Compost Crackers Fail and Natural Odor Eliminator

Compost Crackers (using pulp from juicing to dehydrate and make crackers)-I've seen others make them but have never actually seen a recipe for them. For as long as we've been juicing I can't believe I've never tried this before! Normally I give the juicing pulp to our chickens...who look at it, and then look at me with a "Pulp again, seriously?" kind of look. The roosters rustle their feathers, coc-a-doodle at me, and get in a fighting stance. So using the pulp for another use would be a blessing to my relationship with our flock! But sadly, they didn't turn out well. After 5 patches (I was doing a juice fast and had a ton of pulp to play with) I finally got a few batches that was thick enough it didn't crumble when you picked it up and even though I heavily seasoned them, they didn't taste very good. All the kids tasted them and spit them out. I took a bite and had a hard time swallowing them. Not to mention, with all these batches in the dehydrator for something like three days straight, the house smelled horrid! I had our air purifier going on high and still the smell knocked you out when you walked in the house. Then sitting at my oldest sons wrestling practice, I could still smell them. My jacket had absorbed the smell. I couldn't even stand to smell myself!!! My jacket is the first thing around the corner from the kitchen, so it got the worst of it. It made me realize how much I love dehydrating fruit and sweet smelling foods, it makes the house smell so nice. So I went on a mission to de-funkify the house. First, I tossed all the crackers outside for the chickens...maybe, just maybe, the won't notice it's pulp in a cracker form =) Then I wiped out the inside of the dehydrator in case there was even one little smelly crumb. Which now brings me to my homemade natural air freshener/odor eliminator. Commercial air fresheners just mask the smell, they don't eliminate it, meanwhile floating all sorts of toxins and chemicals through the air you breathe. A simple combination of water and vinegar will do the trick just fine! Maybe I'll try saving the pulp to try veggie burgers some time, though I'm not super hopefully that will be any good either!

Natural Odor Eliminator-Air Freshener
1 part white vinegar
5 parts water
Spray bottle

Mix the water and vinegar in a spray bottle and spray. That's it! For REALLY tough jobs you can do a 2:1 or 1:1 combination if you wish. For everyday use the 5:1 ratio will work fine.

I also did this:

Natural Kitchen Deodorizer:
Place a pot of water on the stove. For every cup of water you have, put 1 tb of white vinegar in. Cook on medium for about half an hour. Remove from heat and let it sit there. The smell of vinegar will disappear with the food smell. This worked WONDERS in my kitchen to remove the compost cracker smell.

Homemade Natural Carpet Cleaner (Spot Cleaner)

Along with the joys of having a new puppy, there's also housebreaking, and carpet stains...sigh. I've made carpet cleaner for my steam cleaner before, but never actually needed a spot stain-treater (4 kids...amazing huh?) I'm longing for the days when we had a house with all wood floors, boy were those easier to clean up messes on! Puking bug? No problem, wipes right up. Pet accident, no problem. Now...we have carpet. We are currently renting this green-colored-carpet house (I mean like dark green, very dark green, bla) while we are looking for a new house. So trashing the carpet is NOT an option! So not paying for that when we move out. Did I mention that getting a puppy was my idea? I've been begging for a puppy since last spring. What was I thinking? It's freezing outside. So we have to stand outside in the freezing cold and convince this tiny little puppy to go to the bathroom. Who eventually goes...and then comes inside and goes again, sigh. Then there's the weekends when we actually want to sleep in a little....and the little puppy says "NO" (hear: whine, whine, whine, whine, WHINE, WHINE, WHINE) until we get up. When we got the puppy, my sister-in-law said she would rather have twin infants than a puppy. Minus the twins, but I agree that somehow an infant is easier than this puppy. I run around trying to get things done while she's sleeping because I know there's no risk of her pooping behind the couch if she's asleep! Then there's the need to go to bed early, because the dog is already asleep and will be up nice and early. Of course there's meal time. She has to be restrained at meal time or she'll go potty on the carpet or harass us the whole time we're eating! Seriously, it's like having an infant without the joy of having an infant you brought into this world. But she's a sweetheart and will eventually be housebroken. Not to mention she'll get bigger and we'll miss the days when she's this little. As with when a child grows, we won't remember the hard times. Since this spot cleaner works so well, there won't even be any evidence!

