Homemade Plain Yogurt & Greek Yogurt

Sorry that I've been away for a bit. Things were a bit anxious on the homefront, but it's getting ironed out as I type this. Yay for patience!

Anyway, I thought I'd post a recipe that several friends have asked for. I got the original yogurt recipe from my friend TheVillageBeader, but the Greek Yogurt recipe is all mine. :) If you make it, let me know how it goes! I'd love to hear all about it.

Necessary equipment:

• 16-cup crock pot
• 1-cup measuring cup
• Large, non-reactive pot (stainless steel works great)
• Candy thermometer, if desired but not necessary

Ingredients:

• 1 gallon skim (fat-free) milk
• 1 cup plain yogurt, room temperature (with active cultures)
• Ice

Plug in crock pot and set on low. Pour milk into large pot on stove and heat until frothy and bubbly (~180F on a candy thermometer) but not yet boiling. Stir often to avoid scorching the milk. While the milk is heating, fill your kitchen sink with cold water, putting several trays of ice cubes into the water. When the milk is at the right temperature, remove the pot from the stove and put it into the sink of cold water, being careful not to get any water into the pot. Stir the milk continuously until the milk can barely be felt when put on your wrist (like a newborn's bottle; ~ 100F). Whisk the yogurt into the milk, taking care to make sure that there are minimal lumps.

Pour the milk/yogurt mix into the crock pot and cover. Turn the crock pot off, unplug it, and wrap it in a large towel or other cloth. Let sit for 6-8 hours, then refrigerate for 12-24 hours. Be careful not to disturb the yogurt too much when you put it into the fridge. When firm, put into air-tight containers and use within two weeks.

Makes 17 cups of yogurt.

To make Greek Yogurt, you'll need the following:

• About 3' x 6' piece of cheese cloth
• Bungy Cord
• Something to hang the cheese cloth from
• Hand-mixer

Carefully wash the cheese cloth. Double cheese cloth short-wise to make a 3' x 3' square. Lay it out evenly in a large mixing bowl. Pour the yogurt into the cheese cloth, being careful to keep the edges above the yogurt. Tie the opposite corners of the cloth together tightly to make a package of the yogurt. Hang the bungee cord from whatever you're using, and then hang the package of yogurt from the bungee cord, allowing the yogurt to drain into the bowl used previously. Let the yogurt drain for 12-24 hours in a cool place. When it no longer drips, take the yogurt down, whip with with the hand-mixer until smooth and creamy. Refridgerate and use within one week.

Makes about 8 cups.

A few tips for raising healthy kids

I inadvertantly stepped on a few toes with a comment that someone watching what she ate didn't have to make seperate meals for her kids. In fact, that it was better for everyone to be eating the same healthy foods. The response was quick - and defensive. "My kids are 2 and 3 years old. They're not going to eat salads. And kids are picky eaters, anyway." I'm afraid that I'm going to have to disagree.

Before I get too far into this, here's my disclaimer: my only claim to expertise is that I managed to raise four children and didn't kill any of them with my inadequacies. They are also all happy, healthy kids who love to exercise and eat their veggies every day. So, while I'm offering my suggestions, I'm not saying that they're the best - and certainly not the only - way to raise healthy eaters. These are the things that worked for me and my children, and they might help you out, too.
So, here goes:

