Natural Cleaning Products

Now we are all feeling better... thank goodness!!!! I am on the quest for spring cleaning ideas, the weather is so nice but along the sunny weather comes more light which means I can now see the cobwebs etc... I want to CLEEEAAANNNN but I want to get rid of my old cleaning habits i.e. bleach, bleach and more bleach! There is something comforting about the smell of bleach especially in the bathroom. We know by now that it is harmful to the earth and our health so in want of better health and safer products its time to go green. I actually owe this post to Krissi who has already made the switch to Eco friendly cleaning products (for the most part).

So here are a few tips I thought I'd share & that I have put to the test!

# 1- White/Distilled Vinegar is great in the wash... it helps with funky smells, break's down laundry detergent and it is a natural fabric softener. Add with Lemon juice, and you can eliminate the bleach from your washing cycle too.

Pre-mix (equal parts) in a spray bottle for everyday use. In fact with this alone you can get rid of pretty much every spray cleaner you have in your house. This is great for bathrooms, floors, counter tops, kitchens, stove tops... Vinegar is a natural disinfectant, this is great as you don't worry about having your child gulp down the bleach, this will not harm your child at all!


# 2- Baking soda is great mixed with the vinegar, it is abrasive but not to much... use to clean stove tops, Tile etc...

# 3- Lemon juice is another highly acidic liquid, works great well on hard water stains, soap scum and believe it or not rust! Just mix it with baking soda (and Vinegar) and you have a great little paste to help you scrub away those marks!

# 4- Pink Solution this stuff is the BOMB! Totally natural, non-toxic and biodegradable... I LOVE this. Esp. on stained clothes. You just melt it into a liquid rub into the stain leave over night and then wash as normal and Voila! Gone every time... grass, blood, tea, tomato juice the list is endless.

# 5- Rubbing Alcohol Okay this is not non-toxic and is stinky but makes a brilliant window and glass cleaning cleaner.

# 6- Furniture Polish. Use a cup of olive juice and 1/2 a cup of lemon juice. Mix in a spray bottle and use instead of the store bought polish... it's best applied with a rag too!
So my favorite is the vinegar used in a spray bottle to replace all multipurpose cleaners... I LOVED the paste too, it got the grout in the tile back to original white with no used of bleach. I DON'T like the alcohol-based solution it's very smelly BUT it did a great job on the mirror's and windows, so I will be using this again. I do use a bees-wax for the polish so I haven't tried the olive oil recipe yet if you guys try it LMK.
The total cost for two spray bottles, two big bottles of vinegar, three boxes of baking soda, a bottle of rubbing alcohol and the lemon juice was about $40, this is going to last me a long time, maybe 4+ months, so it costs you about $10 a month... how much is a bottle of bleach?

Bleach Spray $3:50
Glass Cleaner $3:50
Clorox Wipes $3:00
Bathroom cleaner $3:79
Wet Jet refill $7.59
Total $32:38
Okay so you don’t replace these items every month but every other? Save money and the environment

There are a ton of great ideas out there to make the switch just Google and you will have pages of helpful hints! So go on make the switch, I dare you to ☺

Chicken Soup for Picky, Sicky Kids

Hopefully everyone is feeling better than we are here at the True house. But if not, I found that this recipe is lovely, warm and satisfying and a little different from the normal Chicken Noodle. If you want to freeze either of these recipes, just omit the rice or noodle when making, then add after thawing.

Chicken and Rice Soup

Ingredients

* One 3-1/2 pound free-range chicken, cut into 8 pieces and patted dry
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
* Freshly ground black pepper to taste
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2 ribs celery, trimmed, diced
* 2 medium leeks, light green and white part only, diced
* 2 medium carrots, diced
* 10 sprigs flat-leaf parsley plus 3 tablespoons finely chopped flat- leaf parsley leaves
* 3 sprigs fresh thyme
* 1 bay leaf
* 6 cups homemade or low-sodium chicken broth
* 1/3 cup converted long grain rice, cooked according to package instructions

Directions

Season the chicken with the 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat and melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the chicken, and saute until well browned, about 6 to 8 minutes on each side. Remove meat from the pan and pour off any fat left in the pan. Lower the heat to medium-low, add the remaining butter. Add the celery, leeks, and carrots, saute for 10 minutes.

Tie the parsley sprigs, thyme and bay leaf with a string and add to the pot along with the chicken and broth. Bring the soup to the boil, adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, cover, and cook for 25 minutes. Remove the chicken and bouquet garni. Skim any excess fat from the surface of the soup with a spoon or a ladle. When the chicken is cool enough to handle remove the meat from the bones and cut into 1-inch chunks; add the meat to the soup along with the rice. Cook until the meat and rice are heated through. Season the soup with salt and pepper and chopped parsley. Divide the soup among warm bowls and serve.

