Organic Homemade Baby Wipes

It's been a while since my last "organic" post, so this time I thought I would try something different.
I came across a recipe for homemade wipes that happened to be organic if you use the right ingredients.
The best part, these money saving wipes contained items that were already in my cupboards!

Here's what you need to save your babies bum some dryness and save your 5 dollar bills for the college fund:)

- 7 cup Rubbermaid container with a snap lid
- Roll of "Bounty" paper towel, cut in half
-Organic coconut oil
-A few squirts of organic baby wash
-2 cups of warm water

Take your Bounty or desired paper towel roll and cut it in half with a VERY sharp knife. Stay away from the serrated knives as they leave "fluffer-nutters" behind and create a huge mess.

The Bounty rolls we purchased were huge, but they managed to just squeeze in the container. I added the spoon so you could see how thick it was. 

I purchased this coconut oil from the grocery store in the organic section, it has no aroma and is great for cooking in lieu of butter or oil. 

Coconut oil is antibacterial, anti-fungal, and is extremely moisturizing for your babies skin! On it's own it is a great body moisturizer. It's so safe and so silky to the touch it's even sold as a personal lubricant. 

Anyways, enough about coconut oil, I could go on for hours about the benefits!!

We use the "Live Clean-Baby" products on Oliver, they are certified organic and 98% plant derived. We used to use Johnson's brand, but after the huge uproar about their products possibly containing cancerous materials, we switched! Live Clean isn't that much more, you can buy it at Walmart or Shoppers Drug Mart. We love using it knowing that it's all natural ingredients going on our baby's sweet skin :) 

Melt your coconut oil in a warm frying pan, just enough to turn it into a watery liquid. I let the pan heat up on the burner before I added the oil, then took it off the stove and let it melt by itself. 

Pour your melted oil into a measuring cup and add 2 cups of warm water. 

Add in two or three pumps of your favourite baby wash and stir.

Add your measuring cup mix to your container.

Set in your giant paper towel roll and press down firmly.

 

 After forcing the roll down into the container, pop on the lid and turn it upside down. Do not open it for at least 5 minutes. Trust me!  

 Once the time is up and you can see from the outside that the roll is completely submerged in water you can flip it back upright and take out the cardboard roll. 

Et voila!! :) 

The easiest, cheapest, and healthiest way to make baby wipes! 

This container costs about $.75 and is 100% natural!

I honestly made these wipes in less time than it would take me to get in the car and drive to the store to pick them up, especially when you already have the ingredients in your house.

These wipes are also great as a makeup remover or to freshen up after a workout. 

Thanks for reading! 

Enjoy,

Cat

Delicious Quinoa Breakfast Delight!

So this is my new favourite breakfast item! 

It's absolutely amazing, and the perfect beginning to get your morning started.

What you need: 

Cooked quinoa - I eat a recommended serving of 1/2 cup

Pecans or your favourite kind of nuts

1/2 Granny smith apple

Splash of almond milk 

1 tsp Agave nectar

The above measurements don't have to be precise because you can adjust it to your taste buds. If you've already pre-made the quinoa, which I recommend, then be sure to throw the granny smiths in the quinoa before you microwave it. The apples warm up and make it even more wonderful, throwing them in at the end is fine, but I love hot apples!

I also bought unsalted, natural pumpkin seeds to throw in to mix it up instead of pecans, etc.

I love quinoa for the simple fact that it's literally a powerhouse of protein, fiber, and iron. It's amazing because with a little serving it fills you up like oatmeal does, without all the heavy gluten properties. 

Banana Buckwheat Bread

I had some rotting bananas sitting on my counter that I had to get rid of today, so either I ditched them in the trash or I ditched them into some yummy bread! 

I found this recipe that I modified a bit to make it more fun and more healthy. This recipe is not completely organic because a.) It's ridiculously expensive and b.) I didn't have all the ingredients. 

What you need: 

2 cups - Buckwheat flour

3/4 tsp - Baking soda

1 tsp - Nutmeg

Sprinkles of cinnamon

1/2 cup - Sucanat sugar

1/4 cup - melted organic butter

1 cup - Ripe bananas

1/3 cup - plain yogurt

1 egg

1/3 cup - ground flax seeds

1 tbsp - Agave nectar 

1 cup- Homemade Almond Milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease your loaf pan with coconut oil (or whatever you like) 

Mix together the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, and flax seeds. 

