Sharing Rambling, Resources and Recipes for Learning in Life

Sharing Rambling, Resources and Recipes for Learning in Life

Category: Recipes

CleaningDIYRecipes

Juggling it all…and dropping some (and a DIY bathroom cleaner)!

By Audrea3 Comments

I have felt and written that all along this CoVid-19 Virus has ups and downs, blessings and curses. One of the blessings is the additional time at home! Working from home has brought it’s own struggles with teaching my students remotely and my daughters in person. I have struggled with time management, and we have all struggled with patience, tempers, and kindness, peace and calm. However, today I accomplished something that is UNHEARD of when I am working out of the house! I cleaned my bathrooms for the SECOND time this week!!! Okay, I know that for some and likely even many you may be covering your face in shame for me or running to wash your hands just from reading that! But, sorry, it is just my reality.

When the girls and I get home form school, usually between 4:30 and 5:00, later, if there is anything to do after school like Bible Study, then the whole evening is swallowed up from the moment we walk in the door. I usually start dinner and lunches for the next day while working on any remaining homework. Then, the girls may go outside to play while I finish dinner and lunches. We eat, they shower and pick their clothes out for the next day, we may get a TV show in (usually while my husband and I are finishing cleaning up from dinner or still finishing lunches). We try to work on verses and Bible study for their AWANAs classes and then it’s time to brush teeth and cajole everyone to bed! Once that’s done. The house needs picked up, everything that hasn’t been set out for the next morning needs set out. AND I am EXHAUSTED!! I might make myself work on grading or a TpT product and/or get my shower done so I don’t have to worry about it in the morning. And that’s an evening when there isn’t church or softball practice!

All of this in the evenings means that the only time I have to clean house is Saturdays or Sundays. On a typical Sunday we have Sunday School and Church from 10:00-12:00, I work on food prep for the next week in the afternoons and we go to my mom’s for family dinner from about 4:00-7:00. Then it’s another rush to shower and get to bed on time so the girls are not starting the week tired. So, that really only leaves Saturdays to clean and I am so tired that day that to be honest at times it is even only once every 2 weeks that my bathrooms get cleaned.

But, thanks to working from home and social distancing and self-quarantining (kind of), my bathrooms got cleaned on Tuesday (or Monday, my days are mixing at this point) AND (drumroll please) Saturday! I mixed up my favorite DYI bathroom cleaner and used some straight vinegar for the mirrors and went to town!

I feel so accomplished. I was just going to do the toilets and maybe the showers, but all the reviews of the cleaner (I had to look up the ratio since I haven’t made it in a while and have been buying bleach cleaners) made me want to do the whole thing in both rooms! I do admit to not cleaning all the counters because I read, for the first time, today that vinegar can cause grooves or something in granite and that is what all of our counter tops are. I’m going to have to look into that some more. While the cleaner didn’t magically cut through all the drywall texture left in a few places on the showers from building it did clean and sparkle as well as I remember and love!! I’m including the “recipe” I use below in case you want to try it. I like that it is kid friendly. Because although I’m not particularly fond of “help” from my 5 and 7 year old right now, they will need to start learning some of these things and this cleaner makes it safer for them to do that. I love their enthusiasm, but the extra water and bathing that generally occurs when they help clean the bathrooms is a little much for me during my least favorite chore.

The recipe I use is just 2 ingredients:

Dawn Dish Soap

Distilled Vinegar

Most ratios are 1 part Dawn and 1 part vinegar. Some say if you want fewer suds to use more vinegar. Since we have lower water pressure because of being on the rural city water line, I used 1 part Dawn and 2 parts vinegar to require less rinsing. Honestly, I may even try 3 parts vinegar to 1 part Dawn the next time as it is still rather sudsy. Especially because I use a magic eraser with it for my sinks and tubs. And I used straight vinegar to clean the mirrors with the washcloth that I use to wipe the sinks and counters after I use the cleaner and magic eraser on the sinks, and that I use on the toilets. I don’t use my magic eraser on the toilets because I feel like once something has been used to clean a toilet it needs to be washed.

There you have it! My easy and (somewhat) safer DIY bathroom cleaner “recipe” to celebrate the rare (hopefully becoming more frequent) accomplishment of multiple bathroom cleanings in one week! I say somewhat safer because if you are being completely and thoroughly safe DAWN likely wouldn’t qualify. I have read that it gets a “D” rating from the Environmental Working Group. So, if you are looking for safer alternatives for dish soap you might check out the link below. I am not affiliated with the group or page it links to, I just wanted to be sure they were credited with the information below since I got it from them and not my own research.

