Category Archives: Tips

Crunchy Product Reviews

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Last week I talked about my summer project of replacing toxic cosmetic products in my home. I thought I’d give you an occasional update and review some of the products or ideas that we have been trying.

I know you are all dying to know how the baking soda hair wash went. I washed my hair using this method a week ago and kept track of my thoughts for you. My concerns were as follows:

1) Sticks
2) Ants
3) Brillo

To translate – I was concerned that my hair would be snarly and dry, that my scalp would itch and that my hair would look like #3. I have VERY strait hair, but it can also be pretty course.

I was surprised on all three counts. First of all, it was a pleasant sensation to scrub with the baking soda and water paste. When I rinsed with the vinegar (I just used regular old white vinegar) it was a bubbly party on my scalp. It felt so…gentle. I was expecting to feel more like I was scouring with Comet (it makes your mouth turn green…). When I got out of the shower the made-for-wet-hair brush literally slid through my hair. Once it dried, my hair looked like this:

I felt that the vinegar brought out lots of the reds in my hair.

Styling was simple and I used no products at all. My hair was very cooperative. And mostly it felt very, very clean. This was not a clean feeling I’ve had with my hair and scalp before. It was generally quite nice. My style (five minutes spent with a curling iron or strait iron, depending on my mood) held up great. My hair felt soft, but in a different way. It also felt much lighter. I was at two different functions the next day and two close friends of mine complimented my hair – I asked them to feel it and they were both shocked and all “NO WAY” when I told them I had crunchified it.

I thought I would have static or frizz issues, but that never happened either. I will say, however, that I live in Kansas and it’s super-windy here, so snarls can be a problem. I did find that my hair tangled easier and more often, so I was taking a brush to it more frequently.

This is certainly something I will be doing again. At this point I don’t think I will do it every time I wash my hair because I am trying out other products for the kids to use as well, but washing with baking soda and rinsing with vinegar is going to become a regular part of my routine. Did anybody else try this? What were your results? If you haven’t, do you think you might?

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Copy Cat Cookie; a successful FAIL

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My children really like a certain store-bought cookie that I won’t (usually) buy because it has ingredients I don’t like to have in my house. These would include the following things: More than five total ingredients, ingredients I cannot pronounce, ingredients I don’t keep in my own pantry for baking, vague ingredients like “natural flavors” or “spices” which are often a loophole way of labeling MSG.

The cookies are still better for you than most packaged crackers and chips, so they can be a good snack alternative depending on the direction your food choices take. We have used them before as snacks to share at a class when I forgot it was our turn. They are tasty and have some nutritional value, as well as a better ingredient list than most all other packaged cookies. Here is the link to the nutritional information, if you are interested.

I found a bulk bin of dried, organic blueberries at my grocery store last week, and decided to make a go of creating similar cookies at home. Here is a record of the first attempt.

I tweaked a cookie recipe I found (here is the original) and came up with this:

Cream 3 Tbsp butter and 1/2 cup packed brown sugar. Mix in one large egg and 1 tsp vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 and 1/2 whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup oat flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp cinnamon. Stir in about 1/4 to 1/3 cup dried blueberries (sorry – I didn’t even measure these – I just tossed some in so I’m guessing here).

Spoon flour mixture into wet mixture, beating slowly until just combined.

I used a triggered cookie scoop (like this one) to place melon-ball sized pieces of dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350F (I have a convection oven so I set mine to 325F) for 8-10 minutes. When they look cracked, but not liquid inside the cracks, they are done. Cool on a rack.

The results? Well, my food critics tell me that (a) this makes a pretty cookie, (b) these taste absolutely nothing like the cookie I was aiming for a resemblance with and (c) these are delicious and would be great in place of said store-bought cookie anyway.

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You know how I love a great deal…

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So I couldn’t pass up this offer. And it is so incredible, I felt the need to share.

I started reading Renee’s blog over at FIMBY after discovering some of her writing on Simple Homeschool. Her ebook is one of 35 being offered as a package deal during this special promotion. All the books are designed to help you simplify your life.

S. O. L. D.

Let me know if you also purchase the books, and if so, which ones you particularly enjoy or find a great help to your family life.

The sale only runs through Friday morning, sorry for the late notice!

Great Learning Tip

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We started back to school last week. I kept things simple and a slower pace for our first week back and that helped make a smooth and happy transition. Our assignments included things like writing thank you notes for Christmas presents in place of handwriting, and chores might be ‘take down the Christmas wreath’ instead of ‘sweep the proch.’

