It's Easy Being Green

Our latest prenatal visit to our midwife showed that my wife’s pregnancy is going great and that our little girl growing inside seems to be right where she needs to be.  It’s hard to believe that in just about 90 days, that little life inside of my wife’s belly will be plopped right into our arms.  I’m excited and know it will be such a tremendous experience.

In the meantime, I have run across some more homemade items that you can use for your baby and that I will use for mine once she’s here.  Blog reader Misty responded to my homemade baby lotion recipe post and said:

“I also know there are good “recipes” out there for make your own baby wipes, both using traditional paper towels (goodish), and using rag squares (much better).”

Misty’s comment got me looking and sure enough, there are recipes out there for homemade baby wipes.  I imagine they can get expensive after awhile so if you’re resourceful and are looking to cut down on your baby costs, you might want to give this a go!

Homemade Baby Wipes:

- 5 large plastic containers with high sides

- 1 roll of Bounty paper towels

- 2 cups of cold tap water (I would probably use distilled because I don’t like the added chemicals in our local tap water supplies)

- 6 Tbsp. of baby oil

- 2 Tbsp. of baby bath liquid

Slice the roll of paper towels in half and remove the center cardboard tube.  Place the ingredients into a medium bowl and mix.  Don’t mix too much because the mixture will foam up and you’ll have to start over again.  Place the paper towels in the container and pour the solution over the top.  It will take about 1 hour for all the liquid to be absorbed into the paper towels.  Place the baby wipes in a well-sealed plastic container and use as needed.

This post reminds me of an adult friend I have who has always sworn by using baby wipes for his own bum.  The thought has always cracked me up but maybe he’s got a point.  At least now I have a great homespun present to whip up for him that I know he’d truly appreciate!

I’m still on the lookout for a recipe that uses rags instead of paper towels.  That would be more sustainable considering you could probably just wash those and resue them instead of buying paper towels all the time.  If you have any homemade recipe or remedies, please share them with us and I’ll post them on the blog.  Thanks Misty for your great idea!

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Since my wife and I are expecting our first child, due in early Summer, I’ve been poking through my books taking a look at some homemade items we can make instead of buying at the local store.  I ran across this recipe for Creamy Baby Lotion in Dr. Myles H. Bader’s book 1,001 Secret Household Formulas and Money Saving Tips.  The book has hundreds of ideas and homemade products you can put together yourself.

Because you’re making this lotion yourself, it’s not loaded with dozens of chemical preservatives to make it have a longer shelf life.  So, don’t expect this lotion to last a long time if it goes unused.

Ingredients for Creamy Baby Lotion:

- 1 cup of pure distilled water

- 2 Tbsp. beeswax (grated)

- 1/2 cup of vigin olive oil

- 20 drops of essential lavender oil

- 4 drops of essential rose oil

Place the water in the top of a double boilers and add the wax.  Heat until all the wax has melted, then transfer the mixture to a blender.  Slowly add the olive oil while blending on a low speed.  As soon as all the olive oil has been blended, add the essential oils and blend for a few seconds.  Allow the mixture to cool in a heat-safe dish until it is creamy.  Store in a well-sealed container and use just like any other lotion.

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Winter can be a tough time to keep up your vitamin intake but it’s essential to stave off sickness and any sort of infection that might come your way.  One of the best ways to make sure you’re getting enough vitamins is through some good whole, natural foods.  This recipe for a vitamin-rich soup is a great way to change your dinner routine, warm yourself up on a cold night and help your body and immune system by getting a nice dose of vitamins.  It’s great made in the crock pot and can simmer all day if you like.

A rutabaga, packed with loads of nutrients.

This recipe includes rutabagas, a root that is usually clumped in with turnips.  Rutabagas have a larger root than turnips and are a weedy relative of the cabbage.  They’re popular in Canada, France, Russia, the British Isles and Scandinavia.  In the U.S., rutabagas are grown even less often than its cousin the turnip, although they store better and have a sweeter, yellow flesh.  Turnips are one of the first vegetables cultivated by man and were once as popular as potatoes are today.  The vegetable has fallen out of favor with gardeners despite new, tasty varieties that mature quicker.

Rutabagas and turnips

While you can substitute turnips for the rutabagas, you’ll be losing out on some amazing nutritional benefits.  They’re both moderately good sources of fiber, calcium and vitamins A and C.  Rutabagas have almost twice the amount of nutrients than turnips do.