The Environmental Working Group gave Dawn a ‘D’ grade because of it containing methylisothiazolinone, which is a “High Concern: acute aquatic toxicity; Some Concern: skin irritation/allergies/damage”. Sounds delightful, right? Dawn also contains 1 4-dioxane which is considered a groundwater contaminant.

I personally still feel better if my girls handle Dawn dish soap though than bleach cleaners.

HealthParentingRecipes

The Power of Protein

By Audrea1 Comment

It continues to surprise and motivate me how much the needs of your children drive your ambitions. Our oldest daughter struggles with focus and impulse and emotion control when something isn’t her own idea. Given that struggle for her, I have looked into more and more information on ADD and ADHD. One great resource I have stumbled upon is ADDitude Magazine. I signed up for a webinar with them through an email I received as a teacher. I thought this may help with some of my students as well as my daughter. Since that webinar, I have received several emails and read many articles about diet and behavior therapies and other alternative treatments for ADD, ADHD and their symptoms. As I have read these articles two things have come glaringly through. One is to avoid sugar and the other is to increase protein.

I have been working to do that for my daughter. We have especially been working on increasing protein at breakfast to help improve focus and control. It has had a HUGE impact on her behavior. We have also been working on limiting sugar since the end of the holidays. The combination of limiting sugar and increasing protein seems to really pay off at school. I have heard from both her regular classroom teacher and her interventionist that she has seemed a lot more focused and well behaved since coming back from Christmas break. It is such an exciting thing as a mother to finally find something that works! It is also so exciting to find something that is relatively simple but impactful! A positive increase in control and focus without a diagnosis or medication is positive all around!

One of her current favorites for breakfast is a breakfast burrito. I simply scramble a couple of eggs and dump them in a tortilla. Then we add some shredded cheese and some crumbled bacon that we cooked in the oven at the beginning of the week. I roll them up and then cut it in half (one half for each girl). I love this recipe because it is increasing the protein the oldest is getting and it is increasing the Vitamin K that both girls are getting. The latter has been a focus of mine since the girls have both gotten crowns on their baby teeth because of cavities. Since I have never had a cavity, all of this dental stuff is new to me and super alarming! So, of course I have been researching ways to improve their diet to help strengthen their teeth. If you have any tips or tricks that you have had success with for focus or teeth remineralization, I’d love to hear about them!

DIYRecipes

My Favorite DIY Scrub

By Audrea1 Comment
A perfect relaxation combination!

Just this morning I was mixing up a batch of this scrub and I realized that I’d never shared this magical find with you! It is so simple and so CHEAP!! And my skin is incredibly smooth and baby soft when I make the time to use it regularly. I can simply use it in the shower or if I have extra pamper time I actually use it on my whole body and rub it in for a few minutes and then shower off. Some people recommend using a screen of some kind to collect it so that it doesn’t go down the drain, but I’ve never bothered to do that. I haven’t had any more than my usual drain cloggage either. We always had some trouble at our old house with the drains because of my or the girls’ hair. This never seemed to increase the trouble though.

So here is the recipe:

1/4 cup* used coffee grounds

1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon olive oil

*I use a 1/4 cup of coffee when I make it for my husband, I am a tea drinker myself. So, I don’t have an exact measurement for what the grounds come too after they’ve been used.

I just pour the grounds off of the filter into a mason jar, add in the oil and sugar. Stir it up and put on the lid. That’s it!

You will want to use it up within a week or two to prevent it from molding. Since these are all natural food ingredients that is a possibility. I just rub it into my legs and feet while I’m in the shower, right before I shave. Or, if I have time, I will do my whole body in the shower before I turn the shower on and then just shower as usual. It does a phenomenal job smoothing my rough knees and feet! I just love how smooth and soft my skin is when I’m done. The best results I’ve had were when I used it every day for a week during a Spring Break! It was amazing!!

HealthRecipes

Homemade Toothpaste, Take 2

By Audrea1 Comment

I did finally get around to making toothpaste again. The texture improved this time. I still used this recipe from Weed ’em and Reap minus the essential oils.

