Bribery with Fruit Snacks

  1st off, I'm not pushing Allison to potty train, but we have found some type of agreement.  Until now when I mentioned the potty, she would run away and act like a cat getting near water.  Now when I offer fruit snacks, she happily sit on the potty while eating them (and has the phone).  She has yet to pee in the potty, but sitting on it is a big improvement. 

  Since fruit snacks is her new thing, I thought I would make my own since the store bought ones are so bad, filled with corn syrup and artificial colors and flavors.  They were somewhat a success.  They are made out of fruit (strawberries in this case) applesauce, apple juice, and gelatin.  Allison likes them just fine, but I think I will tweak it a little.  More fruit of whatever kind I'm making, and instead of apple juice, I'll make juice from the fruit with my juicer. 

See I even make Lego shapes. (they are the only molds I have)

 I even separated them in 1 oz servings in little baggies.  It made 12 baggies. 

It's Greek to Me!

  I've been making my own yogurt for awhile now.  I use a crockpot recipe, and it's pretty good.  Since it's homemade, it's a little on the runny side.  Makes you wonder what they do to the store bought ones to make them thick.  A while back I read how to make Greek yogurt but just never did it.  It's super easy and yummy!  After making the yogurt, you just drain the yogurt in a cheesecloth for 8 hrs (do it for 24 hrs, and it becomes cream cheese!).  I didn't have a cheesecloth, so I cut an old pillowcase in half.  It worked well.

Here's my yogurt draining.

 Here is all the leftover whey:

  That's a lot of whey!  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it.  It's good for months and full of nutrients.  I've done some research, and I can make soda, replace water in recipes, bathe with it.  Right now I just add some to my juices and drink it.  Tomorrow I'm going to soak some oats and then cook it.  Suppose to make oatmeal much more nutitrious.  I'm such there will be more posts on what I end up doing with it.

8 to 4 in 20

  In December, Brandon, the girls, and I took a road trip to Texas, and after all the traveling and fast food, I just felt yucky and ready to commit to the lifestyle I've been wanting for awhile.  For a long time, I've felt that people eat too much animal products, and when they eat animal products, it's full of hormones, drugs, and who knows what. 
  After all the yucky fast food, I really wanted to detox but knew I couldn't since I still breastfeed 4-5 times a day (I'm still burning 500+ calories a day), so I decided to go vegan for 3 weeks, http://www.21daykickstart.org/.  I got the free app for my phone, and it had great recipes and ideas.  After a week of it though, reality hit.  Having 2 babies and a husband, I did not have time to cook 3 different meals for mealtime (I make MK's baby food), but after doing the vegan diet for a week, I felt really good and dropped a pants' size.  I needed to find a compromise.
  During the vegan week, I watched a few documentaries that I had heard about but never watched, Food Inc. and Sick, Fat, and Nearly Dead.  Both supported how I felt, and I convinced Brandon to watch Food Inc.  After watching that, he saw my point of view, well at least in buying organic local animal products.  Even though he didn't watch the 2nd one, he bought me a juicer (I've been wanting one for a few years now).  Also during this time, my friend Danell told me about the GAPS diet, http://www.gapsdiet.com/.  I don't feel like I need to do the full blown diet but did agree that I needed more probiotics and with some of its eating techniques, like juicing.
  After all this nutritional information I came up with my own diet/way of life, and I got the juicer last week.  I have basically cut out all dairy except for homemade yogurt made out of organic raw whole milk and few store bought probiotic drinks, Bio Salud (88 cents at Walmart!) and Lifeway's kefir.  I also try to limit my meat and other animal products to one serving a day.  The rest of the day is filled with fruit, veggies, whole grains, and homemade bread.  Here is a sample menu of my day:

1st thing in the morning, I juice all this and drink this and a probiotic.

 A few hours later, I eat either yogurt or oatmeal, both with local raw honey.

Then at lunch, I have this or with sandwich:

 For an afternoon snack, I juice something like this or something more veggie based:

 And this is my typical dinner.  See the small portion of meat!

 And my dessert if I need something sweet.

  For some reason if I'm still hungry in between all this, I eat nuts, more fruits or veggies, or homemade oatmeal cream pies (not healthy at all but oh, well) or other homemade treats.  If I'm thirsty, I drink water or almond milk.  Even though I've only done this for a week, I feel great (still tired after chasing babies all day) and dropped another pants size! 

