Frugal Fridays: REVIEW of DIY formulas in 2012

As I head into the 2013, I look back to the previous year and take inventory of what goals I have met and what I am striving towards in the new year.

Teach Me Tuesdays: Miracle Soap Scum Remover and MORE!!

This is such a simple formula- so simple in fact, I nearly didn't try it 

even though I knew about it for 

about a year!!!

I have struggled with soap scum in my bath tub for 2 years & 1/2 years- pretty munch since I was injured during the birth of my son and was unable to scrub my tub. 

I was in hosp in ICU on life support for nearly a month bc of that injury and had 12 months of recovery & during that time span a house hold plumbing job went awry and a faulty plumber torch valve caused a fire in my bath tub! Yeah, I know, who does that happen to?? The same people who get injured so badly during childbirth they nearly die "in the 21st century" apparently... Anyhow-The soap scum that had accumulated during that time was then "burned" into my enamel clad cast iron tub. 

What a nightmare, right? 

I couldn't take a bath for nearly 12 months, I could only do sink "baths" so I saw the mess but didn't really "see". Let's be honest I had a new born, a 2 year old, trying to survive life threatening injuries, an open wound the size of a foot ball in my abdomen that was 3" deep- requiring a wound vac, visiting nurses 3X's/wk and a faulty ileostomy pouch to deal with... yeah, UMM,  do you think I was even concerned about the soap scum??

The spray waiting to be wiped away!

Fast forward 2 years, after my 4th surgery in about 25 months time span and a 5th one possibly looming in the horizon, I AM SICK OF LOOKING at that 

      GROSS Soap SCUM!! 

Grrrrr, it grosses me out, I can't give the kids a bath totally yet, I have ways to work around it, but the wound in my abs can be excruciating at times and it is right smack dap where my belly button USED to be {SIGH!}...ANYWAYS.... I look at that icky soap scum and think what else is clinging to the tub besides soap scum???

I can't stand strong chemicals, since that birthing injury also caused my left lung to collapse harsh chemicals really affects me, the strongest "chemical" I can stand is Dawn Dish soap {Which incidentally is all we used to clean the soot from the ceiling, walls and surfaces after the fire...IT WORKED amazing, in fact that was all I used to clean my house until I noticed it left a film if I didn't rinse well, which took too long!} Soooooooooo, as I was saying, I have tried all my DIY remedies and was resigned to buy a bottle of Soft scrub with Bleach....I know, "Say it isn't so!"...BUT I was sooooo going to...

Picture Credit

 Then I remembered a year or so ago seeing a pin about dawn and vinegar working miracles on soap scum, so today I tried it. I was thinking perhaps this would work on a typical soap scum, but not only do I have soap scum isses bc of using all natural bar soaps and gels but some was "welded" on to the surface from the fire so I wasn't hoping for much.

Boy am I every glad to be wrong (for once LOL!), it really worked! All I had to was use a wash cloth no real scrubbing, I can't handle that yet, and no abrasive brushes, or pads like I thought I would. It just wiped off slick as a whistle.....REALLY COOL!  

Now I do see a little darkness in the bottom of the tub, this pic makes it look darker that it is in real life. The fire was in there, not as bad as it could look considering the whole torch was on fire in my tub for about 90 minutes melting kids bath toys and a plastic curtain to the bottom of the tub. 

You can barely see the darkened area on the tub, it isn't soap scum, but the left over from the fire...

All you need is equal parts Dawn, the original blue kind, & distilled HOT vinegar. That is it. The super concentrated dawn that is out there now will cause way too much suds in the rag/cloth you use to wipe it down with, {AKS ME HOW I KNOW!:-) I could barely rinse it out with the super concentrated kind. LOL! Here is the amount I used:

1/4 C (2 oz) Hot Vinegar {microwave 1 min}
1/4 C (2 oz) Original Blue Dawn 

Mix in Spray bottle. Spray onto surface allow to stand 2 hours or overnight. (Some ppl report using this formula as a base- or just the ingredients for oven cleaner, carpet cleaner, glass cleaner, bug remover, stainless steel cleaner, Whole house cleaner, wool cleaner, and so on...

Well I saw this post with this wand that you use for dishes with the "magic" potion inside...

Mmm, there are possibilities in that idea only the one key factor in making this work is the heating of the vinegar. 

