New Year, New Plans

I am a big fan of New Year's celebrations.  Now that we have kids we celebrate in different ways, but no matter how you celebrate it's a fresh start!  January 1st comes and there are endless possibilities for the new year.  Whether you are a person that makes resolutions or not, it's a good feeling.

  I was on Pinterest trying to come up with fun New Year's activities for the girls and I came across this really fun blog with printable parent & child date cards.  Our family is going to be going through some big changes in 2014.  Happy changes, but changes that will affect our kids and our time spent with them.  The Hubby and I decided that getting some one-on-one time with our girls could be a really great transitional tool for them and us.

Mr. Christmas Tree Jingle

I always thought that Elf on the Shelf looked like so much fun, but I never could see us adopting a tricky little Elf that is going to make more messes for me to clean up.  Don't get me wrong, I love seeing all the pictures of these little Elves and the creative mischief they get into!  For our family we really strive to do character building activities and that's when I started to think that the Elf might just be able to help us out with that!

Santa must have read my mind because yesterday, an Elf showed up!!  The Princess was excited but a little leery at first.  (Is four when you start to lose your belief in magic already?  Boy I hope not.)  But when her little friend came over and started talking about her own magic Elf that really got her excited!  She went to bed super quick last night just to look for Mr. Christmas Tree Jingle the next morning. Mr. Christmas Tree Jingle.  Jingle for short. What a great name, right?  Reminds me of a preschooler of mine whose mom was having a baby and she desperately wanted to name her Snowflake Cupcake!  Ah, four year olds.  Love them.

So just where did Mr. Christmas Tree Jingle end up?  Keep checking the blog as I will be adding pictures all through December!

Day 1:

A Greener Yoga Mat

I went through three yoga mats in one week.  I've always just bought a cheap mat at any old store without paying much attention.  THIS week,  my husband picked one up for me, but it was bumpy and I would rather have smooth so I picked up a cheap one from Walmart.  

Took it out to use it and I noticed it smelled pretty bad.  Very much like chemicals.  It was pretty gross to have my face so close to it at times.  I thought I would just let it air out, so on my way to the garage (it smelled that bad) I grabbed the cardboard that came with it and noticed this:

Warning:  This mat contains chemicals (recognized by the state of California) known to cause Cancer and/or birth defects/fertility issues.

Happy November! Crafts!

Last year we decided to make a Thankfulness Tree. (pictured below)  I had enough leaves for each day of November and everyday the three of us would write what we were thankful for.  (We just said out loud what we thought Hammie was thankful for because she was so little)  Everyone had such a great time filling it in that it was a requested project this year.  New tradition?  I think so!

Each year I have sloppily tried to draw a tree. . . the girls seem to know what it is so that's all that matters!  (Plus you get to cover it up with lots of leaves!)  This year I decided to make enough leaves for everyone to have their own leaf each day.  We even added some little birds this year, I think it makes the tree really fun!  Check out #4 on this cute Blog to find the leaf/bird templates

Before You Bake. . .

If you've ever read the ingredients list on your Baking Powder you would find the following:  Cornstarch, Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda), Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, and Monocalcium Phosphate.

Let's look at Sodium Aluminum Sulfate.  Here is an excerpt from livestrong.com about this food additive:

A Healthier Halloween

I've had some inquiries about what has been happening in my kitchen this apple season. . . I promise, I will get to that. . . but this is not that post.  Since Halloween is right around the corner it is only right to discuss all that candy!  

I will start with a few questions I've gotten about our own family's Halloween traditions:

Freezer Smoothies

We just had the most productive 3 hours!  So productive that I am able to start this blog post before the kids go to bed!  We had a fun weekend, but the house suffered. . . and for three hours we suffered. BUT laundry is well in hand, rooms and floors are picked up, dishes are done, and Smoothies are made!

With Fall officially here and preschool already underway, I am especially looking for something to give my girls immune system a little boost.  (We have already been through a round of antibiotics this season).  Our girls love smoothies.  And it is super easy to hide some veggies in those!  

I wanted to be sure that my girls got a good dose of fruit/veggies in them at least once a day.  Sometimes we just run out of willpower. . . time to eat clean.  After talking to my friend about freezer meals and getting a few tips I decided I would get some canning jars and make smoothies once a week and stick them in the freezer so I could always have them on hand.

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup (Slow Cooker or Stove-top)

I found this recipe at today's mama.  This recipe has become a staple in our menu planning.  I make it when we are sick, healthy, hot, cold.  Doesn't matter, it is always delicious.  Click the link to view the whole recipe or to get the stove-top version.  The way I make mine is even easier than the original recipe so follow along below. . .

