Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

This recipe was found by one of my sisters on the internet awhile back. We made them up one day and they are absolutely amazing cupcakes with a lovely mint flavor and they are surprisingly not too sweet! The original recipe is found at All Recipes.

Makes 20 cupcakes.

Ingredients

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

1 1/4 cup of white sugar

3 eggs

1 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract

3/4 cup of cocoa

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 1/4 cup of white flour

1/4 teaspoon of salt

About 1 cup of milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix oil and sugar in a bowl using a whisk.

3. Add eggs and peppermint extract. Stir until smooth.

4. In a separate bowl mix cocoa, baking powder, flour and salt.

5. Add egg and sugar mix to dry mixture and stir.

6. Slowly pour milk in until the mixture thickens.

7. In a greased muffin pan place 1/4 cup of the batter.

8. Bake for 20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool a minute or two before taking them out of the pan.

9. Let the cupcakes cool completely (about 20 minutes) before icing them.

Green Minty Icing

1 16 oz. container of Betty Crocker Peppermint Icing

4 drops of green food coloring

1/2 cup of Mint Chocolate Chips, crushed

Directions

1. Mix together the icing and food coloring.

2. Once the cupcakes are cooled spread the mix across the top.

3. Decorate with a teaspoon or less of the crushed mint chocolate chips.

DIY Homemade Laundry Soap

With laundry soap prices being so high we experimented with several soap recipes and came up with one that worked well for us. This is a much stronger recipe that I have seen anywhere else online.

Ingredients

2 1/2 Fels Naptha soap bars

2 1/2 cups washing soda

1 1/4 cups borax

3/4 cup baking soda

Directions

This is what my soap looks like once I've covered it with water.

1. Grate the soap bars into a small saucepan. Cover with lots of water.

This is what your soap/water mix will look like in the beginning.
Keep stirring until it's mostly dissolved. Less time is better than more tiime!

2. Cook over high heat stirring constantly until the soap dissolves almost all the way. You don't want to overcook the soap because then it will become solid again if you do and that won't be good. 5-7 minutes should be enough as long as there are no major clumps of soap.

See all those huge chunks?
Well they have to be mashed out before you dump
 in the wet soap mix or it will be impossible to stir up.

3. Put washing soda, borax, and baking soda in the 5 gallon bucket and mash out any chunks you can before adding the hot melted soap mix. Stir well until all the powder is dissolved. Make sure to mash out as many of the big clumps that are there as possible.

4. Add in the dissolved soap mix into the borax mix and stir.

5. At first your mix will look funky and lumpy...

6. But eventually it will become a thick, even mixture. When it gets to this point you're ready for the next step.

Right now we have an indoor faucet (much like the one's you see in gardens)
and it only gives out cold water, but my laundry soap has turned out okay with it.
I still like the hot water better than using cold water.

4. Fill the bucket to the top with hot tap water. I usually do this once I have the bucket where it will be staying for the next few months.

All white and foamy from adding the water via our indoor faucet.

5. Stir the soap mix, cover securely and let it set overnight.

6. The next morning stir the mix and then you're ready to use it!

How To Use

Use 1 cup of soap per load. This bucket lasts several months for us doing laundry for about 10 people washing laundry several (at least 1-2) loads of laundry a day.

Family of 3 -using this recipe we are getting through 4-5 months of laundry.
Family of 5 - using this recipe we are getting through 3 months of laundry.

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3 Ingredient Homemade Body Scrub

This recipe is awesome! I got it from another blog but it was so long ago that I don't remember which one! I had to edit it a slight bit, but now it is awesome!

Ingredients

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of rolled oats

1 cup of olive oil

Place all ingredients in a blender and run until smooth.

Store in a container with a lid and use in the shower as often as you want!

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Rich Hot Chocolate

This was a stumble upon recipe that I found one day. I was out of milk but still wanted hot chocolate so I decided to try and use coffee creamer. Amazing thing happened: I actually had good hot chocolate which was water based!

Ingredients

1 mug of water, filled not quite to the top

1 package of Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate drink mix

3 tablespoons of Coffee Mate original coffee creamer

Directions

Stick the mug in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. When it is done pour in the hot chocolate and add creamer. Stir until everything is dissolved and enjoy! It's the perfect temperature to start drinking right away without burning your mouth off.

Healthy | Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie

This smoothie is both delicious and good for you! And it's one of my favorites. This is now updated with photos for the Recipe Catalogue! :)

Possibly four servings with the ingredients below.

The glass in the photo would be 2 servings.

Ingredients

1/3 cup oatmeal, cooked with 1/3 cup water

1/3 cup frozen blueberries

6 whole frozen strawberries

6 frozen peach slices

1 whole banana, fresh

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup (or one 6 oz. container) vanilla or plain yogurt

Directions

1. In a microwave safe bowl put the oatmeal and 1/3 cup of water. Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes.

2. Put the yogurt & oatmeal in the blender. Add the banana and the other frozen fruits. Pour in 1/2 cup of water.

3. Blend until smooth. Serve & enjoy!

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