I think this still has potential, I know some blogs I read said their family members know use the wand filled with this "magic potion" after each shower or face "their wrath"! Not sure how it works without heating vinegar, unless for upkeep perhaps it is not as necessary?

The only way I can see it working properly with hot vinegar is either I would have to figure on a way of heating it up b4 each use, or only make small amounts fresh each time, adding dawn last? I will think on it, bc the wash cloth I used to wipe down the tub is still bubbling! I think my hubby is going to throw it in with his GRIMY AWFUL STINKY WORK clothes and we might be posting a new launder aid from this... LOL!

Now excuse me while I take a bath in my sparkly clean tub, I know the 1970's lavender color, lime corroded water spout and handles (I am still looking for natural formula for that one) and tile surround make you soo jealous, you wished you had one just like it right? Well until we come into our millons, this one works and now that it isn't covered in soap scum it is clean, sparkly and fresh!!

Really Look at how SHINY it is! I know there are some really dark places in the grout in the corner, it isn't mold, its from the fire. Hubby calked the edges of tub to help w/the stains and used a grey grout to help as well... ONE day it will be new, like I said I am happy for now!!

 

 

TEACH ME TUESDAYS: How I keep my WHITES, WHITER!!

AS you know, I have been making my own laundry detergent- liquid for nearly a year now:

• It has worked great, 
• Saved us money, 
• Helped us to make a smaller carbon footprints on the earth!! 

SUPER-DUPER-right?, only thing my whites have not been so "WHITE".... 

more like grey & dingy, so sad! 

I really don't want to use bleach, so I tried various whiteners, so far this formula I found has worked quite nicely!

DIY "Oxy-Cleaner" Soak for Whites

3 CUP Peroxide
2 & 1/2  CUP Water
2 & 1/2 CUP Baking Soda

1. I mixed this into an upcycled, LARGE, WIDE MOUTH, Pickle jar. 
2. Shake well & use  1/4-1/2 C on a HOT WATER setting& allow the water to fill up with laundry soap and clothes but stop before agitation begins.
3. Allow WHITE clothes to soak for 20-30 min
4. Continue with cycle and Wash clothes as usual

Another simple trick to whiten any white even those "stains" that clothe diapers get:
Hanging to Line DRY in the Bright Sun Shine will whiten any load!

 

Teach Me Tuesdays: Laundry Soap

I have been making my own laundry soap since late fall-early winter, so about 9 months now. 

Pic from this site

I have tried using regular body soap & natural hand made soap grated into my laundry soap and I honestly don't like the thick gloppy soap, I think this isn't good for the washing machine. So this time I bought Zote laundry soap I have read that some people had troubles with the zote soap dissolving and leaving clumps. 

The first time I used the zote- I allowed the zote soap, washing soda, and borax come to a boil that you can't stir down, then I allowed it to continue to boil for 30 minutes. It worked great, kinda runny but worked awesome!

I had no issues with clumps of Zote soap and we had good results even with my husbands greasy metal flake dirty grimy work clothes. 

The second batch with Zote I didn't allow it to come a 

full roiling boil and we have chunks of soap kinda floating on the top. 

My hubby says he sometime will have to rewash his clothes to get the clean,it hasn't lasted very long.... 

so I don't think I will make that mistake again.

This time I decided to try the powdered version, Here is what I did:

• 3C Borax
• 3C Washing Soda
• 3 C Baking Soda
• 6 Oz bar of Zote Soap, Grated 

1. Mix all of the above in a gallon container, I used an upcycled ice cream container (THINK WHALE of a PAIL) that has a lid and handle. Mix well for 1-3 minutes until WELL combined. 
2. Use 1-3T per load, depending on load size and "dirtiness" of the laundry.
3.   I make sure I place the powder is as the washer is filling up & then add my clothes. I have used with ALL temperatures, only use HOT with white (FOR whites I have another formula see this post.)

So far this has worked well, I was using baking soda for extra stain lifting power so I just added this into my formula  and so far:

• No build up on clothes, 
• They smell clean,  
• So far all stains have washed out!

Teach me Tuesday: Adventures in Whole Foods/Organic Eating

Found an organic co-op in my area, now I am overwhelmed looking at the thousands of items that are offered, funny how seeing names and descriptions without pics make it harder for me to decide if we need it? I am not sure what I want to stock up on, what I really want to start with.