1/2 cup Filtered Water

1/4 cup Bentonite Clay

2 TBS Calcium/Magnesium Powder

3 TBS Coconut Oil

1/4 tsp Unprocessed Salt

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

10 drops Trace Minerals

Stevia (optional, I don’t put any in mine)

The recipe on the website also calls for 30 drops of essential oils. I didn’t put any in mine. This time I let it mix a bit longer in my mini food processor and it turned out downright airy! I also increased the water to about 3/4 cup since it was too thick/dry last time. It was truly like a mousse. The interesting thing was that after putting it in my jar and sealing it it continued to expand so I actually had to take more out of my jar and add it to my mom’s (I gave her some to use). Then after leaving it overnight, it deflated quite a bit. However, it was still thinner/creamier this time and more the consistency of actual toothpaste. I do not feel like I have it mastered at all yet. I would like to make it with the oils to improve the flavor and I would still like the texture and consistency to improve. It’s rather salty tasting without the essential oils and Stevia, but not too bad.

HealthRecipes

A New Breakfast

By Audrea2 Comments

In an effort to “Eat food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants” as suggested in Michael Pollan’s books, Food Rules and In Defense of Food, I stumbled upon a new “recipe”. I put recipe in quotations because really it’s just a mix of some veggies and eggs and Flat Out Bread that I had on hand. BUT it SURE is tasty!!!

1 Flat Out Fold It!

1 jalapeño pepper seeded and diced

1/2-1 small yellow summer squash diced

2 eggs

1/2-1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1/4 cup baby spinach

1-2 tablespoons salsa

So I sautéed the jalapeño and the small yellow summer squash in a skillet for 3-5 minutes until they begin to soften. Then I cracked two eggs into the pan and scrambled it all together. Then I spread mayonnaise on the Flat Out bread and topped that with 2-3 tablespoons of the eggy yumminess. I next added baby spinach on top of the eggs and topped it all with a tablespoon or so of salsa! Absolute veggie filled creamy magnificence!! So delicious! If you don’t like the heat of jalapeños I am sure it would be delicious with bell peppers as well! What are you favorite veggies to add to scrambled eggs, I’d love to hear!

HealthParentingRecipes

Weggles

By Audrea4 Comments

I am trying to plan out my meals for the week. I feel the best when I eat a diet as full of whole foods as possible. I have recently been reading about the idea of doing hash browns in a waffle maker. So, today when the girls went to visit and craft at the neighbors, I decided to try a new concoction for my breakfasts this week and maybe the girls would like it for some of their mornings as well. I have christened this concoction Weggles for the base of eggs and the use of the waffle maker.

Here is the recipe for my invention:

6 eggs

5-6 medium potatoes shredded

1 Tbsp powdered Garlic

1-2 cups spinach

1/2 cup mushrooms (I used canned mushroom pieces from Aldi)

2-3 Tbsp bacon grease (I would think you could substitute coconut oil)

1 tsp sea salt

I mixed it all together and then scooped about 1/3 cup of the mixture onto a hot and greased waffle iron. I smooshed/smoothed it out and then let it cook. It took longer than typical waffles and the longer you leave it the crispier the outcome. I really like the flavor and combination of potato and egg. My oldest really likes it (in fact she keeps getting in trouble for sneaking bites, right now), my youngest gave them a passing grade, but not a very enthusiastic pass.

ParentingRecipes

Sausage to the Rescue! (Sausage Egg “Muffins”)

By Audrea2 Comments

Our other go to breakfast for school mornings besides our wonderful Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins are Egg “Muffins”. These are either a whole egg or some beaten egg, milk and/or cheese mixture poured over lunch meat, ham, bacon or porchetta. The girls love these and I love the high amount of protein and low amount of sugar they have! HOWEVER, I HATE cleaning the muffin pans after baking them. Inevitably some of the egg gets through the lunch meat and into the bottom of the muffin cups where I almost cannot get it scrubbed out.

The last time I made them, I decided to try sausage as the “crust” for my muffins instead of lunch meat. I was thinking about doing another Whole 30 and that led me to think of the Scotch eggs people often eat while doing Whole 30’s. And, drum roll please……. the sausage worked like a dream. The bottom of the muffin cups cleaned with barely any scrubbing or pressure. I had not greased the top of the tins and my sausage did not go all the way up the muffin cups. So, I did have trouble with the ring of egg left at the top of the cups. However, I got 18 muffins from 1 pound of sausage and 12 eggs. Next time I will either grease the tops of the cups or use more sausage so that it goes all the way up the sides of each cup. However, for both ease of cleaning and flavor sausage was a HUGE hit!! The girls always like these, but they had rave reviews for the flavor this week!

