Dear Mamas,

If we were having a cup of coffee today, I'd mention these. I've loved oils for a while, but haven't had the time or energy to learn allllll their uses or make my own blends. So I was excited to find Earthoilsco.com through a friend. These blends, made with DoTERRA oils, are for oil newbies like me who need instructions right on the bottle and a convenient rollerball to actually put them to use. "Milk Mama" helped me maintain my milk supply while I was nursing, "Tiny Teeth" has been invaluable for our teething Brooksie (and makes him smell woodsy and divine), and "Sleepy Baby" has become a nightly ritual. I love that Mandy is making oils accessible for busy moms like me.

*This is not a paid ad and I don't sell oils... I just love these and thought you should know!

Nesting.

Making final preparations for sister

At 38 weeks and one day pregnant (but who's counting?), I've been experiencing "prodromal labor," which basically feels like a mean joke. With Liam, my labor was fast and furious and we held a baby in our arms a week earlier than we'd expected. This time around, I was sure I was going into labor a few nights ago when contractions were 3 minutes apart and strong for nearly 12 hours. But after walking 50 laps around the hospital in my oversized gown and not making much dilation progress, we headed home.

Anyway, our girl finally has a name, hospital bags are packed, childcare is in place, Etsy orders are all finished and sent. We're ready. So very ready.

As I wait, rather impatiently, I've been doing what must be nesting:

+ I've made a large batch of homemade hummus and was delighted with this recipe. It tastes better than anything I've purchased at the store and freezes well. (I doubled the recipe.)

+ I'm currently making homemade laundry "super sauce" detergent. A friend made this for me several months ago and I loved it - and it's quite the money-saver. I added about 30 drops of essential oil ("Serenity" by doTERRA) to make it smell even more delicious.

+ I also made an all-purpose cleaning spray, which I've now used to clean the kitchen and bathrooms. I doubled the recipe and added 15 drops of lemon essential oil and 15 drops of lavender essential oil. It cleans well, smells light and fresh, and is non-toxic.

Next on the list? Headed downstairs to make a Boppy cover with some scrap material I have. I'll probably use this tutorial and pattern.

Hope to be back soon with baby news, but as you moms know, there's just no telling when she'll decide to arrive. Only in perfect time.

Coconut oil as face wash + oil pulling.

As you well know, there are hundreds of uses for coconut oil. This isn't a post about 99% of them, but I wanted to tell you about two new uses for that weren't on my radar until recently. I've used coconut oil to cook for several years, but hadn't really ventured out much beyond that. I buy a big tub of extra virgin coconut oil from Costco (the same kind can be purchased here) and it typically lasts a few months.

Here are the new-to-me uses:
1. Coconut oil as face wash.
I ran out of my trusty Clean & Clear the other night right before bed, and I remembered hearing that some people wash their faces with coconut oil. My skin is naturally more oily so this never really appealed to me, but I didn't have any other good options to get my makeup off. So I gave it a go.

Here's what I did:
1. Wet your face.
2. Warm about a tablespoon of coconut oil in your hands and rub it onto your face. I focused on my eyes, hoping to get all of my mascara and eye makeup off.
3. With a very warm washrag, hold it on your face for 10 to 15 seconds. This felt so good!
4. Use the warm water and washrag to gently wipe off the coconut oil (eyes included). This will take off your makeup and your skin will feel softer than ever.

I was so skeptical at first - would it really take all of my makeup off? Would my face feel super greasy? - but I loved the results and haven't gone back. Amazingly, my skin doesn't feel greasy and it removed my mascara more gently and completely than any eye makeup remover I've tried. I even add a little bit of oil as a moisturizer at night and my skin feels amazingly smooth. Win!

2. Coconut oil for "oil pulling." 
Have you heard of oil pulling? Basically, you put a tablespoon of coconut oil in your mouth, let it melt, and swish it around for 10 to 20 minutes. (I'll be honest... the solid clump of coconut oil in my mouth took some getting used to.) Then you spit it into the garbage (don't swallow it!) and out with the oil comes toxins, bacteria, viruses, and plaque. Rinse your mouth with water and you're done. Some say it's best to do in the morning before anything else has entered your mouth, so I have been keeping a jar of coconut oil in the shower and swish while showering.

So why exactly would anyone do this? People cite lots of reasons, but mainly for oral health and detoxifying the body. In the couple of weeks that I've done this every other day, I've definitely noticed whiter, shinier teeth - and I haven't gotten sick. Who knows if the wellness part is even related, but in the thick of flu season, I'm willing to try. Here's more info on it, if you're interested.