Since I am baking on a regular basis I am thinking that I want to try coconut sugar which is on sale 30% off, though I am not sure what the delivery and taxes will bring my cost up to as well as the one time fee of $10 to join the co-op and the $5 pick up fee if I don't regularly help unload truck. So I will have to add $15 right off the bat to my initial order plus shipping and taxes. They also strongly suggest you order minimum of $100 per month... Decided to save the money & go once a month up to Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Mustard Seed, & Earth Fare.

Anyhow, I am thinking I really want to try the coconut sugar reg in place of brown sugar and blonde in place of granulate sugar, xtra virgin coconut oil in place of my canola in all my cooking and baking & I think I replace shortening in cookies with coconut oil-will have to research.  I would like to find a sprouted flour for the bread I am making every other day that would be better. 

Plus I would like to find a wild sour dough starter, don't know if that would work in my bread making technique I have been using the Artisan Bread in 5 min. My husband cracked me up this evening as I inquired as to the children's supper, that he couldn't use the "new" bread to make Kissi's pb&j's, he was appalled at the mention of if LOL! He didn't want to "waste" that bread on that, he wanted simple sandwich bread, LOLOLOL!!! 

How funny was that? I informed him this was our new bread and Kissi loves it for sandwiches so I will try the sandwich recipe next time I make a batch which will prolly do by Friday. Will let u know how that turns out. I did make pitas with the Master recipe turned out gr8! Want to make tortillas now out of it, hopefully I can

The other area of concern is the kids snacks, I am doing Annies Homegrown bunnies seems like a good replacement for the fishies, would like to add the mac and cheese and their cheese ravioli's as well as the all starts, so when we are running late we have the convince items on hand that are healthy.  

I am thinking of ordering Keifer since it is on sale, that way I can give the kids kiefer every day and get some the health benefits going thru their systems and ours, I suspect if my husband drank some every day his IBS and mine would virtually disappear. I would like to get some Sprouted Ground Whole Wheat and pasta. 

Made the hand sanitizer, that was a BUST! Way too watery then I got the bright idea to add more glycerin...yeah now slippery and slightly sticky, so I think of adding my son's Simply Thick beverage thickener...ummm don't know if that helped or made worse. It does absorb eventually and my hands are as chapped as they have been, since we had Hand Foot and Mouth disease, ROTO Virus, Pink EYE, some throat virus (Jim and I are still battling), and sinus infections....so we have been using the hand sanitizer like it is holy water around here. Both of our hands are so raw and chapped it is insane.

My hands feel smooth and look good after a day of 10 poopy dipe changes and working, so perhaps it might not be so bad? Maybe in place of the pump dispenser I will use the spray bottle and it will not dispense so much? Might have to try that, bc it is still thin enough I believe it will spray, I think...

I did find another recipe from another blogger I recently discovered:

Searching For Hidden Treasure's Hand Sanitizer:

• 12 ounce bottle of 100% Pure Aloe Vera Gel {It must be clear and say 100% on the bottle!}
• 3/4 teaspoon of Tea Tree Oil
• Witch Hazel

In a glass bowl, mix Aloe Vera and Tea Tree Oil. Then add witch hazel until you have the consistency you want your sanitizer to be.

 The more Tea Tree Oil you use, the stronger the antibacterial qualities your hand sanitizer will have. But the smell can be overwhelming too. 

You can add other essential oils such as citrus, lavender or cedar wood if you'd like to have a sanitizer with a better scent.

Like what the glycerin did for hand protection, still might add like a 1/2 tsp and 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar for it's sanitizing properties. 

But will def start with a 12 oz base of Pure Aloe Vera Gel and Tea Tree is main add others maybe 1/8 tsp at time so it won't be so watery? Will let you know.

TEACH ME TUESDAYS: Food for thought...

My family eats so many oranges and uses limes and lemons in our water, so much that I often feel guilty throwing away all these peels. I will take my microplane and zest the limes and lemons for cooking in the freezer but that is about it, I don't really know what to do with oranges. Until.....I came across some bloggs lately, and all I am hearing about is dried citrus peel uses, and ground citrus uses so I was so inspired I made some this morning...



