The kids have Spring Break this week, and the beautiful weather has had us out and about quite a bit.  Muddy hikes, blowing bubbles in the grass with the neighbors, and even sandy beach fun at the ocean have kept us busy.  Technically it's only the second day!  All this gallivanting around has given me a rude awakening one byproduct of such fun.  Disgusting floors!  Yup, it's time to hit the wood and tile.  Here's some recipes to make the job a little easier.


Lemon-Scented Wood Floor Cleaner and Polish


1 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp lemon essential oil

Mix ingredients together well, and apply with mop or sponge.  This combination even makes small scratches seem to disappear.  It's magic!


Cedar-Scented Kitchen Cleaner

1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
1 tsp cedar essential oil (Pine also smells great and acts as a disinfectant)

Mix ingredients well, and apply with mop or sponge.  For tough stains, try mixing a few tablespoons of  washing soda into the mix and apply.  Voila!  Floors you can eat off. And believe me, my children will.


Carpet Freshener

5-10 drops of essential oil of choice (Lavender, Rose, Peppermint are all yummy)
5 cups baking soda

Mix well.  Sprinkle on freshly vacuumed carpet and let sit overnight.  Avoid stepping on mixture during treatment.  Vacuum up and inhale deeply!


So don't be scared of the spring and summer fun! You are now armed with all you need to know on how to do damage control after a few days of outdoor adventure. 

Get Messy!

~Kristin Henningsen M.S., R.Y.T.

 The beautiful sunshine today (and large cup of dark coffee) has inspired me to do some major washing.  The best part of washing all those blankets, rugs, and even curtains is being able to hang them up on the line.  There are few things in this world that beat the smell of line-dried sheets, especially when washed with chemical free detergent.  Unfortunately natural laundry detergents can be pricey!  Here's a few recipes for easy to make, affordable laundry detergent that will leave your wallet and your skin feeling happy.


 



Lemon Scented Laundry Powder

• 1/2-4 tablespoons essential oil (Rosemary, Lavender, Orange, and Tea Tree also work great)
• 1 cup Borax
• 1 cup Washing Soda
• 1 bar soap

• 1/2-4 tablespoons Rosemary Essential Oil
• 1 cup dish-washing liquid

 

by Lisa K. Beach, Ph.D., CHES

I’ve been using a lot of coconut flour lately, so I thought I’d talk about why I like it. Basically, it is made of dried ground up coconut meat.
Coconut flour is:

• high fiber (around 60%!!) – this makes it a little tricky because it needs a lot of moisture to “work” in recipes. For example, the chocolate cake recipe required 10 eggs! At first, this seems like a negative…but why? Eggs are cheap and nutritious!
• gluten and grain free
• hypoallergenic
• low carb and high protein (compared to other flours)
• usually off-white in color, although I’ve noticed different brands have slightly different textures and colors (I’ve tried Coconut Secret, Wilderness Family Naturals, and Bob’s Red Mill—they’re all good!)
• not full of flavor, but some people think it has a mild coconut flavor—I don’t notice this

Here's one recipe idea:

Coconut Flour Flatbread
In a bowl, mix together the following:
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp coconut flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp baking powder
2 pinches of sea salt
1/4 cup any kind of milk
*you can add herbs to the bread if you like.

Stir until there are no lumps. Let it sit for a minute (the batter will get a little fluffier). Melt a tablespoon or two of butter (Ideally, pastured, organic, local!) in the pan, and pour two small sandwich sized “pancakes” into your pan (on just under medium heat). It will only spread just a little bit. When the tops start to bubble just a little and the bottom is brown, flip them both over. Put the cheese and other sandwich contents on one slice, and then put the second flatbread on top with the un-done side up. Flip when the bottom is brown, and continue cooking till the cheese is melted and the flatbread is done! This recipe makes 4 small-sized sandwich flatbreads. You can eat them all, or you can save 2 for later and toast them!
You can add anything you'd like on a sandwich--one of my favorites is mozzarella and pesto!



This flatbread is not crunchy like regular bread when made into grilled cheese. It has a great flavor and wonderful bread-y texture. It gets more and more crispy as you add more butter (so I recommend being liberal with it!).

Many recipes will call for just subbing in coconut flour for part of the flour requirement, and at first I considered doing this with the flatbread. In the past, I’ve made waffles with coconut flour, and they were kind of rubbery (all that fiber!). But, I just made sure to keep the ratio of eggs to flour high in the flatbread, and also fluffed it up a bit with the baking soda and baking powder.

Have you ever baked or cooked with coconut flour?

by Lisa K. Beach, Ph.D., CHES


As a continuation of my previous post, I decided to post examples of considerations for how to choose smoothies or juice:

• If you hate vegetables – start with smoothies because you probably need more fiber, and you can hide veggie tastes easily!
• If you are constipated – start with either one, but if your constipation is extreme, you may want to choose juice with aloe vera included (adding more fiber to concrete in your intestines can be disastrous and make the problem worse). If constipation is mild to moderate, you can probably get things moving with a high fiber smoothie (adding aloe works here too)
• If you want to do a cleanse or detox – consider starting with a “juice till lunch” or “juice till dinner” approach. The longer you put off digestion during the day, the more your body can work on detox—the key is to include things like: parsley, cilantro, dark leafies. If you feel you’ll have a LOT of detoxing to do (how polluted are you?!), you may want to do green smoothies—add parsley, cilantro, chia, dark leafies. This will slow the circulation of toxins because your body is balancing its tasks of detoxing and digestion, and the high fiber and gel (chia) content will trap toxins and carry them out (rather than risking recirculation).
• If you have skin problems – start with juice and a detox approach, but have smoothies too—the point with this one is that the ingredients are most important. Consider adding MSM, aloe, watercress, onion (!), peppers (unless you’re sensitive to nightshades), lots of greens (all the detox ingredients), and only minimal fruit/sugar. Consider using stevia to sweeten.
• If you want to lose weight – either one, just make sure you keep your caloric intake in mind—if you’re worried about not being full, stick with smoothies. Always keep fruit content low, but consider adding healthy fats and proteins and use it as a meal substitution.
• If you’re drinking it before a workout – juice!
• If you’re drinking it after a workout – smoothie with high quality protein powder (my current fave is whole goat milk protein—whey content helps repair muscle, and casein content helps preserve muscle)
• If you’re drinking it in the morning with breakfast – smoothie (the idea being that you want nutrients to fill you up–it will take space away from your cereal and other less nutritious breakfast foods)
• If you’re drinking it in the morning as breakfast – juice (you may be hungry for the first couple days, but it’s only out of habit–in a few days you’ll have more energy than ever!)

Those are just the considerations I thought of now. If you think of others, please ask!
Of course, you can always incorporate both smoothies and juices into your diet, and I've even heard of people juicing and using it as a base for smoothies----talk about micronutrients!