Mix together the wet ingredients- bananas, melted butter, yogurt, egg, agave, and almond milk. 

Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix together. 

Pour into a loaf pan and sprinkle some sucanat sugar, cinnamon and flax seed on top for decoration and extra taste! 

Bake in the oven for about an hour, or until it gets a bit golden brown, and you can stick a fork into it and it comes out clean! 

Enjoy with some organic butter spread on top or some organic honey, YUM! : )

Much love,

Em

Quinoa and Flax Bread

So today I made my first loaf of bread, well.....first successful loaf! I tried it yesterday and it was hard as a rock! Turns out, you shouldn't use expired yeast, ha!! I had my Mom's help today and the bread came out amazing, and tasted delish! Check out the recipe below to make some great smelling, wonderfully tasting, quinoa and flax bread!

1cup Quinoa (cooked) - So measure out 1/2 cup because it doubles in size, YUM! 
2 cups Buckwheat flour, whole wheat flour, or gluten free, whatever you like!
1/4 cup Olive oil -Still trying to find a good substitute...maybe coconut oil?! :) 
3 tbsp Flax seeds
1tbsp Active dry yeast
1tsp Agave nectar - You can substitute for any king of sugar but I love Agave it's so good for you. It's amazingly low on the glycemic index so it doesn't shoot your blood sugar up like regular sugar does. 
1cup Warm water (almost hot!) 



1.) Start with the quinoa because it takes the longest to cook, set aside
2.) Mix together the agave nectar, yeast, and water. The water has to be almost hot, the first time I did it the water wasn't hot enough and the yeast didn't activate. Let it sit for 5 minutes or until it grows nice and foamy!
3.) Mix together the quinoa, flour, flax seeds, and yeast mixture together. Add in the olive oil. 
Knead it really well and add in some flour with your hands so it's not too sticky. My Grandma taught me to knead with the heels of your hands, just dig in and work it! I wasn't doing a good job today kneading so I know she was yelling at me from up in heaven. :) 
4.) Grease a bowl with some olive oil and put your dough in. Make sure you go all the way up the sides of the bowl so when it grows it won't stick. Grease a bit of saran wrap too before you cover it just to make sure it doesn't stick. If it does, it may deflate the bread when you try to take it out! (Little trick from my Mama!) 
Cover with a tea towel and place in the oven with the light on for about an hour or until it doubles in size.
5.) Take it back out and re-knead it, this time placing it in your greased loaf pan. Repeat the covering and oven part! 
6.) Once it's doubled and looks delicious, throw it in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Note: Please make sure the plastic wrap and towel are off first ;) 


Let it cool before you eat it because it gets all doughy when it's hot. Spread a little organic honey on a piece and ENJOY! It's SO delicious, I hope you love it as much as I love! 


Much love,
Em

Homemade Almond Milk

My first adventure begins with homemade almond milk! With only 60 calories per 8 ounce serving, it makes a great alternative to drinking cows milk. It's not as high in protein as your regular milk, but it has many vitamins such as Vitamin A and Vitamin D to jumpstart it into deliciousness! One of my favourite things about it is that you know EXACTLY what it is in it. You were there for the entire process, so once you get to enjoy it in a glass, you can be confident that what goes in your body is healthy and wonderful!
It's so easy, try it yourself!

This recipe makes 5 cups of almond milk and it keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days.
You need the following:

1 cup of almonds (organic are the best!)
5 cups of water
A fine strainer or cheesecloth
A food processor
And I think that's it!

Take 1 cup of almonds and soak them overnight in enough water to submerge them with 1 inch of wiggle room at the top.

The dark skin of the almonds is really tough to digest so soaking helps with that!

To get started in the morning bring 5 cups of water to an "almost" boil, I accidentally boiled and nothing happened so I don't know what the difference is!
While waiting for your water,
Rinse the almonds a few times to get all of the slimy water off .

Throw them into a food processor to blend them until they are really fine, almost a sandy grain.

Take 3 cups of water or whatever will fit into your processor and grind together for a few minutes. 

Take your fine strainer or cheesecloth and drain the "milk" into a bowl or jug. 

Continue this process until you've used all the boiled water and turned it into milk!!

After you're done with the ground up almonds you can just throw them out or use them as an exfoliant in the shower or the bath! The best part is that it's 100% natural with no toxins or chemicals going on your skin.

Have fun! 

-Em