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If you are looking for the traditional Chicken Noodle soup, here's my go to recipe (warning, takes a couple pans!):

Rainy Season Chicken Soup

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 leeks (white part only), split, rinsed, diced
* 1 medium carrot, diced
* 1 medium onion, diced
* 1 large celery rib, diced
* 2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons dry white wine
* 4 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade), divided
* 1 cup fat-free sour cream
* 1 cup noodles
* salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

In a large sauté pan, melt the butter over low heat. Put in the leeks, carrot, onion, celery, and chicken. Stir gently, and cover to cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Take off the cover, stir the vegetables, turn the chicken, and check for doneness. (The chicken should be about half done.) Cover and cook another 5 minutes, or until chicken is just done—not overdone. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside to cool. Sprinkle the flour over the melted butter, vegetables, and pan juices, and stir to cook over low heat for 2 minutes. Slowly add the white wine and 2 cups of the chicken broth. Stir and cook until bubbly and thickened. Add the sour cream very slowly. Allow to cook gently while you slice the chicken into thin, bite-size pieces.

In a large frying pan, bring the remaining 2 cups of stock to boiling, and add noodles. Cook until noodles are almost done. Do not drain. Slowly add the noodle mixture to the hot vegetables and sour cream mixture. Add the chicken and bring back to boiling. Serve immediately.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...Your kids say it's Boring

I'm not organized enough to get my tips together yet, but here's one from this little free e-book I got "100 Activities to Keep Your Kids Happy". If you're interested in it email me and I'll send you it. This tip is for rainy days, suggestions to keep kids entertained...Let me know if you're brave enough to try painting a door!

"This little list of rainy day parenting tips, ought to help you through the wet weather.

°Bake – bake freezable healthy treats such as muffins, slices, and snack bars. Children love to help measure and pour, and especially lick the beaters. PLUS the oven warms up the house!

°Make a puppet theatre from a big cardboard carton, and hand puppets from socks and odds and ends. Sell “tickets” and host a show

°Paper Mache Bowls – make a paper Mache paste, from flour and water, and drape strips of paper over balloons. Let them set for 24 hours, and decorate. They make good fun bowls for playing.

°Plaster Boots – Messy, but creative... get your hands on some plaster ban- dages, and cover an old boot – decorate. It makes a fabulous door stop.

°Paint. Paint a glass door, it wipes straight off. (Use water based poster paints of course)

°Give in, get wet, don the gumboots and go jump in puddles!

°Make warm cocoa with marshmallows!

°Make a family book, using a scrapbook and family photos

°Get your children to organise your photo albums

°Make a cubby house

°Involve them in writing your meal plan"

Recipe: Pasta Fagioli Soup

Shana says: Pasta Fagioli Soup is super super fast, very healthy and a family favorite.

Pasta Fagioli Soup

This Italian soup derives its name—fagioli—and its high fiber content from kidney beans. Serve with crusty Italian bread and a Caesar salad for a quick weeknight supper.

12 ounces Aidelle's chicken or turkey sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced
5 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup uncooked small seashell pasta
4 cups coarsely chopped zucchini (about 4 small zucchini)
1 (14.5-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) shredded Asiago cheese (optional)

Heat a large saucepan over high heat. Add sausage; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add broth and pasta; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes. Add zucchini and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 minutes. Stir in basil, oregano, and beans; cover and simmer for 3 minutes or until pasta and zucchini are tender. Sprinkle with cheese.

Shana A.

Tip #1: Shana's Laundry Tip

My tip is for not letting laundry pile up which is a vicious cycle
because once it's out of control who has the mental energy
or time to tackle it, right?

So I bought at Kmart (although sometimes you can find them
at the dollar store too) some of those net laundry bags that
fold down super small when not in use. The style I found are
short and lay flat which worked best for me instead of the
tall thin ones. Now what I do is as soon as a hamper is full
for us or the kids I start a load of laundry washing even if I don't
have time to see the whole process through. Later on when it's
convenient I throw it in the dryer. Then once it's dry I put it
in one of the net bags.

If I don't have time to fold it the net bag gets put back on top
of the dryer. Some other time when I have five minutes I'll
fold that load and put it back in the same net bag. Then it
might migrate to outside the door to the room it belongs
in especially if there's a sleeping baby inside. Then later
inside the room etc. Eventually it will make its way to a shelf
or something equally organized ;-)

By breaking up my laundry into a bunch of manageable simple
steps that never take much time I assure that I won't end up
with weeks of laundry that I might be motivated to miss service
to catch up with.

Shana A.

Struggling Housewives Club

So we all need a few tips to get through the day, so let's band together and get those tips rolling in!

Today's Mommy Tip

When drying clothes in a tumble dryer, don't overdry. Too much heat can ruin the fibers of your clothing. If possible, use the "auto" setting on the dryer, which senses moisture and stops drying at the appropriate time. Use the cycle signal and fold clothes immediately to reduce ironing. Air or line dry all your delicate clothing (like your favorite quite contrary pieces;) to save those embellishments, velvet ribbons, buttons, etc. Hint: A drop of lavendar essential oil on a cotton ball in your dryer makes for fantastic smelling laundry.