Sausage Egg “Muffins”

1 lb sausage

12 eggs

Olive Oil Spray

I just use my hands to press a small chunk (about the size of an unshelled walnut) of sausage into the bottom and up the sides as far as it would go (I tried to keep it about a 1/8 of an inch thick; just thick enough to not be able to see the muffin pan at all through the sausage) of each muffin cup. I beat the eggs with a whisk and then used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the beaten eggs into each muffin cup to about 3/4 full. I bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. When they are firm to the touch they are done. I store them in an air tight container in the refrigerator for the week, taking the ones I need out each morning and heating them up in the microwave. My girls (they are 4 and 6) each eat 1 or 1 1/2 “muffins” every morning. I usually eat 2.

ParentingRecipes

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Granola

By Audrea3 Comments

I am trying granola recipes because I have the opportunity to sell some at an upcoming local craft event on Mother’s Day weekend at Granny’s Simple Blessings. And also because while I am not a big cereal fan, my girls and my husband are; and I am always looking for better, homemade options to replace (at least sometimes) their sugary choices!

So, once again I pulled out my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook to give me the basics for my recipe and started experimenting. This is what I came up with:

3 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

1/3 cup Ground Flax Seeds

1 1/2 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon Ground Cloves

1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

1/2 cup Honey

1 cup Raisins

I set the oven to 300 degrees. Whisked together the oats and spices. Used the life saving hack of greasing my measuring cup prior to filling it with honey, measured the honey and poured it into the oats and spices. Stirred together with my spatula (that I also greased with less success than my measuring cup). Poured into my 9 x 13 glass baking dish and a 10 x 10 metal baking pan. Spread out and baked for 20 minutes. I stirred the cereal and baked for an additional 10-15 minutes and then took out to cool. Previously when making granola I have always been SO FRUSTRATED with it sticking to the pan once it cools. I find the best thing to do to combat this is to stir it every 3-5 minutes as it cools to lessen (or in this case eliminate!!!!) the sticking. Once it cooled, I stirred in the raisins and then put it into old honey jars (1/2 gallon glass jars) to store! The cook book says a week at room temperature or over a month if you freeze it. You can freeze it right in the jars if you want to! Also, if you do not have old honey jars, you can use any air tight container, even a gallon size zippered plastic bag!

So, the girls and I tried some today for an afternoon snack/early dinner. It’s another crazy t-ball pictures/game and gymnastics night! My four year old deemed it “Really, really, really good!” when I asked for her honest opinion on the way to gymnastics. It was less sweet than I expected. I thought about adding brown sugar, but since I’m trying to avoid sugar as much as possible, I think I may increase the raisins and maybe add some dried dates next time. If you try it, let me know what you think. Be advised we like spice in our granola and baked goods! If you do not like a lot of spice you may want to try just 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and maybe just a 1/4 teaspoon of cloves. I upped the cloves for the spiciness and because I have read about so many benefits from cloves! I was a little worried about it after tasting a little straight from the oven. But, once I added the raisins and we covered it in milk it wasn’t too spicy at all! I used nutmeg to add warmth to the flavor.

ParentingRecipes

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (sugar-free ish)

By Audrea1 Comment

I have been working to do more food prep on the weekends to simplify making 20 lunches and breakfasts and usually 5 dinners every work week. It gets hard and it gets old!! BUT, I really care that my family, and my girls especially, have healthy food to eat. And, when you’re trying to use whole wheat flour and avoid artificial colors and stay on your budget, homemade is just about the only option there is. I like and even, on occasion, love cooking and baking. However, cooking and baking on top of a full time job away from home, in addition to parenting two energetic ladies and supporting a husband who coaches two sports and teaches English (not his favorite subject) and helping at church every Wednesday evening and keeping up with homework, gymnastics and t-ball it can get a little overwhelming sometimes!!

A couple of months ago, I added homemade breakfasts to my agenda. I did this after deciding that I just couldn’t condone the amount of sugar I was feeding my girls in the form of pop-tarts and granola bars. In addition to that, I decided that as much as possible and tolerable we should have truly whole wheat baked goods.

