My secret to finding time to cook real food

I try to make as much food as I can from scratch. I am getting there in my journey to be a truly healthy eater. That means not just thinking I am eating healthy, it means actually eating real food and not a bunch of junk. Junk as in preservatives, words I can't pronounce, anything processed and chemicals.

Somethings I make are quite time consuming. Especially with two toddlers that need just about all of my attention all of the time.

My secret is doubling, tripling and quadrupling recipes. This saves lots of time and lots of dish washing. I only have to get my ingredients out once and put them away once.

My loaves of bread are not all the same size. I am not perfect and I don't have time to be, so please don't judge :)

Yay! One to eat and three to freeze for the next couple of weeks. Now I wont have to bake bread for a while.

The bread recipe I used in the pictures is from Heavenly Homemakers. Lately, I have been only using sourdough and I have been looking for the perfect recipe that everyone in my family enjoys.

Winner of Miessence Organic Exfoliating Cleansing Bar

Thank you for all the participation and the ideas on what to giveaway next. I will be going with the Miessence Nourishing Hand Cream so keep your eyes open.

The winner is Fiona! Congratulations! Please email me your address and if you would like the Tea Tree or Rose Geranium scent. jessicajo52@gmail.com

Certified Organic Exfoliating Cleansing Bar- A Pure Miessence Giveaway!

Our skin is our biggest organ and I am very concerned about the chemicals in our everyday products.  I was so happy to discover Miessence Certified Organics. I am relieved that the products are safe and natural. One Group is a great direct sales, work from home, business opportunity. The company is organic and green. It has an outstanding compensation plan. All of the products and their ingredients are beneficial to your skin and body. The Rose Geranium Certified Exfoliating Cleansing Bar came in my Miessence Organic Lifestyle  Pack. It was the very first Miessence product that I fell in love. Well, I did hop in the shower as soon as I received my package. Everything is of superior quality, top of the line, certified organic and safe.


The Rose Geranium Certified Organic Exfoliating Cleansing Bar is invigorating and makes my skin feel fresh and new. The natural sisal bag exfoliates your skin leaving it soft and smooth. This extra virgin coconut cleansing bar is hand crafted from organic cold-pressed virgin coconut oil from the Pacific Islands and includes organically grown essential oils.

I am going to be giving away a Certified Organic Exfoliating Cleansing Bar. Your choice of Rose Geranium or Tea Tree. There are 10 ways to enter:
1. Subscribe to http://earthloveandcraziness.blogspot.com/ either Google connect or via email (mandatory)
2. Subscribe to the monthly Pure Miessence Newsletter
3. Like Pure Miessence on Facebook
4. Like Earth, Love and Craziness on Facebook
5. Follow Pure Miessence on Twitter
6. Visit my shop and let me know what other Miessence products you would like me to consider for future giveaways.
7. Share this giveaway on your blog
8. Share on your Facebook page
9. Share on Twitter
10. Tell me something that you like about the company

Leave a new comment for each entry.

A random winner will be choosen on Friday October 7th. I will post the winner. 

My Sourdough Adventure - It's just the beginning.

 I was at the heath food store and I picked up a little packet of Gold Rush Sourdough Starter. I am such a cheater. All I had to do was add water and flour and it was ready. Simple. I didn't have to mess around with getting my sourdough going. Which is great since I've procrastinating about starting my sourdough. 

Here it is! My always hungry sourdough.

Sourdough has many health benefits. I want to do as much of my baking as I can with it. Sourdough breaks down gluten making it easier to digest and I think my hubby might be a little gluten intolerant.

I have found this great website http://www.northwestsourdough.com/. Northwest Sourdough has a free e-book that is all about sourdough and lots of recipes. Everything you need to know about sourdough is in this free e-book.

My sourdough is keeping me really busy. So far I have made hamburger buns, biscuits, waffles, bagels, crackers, pancakes, whole grain bread, tortillas, tortillas and more tortillas. I have been making homemade tortilla chips and everyone loves them. I don't mind doing it either because they are much healthier and cheaper. I need to figure out a sourdough/flour ratio so I can change regular recipes into sourdough. One thing at a time, Jessica.