Any favorite uses for coconut oil that I should try? I'd love to hear!

How we're *trying* to stay healthy during cold & flu season.

Four years ago, I wrote this post on "how we're staying healthy during cold & flu season." Looking back on it now, it's obviously written pre-kids because, with little kids in the house, staying perpetually healthy often feels impossible. Liam is in some form of childcare with other toddlers at least 3 times a week and it's almost inevitable that he brings home a cold or virus every couple months and generously shares it with us. When we moved to Raleigh last year, it felt like one of us was sick every few weeks. So this year, we're taking action! Or at least trying. (I write this as Liam and I are, ironically, on the tail end of a cold.)

I've updated and expanded the info in my original post to include what we're doing with Liam, as well as what I hope to do in the future. 

1. Wash your hands with soap and water. In the antibacterial hand gel craze, this may not be so obvious. While hand sanitizer works well if you have no access to soap and water, and while it does kill most microbes, it doesn't physically destroy them and wash them away from the skin's surface like good old-fashioned soap and water does. Most hand sanitizers are composed of mostly alcohol (60-95%) which does destroy bacteria, but it also strips away the outermost layer of skin and dries out your hands (which has to do with point #2). Also, the CDC notes that the most common infections are typically viral (not bacterial) and therefore are not killed by the active ingredients in hand gel. Bottom line? Use hand sanitizer in a pinch, but not as a replacement for good ole soap and water. If I've just picked up Liam from childcare and he wants a snack in the car where we have no access to soap and water, I put antibacterial on his hands and hope for the best. Otherwise, I always try to find a sink. Also, making your own natural hand sanitizer with essential oils looks intriguing, though I haven't tried it myself.

2. Moisturize your hands. Your skin is your number one protection against disease. So we have to be careful when we have wounds or openings to the skin that allow bacteria or viruses direct access to our bodies. In the winter, when your hands get really dry and sometimes crack, those little cracks are a weak spot for your immune system because they allow microbes in. No wonder it's so much easier to get sick in the dry winter, right? So keeping them moisturized protects them (and you) from disease.

3. Elderberry syrup. It's our secret weapon. I learned about it several years ago on Passionate Homemaking and Shawn and I have used it with a lot of success. This Fall and Winter, we'll be taking one to two teaspoons of it every morning as an immunity booster. Also, if you're at the beginning of a cold or infection, you can take 1 teaspoon every 2-3 hours and you'll get over it much quicker. It's powerful stuff! We had been buying bottles of it from Whole Foods, but just recently started making our own (which is much cheaper) with this tutorial from Mountain Rose Herbs, which is where I buy our elder berries. You can also purchase elderberries on Amazon. It's all natural, works amazingly well to fight cold and flu, and actually tastes really good. I think kids would really love it! Try it out! I just made this year's batch of elderberry syrup and made sure to use raw, local honey this time around - which has added health benefits for seasonal allergy sufferers. And from the research I did, raw honey has no more risks than processed honey for children or pregnant women. I also put 1 teaspoon of elderberry syrup into Liam's sippy cup in the morning and he doesn't mind the taste at all. When we were both recently sick, we took a teaspoon every few hours and got over our colds very quickly (in less than 3 days). 

4. Flu shots. I know this is such a controversial topic, but because I'm pregnant and because of my background as a registered nurse (and the complications I often saw of people having the flu), we're all getting flu shots this year. I've personally never gotten the flu after getting a flu shot, and because the flu can be pretty dangerous in pregnancy, it's what my midwife strongly recommends. We do always opt for the preservative-free shot which can usually be found at Walgreens (just call ahead to check). This means that it does not contain mercury as some flu shots do. It is refrigerated, and I think it stings a little more, but it feels well worth it to me.

What are some tips you have on staying healthy during the cold/flu season?

P.S. I'm tempted to jump onto the essential oils bandwagon. I've read so many positive things about them, just haven't made the leap. Worth it? Any specific brands you'd recommend? 

Sick day.

Homemade craisins!

Experimenting with my new dehydrator (thank you, Shawn!)

+

Sewing up a storm

= 

Day 3 of being sick

I'd really love breathe through my nose again, but for now, I'm getting quite a lot done around here.

Happy Thursday!

My new favorite way to eat zucchini.