 Some of the recipes and ideas are from: Crunchy Betty Blogg http://www.crunchybetty.com/the-great-grapefruit-scouring-scrub?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&  


I took the citrus we have been eating over the past 7 days: Key Limes, Cara Cara oranges, Milano Oranges,  Blood Red Oranges, Navel Oranges, Lemons, Cuties...we all eat one citrus or use them in our water so we accumulate quite a bit in several days. Here is a portion of the citrus peels, cut into small pieces and partially dried. I ended up drying in oven bc some started to mold apparently my house has quite a bit of moisture.  I placed it in a cold oven, no heat so the essential oils would still be intact. I then took the peels and ground up in a "bullet" type blender/processor. The smell was amazing as it ground. I think we had about 7 or 8 peels and it    made about 4 oz of ground goodness.

So now what, u ask? I have 4 oz of peeling goodness and we eat about 3 lbs of citrus.  Make your scrub according to Crunchy Betty's site:

• 3 Tbsp dried, powdered Citrus peels
• 3 Tbsp borax
• 5 Tbsp baking soda

Combine everything in a shaker (like an old parmesan container) and shake well to combine it all. Use liberally wherever scouring is required. Be sure to rinse the scrub off well with a clean, wet sponge.

I used a upcycled garlic powder/dried herb container, I didn't add the citrus powder to the above recipe, will use as needed until I use up a herb container I have in mind to use. Below is the handmade labeled Citrus powder scrub a the half gallon of homemade fabric softener I made this weekend.

 Hmm, what else... ???  ( Keep in mind if you will be using citrus peel for any edible applications, and especially if you will be extracting the flavor with alcohol, it is best to source organic, sustainably grown fruit if you possibly can. In general, the peel of most conventionally-farmed fruits contains the largest concentration of pesticides, fungicides or other chemicals used in treating the fruit. Since citrus peels are not typically eaten in the US, data on pesticide load tends to concentrates on the flesh of the fruit, and is likely an unreliable indicator of pesticide load present in the peel.)

