More Cleaning Love

In continuation of my fall cleaning embarkation, I thought I would show you all my brand new vacuum.  I spent quite a bit, and got a Kirby.  A friend is selling them and we figured why not.  It has a ton of cool attachments, and includes a carpet cleaner too.  Tomorrow we shampoo the carpets and vacuum the ceiling fans and mattresses.

It is easy to use, and is built really well.  Rich sold them at one time too, so he knows how to use it far better than I do.  I love it.

Part of fall cleaning is this deep carpet cleaning, mattresses, washing down the walls with the Mrs. Meyers cleaner from my previous post, and getting rid of stuff we no longer use.  I also spray the whole house down with homemade air freshener.  I use an empty spray bottle, half to a full teaspoon baking soda and thirty drops of essential oil.  If you are all getting sick use eucalyptus, tea tree, thieves oil blend, or Clean the Air. These oils all help clean the air in the house, purify and sanitize the surfaces it touches, and the baking soda helps remove bad odors.  Clean the air also helps a lot with seasonal allergies.

I make homemade thieves oil, as I refuse to pay the price I have seen.  Super simple, and way cheaper to buy the individual oils and make the mix yourself.  I use a pipette to put equal amounts of the following oils into a small jar:
     lemon
     eucalyptus
     clove
     cinnamon bark
     rosemary
     tea tree is optional
After these are all mixed, put an equal amount of almond or grapeseed oil as a carrier oil.  Otherwise the oil blend is too strong to use on its own.  If you have never heard of thieves oil, research it, it is such an interesting story.

My list of must have cleaners is very small.  The previously mentioned Mrs. Meyers, baking soda, washing soda, vinegar, castile soap, borax, and essential oils.  I use vinegar for windows.  I use it for mirrors.  I also occasionally wipe down the floor and stove with it as a degreaser.  I keep the following in my binder for quick reference on the homemade cleaners I most often use.

Homemade Cleaner Recipes

   Bathroom Cleaner Spray

                In bottle combine ¼ cup lemon juice, ¼ cup white vinegar and at least 1 c. warm water

   All Purpose Cleaner

                ½ tsp washing soda

                2 tsp borax

                1 tsp liquid castile soap

                2 c. water

                20-30 drops pine essential oil (15 each lemon and eucalyptus for bathroom cleaner)

   Disinfectant Spray

                3 T. liquid castile soap

                2 c. water

                20-30 drops tea tree oil (15 each lemon and eucalyptus for bathroom) or thieves oil

   Air Freshener

                In spray bottle put 1 tsp baking soda, essential oils of choice, fill with water

   Tub Cleaner

                ¼- ½ c. baking soda mixed with enough lemon juice or vinegar to make paste

These all work well and are cheap to make.  They are a great green alternative to other chemical filled cleaners.  Plus they help me with my fall cleaning, since I don't worry about using a lot of them as I can just make more in a few minutes.  I always have the ingredients to make these cleaners and vary the essential oils for each particular job.  In the spring I use lemon, orange, grapefruit, and lime oils.  In the winter I use pine and cinnamon and vanilla.  In the fall I love using spices, and thieves oil.  Summer is lavender and lemongrass.  I do the same thing with the air freshener.  It changes with my mood and the season.  One favorite is a little vanilla, lime and rosemary.  I love when my house smells clean and wonderful with the essential oils.  It makes me smile :)  Somehow having the house clean and fresh and fall cleaned makes the shorter days and cooler nights much easier.

Cleaning Love

Never thought I would want to wax poetic about a mop, but you know I really love my mop.  First of all I use it at least two or three times a week, as my little girl can make a BIG mess in my kitchen.  For my birthday last year Rich got me the best mop in the world and my favorite floor cleaner.  I know, doesn't sound romantic right?  Well he knows me, and that made me squee with joy, especially as he also gave me a copy of the Shakespearean version of Star Wars, which if you haven't seen, you must find and read it.  Hilarious!  Anyway, back to the mop.

