Walk of cloth diaper shame...

The following post makes me feel a little like a cloth diaper traitor! You guys know how I feel about cloth. I love it. I love the fluffy stuff but I have a confession to make. I hate cloth diapering at night. Yes hate is a strong word but it is a fitting word because I really do hate it.

Lets start off by going over my history with cloth at night. We started out using AIO (all in one) diapers at night. They worked fine when she was really little because we would change her a few times during the night. When she started sleeping longer stretches of time we realized we needed to come up with a new system to keep the leaks at bay.

Enter wool. Man I love wool. I am pretty sure that wool or "sweater pants" as the hubs calls them are pretty much the cutest things ever. Wool is great. You throw on a fitted diaper and cover with wool and you are leak free for HOURS. Wool is warm and soft and breathable. Love it. It was nice to be leak free! The sheets were dry every morning but I still wasn't happy.

One of the things I dislike about using cloth at night was how bulky the night diapers are. I have to use multiple inserts to keep her dry all night so she literally looked like J-LO at bedtime. It is so bad that sometimes she has trouble crawling because the diaper is just too huge. I try trimmer options but that just leads to leaks.

How would you feel if you had to sleep in a soaking wet cold diaper all night? Gross and uncomfortable right? I hate changing her diaper in the morning and feeling how heavy it is. Her little bum is be red and cold. Morning diapers are the worst part about cloth diapering. The smell they emit is God awful. I would rinse them out in the morning and they would STILL stink. Quite frustrating.

So...what am I getting at you say? I am saying that I have been using disposable diapers at night (insert gasp here). I struggled with this for a bit. I wanted to stick to my guns. I committed to cloth diapers and I didn't want to flake out. I gush about my love for cloth and I am a total advocate for it so how could I use anything but? I still feel a little guilty even talking about it but whatever. I made this choice for my kiddo. No more red bum in the morning. No more horrendous smelling night diapers. She's not cold and soaked underneath her wool covers. Her sheets stay dry. She can move around easier without the added padding of the bulky diaper.

I still love my cloth diapers. I think that they are great for the most part and I feel really good for what I am doing for the environment and for our wallets. BUT I also really like using disposable diapers at night. I guess I will need to learn to accept that different things work for different people.

Recipe Extravaganza!

I know it has been weeks since I last posted. Ooops! Don't fret dear friends, I have ooodles of recipes to share with you. Some of these recipes are DELISH. Some are terrible. I'll let you guess which ones are which. Just kidding...I will tell you.

I will share two of my fave recipes in this post Nom nom nom nom! My favorite was black bean and sweet potato chili. God I love the crockpot. I found this recipe on heandsheeatclean.com and I made a few additions/changes in my recipe. Make this.


Black Bean and Sweet potato Chili (original recipe from heandsheeatclean.com)

Ingredients:

1 small yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

1 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes 

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with chilies

1 15 oz can black beans

1 15 oz can low sodium kidney beans

2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 lb turkey breast, ground

3/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp oregano

1/8 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp coarse grind pepper

2 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1.5 cup chicken or veggie broth

Directions:

1. Put vegetables and beans in the bottom of the crock pot.

2. Layer ground turkey breast, spices, seasoning and broth.

3. Place lid on crock pot and cook on low for eight hours or high on four.

4. Carefully remove lid and stir chili. Adjust seasonings to taste.

5. Replace lid, cook for an additional 20-30 minutes on low. Serve.

This next recipe was also very good. I have a go to pizza crust that I ALWAYS make. I was feeling daring so I decided to branch out this time and try something new. This was hands down the best crust ever. It was so light and fluffy. This might just be my new go to pizza crust. 

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup unbleached flour
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup warm water

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp agave nectar

Directions

Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Stir until dough is formed. Knead dough with hands for five minutes. Form dough into a ball, place back in bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise for 45 minutes- 1 hour. 

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Remove dough from bowl. Knead for 1 more minute and roll out dough onto greased pizza pan. Cover with desired toppings and bake for 12-15 minutes. 

Stay tuned for the gross recipes. Just in case you feel like making something that no one will want to eat.