Homemade laundry detergent

So I have been making my own laundry detergent for the past year now. It is so quick and easy and it works out to approx $7 kg - I'm sure I could make it cheaper if I bought in bulk and/or shopped around but I haven't as yet. I use about 1 tablespoon each wash and everything comes out very clean. There are a few versions out there but the recipe I use I have included below.  I usually make a few batches at once and only add the essential oil to the batch that I am immediately going to use. Batches without essential oils added can be stored in plastic tubs.  I have a Miele high efficiency front loading washing machine and this detergent works well with my machine.

Ingredients

1 cup borax
1 bar of laundry soap (e.g velvet) grated
Essential oil of your choice for scent

Method

1 cup washing soda
1. Grate the bar(s) of soap. I use the grating disc on my food processor.
2. Process grated soap with food processor chopping blade until it is a fine powder
3. Add borax and washing soda to food processor and process until homogeneous.
4. Add essential oil a few drops at a time. Pulse with food processor until mixed through. Add more to make it to the strength of fragrance you like. I use eucalyptus.
5. Store in a sealed glass jar.
6. Use 1 tablespoon per full load of washing. If washing is heavily stained, pre-treat with a stain remover.

Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef: Chickpea and Leek Soup

So in my infinite wisdom I have decided to attempt all of the recipes in Jamie Oliver's first book, "The Naked Chef".

As it is currently bitterly cold and perfect soup weather, the first recipe on my list is Chickpea and Leek Soup (p21).    The recipe is generally quite straight forward and took about an hour to make, but also requires overnight soaking of the chickpeas.  I found that the fluid quantities in the recipe were not sufficient. The recipe calls for 850 mls of stock, but I used 1L homemade veggie stock and 500mls commercial chicken stock.

I followed Jamie's recommendation to vitamise half of the quantity and mixed the unblended half back through prior to serving. Because I used mainly homemade unseasoned veggie stock, I found the soup required quite a bit of seasoning.
Because of the extra liquid, I also got approx 10 servings from this dish, rather than the 6 specified in the recipe. The soup was quite thick even with the extra 500mls added, so I recommend adjusting the liquid quantity based on your findings.

Serve: with parmesan, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, a wedge of lemon and crusty bread. Season to taste.
Make again: yes  Liam's Rating: 4/5 My Rating 4/5

Blog: resurrected

I was going to start a new blog but re-discovered this one from a few years ago. I've deleted the old posts as they generally contained drivel about linguistics which I was studying at the time. I've decided to start blogging again for a few reasons. 1) as a creative outlet; 2) to keep a record of what I've been reading/where I've been/things I have made or cooked; and, 3) to track a challenge I have set for myself - to cook more from my recipe books.  So, even though I doubt anyone other than me will read this, this blog will be resurrected soon....