friday favorites..... clean well all natural hand sanitizer

People are always asking me what natural products I like, or what kind of small changes they can make. Well we have recently discovered a great one.

Having two young kiddos, instant hand sanitizer, aka "magic soap" at our house, is a great product to have around. The down side is that it is loaded with alcohol which I have never been really keen about spreading on my toddlers hands that will eventually end up in her mouth. A friend of ours recently recommended Clean Well products to us and they are great. Instead of alcohol Clean Well uses essentially oils to kill 99.9% of germs. It's safe, non toxic and all natural. A much better option in my opinion. And the great thing is you can find it locally at places like Whole Foods and Target!

kiwi magazine's 2009 kid's food awards!

If you are at all like me, and I suppose you must be somewhat like me if you read my blog, then you are always looking for healthy, kid friendly foods! Well our friends at Kiwi Magazine are here to help us out! They have come up with a great list by category of Kid's Favorites ranging from crackers to baby food to fruit snacks!

I hate purchasing a new organic food for my kids to have them turn their noses up to it. These foods tend to be a little pricier anyways, so it really stinks to have them not want to eat what you purchase. This list is great because the foods are already kid tested and approved! We have tried numerous things on the list and I don't see one on there that my kids didn't love.

So print this list off and keep it with your grocery notebook. (what?! You don't own a grocery notebook?? Oh, I will have to explain that another day! Until then just stash it somewhere safe.)

Thanks Kiwi Magazine for a great resource! We love you and your lists!!

wordless wednesday ( well almost wordless!)

ring around the rosie

a pocket full of posies

ashes. ashes.

we all fall down!

goodmama diapers - am I totally missing out on something

OK, so I know they are stinking cute. And I know that they use sustainable organic materials. But really am I totally missing out on a great cloth diapering experience because I don't own at least one of these??

I am so tempted to order at least one to try but just can't get over the price tag on these ($33 a diaper). I did see they have a bargain section where the diapers run about $24 a piece, but still more than I have ever spent on a fitted. I also like the solids which run $29 a piece.

Here are my reasons why I want to try one (aka, how I'm justifying the purchase)
1- They are one size diapers. Sass could use them at nap times now and new baby would be able to wear them from birth to potty training as long as I ordered gender neutral ( I really love the orange solid cotton).
2- I could do a write up about them on my blog and call it an "expense".
3- They have a great work ethic. You can read more about that here.
4- They are American made.
5- I currently am buying fitteds for my new baby at $10 a diaper, but they are sized, which means I will have to buy numerous sizes so would the cost even out??

I know myself and once I get curious about something like this I won't be able to resist for long, so fill me in. Do you own a Goodmama? Do you love it? Was it a good investment? Do you prefer one version over another?

Tell me why I should cave and order one! Should I be really bad and order two.... one for me and one for a giveaway?? Hmmm.... now you've got me thinking and you haven't even commented yet.

mema's macaroni and chick peas

I have grown up eating this meal and it's one of my all time favorites. My mama makes this for me and finally I wrote down the directions so I could make it too! It's super simple and pretty healthy because chick peas, aka garbanzo beans, are so good for you! I could eat this on a regular basis but my family would probably get sick of it way before I would!

What you will need:

1 can chick peas
1 small can of tomato sauce ( I use publix greenwise organic)
1 small can of water (use your tomato sauce can)
1 small onion or some diced frozen onion (I use frozen!)
half a pound of pasta ( I used broken spaghetti tonight, but we use ditalini or elbows a lot too)


How to "fix" it, as we say down here in the south:

First off I peel my chick peas. I grew up this way and none of us like the skins floating in our pasta. This is by no means a requirement though. Lots of people apparently eat the skins, I do not. I start off by draining my chick peas into a bowl, then as I peel, I throw the skins into the can and the beans into the bowl that had the original "juice" in it. Set those aside.

In your blender add one small can of tomato sauce, some diced onion ( I use a 1/4 - 1/2 of bag of the frozen, but you do it to taste!) and one can of water. Hit puree and blend up those onions. Again this step is not necessary, but apparently I would not eat this meal if I could see the onions in it as a child, so now this is how I am accustomed to it!

