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Danielle Bean

Danielle Bean
Danielle Bean, a mother of eight, is Editorial Director of Faith & Family. She is author of My Cup of Tea, Mom to Mom, Day to Day, and most recently Small Steps for Catholic Moms. Though she once struggled to separate her life and her work, the two …
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Rachel Balducci

Rachel Balducci
Rachel Balducci is married to Paul and they are the parents of five lively boys and one precious baby girl. She is the author of How Do You Tuck In A Superhero?, and is a newspaper columnist for the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia. For the past four years, she has …
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Lisa Hendey

Lisa Hendey
Lisa Hendey is the founder and editor of CatholicMom.com, a Catholic web site focusing on the Catholic faith, Catholic parenting and family life, and Catholic cultural topics. Most recently she has authored The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa is also employed as webmaster for her parish web sites. …
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Arwen Mosher

Arwen Mosher
Arwen Mosher lives in southeastern Michigan with her husband Bryan and their young children Camilla and Blaise. She has a bachelor's degree in theology. She dreads laundry, craves sleep, loves to read novels and do logic puzzles, and can't live without tea. Her personal blog site is ABC Family. …
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Rebecca Teti

Rebecca Teti
Rebecca Teti is married to Dennis and has four children (3 boys, 1 girl) who -- like yours no doubt -- are pious and kind, gorgeous, and can spin flax into gold. A Washington, DC, native, she converted to Catholicism while an undergrad at the U. Dallas, where she double-majored in …
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Robyn Lee

Robyn Lee
Robyn Lee is the managing editor of Faith & Family magazine. She is (yikes!) an almost 30 year-old, single lady, living in Connecticut with her two cousins in a small bungalow-style kit house built by her great uncle in the 1950s. She also conveniently lives next door to her sister, brother-in-law …
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Hallie Lord

Hallie Lord
Hallie Lord married her dashing husband, Dan, in the fall of 2001 (the same year, coincidentally, that she joyfully converted to the Catholic faith). They now happily reside in the deep South with their two energetic boys and two very sassy girls. In her *ample* spare time, Hallie enjoys cheap wine, …
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Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Fr John Bartunek, LC, STL, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991. After college he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and …
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Kate Lloyd

Kate Lloyd
Kate Lloyd is a rising senior, and a political science major at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire. While not in school, she lives in Whitehall PA, with her mom, dad, five sisters and little brother. She needs someone to write a piece about how it's possible to …
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Elizabeth Foss

Elizabeth Foss
Elizabeth Foss, an award winning columnist for the Arlington Catholic Herald, published her first book, Real Learning: Education in the Heart of My Home in 2003. The book is now in its third printing. Her popular blog, In the Heart of My Home is a source of inspiration and support for Catholic women …
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Made by Mom

What do you make for your family?

Posted by Danielle Bean in Homemaking on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 12:00 PM

Since the start of the new year, I have been enjoying following the Homemade 365 blog.

Jennifer, the blog author, has committed to making and posting about something “homemade” for every day of the year.

So far her entries have been varied—orange soda, bird food, porridge, laundry detergent, a calendar, salad dressing, a rash treatment, and yogurt among others.

I have yet to try any of the projects yet myself, but I find just browsing through entries like these inspiring and fun. There’s something in every homemaker’s heart that loves to use her own hands to produce something that will bless her family.

In today’s world, where technology pulls us ever farther away from our physical realities, this is an especially important idea for each of us to keep in mind. I know that after I spend any length of time on the phone or at the computer, I relish the chance to do something physical and real—even if its just folding a pile of laundry—that will serve my family.

Making things from scratch not only can save you money, but it has an undeniably “homey” feel about it—whether you bake your own bread or knit your own socks. Today, I would love to be inspired by the talented and thrifty moms here at Faith & Family. What kinds of things do you make instead of buying for your family?

Comments
11
Filed under crunchy, diy, homemade, natural, recipes

Comments

Page 1 of 1 pages

 
Posted by munchesmom on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 1:32 PM (EDT):

Great topic, Danielle!  I can’t wait to check out that site.  I have been making numerous household cleaners for our family for several years now.  I make our laundry detergent & baby wipes (both recipes from the Duggar family).  I also make my own all-purpose cleaner & window cleaner.  My window cleaner recipe is actually for car windshields, but I LOVE the way it cleans my windows.  It doesn’t streak at all. 

Windshield Washer Fluid
9 c. water
1 c. isoprypyl alcohol
1 T. liquid dish soap
Mix & store in plastic jug or spray bottle.

There was a great book I found at the library.  I think it was called Clean Home, Clean Planet.  There are some great recipes & ideas in there that are safe for the planet & people.