• Citrus salt from 101 Cookbooks
• Citrus sugar from Baking Bites
• Orange butter from Gilt Taste
• Meyer lemon olive oil from Buff Chickpea
• Lemon olive oil from Food.com
• Lemon lavender vinegar from a new bloom
• Dehyrated citrus slices from Well Preserved, dried peel or zest  from About.com
• Candied grapefruit peel from Hitchhiking to Heaven and Martha Stewart
• Candied lemon peel from The Luna Cafe
• Homemade lemon extract (and thyme lemonade!) from Infinite Feast
• Add orange peels to brown sugar to keep it soft
• Add dried peels to tea (via Chiot’s Run)  and/or use in your own tea mixes to enjoy or gift
• Freeze citrus peels, or quartered or halved whole fruit, then use later to flavor roasted chicken or braised meats (via What Julia Ate)
• Dry citrus rib rub from Hudson Valley Food Network
•  Add it to coffee grinds as it brews, or add to tea ball make a version of Earl Grey
• Add to facial masks
• Add peels to vinegar and allow to infuse for about 4-6 weeks to make vinegar cleanser/could also make vinaigrette for salads
• Add it to the dishwasher now and then to clean it up and make the dishes sparkle, leaves a nice orange scent too
• Thinking of adding ground citrus peel to cracked ground pepper like a citrus pepper chicken, doesn't that sound awesome with a little honey and kosher salt perhaps some crushed garlic for a marinde and then grill the chicken? 
• Mix it with with Epson salt for a bath-time soak
• Make a bath bomb with the citrus powder, essential oil,
• Use the dried citrus peels as a kitchen deodorizer  (b4 you grind them, could even use this b4 you dry them) in a small saucepan- fill with 1-2" of water, add citrus peel, a cinnamon stick, and a few cloves. Heat over medium-low for a lovely citrusy kick.
• After you dry the peels add cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, and star annise for homemade potpourri even a hint of vanilla bean.
• Add with sugar or fine ground sea salt and neutral or light oil to make a scrub (1 part ground peel and sugar to 2 parts oil) would be an awesome body scrub.
• Thinking of adding to a toothpaste recipe along with myrrh gum powder, clove essential oil baking soda, extra virgin coconut oil and raw honey. 
• Also thinking of making a mouthwash w/nearly same ingredients and adding peroxide and tea tree essential oil.
• Could add to cold processed soaps
• Make Orange cookies and icing
• Add dried peels to vacuum cleaner bags
• Adding it to baking soda and sprinkling on the carpet...wonder if it would leave a sticky residue?
• Add to sugar to make a citrus sugar, hmmmm, interesting....
• Add to plain cake batter to make a citrus cake, yummmmy!
• Add to bread to make a citrus spring tasting bread
• Add to butter to make a marmalade butter, press into a candy mold like a daffodil, wouldn't that be sweet?
• Infuse Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Make a dry citrus rub
• Infuse Liquor, think Lemoncello, Lemonpeel vodka, grapefruit tequila...
• Perk up homemade mustard with citrus zest: see habanero lime chipotle or winter lager mustards
• Make citrus pectin, using the peels from 2 or 3 grapefruits. Based on Julia’s recipe, but slightly modified:toss peels, unchopped, in a medium saucepan, covered them with filtered water, and brought to a boil. I let it simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, then removed from the heat and let it sit, covered, overnight. The next day strain out the peel and froze the pectin in 1-cup portions. It’s fairly bitter in taste, and would not do for all types of preserves, but for anything that needs a bit of a flavor edge, not to mention a pectin boost, this is perfect.
• Microwave lemon peels, in a small bowl of water, in high for 1 minute, to deodorize the microwave
• A wealth of limoncello recipes from Punk Domestics
• Meyer limoncello from Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking
• Pompelmocello from Hedonia (who tells me it was also incredible made with yuzu zest)
• Grapefruit & juniper bitters from Autumn Makes & Does
• Buddah’s Hand (citron) vodka from White on Rice Couple
• Lemon peel vodka from taylor takes a taste
• Cranberry-orange vodka from the Food Network
• Grapefruit tequila from Fine Cooking
• Vin de pamplemousse from Local Kitchen
• Citrus pectin from What Julia Ate
• Add slivered citrus zest to most any jam or preserve for a little texture & zing: try apple jelly with lemon & lavender (using lemon peels instead of whole lemon slices), sour cherry bam! punched up with lemon zest, orange zest in a cranberry chutney, or lime zest added to blackberry or raspberry jam
• Add chopped candied citrus peel to jams or preserves for another layer of texture and flavor
• Dry citrus peels, then crumble for use in a sachet or potpourri
• Orange peels as kindling/fire starter from Apartment Therapy
• Homemade orange oil extract for cleaning from Two at the Farm
• Add homemade orange oil/extract to perfume homemade hand cream
• Add citrus zest to homemade body scrub: see avocado & citrus sea salt scrub (use finely grated citrus zest in place of essential oils), or Meyer lemon sea salt scrub from Hitchhiking to Heaven
• Spread orange peels throughout the garden or household plants to keep cats away; I’ve seen the same tip as a mixture of ground orange peel and coffee
• Freeze citrus peels throughout the season, then grind and use to dress vegetable beds to keep squash bugs (and other critters!) away (via Maggie’s Farm)
• Ground orange peel, lemon peel and lemon juice are all effective ant deterrents
• Toss orange peels down the garbage disposal, or keep a few at the bottom of your trash barrel, to freshen
• Microwave lemon peels, in a small bowl of water, in high for 1 minute, to deodorize the microwave
• Add citrus peels to a dishwasher run to deodorize the dishwasher (I’m going to try wedging some into the silverware tray under a small Weck jar)
• Design your own biodegradable kitchenware (!), via David Lebovitz
•  freeze peels, and sometimes they are not sliced but a half of the fruit. I use those, straight from the freezer and use either for a brine for meats, or stuffed in the cavity of a chicken (or turkey) that I intend to roast. 
• Citrus Peel candy http://thekalechronicles.com/2011/11/15/my-first-orange-plus-candied-citrus-peel/ , neat idea, will definitely try this one...

http://localkitchenblog.com/2012/01/23/what-to-do-with-citrus-peel/  A lot of info gathered from Local Kitchen Blogg, "what to do with citrus peels" post and many more ideas and links...

Food for thought, huh?? What else am I throwing away that I could be using??

Super Cute Favor Bags...DONE DIRT CHEAP!

Really wanted the favors to say "western/ farm girl/cow girl/pony party", but stay on budget and with the customized clothes for kids I had to trim favor budget to next to nothing...

And that is what I did, but honestly, do they look like they were basically $2.75 each??

Each child will receive 4 Mare and her Foal stickers, 6 western tattoos,  a ring, a mini western coloring book, and mini western crayons {ORIENTAL TRADING had a sale on western items I used in favor bags so really was CHEAP!!} as well as a customized homemade sheriff badge, bandana and cow boy hat once they arrived. [Now the hats and bandanas were not included in the $2.75/BAG price I included them in the decoration budget, but they were steal too only $1 each on sale!!]

