natural beauty products from the kitchen

For so many years, I have been very concerned with the chemicals, antibiotics, and pesticides that I put into my body via my mouth with food and drink, but I really never gave any thought to the chemicals I was putting into my body via my skin with lotions, gels, shampoos, make-up, conditioners, sunscreen etc.

I first started thinking about this when I was swimming a lot and teaching swim lessons as a volunteer. I learned that our skin is like a sponge and will soak up anything that it comes into contact with. We would always tell the little kids before swim lessons to take a nice long shower before entering the pool. That way your skin would absorb as much fresh "clean" water as possible and not let as much yucky chlorine water in. After being in the pool so much (almost everyday), I started feeling ill all the time and actually started having allergies after being in so much chlorine. I eventually had to stop volunteering in the pool.

I do not like the thought of all the dyes, chemicals, artificial, unnecessary man-made things that are put into beauty products being soaked up into my skin and my children's skin. Buying all natural products can be pretty spendy and most of them still contain many artificial ingredients.

So I went on a quest to find true "all natural" inexpensive beauty products. I was very pleased to find that many ingredients I already had in my kitchen can be used as homemade, all natural, good-for-you, beauty products.

Here is a short list of the products I recently started using and have liked the results. Most of my information comes from a fellow mom at passionate homemaking. She has done loads of research and has it all compiled on her site of items she uses, the recipes, and even some cost comparisons.

Lotion: coconut oil ( a little goes a long way)

Shampoo: baking soda and water (so simple and so cheap)

Conditioner: apple cider vinegar and water

Face wash: apple cider vinegar and water

She also has a great recipe for homemade toothpaste that I hope to try in the future.

So we are officially "shampoo-less and I love it! I was a afraid this idea would be a little overboard for my husband (he likes the "all natural" ideas only to a certain degree) but he was totally onboard when I delicately suggested the idea. In my opinion he doesn't really have much say in it anyways...the guy only has a 1/4 inch of hair!

I guess my husband grew up shampoo-less and so he knew exactly what I was talking about. Am I the only person that did not know about this? How come nobody told me? I would have switched over a long time ago had I known.

I am glad I know now and super excited to be able to cross off not one, but four items from my shopping list. I don't know why, but I find such joy and satisfaction in reducing the amount of "stuff" I have to buy at the grocery store. I am slowly trying to cross off items, making more of my own things and shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and face wash are completely gone...forever!

cooking with quinoa

I first started cooking with quinoa about five years ago when my daughter was a baby. I wanted to make my own baby food so I bought a baby cookbook called Simply Natural Baby Food, by Cathe Olsen. She uses quinoa in a lot of her recipes, mixed with broccoli, sweet potatoes and other veggies. I wasn't sure what it was back then (and didn't do any research) but knew it was healthy for my baby, so mixed it in her food.

Just until recently I found out that I haven't even been pronouncing it properly. I was saying "kwuh-NO-uh" but learned the correct pronunciation of "KEEN-wah" from some friends (thanks D and L).

So I have been feeding it to my babies for awhile but just recently started making it for the whole family. It is a great replacement for rice. Especially for those who are gluten intolerant and would like more variety in their diet. Quinoa is a complete protein and is high in fiber, calcium, magnesium, and many other vitamins. It only takes about 15 minutes to cook...less time then rice! It is recommended to first rinse quinoa and then soak for about 8 hours before cooking. In order to aid proper digestion.



I have made chicken quinoa soup, quinoa pilaf, and stir fry with quinoa. Blend it in with your veggies when making baby food or just give chunks of cooked quinoa straight to your toddler.

If I haven't convinced you to give it a try and expand your culinary palate...maybe this guy will.

My next quinoa cooking adventure... quinoa tabbouleh...oh ya!

I'm so excited I won!

Just wanted to say thanks to Angela over at Domestic Godliness and Wall Worthy for the awesome Wall Worthy giveway. I never seem to win these kinds of things...I am so excited! I recently checked out Wall Worthy's website and liked what I saw, so now the only problem is choosing what to order for our home:)

Thanks again!