If you're anything like us, you've had a lot of summer squash and zucchini floating around your house. (And you've been eating a lot of it, too.) Here's my very favorite way to eat it lately...

1. Wash your zucchini or squash and use a potato peeler to make long thin ribbons.
2. Heat up a little butter or oil in a sauce pan.
3. Sauté your zucchini with about a tablespoon of minced garlic and a teaspoon of rosemary for just a couple minutes. It cooks up fast.
4. Top with a little parmesan cheese and enjoy!

My very colorful lunch.

Today for lunch, I wanted to recreate one of my very favorite meals: the famous veggie bowl from Joe's Naturals. (I'm not really sure how famous it is, but it's famous to me! I think about it all the time.)

I got most of these ingredients from Trader Joe's, and they're easy to find during the summer.
Even better would be getting them from a local farmer's market.
And even better would be growing them on your own.
But with our garden, we only have jalapeño, squash, zucchini, and basil that's ready to pick so it didn't quite work out this time.

Anyway, it's super easy to put together and so colorful! (And it's gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan.)
I started by cooking about a cup of quinoa, and chopped my vegetables for the 15 minutes or so that the quinoa needed to cook.
I chopped up sugar snap peas.

Then chopped some tiny tomatoes into halves and quarters.

Then chopped some yellow bell pepper.

And finally, added some shredded carrots.

I also made a quick balsamic vinaigrette by simply blending olive oil and balsamic vinegar:


Once the quinoa fluffed up, I added a scoop of it to the plate, then tossed the veggies on top. On top of that, I added a dollop of roasted pine nut hummus that I had, some chopped avocado, and finally a drizzle of the balsamic vinaigrette.

So healthy and so delicious (I even made another plate for dinner)! :) I hope you try it!

How we're staying healthy during cold and flu season.

I know this is a bit of a different post than I normally write, but I've been learning a lot recently in my various science classes about disease prevention, so I thought it might be appropriate as we're heading into cold and flu season. All these little tips are in addition to a healthy diet, which is the very best way to stay healthy.


1. Wash your hands with soap and water. I know this is very obvious, but in the antibacterial hand gel craze, it may not be so obvious. While hand sanitizer works well if you have no access to soap and water, and while it does kill most microbes, it doesn't physically destroy them and wash them away from the skin's surface like soap and water does. Most hand sanitizers are composed of mostly alcohol (60-95%) which does destroy bacteria, but it also strips away the outermost layer of skin and dries out your hands (which has to do with point #2). Also, the CDC notes that the most common infections are typically viral (not bacterial) and therefore are not killed by the active ingredients in hand gel. Bottom line? Use hand sanitizer in a pinch, but not as a replacement for good ole soap and water.


2. Moisturize your hands. Your skin is your number one protection against disease. So we have to be careful when we have wounds or openings to the skin that allow bacteria or viruses direct access to our bodies. In the winter, when your hands get really dry and sometimes crack, those little cracks are a weak spot for your immune system because they allow microbes in. No wonder it's so much easier to get sick in the dry winter, right? So keeping them moisturized protects them (and you) from disease.

3. Elderberry syrup. It's our new secret weapon. I learned about it a year or so ago on Passionate Homemaking and Shawn and I have used it with a lot of success. This Fall and Winter, we'll be taking one teaspoon of it every morning as an immunity booster. Also, if you're at the beginning of a cold or infection, you can take 1 teaspoon every 2-3 hours and you'll get over it much quicker. It's powerful stuff! We had been buying bottles of it from Whole Foods, but just recently started making our own (which is much cheaper) with this tutorial from Mountain Rose Herbs, which is where I buy our elder berries. It's all natural, works amazingly well to fight cold and flu, and actually tastes really good. I think kids would really love it! Try it out!

What are some tips you have on staying healthy during the cold/flu season?


P.S. Our new Champion juicer just arrived in the mail, so I may be posting some fruit/vegetable juice recipes soon. Any of you have yummy ones we should try?

Recent obsessions.

This, friends, is our new favorite snack.

Pomegranate.

Who knew fruit could be this heavenly and delicious?

Drooling yet?

If you've never had one, don't be afraid of it! You just cut it open and pull out the seeds and eat them. They're like nature's sour candy and soo good for you.

Secondly, let's just put this in the category of something I said I'd never do.

A worm compost bin.

Shawn was so sweet to drill holes in the bottom of a large plastic bin to make a home for some wormies. :) (Ilene, do you recognize the bin?)