We have made these sourdough crackers twice and everyone eats them up quick. They are very easy to make and use up sourdough. You can sprinkle whatever you want on them to season them. We have tried lemon pepper and salt. 

In a few days my sourdough is going in the refrigerator to take a break. My freezer is overflowing with baked goods. Do you use sourdough? What are your favorite recipes?

Grilled Corn on the Cob

I love corn on the cob this time of the year! I especially love it on the grill. It taste better and it is much easier. I am not getting a pot dirty to wash. It is a lot easier to peel when it is prepared this way. I do like to do things as simple as possible.

 I clean the corn up so there isn't any fires.

 You can grill your corn before your other food. Once you take it off of the grill it stays hot for a while. So make sure you have a napkin to hold the corn with when you start peeling. 

 Mmm, looking good!

 Ike found the corn holders in the drawer and could not wait to use them. Yes, Ike is eating his dinner naked. Sometimes it just happens.

 Sam really enjoyed his corn too. I am pretty sure it was the holders.

I grilled extra corn up so I would have some to put in the freezer. Making big batches of food is making my life easier.

A Back to School Routine and Chore Charts

Yes, that would be TRYING to get a routine. It is a mad house in my house all of the time. I finally feel like I am getting some things under control. It must be because Ike and Sam are getting a little bigger. 

Nighttime seams to be the biggest problem. Ike and Sam nurse to sleep and it seems like it takes them forever to fall asleep. I have gotten lazy and I will go nurse one of them on the couch to sleep while I watch t.v. or I will let them run around around until 11:30pm. That way they will be nice and ready. Sometimes I just get a little annoyed by it. We also have the problem of one of them or both of them getting up after we lay down (it's hard with two) and going to play or find daddy. 

Here is our bedtime race car to-do chart! This is the best picture I could take. I laminated it so that is why there is a big flash on it. Ike and Sam each have their own car and track. I found some pics online for what they have to do. When the task gets completed they  move the laminated car to it. I did use a little sticky velcro to do this. It won't stay sticking on their forever so I am going to try some poster putty next. 

The 1st picture is ready, set, go. Followed with pic up toys, bath time, pj's, brush teeth, a book, cross the finish line and goodnight. I hope it works to get them to bed and for me to stick to it.

Josie is ten and going into the 5th grade. She really want's an allowance. I think she should have to work for it.  Before school she must make her bed, brush her teeth and eat/clean up her breakfast. After school includes homework, have her school bag ready for the next day and pick up room. Before bed brush teeth and pick out clothes for am. Everyday she must pick up after herself, help around the house, be respectful, ask before doing things and no crying/whining when she doesn't get her own way.

I think this is pretty general for 10 year old. This is the first one of these I have made. I hope it helps keep Josie a little more structured.

How do you get your kids into a routine and get them to remember their chores?

Good Bye Summer

I am sad that life is flying by so quickly. My babies are growing up way to fast and Josie is going into the fifth grade this year. I am glad summer is ending because I don't really like the hot weather. I love fall! I love apple cider, jeans, Halloween, the smell, leaves, the fair and the excitement of back to school. I also love the smell of burning leaves. Fall brings me back to my childhood.  

Josie, Ike and Sam had a good time at the water fountains downtown this summer. 

What will you miss about summer? Are you looking forward to fall?

How often do you eat pizza?

First, I would like to say I have not been very consistent on my blog posts this summer. The reason is I have been busy trying to get organized by staying off of my computer. I have unliked a lot of facebook pages and unsubscribed to a lot of emails to free up my time. Oh yeah, I also have two toddlers that need a lot of attention. 

How often does your family eat pizza? My husband loves pizza. I try to make it once a week or he will end up ordering some or talking me into ordering some. I love delivery pizza but I feel super guilty for eating it.

I am trying to make life easier by making dinner easier. Three weeks ago I tripled my pizza dough recipe and made extra sauce. I made 4 delicious pizza's, froze two of the pizza's whole and froze two balls of dough. The following weekend I just put the frozen pizza's in the oven. Easy, homemade, from scratch, yummy dinner.