• Cut out all pre-packaged foods like boxed mac and cheese, Hamburger Helper, etc. I know, I know, they're easy and the kids love them. Well, so is opening a box of Twinkies, but it doesn't mean that we feed our children those, either. I promise you that the kids won't really notice or care, and if they do, then slowly wean them off the stuff. If you want simple, easy, quick meals that little ones will enjoy, keep reading. I have better options coming.
• ALWAYS have fresh fruits and veggies out and available. I put carrot and celery sticks within easy reach of the kids throughout the day. I still have a fruit bowl always stocked on my dining room table, and the kids are usually the first to let me know when it's getting low.
• Reverse psychology is your friend. It works, I swear. My favorite line to get the kids to try new things was, "Oh, I don't know, honey. I don't think you'd like it." That was the challenge they needed, and it inevitably ended with them tasting - and usually liking - whatever I had in my hand. Another was, "Grown ups are really the only ones who'd like this, I think." Challenge accepted!
• Renaming foods makes them tasty. I have no idea why this works, but it does. And not just my kids, either. The neighbors were astounded when I convinced their incredibly picky 3 year old to eat an egg - an ooey, gooey, RUNNY egg. How? By cooking it in a circle cut into a piece of bread and calling it a Pirate's Eye. Dolmathes are still called Monkey Toes at my house, and while goulash was "gross", "American Mix" was awesome.
• "You HAVE to at least taste it." I was never one for making the kids clean their plates, but they had to at least taste everything that was made. One bite never killed anyone, I'd tell them, and so they learned to try new things. At least once a week I made something they'd never had before, and sometimes it was a hit (tzatziki is still a favorite) while other times it fell totallly flat (duck is banished from the house). The point was that my kids were never picky eaters because they weren't allowed to be. Children are what they learn.
•  Pre-planning is your best friend. When you get home from the store, immediately pre-prepare everything before it goes into the freezer. I would cut chicken breasts into "fingers", make serving sizes of frozen fruit, and pre-make hamburger patties. Make up your own, healthier versions of the pre-boxed stuff and keep them on hand. (There are a ton of recipes online.)
• Teach serving sizes. When I would serve my kids, they were allowed one serving size to start. If they wanted more, they could always have it, but again, in the correct serving size. That way, they understood what was an "appropriate" amount.
• Give them choices. Instead of buying pre-packaged, pre-sweetened oatmeal bags, I would set out a variety of toppings and make one big batch of plain oatmeal. The kids had a blast putting in exactly what they wanted (measured first, so they knew serving sizes), and I knew it was healthy.
• Let them help in the kitchen. This is a hard one when you're tired and just want to get things done, but it really does help them want to eat what you're giving them. They feel like they had a hand in making it, and therefore they have a stake in getting it eaten. I started with them young - 3 or 4 - with making the veggie tray or salads.

I believe that healthy habits start young, so I taught my kids how to eat healthy foods in appropriate quantities. Sure, we occasionally had pancakes for dinner and ice cream for breakfast, but those were treat days and rare, and the kids understood why. I never counted their calories, but I did teach them serving sizes ("Want a second helping? Okay, sounds good.") and how to snack healthy.

And guess what happened? It made it a million times easier for me to eat healthy. No having to make two meals. No having to answer awkward questions about why I had to eat something different from them. No having unhealthy foods around to tempt me. It was win-win for everyone.

Staying cool without AC

My family and I are blessed to be living in a 100+ year old house in the heart of the oldest part of town. In fact, Abraham Lincoln is said to have slept in the house across the street during a whistle-stop tour through Illinois when he ran for Senator. It's charming with lots of woodwork, plenty of high ceilings... and absolutely no air-conditioning to speak of.

Central Illinois is known for its ridiculously hot, humid summers. Today topped 95F/33C and it's only mid-June. Imagine what our Augusts are like!

I may have mentioned this before, but I'm a little on the cheap side. Okay, a lot on the cheap side, and I just can't see wasting electricity on a window air-conditioner when there are plenty of options for keeping cool that are mostly free. For example, a wet head does wonders to keep one cool, especially when stationed directly in front of a fan. (Plus, you get to make those fun motor-boat noises!)

Neat trick: if you open all of the doors in the house and put one fan in a window and two others stationed throughout the house all facing in a circle from the window fan, you get an amazing wind through the house! You have to keep rocks on any loose papers and it gets a bit noisy, but that's a small price to pay.

One of my favorite things to do in this kind of heat is to play in the hose. I'm well-aware that I'm truly into my 40s and my teenagers are embarrassed by my antics, but it's a heck of a lot of fun running through the sprinkler no matter what your age is! And if I can sneak up on them, a water balloon definitely hits the mark.

Thanks to some of our friends here, we've been doing great keeping the oven off and our bellies full, too. We've mostly been living on fruit smoothies, tortilla wraps, and sandwiches, which have the added bonus of being mostly healthy, too.

