Delicious and fluffy pumpkin cookie or cake recipe

These are such amazing cookies! They are light and fluffy, almost cake-like and with an awesome spiced pumpkin flavor. Try this recipe out. They are amazing!       

Yes, I sampled the one on the bottom, just to make sure. :)

Homemade and Natural Facial Cleansers

My two favorite homemade cleansers are here below. The reasons why I like these so much is because they are so easy to use, they are natural and I usually always have all the ingredients on hand.

Quick, easy and healthy lunch ideas for homeschoolers (or anyone)

I was asking around with friends and homeschooling websites about what they do for lunch on homeschooling day. 

I was obviously looking for something healthy, easy, delicious, kid-friendly and quick. Was I asking for too much? Not really. I was inspired to put this together and share what I collected. So, I take no credit, just happy to get such great ideas and pass along. 

I hope this helps and inspires you as much as it did me!

I wanted an easy way to keep the ideas together, but have a big glance (to know what is repeated a lot and to keep other ideas to try visible). At first, I thought of making the post-it notes (cut in half) and put the week's lunches on my desk calendar (hanging on my fridge), but they would take up a lot of room, as our calendar days get pretty filled up. 

So, I thought of putting them in a folder (see picture above). Then I thought of labeling them (like my recipe box).

I came up with these categories:

1. Beef

2. Chicken & Eggs

3. Pork

4. Fish

5. Pasta & Processed

6. Vegan & Vegetarian*

*Please don't be insulted that I used both together. I could say "Meatless," I guess. 

As you can see, the categories are color-coated. 

I wrote about 8-10 ideas under each category. 

As I come up with more ideas, I can add them or switch them out every once in a while or with every season. For example, during summer, we might have more salads and smoothies and during the winter, we might have more soups and homemade breads.

What I'll do is that, whenever I use an idea, I turn it upside down. I hope it works out well. 

Some ideas take 15 minutes or less to prepare, but others require preparation ahead of time (so just thawing and heating is required). I will make a point at remembering to double recipes for stuff that can be used for these lunches. 

Sides were not always included, but they can be:

Fruit

Veggies

Yogurt

Bread/toast/naan

Crackers

Cheese sticks

Homemade applesauce

Blob of pb

Cottage cheese

Quinoa

Beans

Rice

Soup

Rice cake

Pretzels

Avocado slices

Etc

Here are some of the ideas I collected:

1. Beef

Nachos

Burgers

Hawaiian buns for mini burgers

Chili

Beef and veggie soup

Leftovers

Tacos

Roast beef, bagel sandwiches

Cheesesteak eggrolls (from allrecipes.com)

Meatloaf

2. Chicken & Eggs

Eggs and toast

Chicken noodle soup

Hard-boiled eggs and bagels with cream cheese

Organic chicken nuggets

Sliders with chicken salad

Leftovers

Tacos

Chicken parmesan sandwich (made with organic chicken nuggets -allrecipes.com)

Breakfast casserole (hash browns, eggs, bell peppers, ham is optional, etc)

3. Pork

Fried rice

Leftovers

Grass-fed hotdogs

Chopped hotdogs in scrambled eggs

Eggs and bacon

Pulled pork leftovers

4. Fish

Fish sticks

Tuna salad and toast

Fish cakes (allrecipes.com)

Fish chowder (allrecipes.com)

5. Pasta & Processed

Organic mac & cheese (obviously)

Sandwich with grass-fed ham and cheese

Sandwich with grass-fed turkey meat

Sandwich with salami? (Maybe...I never use this)

Quesadillas with deli meat

Spaghetti

Buttered noodles

Pasta soup

Lunch meat cheese rollups

Stackers (crackers, pepperoni or deli meat squares, cheese squares)

6. Meatless

Rice cakes, pb&j, fruit

Hummus, crackers, celery sticks, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks

Smoothie

Pancakes, fruit, yogurt

Rice and beans

Veggie dip and pita bread

Grilled cheese sandwich and veggie broth or tomato soup

Bagels, cream cheese, fruit

Oatmeal casserole

Cheese pizza with veggies

Gluten-free breakfast cereal, almond milk, fruit

Potato salad sandwich

What do you think? 

Do you have any must-haves in your home? 

Is there anything your kids ask for regularly?

Feel free to share your ideas! I'd love to include them!

Super Easy Personal Pizza Recipes

Greatest idea: I used the naan recipe (click here to see it) and placed them on pizza stones.
Then I added garlic, ghee, cheese, sliced tomatoes and red bell peppers, spinach, organic Italian seasoning and put them in the oven for 15 min at 450 (turned oven on when I put them in, so 15 min total). Voilá! Delicious homemade thin crust personal pizzas!

