Salad Saturday!
May 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Each Saturday I’ll post a free salad recipe from my new salad cookbook. It ha
s over 365 recipes, so you can either buy it now or just hang around here for the next 6 years. LOL!
BLACK & WHITE BEAN SALAD
2 cups Red onions — finely chopped
2 tablespoons Olive or Vegetable Oil
1/3 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 cup Chopped Red Pepper
2 tablespoons Minced Parsley
2 tsp. Garlic — Minced
2 tablespoons Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
1 cup 15 oz. Great Northern Beans — Rinsed and Drained
1 cup 15 oz, Black Beans — Rinsed and Drained
Sauté onions in oil until crisp-tender in a medium skillet; Remove from heat and cool until warm. Stir in vinegar, red pepper, parsley, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper.
In a serving bowl put the beans, (both types) and pour the onion mixture over them. Mix well and serve.
Makes 8 servings
My Dryer Smells Like Cod Liver Oil
May 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Allow me to explain.
I give my kids cod liver oil. More specifically, Nordic Naturals lemon flavored cod liver oil. My two year old daughter loves the stuff. She calls it “My Menace”. That’s Sadie speak for “My Medicine”.
Often, I find that she has removed the bottle of cod liver oil from the fridge and taken a swig. Other times she’s poured herself a serving into a cup.
Apparently, the other day she poured a whole bunch of it into a cup, plopped a straw into the glass and gave it to her sister. Only, she had spilled a little bit onto the counter or floor or something, and wiped it up with a towel, which made its way to the laundry room hamper. Which of course ended up in a load of laundry.
The thing is, I don’t usually use the dryer. But for a week after my foot surgery, I was taking it a bit easy on myself and using the dryer. I was punished for this you see.
You can’t smell the cod liver oil on the fabric after it’s been washed - only after the heat of the dryer has brought out the was odor. So I blissfully tossed the clean, cod liver oil towel into the dryer, blissfully unawares that it would make the entire load, as well as the dryer, reek.
Here’s a little tip, from me to you. If you spill your cod liver oil, wipe it up with paper towels. 
I cleaned the inside of the dryer with vinegar, which helped tremendously. Just so you know.
Salad Saturday!
May 3, 2008 | 2 Comments
Each Saturday I’ll post a free salad recipe from my new salad cookbook. It has over 365 recipes, so you can either buy it now or just hang around here for the next 6 years. LOL!
Berried Avocado Grapefruit Salad
Bibb lettuce
Watercress
2 avocados — seed, peel, slice
2 cups grapefruit sections
1 cup fresh raspberries
Prepared sweet vinegar and oil dressing
Line serving platter or individual salad plates with lettuce and watercress. Arrange avocado, grapefruit and raspberries over and sprinkle with dressing.
Salad Saturday!
April 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Each Saturday I’ll post a free salad recipe from my new salad cookbook. It has over 365 recipes, so you can either buy it now or just hang around here for the next 6 years. LOL!
Bean and Tuna Salad
3 cups Water
2 cans Cannellini beans
1/3 cup Olive oil
3 teaspoons Red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Salt
Fresh pepper to taste
1 medium Red onion
12 ounces Tuna — drained
Directions: Mix together oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour over beans and onion in a shallow bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Transfer bean mixture to serving platter with slotted spoon. Break tuna into chunks and arrange on bean mixture.
Salad Saturday!
April 12, 2008 | 1 Comment
Each Saturday I’ll post a free salad recipe from my new salad cookbook. It has over 365 recipes, so you can either buy it now or just hang around here for the next 6 years. LOL!
BAJA CHICKEN PASTA SALAD
3/4 pound Chicken Breast
6 ounces Dried Mixed Fruit
1 cup Ring Macaroni or Orzo — Raw
1 cup Jicama — Cubed
2 Green Onions/Tops — Sliced
1/2 cup Mayonnaise Or Salad Dressing
2 tablespoons Sour Cream Or Plain Yogurt
1 teaspoon Red Chiles — Ground
1/4 teaspoon Salt
* The chicken breast should be boneless, skinless and weigh about 3/4 pounds
** You should use 1 6-oz package of diced mixed fruit.
Heat enough salted water to cover the chicken breast (1/4 tsp salt to 1 cup of water) to boiling in a 4 quart Dutch oven. Add the chicken breast. Cover and heat to boiling, reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is done, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon.