I can only hope that the weather will break soon, but I can't count on it. Instead, I have to make sure that I have enough bags of ice on hand to keep everyone in a slightly better mood than we have any right to be. That and icies. And ice cream. And a trip to the movie theater when it gets really really bad. Oy!

Homemade Mosquito Repellent

I dislike the smell of most commercial bug sprays, so I decided to make my own. This is the recipe that I use. It's 100% natural, smells lovely, and works great!

1/2 cup grape seed oil (baby oil works, too, but it should be scentless)
5 drops pennyroyal oil
3 drops eucalyptus oil
3 drops cinnamon oil (a 3" stick of cinnamon put into the oil will work, too)

Combine all of the ingredients in a small bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Shake it well before putting on.

If you dislike oil-based concoctions, you can also use a scentless lotion for a base. Since I tend to suffer from dry skin and the pennyroyal and cinnamon oils can cause some drying, I prefer the grape seed oil.

It's also incredibly important that you test the various oils on the inside of your arm before you use them. Some can cause some very uncomfortable blisters if you're sensitive to them.

Anyone got some summer recipes?

It's the middle of May and our temperatures are hovering in the high-80s already. The humidity isn't as bad as August, but that hasn't made the heat less miserable for those of us without air-conditioning. Windows are open, fans fully ensconced, and still, we're struggling. Unfortunately, there are children in the house and neighbors not far off, so I'm limited in how far down I can strip to keep cool. I'm sure you can guess that the last thing we want to do in this heat is to fire up the stove. The grill hasn't worked for some time, and we're not really in a rush to replace it for the time being. All of this leaves us in a bind when it comes to dinner.

If we don't want to spend too long sweating over a hot stove, what do we make? I'm somewhat limited in that I dislike lettuce, so green salads just aren't much of an option for me. So when the dreaded question, "What's for dinner?" comes up, I have no real answer. Tonight, to avoid dealing with all of it, I bought a pre-roasted chicken from the grocery store, some raw veggies, and olive-oil and herb goat cheese. It was delicious, and we ate healthier than normal. But that's going to end up getting expensive, and I don't really want it every day all summer.

Help? Any suggestions on healthy, cheap recipes that require little to no cooking?

A happy medium in environmental care

Because I love DIY stuff for the home, I read a lot of blogs that offer suggestions on living the natural life. Most of the time, the blogs give great advice and wonderful ideas on how to cut costs by doing it yourself. Unfortunately, I often find that they are also very ... extreme in their views.

I appreciate that there are those who have the time, energy, and money to live a very pro-biotic lifestyle. I think it's amazing that they dedicate that much of their lives to avoiding anything they believe to be "unnatural", and I applaud them for it. But I gotta' say, I just couldn't do it.

Sure, I love to make my own laundry soap, but that's because I'm cheap, not because I worry about chemicals, dyes, or scents. I mean, it's great that my laundry soap doesn't have much if any of that, but it's a by-product of my frugality, not the goal of it. I normally make an effort to make healthy frozen meals that I can bring for my lunches, but again, that's because I'd rather spend $1.25 for it than the $5 I'd pay at the grocery store for something less tasty and more salty. That doing so results in less packaging garbage is a happy bonus.

As a working mother of four teenagers and the wife of a full-time student, I just don't have the energy to worry about whether the meat my family eats is completely grass-fed and antibiotic-free. I don't have the time to run to three different stores to get the healthiest, safest, most eco-friendly things for my family. My shopping trips tend to be an hour of sheer hell, often-times spending over $200 a week on just the basics. (Did I mention that three of the teenagers are boys?)

We recycle, but I don't cry if a bottle ends up in the trash. We eat healthy whenever possible, but yes, cans are often opened when dinner is being made. I enjoy making my own bread, but the store-bought stuff has a special place on top of my fridge. I have far too much stress already in my life to fret over these kinds of things, and I think it's unfair of me to impose this on my family, too. As a family, we have to decide what works for us.