Ingredients:

1 cup dried beans (any variety will do)

1/3 cup dried peas

2 cups diced carrots

2 cups potatoes, peeled and diced

1 cup rutabaga, diced

1 medium-sized onion, chopped

2 tsp. dried summer savory

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 cup fresh or frozen parsley, chopped

2 cups cooked chicken (optional)

1 cup zuchinni or pumpkin, grated (optional)

Soak the dried beans and peas in water overnight or for 8 hours to soften them up.  Fill your crock pot 1/3 full with water.  Add carrots, rutabaga, potatoes, onion, beans and peas.  If you decided to include the chicken or the squash add them as well.  Let simmer for 3 hours or until the vegetables are almost tender.  Add the summer savory, thyme and parsley.  Let simmer for another 1 to 2 minutes or until vegetables are completely tender.  Serve hot.

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Here’s another timely set of home remedies I pulled from the Reader’s Digest book Homemade.  It’s also cold and flu season and if you’re like me, you hate pouring money into over the counter medicinal products that may or may not work and cost a ton of money.  Try some of these quick fixes to relieve your symptoms.  If you like these recipes then you might want to consider picking up the book for your library.  It’s chock-full of recipes from meals to drinks to desserts to home remedies for whatever may be ailing you.

Homemade Chest Rub – It really is quick and easy to make this rub.  Rub the mixture onto your chest, cover with a piece of flannel and then top off with a hot pad.

Ingredients:  – 30 drops massage oil or carrier oil like almond, jojoba or avocado oil

- 5 to 10 drops eucalyptus or wintergreen essential oil

1)  In a small bowl mix the oil and the essential oil together until combined.  Rub the mixture into your chest.  Cover with the flannel and heating pad and get comfy as the essence opens up your chest.

Cough Suppressant Tea – If you know how to grow any herbs in  your home garden, sage should be one of your first choices.  Not only is it great on chicken and other dishes, it also makes a wonderful cough suppressing tea.

Ingredients:  – 4 fresh sage leaves or 1tsp. dried leaves from your spice cupboard

- boiling water

1)  In a standard sized cup, steep the sage leaves in boiled water for at least 20 minutes.  If you leave it sit longer more of the goodness will release from the leaves.  Strain and drink the tea hot or cold.

Throat Spray – I bet you didn’t know you had a natural throat antiseptic and pain killer sitting in your spice cabinet.  Well, you do and it’s also pretty simple to make.  You’ll wonder why you didn’t know about this before you always bought that awful bottle of throat spray at the drug store.

Ingredients:   – 8 oz. spray bottle

- 1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper

- Enough water to fill the bottle

1)  In a clean spray bottle, combine the cayenne pepper and the water.  Shake the mixture well and spray into the back of your throat.  It will numb your throat and you can also use it as a gargle.  Just make sure not to splash it into your eyes because you migth have another problem to deal with if you do.

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By now several areas of the country have dealt with a crippling round of ice storms and with salt in short supply, de-icing in some parts of the country has been rather difficult.  If you haven’t been able to find de-icer, you might want to put together this homemade de-icer mix.  You’ll just need access to a couple of chemicals to make it work:

6 cups of rock salt

12 cups of ammonium chloride

6 cups of magnesium sufate

Place all the ingredients into a bucket and mix well.  Sprinkle the mixture on sidewalks and driveways to melt ice and snow.  This mixture will even handle hard-packed snow.  Have you had problems finding de-icer for your home or business?  If so, what have you done to remedy the ice problem?  Stay warm!

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Are you egg-nogged out yet?  I can’t seem to get my fill of the drink that is delightfully bad for us!  Sometimes the usual old flavor gets boring though.  So how about this alternative recipe for Homemade Banana Eggnog:

I cup plain or vanilla yogurt

1 banana, cut up

2 Tbsp. honey

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

Place all the ingredients into a blender and process for 20 seconds or until smooth.  Yum!  The recipe makes 2 servings.  If you’d like to turn it into a winter warmer, your favorite brandy or even a banana brandy would taste pretty good in this one.  Do you have any eggnog recipes that you’d like to share?

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Are you looking for a steaming hot cup of chocolate to warm you up and satsify your sweet tooth?  You might want to try some real, homemade hot cocoa then.  The stuff you buy in packets at the store can be good but the homemade stuff can be even better.  Try this recipe out:

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa

2 Tbsp honey

2 cups warm milk

1/4 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp powdered milk (optional)

Blend cocoa and honey in a cup.  Add a small amount of the warm milk to make a syrup.  Pour that syrup into the rest of the warm milk and add the vanilla.  If you’d like richer cocoa, pour the milk mixture into the blender and add the powdered milk, blending until combined.  Pour the contents back into a pan and heat until warm but not boiling.  Of course you can always top off of your homemade cocoa with another sweet treat like marshmallows or a candy cane!

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