If at First You don't Succeed...

So You know I tried to go no 'poo for a while last year?

Yeah, the time I failed miserably? 

Well, after seeing Red from Red and Honey issuing a 1  month no 'poo challenge, I was inspired to try again!! 

It has been irritating me (and my scalp) to be using shampoo again, and, although I love the smell of some commercial shampoos, I hate the thought of what I am doing to my body. I am convinced that if I can make a few transitions in my personal care routine, I will see a huge change in my hormonal reactions! 

Some of these changes include going back to my homemade natural deodorant, changing to cloth mama pads, and.... yep, you guessed it, trying no 'poo again.

The last time I tried it, it took me about 4 weeks to realize that my hard water was not helping the issue. In fact, it was making everything very much worse!! the gunk was driving me up the wall, to the point where I HAD to wash it with shampoo. 

This time, though, I am prepared, and have done a ton of research on the interweb, and I have some more trouble shooting ideas to help me persist this time! (I hope!)

So today is day one. I have boiled up my water, washed with Baking Soda and rinsed with Vinegar, had the slick feeling (this is apparently vital) and even done a little oil treatment, and I feel very clean! (my hair was a grease bucket after 4 days no washing!)

We shall see how we go....

Weekend Links

Read and browsed some lovely articles on some great sites this week, I feel the need to share...

• Managing Stress in a simple Life from Little House Living - definitely tip#4!!

• How to render beef tallow from Jill at The Prairie Homestead; (In view of what I was talking about this week, learning new skills for our future is a must!)
• Debunking confusion about eggs, at The Paleo Mama. As we cannot keep chickens in our current house, this is helpful.
• 17 tips for going off the grid from Off Grid World; loved these tips.
• Before words: Using Baby Sign-language - loved this, as Little Bud came to us only speaking sign language.
• My House Is Dirty, But My Conscience is clean I LOVE THIS!!!!!

Some great posts and some great encouragements.

Hope you enjoy!!

Friday Recipe: Breakfast casserole

We tried this recipe for the first time this week, modified from a great recipe on this site, and the WHOLE family loved it!!!

Ingredients

• 4-5 medium potatoes, washed, peeled, and shredded
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon corn starch or arrowroot
• 1 cup milk
• About 1/2 pound sausage
• salt

In a frying pan on the stove-top, cook up the sausage until cooked through. Place in the bottom of a non-greased 8x8 baking dish.

In the same frying pan, fry the onion with the butter. (Cooking it in the same pan will help is soak up the sausage leftovers and give it even more flavor) When the onion turns transparent, turn the burner down to low and add in the milk and starch. Make sure you are continually stirring at this post so the milk doesn't scald. Cook until the sauce starts to get thick.

In a large bowl, mix your shredded potato with the onion/milk sauce. Stir so it's all mixed together. Pour the mixture over the top of the sausage layer in the baking dish.

Finally, sprinkle your dish with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes until the Breakfast Hashbrown Casserole is bubbly and slightly brown on the top.

It could be used as a supper dish too, and is sooooo tasty! 

Enjoy!!

Oil Pulling...Yummmmyy!!???

I have real trouble with my teeth. 

All of my life, my teeth have been very soft, along with my bones and nails, which bend. (my nails, not my bones. I think.)

I have come to believe that this is to do with my diet, and the INCREDIBLY sweet tooth I have always had, and am now doing something about it. 

However, sometimes, we have to expect the consequences of our former actions.

So I have had a filling fall out recently, and I keep getting a very sore gum, and a small abscess that keeps coming and going, and it stops me eating sometimes!!

I have always used mouthwash to deal with any infections previously, but since starting this real food, greener living lifestyle, I am a little reticent to put something in my mouth that is a) full of Fluoride, and b) makes my mouth burn and strips it of saliva!!! (can NOT be good!!!)

My search inevitably started on Google, as most of my queries do, and I came across Oil Pulling. At first I was like, "You do WHAT!?" but the more I looked at it, I started to think that anything must be worth a try, to get rid of this current infection. (Did I mention my extreme fear of dentists??).

The first day, I tried it with the only oil I had in the house, which was olive oil. I used a tsp of it, and put it in my mouth and swilled, like mouthwash. I have to say, the texture wasn't as bad as I had thought, but I could not keep it going for more than about 7 mins before needing to swallow, so I spat it out. As the tutorials say, it should be milky white. Well, obviously, I didn't do it for long enough because it was still yellow oil, very thin, as it gets mixed with your saliva, but not what it should be. 