I’m not going to lie, it’s been a struggle!! I take the time to make something and usually the girls LOVE it when it comes out of the oven and even as they snack on it for the rest of the weekend. However, it seems invariably as we start the week that: “I don’t like that!” or “That’s gross!” or “Not again!” are the comments I hear. And it’s FRUSTRATING!! I’m trying to compete with Daddy’s Pop Tarts and I feel the need to give good, nourishing food that promotes focus and is filling for school! I spend extra effort and time because I believe it’s important and I love my daughters and it is SO easy to want to give up!

And so, drum roll please!!!!!!! Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins to the rescue!! We have successfully and deliciously made it through an entire week that ended with the very last of the bread for a bedtime snack because the girls liked it THAT MUCH!! I had been finding the recipes I was trying with whole wheat flour to be okay, but often dry or lacking flavor or just not as good as the “real” thing with white flour and sugar.

So, I pulled out my beloved Better Homes and Garden Cookbook and used their “Make it Mine Muffins” recipe as my guide. The result was a low fat, moist, light, DELICIOUS muffin with no white flour or sugar (except from the chocolate chips) that my daughters thought was a treat EVERY SINGLE time they ate them, my husband said was good and that I felt actually proud enough of, that we shared with our neighbor! So, here is the recipe:

BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS (or bread)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease muffin or bead pan. Yields about 29 muffins (I made 18 muffins and four small loaves of bread from my batch)

4 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup chocolate chips

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

4 large eggs

1/2 cup honey

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups milk

2 cups mashed bananas (I used thawed frozen bananas)

2 Tbsp ground flax seeds

I whisked together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, flax seeds and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Then I whisked the milk, bananas, honey and eggs together in a smaller bowl. I poured the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and mixed by hand until combined. Then I mixed in the chocolate chips by hand. Then I scooped into the greased muffin pans and loaf stone. Then I baked the muffins for 15-20 minutes and the loaves baked for 25-30 minutes.

HealthParentingRecipes

Homemade Toothpaste

By Audrea1 Comment

As promised, here is my follow up on our toothpaste making adventure! And it was an adventure with 3 helpers 6 and under. My youngest sister and I partnered together to get the ingredients and make this homemade toothpaste from the Weed ’em & Reap website. Then we launched our pioneering adventure with the help of my 2 daughters and her daughter. We worked to measure out the ingredients and let the ladies pour. We tried two different mixing methods (her blender and my mini food processor). We stopped half way through to have everyone try it and decide whether or not we wanted to double the batch. And we doubled it and we’re using it!

We did not have the Essential Oils on hand that the recipe calls for so we added some ground cinnamon for some flavor. We also decided to add some turmeric after reading that that is a natural tooth whitener. Ours came out much thicker than we expected, especially after reading all of the comments about watery mixes. We left it thick since that would be similar to if we decided to leave out the coconut oil and water (we included both) to make tooth powder.

She has been using the toothpaste, but still follows with her straight baking soda that she’s been brushing with for years. Her children just ran out of their tube of toothpaste (thanks in large part to a trip into the toilet during morning brushing time!!) and have just started using it. They are not sold on it.

My daughters and I have been using it since we made it about 2 weeks ago. They aren’t completely sold on it either and every once in a while they still ask for their strawberry toothpaste. I didn’t let them finish their “regular” toothpaste before switching! But, if told that their strawberry toothpaste is an option, but won’t make their teeth white like the new toothpaste the will choose the new. And, it’s true!! Both girls would have some yellow build up on their front teeth even right after brushing and they don’t now! I think my teeth are whiter than they were before, although it’s not a startling difference and my husband can’t see it! Also, although my tooth sensitivity is not completely gone, it is reduced and that is a HUGE deal to me. It’s a huge deal not just for my own comforts sake, but also because it means it might be strengthening the girls teeth and that is my BIGGEST goal!!

So, we will keep using it. I do want to work on the consistency next time because I think it will be easier for them to use and it might also help it last a little longer. Since it is so thick and is taking getting used to, I and Daddy are doing a lot more brushing than we used to do. Although, that may pay off in cleaner teeth, too! Overall, this is a big success. It was SUPER easy to whip up and I’m SUPER excited to get more oils from Northridge Oak to help with flavoring and perfect the consistency to get even more buy in and enthusiasm from the girls!