Tawa Naan (flatbread) Recipe

This recipe is adapted from:
Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day
I am posting it step by step because I have made several changes to the recipe that works better for my family's needs.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
3/4 tbsp yeast
3 3/4 cups flour (I use unbleached, unbromated flour)
generous pinch of kosher or sea salt

1.  **If you have a bread maker, it'll be easier.
     Just put all ingredients in it and let it run until all ingredients are incorporated and the dough is sticky (about 10 min).
     -If you don't have one, no worries. Just use a big mixing bowl. Put in yeast and water. Wait a minute or two for the yeast to be activated. Then add salt and flour. Knead until all of the ingredients are incorporated and the dough is very sticky.
2.  **Unplug bread maker and let it rest for 20-30 min.
     -Cover the bowl for 20-30 minutes.
3.  Tear off rounds that are the size of your fist or a small orange and put it on a floured surface. I like my Pampered Chef baking mat (see in first picture).
4.  Use a rolling pin to make the naan. They are usually oblong in shape, but you can make them any shape you want (they'll taste just as delicious), as long as there are no holes on the dough and that they're not too thick.
5.  Heat a skillet or two or three (like me). Medium heat works very well.
6.  Brush some ghee, butter or oil.
7.  Place naan on it and flip after about 1-2 minutes (check that the bottom side is starting to get a few brown spots).
8.  Flip and cook for a minute or two.
9.  Enjoy. 

                    

We use this to eat with hummus and I even use this recipe as a pizza crust. For that, just preheat oven at 475 degrees, make your dough, assemble your pizza or personal pizzas and put in oven for 16-18 minutes (maybe 20 for a large pizza with a thick crust).

Kale chips

Detox Drink for Fabulous Abs

1 small cucumber (peeled, seeded, sliced) Note: I don't peel or seed mine.

2 chunks of fresh ginger root with skin, 1 inch each

1 medium lemon, sliced with skin

1 medium lime, sliced with skin

16 mint leaves

Chill overnight in the refrigerator and drink the whole thing the next day. Enjoy!

Thanks for sharing, Steph!!! :)

Homemade natural deodorant recipe

This post contains affiliate links. To learn more, please click here.

I have since switched to a glass container.

My concoction:
-Baking soda (aluminum free)
-Celtic sea salt or Himalayan Salt
-Organic cornstarch or organic arrowroot powder
-Essential oils that you like (therapeutic grade, 100% pure)
Tip: I am a Young Living essential oils distributor. You can order from www.youngliving.com (click here to go to the link) and use my distributor number to order if you'd like (1498096).
-Makeup puff (like you'd use for pressed powder make-up)
-Glass container

Optional:
-Organic coconut oil
-Organic jojoba oil
-Organic vitamin E oil

Mix equal parts of baking soda, salt, and cornstarch. 
Add 10-20 drops of the essential oils. 
Mix in well. 

This will make it powdery. If you prefer it to be a bit “wet”, then add some coconut oil and/or Vitamin E oil to make it a bit pastier. These supposedly help make the mixture more effective. 

Use the poof to put on armpits or any other areas in the body that need to stay dry. It might take a couple of weeks for your body to adjust to not using antiperspirant, so you might need to wipe with an organic baby wipe with witch hazel and apply twice a day until the adjustment happens.

Personal note: I used 1 tablespoon of each powder. Mixed well. Then I added 10 drops of tea tree oil and 10 drops of lemongrass essential oil. Mixed well. I like mine powdery, but not too dry because then it doesn't "stay" very long. So I added coconut oil (you can add any of the above-mentioned oils) until it reached a mildly clumpy, but still dry consistency. I have Vit E oil, but didn't use it in this batch. I'll try it in the next one, I guess.  

Another thing, the sea salt in the mixture doesn't itch my skin, even right after shaving. I don't have sensitive skin, though, so if you do, maybe make a tiny batch and try no salt or half the amount and try it.

This amount usually lasts me a couple of month (sometimes I used it twice a day).

Other recipes I've found:
- One of the best deodorants is plain old baking soda. You can pat it right onto your skin or mix it with a little cornstarch for extra staying power and moisture control. Try 1/2 cornstarch and 1/2 baking soda. Some readers say that mixing in anti-bacterial tea tree oil makes it even more effective.
- Use Milk of Magnesium dabbed on with a cotton ball

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls Recipes

These homemade cinnamon rolls are one of the breakfasts that my family lives for! They are so good! I've made them so many times, that now, I feel very confident substituting ingredients to see how well they turn out.  Let me post the original recipe first and then give you a few variations that I've liked.

