Menu Plan Monday - Week 3

Monday:
Breakfast - Quinoa Cakes
Lunch - Left Overs
Dinner - Braided Spaghetti Bread

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Toast with Cottage Cheese and Tomatoes
Lunch - Pesto Rolls
Dinner - Cauliflower Pancakes

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Peaches & Cream Muffins
Lunch - Cheeseburger Flatbread Melts
Dinner - Lasagna Soup

Thursday:
Breakfast - Yogurt Shake and Hard Boiled Eggs
Lunch - PB&J's
Dinner - Polenta Gratin

Friday:
Breakfast - Blueberry Biscuits with Yogurt (basic biscuits with blueberries)
Lunch - Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese
Dinner - Lazy Cabbage Rolls (layered in the crockpot)
To Do: French Toast Souffle

Saturday:
Breakfast - French Toast Souffle
Lunch - Quinoa Pudding with Fruit
Dinner - Left Overs

Sunday:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Acorn Squash Quesidillas
Dinner - Stuffed Potatoes

Shopping List:
Dairy
Mozza Cheese
Gouda Cheese
Sour Cream
Cottage Cheese
Yogurt

Meat
Bacon Bits
Hamburger

Frozen Fruit

Produce
Lettuce
Onion
Cauliflower
Tomato
Cabbage

Canned Goods
Diced Tomatoes
Peaches

Dry Goods
Lasagna Noodles
Corn Meal

Soapy Experiments

As many of you know, I like to learn how to make stuff.

I find great joy in knowing how to do something totally on my own.

I was pinning away a whole whackload of soap recipes and ideas in preperation to eventually learning how to make soap, when a dear friend asked if I wanted to learn with her.  I was super excited and said yes of course.

We picked 3 different soap recipes each and ordered our products. 

Now I am just wating on them coming in the mail. 

As I wait, I thought it might be useful for me to tell you what I am doing, what I want to do, and ask you for some help. 

First I am making these three soaps:

1.  Coconut Milk Soap (I am adding Cornmeal and poppyseeds to it)

2.  Sea Clay Avacado Soap (only mine will be square!)

3.  And a Cucumber Soap (with Mint Essential Oil added) that I don't have a photo of.

I have asked Dh ever so kindly if he would make me one of these lovely Soap Molds.   He is awesome so he said yes.  :)

I do have a wish list though of soap to make if this whole experiment turns out...

Here are a couple that just look too yummy NOT to try:

Pumpkin Soap

Loofah Soap (and adding some pumice would be divine!)

Salt Soap

I have a few more that are on my "must try" list, but for now I really want to do these ones.

I am super excited to do this.  I can hardly wait to get my package in the mail. 

I had to order somethings in larger quantities, so I am going to make some of these with the extras:

Herb Healing Clay (supposed to help speed healing in cuts and bites)
Lip Balm (one recipe here and one here)
I also would like to make lip gloss
And kind of want to try homemade mascara

Now, here is my "HELP ME!" section...

I would love your tips and recipes for your favorite way to make soap or homemade health products.  Do you make soap?  If you do, what is your best tip for me?  Do you make homemade things that are better than what you buy in the store? 

Please share your knowledge as I embark on this new experiment.  I would LOVE to hear from you.  If I am succesful, I will be having a giveaway later...I think that will be fun, don't you?!

Cheers

Links and Lists - Button Awesome-ness

Have I told you about my obsession with buttons?

I haven't??!

Just kidding, I know I have. 

You all know about my button jar...

With it's many beautiful buttons...

BUT, did you know that I activly seek out things to do with my buttons?  I even have a pintrest board with just buttons!  Seriously, that is how much I like buttons.

I know, wierd. 

Been told that before.  (especially from my sister who mocks me regularily!)

Just in case you also love buttons I would love to share some beautiful things I have found lately.  Here goes:

1.  Have you ever "met" Little Blue Boo?  I follow her blog and am totally a blog stalker (only commented about 4 times in just over 2 years!).  She has amazing ideas, but this one just blows me away!  She is so incredibly talented and inspirational.  (her struggle with cancer and her attitude is amazing)

 
The Mona Lisa in Buttons from Ashley Hackshaw on Vimeo.

2.  This is a bracelet that is awesome.  I am thinking I want to make one right away...or more than one...I have enough buttons!  The tutorial she shares makes it all look so easy.

3.  Wouldn't this look amazing in a sewing/craft room?  (or for people like me, I would totally hang it as "art" - heck I have debated blowing up some of my photos to hang in my living room...)

4.  Not a fan of the santa one, but arent these ornaments cute?  And I totally have time to make them for Christmas!

5.  As many of you know, I love to decorate cakes.  Cupcakes are one of my favorite things to make - but wouldn't these ROCK?!