Last night I pulled my 2 last dough balls, extra sauce and some chopped red peppers out of the freezer. I don't like pepperoni. I do like pepperoni a lot.  I just don't think it is really that good for us. I am a married woman and I need to compromise. I did put a lot of spinach on the pizza so I though my hubby deserved some pepperoni. 

Baking Soda the Best Darn Odor Remover Ever!!!

Seriously!

Some of you probably know by now that I have an overly curious two year old who is obsessed with physics. Ike likes to dump everything out. I mean EVERYTHING! Maybe he is going to be the next Issac Newton.

I had a big jar of minced garlic in the fridge. I really hate cutting up garlic. Ike dumped the jar all of over the carpet. Juice and all and very smelly! Todd tried to clean it up that night. The smell was still there strong in the morning. I sprinkled baking soda all over the floor and in about 15 minutes the smell was gone.

This is another wonderful reason I love baking soda. I am also in the process of thinking about going sham'poo' free and using only baking soda in my hair. I'll let you know how that goes.

Homemade Felt Board

This was a very easy toy to make and the kids love it! I found felt on sale at Jo Ann fabrics. I stocked up on few colors. 

My kids really love this. My husband is going to make a frame for it so the kids can't tear it down. I am also going to make more themes for it. A road and cars, maybe some vegetables.

Boycott Nestle

I just added a Boycott Nestle banner to the bottom of my blog. Do you boycott Nestle? If you have no idea why people boycott Nestle click on it and see for yourself.

My New Recycled Basket

I needed a cool container quick. So I found some fabric and the glue gun in the craft box.

Here is the ugly plastic container. I am starting to hate plastic really bad. I think there is nothing good about it.

I found this piece of fabric. Perfect size!

I glued it to the side.

Then I glued it to the inside.

I just keep gluing along the inside edges.

Inside is all done.

I took the extra fabric and glued it along the front.

Yay, I like it!

I wanted to hang it on the wall so I needed to cover up the bottom. I took a piece of denim and glued the sides down.

More gluing :0

All done!

There it is on the wall. I have to put everything on the walls, because my kids get into everything.

The New Toy - That Keeps On Giving!

Ike gets into everything. I mean EVERYTHING! He got into the craft box and made a big mess of the craft sticks. I started thinking about what container to put these in. Hehe...this time I tricked him into picking his mess up and Sam helped.

I just grabbed a ball jar and put 3 slits in the lid. They love it!

Yay! They did it! Finally picked up their mess!

 This activity amazed me. They must have played with it 5 or 6 times in the same day. Thanks to this jar I was able to get housework done.

It is great for Sam's coordination. It will also be great for Ike to learn to match colors, learn his colors and counting. I do need to be careful the boys don't put these in their mouths. They have been in the craft box for years and they came already painted.

My Miessence Facial

I got very brave and gave myself a facial.  The facial was fun and easy. The brave part is me taking pictures of myself and posting them online. I don't really have the nicest skin, but it is getting better and I take horrible pictures. Meaning a horrible picture taker and I usually have closed eyes. It is very difficult for me to take a picture with my eyes open. I did the best I could.  The kids took a nice long nap and I got to get it all done while they were sleeping (amazing).

Before, enough said.

This is after using the Rejuvenating Cleanser. I use the rejuvenating because I tend to have very dry skin. 

A rich, emollient cleanser formulated with rejuvenating organic geranium, hops and chamomile for dry or mature skin. Softens and freshens, gently removing perspiration and pollution.

My face is sparkling because I have Garnet Exfoliant on it. I really love this exfoliant because it is very gentle and it does not feel like I am scratching my skin off.

This picture is after I used the Garnet Exfoliant. My eyes are doing it's weird picture thing. 

Polished alluvial garnet works effectively to clear congestion resulting from a build-up of dead, dry surface skin cells. The best scrub ever, with a fresh citrus blend of organic lemon, bergamot and orange.

The fun part Balancing Mineral Mask. 

Natural pink clay, organic marshmallow and calendula to help absorb and lift surface impurities and renew the skin's surface.

