Back to basics

I am trying to get back to basics. As in - grow my food in a garden. Make things from scratch. Buy organic. Support the farmer's markets. You know - I just want to get a bit healthier. It seems that is the trend these days and a lot of my friends are doing it too. In fact, I am trying to put together a freezer meal plan where we all make meals and share them and then we have them in our freezer. Sounds cool - right? These days it's all about getting back to simple living.

With that comes finding cleaning products that don't have all the chemicals in them.
For instance - did you know that baking soda + hydrogen peroxide = a great cleaning paste?
It's true. I tried it today.

I cleaned my flat top stove. I cleaned my baking pans. And I cleaned my kitchen sink with it! Who needs harsh chemicals? This paste did the job. My stove was sparkly clean and so was my sink. The pans - well - not so much. But in all fairness - my one pan is really old and has a lot of built up crud on it.

I also made another cleaning product with dawn dish detergent and vinegar. Mix together in a spray bottle and you have a homemade shower cleaning solution. I spray it on my shower doors and then rinse. Wa-la. No more built up soap scum. The vinegar works it away. Magic!

In the interest of eating and snacking healthier - I tried a new smoothie recipe today. One banana, some Greek yogurt, cooked oatmeal, almonds, ice and some flax seed. Blend it up with some ice and I had a healthy snack. The smoothie was a little thick - but I thinned it down with some OJ. It was pretty good and I was getting some good nutrients with the oatmeal and almonds and banana.

And recently I made some homemade croutons. A few months back I started saving the heels of the bread, I would pop them in a bag and freeze them. Last week I chopped all the bread up, mixed it with some olive oil and some herbs and seasoning. Then I baked it. And I had homemade croutons. Which - are so much better than the store bought ones. Now I will always make my own croutons. Who needs the hard store-bought ones when I just whipped up my own batch?

And there you have it. Trying to be a bit healthier one cleaning product and one snack at a time!

Have a great day! Now, go drink a smoothie.