Have a button-y awesome day!

Cheers

Links and Lists - Valentines Edition

Did you know Valentines was coming up?

Ha ha

We don't actually DO Valentines, because we are grinch-y that way.  But the season of love and service pervades around here.  We do focus more on the love aspect of the month, but hopefully we carry that throughout our whole year as well.

That being said, we do some valentines themed things around here just because sometimes.  (I'm nothing if not flexible!)

Here are a couple things that have struck my fancy (and are going on the "To Do" list) this week.

1.  These little hearts are made from wax paper that have ironed bits of paper in them.  Sewn around with your sewing machine and hung from a string, what a beautiful garland.

2.  Sugar cookies decorated so pretty, sign me up!  These are beautiful, and are sort of simple (ish) for a person who has a bit of decorating experience.  Wouldn't it be fun to surprise your kids with them?!

3.  I pretty much fell in love with churro's in Mexico.  That lovely doughnut like treat, super worth the frying if you ask me!  These are Raspberry Churro's with White Chocolate Sauce...the only thing that would make these more divine would be dark chocolate!

 
4.  Hair stuff seems to be always eye catching to me.  Do you think my boys would wear them for me??!  No probably not.  Good thing I am a girl.  What girl wouldn't love some simple little heart barrettes, or attached to a head band?!

5.  Salt Dough is so easy to use and play with.  These little salt dough hearts are so cute.  They would be fun to leave on pillows, or give away for valentines, or tuck in a lunch box or pocket...the possibilities are endless.

However you celebrate (or don't) these would be fun to do.  How do you spend your valentines?  Do you do anything special to mark the day?  What sort of things are your favorite craft/food/celebration of this day of love?

Cheers

Natural Pest Control

Pests are pesky.

No one likes to go out into their garden and find out that all the beet greens were eaten by caterpillars or your broccoli is full of worms...

How do you stop it?

One way would be to apply chemicals.  I am willing to apply them when necessary, but I do all I can FIRST with natural ways to get rid of them. 

Have you ever heard of companion planting?  There are ways to intermingle your plants to give the natural pest fighting effects of some plants to others.  Some plants are natural deterrents to the pests that plague others.

Here are a few hints of what to plant to scare away some of those pesky insects.

ANTS - Garlic, Mint, Tansy

APHIDS -  Basil, Garlic, Nasturtiums, Onions

CABBAGE BUTTERFLY - Chamomile, Dill, Garlic, Mint, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Tansy, Thyme

CATERPILLARS - Garlic

FLIES - Basil, Mint, Rue, Tansy, Wormwood

MICE - Mint, Wormwood

MOSQUITOES - Garlic, Pennyroyal, Tansy, Sassafras (rub on your skin), Wormwood

MOTHS - Lavender, Mint, Sage, Rosemary

SLUGS/SNAILS - Garlic, Dry Rosemary (or get them drunk with a can of beer...once drunk they can't get out and drown.  Lesson learned!)

This is by no means a complete list, and there are other pests (like the deer that plague my yard) but it is a place to start.

Happy Gardening.

Cheers

Links and Lists - Hair Edition

Don't forget to enter the Giveaway HERE. It closes on Sunday night. 

Ok.  Here is my confession...

I want to do the "No-Poo" thing so badly.  No shampoo in my hair would make me happy.  The chemicals in that stuff make me cringe each time I buy it.

I tried some all natural shampoo bar soap, but it didn't clean it well.

I tried the Baking Soda/Apple Cider Vinegar combo.  (not together but the whole process)

I am getting frustrated. 

My hair does not get clean.  I am disappointed in it really.  I can't decide if it is my hair, the water, or the applicator.  (me)

So, this list is what I have compiled to try next.  I am going to get chemical free dang it!

1. Coconut Milk Shampoo (this looks totally yummy!)

2.  Dry Spray Shampoo (This is not an everyday thing, but it sort of fits so I included it)

3.  Shampoo Soap Bar (maybe this would lather and clean more than the one I tried before)

4.  For all those who want to try the Baking Soda/Vinegar method, here is one great post, and another here.

Hope you have better success than I if you try them!

Cheers

Links and Lists - Sickkies

Last night I had the dubious blessing of sitting in the ER with my poor son.  He seems to get croup (sp?) fairly easily.  When it gets bad, we are in the ER for steroids and drugs of assorted varieties.  So, in honor of the sick season, I thought I would share some of the recipes I have been collecting for my season of sick!

1.  These "herbsicles" were on my list yesterday, but the tea got slurped up so quick I didn't have any left to freeze.  We shall try again today! 

2&3.  I would love to make my own "Vicks".  We go through a fair amount of it here, and if I could have a rub that was easy to make and full of stuff I actually knew about...

Well, here are two recipes.  Here and Here.