 
Posted by Patricia on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 2:20 PM (EDT):

The majority of homemade items in our home are edible!  All our breads (which my husband bakes weekly) & baked goods are homemade (bagels, flat breads, muffins, desserts, etc.), as well as spaghetti & pesto sauces (thanks to an abundant herb garden).  I’ve recently begun making enormous weekly batches of homemade granola.  So much more filling & nutritious (& tasty!) than store bought, & really quite easy.  The homemade cheese (goat’s milk) wasn’t too impressive, but I plan to try making yogurt soon.  We rarely drink soda—but I do enjoy making homemade sarsaparilla soda (for sarsaparilla floats!) with extract from Leeners: http://www.leeners.com/sodapop.html.
I’d also like to try a hand at homemade cleaning products—cheaper & less toxic.

 
Posted by Patricia on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 3:06 PM (EDT):

I forgot to add…We tried these homemade marshmallows over the holidays & they are SO good!  You can substitute 3 tsp. of vanilla extract for the 2 tsp. vanilla + 1 tsp. peppermint extract if you prefer them not to be peppermint flavored.  Both ways are delicious—they melt to perfect creaminess on top of your hot cocoa & are also very good on their own:
http://bakingbites.com/2007/12/peppermint-marshmallows/

 
Posted by Diane on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 2:53 PM (EDT):

I am not much for sewing or handcrafting but I do love to cook and bake. It amazes me what a simple bag of cookies cost ,and then you buy them and .... Yuck !!!!!  I try not to ever buy any dessert items other than occasionally ice cream and I very very rarely buy processed foods. Yes that little container of beef tips and gravy ( the one that would take at least two( at $5.99 each).... probably three to feed my family) can be made much better( without preservatives, hormones ( I buy meat from a local farmer)or over spiced) at home along with potatoes, vegetables, and even a salad for $10 total. Our family also makes our own pizza ,crust and all. We can make eight , which is enough for dinner, breakfast, and lunches the next few days for the same price ( if not less) than it would cost us for two pizzas which we would finish for dinner. Though I don’t do it every week I also bake much of our bread. For some reason we actually eat bread when I bake it where I can buy a loaf and we only eat about 1/4 of it before it molds and we have to throw it out. Bread is another thing that has some nasty preservatives in it that are simply not good for anyone.

 
Posted by Patricia on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 3:10 PM (EDT):

Diane,
We grill our homemade pizza crust on our gas grill (brush with olive oil 1st), it gives it a great smoky flavor!

 
Posted by Diane on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 8:15 PM (EDT):

Thanks for sharing. I will have to try this. I bet it would also taste great as the “bread” part of a philly steak sandwich. I had one of these ( only the pizza dough was cooked in an open brick oven)  recently at a rather expensive resteraunt. I loved it but the cost was too much to frequent often.

 
Posted by Carolyn A on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 5:25 PM (EDT):

Other than homemade foods (pizza, cookies, and now granola bars), I make a homemade furniture polish. Just Monday I tried some fun putty and goofy goo for the kids. They are mostly glue and liquid starch for the former, glue, water, and borax for the latter. Certainly cheap and no mystery ingredients like the gooey things we get from the Dollar Store.

 
Posted by Angela on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 6:13 PM (EDT):

Lots of food, with pizza and granola bars being some favorites.

Play dough and slime.

Used to make Barbie cakes when my girls were little enough to want them—still make specialized bday cakes (guitars,e tc.).

I just learned how to crochet hats, and made six so far (two kids left).

 
Posted by Robin on Thursday, Jan 21, 2010 8:28 AM (EDT):

Every Friday is pizza night at my house.  As I make the pizza dough, I have a zip bag next to the bowl to make the dry ingredients for Saturday’s pancakes.  The pizza dough and pancakes both have flour (white and whole wheat) and salt.  Then I just add baking powder, baking soda, and sugar to the rest of the drys in the bag, zip it up, and add my wet stuff the next morning. 

Homemade granola, bread, muffins, corn bread and laundry soap have happened here.  Sometime ago, I took a vow to make one homemade food item for each day.  I have to get back to that.

 
Posted by Elizabeth M on Thursday, Jan 21, 2010 10:37 AM (EDT):

We’ve been doing homemade pizza since I lost my job last spring and I don’t think we’d go back to buying them $$ aside! I bake bread—but not all our sandwich bread yet. I definitely do homemade pancakes and waffles (amazing how much more the mixes cost). I do a lot of stock and soup this time of year. Marshmallows were fun at Christmas and were so easy for the impact they had on people.

I’d love suggestions for granola bars! Any favorite recipes? We’ve done loose granola, but I’d love to try bars.

 
Posted by BookieBookie on Thursday, Jan 21, 2010 6:30 PM (EDT):

Just made hot-chocolate-on-a-stick from this blog:

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/blog/2009/12/02/hot-chocolate-on-a-stick/

Made the homemade marshmallows also, then bagged each in clear cellophane, tied with silver twisty (bought at Michae’s craft store). Big, big hit; kids loved them and I packed and mailed them to my mother and several others. If you don’t want to take the time to make the marshmallows, you could always use store-bought. Makes delicious hot chocolate!


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