Then we put in some cardboard and some other paper, wet leaves, and some soil and added a bit of water and let it sit for a day or so.

Then we added this guy.

And about 24 of his friends.

I was actually brave enough to buy them and put them in myself, but I had Shawn dig some of them up to take a picture. They looked fat and happy, chomping on pomegranate rinds, kale, and squash peel (in this picture). And hopefully, in just a few months, we'll have rich, organic soil to use for a vegetable garden!

Happy Saturday!

Bagels. And deodorant.

My Dad is in town this weekend, and when I was trying to think of something to bake for him, I remembered how much he loves cinnamon raisin bagels each and every morning and I found a recipe for them on the Passionate Homemaking website.

I should've taken pictures during the process, but I wasn't sure they would turn out. They did, in fact, turn out. And I can now highly recommend this recipe. It is so much easier than I thought bagel making would be! The bagels are delicious and have all the bagel flavor and texture you'd imagine.

Here is the recipe (adapted just a bit):

Ingredients: (makes 8 bagels)

1 1/2 cups warm water (112-115° F)

2 tablespoons dry yeast

1/4 cup honey

1 tablespoon salt

4 1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

8 cups of water, for boiling

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon water

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, mix yeast, 1 tablespoon honey and warm water together and let stand 3 minutes.

2. Mix 2 cups of flour with the salt in a large bowl; then add the yeast mixture. Add honey. Stir until combined and slowly mix in the rest of the flour. (I put it all in a stand mixer and used the bread hook to combine and knead.)

3. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes (or use stand mixer instead). Dough should be fairly smooth and somewhat firm. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled.

4. After about an hour (or until doubled), punch down dough. If you're making cinnamon raisin bagels, add the cinnamon and raisins now - kneed just enough to swirl the cinnamon through the dough. Divide and shape into 12 balls. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

5. Make a hole in each ball of dough and pull open about 2 inches, making a bagel shape. Place the shaped dough onto a cookie sheet and cover for 10 minutes.

6. Bring 2 quarts of water to boil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop 2 or 3 bagels at a time into the boiling water for about 45 seconds, turning each once.

7. Drain cooked bagels on a wire rack. Mix egg white and water; brush tops with egg white mixture and top with optional toppings, if using. Place bagels on greased baking sheets.

8. Bake at 350° F for 35 minutes, rotating once half-way through baking. Bagels will be lightly browned and shiny.

There you go! Fresh, homemade bagels that everyone in your house will love you for (the smell alone is amazing).

Speaking of the Passionate Homemaking website, I highly recommend it for just about everything when it comes to natural living. Lindsay from Passionate Homemaking has an abundance of ideas for natural cleaning recipes that have all worked really well so far. It can be a little overwhelming at first, but hopefully fun, too (and it really will save you money).

I even tried her homemade deodorant recipe yesterday and had great success! After hearing how store-bought deodorants that contain aluminum (which is about 99% of them) have been linked to breast cancer, it just doesn't seem worth the risk. But at the same time, store-bought all-natural deodorants are pretty expensive and don't always work. So why not make your own, right?

Surprisingly, you probably have most of the ingredients in your home already. Here's what you need:

5-6 tablespoons coconut oil*

1/4 cup baking soda

1/4 cup cornstarch

A few drops essential oil (optional)

Whisk the baking soda and cornstarch together. Then slowly add the coconut oil and work it in with a spoon until it maintains a deodorant-like consistancy. I also added a few drops of essential oil, but then decided I liked the coconut smell better, so I stopped after only a few drops and you can't smell the grapefruit scent. You can either scoop it into your old dispenser (which I did) or place it in a small container with a lid and apply with fingers with each use. (I had a lot left over, so I did both.)

I am stunned by how well this works. Definitely keeps you smelling fresh, goes on clear, and even smells a little exotic (like coconut!) but not strong at all. I put it into my old container with a knife and it works just like my old deodorant did, just a lot safer!

If you try these, please let me know if they worked as well for you!

*Coconut oil can be found at Whole Foods or other health food stores (or online) and is somewhat expensive, but so very useful in many, many things. Not only has it been proven extremely beneficial to your health when eaten alone, but it can be used by itself as moisturizer, in baking or sauteeing, in combination with other ingredients as toothpaste (my next adventure), or as aftershave or conditioner. You'll definitely get your money's worth!

More natural recipes.