The first thing I realized though, was why they say to do it on an empty stomach!! the taste of the Olive oil, which I enjoy normally, was sat at the back of my throat, and made me gag a little!! If I had've eaten breakfast, I would definitely have lost it!!!

The next day, I tried again, and got to 10 mins, and no gagging. From there, I have had 2 more days, and and am getting better. I have reached the milky white, and my gum really is starting to feel better. I have some coconut oil coming this week, so I may try with that, instead.

I am always interested to try new things, and some things just need to become acquired tastes, because the benefits outweigh the discomforts.... like oil pulling, for instance.... 

Weekend Links

I've had quite a nice week around the blogesphere this week.

I found a few new recipes to try and found another site for my raw milk!!

• This is our new go-to YUMMY bread recipe!! Made it twice, came out amazing both times! - from the Elliott Homestead.
• Loved This Link about making your own butter from Food Renegade.
• Thanks to following her on Facebook, I'm in love with The mommypotamus. some great posts, great recipes and great info of all kinds.
• And I may need to try another Supplier for my milk and *gasp* CREAM!!!

Good week, many recipes to try, need....more....time.....

Happy browsing.....

What's a girl to do?

So the new year is almost upon us, and it's that time again, where we take stock of the past, and make plans for the year ahead.

So I ask you, how have you grown in the last year, and what are your goals for next year?

In the interest of fairness, I'm going to share my thoughts. (if that's ok)

Taking stock of the last year, I can see that I have grown in Grace towards others, and am much more likely to give people the benefit of the doubt than I ever would have. I KNOW this is because my Abba Father has had many occasion to give me the benefit of the doubt over the last year!!!!

I have grown to trust Abba more, through a series of events, and fulfilled promises, after a long wait and many toddler tantrums on my behalf!! (See what I mean about Him being gracious!?)

I have learnt new things about my husband and children, and I have made new friends and had to say goodbye to a few too. Letting go is something I have found hard, but God has smoothed the way when I have given my expectations to Him.

I can honestly say that, although I still have a LONG way to go, through God's grace and patience, I feel that I am a better person now than last year.

So looking forward, my goals are to continue to learn how to feed my family healthy, nutritious meals, to continue to learn about my husband, and the wife he needs and deserves, to try to model to my children a real life with Christ, not a religion, but a relationship and the ups and downs and mistakes and forgiveness that entails.

I want to get more active, (but I say that every year), and I want to read more books, (I say that every year too, but I usually do this one!!) and I want to believe that this year will be another year that the Lord adds more children to our family.

But most of all, my goal is to draw closer to my Abba, because apart from Him, I can do nothing. Without Him, I will be the same next year as this. Without Him, I will be alone. Without Him, I AM nothing.

Praise You Yeshua, my Saviour King. 

Fight the Christmas Blues

I don't know about you, but wintertime brings the germs, and everyone around you is coughing and spluttering, and every child has to be told 20 times to "PUT YOUR HAND OVER YOUR MOUTH!!!!!!!"

This year, after our real food/health conversion, I didn't want to plough us all with the over-the-counter cough and cold remedies, so I turned to my favorite blogs to see what others have used to combat the dreaded Flu season. 

I have managed, with my newly tuned taste buds, to acquire a taste for the good old favorite, Honey, Lemon and hot water, and this help immensely.

I also found, through quite a few blogs, but in particular this one, from Red and Honey, that there are certain essential oils that you can use, to diffuse, but especially to rub on the soles of your feet, that help with this season.

So that's what I did.

I used eucalyptus oil on my feet, and burned Peppermint and eucalyptus oil in my oil burner, and drank my lemony honey brew, and ate copious amounts of satsumas. (abundant at this time of year, of course) and my cold lasted a sum total of 3 days, start to finish!!!!

Very pleased with that, and was able to sing at the local carol concert on the Sunday!! (was getting sick on the Tuesday, and my throat is the first thing to go and the last to come back!!!) 

Very happy bunny!!!

The link above gives SOOO many great uses for essential oils, and they are not just for making the place smell nice!! 

Who knew!!!??