One of the best ideas I have discovered since we began homeschooling was allowing children to discover learning materials on their own. I read it in a homeschooling blog or magazine or book – forgive me for not remembering because I wish I could credit the wise person who wrote it! It went something like this: “Set things in noticeable, easy-to-access places and never mention a word about it.”

I have utilized coffee tables for this purpose. I always leave the library with more children’s books on my card than anyone else. Here is what happened last week with a great book called “United Tweets of America” by Hudson Talbott.

I also have books about life in colonial America and the Revolutionary War laid out right now. On the other coffee table I keep a rotating selection of magazines. The kids have been given magazine subscriptions each year since they were three by my wonderful great-aunt. I have kept them all, but only last year got organized in a method to utilize them. I filed them all in a file box by month of publication. Each month, I pull out a new stack of magazines that are seasonally accurate and replace the ones that have been read the previous month.

It’s a happy thing to walk through the room and notice, out of the corner of my eye, a child or two lost behind pages that are full of good things.

And I don’t ever say a single word about it.

A weekend breakfast

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I’ve been talking about my re-entry into the world of healthy food obsession. Breakfast is really important, but our mornings are also packed. So breakfast at my house on weekdays usually includes fresh fruit, eggs of some kind, and bread (I just have a smoothie myself). All things that can be made and cleaned up quickly and efficiently.

Sometimes, though, my kids love to have a heavy, “traditional” breakfast. This requires a lot more effort and usually involves nutritionally horrible things like sausage or bacon, and lots of ‘fake’ foods like “maple-flavored” syrup.

A long time ago I decided to rid my house of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It was easier and harder than I thought. Easy because there were healthy substitutes for everything, and hard because it was in EV.ER.Y.THING. I became a label reader because I decided to keep three harmful things out of my children’s diet (HFCS, color-number dyes, and anything hydrolized or hydrogenated).

But I digress. I often make my kids hashbrowns (with real, actual potatoes that I grate myself – including the peel) or healthy pancakes, and I can buy grade A maple syrup at Sam’s (or any grocery store really – I just have found the best deal at Sam’s). Did you know that maple syrup is actually quite good for you (in small amounts)? It is also a great sweetener for things like smoothies or baking.

This weekend I tried a new recipe. Here it is:

Good-for-you French Toast

1 cup milk of your choice (we used almond)
2 Tbsp oats (the original recipe called for a quarter cup of quick cooking oats, but they have no nutritional value so I used a smaller measure of rolled oats)
1 small banana (I used 1/2 because I’d cut into one the day before and wanted to use it up.)

Blend these together in your blender until smooth. Then mix in:

1 tsp cinnamon
1 TBSP flax seed meal

Pour over 6-8 slices of bread in a shallow dish. Allow to soak for a min or two.

I cooked these in a skillet sprayed with olive oil. They did turn out to be quite delicious, and all three of the children ate with relish. I will say, however, that the amount of oil required to keep it from sticking to the pan was generous and the meal was so heavy we could all only finish one piece at the most. If I make it again, I will be baking them instead of cooking them in a pan. I served it with berries, which was yummy.

How do you incorporate healthy breakfast at your house?

New Year, Old Routines

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Here is the mysterious housekeeping post I mentioned. It’s pretty much more of the same!

I have been using a mutated from of Flylady for several years now, and I’m not planning to switch up what’s been working for me. A few of her tenets that are essential to my sanity:

-Prepare as much as you can in the evening for what will be happening the next morning.

-It doesn’t have to be perfect; just better than it was.

-Make a plan ahead of time, review often.

-Declutter.

-Do it now.

Something new I have added to my housekeeping aresenal is help. I have been listing (on our never-used dry erase board) jobs for each child and one list of jobs for everyone. For example, today Shooter’s jobs were to feed the chickens, sweep out the chicken house and clean both toilets. Everyone was expected to pick up their rooms, make their beds and fold any of the clean laundry that was theirs.

I thought it was awesome that he transferred his jobs to the ‘notes’ of his new ipod touch.

It’s remarkable how well a six-year-old can sweep a kitchen floor, people. And man, they love it. I was a bit concerned when I sent the same six-year-old out to clean a window that she was high on windex fumes, but otherwise it’s gone well. Lots of my ‘daily jobs’ (which I consider to be essential weekly housecleaning tasks that I break up into one or two per day) are simply and well done by my children. They include collecting the trash in the house, hauling the trash and recycling bins to and from the road, sweeping, dusting, vacuuming. They may not be done as well as if I’d done them myself, but I’m seeing the trade-off in their pride and confidence as well as the time I’m NOT devoting to crap that makes me cranky. Good trade!