I'm a firm believer in doing the small things to make whatever difference you can. Be smart and simplify when you can, but don't kill yourself to do it. Don't run the water while you're brushing your teeth, but take a bath every now and then if you want. Recycle if you can, but don't freak out if it just doesn't work for your family. Buy a hard water bottle to carry with you, but if you forget it, don't worry about buying a single bottle of water every once in a while.

At the end of the day, the reason people are panicking over our environment is because so many aren't bothering to even worry about the simple, easy things they can do every day. You don't have to go to the extreme on either side. A happy middle can be just that... happy.

Plarn? Now that's just plain brilliant!

I found this neat new website today called Craftster.Org. (I seem to have been the last crafter alive to have found this place, but that doesn't make it any less cool.) Anyway, there's a picture of a laundry basket that a crafter made out of something called "plarn", which I had never heard of. It is, apparently, a type of plastic yarn made out of recycled plastic grocery bags. You know the ones I'm talking about.

Being the resourceful Googler that I am, I immediately wanted to find a simple tutorial on how to make the stuff so that I could make my own laundry basket. And ta-da! I found one!

This is from myrecycledbags.com, and it makes the process simple and easy. You'll be creating your own plarn in no time.

Plarn How-To

• Cutting

Lay recycled bag out flat

Fold in half lengthwise then fold in half again

Cut off top handles

Cut bag in strips about 1 inch wide or as desired

Set aside the end of bag where bottom edge was glued. The ends and the handles can be recycled either as stuffing for other projects, packing material for shipping, or taken to your local recycling bin for plastic bags.

• Tying strips together

Take two strips and inter-twine together as shown

Gently pull on ends to knot two strips together

Connect next strip to last strip in the same manner

Continue connecting strips until you have a large ball of plastic “yarn”

Tips:

Pull ends evenly to create a smooth and flat strip.

If you find your strip doesn’t lie flat between knots, you didn’t pull evenly which creates a bunched strip. Just make sure your strip is even before you pull your knot tight between the two connected strips. To fix a bunched strip, just loosen your knot between the strips then pull on the ends again to make your strip flat and smooth.

Here's the link, with pictures for the tutorial. Very helpful.

http://www.myrecycledbags.com/2007/02/17/instructions-for-cutting-plastic-bags-creating-recycled-plastic-yarn/

Here's a picture of the laundry bag:

Special thanks to ToadallyDee from craftster.org.

 There aren't any instructions, so I'm just going to play around until I get something that works reasonably well. In the meantime, I think I'm going to set my 13-year-old daughter to making the plarn for me from our piles and piles of bags to combat her recurring bouts of boredom. I'll let you know how it goes.

Lunchtime chatter leads to great recycling ideas!

At lunch on Friday, TheVillageBeader and I were talking about different ways to use bottle caps, can lids, and various other odds and ends. She's a crafter and often sees really creative ways to use fairly mundane things. I, on the other hand, am great at following directions rather than creating my own things, but occasionally even I come up with something fun.

Anyway, we came up with several ideas that seemed worthy of sharing:

• Use bottle caps as "weights" for candle-making. Drill a hole in the cap with a nail. Tie a knot in one end of the wick and draw the long end up through the hole, having the knot come up on the flat side of the cap. Add a drop or two of melted wax to the knot and press it firmly to the bottom of the candle mold. Tie the other end of the wick to a pencil or dowel and settle across the mold's top. Pour the wax in, and voila!
• Bottle caps make a funky, colorful decoration on wide leather belts. To keep from scratching yourself, pound the edges out flat rather than leaving them curled up.
• Wine bottle corks make great trivets and coasters. Cut them in half length-wise and then glue them down in neat designs to a 1/4" piece of plywood cut to whatever shape you want.
• Glass jars (think empty jelly, spaghetti and pickle jars) can be made into beautiful candle holders. Pour an inch of dried beans in the bottom and put a votive candle inside. (Lots of colors to choose from just by using different types of beans and different colored candles.) If you decide to use the lid, make sure you punch holes in the top so air can get in or the flame won't last long.
• The tops of tin cans make lovely wind chimes. Drill holes in the centers of the tops. Tie a knot in one end of a long string, wire, or cord, thread a lid onto the string, tie another knot two inches above the lid, thread another lid onto the string, tie another knot, thread another lid - continue until you have as many lids on the string as you'd like. Make another two or three strings with lids on them. Tie the strings together at the top and hang.