4.  When my boys were younger they really liked cough syrup...NOT!  These little suckers would have really come in handy.  I love that they look like a treat, but will help your poor little one feel a bit better.

5.  This is a YouTube video that will not let me embed, so you will have to go over and check it out.  In it is how to make a homemade cough syrup.  Looks interesting.  I am not sure if I am brave enough to make it, so let me know if you do, or if you make some different stuff your family uses!

So, keep well and warm (it is -37C today with the windchill here). 

Cheers

Links and Lists - Medicine Cabinet

I have been really trying to make things from scratch lately.  I would love to learn how to make things like pain relievers and antibiotics from scratch.  (plus they are WAAAAY cheaper when they are made from scratch!)

Dh and I bought a few books and stuff about edible plants and weeds that grow here and we are trying really hard to learn to recognize them and remember what they each are for.  Now the trick is how to use them...

This week I found a few really great things that I thought I am going to try.  Maybe you want to try them too.

I buy Polysporin (sp?).  Not often, but we do use it on various things in our house.  This one is all natural and you can make it in an afternoon.  I also think it would smell fabulous!

I probably am not alone, but when the winter hits, my hands get dry and cracked.  This is a yummy looking hand scrub that I think would help with that...and how super easy to make!  It says it also removes onion and garlic smell...personally I actually like my hands to smell like garlic, one of my favorite smells.  Weird, I know!

Who here has chickweed in their yard, put up their hands!

I know you can eat it, but I am not really fond of the taste.  This salve looks like it would be pretty multipurpose, much like the one above, but with the addition of the ever plentiful chickweed.  I think it would smell delicious.  There is also a link at the very bottom of the post to a book I totally put on my wish list!

I am always buying new cream for my body.  I love body butter from The Body Shop, but if I could find something all natural that was equivalent, I would totally switch.  (cheaper too!)  This cream is one I am totally going to give a chance.

I am a big fan of mustard.  I want to learn how to utilize a mustard poultice safely and effectively.  This bath looks like a wonderful place to start using it in our cold curing process.  I am going to make it soon.  There is also a recipe for ginger tea that looks divine.  What a double dose of awesome for the cold season.

Hope you could find something that interests you.  I am loving this collection of things to share each week.  I love a list so this makes me happy to share a tiny part of my list each week with you. 

Cheers

Top of the Charts

In September I hosted a blog celebration for the Family and in preperation installed some fun things (stat counters, linkwithin, and new design stuff).  So, being that it was such a big celebration it skewed some stats for me.  (not that I mind!)

I thought I would share some fun things though that I have found.

Since September there have been 21,977 visiters to my humble corner of the blog-o-sphere!  Holy Smokes!  For me that is big!

Some fun stats for me this week:

56% of you are from the United States
40% from Here in Canada
1% from places like: France, Ireland, India, Isrial, Austraila

How cool is that?!

Out of the top ten places visiting two are from Canada, and the rest are from the US.  I was just excited to see my home country represented in my stats!  In order: Alberta, Utah, California, Texas, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Saskatchewan, Virginia, Idaho.  I was happy to say I actually KNOW people from all of these places!

Top reffering sites (since September):
Chocolate on my Cranium
We Talk of Christ
Latter-Day Homeschooling

Your favorite 3 things to pin this week were:
Food Storage in a Jar
Inside Out Pizza Bread
Thumbprint Cookies

(I like food too!)

Top 3 Pages here you guys liked:

Homeschooling
Family
Recipes

Those are probably my top three too!  :)

Last of all, here are the top 10 posts of this year.  Because of the Celebration for the Family, most of them are from that.  It excites me to see how well it was "attended" and how much you all loved the guest posters. 

1 - Blessing of Eternal Families
2 - Celebrate Family (with all the links to the fab guest posters I had)
3 - Our Father's Plan
4 - Guest Post (this one baffles me with its popularity!  I did leave a link there that I did an interview...but still wierd to me)
5 - How to Tie a Full Windsor Knot (love that this one has been on the top list for 2 year now!)
6 - Food Storage Friday - Meals in a Bag (so excited that you all love food storage!)
7 - All it Took Was a Bump on the Head
8 - Scottish Dumpling (I love it, but I had no idea you all did too...this has also been on the list 2 years!)
9 - A Taste of God's Love (call me biased, but I am thrilled my Dad's post made it to the top 10!)
10 - Divine Destiny


I just want to THANK YOU all for being along with me on this ride.  This blog started out, and continues to be, an outlet for me to share with my friends and family.  I am thrilled you come along with me!  Thank you all for being such wonderful readers and friends.  I am so excited that I have come to "know" so many of you, and you are willing to share your knowledge and friendship with me.

Here's to a wonderful 2012!

Cheers