I originally wanted to print directly on the bags, Like I pinned in pinterest here, so I got my printer set to the right settings, but once I tried to print it wouldn't grab the bag not sure what the trick is, still irks me that I couldn't figure it out- I wanted it to have a more authentic western look than it does... but it still looks great in my opinion.

I took regular lunch sacks and since the bags wouldn't print as I wanted, I still printed on paper with the same settings I would have used to print directly on the sacks, then used a paper trimmer with a wave blade.  I really wanted it to look like a wanted poster and was considering using the tags from Old West, then print it, but honestly was feeling "done'ish" so I went with the wave blade on the trimmer, then used a cream chalk and chalked the edges with a charcoal smoke look to age the paper edges some.

I used the font, "bleeding cowboys" and wrote this:

"Happy trails partner! Kissi's much obliged you attended her 4th Birthday Fandango!"

The left over paper from the tags I used as a topper to bags to look more finished, professional, and deliberate. I drew on cow spots, trimmed to size of sack, folded down and attached with double sided tape,  & then used a hole punch and punched 2 holes...so far the project has been free, the bags I had & the paper I used was laser printer paper all it has taken is ingenuity and about 5 minutes of my time.

I used left over ribbon I bought last year for Izak's Elmo Party favor, guests left his party with several adorable items including customized crayon roll and customized hair bows I made: click here to see the party. The tags I cut from Old West @ 3" I used the one with jagged edges to resemble a star badge, I used a sharpie to write in names and attached w/jute rope. The ribbon was free already paid for last June, the jute rope was from a project years ago, the name tag paper I used upcycled brown grocery bags. 

Really the $2.75 price tag didn't' come from the bags themselves it came from the goodies in side the bag... I don't really think anyone will truly understand the happy-joy-joy feelings I get with the results and that it didn't cost me one red cent to make the favor bags and they look so stinking adorable!! Doesn't take me much to make me happy, does it??

Name Plates w/western names for buffet

I tried to think of as many uses for the brown grocery bags as possible, I nearly bought a roll of brown Kraft paper, but with the tight budget I had to find places to cut the budget so I could include food in the squeaky tight budget plus have the "cuteness factor"enter... grocery bags!

I had several brown grocery bags and though typically on grocery store trips I will use my earth friendly reusable recycled bags, but sometimes you forget the bags at home or don't want to carry home meat in the bags so I had about 6 or 7  bags. 2 bags I used to cover 2 cereal boxes to make a holder for the s'more campfire marshmallows {here's the post showcasing the marshmallow holders}, several bags I used to make bunting "Happy Birthday with Old West Fonts",  and 3 bags I cut into 12" X 12" pieces of paper. Out of each bag you get 3, 12"X12" pieces of paper and scraps from bottoms I used Old West Cricut Cartridge and cut them into "wanted signs" @ 4" and chalked the edges and made name plates for food buffet.

As I write this I still have several 12"X12" brown bag pieces of paper, might come up with a project or two- perhaps add wanted posters guests can draw of themselves...dunno?? I already made several 3" wanted poster tags and they look so cute I think I will might them bigger and hang them around the room or add to tables maybe use as an ice breaker at beginning after kids get dressed up in hat and bandana?

mini buntings are for cake topper & other uses I will think of later...STOP looking at my messy desk!!

Funny once you start looking around your house you see items in a different light and items you would just toss in the recycle bin or even possibly the trash can be upcycled in an unexpected way that scream "Cuteness Factor"!!
Linked to 30 Days handmade  , Raising Homemakers andGrowing Home
 

Whole Foods Eating and Natural/Green Living

So this is the start of week 2 of project get healthy at the Phillips household, there are have tears, tantrums, fits'o'plenty and we haven't even begun to talk about the kids' reactions yet!! Hubby has actually been a big support, with all the issues I have had since the birth of my sun he really wants to see me as healthy and active as I was when we met, heck I would too!!! Wouldn't we all want to be 20 again?? ON the for real though, I am feeling much better, haven't had a "flare-up" in a week that is pretty good considering I would be happy to go 3 days w/out all that drama of sulphur burps and the big "D", bloating, and extreme pain.