Any other ideas to share? What suggestions do you have to re-cycle items around the house? I'd love to hear them!

Make It From Scratch Day!

I started this event on the Facebook page with great results! So now, I'm going to add  it here, too. Here's the information:

This is a challenge! On this day, make your entire meal from scratch. No store-bought sauces, breads, spice mixes, frozen veggies, etc. Make your dinner just like they would have 100 years ago, but with modern utensils and equipment. Give it a shot and see how it goes. 

I promise that it's not nearly as hard as you might think, but it does require some pre-planning and a little bit of time. Feel free to post suggestions, problems, and recipes. We'll help you through this challenge. :)

This is going to be a recurring challenge for the last Sunday of every month. Make your family something completely healthy with fresh ingredients while you stretch your culinary skills!

 Post your menu here, as well as any problems or things that you've learned here. I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

DIY Lip Balm

• 1 cup vaseline (or other non-petroleum vaseline-like substance*)
• 2 packets unsweetened cherry Kool-Aid (r)
• 2 single-serving packets Stevia (r)

In a glass 2-cup measuring cup, heat vaseline in one-minute increments in the microwave, stirring between each minute. When it's fully melted, add Kool-Aid and Stevia, stirring until thoroughly dissolved. (If the vaseline starts to thicken, put back in the microwave for 30 seconds or so until well-melted again.) When the Kool-Aid is completely dissolved, pour into individual containers.

You can use any flavor of Kool-Aid that you want to achieve the color you want. Mix and match until you get the right hue, and the more you add to the vaseline, the deeper the color will be.

I would love to see pictures of some of you wearing your new lip balm! I plan to make some for my daughter and will post pics when I convince her to try it.

A friend of mine passed this recipe on to me today at work. (Thanks, TheVillageBeader!) It sounds incredibly simple and fun to do, so I thought I'd pass this on to all of you. She's planning to make it as gifts, which is brilliant! With the end-of-year stuff at school, this might not be a bad idea to add to gift bags for the female teachers.

* A quick, non-petroleum vaseline is to melt 2-3 ounces of beeswax then combine with 1 cup of vegetable oil. Mix well and let cool to make sure it's the right consistency. If too thin, add more beeswax. If too thick, add more oil.

Whole Cardamon Seeds? Now What Do I Do?

A day or so ago, I stopped by the local tea shop to pick up some herbs for pickling. I had searched high and low at the local grocery store for what I thought were whole cardamon seeds for my regular pickling spice. Unfortunately - fortunately? - they'd had none, and so I'd popped into the Walnut Street Tea Co., as they regularly have what no one else has, and usually at a better price than expected. And per the norm, they did. In fact, they had a beautiful, gallon-sized jar full of the desired herb.

Digging in with gusto, I bought about 1/3 of a pound of the herb to the tune of $9. A bit heftier than I usually spend on spices - especially there - and the herbs looked a lot different than I remembered, but I bought them quickly and raced home so that I could get dinner started.

Some time later, as I pulled out my pickling spice recipe, I realized that I'd made a huge mistake. It wasn't CARDAMON seeds that I needed, but rather whole CORIANDER seeds! Doh! I have no idea how I mixed the two up, but somehow, in my over-burdened little mommy mind, I'd managed to do just that. So, now, I have $9 worth of an herb I have never used before, and none of the herb that I actually need. Brilliant, Roana, absolutely brilliant.

The good news is that Walnut Street Tea Co. also has whole coriander seeds, and while I haven't had time to grab some yet, I can do so easily enough. That leaves me, however, with the problem of what to do with the Cardamon. I've heard that it's often used in Indian food, but I've not seen it in the very few recipes that I've picked up over the years. It's a very potent-smelling herb, I must say, so whatever it goes in, it will be noticed.

