This is a delicious and frugal alternative to store bought French bread! You can even make it with whole wheat! We brought it to a friend’s house for dinner last night and it received unending rave reviews!
Archive | March, 2008
Homemade Natural Deodorant
For the updated version of this recipe, FAQ, along with demonstration video, please click here.
Did you know you can make your own wonderful deodorant with just a few completely natural ingredients? This recipe is awesome! It is frugal and very effective! Aaron & I have been using it for over a year now, and it has worked wonders. It smells wonderful, but very faint, so the hubby does not mind! We have tried all natural brands without much success, until we tried this! It is especially important for women to take thought to the harmful aluminum materials in deodorant as it has been linked to breast cancer, being that the armpits are so close to the chest.
Ingredients:
5-6 Tbsp Coconut oil
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot powder or cornstarch
Combine equal portions of baking soda & arrowroot powder. Then slowly add coconut oil and work it in with a spoon until it maintains the substance you desire. It should be about the same texture as the store bought kind, solid but able to be applied easily. You can either scoop this into your old dispensers or place in a small container with lid and apply with fingers with each use. After applying the product, you can just rub the remains into your hands as a lotion! This recipe lasts about 3 months for two people with regular daily use.
Read here and here for more wonderful uses of coconut oil!
For the best price around on organic quality coconut oil, check out Mountain Rose Herbs. Delicious for so many uses!
Book Review: Super Baby Food
Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron is a wonderful resource for new mommies (and older mommies as well)! Thanks to Jerilyn for recommending it to me!
I borrowed it conveniently from my local library and found it extremely useful. I do not necessarily agree that you have to start incorporating solids at 6 months (I prefer to wait as long as possible, giving them the full benefit of mommy’s milk), but this book provides very good ideas for gradually incorporating solids at whatever age. To tell you the truth, I was very overwhelmed when I started Karis on solids, and this book has been a lifesaver. The author comes from a healthy viewpoint (encouraging readers to feed babies organic food as much as possible), and gives tips for making cereals and all baby foods very nutritious by incorporating ground nuts/seeds, and other boosters.
This book will carry you from beginning solids to toddler-hood with an abundance of recipes, meal planning, cooking, storage, heating, and safety instructions. I think I am just going to have to buy it myself! I learned so much for increasing nutrition in our diet as well!
Seed Powerhouses: Sunflower Seeds
“I read once where if you are going to be shipwrecked on a proverbial desert island and you could choose only one food to take with you, you should choose sunflower seeds. They supposedly have every nutrient needed for human survival except vitamin C, but when sprouted they produce vitamin C.” ~ Ruth Yaron
Looking for a health-promoting snack? A handful of sunflower seeds will take care of your hunger, while also enhancing your health by supplying significant amounts of vitamin E, magnesium and selenium.
Resurrection Sunday Ideas
Here are some wonderful ideas for purposeful holiday activities for families!
Make your own Resurrection Eggs – we purchased a set like these growing up, but how much more fun and frugal to make your own!
Hot Cross Buns recipe – Traditional bread for Good Friday, with the cross as a symbol of Christ and the resurrection, in a healthy fashion! Fun baking project with kids.
How to Naturally Dye Eggs – ideas for dying eggs naturally!
Easter Cookies – cookies for easter with a purpose!
How do you seek to make your Easter celebrations purposeful?
Homemade Soaked Bagels
Here are the results from our bagel making today! My sister in laws, Autumn & Larissa, and cousin Amy joined me in the fun (along with all the little munckins)! We made cinnamon & raisin and plain sprinkled with poppy seeds & sesame seeds. This was incredibly easy to make! Well forth it! These were especially good right from the oven! You can use all or a portion of whole wheat flour as desired.
1 1/2 cups warm water (112-115 degrees F), divided
2 Tbsp acid medium (yogurt, kefir, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, etc)
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons dry yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups unbleached white flour PLUS 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (all whole wheat works as well!)
8 cups of water, for boiling
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
cinnamon & raisins, poppyseeds, sesame seeds, optional toppings
Directions:
- Combine 1 cup water, acid medium, flour and honey. Cover and soak at room temperature for 12-24 hours.
- After soaking, combine yeast, the remaining 1/2 cup for warm water with a dab of honey. Allow to puff up for about 5-10 minutes.
- Combine soaked flour, yeast, and salt and knead dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes, adding additional flour if necessary to prevent it from sticking. Dough should be fairly smooth and somewhat firm.
- Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled. Punch dough down (if making cinnamon raisin bagels, add the cinnamon and raisins now — knead just enough to swirl the cinnamon through the dough).
- Divide and shape into 12 balls. (For larger bagels, make only 8 balls.) Allow to rest for 5 minutes.When soaked, the dough will expand more significantly than unsoaked flour, so be sure to keep them on the smaller side.
- Bring 2 quarts of water to boil.
- Make a hole in each ball of dough and pull open about 2 inches, making a bagel shape. Place the shaped dough onto a cookie sheet and cover for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Drop 2 or 3 bagels at a time into the boiling water for about 45 seconds to 2 minutes, turning each once. Drain cooked bagels on a wire rack.
- Mix egg white and water; brush tops with egg white mixture and top with optional toppings, if using.
- Place bagels on greased baking sheets.Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, turning once half-way through baking. (If making plain bagels, you can flip the bagels; otherwise, just rotate.) Bagels will be lightly browned and shiny.
Enjoy!
Kitchen Tip: Washing Dishes with Baking Soda
After a relaxing dinner, who feels like doing the dishes? Or how about staying on top of the dishes with little ones in tow? I love to clean up as I go, trying to put things away as I use them, but sometimes I am too exhausted from a busy day or taking care of a cranky baby (like today!) to have the energy to do the dishes completely. But if I let them lie in the sink overnight, it is often a huge extra effort to scrub them clean the next morning!
The simple solution: baking soda.
Nuts vs. Seeds – A Nutritious Luxury?
Came across this quote in the Tightwad Gazette that got me thinking.
“N is for nuts. I figure you’d have to be nuts to pay $4 a pound [back in the 90's] for something that only adds a bit of crunch to a cookie. At best, they are a healthful extravagence. Instead, I buy bulk, shelled sunflower seeds from a local health food store. On sale, they are 89 cents a pound [also back in the 90's].”
Aaron & I have never been real bigs fans of nuts, and I have been turned off by the high costs for good quality raw nuts in health food stores (average of $10 per pound for organic, raw walnuts). Could seeds be a more frugal alternative without losing out on the nutrition of nuts?
Pointing Children to God – Tribute to My Parents -Part 3
Part 1, Part 2….and lastly, Part 3
Keeping the family together is a precious tool in pointing children to God! They witness first-hand the mighty God that we serve through church, worship, and the world around us! Continue Reading →
Book Club Begins!
We are beginning chapter 1 of The True Woman this week! Pick up your copy and begin reading! It’s not too late to join us! Next Monday, March 24, I will post a recap of the chapter and open it up for discussion. Let us spear one another on to love and good works!