Homemade Natural Carpet Cleaner (Spot Cleaner)
You need:
Baking Soda
White Vinegar
An old toothbrush or some kind of scrub brush
That's it!
Mix together a little baking soda and vinegar (how much you need depends on how many stains you have) If you have never mixed baking soda and vinegar together, be WARNED that it fizzes up like crazy, so do the mixing over the sink. Start with a little baking soda in the bowl and pour in a little vinegar at a time while mixing until you have a paste. Rub the paste on to the stain and scrub with toothbrush. Let dry. Rough it up a a bit and then vacuum. With our dark carpet the baking soda left a white mark but with a bit more roughing up it went away, along with the stain.

This is a natural stain remover and deodorizer that is safe to use around kids and pets, not to mention super cheap! As with any cleaner, test a small part of your carpet first. Also keep away from your eyes and face.

Organic Spicy Queso Dip

Doesn't that picture make you drool? Mmmm....well I'm drooling whether you are or not! This is so good! Make it along side my Copycat Baja Salsa and you have some awesome dipping action going on! Movie night, company, or just a fun dinner...try it, you'll love it.

Ingredients:
1 TB organic coconut oil or evoo
2 organic tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2-2 jalapenos (1/2 has a little spice, 2 has A LOT)
1 organic onion, diced
Pinch of good salt
8 oz block organic jack cheese, shredded

Directions:
Heat oil in a skillet. Add tomatoes, jalapeno, onion, and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until all the veggies are soft. Stir in cheese until melted. Scoop into a serving bowl. Serve immediately with some organic tortilla chips.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Canned cream of mushroom soup is so laden with sodium and other random ingredients, not to mention the bpa lined can it comes in. So not worth it when you can make it yourself, at home, in your crock pot! Then store in the freezer until needed. So easy...and so good for you! Try it, you'll be so happy you did. Not to mention you'll save a little money while you're at it!

Ingredients:
2 lbs mushrooms, organic is recommended
6 cups water
2 organic vegetable bouillon cubes 
1 ts good salt
2 TB organic Italian seasoning
1/2 ts organic ground pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1 TB organic dried minced onion
4 cups organic milk or cream (for adding later)

Directions:
Wipe your mushrooms clean and dump in the crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients except the milk. Cook on low for 8 hours. VERY carefully blend soup with an immersible blender. If you don't have an immersible blender, very carefully blend in small batches in a blender. Add milk and blend. Let cool completely before placing in freezer containers. I freeze it in 2 cup portions (or 16 oz). A regular can of soup would be 10 oz. Freeze in the amount that works for you! Don't forget to leave a cup out to sip on when you're done. YUM!!!

Make beans in your crock pot

We go through a lot of beans since we eat vegetarian a lot. Plus, if you haven't noticed, I totally love Mexican food. But buying organic canned beans has a lot of issues, like price, and the bpa lined cans. Then there's dry beans which take fooorreeevvveeerrr on the stove. So the solution? Cook dry beans in the crock pot all day, or night, while not having to worry about them. Then freeze in portions and you have great organic beans for a fraction of the price. I once figured that my cost was about 50 cents for the same volume of a $3 can. So that's a great deal, without the danger of bpa lurking in your food.

Directions:
You need 4 cups of dry beans (I like to always have on hand: black, pinto, kidney, and garbanzo). Rinse your beans in a colander and pull out any bad ones (great job for kids!). Soak your beans for 8-12 hours. Drain and rinse again and place in crock pot. Cover with water. You want the water at least an inch above the bean line. Pour in a teaspoon of good salt. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Test to make sure they are done, then drain and rinse. Let cool completely before packing in freezer containers. You can freeze them in any quantity. I usually do 4 cups, but I used to do 2 cups...back when I had half the amount of children running around.

