Homemade Pasta

3 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 Tbl olive oil
4-5 Tbl water (give or take)

Mix flour and salt together in kitchen aid with paddle attachment. Add egg, olive oil and a couple of tablespoons water. Mix until dough comes together adding more water as needed. You don't want the dough sticky at all. Just enough water to come together. Move dough to counter and knead a few minutes. Cover in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes. Cut into fourths. Cut each fourth in half to make it easier to work with. Run each piece through pasta machine 5 times or more on #1, 3 times on #2, 1 time on #3 continuing until desired thickness. #3 works great for lasagna sheets. I like #4 or #5 for egg noodles. Lasagna sheets are ready to boil or use at this point. I like to cut my egg noodle strips in to about 4-5 inch strips then feed them through the cutting blade. You can let the noodles dry for 30 minutes or boil them in salted water immediately. The noodles cook quickly (2-3 minutes). Serve.

This recipe can easily be cut down to 1/2 or 1/4. For 1/4 (which is what I usually make) use
Scant 1 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 tsp olive oil
1 Tbl water (may need a little more)

Alfredo Sauce

2 c. whipping cream (not whipped)
4 oz. cream cheese
1 cube butter
1 tsp. smoked paprika (or regular)
1 tsp. garlic powder (can use garlic pepper)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Melt cream cheese and butter.  Slowly add a small amount of whipping cream and mix well.  Then add remaining whipping cream.  Bring to boil (simmer) and add seasonings (to taste).  Let simmer 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add Parmesan cheese.  Serve with pasta, chicken, etc.

The sauce looks kind of strange until you get the whipping cream into it.  Then it smooths out rich and creamy!  I always double the recipe :)

I have tried a few alfredo sauce recipes, but they never tasted as good as Olive Garden's.  This is not an Olive Garden copycat recipe, but we do all love this sauce.  I got the recipe from Michelle at my work.

Bubbles

5 gallons water
1 small bottle of glycerine (can be found by pharmacy)
1 med. bottle of dawn dish soap

Mix together and let sit overnight. Enjoy!

Our grandkids' pre-school teacher does this activity every year! The kids have so much fun with it. You can pour them into a small kiddie pool and use a hula hoop to pull the bubbles up. Fun, fun activity! She said that she also uses hangers and shapes them into a circle with a single crochet around the circle part. It makes a great wand!

Laundry Detergent

Grate 1 bar of soap (Zest, Ivory, etc.) and dissolve in 1 quart of boiling water. After it’s all dissolved, transfer to 5 gallon bucket. Add 2 cups of Borax and 2 cups of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda. Mix until all dissolved, then add 2 gallons of water. Mix well. Mixture will gel, so make sure you give it a good stir every hour or so until it’s cooled down. Otherwise it will become clumpy. Use ¼ cup per load.
I started making this about 6 months ago and I will never use store bought stuff again! It cleans just as good, if not better than anything I’ve tried. Plus, I spent about $10 on all the ingredients and I still have about half left. I also use it to treat stains!