My First Post on Laundry

I have been making laundry detergent for two years, but have been getting really tired of making it.  It is fairly easy to do but is messier than detergent bottles.  Recently I received some free samples of dissolvable laundry strips that are probably among the best ways to clean laundry I have ever used.  It never bothers our sensitive skin, the clothes smell great and feel great, and it is easy and simple to use.  Dizolve Laundry Strips  I am loving these.  In addition, thanks to Taneka and her donation of wool yarn I have been using homemade wool dryer balls.  They are easy to make, and helps a lot with static, and helps the clothes dry faster.  Plus they are way cheaper to make than to buy, even if you have to pay for the yarn.  You need pure wool yarn, either sheeps wool, alpaca wool, or mohair.  Any all natural animal fiber that will felt.  You simply roll the yarn into small balls, larger than a golf ball, smaller than a baseball, tie off the ends and felt.  Rich did this for me by wetting, rubbing, and dipping in cold soapy water.  There are plenty of ideas on how to do this on pinterest and youtube.  I highly recommend this simple project.

Warming Winter Soup: A variation on Italian Wedding Soup

With this winter being so so cold we have been eating a ton of soup.  I keep roasting chickens so I have enough homemade stock/bone broth to keep making soup.  This is a favorite for a full meal soup.  My take on Italian Wedding soup.  I love that this is full of veggies, protein, and nourishing ingredients that keep you warm and satisfied.

First start by sauteeing 1 chopped onion, 3peeled chopped carrots, and a few stalks of chopped celery in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.  I find that giving the veggies a head start means the soup cooks much faster and tastes better.  For the celery I usually just start chopping at the top and get all the leafy parts for soup, and I often add more veggies than a recipe calls for, I love hearty chunky veggie filled soup.

Once the veggies are starting to soften I add some garlic.  I keep a paste of garlic that I make in my fridge.  I puree fresh garlic with a little olive oil to a paste and keep it in a jar.  It tastes fresh without the work of dealing with fresh garlic everytime I want it.  I don't cook the garlic too much, just till I can smell it, then add the stock/bone broth.

Then I add my favorite Italian style seasoning from Penzey's spices.  It is called Tuscan Sunset, and it has less oregano than traditional Italian seasoning, which I love, plus it adds a bit of fennel.  Also add salt.

 How exciting, quinoa in a jar and colander :)

Since I can't have regular pasta, I add quinoa to my soup.  I love the texture of quinoa in soup, but be sure to rinse it well since it is covered in saponin, a soapy substance to protect it from birds.  Soapy soup is not tasty!

 Next are the meatballs.  I keep homemade gluten free meatballs in the freezer.  I made a batch into tiny meatballs perfect for soup.  These are full of garlic and fresh parsley.  I normally use the recipe from my best friend Megan at thejoyfulhomemaker.com.  Hers are AWESOME!!!  Just make your favorite meatball, into a tiny size, and they work great in this soup.

Now that the quinoa and meatballs are in, stir a few times and let cook till quinoa is done and meatballs are hot through, usually about 15 to 20 minutes on a slow simmer.  Don't boil too hard or your meatballs might break apart.  

As soon as the quinoa and meatballs are done stir in a ton of fresh baby greens and chopped fresh parsley.  I used a baby spinach/kale/chard mix that was awesome.  This is a great use for those greens that are getting a little bit old, and not good for salad anymore.  Stir and cook just a couple of minutes until all the greens are wilted into the soup.  Then serve to some hungry kiddos :)

 They enjoyed two huge bowls of this soup!  It is a favorite in our house.  Hope you try it :)

More Homemade Fun Stuff

Today I woke up tired.  I didn't want to clean or do anything housey.  But I felt the urge to make stuff.  So that is what I did, among the dirty floors, unfolded laundry, and piles of kids' stuff.  I made sore muscle bath soak, bedtime bath, winter skin scrub, and homemade vapor rub.  In addition I made something to hang in
the kids' school room.

Moisturizing Sore Muscle Bathtime Soak

1 cup epsom salts
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup citric acid
1/2 cup shredded cocoa butter, I put the wafers into a parmesan cheese shredder like from Olive Garden
Birch essential oil till it smells like birch beer

Mix and store in a jar.  Epsom salts and birch are awesome for muscle fatigue and soreness.  The cocoa butter moisturizes soothes and helps the other ingredients work better.

Bedtime Bath

Handful each of dried chamomile and dried lavender
1/2 cup baking soda
1 cup oats
                Puree in blender.  Mix with:
1/2  cup citric acid
2 cups epsom salts, or chamomile or lavender epsom salts
Lavender and/or chamomile essential oil
1 T vanilla extract
Enough olive oil to make it crumbly
                Mix and store in jar.  The herbs and vanilla are relaxing.  The epsom salts are magnesium which aids in relaxation and sleep, the oil is moisturizing which holds the fragrance on your skin, and the oats soothe and calm your skin.  The baking soda and citric acid fizz which just makes it fun.

Winter Scrub

Epsom salt, iodized salt, sugar, about a third cup of each.  Clove essential oil, cinnamon essential oil, and vanilla orange extract.  Enough olive oil to make a scrubby paste around a third to a half a cup.   Mix and store in jar.

