Biodegradable Laundry Powder

Our property is not connected to town water or town sewerage so we have a Biocycle, which is and aerobic wastewater treatment system.  The waste water is treated by the Biocycle and then clean odourless disinfected water is recycled through garden sprinklers onto our trees and lawn.

We are careful about the cleaning products we use in the house as ammonia and bleaches should not be put through the Biocycle.  There are plenty of environmentally friendly cleaning products on the market but they are expensive so I had a go at making my own laundry powder.  We've used it about 4 times now and I have no complaints with how clean the clothes are.  I also love that our clothes don't come out with that overpowering perfume smell that some commercial laundry powders have.

I researched many recipes and in the end combined a few together to come up with this. 

Laundry Powder Recipe

• 6 Cups Washing Soda
• 3 Cakes Biome True Castile Soap (any castile or pure unscented soap is fine)
• 1 Cup Epsom Salts
• 1/2 Cup Bi Carb Soda
• A few drops of tea tree oil or any essential oil

I chopped the soap into small pieces and then put it all in my thermomix (food processor) and blended until it was the consistency of washing powder.  Due to the little bit or oil and the waxy consistency of the soap it does form little balls within the powder.  It looks very much like bought laundry powder.

The washing soda, bi carb and epsom salts are all very cheap ingredients. The Castile soap was $7.95 a cake so that made the powder more expensive than it needed to be but still not as expensive as bought laundry power. 

I will source my castile soap from a different place next time. . 

It left a bit of a waxy film in my thermomix but I just blended a lemon with a little water after I'd washed it and it came up shiny and clean just like a new one. 

Black Bean Patties (Vegan)

I'm on a Vegan bent at the moment and made these for dinner.  I made the mixture in the Thermie being careful not to over blend.  They could be done by hand but I made them after a busy day at work so was looking for the shortcuts. Very delicious. 

Ingredients

1.5 cups of black beans (I  made these from dry beans that had been soaked and cooked then frozen but canned could be used)
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
1/2 red capsicum
1 cup rolled oats
3 tablespoons of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce (of BBQ sauce)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon steak seasoning

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees

Cut the onion in half and roughly chop the capsicum.  Put in the thermie with the garlic cloves and pulse for a couple of seconds. (You want it chopped but not too mushy)

Add all the other ingredients and pulse till combined.  (Don't overmix)

Line a baking tray with baking paper and place patties onto the tray.   I didn't want to get my hands mucky so I used a 1/2 cup measure to plonk the patties onto the tray and the mixture made 7 patties.

Cook for around 30 minutes or until crispy on the edges.  

I had one on a heated pita bread with lettuce and tomato.