Make your own deodorant

Commercial deodorants are laden with aluminum and ingredients that contain aluminum. But did you know that many deodorants that are sold as "natural" do too?  The most widely used form is potassium alum, which is what those crystal stone deodorants are made of. They claim to be "aluminum free" because they don't contain aluminum chlorohydrate, aluminum chloride, aluminum hydroxybromide or aluminum zirconium.Check out the label, still contains potassium alum or potassium aluminum sulfate.
Aluminum is linked to breast cancer, Alzheimer, and other diseases. It is a poison that has no beneficial role in your body.
Here is a recipe for a great homemade deodorant. It really works, and it saves you money, try it!

Homemade Deodorant
1/4 cup aluminum free baking soda (Bob's Red Mill makes one)
1/4 cup organic cornstarch
About 2 spoonfuls organic coconut oil


Mix the powders together. Melt the oil. Mix the oil in to the dry ingredients until just wet. Store in a glass container with tight fitting lid. Rub a SMALL amount into your armpits. You don't want to use too much or you'll leave oil stains on your clothes. I use just about a pea size amount. 
So easy!

Produce codes (PLU)

Have you ever wondered what those codes mean on the little stickers on your produce? If you haven't, you should! It's a quick way to know if your produce is commercially grown, organic, or genetically modified. I actually just chuckled to myself that genetically modified produce is always labeled (so if you see one, RUN AWAY!!!) but if packaged foods contain genetically modified ingredients, they don't have to label it, yet. Californians are trying to pass a law that all genetically modified products be labeled. If it passes in Cali, I suspect more states will follow suit, Yay! Anyway...back to the produce codes:

Commercially grown: 4 digit number
Organically grown: Add a 9 in front of the 4 digit number, making it 5 digits
Genetically modified or GMO: Add an 8 in front of the 4 digit number, making it 5 digits (Though this is at "grocers discretion", so you're best best is to find the produce with organic codes to be certain it's not gmo)

Copycat Baja Salsa

There are many things I miss about living in California....My family most, my friends, Trader Joes, Year round farmers markets....AND BAJA FRESH!!!! When I was pregnant with my oldest there was NOTHING else I wanted to eat except bean and cheese burritos from Baja. Literally I ate at Baja 5-6 times a week during that pregnancy....poor hubby! He was such a great hubby and indulged me...most of the time. There were times when he put his foot down and said I had to get some other nutrition into my body...which I am thankful for. So sometimes I would get a tostada from Baja ;) In all seriousness, I did have a smoothie and carrot juice for breakfast, and would limit myself (most days) to only eating at Baja once. That being said, we referred to our oldest as "Our little pinto bean" for quite a long time. Most women who crave something so much during pregnancy don't ever want to even smell that food again...yeah, not me. I would probably still eat there "almost" every day given the chance. Sadly for me the closest Baja to us is 5 hours away. That's actually probably a good thing for my waist line and overall health considering the white flour tortillas and most likely gmo corn tortillas =( Not to mention they probably also use canola oil which is highly gmo'd also. Soooo, now that I've talked myself into thinking it's a good thing I don't live near a Baja....I think I've nailed copy-catting the brown Baja Salsa! I did a lot of research into this recipe and kept finding copy cat recipes where the author would say "Well I've never actually eaten at Baja Fresh, but here's a recipe for the salsa...." Um, you've never eaten there but you're going to say this is a copy cat recipe? Weird. I found several recipes that included chicken broth. That too was weird to me. Granted, Baja could totally use chicken broth in theirs, I have no idea. But to me, salsa should be vegetarian. I also truly hope they do not put it in theirs since I ate it for years while a vegetarian =/ Either way, it doesn't matter. I combined several recipes I found and tweaked it myself and I really think I nailed it! This is in NO WAY the recipe Baja Fresh uses (though wouldn't it be hilarious if it was and I totally made it up??? HA!) But it VERY much tastes like theirs and satisfies my craving! Not to mention, I  know I'm using organic ingredients, Score! So if I haven't lost you after all this rambling, and I hope someone is still reading because this recipe is AWESOME....Here goes....