Vapor Rub

1/3 cup coconut oil
A few wafers of cocoa butter
1/3 cup olive oil
2 T beeswax
Camphor, wintergreen, and eucalyptus essential oils, 15-20 drops each

Melt, mix, store in jar.  Rub on chest and bottoms of feet whenever you would reach for the traditional blue jar.  If it is too solid remelt with more olive oil, if too soft remelt with a little more wax.

This is what I made for the school room.  This is something CJ needs to be reminded of all the time.  I took this white shelf I found in the basement, Wrote the words with pencil, colored them in with white oil pastel, and painted over them with craft paints.  I let it dry and rubbed off the paint over the oil pastels with my fingers.  Fun, quick, easy.  Hopefully a bit inspirational for the kids, and it made me feel creative and like I accomplished something today.

Yummy Lunch for the Winter Blahs

What you see above is pumpkin soup, winter salad, and gluten free pumpkin oat muffins.  Pumpkin soup is just equal parts pumpkin puree and broth heated together with turmeric, paprika, black pepper and salt.  I used chicken bone broth since that is what I had in the fridge but it is just as amazing with veggie broth.  The salad is romaine, chopped apple, dried cranberries, pomegranate seeds, and homemade cider dressing.  The pumpkin muffins are based on a King Arthur Flour recipe, I lessened the sugar and added a 1/2 cup of oats to the mix, subbing coconut oil for the butter, as I am trying like heck to avoid dairy for a little while.  Link to the King Arthur recipe is here, it is CJ and Eliza's favorite pumpkin muffin, and if perusing their site, also check out the gluten free Morning Glory muffins, they are AMAZING!!!
  King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins

The salad dressing is as follows:
1 T dijon mustard
2 T boiled cider, a product from King Arthur, essentially a boiled down apple cider syrup
1/4 cup good apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup nice olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
     Mix well by shaking in a jelly jar, store in fridge.

After eating CJ and Eliza both asked for more of the salad, and we had eaten a huge bowl of it.  I would say it was a hit!

More Homemade Personal Products

My friend Megan of thejoyfulhomemaker.com joined me today to make some deodorant and lip balm.  You can read all about it and see the pictures on her site.  Hope you visit her, she is awesome, and so are the recipes :)

http://thejoyfulhomemaker.com/

Cookie Dough Truffles, aka Digestion Cookies

With all my digestive troubles I needed something sweet that would help my tummy not hurt it, hence these yummy treats.  Easy no bake bites of deliciousness that are as healthy as they can be.  Full of fiber and nutrients and easy to adapt to different tastes and dietary restrictions, I really hope you try making these.

Here is what you need:
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup flaxmeal
1/4 cup oats, I like quick since they are smaller and still whole grain
1/4 cup honey, since these are raw it is a great time to use raw local honey, mine comes from my backyard :)
1/2 cup nut or seed butter, today I used peanut butter, but this works great with sunbutter, almond butter, cashew butter, coconut butter, and pumpkin seed butter
1 T chia seeds
1 T poppy seeds
1/2 tsp salt

In addition today I added some roasted cocoa nibs.  I wanted a little chocolate peanut butter combo.  But you can add things like chopped fruit, nuts, seeds, spices, candied ginger, or any other item that makes is taste better to you.  I like the snickerdoodle version with a ton of cinnamon and a little ginger.

Simple to make, just measure into a small bowl.

Then mix until all combined.

If it is too soft to scoop and roll add more coconut flour.  If it is too firm add a little water or more honey or nut/seed butter.  I like to use a small cookie scoop, then just roll in my hands till it looks like a smooth truffle.  Stick in the fridge to chill and firm up.

In retrospect I should have added a little more coconut flour as these didn't hold their shape quite as well as usual, but they taste so good!  A fun treat full of healthy ingredients that you can feel good about indulging in.  The ingredients all help digestion and these treats freeze well too.  Hope you try them!

Celebration of the return of Downton Abbey

My favorite show of all time returned this past Sunday, Downton Abbey.  In celebration my husband and kids and I made a special Downton themed dinner.

Duchess potatoes, glazed peas and carrots, cucumber salad, and broccoli mornay stuffed chicken.  Oh this was SOOO good!  And fairly simple to make.

 Duchess potatoes are just fancy mashed potatoes meets twice baked potatoes.  Make your favorite mashed potatoes, fairly stiff not too creamy, and pipe onto a cookie sheet, spray with oil and bake till the outside is a bit crisp and browned.  Eliza adored making and eating these.  My favorite way to make mashed potatoes for something like this is to use a potato ricer.  Cut the unpeeled potatoes in half and boil them in salted water, then put them in a ricer and tiny bits of cooked potato shards come out.  Then simply fold in some butter or oil, milk or almond milk or broth, and seasonings and you have perfectly smooth potatoes.  I used butter, milk, salt, and Penzey's Forward.  It is like the best seasoned salt without salt, and it has paprika, turmeric, black pepper, and other seasonings that just work great with potatoes.