Heat the water to boiling and add the fruit and ring macaroni or orzo gradually so that the water continues to boil. Boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally, just until the ring macaroni is tender, about 6 to 8 minutes or 10 minutes for the orzo, then drain. Rinse with cold water and drain again. Cut the chicken into 1/2-inch pieces and mix with the fruit, macaroni, jicama and onions. Mix the remaining ingredients and toss with the chicken mixture. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.
Frugal Friday: Natural Product Discount Alerts
April 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Amazon is offering some nice discounts on natural and organic products in April, including:
Save $2 on Neti Pots (and if you don’t know what in the heck a Neti Pot is, find out cause they come in real handy during allergy season. Read about this Neti Pot system.)
$10 off Natural and Organic personal care products
Save $20 on Eco Friendly Cleaning products
Save $10 on Rechargeable batteries (this is nice because rechargeables require a bigger up front investment, but boy I love them! You know how kids go through batteries!)
Save $20 on NatureMade supplements
AND Cute Baby Shoes has a special 50% off coupon code! It is: secretsale
Just go here to shop (before April 12!) and get half off your order. Cute Baby Shoes offer soft soled leather shoes for babies and toddlers - and they are true to their name. 
ONE MORE:
GAIAM is offering $10 - $20 off your order. This one expires April 17th.
You’re welcome.
Green Your Spring Cleaning
April 10, 2008 | 1 Comment
I already shared on the message forum that I’ve opted out of spring cleaning this year. I’d much rather read a book.
Actually, my spring cleaning efforts have been a little unorthodox. Mostly I’ve relied on that nesting instinct during late pregnancy. Y’know - those final weeks of pregnancy when you suddenly spend hours scrubbing the baseboards with a toothbrush at 2 A.M.
Which means that spring cleaning got done 4 times in 8 years… which is not bad actually.
One of the reasons I’m not spring cleaning is because I’m a minimalist anyway. I don’t DO clutter. I’ve said many times that if this whole internet marketing thing stops working for me, I could totally start a business throwing out other people’s junk (I think the technical term is professional organizers.). And about once a month or so I go on a tear and clean and declutter like crazy all over again.
But, I do see the value in certain spring cleaning tasks, and I’ll mention some tips now to help you green up your spring cleaning efforts.
Clean Your Refrigerator Coils
They’re either at the bottom of the front of your fridge (you might have to remove a plastic guard that covers them) or at the back of the fridge, but do vacuum them periodically. Why? Because the fridge will use more energy to keep food cool if the coils are crusty and grody. And using more energy isn’t very green.
Grab Your Essential Oils
Spring cleaning is a wonderful time to have fun with essential oils. When you’re doing deep cleaning you’re going to be sticking your nose in dusty stanky places like closets and attics and basements. Grab your favorite essential oil and put a few drops on cotton balls, and leave them in these stanky places. Or make your own herbal sachets to put in these areas. You can buy muslin reusable tea bags at the health food store and stuff them with dried herbs like lavender, rosebud, cinnamon sticks, cloves and lemon peel. These are much better for your lungs than nasty petrochemical laden artificial air fresheners.
Discover Microfiber
How I love microfiber! I discovered microfiber cleaning cloths about 8 years ago and don’t know how I lived without it before then. It’s the nicest fabric to clean with and you don’t even need any cleaning products to clean most surfaces. Plus they’re washable - not disposable. The microfiber mop I bought several years ago is still going strong. Since it doesn’t require electricity, it’s the ultimate green cleaning tool.
Don’t Toss - Freecycle
The temptation is strong to just toss all your junk into the trash but that’s not very green. Freecycle it or donate it to Goodwill instead.
A lot of other people are talking about spring cleaning right now, including Susanne, who wrote a cool ebook that you can check out here: Spring Cleaning for Moms.
