm okay with that.

Ani's Apple Crepes

1 cored and diced apple

1/2 cup ground flax seeds

2 Tbsp Agave

1/2 cup water or as needed.

Blend apples, flax,agave and water until smooth.

spread evenly on a lined dehydrator tray.

Dehydrate 4-6 hrs at 104 degrees F or until completely dry. 

You can flip off the liner and dry a couple more hours.

After I tried that, I had to know what the banana crepe from The Rawtarian would be like so I whipped up a batch of that as well. So simple!

Banana Crepes with Vanilla Cashew Creme and Berries with Strawberry Drizzle

Banana Crepes 

4 bananas

 1/4 cup of water 

Blend up in the blender 

Pour onto a lined Dehydrator tray
Tilt tray to spread mix around 

 Dry overnight

 Peel from Teflex and flip
Dry about another hour
But still pliable

and I got me (4) 8"crepes!

Banana Crepe or Fruit Leather

This was very banana-y, very sweet and delicious! It's more like a fruit leather and that's is not bad at all. It is a little stickier and harder to cut than the flax version though. 

(You need a very sharp knife to cut through and your crepes get kind of smooshed so expect that.)

I would almost recommend making large full dehydrator tray square crepes, cut into quarters and then cutting into bite sized strips before rolling creme and/or fruit inside. Or maybe even a burrito style roll up would be good! Just a thought. But very tasty!

Strawberry Sauce

1 cup Strawberries

1/4 cup Agave

Blend until well mixed.

Add more agave to taste

Chocolate Sauce

1/2 cup cacao powder

3/4 cup agave (or maple syrup)

4 tsp melted olive oil

Blend in a small blender.

Will keep fro a week or so.

I hope you enjoy these simple delicious basics!

Fun with Raw Nutella

Raw Nutella (RAWtella) with Apple Crepes, Strawberries, Chocolate Sauce and Cashew Creme

Have you noticed lately that Nutella (the hazelnut and chocolate spread) seems to be all the rage here in the states? There are all sorts of recipes using it. The first and last time I had it, I think I was sixteen and it was brought to me with my breakfast bread basket while in London. The idea excited me- chocolate for breakfast! But I have to say I was disappointed and never tried it again.
(what can I say? I was sixteen.)

So after seeing this sudden trend, I thought I'd give it a try again but with a raw twist this time. I looked up Nutella and the main ingredients are sugar, then milk, then hazelnuts with very little chocolate. When it was originally invented in Italy back in the 40's it was created to extend the shortage of chocolate created during war time with blending it with the over abundant local hazelnuts. It was half hazelnuts and half chocolate.

This sounded better to me than a sugar and milk based recipe.

So I got down to business and I can tell you I have a whole new love!

Without further adieu I give you....

Raw Nutella (RAWtella) with Strawberries

RAWtella

1 cup hazelnuts, soaked about 1 hr, strained

1/3 cup cacao (or cocoa in a pinch)

1/3 cup agave syrup

2 Tbsp coconut oil, in liquid form

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup almond milk (or water)

Grind up the hazelnuts in your food processor until finely ground

Add all but the almond milk and continue pulsing until mixed. 

It will probably ball up.

Start adding almond milk and pulse until you reach the consistency you desire.

Keep in a cover container in the fridge.

Can't tell you how long it will last because ours was gone in a flash!

What to do with RAWtella?

 Here is the fun part!

Use it for dipping any kind of fruit. 

What doesn't go well with chocolate? 

Raw Nutella with Bananas

Mix it with fruit in a parfait

RAWtella, Cashew Creme, Bananas and Raspberries

( Ps: I discovered a new version of Cashew Creme that will knock your socks off! Next post- promise!)

Because Nutella is famous for pairing with crepes....

Raw Crepes and Bananas with Raw Nutella (RAWtella)

And we had to make several crepes...

Raw Apple Crepes with Raspberries and Raw Nutella (RAWtella)

and there were still more crepes...

Raw Apple Crepes with Strawberries, Chocolate Sauce, Cashew Creme
and of course RAWtella!

(PPS : Crepes will be in the next post too along with the To Die For Cashew Creme!!)

Valentine's Day is coming you know!

It's hard to pick a favorite way to eat RAWtella. 

It was ALL SO GOOD!

We had it for breakfast, snacks, lunch even dinner one night! 

and why not, it is just nuts and fruit really.

I was feeling a little chocolate saturated but then I caught myself thinking today...

I do have more hazelnuts....maybe I'll whip up another batch!

Hmmm....Can you ever have too much chocolate?

I don't think so!

 ;-)