Homemade natural, vegan Liquid Laundry Detergent

Recently my friend from my high school days came to visit and I was reminded that she's allergic to a specific type of laundry detergent which got me thinking about making liquid laundry detergent for energy efficient machines. I didn't want the detergent to contain any harsh chemicals so it would not irritate the skin and after doing some research I came across a few recipes that pretty much shared the same ingredients so I decided to build off of them and create my own unique, liquid laundry detergent!

 The basic ingredients are:

• 1 Bar of Soap - I used Bisous Provence Green Vert 100% Vegetable Triple Milled Soap - which made my recipe vegan  (you can use pretty much any soap you'd like such as Dr. Bronner’s,  Ivory, or other natural, unscented bar soaps - don't forget to check the laundry aisle for Fels Naptha which is a soap made specifically for laundry!)
• Arm and Hammer Brand Washing Soda (found in the laundry aisle)
• 20 Mule Team Borax (also found in the laundry aisle)
• A few drops of your favorite essential oil (optional)
• 1/2 cup of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda
• Water
• 5 Gallon bucket
• Air tight containers (for storing detergent)

Directions:

1. Start by grating your bar of soap with a cheese grater. 

2. Then put the grated soap into a saucepan with about 2 cups of hot water and heat up everything until all of the little pieces of soap have dissolved into a liquid.

3. With the soap still in the saucepan on the stove, add approximately 1/2 cup of Borax and 1/2 cup of Arm and Hammer washing soda and stir everything until dissolved.

4. Add in the 1/2 cup of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda to give it an extra cleaning boost and stir until dissolved.

5.  Fill a 5 gallon bucket with approximately 8 cups of hot water then remove the soapy mixture from the heat and transfer it into the bucket with the water.

6. Stir your soapy mixture in the bucket for approximately 5 minutes and add a few drops of your favorite essential oil. Just a hint: lavender oil helps release wrinkles in clothing and has a very relaxing scent

Pick whichever essential oil you'd like just make sure that no one in your house is allergic to it!

7. For extra stain-fighting and cleaning power I sometimes add a little bit of oxyclean to my mixture and stir it up really well. (Note- doing this would add certain ingredients that may not make your detergent vegan or natural so only add this in if you don't mind non-vegan detergent)

8. Once everything is all mixed up I usually let my mixture sit uncovered overnight and it is usually the correct consistency by the following day. Sometimes there will be a thicker layer on the top of the mixture but all you need to do it stir it up a bit before pouring it into the container you want to store it in. Occasionally I will add a cup or 2 more of hot water and stir it up to reach the right consistency.

9. The final step is to transferring your mixture into containers that have lids. I like to recycle my old store-bought laundry detergent containers for this.

I used my liquid laundry detergent religiously and it lasted over 3 months. All of my clothes came out smelling fresh, clean and I had no complaints from anyone in the house. Sometimes the detergent bottle needs to be mixed up before pouring it into the machine so I usually give mine a quick shake.

If you would rather have powdered soap for your laundry follow these instructions:

1. Grate 1/3 to 1/2 bar of soap.

2. Mix your grated  soap with borax and washing soda (add baking soda and oxyclean if desired)

3. Store in air-tight container.

Everyone I've talked to that made this detergent has had nothing but the best things to say about it and has sworn not to go back to store bought detergent ever again! What kind of experience have you had with store bought detergents and what did you do to remedy the situation? 

BLOOP Proactive Arts Festival Ibiza

BLOOP Proactive Arts Festival Ibiza

The Ibiza clock is ticking

The countdown clock for ibiza is ticking and tocking. I still have so much I need to do and on top of all the packing I realized  my laptop screen is no longer working..so please excuse this crude, half-completed attempt at a personal blog page because I have been unable to finish anything online without the use of a computer. Oh well! At least I can still post from a mobile device. 

It will be interesting to see if blogging in Ibiza will be a successful endeavor or if I will be much too distracted to bother with it (in true Kristen Fashion). Only time will tell so I will just wait here patiently and listen to the tick-tock of the Ibiza clock and in the meantime, any ibiza or summer packing tips would be greatly appreciated! Just leave them in the comments below or send me an email.

Santa Barbara, CA

 I recently left paradise, also known as Santa Barbara, CA, and after living in that beauitful town I feel compelled to write a post about the beauty and wonder of this amazing California Coastline area. Located along California highway 101 which runs along the coast, Santa Barbara is filled with gorgeous and breathtaking ocean views but thats not all that makes it special, the caliber of people that occupy the town are absolutely unbelievable! 