Family Files #3

Squeezing in a quick Family Files post before our busy Sunday begins.  I've been hoarding so many pictures to share with you all!

The Princess said she was bored one morning (seriously only 10 minutes after she woke up, really??), but I humored her and made a quick batch of playdough.  It entertained them for hours.  My mom used this recipe when I was a kid.  It's super easy... I only had about half of the cream of tartar it called for and it still turned out great!  (recipe below)

Shake It Up: Homemade Ice Cream

 We have been having some fun with our girls making homemade ice cream. YUM.  I remember making ice cream in resealable bags a couple of times in school.  It was always fun.  I turned to Pinterest, of course, to try to remember what exactly to put in the bags.  Does everyone out there have an ice cream maker now??  So many of the homemade ice cream recipes told me to just add the ingredients to the ice cream maker. . . um. . . I am looking for something a little more old-fashioned than that!  (not that it wouldn't be fun to have an ice cream maker! But we would seriously be eating ice cream way too often then!)

I read a few recipes that said you could shake it up in a plastic bag and then did what I usually do with recipes. . . WING IT.  The pictures below are from two separate ice cream making occasions so don't be confused when we are making chocolate ice cream and then pictures show our girls eating vanilla chocolate chip!

 What you will need:

Start Eating Healthy: Top Ten Tips

The most common question that gets messaged to me is:  What is the easiest thing I can do to start eating better?

Eating healthy can be hard and time consuming.  There are so many labels to read and so much contradictory information out there.   Sometimes you just need to get dinner on the table and don't have time to "research" what you are eating.

My family and I came up with our top ten tips to help you get started.  Pick one or all ten, either way it's a great start!

Homemade Laundry Detergent and Dryer Sheets

Homemade Laundry Detergent:

For about a year now, I've been using Honest Laundry detergent.  It is gentle on my girls' skin, but it is also fragrance free.  When I do laundry I really like some sort of scent (as long as it's natural).   My good friend has been making her own laundry detergent for a while now and loves it so I thought I'd give it a try.  See original recipe here.  I just finished making our second batch today!  My mom and I put our ingredients and supplies together and now we have a pot, spoon, funnel, grater, and measuring cup all dedicated to making laundry detergent.  It makes so much we've been sharing each batch.

Ingredients:

a bar of soap (your favorite kind.  I stuck with my Honest brand because I love the scents that they make                           and I didn't want to "test" my girls skin with other soaps)
1 Cup of Borax
1Cup of Washing Soda (also used in my homemade dishwasher detergent)
a big pot (2+ Gallon)
a grater
a funnel
a long spoon
2 empty gallon jugs/containers

I kind got into the process of making it and forget to take pictures of each step, but it's pretty simple so here it goes!

Peanut Butter Ball Cookies

Today I am sharing a super easy, healthy recipe that my whole family loves!  The given name is No Bake Energy Bites found at Gimme Some Oven, but my girls call them Peanut Butter Ball Cookies.  These are great because you can throw in whatever you have on-hand or whatever you think will taste good.  Today I will share with you how we usually make them.


I actually doubled my recipe this past time, because everyone loves them so much.

Ingredients (single batch- makes 20-25 one inch balls):

For the Starbucks Lovers

A quick recipe for the Starbucks tea lovers.  I'm not sure where I originally saw this recipe, but chances are it was Pinterest.  What recipe isn't from Pinterest anymore?

Here we go:  Passion Iced Tea Lemonade.

Tazo Passion Tea. . . I have used the "iced" passion teabags and the regular passion tea bags--
seems to work the same!

Family Files #2

 Just a little bit of what we've been up to lately:  Heavy on pictures, light on words.


Our 4th of July:

The Princess went to her violin lesson on the 4th so we made her teacher a little 4th S'mores plate.

We tried to theme the whole day out, including meals and snacks.  Here are our "fruit rockets".

 Whipping Cream

 Whipping Cream:  Whipped.  You can add powdered sugar to sweeten it, but I think it's fine when it's mixed with already sweet fruit.  

 Ended up being a pretty cute snack!

Honest Diaper Results Are In. . .

Since our oldest, The Princess, was born we've been a "Huggies Family".  Huggies diapers rarely leaked and their wipes were always the thickest.  Right before Hammie was born I tried cloth diapering with The Princess to see if it was something I wanted to do with Hammie.