As any good computer user in the year 2012, I will be Google-ing it for possible recipes, but I thought I'd throw it out there for those of you who read this blog before I do. Have you ever used this herb? If so, how and in what? Any recipes that you have would be greatly appreciated, and to show my thanks, I'll happily bundle off one half of my cardamon stash and send it along to the person who comments with the first recipe.

I look forward to hearing from people soon. In the meantime, off to The Ultimate Search Engine, glass of chardonnay in hand. Have a great night!

Homemade Breakfast Sausage Gravy

Some time ago, I started playing around with making breakfast sausage. I liked what was out there, but I didn't love it. Inevitably, I ended up spicing it more when I made my sausage gravy anyway, so I decided to see how hard it was to make my own. Guess what? It's not hard at all. The following is the recipe that my family loves, but don't be afraid to play around with the spices to make it what you want.

Sausage

• 2 lbs ground pork
• 2 tablespoons ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons ground sage
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Thyme
• 3/4 cup ice-cold water

Combine all of the ingredients together well. Put in a large zip-lock bag and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. 

Brown meat and drain, keeping drippings.

Gravy

• Drippings
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups whole milk

Heat drippings to boiling. Add flour, whisking well to avoid lumps. When thoroughly incorporated, add a small amount of milk, whisking briskly. When thoroughly incorporated and heated through, add more milk, again whisking briskly. Continue slowly adding milk, whisking, and heating through until gravy is the right consistency. Once the gravy is just right, add drained sausage and stir well, heating through. 

I admit that I rarely make my own biscuits, mostly because no one in the family really likes breakfast biscuits. Instead, we serve the sausage gravy over roasted potatoes. 

Pickled and Beeted Hard-Boiled Eggs

When I was little, my dad used to make the best pickled and beeted hard-boiled eggs around. These brilliant purple eggs have a delicious balance of sour and sweet, and they're gorgeous to look at, too. Dad died before I could get his recipe, but I took a stab at making them based on what Mom remembered. Between Mom's memory, a handful of pickling recipes I found online, and my own tastes, I managed to come pretty close to what Dad used to make. I think mine are a little sweeter, though less sweet than most of the recipes I found online. Anyway, my recipe is as follows:

• 2 doz. hard-boiled eggs, peeled
• 4 cans sliced beets, reserving liquid
• 2 large yellow onions, sliced
• 4 cups white vinegar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 cups water
• 3 T pickling spices of your choice (I make my own up; I'll post that recipe later)

Layer eggs, beets, and onion slices in a one-gallon jar. Combine the rest of the ingredients and reserved beet juice in a large sauce pan. Heat until sugar dissolves. Let cool to about 100F, then pour into one-gallon jar. Add cool water until liquid covers the eggs completely. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before eating. 

These eggs give beautiful color to a salad, but I prefer to eat them straight out of the jar. 

Hay Fever Tea

It's that time of year again, and I'm weepy, worn out, and headachy as hell because of it. Yes, I'm talking about Hay Fever Season. *a-choo* *sniffle* Living in the Chicago area, I never had to deal with this, but the last six Springs have found me an absolute mess since I moved to Champaign. I blame the corn fields that surround us, but whatever the reason, it's a cure that I had to find. The typical pharmaceutics didn't work, and I'm fairly certain that I tried them all. Then I read about Nettle Leaf on mountainroseherbs.com. I ordered some leaves, and set to work on finding the right recipe to help eliminate my sneezes. This is what I found:

Hay Fever Tea

• 2 teaspoons Nettle Leaf
• 2 teaspoons Peppermint Leaf
• 1 teaspoon Licorice Root

Steep the above in hot - not boiling - water for 15 minutes. Add a teaspoon of honey to flavor, and drink up! 

I usually have several cups of tea throughout the day, which helps a lot. It took a lot of tweaking to find the right mix that worked for me, but it was worth the effort. 

To borrow from Mountain Rose Herbs: For educational purposes only This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Natural Weed Killer

Just saw this recipe at www.buildinghomegarden.com and thought I would pass it along. I'm going to try it on my brick patio tonight to get rid of the weeds before my darling husband's birthday party on Saturday.