Almost anyone you meet in the area is extremely friendly, successful and full of life. It's hard to find someone without a smile on their face and It seems like they only have nice and positive things to say about everything. In the middle of the day you will rarely find people rushing to get things done which seems to be the norm in nearby cities such as LA. It seems like in Santa Barbara, time goes by slower, people are more relaxed and it feels like your always on vacation. 

But no city can be perfect and just like other towns Santa Barbara has it's flaws. Some of the downsides include: things are much more expensive in Santa Barbara, the local businesses close relatively early, and it's such a small area that eventually you'll end up knowing everyone through only a few degrees of separation. 

Some of my favorite experiences in SB include practicing yoga at the fantastic corepower yoga studio, hang gliding off the cliffs of Gibraltar and exploring the warm waters of the mineral springs at night. There are many fun activities to do on Santa Barbara, CA and the city often throws events to celebrate different holidays or accomplishments throughout the year so with lots to do one could easily fall in love with this slow paced beach town. 

All cities have their pros and cons but everyone has a different view of what those pros and cons are. What are few reasons why you feel your town is the best? Let us know in the comments below. 

Beautiful La Quinta Cove Hiking

Earlier this week my boyfriend and I decided it'd be nice to get out of the house for a while and go for a hike. Since we both recently took off work we thought we deserved some time out in nature. 

Since we moved to the Palm Springs area earlier this year we have not done much in the fitness department. I guess between moving and working we were both pretty worn out so we were looking forward to an interesting hike. 

We spotted this interesting patch of bright green tree tops among the browns, yellows, oranges and reds of the desert and instantly headed towards it. To our surprise, about a mile and half out on the trail was a very inviting oasis.

Delicious and Crispy, Thin Panko-Crusted Pork Chops

While growing-up my mother would always make us a certain dish for special occasions, like if we did something that made her proud. Well that dish was her delicious home-cooked pork chops slathered in warm, gooey gravy and served with creamy, garlic mashed potatoes with peas or corn on the side. I remember these amazing pork chops vividly! Every delightful detail! Even though my mom hasn’t made them in such a long time I still get the feeling of comforting warmth that these flavorful pieces of pork have engraved in my memory! Recently, after reminiscing about my childhood food experiences, I decided it might be fun to recreate my mom's special dish or to come up with my own version of it...so this is what I ended up doing:

Crispy, Thin Panko-Crusted Pork Chops 

• 1 lb of thin cut, boneless, pork chops
• 1 Large egg
• A splash of milk (approximately 2 tablespoons)
• 1/2 cup- 1 cup of Panko Breadcrumbs (depending on how many pork chops you have)
• 1/2 cup- 1 cup of Whole Wheat Breadcrumbs  (again, depending on how many pork chops you have)
• Seasoning: Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Parsely, Italian Seasoning, Salt and Pepper.
• Flour
• Olive Oil

If your pork chops are thin, flour and breadcrumb all of them before starting to fry them since thin chops only take a second to fry and you may not have enough time to flour and bread the others before you need to be back at the frying pan to take em off!
Also, unless you’re using plastic bags or tongs to coat your chop with breadcrumbs "shake –n- bake" method then be prepared to get messy because this mixture tends to be sticky!

Instructions -

1. Start by rinsing your pork chops with cold water just to clean them up a little bit.  


 2. Dry your pork chops off lightly with a paper towel and lay them flat.


3. While the chops are resting on the paper towel, sprinkle them lightly with Salt and Pepper.


4. Mix together your egg and splash of milk in small bowl big enough to fit 1 or 2 of your chops.


5. Season the egg & milk mixture with garlic salt, parsley or whatever seasoning you desire!


 6. Dump your panko and breadcrumbs onto a plate or into a ziplock bag and mix together (if using the ziplock bag method then shake until coated).



7. On a different plate, dump enough flour to cover a few of the pork chops (approximately 1/2 cup or more)


8. On the stove, heat up your olive oil over medium to high heat


 9. While the olive oil is heating up place your first chop in the flour until it is coated


10. After coating with flour take your chop and dip it in the egg and milk mixture

11. Once coated with egg and milk lay the chop in the panko and breadcrumb mixture until covered


12. Repeat this until all the chops are coated with all 3 of the mixtures.


13. By this time the olive oil should be sufficiently heated and ready for you to place your chops in it.


14. One by one, gently lay each chop in the hot oil and fry it until golden brown  (approximately 4-5 minutes on each side depending on thickness of chop).


