Today's Lunch

Goat milk, quinoa pasta, mangos, baby carrots, and cucumber. A tasty, healthy lunch for the kids and I!

On the quinoa pasta I drizzles Extra Virgin Olive Oil and sprinkled a bit of Sea Salt.


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Strawberry Banana Smoothie

For breakfast today we made delicious healthy smoothies.

In my Vitamix I added the following ingredients:
1 can coconut milk (Natural Value brand is my favorite and can be found on Amazon by the case for reasonable)
1/2 bag frozen strawberries
3 or 4 bananas
A little water to make it not a thick

I blended until smooth and the kids drank it up! You can also add extra nutrients and vitamins too! Usually if add any "secret ingredients" that may affect the flavor I add a bit of raw honey.


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Piña Colada Smoothies

This weekend I experimented and made the best Piña Colada Smoothie ever. Everyone loved them and we ended up making them the next day and the next!

In my Vitamix I add the following items:
I can coconut milk (Natural Value brand is my favorite)
2 bananas
1 whole pineapple (cut off the skin and the core first) - get a ripe juicy one
10 ice cubes

I blended it up and it tasted so yummy! The first night we had them I made whipped cream using just heavy whipping cream and a splash of almond extract to add to the top. And, of course, adding the final touch of a strawberry made look perfect.

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Homemade Deodorant

After searching for years for a good, affordable, natural deodorant I gave up and decided to try making my own. I have used this recipe for about a year now and my husband has even recently started to use it too! I love it and not only is it natural, but it's affordable, easy, and works great too! So, I bet you're all wondering what my recipe is and already pondering where you'll get the ingredients. Well, there are only two main ingredients and most of you will have them right in your kitchen!

I use old herbal salve containers that I saved from previous purchases and have cleaned well. They are about 1" deep and about 4" round. I find that this size of container works great because it's nice and wide and not too deep. However, I'm sure many of you can find a container around your house that will work too.

I use refined coconut oil because it's cheaper, however, any grade coconut oil is fine. I bring the coconut oil to room temperature and then use it to fill my container about 3/4 full. I then add a couple heaping spoonfuls of baking soda (yes, the same stuff you use to bake with). There isn't an exact amount and this recipe can be tweaked any way you want. Now, optionally, you can add some essential oils. I'm personally a fan of Tea Tree and Lavender for deodorant, but feel free to experiment. Lastly, I stir it up real well and put it in the fridge to solidify. I keep it right next to the sink in my bathroom and use my fingers for application.

I love that I can create something that works and is practical!

I cleaned out my pantry!!!

I spent the day cleaning out my pantry! I got it all organized and made a list of things we will need to replenish before next winter. My pantry consists of three cupboards and then I also have a broom closet where I keep my 3 and 5 gallon buckets of bulk items. I keep smaller containers of the bulk items in my pantry for convenience and refill as needed. In addition to the pantry I also have an old non-working chest freezer for all my cold storage. Right now it's filled with eBay packaging supplies, but by the end of the summer it will be full of winter squash, onions, and potatoes. We also have a large chest and upright freezers as well, so by the time winter comes there will be very little we'll be in need of.

So, here is the top cupboard of my pantry:

This cupboard is mainly filled with my baking needs. Since my family is gluten free and I'm also big into eating whole foods I have a lot of different ingredients.

Here is the middle cupboard:

This is where we keep our supplements, canned goods, Kombucha, and other miscellaneous items (notice in the back my stack of pure cacao bars for baking - yum!).

And finally the bottom cupboard:

This is where I store more of my bulk items like oil, oats, popcorn, rice, spices (to refill the jars in my spice cabinet), and other various items.

I love organizing, so today was a lot of fun for me! I just thought I'd show off my hard work.