Tomato Basil Soup

I tried out a new recipe today. I used a recipe that I found online and tweaked it a little bit. It was very good and I thought I should share it with ya'll (and remember it myself).

Tomato Basil Soup

* 4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (I used a mixture of the tomatoes in my garden. It was about 15 tomatoes of different sizes)
* 1 onion, sliced
* 1 tablespoon of dried basil
* 4 whole cloves of garlic, peeled
* 2 cups chicken broth
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons cinnamon (the original called for sugar, but I like cinnamon!)


In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, basil, cloves of garlic and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and run the mixture through a food processor or use your mixer. Leave the mixture in the food processor or mixer while you get the roux ready.

In the stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour until it thickens, cooking until medium brown like a roux. Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest. Season with cinnamon (or sugar) and salt.

thrifty mama

I made my own laundry detergent today. My mom called to tell me about her experience making detergent this weekend.It sounded pretty easy and on a whim, I decided to try it out.

Unfortunately, I was going by KMart when I decided to do this. I have the worst luck there. I could only find 2 of the ingredients. I couldn't find washing soda there. I did a google search when I came home to see if I could substitute something for the soda.


I read a blog that said that washing soda was basically just doubly strong baking soda. So I doubled the baking soda.

4.5 oz of zote soap (it's pink) and comes in 14 oz so I cut it with a big knife to about 1/3 of the bar (grated)
1 C Borax
1 C Baking Soda

I grated the zote soap and then mixed in the soda and Borax. It's not a lot of soap so I put it in a coffee container. I washed it out first and I hope my laundry doesn't smell like coffee. Oh wait, that might be a good smell.

You should use 1TBS per load.

My first load of towels is in the washing machine right now. I will keep you updated on the results.

I put the directions on the top of the coffee container and the recipe with the remainder of my detergent ingredients.

According to most sites, it's about 42 cents per load if you use tide.
It's about 14 cents with this recipe and you feel so thrifty!

Recipe for black beans

Our family loves black beans. We eat them a lot. I just found a new recipe for making black beans. It's on our menu for this week.