15. Once both sides are done, remove from frying pan and repeat with other chops until all are golden brown.


16. Serve over garlic and apple mashed potatoes and with a side of corn on the cob and you have a perfect home-cooked comfort meal in less then 30 minutes!


This recipe has always been a part of my life and was a big hit during my childhood, but I'm curious to know what recipe has been a part of yours since childhood. I'd love to hear all about the meals you loved while growing up or even the ingredients and recipes on how to make them in the comments below! 

Real, Legitimate Ways to Make Money Taking Surveys Online

Money, it's not as hard to earn as you thought it was!

This past couple of weeks I have been trying out different ways to make a quick buck online and because of the increasingly large amount of work-from-home-scams and websites online today I decided it might be helpful if I wrote a post on actual, legitimate websites that pay you to take surveys or to work from home. Here are some of the sites I found:

1. Survey Savvy - Surveys are a fun and interesting way to learn about new products but did you know that you can also make money from home by taking surveys in your free-time? Well, now you do! Survey Savvy is an awesome and legitimate site to start out with. I personally like this website because they not only offer money for filling out surveys but you can also refer your friends and get paid for them too! Another reason why this site is great is because you only need to earn $1 before you can cash it in. Some sites will require you to earn upwards of $5 dollars so this site is definitely worth checking out! Just click the link below and you may get a chance to earn $20*:

https://www.surveysavvy.com/?m=5858631

2. Everyone knows about the website Amazon.com. You might even purchase items from them from time to time. Well, did you know that Amazon also pays people to work from home to perform small tasks for money? It's true! The site is called Mechanical Turk or mTurk and it is a totally legitimate and great way to make some extra dough for anything you may need! Simply sign up HERE and start completing HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks) today to receive money or even amazon gift cards. There are all different kinds of HITs you can perform so you won't get bored answering lame survey questions. The only downside to Mechanical Turk is that each worker is rated based on the percentage of HITs they perform or abandon so if you fall asleep or have technical difficulties in the middle of your task that causes the task to not get completed then your reputation or value on the site would go down and you may not be eligible for another task like until it is back up, so be careful which task you choose!

3. Another one of the top Survey sites online is Vinedale Research, Vinedale research is definitely one of the more reputable survey sites on the internet today. Especially since they pay up to $75 dollars for their members to take just one survey. I haven't found any other site offering that much for a survey yet! I've heard that vinedale doesn't accept applications for members year-round but they were nice enough to send us a link to allow our readers to sign-up anytime they want! So if you are interested in earning up to $75 per survey....THAT'S RIGHT! $75.00! Then CLICK HERE to
sign-up and make some money for your opinion today!

Above: Information from Vinedale.com

4. The fourth legitimate website for making money online is different than the previous sites mentioned. Mindswarms.com is a different kind of survey site. Not only are they asking for your opinion on different products or situations but unlike any of the sites above mindswarms asks that you video record your response with your webcam and upload to their site. When I tried this site out i thought it was such a cool idea! The sign-up and instructions are extremely easy to understand and the design of the site is great for everyone. The only downside to mindswarms is that there was a lack of available surveys or questions to answer (it could have just been my demographic but who knows?) so I quickly lost interest in the site since there was nothing for me to do. It is still worth checking out and who knows....maybe you will be eligible for more surveys than I was. Did I mention you get paid for referring your friends too?

Above: A Screenshot of TrymyUI.com homepage.

5. TrymyUI.com is another great, legitimate survey site. This site is also different from the others because not only does it ask you to fill out survey questions but it also asks that you record your computer screen while you visit and specific website they give you. It is actually pretty fun and it allows you to do more than just answer a, b, c, or d off some test. You don't have to download any special software or anything. All you need to do to become a member is visit their site HERE, sign-up and take a qualification test (which is basically the same thing as actually just completing the task itself).

There are so many different survey sites and sites claiming to pay you for your time that there is no way we could possibly list them all in one post, but there is one thing you must remember, Your time is valuable so don't waste it on some website that is only trying to get your credit card number from you! Make sure you know which sites are legitimate and which ones to avoid and make some money while you can! I hope this post was helpful and informative for everyone! If i forgot any great, legitimate survey or work from home sites that you would like me to try out or that you have tried before, please let us know in the comments below and we will be happy to check them out. Thanks again and have a wonderful day!