I've gotten a few emails asking for updates on how all of the natural recipes I've posted have worked so far, so I wanted to give a quick update along with some new recipes. I'm so glad you've been interested in this!

The laundry detergent has been working amazingly well! Shawn even commented that our clothes look cleaner and brighter than before. I've been adding 1/2 cup extra borax to each load (as recommended on the borax box) and our whites are whiter than they've ever been - and all without bleach!

The no shampoo routine is still going really well. My hair continues to feel more silky and look more shiny as time goes on, but without feeling greasy at all. I've found that it's key to find a good container for the baking soda solution to make sure it reaches your roots. You don't want to just pour it onto your hair as that defeats the purpose. But if you find an old shampoo bottle or another container with a small spout, you can get close to the roots and rub it in. And what about the extra shampoo and conditioner left over? Shawn will use the shampoo. And the conditioner works perfectly as shaving cream! It leaves your legs so smooth.

For an all-purpose cleaner, I've been using 1 part white vinegar mixed with 1 part water and a few drops of essential oil*. It is food safe and the vinegar smell disappears as soon as it dries. I use it on our kitchen counters, sinks, stovetop, and in the bathroom - it even works on windows and mirrors! For greasy, gritty messes, I put baking soda in a little shaker, shake it on the mess, then spray it with the vinegar solution. It fizzes and softens the mess and is so easy to wipe up (and again, is food safe).

Another fun discovery has been making my own peanut butter. I'll admit, I'm pretty picky when it comes to peanut butter. After having the real stuff without additives (like sugar), it's hard to go back to the "normal" brands like Jiff. Do you have a blender or (even better) a food processor? If so, just pour in roasted peanuts (they can be salted or unsalted, whatever you like better) and start pureeing. I was a lucky girl to get a new food processor this past weekend after saving up for it and I am loving it. I just poured the peanuts into the work bowl and started it up. The peanuts went from small bits to sand-like to clumped up in a bowl to, finally, a perfectly smooth peanut butter in about 3 minutes. And I didn't add a thing! It's a little harder to achieve in a blender, but still very possible. You may want to add a little peanut oil or pure olive oil to aid in the process. And when you're done, just scoop it into an empty peanut butter jar and refrigerate it. It's so, so good!

Last but not least, I've found an alternative to Swiffer sheets. For the wet ones (my favorite for a quick floor cleaning before company arrives), just soak a cleaning rag in whatever you clean floors with - I used vinegar and water for my tile. Normal rags are the perfect size for a Swiffer mop. Just ring them out a little bit, put it on the mop like you normally would a disposable sheet, and you're good to go! You can just throw the sheet in with the dirty laundry when you're done.

Next up? Homemade deodorant, dishwashing detergent, and toothpaste. Once you start making your own supplies from scratch, it's hard to stop! I'm just trying to run out of the products I have before I begin so that it actually does save money.

*You can find essential oils at Whole Foods or other health food stores and while they do cost more than you'd expect for such a tiny amount of liquid, they last a long time because you only use a few drops at a time.

Shampoo free.

So I've been on a natural cleaning kick and have learned so much already through online resources. It can be a little overwhelming once you learn what we're actually breathing in when we clean, but it's motivation to actually think about it and make some changes. And when it's usually always cheaper to go natural, why not?

Along the same lines, I've been learning a little about natural body care, especially hair care. Have you ever heard of the "No 'Poo" method (that is, "shampoo")? Shampoo strips the hair of natural oils that keep it healthy, strong, and shiny and there are ways to clean your hair without the use of shampoo.

I know, I know. This probably seems really over the top.

But I decided to try it, and surprisingly, I love it so far! I have been doing it for just over a week now and I can honestly say my hair feels completely clean and less dry/damaged. They say it takes anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for your hair and scalp to adjust to a new system, but I'm already loving it.

Here's the method I'm using:

1. Use an old shampoo bottle or a squeeze bottle. Mix 1 part baking soda to 3 parts water. Shake well to mix.

2. Squeeze the baking soda solution onto your dry scalp, then massage your scalp for several seconds. Make sure you get your roots and can scrub - this is what cleans your scalp, but you don't need to worry about cleaning your hair at this step.

