Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Clean Treats!!!

If I were to receive a grade on my current diet...I think I would be at about a "B". Above average but definitely room for improvement. I would get an "A" for effort though...right? No. Because I am not putting forth much effort at all. What is my biggest challenge you say? Sugar. I love dark chocolate. I love trail mix with yogurt raisins. I love dark chocolate almond milk and agave nectar in my coffee. In the grand scheme of healthy eating I am doing pretty good but I want treats, dammit. TREATS!

I already have a few healthy treat recipes on the blog but I want something else. Something new. Something easy. Here are two new recipes that are pretty darn delish. I am not like a die hard Dr. Oz fan but I did happen to catch a few minutes of his show and saw this recipe.

Dr Oz Cinnamon Cashew Nut Brittle
  • Coconut Oil
  • Cashews
  • Cinnamon
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  • Melt the coconut oil and coat the cashews with it. Then sprinkle the cashews with cinnamon and bake for 10 minutes.
Boob Cookies

Do not be alarmed. This recipe IS actually for lactation cookies (supposed to help increase your milk supply) but they are really good and they won't actually make you lactate or anything ha. Dustin made these for me and they were so good! He used coconut oil and added dates and dried apples. Nom nom nom.

Reduse, Reuse, Recycle!

One of the things I was most excited about when buying our own home was that we would actually get to recycle! Recycling in an apartment is really tedious. The complexes that we lived at didn't have a recycling program, and if they did...I didn't trust that they actually recycled the stuff we put in the bin. We would "try" to recycle on our own but we just ended up with bags or boxes full of other bags and boxes that sat around the apartment or in the back of our cars. Having our own recycling can is so much easier!

That being said...I am always on the look out for ways to reuse stuff that I have lying around the house. It's a fun little game to see what I can make out of something that I could have just thrown out! I have a few DIY projects that are actually really handy! I want to actually USE the stuff I re-purpose!

I have been dabbling a bit in the diaper selling biz. I have a handful of diapers that we just don't like. There is nothing wrong with them. They are actually great diapers, barely used, but not our favorites. So I have sold a few to some other cloth mamas. I decided to try and make eco friendly shipping packaging with stuff I had at home. Now don't start singing my praises. I based this almost purely on the facts that I was feeling lazy, had no desire to shower and get dressed, and I am pretty cheap when it comes to this stuff (hubby only wishes I was this concerned with saving money when it came to BUYING diapers). I turned to my trusty friend Google to help me figure something out. And as a true friend...Google once again didn't let me down. I will share with you a very fun and easy tutorial on how to make a shipping envelope out of cereal boxes! Genius I tell you. I also must confess that I actually had to remove cereal out of these boxes to use them ha. P.S. The Adventures in Fluff blog is SUPER cute! Spend some time on there if you get a chance!

This next DIY was shared with me by a friend from work. I have filed it away in my mind under the "Use in Case of Emergency" category. I pray I am never in a situation where I literally only have my baby (diaper-less) and the shirt off my back...but if I am ever in that situation...I will be ready. Click here for a tutorial!

This DIY tutorial is kinda of awesome. Actually...I am in love with this idea. I have been known to attempt to make cute things out of old t-shirts (I fail more than I succeed) but this actually looks doable. I have a bad habit of forgetting my nursing cover. In order to NOT make everyone in a restaurant uncomfortable it might be nice to have another cover that I can keep in my car. I think I might just try this tutorial out so I have a backup!







Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Green Stuff...DIY

I know that you are all aware that I have been making the switch to natural cleaning products. So far so good. The only thing I am having trouble giving up...carpet fresh. I love carpet fresh! I have been known to sprinkle it around the house before people come over so it smells like I just cleaned! I felt like carpet fresh couldn't be too hard to make yourself. It's baking soda and smelly stuff right? So I took to the internets and found how easy (seriously...ridiculously easy) it is to make your own!

This is where I found the "recipe". I had an old sugar container that has a little shaker top. Perfect! I only had tea tree oil on hand. So not exactly the preferred scent but I kinda love it so whatever...I used it. I mixed it all together and sprinkled it around the house. Pretty awesome folks. I vacuumed it up per usual and I could smell a pleasant faint scent of tea tree.