Dump sauce into a sauce pan along with the chick peas and the chick pea juice (does that sound gross... what would you call it though?). Add a dash of salt and pepper to taste and let simmer on low stirring occasionally. Once you have your sauce going you can boil your water and cook your pasta. The longer your sauce cooks the more tender the chick peas will be.

When you go to add your pasta to your sauce you want it to be a soupy consistency. The pasta will absorb a lot of the sauce as it sits, so if you put too much in too soon it will dry out quickly. Also, this makes just enough for my small family, so if you have good eaters or lots to feed I would at least double this recipe. Just remember 1:1 ratio on chickpeas, tomato sauce and water and you are good to go! I top this off with some Parmesan and dig in!

If you make this let me know what you think of it (unless you hate it, than just lie to me and tell me how good you thought it was).


PS. Did you know that chick peas have tons of iron, folate, and fiber and have tons of health benefits. You can read all about them here!

es baby cloth diapering overview - all your questions answered!

I recently became "friends" with Christine who owns Essential Saltes Baby via Twitter. She makes these awesome cloth diapers that she sells here on etsy. She also has these incredible informational sheets explaining all about cloth diapers that she is allowing me to share with y'all here on my blog and the girls that attend my cloth diaper workshop at the end of the month will also get hard copies of these! (sidetrack- that will be on June 28th, let me know if you are interested and local and I will get you the info!). She was even generous enough to send me a diaper to raffle off at the cloth diaper workshop and a diaper/cover for me to try out on new baby this fall (you will get a detailed update with lots of pictures when the time comes b/c the diapers are SO cute!). I can tell you though with out even using them, her workmanship is incredible! I love that the newborn diapers snap down for the umbilical cord and I love that the extra layers for absorbency snap in to allow for faster drying time. Her diaper covers are so cute and totally reasonably priced. I can't wait until I know what this baby is so I can order some more fun covers from her!


While you are at it, don't just check out her in stock etsy store, but make sure you check out her site by clicking here. You can custom order diapers through this site, plus see all the other great products she makes such as wetbags and wipes! And guess what else I just discovered on there.... cloth DOLL diapers! Can I tell you how excited I am about that! I will absolutely be ordering Sass some of those when new baby comes along so she can diaper her babies right along side me!

Here are a few of the information sheets that she offers, you can find all of them here on her site! (ps. did I mention that they aren't only super useful, but absolutely cute too! I'm a sucker for a cute presentation!) Make sure you click on the link because she has more great information that breaks down how to wash and care for diapers, she explains Mama Cloth and goes into more detail about care for her specific diapers. Seriously check out these sheets if you have any questions about cloth diapering. She explains everything so simply, but if you still have questions please leave a comment and let me know! I will do my best to answer them!

supper planning sunday

I have officially decided to move Meal Planning Monday to Sundays. It just make more sense. I usually shop on Sundays and plan my meals for the week on Sundays, so there is no reason to wait until Monday to make the post. Plus, we live in the South and we eat supper here, not dinner.

Here's what I've got so far for the week. Recipes may or may not come to follow, seeing that I am coming up with all of this as I type.

Sunday-
Burgers on the grill. Grownups will have theirs on salads with sauteed mushrooms and onions and some shredded cheese and diced tomatoes. Kiddos shall have theirs on a bun or in a pita with sweet potato fries and baked beans. Watermelon for dessert.

Monday-
Macaroni and chick peas
I have been meaning to make this and post pictures/recipes for awhile now, but with our beach trip it just never happened. I will make it happen this week!

Tuesday-
Sweet tea pork chops on the grill, corn on the cob and onion potatoes.

Wednesday-
Cheese tortellini and salads

Thursday I leave for NY with my mom. Super dad is flying solo... well not really. Mimi is coming in town to help out, so I'm sure dinner at their favorite pizza place is in store for at least one night, possibly some Annie's mac and cheese will be thrown in there and who knows what else! They will survive! Plus there are sure to be some left overs floating around!

I also really want to make these muffins this afternoon. Strawberries are on sale and we have VBS this week which means we will be out the door early every morning... muffins travel well in the car!

So, what will you be eating this week? Leave me a comment and let me know! Share a great recipe with me! I am all about trying new things!