Letting My Breast Hang Out: November 2011

Green smoothies may look absolutely disgusting, but the taste will surprise you! My two and a half year old son loves them so much that we call them “ice cream”. One time, I had one sitting on the counter while I walked away and when I came back he had gotten it down and was drinking it as fast as he could because he thought he got into something tasty that he wasn’t supposed to have!

While there are many different recipes and variations, this has been my favorite so far. Feel free to browse around for other recipes, or throw your own together!

Ingredients:

2 cups water

A few large handfuls of spinach

2 apples

1 orange (or 3 clementines if you have those instead)

2 bananas

First, add the two cups of water to your blender and then fill to the top with spinach. Blend until smooth and then fill to the top again with spinach. Blend until the spinach mixture appears smooth, and then blend some more for good measure. You don’t want a smoothie with pieces of leaves in it! Next, add the peeled and cored apples, peeled orange and peeled bananas. Blend until smooth. Serve right away if you just can’t wait, or put in the fridge for 30 minutes to get your green smoothie nice and cold. Another great idea is to put in ice cube trays, stick a cut up straw in each cube and freeze, then serve later as popsicles!

*It is best for all of your fruits and vegetables to be organic, but if you are limited in organic choices (in my small town, I’m lucky if I’m able to get even half of my produce organic), at least make sure the apples and spinach are organic. Apples were rated #1 for being contaminated with the most pesticides and spinach was rated #5 on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list for 2011.

Wesley loves his "ice cream".

This was the time that he stole my glass off the counter!


Pink Solution - All of my household cleaners

I started using Pink Solution in September of 2010 towards the beginning of my decision to start living chemical free. I spent a few hours online reading reviews and watching demonstration videos because I didn’t want to invest money into something that I would end up just throwing out. I finally decided to take the plunge and purchase the product. Here I am two years later and still so in love with Pink Solution that I’m writing a blog post about it!

A few of the main reasons why I love Pink Solution are because it is completely safe, replaces all of my cleaning products, and it is incredibly inexpensive when you compare the cost of how often you need to buy it, how much it replaces, and how long it lasts. Pink Solution is my laundry detergent, stain remover, glass cleaner, kitchen counter cleaner, dusting spray, tub and toilet scrubber (I add baking soda), carpet cleaner, oven cleaner, and any other cleaning odd job that presents itself.

The Investment –

I purchase my Pink Solution from www.care4earthproducts.com and buy the Pink Solution Combo which includes Pink Solution, Mother's Choice, and the Laundry Bar, along with a bathroom sponge and kitchen scrubber. The cost is $55 + tax and shipping, and my total came to $70.87. I spent less than five dollars on a 2 gallon dispenser (found in the kitchen storage section at my local Walmart) for the laundry detergent and a spray bottle (found in the cleaning supplies section of my local Walmart) for my glass cleaner, kitchen counter cleaner, dusting spray, and more. I also purchased a large bottle of lavender oil for $8 on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003BCC0U2/ref=oss_product (it was on sale) to make it all smell wonderful and disinfect surfaces and clothes all at the same time. I just recently purchased my second batch of Pink Solution, so my first batch lasted about a year. It would have lasted considerably longer if I hadn’t decided to wash all of my carpets with the Rug Doctor using my Pink Solution. The Rug Doctor used a ton! I believe that if I hadn’t used so much on my carpets, it would have lasted two years. The savings when purchasing Pink Solution are amazing! When the Pink Solution is mixed together, it costs only 35 cents per liter spray bottle and when using one cup, only 9 cents per load of laundry.

The Ingredients –

The Pink Solution has sea kelp, vegetable tallow, coconut oil, soda ash & water. The Mother’s Choice has the same ingredients with pumice also. The Laundry Bar has the same ingredients as the Pink Solution with less water. There are no harmful chemicals or harsh fumes. When I was pregnant with Wesley, I wanted to deep clean the bathroom because I was nesting, but was forced to convince my husband to do it because I couldn’t be around the fumes. When I was pregnant with William and had Pink Solution, I was able to deep clean the bathroom all that I wanted! I don’t use any sort of gloves when using this like you would need to when using Bleach or other harsh chemical cleaners, in fact, my hands are always much softer after cleaning. The only ingredient in Pink Solution that you should be aware of is the soda ash, also known as sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate is sodium salt of carbonic acid. Sodium carbonate is domestically well-known for its everyday use as a water softener. It can be extracted from the ashes of many plants. In domestic use, it is used as a water softener during laundry. It competes with the ions magnesium and calcium in hard water and prevents them from bonding with the detergent being used. Without using washing soda, additional detergent is needed to soak up the magnesium and calcium ions. Called washing soda, soda crystals, or sal soda in the detergent section of stores, it effectively removes oil, grease, and alcohol stains. Sodium carbonate is usually not very toxic. However, if you swallow very large amounts, you may have symptoms. Please watch this video that discusses the toxic fumes from regular household cleaners that are even in the air long after use, and the harmful effects on children. - http://www.care4earthproducts.com/toxic_brew.html I am so happy to be able to clean the house without worrying about toxic fumes getting into my baby’s lungs.

For even more information, feel free to watch the live demonstration video here - http://www.care4earthproducts.com/watch_demo.html

Below is a step-by-step guide to preparing Pink Solution for use, along with a few of the ways that Pink Solution is used in my household.

Time to mix the concentrate and make the solution.

You will need two 2/3 cups of the Pink Solution concentrate to fill the two gallon dispenser.

Two cups of the concentrate ready to go in the microwave.

Microwave for 1 minute.

The Pink Solution will still be chunky so stir until it thins out.

Then, microwave for an additional 30 seconds.

The Pink Solution is then ready to be poured into the dispenser.

Next, fill the dispenser to the 2 gallon line with hot water.

I use lavender oil, but feel free to use any essential oil that disinfects such as eucalyptus, tea tree, ect. Make sure to research any essential oil before using.

I then add 1/2 teaspoon to the two gallon dispenser.

Give it a nice shake and it's ready to go!

Time to do laundry! Give the jug a nice shake to disperse the Pink Solution and lavender oil.

Then add one cup of the diluted Pink Solution to a load of laundry. I do use two cups when Steven comes home with muddy work clothes because that is a tougher job.