Next on the docket...Dr. Bronner's magic soap. Have you used this? It's been around forever! Oddly enough while surfing around on hulu I happened to come across a documentary about Dr. Bronner. Something about him escaping from a mental institution? Yeah...I dunno. You call him crazy...I call him a genius. This soap is fabulous! The bottle is kinda weird. It is covered in words and quotes and various other things that are both confusing and entertaining to read. I have used the pepermint soap for years but hadn't really branched out until this week. I bought the rose hemp soap. I am in love. A) who doesn't love the smell of roses? B) It makes your skin feel soft and clean and lovely. C) who needs a C. It smells good and it seems to work.

Aside from using the soap in the bath or shower there are 7 million other ways you can use this soap. I know some people who use it as laundry detergent. I have used it in a spray bottle to clean the bathroom. I have also used it to mop the floors. I even heard you can use it as a deodorant, toothpaste, and mouthwash (no...I'm not kidding).

And last but certainly not least...rubbing alcohol. Everyone has this stuff lying around the house. I have found a new and relatively green way to use it! Spot cleaning my microfiber couch! I put a little bit on a white cloth (they say to use white so that you don't have any color bleeding onto your couch) and rubbed it on the dirty spots on the couch (mostly spit-up). Yes it smelled like a distillery while I was cleaning the spots but it doesn't smell now! It really worked amazingly well!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Bugs!

I am not a girly girl per se. I like to camp and hike and play sports. I am not afraid to get my hands a little dirty doing yard work and the like. I am, however, deathly afraid of bugs. I don't mind cute lil rollie pollie bugs. Roaches, big spiders, bees. Nope. Not a fan. I grew up with sewer roaches. They were huge and they flew and they were truly my nightmare. Since moving into our new house I hadn't seen a single roach! HUZAAA!!! Win.

Last night we went on a little family run around the neighborhood. It started out great. It was a beautiful night, the baby and hubby were with me and we were talking and laughing and running along. Then I see them. Hundreds of them. Everywhere. Roaches. Everywhere. On the sidewalk, the street, walls. I was afraid I might throw myself into oncoming traffic as I dodged bugs and screamed and high-kneed pretty much the entire run. I yelled to Dustin and Em that I was sorry but I had to leave them behind. I sprinted. A full on sprint (complete with hurdles and lunges) all the way back home.

This whole debacle made me oh so happy that we had invested in an environmentally friendly bug service. We have pets and a baby so the thought of spraying a bunch of chemicals around the house just wasn't appealing. Then we had a eco-friendly company make a door to door visit and we decided to try it out. I have not seen a single bug in the house since the visit. We didn't even have to leave the house for them to spray.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Easy Peasy Recipes

I have a few healthy/super easy recipes to share. I have decided that my crock pot is one of my besties. I just love that you can throw in a bunch of stuff in the morning and it just turns into a delicious meal by dinnertime!

Slow Cooker Chicken Dijon

Ingredients

  • 16oz skinless, boneless chicken breasts (4, 4oz breasts)
  • 1 medium sized onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 lb red potatoes, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup fat free chicken broth
  • 3 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • Juice from two lemons
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest
  • 2 tbsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • Fresh chopped chives for garnish (optional)

Instructions

  1. Place chicken breasts in crock pot and season with salt, pepper, and 1 tbsp oregano.
  2. Layer potatoes and onion slices over chicken breasts.
  3. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together broth, Dijon, lemon juice, lemon zest, and remaining oregano.
  4. Pour over chicken, potatoes and onions, and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.
  5. Sprinkle fresh chopped chives over each serving.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 6 hour(s)

Read more: http://www.laaloosh.com/2012/10/02/dijon-chicken-slow-cooker-recipe/#ixzz2SGGKVlxP


The first recipe inspired me to make yet another recipe with chicken and potatoes. I had a looooot of chicken and a lot of potatoes that I needed to use.

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken and Sweet Taters

Ingredients

  • 16 oz chicken breast
  • 4-5 medium sweet potatoes (sliced in 1/2in pieces)
  • Bottle of bbq sauce (I chose a natural sauce that wasn't made with any HFCs or artificial flavors)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Throw all the ingredients together in the crockpot and cook on low for 5 hours.
That's it. Seriously. And it was pretty darn good! I think that this would be REALLY good with some cornbread. Nom Nom Nom.