Natural Weed Killer

I use a natural weed killer on my brick walkway. It effectively prevents weeds from growing between the bricks. This safe weed killer is cheap and easy to make at home. What's not to like?

The recipe for natural weed killer is simple. Combine 1 gallon of white vinegar with 1 cup of salt and a tablespoon of liquid dish soap. The soap is a wetting agent that helps the vinegar and salt mix. Stir it all up and pour or spray on the weeds.

Use this and you won't have weeds for 3 to 6 months. Don't get this natural weed killer on any plants you want to keep because it's actually a soil sterilizer. It isn't selective and could harm shrubs.

I've also seen another recipe for a natural weed killer. This one mixes one gallon of 10% vinegar with an ounce of orange oil and a teaspoon of liquid soap. Spray or pour it on the weeds on a hot an sunny day. I haven't tried this one but it sounds good.

Special thanks to Mindy at Brooks Hobby Farm for bringing this up. She'd tried pure vinegar, something I'd heard of before, with no luck. One of her Facebook friends linked the above. I'll let you know how it works once I give it a shot myself.

Cheap and Easy Finger Paints

Yesterday, I was talking to my son, JM, about the stuff we used to do when he and his brothers were little. It reminded me of the fun they used to have in the bathtub playing with finger paints. Of course, we almost always ran out of the expensive paints before the boys were tired of the game, which made me improvise a little one day.

It occurred to me that what we needed was something that smeared easily, was colorful, and non-toxic (mostly). So, I ran to the kitchen and looked around. A quick peak into the fridge gave me an idea. I grabbed the large containers of ketchup and yellow mustard and brought it back to the bathroom. The boys LOVED it! They emptied both containers (killing about $2.50 in ketchup and mustard compared to the much smaller amount of finger paints to the tune of $10), and covered each other and the tub surround completely.

When they were done, I just stood them up and turned on the shower. We had a handle sprayer that let me take it down and completely rinse them - and the shower - fairly easily. The best thing was that I found out that the vinegar in the ketchup and mustard did a fabulous job of cleaning the hard-water stains on the tile!

We did have to have a fairly involved conversation about how ketchup and mustard was only to eat on their food unless they were in the bathtub sans clothes - preferably with Mom nearby - but it was a fun, affordable way to be creative that had the added bonus of helping clean the bathroom.

Be creative with the things you let your kids play with. It doesn't have to cost a lot to be fun and exciting for little ones. A few other options for fun in the tub are:

• Shaving Cream - it's just foamy soap! No matter how messy they get, it cleans right up.
• Corn Starch - a box of corn starch in the bottom of a 13x9 pan with 3 cups of water = endless textile fun. When you're done with it, just drain the water down the tub drain and scoop the corn starch into the garbage. (NOTE: use this in an empty tub, and do not let the corn starch go down the drain unless you and Draino(tm) are already on a first-name basis.)
• Cheap sponges cut into letters - you can buy them at any dollar store, and they're great for sticking to the wall during bathtime. I'm fairly certain that JM learned his letters by playing with these.
• Mixing cups, funnels, and plastic bowls - BEST bathtime toys EVER! 
• Shipping popcorn - they float, they move in the waves easily, and they're generally free. 

It's up to us as parents to help our kids develop their creativity, and the best way to do so is to use our own. Look around your house for things that are safe that your kids can use in fun ways, then let them get messy. 

Homemade Laundry Soap

I've had a ton of requests for this, so I thought I should get it put up as quickly as possible. It's a variation on the recipe that my friend Terra Vail gave me. I added an extra bar of soap because it's just easier to remember 2/2/2 for the recipe, so you could get away with only using one bar.


Laundry detergent

1 quart Water (boiling)
2 cups Bar soap (your preference of brand, grated)
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda

• Add finely grated bar soap to the boiling water and stir until soap is melted. Careful! It WILL boil over if the flame is too high. Best to keep it on low heat until soap is melted.
• Pour the soapy water into a clean 5-gallon pail and add the Borax and Washing Soda. Stir well until all is dissolved. (I use a wand mixer to make sure it's well and truly combined. It also helps the mixture gel up faster this way.)
• Add 4 gallons of warm water, and stir again until well mixed.
• Cover pail or recycle old laundry soap containers by filling them with your homemade soap. Use 1/2 cup for each load of laundry. Stir the soap each time you use it (it will gel).