3. Leave in for 1-3 minutes, then rinse completely.

4. In a squeeze bottle (actually, I've been using an empty yogurt tub), mix 1 part white vinegar to 4 parts water. You can also add essential oils or herbs - I added a few drops of grapefruit essential oil and about a teaspoon of vanilla extract. It masks the vinegar smell and leaves your hair smelling delicious! As an aside, I was concerned my hair wouldn't smell good, so I've been annoying Shawn having him tell me if it smells bad but it hasn't at all. :)

5. Leave on hair for several seconds, then rinse.

That's it! Try it and see what you think. It will definitely save money and, possibly, save your hair if it tends to be dry and damaged.

I'll keep you updated on how it's going. And let me know if you try it, too!

DIY life.

I'm a sucker for anything made from scratch.

For the most part, I've found that it's usually cheaper and better tasting if it is homemade. I've been reading and thinking a lot recently about simplifying life and being more frugal, and I think making things from scratch is one way to do that. While I can't really grow our food or grind our own flour in our current situation, there are several little things I have been able to do that make a difference.

Today, I decided to do two projects along these lines. My first project of the day was to make homemade laundry detergent. I was excited to try it, but a bit skeptical that it would actually work as well as the detergent I usually bought at the store.

I found a recipe online and went to buy the ingredients:

1/2 cup borax

1/2 cup washing soda

1 cup grated soap

Just mix the ingredients well by hand or in a food processor and you're good to go! You can add a few drops of essential oil if you want it to be scented. The recipe called for Ivory soap, but you can substitute any kind of soap. I found that Ivory soap was very difficult to grate because it is so moisturizing (I even tried putting it in our Magic Bullet, but it just got stopped up). I ended up using it, but mostly used another bar of soap I found in our closet. I also decided to quadruple the recipe because I had so much borax and washing soda.

In the end, I made this entire jar full of detergent as well as another jar like it that is half full. And all it takes is 2 tablespoons per load! You just let the water fill up a little bit in the washer, pour in the dry detergent, then fill it with clothes.

I only paid about $4.50 for 76 ounces of borax, $3.50 for 55 ounces of washing soda, and $1.50 for 3 bars of soap. Because of the amount I used of each item, I have calculated that I paid $2.92 for 8 cups of laundry detergent, which will last 64 loads! Confused yet? To break it down, I will be paying $0.05 per load instead of $0.45 per load (which I was paying before with store-bought detergent). And with a washing machine down the hall that eats up way too many quarters, anything helps!

I just tried our first load of clothes and they turned out great! I'm a believer. :)

My second project of the day was to make soy milk from scratch. Neither Shawn nor I are lactose intolerant, but I love warm soy milk and it's pretty expensive. So I picked up some soy flour from Whole Foods and found the recipe on the back.

After about 30 minutes of work and lots of sifting through the collander, I quickly realized how not worth it this was. I tripled the recipe, but it still made much less than I expected. Some things just aren't as easy or frugal made from scratch.

Here are a few things I've made in the last couple weeks:

Homemade strawberry jam. Delicious! I made one batch for Mom and followed the instructions to seal the jar in a boiling water bath (when she opened it, the lid popped!). Then I made two batches for us and put them in the freezer. All of this will last us months, and it cost a fraction of what it would if we were to buy it. Also, there are no preservatives - it's simply strawberries, lemon juice, and evaporated cane juice. Here's a recipe I like.

Homemade bread. I've been making all of our bread from scratch for a while now and it just tastes so much better and is a lot cheaper. Here's my new favorite yeast roll recipe.

Salad dressing. I've made a basil vinaigrette and, most recently, Pioneer Woman's ranch dressing with extra cayenne pepper to make it Southwest style. It tastes amazing and keeps for quite a while in the fridge - and I recognize all the ingredients, unlike most dressings I would buy at the store.

Salsa. Ok, that one was obvious.

Pasta. This one wasn't so easy. I have a very simple recipe in one of my cookbooks, but it's only worth it if you have a pasta roller. After about 20 minutes of kneading and rolling the brick-like dough by hand, I had broken a sweat and only had enough done for one of us for dinner. No thanks.

Some things I want to make:

Napkins. I'd love to make several sets of napkins that we can throw in with the laundry when we're done, instead of throwing away paper ones at every meal. And they're so much nicer to use!

More homemade cleaning products. Right now, I feel like I Windex about everything, and I can't imagine that's the best thing to breathe. We could also save money on this, too. Because Shawn isn't a huge fan of vinegar, I'm trying to find some all-purpose and glass cleaning recipes that don't use it.

I'm sure I'll think of more later, but in the mean time, anything else you guys have been making that you'd recommend?