Free Report on Going Organic
April 7, 2008 | 1 Comment
The ladies over at Menu Planning Central have put together an informative free report on going organic. They are letting me share it with you all. The report covers:
- What the organic label really means
- Cleaning with organic cleaners - and how to make your own
- Recommendations for organic products all around the house
To download it, just right click on this link to save to your desktop.
Salad Saturday!
April 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Each Saturday I’ll post a free salad recipe from my new salad cookbook. It has over 365 recipes, so you can either buy it now or just hang around here for the next 6 years. LOL!
Avocado with Peanut Dressing
2 avocados — ripe
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons peanuts — shelled
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
cayenne — to taste
sea salt — to taste
fresh chives — to garnish
Peel the avocados; cut out the stone and cut into cubes. Sprinkle with lemon juice and set aside. Grind the peanuts roughly with a rolling pin or in a grinder for a few seconds. Mix the peanuts and spices well. Sprinkle over the avocados with finely chopped chives.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Another Natural Mommy Ponders Her Personal Care Product Choices
March 29, 2008 | 12 Comments
Beth over at NaturalMommy posted on her blog that she’s rethinking some of her makeup and skin care shopping as of late. I left a few lengthy comments over there but also wanted to discuss this on my blog. I’ve already expressed what I see as some of the problems of working the CVS system - the tempation to obtain products that really aren’t good for you or for the environment, just because they’re free.
Basically Beth was asking for other natural mommas to share their tips for getting pretty on a budget - and using natural and safer products all the while. This can be a challenge. Personally I hate spending money on beauty stuff, so I do a combination of things to get cute on a budget including:
1) Just plain using less stuff to begin with (a lot of skin care stuff is unnecessary and overkill). Most beauty experts agree that noone needs toner, for example. You need a gentle cleanser (only once a day, at night. Splashing your face with water in the morning is sufficient) and a moisturizer, preferably with sunscreen.
Washing your hair less (or skipping the shampoo altogether) works too. I have very thick, coarse, wavy/curly hair and only shampoo once every 4 days. Any more than that and I resemble a brunette Brillo pad. Or Simba with his finger stuck in a socket. And the styling product I use is a little bit of moisturizer in my hands mixed with a tiny bit of styling gel. I learned this trick years ago and it works great for my hair texture.
When it comes to the kids, I never used soap on their skin at all when they were babies. Ever. Water is sufficient to clean a baby’s skin. As they got older, Dr. Bronner’s was my friend. The stuff goes a LONG way. I dilute! dilute! mine just like it says on the bottle.
I never needed diaper rash cream because my kids didn’t get rashes because if they even looked rashy I just took the diaper off or loosely pinned on a prefold and it cleared up the same day.
2) Making my own or using really simple ingredients for skin care. For instance olive oil for a makeup remover and moisturizer. And sugar or salt scrubs to scrub my body, and baking soda to exfoliate my face. Oh and making my own homemade tooth powder. (which my Dentist approves, sans the cinnamon!) Here are some more of my cheap green beauty tips and natural skin care recipes.
One thing that surprised me was the Pollyanna attitude of some of the other commenters. Perhaps they don’t realize that cosmetics and personal care products aren’t regulated the way that the food supply is. Manufacturers can put pretty much whatever they want in makeup and skin care products without anyone looking over their shoulder. They don’t have to prove the safety of their products.
Putting our head in the sand about stuff we slather on our bodies isn’t smart. We take care to eat well - why would we pay less attention to what we rub in and on our skin, the body’s largest organ and the immune system’s first line of defense? To pretend that everything in the marketplace is safe is not smart. As an example, women in my mother’s generation thought they were doing the right thing by applying talc to their baby’s tushies. Now we know that talc can cause cancer. If we can easily make a safer choice, why wouldn’t we?
One good place to search for safer products is the Safe Cosmetics Database. Searching through the website, I’ve found that some of the data needs to be taken with a grain of salt. For example, some of the Burt’s Bees products get poor ratings, but upon closer inspection, it appears that the ingredients in question (like sodium borate or castor oil) are only harmful or toxic in very large amounts. Still, it’s a good place to start.
How do you get pretty on a tight budget - while still using natural ingredients?