I was shopping for groceries and they had chicken on sale, now I haven't gone totally organic yet, would love to but prices here aren't that competitve in that market since there is only one natural foods/organic store in town. Hopefully they will bring in Trader Joes soon they have reasonable prices and Whole Foods and Earth Fare...that would be soo killer!!! Anyhooo I digresss, today I found b/s chicken breasts on sale for $1.49/LB pretty good since it's usually those GROSS IQFCB "Green Peak" that are all hormoned up and sterioded up and injected with broth to puff them up and help with the dryness of the meat. But once u thaw it out they are all jacked up looking and wabbly- eww! I promptly bought all they had in the case, 15Lbs worth much to the chagrin of post Black Friday shoppers I thought I was gonna get ganged up on for grabbing all the chix. But hey sorry, maybe I am totally rude as Jim would say, sorry man I gots to grab what deals I can. I did help some ppl find the extras in another section--they didn't even say thank you...dang I could have nabbed those too!!!

My goal was to cook some for chix kits like chix enchiladas, chix corn chowder, chix w/mushrooms and white sauce, and chix with wild rice and mushroom soup...then have some marinaded for Chinese foods, goulash, pastas, and so on.  But boy oh boy Izak was in a mood, I think Jim didn't really feed him that well, grrrr!!! Why is it when u think u have "free time" to do something like dishes, cooking, groceries bc hubby is "watching" them, u end up paying for it double later?? Izak didn't take a nap all day just was really cranky so I ended up being able to dice 5 lbs of chix w/no marinade. Just ready to sauted for whatever dish I make, then I crock pot cooked 8 bs and diced for above mentioned kits, then made "tenders" out the other 2 Lbs, Izak had it by that point. I was planning on using that portion to make stuffed shells with crimini mushroom, onion, garlic & spinach cooked in garlic roasted red pepper oil and make a parmesan sauce with a little chayene and smoked paprika. They shells wer 100% Whole wheat organic and I would going to stuff the shells with the chick mixture and some ricotta and ramono cheese..but I forgot the mushrooms and just used spinach and cottage cheese and tom sauce. Wasn't really good but were starved the kids were maniacs and Izak was crazy insane so he ate nearly 10 oz apple sauce with peas and cottage cheese. Well atleast he had veggie, dairy-some protein, and some fruit...

I did get to oven dry some grape tomatoes that were on thier last day, boy was that good! I poured olive oil over the toms and placed them in Izak's old food jars (Recycling!! how GREEN am I??). THis way I can used the toms and the olive oil for sauteing later yummy!! I think this week I will make some pizzas, I will use the fresh mozzerella I picked up along with the toms and some basil kinda and extra virgin olive oil, like a crapsie salad pizza? Maybe I will make a cauliflower crust?? That would killer with spinach and crimin's and carmelized onions and perhaps a yellow squash or zuch?? Yummy!! Good ideas here maybe I should make a menu?

I am getting the 5 Min artistian bread book 2morrw in mail and my 6 qt pail to store it, yay! Apparently u make this master dough and just mix it, leave in fridge all week and pull out what u need let rise and do some things to make it like what u want, then u have fresh bread in no time w.out all that mess. I could make pizza crust with it, chibatta style, perhaps???

I had some lemons on their last day too, so I zested them and froze it for later dishes, and took the 1C of juice and made a simple syrup with it for lemonade. I don't have room for the whole pitcher in fridge so I can add to glass as needed this way. That will be nice l8r in week.

I got the busy bag swap bags started, needed ink in the worst way, spent 30 for both ughhh!! They can't refill these kinds, bummer, so we had to bite the bullet. So I got them printed out and now I am trying to figure out how I can use contact paper to help these last, don't want to laminate bc of the expense, will have to see how that works out!

I of course ran out dish soap so I thought, well lets try DIY natural dish soap. IT can't be worse than the dish soap Jim bought I have been suffering through using! I still feel the grease after I wash them several times!! It is the reg Dawn which not to be confused with the ultra concentrate w/bleach kind, I am trying to be as non-chemical as I can on what I wash with, wear body products wise, cook and with and eat...so this just seems a natural progression. We will see how well this does, hope I don't see white filmy spots once they are dried! Worse case this experiment fails, then I go back to using Dawn to wash dishes with. I did learn last year about how clean it gets ur house so I I could use that for my multiprpose cleaner too..

Well it is like 1:30 and Jim is back to work and I will be the one up at the 5:30 am scream-feast, so I will sign off!!