  Now, I'm not becoming a food snob b/c if someone offers to cook for me, I'll eat what they serve but not too often.  Example, last night I went out with my MOPS group.  We had lasagna, cheesecake, and all sorts of bad stuff.  It was good, but honestly, I felt really bad.  I came home, drank a probiotic, and couldn't wait for my detox drink (apples and carrots) in the morning. 

 I hope I can keep up with new lifestyle and hope the rest of my family will willingly join me.

Laundry, Laundry, Laundry

  With cloth diapers and 2 babies, my washer stays busy, but I haven't bought laundry detergent for 2 years or dryer sheets and stain remover for the past year thanks to great simple recipes are gentle yet tough on clothes and HE efficient nevermind being dirt cheap, about 3 cents per load.  Here are my recipes for laundry care:
   Detergent
     1 bar Zote or Fels-Naptha (I prefer Fels-Naptha due to grinding ability but both clean equally)
     1/2 C Borax
     1 C washing soda
   Let bar dry out and then grind to fine powder in processor (some people grate their soap w/ a grater).
   Add other ingredients and pulse 10 times or until will mixed.
   Use 1 T per load.

  Softener
    Add 1-2 T baking soda in wash, and then add 1/4 C vinegar to rinse cycle.

 Stain remover (Oxyclean)
   1 C water
   1/2 C washing soda
   1/2 C hydrogen peroxide
  Mix all ingredients.  I usually pour over stains.  Here is a before and after of MK's shirt.  Literally took one minute for the stain to go away, and just think, all natural ingredients!

Before 

After!

I could not believe how good these results were, especially since I didn't do this until 5 days after the mess.

Bonus recipe- Dishwasher detergent

   While you have the processor out to make the laundry detergent, whip up a batch for the dishwasher.  It costs the price from 12 cents a load down to 4 cents a load.

   Equal parts of dish detergent, borax, baking soda, and washing soda.  Mix well in processor, and you are done.  I use dish detergent in it b/c you have to citric acid to get rid of  streaks, and I have yet to find citric acid in the store.  

Oil of O-WOW!

  I have been known most of my life as someone with skin problems.  Before kids, I had to use something with benzyl peroxide, but after having Allison, my skin developed an allergy to it. (Didn't have to use it while pregnant and breastfeeding b/c my skin was clear)  So, I started making my own.  1st, I made a face wash out of yogurt, honey, and lime juice.  It worked great except I smelled like spoiled milk all day.  I also used green tea as a toner, also worked great.  Allison's daycare teacher, noticing my acne, recommended Burt's Bees tomato soap.  That stuff is awesome.  I've been using it every since, until now...
  I'm almost out, and I can't find it anywhere.  So, instead of buying more expensive organic face washes, I decided to make my own with a recipe that my friend Danell found.  This stuff is even better than the tomato soap.  Ready for this, it's castor oil and olive oil!  You just adjust the ratios of oil based on skin type.  1:1 for normal, 2:1 for oily, and 1:2 for dry.  I, of course, did oily.  I took the pictures after the fact.

The ingredients.

I used an old honey jar which turned out great b/c it had a stopper so the oil didn't spill out, and it had the tbs marked on the sides.  Made the dilutions easy.  I just filled the container 2/3 full of castor oil and then topped it off with olive oil.  Another 2 minute thing that will last months and cost very little.

  To use, squeeze a quarter-size drop into your hands and massage on your face for a minute.  Then take a hot rag and cover your face for another minute.  Then wash off oil and pat dry.  You are left with awesome beautiful skin that doesn't need lotion.

Minty Fresh!

  I ran out mouthwash not too long ago and was waiting for it go on sale.  Once you start couponing, it's hard to buy anything at full price, and you get used to things being a certain price, like I expect contact solution to be free.  Anyway, I was looking at how to make tooth soap (more on that later) and came upon a recipe for moutwash. 
  DIY mouthwash is so basic that I decided to try it.  It took a few minutes to make and will last months.  I think it cost 50 cents or so to make a liter.

 1st. Add 1/2 a tsp of baking soda per cup of water.

 2.  Add a pinch of salt.

 3.  Add however many drops of essential oil you want.  I added close to 20.

 4.  Wisk well to dissolve everything.

 5.  Pour into container.

 6.  Finish!  Yes, I'm reusing a Listerine bottle.

 This is all you need to have a good mouthwash that is alcohol free. 

Payton and His Girls

We went to Texas for Christmas, and Payton got to spend 5 days with us at my parents' house.  Payton loved seeing his sisters, and they loved seeing him.  We'll see if the love lasts when he's here all summer long....