I wish I could tell you I am a Eco-friendly, healthy eating mom and that's why I wanted to cloth diaper, but really it was to save money.  I chose the brand G diapers which were really cute and looked comfortable.  I tried them for one day with The Princess.  That's how long I lasted. ONE DAY.  I decided on that day, when I had a giant baby belly and I was hovering over the toilet scrubbing out a diaper liner (with a toddler running around unsupervised while I scrubbed the liner), that this was NOT for me.  On top of it, the snaps on the cloth diapers left marks on The Princess and by the time I calculated all different size sets I would have to buy throughout the years that it was not really a money saver for us.  (since I am not that mom to use the cloth diapers I buy for burp rags and pin them on- Bless you if you are that mom!)  Not to mention the laundry!  I can't keep up with our normal laundry!  So back to Huggies it was!

Yes, Huggies rarely leaked and their wipes were thick, but they also left nasty gel (supposedly safe) on my kids' skin when it got to wet.  If you look at the Huggies box their is no list of ingredients.  If you check the Huggies website they list their choice of ingredients and write "among others".   This does not sit well with me.

How I Cured My Sinus Infection

Last Thursday I started feeling a little congested.  Thought for a day that it might be allergies.  Then Friday came.  I was miserable.  Over the counter medicine was doing nothing and I thought for sure by Monday I would be in the Doctor's office demanding a Zpack because I'm a mother and mothers know best asking if I could get a prescription.  While I was online researching pressure points I could use to try to relieve the awful congestion I found that Eucalyptus oil is suppose to be some sort of miracle for Sinus related problems.  I have never been a big believer in "the power" of Essential Oils, though I have been curious.

I decided I would try to track some down for a few reasons. 1. I was getting desperate.  2. I wanted Eucalyptus oil anyway because I read in, The Honest Life, that I could mix it with the Honest Healing Balm and make my own Vick's Vapor Rub!  3. I wanted some sort of Essential oil because I could make my own Air Freshener! (We all know by now that I enjoy making my own. . . everything)

Pizza made with Cauliflower Crust

This is going to be a quick blog post, but this recipe was just too good NOT to share it right away!  The pizza crust was made with cauliflower.  YES, cauliflower!  To get the whole recipe go to this great little blog I recently found called Eating Bird Food.
This crust is a little more delicate than your normal pizza dough so keep your toppings light.  There is already cheese in the crust so you can go easy on the topping cheese.  We even overdid it a little with ours. Tonight I just used whatever I had on-hand so I sautéed some organic peppers (organic since these are on the dirty list, click the link to get the dirty dozen and clean fifteen lists).
Since this pizza will be broiled after adding the toppings you want to make sure your toppings are already cooked how you like them before adding them to your crust.
Word to the wise, if you aren't using a Pampered Chef Pizza Stone, really oil that pan because this crust will stick!
But it was completely delicious!  I liked it MORE than the usual pizza dough we have been using!  The whole family loved it and asked for more.  Some have said that they can taste the cauliflower in the crust though they still like it, but my husband and I could not actually taste it.  (The way our girls ate it, I'm pretty sure they couldn't taste any cauliflower either!)

Make Your Own. . . Dishwasher Detergent

Dishes in our house goes something like this:  Fill the dishwasher with dirty dishes (but rinse them or they won't come clean), pour in A LOT of detergent (or they won't come clean), put it on Pots and Pans setting, high temp, and sanitize (or they won't come clean).  When they are done:  Sort through them, put the clean ones away and rewash (almost half) of the ones that didn't come clean.  Repeat  two to three times a day.  And that is with a newer dishwasher!  We have tried every brand of dishwasher detergent.  Pricey ones, cheap ones, chemical ones, Eco-friendly ones and the same with rinse agents.  They are all about the same to us.

Paleo Brownies! No Flour!

We've been researching wheat, whole wheat, and flours lately.  It's one of those "in moderation it's fine"  things. . . except it's in everything you eat!  Just like high fructose corn syrup!  

I am not interested in fad diets.  I do not believe I need to give up all gluten because we do not have an actual allergy to it.  However, I do believe in eating REAL food.  I believe in organic food.  I don't want to eat anything that has been processed or tampered with.  Labels can be so tricky.  So many people think because something is labeled ENRICHED that means it must be healthy since they are adding vitamins and minerals.  It is actually the opposite.  Enriched means that while it was being processed (heavily processed at that) nutrients were taken out and they are tampering with the product to attempt to add those nutrients back in.  But you only end up with a heavily processed product that is not good for you.  

Since this is meant to be a fun recipe post, if you are more interested in the topic here is a nice little site for you to check out. 

And now, the result of my late night flour research. . . flourless,  PALEO BROWNIES!! YUM!