 

Homemade almond milk and almond meal

Make your own almond milk!!!!

It is very easy and I will give you all of the instructions to make it. 

I'm going a bit simpler than the versions I've found online, so bear with me.

First of all, why make my own almond milk when I can easily go buy some at the store?  

Ummm, have you seen the ingredients list on the carton?  

Have you looked at the grams of sugar, etc?  

Have you seen the price tag on almond milk?

Clearly, making your own isn't hard and you will be saving almost a dollar for every half gallon you make as opposed to buying it.  More importantly, you won't be using any sugar, sweeteners, thickeners, or obscure ingredients.

On top of that, you don't toss the almond meal (what is left after you squeeze the milk out), but it's actually almond flour and you can use it for lots of things! I'll make sure and write more on this (including recipes) at the end of the post.

Take a look and see how easy it is!

One half (1/2) cup of almonds will make 2 cups of almond milk.

One cup of almonds will make one quart (4 cups) of almond milk.

Two cups of almonds will make one half gallon (8 cups) of almond milk.

Four cups of almonds will make one gallon (16 cups) of almond milk.

1) You need: 

  -  raw almonds (I bought mine at Sam's Club because they have an incredible deal)

  -  purified water (I prefer spring water, but purified will do fine)

  -  blender

  -  colander and cheesecloth or rag

  -  a large container or a few smaller containers to hold the milk

  -  OPTIONAL: if you find that the milk is too "blah", then you can use raw honey or dates to taste. You can also add a few drops of organic vanilla extract. I find that my milk lasts longer (by a couple of days or so) when I add a little bit of organic raw honey. It sweetens it a little bit, but I think that the antibacterial and antifungal properties in honey make the milk last longer.

2)  Soak the almonds overnight. This is very important for many reasons. One of them is to prep the almonds to make the milk, but also to remove the phytic acid on them.  

Please read more on this link.

Rinse the almonds a few times if you can, but soak for about 8 hours.  Make sure the almonds are 

completely submerged in the water (water goes about an inch above the almonds because as they soak the water, they will expand).

3)  Rinse and spread them on a piece of cloth or kitchen towel to sprout for a day or two. You can totally skip this part if you are pressed for time. Your milk won't taste better or worse, it'll just be healthier if you let the almonds sprout. 

4) Put the almonds in the blender with the correct amount of water according to how many cups of almonds you are using (see above).  For example, in the pictures, I used 1.5 cups of almonds and added  6 cups of water (it's 2 cups of water per half cup of almonds).  It made 3 mason jars' worth of almond milk or 6 cups' worth. 

5)  Blend, blend, blend until you can see that the almonds are pretty fine grains.  Taste a little bit of it to see if it's got enough flavor for you.  If it doesn't, then add either raw honey or dates and blend some more.  This is strictly up to you and your taste buds.  I don't add anything to it.

6)  Pour the almond milk into a container using a colander with a rag or cheesecloth folded a few times to make sure you don't get any bits of almond in there (unless you like it with texture).  Let the milk drain through (be patient, you might need to let it sit there for 10-20 minutes).  Squeeze the excess milk out of the cheesecloth or rag.  KEEP THE ALMOND MEAL!!!

7)  Pour the milk into your container(s) and voilá! You're done!  The milk needs to be shaken every time before use.  It needs to be refrigerated and it will last about a week (give or take).

And now for the almond meal:

Almond meal is what is left over from the almonds that you blended to make the almond milk.  It is very important that it dries up completely before using and before storing.

The almond meal will be pretty moist after he milk has been squeezed out of it.  What I do is spread it thin all on a large bar pan (Pampered Chef stoneware) because it absorbs liquids and let it sit like that for a few hours.  Then I mess around with it and undo all the small clumps while I set the oven to 250 degrees.  I throw it in there for about an hour.  Some people leave the oven door cracked so the moisture can escape and dry it faster. I can't do that cause I have little ones, but it still works.  Once it's out, I leave it on the stove or counter and mess around with it (swish it around on the cookie sheet) until I feel it's completely dry.  I could tell because it not only felt dry, but it was easier to move around (think wet vs. dry sand, sort of).

If you used a cup of almonds to make almond milk, you will get about a cup of almond meal, so make your calculations according to any recipes you want to use it with.

Here are some recipes for almond meal:

-  Use it in oatmeal, yogurt, on fruit, cereal, cookies, muffins, etc.
-  http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/products/p/almondmeal.htm

Enjoy and let me know what you think. :D