I mixed a teaspoon full of the mineral mask with a teaspoon of water.

Here it is on my face. It feels nice and light. It did not feel thick and caked on. It does take 10-15 mins for the mask to dry. While I waited I mixed my self up a cup of Berry Radical Antioxident.  I figured since my face was going to feel great the rest of my body should too.  The organic Berry Radical gives me feel good boost with energy. I just mixed it with hot water, honey and coconut milk....mmmm.

It's time to take the mask off.

Ahhh...my skin feels very refreshed.

After the mask I use the Probiotic Skin Brightener. 

Probiotic bacteria ferment organic whole grains and legumes to release nutrients and create a naturally occuring, extremely mild, lactic liquid which is known to restore and protect the skin's acid mantle, lighten and brighten the complexion, improve photodamaged skin, exfoliate dead skin cells for a smoother, less-wrinkled appearance, help break down impurities, whilst bringing moisture, clarity and vitality to the skin.

The Rejuvenating Skin Conditioner is one of the things I have to have. As soon as I put it on I can feels my skin absorbing all of the nutrients. It is great!!! 

A refreshing infusion with organic gotu kola and horsetail and vitamins known to energise and tone the skin. Revitalises the complexion for radiant skin.

I really love the Rejuvenating Moisturizer too! It is very refreshing and hydrating. A rich moisturising cream with significant and lasting effects on hydration and softness. 

Formulated with plant phospholipids, organic herbs, organic fruit and seed oils and butters, and organic flower extracts to nourish and revitalise the complexion. Contains nourishing organic avocado, rosehip seed oil, gotu kola, horsetail and nettle with the beautiful aroma of organic Roman chamomile and rose essential oils.

Here I am with Firming Eye and Neck Serum on. This is one of the first products I fell in love with. I use it religiously to prevent wrinkles. My skin around my eyes is super smooth and it has this glow to it. 

Softens, smoothes and deeply moisturises with organic rosehip seed and avocado oil and tones and firms with organic nettle, horsetail, hops and olive leaf extracts. Helps diminish the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and crow's feet

I just brushed my teeth with Anise Toothpaste. I had to add this because I just got it and I love the flavor.  My kids 1,2 and 10 really love the flavor too. 

Cleanse and brighten your teeth with bicarb soda. Freshens your breath and maintains healthy teeth and gums. Miessence toothpastes do not contain fluoride, aluminium, artificial sweeteners or detergents.

After my facial...ta daa! Now it is make over time.

I lightly cover with Mineral Powder Foundation using a brush. I use the medium. I really like how light this is and by using a brush or a sponge you can change the coverage. 

Using only pure, refined minerals, Miessence loose Mineral Foundation Powders provides silky, lightweight, breathable coverage whilst offering natural sun protection. Sericite mica reflects light, reducing the appearance of pores and wrinkles and provides a matte coverage. Delicately scented with pure organic rose otto.

This is after I add a little bit of Mineral Blush Powder. I always go light with my make-up. I try to go for the natural look. I find miessence cosmetics to work great for this. I am using the Desert Rose color.

Desert Rose Mineral Blush Powder is a cool pinky mauve colour. Using only pure, refined minerals, Miessence Mineral Blush Powders provide buildable colour. Delicately scented with pure organic rose essential oil. Translucent mica reflects light, reducing the appearance of pores, whilst allowing your natural skin tone to show through.

This after I apply the Pure Black Mascara. This is the only mascara I have found that does not make my eyes burn. 

Lash friendly ingredients like nourishing jojoba oil, moisturizing shea butter, thickening and strengthening beeswax, and mineral earth pigments deliver long-lasting, intense color.

Mmmmm...seriously...mmmmm. This Shimmer Creme smells so good. Just like a vanilla bean. I am wearing the berry color. 

A hint of colour with a subtle shimmer for anywhere you'd like a natural blush of colour. Comes in a convenient clasp compact for fingertip application.

                                       Next I did my hair but I will save that for another post this one is getting pretty long :) If you are local and interested in hosting a Mispa party you can get a facial too!