 It is called the Rubbermaid Reveal.  It has a removable washable mop cloth, and you can get a dusting sweeping type cloth too.  You fill the removable reservoir yourself with whatever cleaner you like, and you remove it for storage.  There is a little scrub strip on top for those bits that the mop sometimes just won't get, playdough for instance.  It sprays really well, and it moves really easily, it can get under tables and chairs, and I love it!  It is really lightweight, but strong.  It helps me keep things clean because it is easy to use.

These are my favorite cleaners.  Mrs. Meyers all purpose cleaner concentrate.  My two faves are the lavender scent, which smells exactly like my garden lavender, and radish which sounds odd but smells crisp and clean and lovely.  When the kitchen is clean and that radish smell is around it makes me very happy.  I can't help it, I am a cleaning geek :)  They have lots of other amazing fragrances too.  I love this cleaner because it is really powerful without being harsh to people or pets, and you need to use very little.  CJ and Eliza have their own spray bottle in the bathroom of the lavender to clean the sink or toilet seat for when they make a mess, and I don't worry about them getting this cleaner on them.  One of the best birthday presents I ever got :)

Homemade Larabars

So I love having good health filled portable snacks for hiking and trips.  Hence my love of larabars.  However they are cost prohibitive, so I was thrilled to find out that I can make them at home and make any flavor we like or invent.  They are crazy easy, and can be adapted however you need.

Basic recipe is 1 cup pitted dates, 1 cup dried fruit, 1-2 cups seeds nuts or other add ins.

Chop the fruit in a food processor till sticky and paste like.  Put in a bowl.  Chop nuts seeds or other stuff and mix into sticky date paste.  Form into balls, circles, bars, or other shape, and chill till solid.  Store cool and dry, does not need refrigeration.

You may need to knead the ingredients together to get it all to stick and  hold, but the work is pretty minimal.  I will say, this is not a job for the vitamix.  A food processor works much better.  I love that this is just as good nut free as with nuts too.

We make it with dried blueberries and either cashews or pumpkin seeds and a bit of lemon extract, tastes like a blueberry muffin.  Using almonds dried cherries and almond extract you get cherry pie.  I looked at the list of flavors on the larabar website and the ingredients tell you how to make each flavor!  The kids invented a good one too, pineapple and strawberry.

The add ins they picked were coconut, chia seeds, and cashews and walnuts.  I want to make carrot cake:  dates, dried carrots, dried pineapple, raisins, coconut, cinnamon, walnuts, sunflower seeds.  The kids want banana bread: dried bananas, dates, sunflower seeds or almonds.  Even Rich LOVES these.  It is great to finally find a healthy snack he likes.  We pack them in some plastic wrap or a baggie and take them hiking or on field trips.  Filling, tasty, and full of nutrition, what could be better?

Summer Squash Sauce

I have been looking for ways to use the glut of yellow squash in a way that Eliza will eat.  She hates the texture of squash but loves the flavor.  So while I was reading a cookbook called Deceptively Delicious I saw a recipe where author made buttered noodles using a little bit of summer squash puree.  So I thought I would try it.  What I came up with was a fantastically rich smooth sauce that can be added to pasta, rice, quinoa or polenta and that Eliza LOVES!  Plus it is chock full of veggies so I don't feel guily eating something that tastes so cheesy and alfredo like.  It is pretty simple to prepare, and freezes well.  So twice I have made a big batch to use in the winter when I am craving that fresh from the garden flavor.

I had several fairly large summer squash.  I cut the ends off and sliced them. leaving the peels.  They need to be steamed, and I did that in the microwave with some salt and pepper.

 Once they were almost done I put half a stick of butter, some salt and pepper, and a log of garlic herb goat cheese in a saucepan and set it aside.  As soon as the squash was soft I threw it in my vitamix with its cooking water and pureed it till smooth

 Then I poured it into the pan with the cheese and butter and stirred it over low heat.

In a few minutes I had a rich velvety sauce that is amazing and versatile.  Eliza loves this on pasta, I love it in polenta, Rich loves it on rice, and CJ loves it with just a spoon.  And now I don't have to worry about figuring out what to do with all that lovely summer squash that seems to be everywhere.  I love that I have some in the freezer to thaw for a quick lunch or dinner, and that it takes only a few minutes to put together.  And I love finally being able to feed Eliza squash without it being a fight.