What is essential to keeping order at your house?

Copy Cat

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Here is a great recipe I got from Jamie Oliver via a magazine, I only subscribe to two magazines and the rest I get for free for Lord-only-knows what reason. Point here being that it was not one of the two magazines I actually DESIRE to receive, so I’m not naming the uninvited rag, though I feel guilty saying that because I found this recipe!

 

I am re-obsessing about getting veggies into everything I can, all the time.  After serving this sauce by itself on noodles (lukewarm reviews) I used it to spice up some grilled burgers (our own grass-fattened beef) – kids said best burgers ever.  Then I made a lasagna.  My Farmer said it was so fancy and delicious he thought I purchased it instead of making it myself (I know, let’s choose to take that as a compliment).   In fairness to him, that may just be the way I received the wording he chose to express that he enjoyed it – but he was surprised it came from our own kitchen!  The children each had THREE helpings of the lasagna.  SCORE.  If you want to duplicate it, throw whatever veggies you have in your food processor (heavy on the red bell pepper) and finely chop.  Saute veggies in 1 lb of meat.  Mix one cup crumbled feta with three eggs.  Layer the meat mixture and eggs with lasagna noodles and the sauce recipe I’m about to type.  Put a little bit of cheese on top.  Ignore this writer’s complete distraction from the original topic (the SAUCE recipe!), run-on sentences, and general vomit-typing (when thoughts are coming into your head so fast you vomit them onto the keyboard as fast as you can regardless of their ability to make sense together or be followed as rational thought at all).

 

 

Perfect Tomato Sauce

Peel 2 small onions, trim 1 small leek (thoroughly washed of sand) and 2 stalkscelery, halve and deseed 2red bell peppers, then roughly chop everything. Use the coarse side of a box grater to grate 2 zucchinis and 2 carrots.

Heat a large saucepan (big enough to hold all the ingredients) over medium heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, followed by all your chopped and grated veggies. Add a large pinch of dried oregano and 2 bay leaves, then cook slowly, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes with the lid on, or until the vegetables are soft but not starting to brown.

Meanwhile, peel 1 small butternut squash, then carefully cut it in half, scoop out and discard the seeds, and coarsely grate the flesh. Add it to the pan of vegetables. Add 4 (14.5 oz) cans plum tomatoes with juice, 2 cups water, a pinch of sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the squash is soft. Take the pan off the heat, spoon out the bay leaves, and let the sauce cool slightly before blitzing with a stick blender until smooth (or use a blender or food processor in batches, but make sure the lid is secure). Makes 13 cups.

 

 

Here is mine, simmering while I grated the squash.  I remember now that I did not have a bay leaf, FYI.  I let the sauce simmer while I finished the painting project I mentioned last week.  And yes, that’s the breakfast smoothie I’ve currently become addicted to.  Let me know if your family likes this sauce!

Sweet gift idea

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Farmer Boy’s Alphabet Phonics tutor has been such a blessing to our family.  I am so thankful for her.  We wanted to give her something – just because.

 

You know about the cookie recipe from last week?  We baked some of those up.  When it came time to package a few of them, I couldn’t decide what to do…I wanted it to look nice.  But without plastic wrap or throw-away stuff.

 

Then, inspiration struck.  My mother makes incredible plum jelly for us each year.  I am always saving the jars to give her for the next batch.  Except for this one:

 

Re-used gift ribbon & there you go.  Pretty AND practical.  Heart it.

Green Beans – with a twist!

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Here is a popular dish we started making at my house recently.  It is fun to eat, delicious as cold leftovers (when there are any) and very good for you!

 

It is also very fun to prepare with your kids.  Here is all that is required:

 

Wash and trim your green beans.

 

Spray a cooking sheet with extra virgin olive oil, spread the beans in a single layer, and spray the top of them.  I like to use a pump-sprayer so I can use my own olive oil and refill it as needed.

 

Add whatever seasonings you may like and pop them in a hot oven (mine was at 400 degrees on convection).  Roast for about ten minutes or until some of the tops are darkening.  We seasoned ours with sea salt and all-purpose seasoning.  I have used flavors with more pepper and that is also a favorite.  You could also use just the salt.

 

 

Serve immediately.  These will still have a delicious crunch and are a fun finger food for littles.  We made ours for lunch and had it with fruit salad, nuts and pasta tossed in olive oil.  A few of us tried the beans with the noodles and that was pretty darn good as well.

 

 

One of my sisters-in-law has me addicted to roasted vegetables (try cauliflower with the same method – you will never see it the same way).  What tips do you have for vegetables?