Ted & Liz's Spinach Lasagna

A long time ago, when I was in college, a couple of friends of mine taught me how to make the best spinach lasagna that I've ever had. Part of what made it so amazing was how simple and clean the flavors were, and how easy it was to make. Since then, I've made a few changes, but not many. Most of the time I make my own sauce rather than relying on store-bought (I don't like how sweet they usually are), and occasionally I'll mix browned ground pork into the sauce, too.

YIELD 8      ACTIVE TIME 20      TOTAL TIME 1:50

INGREDIENTS
1 box Lasagna noodles
1 lg jar Spaghetti sauce
1 lb spinach, fresh, cleaned and trimmed
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

INSTRUCTIONS
Coat the bottom of a deep 9" x 13" pan with 1/2 cup sauce. Layer uncooked lasagna noodles on bottom to cover, overlapping slightly. Pour 1/3 of remaining sauce over noodles. Layer half of spinach, half of mushrooms, 1/3 mozzarella cheese, 1/3 ricotta, and 1/3 Parmesan cheese, in that order. Top with another layer of noodles. Add 1/3 of sauce over noodles. Layer the rest of the spinach and mushrooms, 1/3 mozzarella cheese, 1/3 ricotta, and 1/3 Parmesan. Add another layer of noodles and remaining sauce and cheeses. Cover with foil and bake in a 350F oven for 50 minutes. Remove foil and bake at 450F for another 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is lightly browned and bubbly.

Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before cutting into. Best served with a salad and garlic bread.

NOTES
A deep dish is essential, but if you only have a regular cake pan, be sure to place an old cookie sheet on the bottom of the oven to catch any sauce that bubbles over. Always use the freshest ingredients you can find.

The Natural World

I grew up in a place and time that combined modern conveniences with old-world hard work. We had an automatic washing machine, and a clothes line. Our bread came from the store, but the tortillas were homemade every Sunday. Things have changed a lot since then.

Now, I'm tied to my family every moment of every day through some form of electronic device, and if I'm not, I better have a good reason for it. Anything and everything can be bought - and discarded. The waste inherent in this kind of world saddens me immensely, and it inspires me to do what I can to relieve some of it.

There are so many ways that a person can make changes in their lives that help eliminate waste, rid themselves of unnecessary chemicals, and overall make their world more natural and safe. Because of this, I've taken to making more and more of my household cleaners, or using what I have on hand rather than running to the store for specialized cleaners.

Some of the things that I do take a little bit of extra time, others take less time than a trip to the store. All of them make me feel just a little bit better about my place in the world.

Just a few tips for those of you who wish to make small, simple changes in your life that could have big changes for the environment... and your coin purse:

• Vinegar is the best window cleaner you can find. It also polishes stainless steel beautifully, and when sprayed onto hard water and left to soak for about 10 minutes, will make scrubbing the tub much easier.
• A tablespoon of bleach in a gallon of water does exactly the same job of killing germs as the antibiotic soaps bought in the stores at a much lower price. Plus, it doesn't leave a residue. 
• Super Washing Soda, available in most hardware and grocery stores, makes a fantastic stain-remover for whites. Dampen the fabric, add a small amount of soap, and rub well. Add a little more water, rub well again, and then let sit for about 30 minutes before throwing into the wash.
• Salt is an amazing soft abrasive for regular household cleaning. I use it to scrub burnt-on food on my enamel stove top completely clean. 

We've been trained to believe that we need specialized cleaners for different areas in our houses, but the truth is that we need just four things to get the house clean: a soap, an abrasive (salt), an acid (vinegar) and a base (bleach). These four things will clean your house just as well and just as thoroughly as the huge variety of cleaners at the store, and sometimes better. All the while, saving you hundreds of dollars a year.

My challenge to you is to try these tips for one month, keeping a close eye on how much it costs. Let me know what you think, and whether or not you think the changes are worth it for you.