Family Files #1

This is for our friends that enjoy seeing what we have been up to not only with our attempt at healthy living but our day to day life..  A lot of our Mommy friends enjoy getting some fresh ideas for their families and hopefully you find something helpful or at least entertaining.  This is post number one in hopefully a series of Family File posts.  While we haven't been up to too much this is what we have been up to:

We have been searching for a safe, natural toothpaste.  We had some luck with us at Trader Joe's.  For the girls we still cannot find anything we are happy with.  HOWEVER,  Honest (no, I never stop talking about this awesome company that has changed our lives!) has finally come out with adult and children's toothpaste and I will let you know how it is when my July order gets here! So excited!

Honest. . . Products We Love

I sound like a broken record, but The Honest Company founded by Jessica Alba, actress and author of The Honest Life, and Christopher Gavigan, author of Healthy Child, Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home,  has to be my most favorite company!   Here is a list of what Honest products are free of directly from the Honest web page:

Our HONESTLY FREE GUARANTEE means you won't find the following list of toxic nasties in our products or packaging:

phthalates, sodium lauryl/laureth sulfates, PVC, parabens, benzene, chlorine, synthetic fragrances, triclosan, formaldehyde-based preserving agents, nanoparticles, TEA, MEA, phosphates, polyethylene glycol (PEG), quaternium 15, DMDM hydantoin, 1-4 dioxane, bisphenol-A (BPA), alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs)/nonylphenol, BHA, benzalkonium chloride

(We hereby confirm this to the best of our knowledge based on information from our raw material suppliers & manufacturers.)

When The Princess was two months old she was diagnosed with Eczema.  Her skin would break out in red, rashy areas and they were super itchy.  When it got really bad we used Hydrocortizone and it would clear it up.  I felt bad putting Hydrocortizone on her skin all the time, but I also knew she was itchy and miserable.  I tried every natural baby soap and lotion out there.  Ones specifically for Eczema, baby ones, sensitive skin ones, the list goes on.  There were two things that helped, but nothing made it stop!
For the first few years we were getting by with Aveeno Baby soap and lotion and Aquaphor.

Upcycled Patio Garden

We searched Pinterest for a garden solution.  I did not inherit my mother's green thumb, we have a tiny patio, a large "dig-happy" golden retriever, and a budget of as close to nothing as we could get.  According to Pinterest, a raised garden would take care of the tiny patio problem and maybe a portion of my lack of green thumb problem.

Recipe Success! Almond Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

  These cookies were delicious!  The whole family loved them and there aren't many foods I can put organic flaxseed in that fools our girls! This first time around I used more unbleached all purpose flour in place of the whole-wheat flour and regular sugar in place of the raw sugar.  (Clean eating is a PROCESS!)  Next time I will follow the recipe completely because they are that delicious, I'm willing to try.

Chocolate Milk Solution

We could not figure out the best way to completely wean Hammie.  We were down to nursing only one time a day, but she did not like cow's milk.  We tried whole milk, 2%, and then we tried adding Nestle's Chocolate syrup (no high fructose corn syrup).  She didn't like anything.  So out of desperation I bought a gallon of chocolate milk. . . with high fructose corn syrup and all.  It worked!  She was completely weaned and she was happy.  We as parents were not happy.

We spent years eliminating high fructose corn syrup from our diets, (We are not of those that think it's fine in moderation. . . good luck with moderation when it's in everything you eat!)  and we were not okay with giving it to our 19 month old every morning.  We could buy organic I thought, but then we run into the problem of ultra-pasteurization.  If you want to read about ultra-pasteurizing This Website has a good article on what exactly it is.  Is ultra-pasteurizing really a problem?  We're not sure, but for US, we don't want to be eating or drinking anything that has gone through a process that can actually change its taste, texture, and proteins.  Our rule is that if it gives it a super long shelf life we probably don't want it in our bodies.

We asked around without much success.  Was there a chocolate milk on this Earth that we could give our daughter without worry?  What should you do when it doubt?  ASK YOUR MOTHER.  I texted my mom and she texted back, Oberweis.  OBERWEIS, DUH!  I'm not sure why it never crossed our minds, maybe because we have to leave our small town to even find it!

Pizza Night!

It's true.  We have a lot of pizza nights.  Lately it's been once or twice a week!  Here are a few reasons why we have been having a lot of pizza nights:

1)  It costs MAYBE $4.10 per pizza.  Depending on which frozen pizza you buy at the store this is either barely more than you spend or possibly LESS than you spend for a frozen pizza!  MINUS all of those nasty chemicals!