Set the oven for 350 when they are near ready to go in.  We were baking the chicken too, so that went in first.  Great thing about these potatoes is that you can make them well ahead and just brown them when it is time to eat.  Easy way to fancy food.

Next was the chicken.  Before I tell you how it was made, does anyone else see a TIE fighter here?  This is how Rich put the chicken in the dish, and we both said TIE fighter at the same time :)  We made this chicken dish because we had leftover broccoli cheese dip, made from cream cheese, cooked broccoli, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and Penzey's Italian dressing mix.  It is served warm and is heavenly, and is a moldable consistency when cold, perfect for making a filling.  Also has the same ingredients as a mornay.  So we pounded chicken tenders, wrapped the thin chicken around a cylinder of dip, coated in cornmeal, flaxmeal, salt, herbs, and grapeseed oil combo.  The unused dip was warmed with a little white wine and milk to make a delicious sauce for the top.




Glazed peas and carrots are just carrots sauteed slowly in butter till just starting to brown and thoroughly cooked, and stir in salt pepper honey and frozen peas and cook through till glazed and tender.  Easy and yummy, especially with our own herbaceous honey.

CJ was a big help stirring up the cucumber salad.  Cucumber chunks, thin strips of yellow bell pepper, salt, seasoned pepper, lots of fresh parsley and a bit of good mayonnaise.  It was really good, and the whole bowl got eaten up fairly quickly.

There you have it, Downton themed dinner, we all had fun making together.  Next to play the return of Game of Thrones dinner!

New Year's Resolutions:

It is that time again, resolution time.  After a year filled with health issues and money issues and all kinds of crazy awful things, I am going for some simple, life improving resolutions this year.

1)  Blog here and in my homeschooling blog weekly
2)  Pay closer attention to my own health
3)  Be more intentional about lesson planning, and lesson implementation
4)  Spend time outside with the kids every day it is safe to do so,  unfortunately today does not qualify as the wind chill is below zero
5)  Spend more active time with the kids
6)  Practice yoga weekly
and lastly
7)  Continue to organize the house, and simplify, make it easy to keep clean and organized

The best tool I have found over the past years to keep myself organized is a daily binder.  I am a paper and pencil girl, and an electronic organization system simply does not work for me, I have tried.  If that works for you, awesome, more power to you.  Me, not so much.  So here are some of the most boring pictures ever, of my daily binder with helps me so much.

This binder allows you to put papers in for a cover and inner cover, so on the cover I made a Word document with all the birthdays and anniversaries and special days I need to remember.  I still forget to send cards but I am working on it!  On the inner cover I have our daily routine as a reminder of things I need to complete and a general idea of how I want our typical days to go.  Now we don't follow this on a regular basis, but the guidelines are there.

My tabs are as follows: Daily, Kitchen, Chores, Fitness, Homemade toiletries, and articles/lifestyle/etc.

In the daily page protector/cover of section I have our monthly budget to remind myself of bills and savings and monetary limits.  I also place any coupons or groupons or important notes and business cards here.  The daily section is what I use most often.  First is my weekly menu.  I made a spreadsheet that I print and fill in with pencil for the week.  Having a weekly menu helps me plan ahead for things like soaking beans, making sure I have bread made, meat thawed, and to always know ahead what I am making.  I use an excel file, which I attempted to publish at google docs here:  Menu I hope this link works, as I have never tried to publish a google doc.  Please let me know if it works or doesn't.  This is what it should look like :)

Also in this section is my daily planner.  I have a word file a week at a time, one page per day.  Every Monday has the same template, every Tuesday the same, etc.




I tried to put this in google docs too, here is hoping it works.
 daily planner


Also in my daily section I have some important medical reminders and similar items.

The next section is kitchen.  I place the extra menu templates in the page protector at the start of the section.  Then I have a grocery shopping template, lists of farmers markets, ideas for cooking with kids, simple healthy recipes I use often, and information on sprouting seeds.

The next section is chores and here I have printouts of what needs to be done in the house.  I have a list of ideas from 4 weeks to a more organized home, check Money Saving Mom for that.  moneysavingmom.com is a great website.  Then from http://www.home-storage-solutions.101.com I printed monthly calendars of projects to declutter your home in 15 minutes a day.  I really love this series because it is simple, it is not an instant fix, and it has super clear directions.   Also in this section are my homemade cleaner recipes and articles on decluttering and cleaning.

Fitness section has articles, exercise routines given to me by my chiropractor, and various forms of encouragement to move.

Homemade toiletries is full of tutorials and recipes for those things.

At the end I have articles, stories, pictures, all about things that interest and inspire me.  Gardening, crafting, simplifying life, making more natural choices.  It is a place for me to keep things I want to remember or reference.

I keep a pencil and highlighter in my binder, and most days you will find it open on the chair next to me at the kitchen table.  It has been such a help to me, because I always feel so accomplished crossing those tasks off the list.  It reminds me of the important things I need to do to keep my house presentable and running.  It also reminds me to keep joy and creativity in my days.  Plus it just makes it so I don't have to remember everything.  It helps me write down goals and achieve them without making it overwhelming, a big help to this momma.  Happy New Year everyone, hope it is filled with the important things in life!