Copy Cat Baja Fresh Salsa (Organic Ingredients are ALWAYS recommended)
7 tomatoes, 1 diced, 6 sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 jalapeno
2 garlic cloves
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 onion
1/2 cup water
Handful cilantro
1 ts salt

Preheat broiler to High. Place the 6 tomatoes you sliced into rings on a baking sheet along with the jalapeno, stem removed. (Most recipes I saw actually did this on a grill. Well it's freezing outside, so I used a broiler =) I also tried a cast iron gridle once....didn't go that well and set off the smoke alarm one too many times while the kids were napping, so I axed that idea too) Place baking sheet under broiler and broil until blackened (about 20-30 minutes). Flip tomatoes and pepper, add one clove of garlic, and place back under the broiler again until blackened on the other side (Probably another 20 minutes but check often) Pull them out of the broiler and cool. Place tomatoes and pepper into blender with the other ingredients except the one diced tomato, and blend. Place diced tomato in a bowl and pour blended mixture over it, stir.
Go ahead and taste it if you want. I highly recommend letting the flavors blend for 6-18 hours in the fridge. The first batch I almost nailed tasted MUCH closer to right after sitting in the fridge for 18 hours. The 2nd batch (recipe above) tasted almost perfect right away, and tasted completely awesome after sitting in the fridge for awhile! Enjoy with some organic tortillas chips or on a burrito!

Note: Baja Fresh makes their salsa much more liquidy. If you would like it to be more like theirs, add more water, a little at a time until it's the desired consistency. I left mine not so liquidy so it would scoop on chips better. (Darn spell check really doesn't think "liquidy" is a word....seriously??? Whatever, ha.)

What's in your dehydrator?

This week I am a dehydrating fool. My current kitchen has no counter space so sadly my dehydrator can't sit out all the time. So when I dehydrate, I go on a rampage! I dehydrate everything in sight! Dehydrators are a raw-foodists best friend. Well, maybe their juicers and blender are their best friends, but dehydrators come in closely behind. So far this week, I have done beef jerky (from organic pasture raised cows of course!), apples, bananas, pineapple, and blueberries. Up next....fruit leather! After that, maybe some onions and garlic. Honestly, dehydrated onions are highly addictive! Not only can they be snacked on, but they can easily be thrown into recipes to rehydrate. Dehydrated slices of cucumbers are great for dipping. Does anyone else love using their dehydrator? I'd love to hear about what your favorite things to dehydrate are! Comment below!

Paula Deen announces she has type 2 Diabetes

Earlier in the week the queen of southern comfort food cooking, Paula Deen, announced she has type 2 diabetes, and has for years. Now, if you've ever seen or tried her recipes, it really is no surprise. Her cooking promotes high fat (bad fats), high sugar, high calorie crap. Granted, I'm sure they taste wonderful to the average person, every time I have looked at one of her recipes I just cringe at the awfulness that make up that highly rated recipe. She has promoted this awful way of eating for years, while suffering from diabetes. She has the opportunity here to promote a healthier way of eating. It is shown that exercise and a healthy diet can reverse diabetes or minimize the dangers of it. So is that what she's decided to do? Nope. She's decided to eat the same stuff, just less of it, and be a spokesperson for a prescription diabetes drug. So what does that tell the world? All she cares about is making money on all the cruddy recipes she's put out there in the past and making money from a dangerous prescription drug. For the love of money is the root of all evil. It is unreasonable and hypocritical for her to think it's ok for her to promote such an unhealthy way of eating, all while promoting a drug, and keeping her diabetes diagnosis a secret for so many years.
Executive producer of "Forks over Knives", Brian Wendel said, “We request that Paula Deen watch Forks Over Knives and carefully consider the evidence that a whole-food, plant-based diet can oftentimes reverse type-2 diabetes.  A person suffering from this disease can usually become free of or significantly reduce the need for diabetes medications.  We hope Paula will follow this course, become healthier and use her unique position to educate thousands of people on the power of food as medicine.”
She previously showcased her recipes with no concern with how unhealthy it made her viewers. She could take this chance to revamp her recipes to a healthier version of themselves and do so much for her followers. I really hope she decides to do the right thing, the healthy alternative, instead of continuing to promote a way of cooking that is killing this country....