Healthy Hair Color

In my journey to find healthier alternatives I found a natural way to color my hair that contains no harsh chemicals, it's called Tints of Nature. I've used it twice and I love it. They make permanent and semi-permanent coloring, shampoo, conditioner and highlighting kit.

Check it out at your local health food store or order online from their website.

Laura

Spelt - Hamburger Buns

Well in an attempt to make english muffins, I took my spelt bread recipe and instead of making two loaves of bread I took a portion of the mixure and made rounded patties.

I used a cookie cutter as a guide before the second rise. The one thing I didn't compensate for was the increased size during this final stage. So this ideally would work to make hamburger buns. Which is what I ended up with. (see my spelt bread recipe posted on October 12th).

So my adventure in finding a recipe to make english muffins out of spelt flour continues. In the meantime the buns made a great healthy breakfast - add a little scrambled egg and spinach & volia ~

Hope you give it a try.

Laura

Clean Dishes Anyone!

For as long as I can remember I always had to hand-washed my dishes. Well that was until I got married and the places we’ve lived have had dishwashers. Periodically my husband would ask “are the dishes in the dishwasher clean?” I looked for a clean/dirty sign at our local kitchen places but had no luck. So I thought about how I could make my own.

Using MS Publisher I found a graphic and added the word “Clean” to it by using word art. I purchased a clear photo frame with a magnetic piece on the back. I then sized the graphic to fit the frame. Printed it and cut it to size. Inserted it into the photo frame and for $1.10 I had a way of communicating that “the dishes were clean”. You can also use MS Word but it doesn't have the word art option.

What do you do to let others know that the dishes are clean?

Laura

Crock-Pot Revisited

Come fall I have to remind myself that we received a Crock-pot as a wedding gift and make it more accessable than during the summer months. I had a busy day last week and knew I was going to get home late. Beef Stew was on the menu so I took my crock-pot out of it's hiding place and literally threw stew beef and a bunch of veggies (carrots, onions, celery), covered it with water and added a package of McCormicks Beef Stew mix into the pot, set it on 10 hrs, and out the door I went. (I didn't even pre-brown the stew beef)



Now I really didn't think at the time that both my husband and I would get home 10 hours later. But much to my surprise we actually got home more than 10 hours later. The meat was so tender and the gravy was perfect! Move over Juicer the Crock-pot is moving into the neighborhood. I forgot how easy using a Crock-pot makes cooking dinner a snap.



So if you have a Crock-pot collecting dust break it out of hybernation save some time and plan some easy meals that are ready when you get home. If you don't have one think about investing in one. Depending on the size they range anywhere from $19 and up.

Look for more adventures in Crock-potting or share yours by adding your comments.

Just Like Kids

Its funny how two little Yorkies can give you a post it note to remind you to be thankful for what you have and not covet what others have.

Zach, our now 3 year old Yorkie and Joy Hannah (she's now 8 mos) sometimes act just like little kids.

Just tonight my husband brought home two large raw hide dog bones. I mean large. Like the size of Joy's head. Now one might think oh they will just take their bone and go off and chew it to death. Nope ~ they immediately got into this thing where one had to have the others dog bone. It became a tug of war where we had to work with them to get them to understand they have their own bone. It reminded me of when I was little and my brother just had to have my bike with the banana seat. He started riding down the street with it and I grabbed on to the bar and held on as tight as I could trying to stop him. Eventually he stopped me when he elbowed me in the mouth and chipped my tooth. Of course mom got wind of it, because I obviously had to go to the dentist, and my brother never took my bike again.

It's late and well, Zach is still chewing away while Joy is still trying periodically to get his bone away from him. She'll learn.

Laura

Practical Monday - A Little Chicken Goes A Long Way

Over the weekend I purchased a whole organic chicken to make a chicken pot pie and knew I would have some leftover. Well who knew this would be one hearty chicken. At a little over 4 pounds I got a large chicken pot pie (enough for 5-6 servings), 2 chicken salads and 2 meals. It averaged out to be about $1.00 of chicken per serving, which is much less than if I purchased chicken breast or even tenders to make all of that.

To save time I boiled it for about 1 hour (while cleaning) in a pasta pot, so I could lift the chicken out in the strainer. Then I let it cool, pulled it apart and stored the chicken until the next night when I made the pot pie.

So the next time your at the grocery store think practical and think about purchasing a whole chicken. A little chicken goes a long way!

Enjoy!
Laura

Burt's Bees Favorite

I missed blogging yesterday which I plan on designating as My Friday Favorites. So here is my first favorite. For months I’ve been on the prowl looking for the most natural skin care. Huge project! What became difficult is that some products that called themselves natural or organic had one or more ingredients that are harmful. About a month ago I tried Burt’s Bees Soap Bark and Chamomile cleanser at 97% natural. So far I love this product and so doesn’t my husband. The only thing you have to do is be careful that you don’t get it in your eyes. I’m looking forward to checking out more of their products, and I’ll let you know what I think. Check out Burt’s Bees at Burt's Bees. If you have tried this item – tell me what do you think?