Easy Sweet Potato, Bacon, Chard, and Tomato Quiche ~ Dairy and Gluten Free

Last night I decided to try out my new-to-me springform pan and make a quiche in it.

Usually I bake quiche in a 9x13 baking pan, and I think I will continue to do so after this. While the quiche looked impressive outside of the springform pan, it took me so long to clean the springform afterwards that I think I will opt for easy clean over impressive look.

Ingredients:
2 medium Organic Sweet Potatoes
1, 4 ounce package of bacon (I use Applegate Farms Naturals Sunday Uncured Bacon)
1 Handful diced swiss chard (spinach or broccoli are great substitutes)
1 Organic tomato
12 Organic Eggs
1 1/2 cups Organic Rice Milk (can use regular milk)
Sea Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder

Instructions:

Peel, shred and rinse sweet potatoes. Toss them into a frying pan set to medium heat. 

Add the swiss chard and heat until they are warmed through. Remove from heat. Chop bacon and fry it up until it is crunchy. Drain from grease. 

Whisk 12 eggs, 1 1/2 cups rice milk, 1 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp pepper, and 2 tsp garlic powder together in a bowl. 

Layer into 10 inch Springform pan (or 9x13 pan) in this order: sweet potatoes and chard mixture, cooked bacon, and diced tomato.

Then gently pour the egg mixture over the top. 

*My daughter does not like sweet potatoes so I made her a little dish on the side that was sweet potato-free

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45-1 hour. Check for internal temperature to reach 160 degrees F and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. 

How it looks after the springform mold has been removed. 

Slice and enjoy while warm! 

Window Markers

Gramma and Grampa sent up a package for the kiddos yesterday for the kids. In it were Crayola Washable Window Markers.

Today I got them out and the kids had a blast using them.

Who I am

I have had a lot of personal attacks in the last couple of years. Attacks that were aimed at my heart, with hurtful and biting words that were full of hatred and anger. I spent days in the house, refusing to leave because I didn't want to run into someone in the store who had verbally attacked me. I spent hours in tears with God, searching my soul and my heart. Then I found myself, got up and begin to move in peace.

Right now, I love the person I am and I look forward to the person I am going to become. But this is who I am now....

I am NOT a judgmental person. If you think that I am, then you don't really know me.

I am a dreamer, a schemer and a believer.

I love laughter. I love hugging and I love physical contact. Yes, we have nights where both our kids and the dog are sleeping in bed with us.

I am a homemaker (something I never dreamed I would be). I am a homeschooling mommy. I breastfed my second kiddo until he was 22 months.

I am a warrior and a defender. I view myself as Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Rings when he is holding back the Balrog.

I will ALWAYS stand up for what I believe in. I will ALWAYS defend someone I see being attacked. And I will ALWAYS stand up for what is right. 

I am a researcher, a planner, an experimenter. I never make a decision without weighing both sides.

I don't feel the need to justify myself or my choices, to anyone. When Jesus stood, knowing He was facing crucifixion, He did not say a word in His defense. 

I am not a name caller. I don't assume things about people and I don't think poorly of others for making different decisions than me. 

I am a lover. I am confident in who I am and I am strong enough to say "no" to relationships that are disrespectful towards me. 

I am a national champion in collegiate rowing. I am a world traveler. I am an "infertile" mother. 

I am supportive, dependable and loyal to the end. 

I am a daughter. I know who my dad and who my Father are. I know that I am loved, encouraged, prayed for, supported and cared for. I also have a peace that cannot be taken from me. 

You don't have to love me or like me. But if you want to be around me, then you do have to respect me. 

Homemade All Natural Liquid Hand Soap

I decided to try my hand at making homemade liquid hand soap. It was fun and super easy!

Ingredients you will need:

10 cups of distilled (or well) water

5 oz bar of castile soap (I used Dr. Bronner's Peppermint )

1 1/4 Tablespoons Vegetable Glycerine 

 15 drops Essential Oil (optional), I used Eucalyptus  

Step 1:

Grate the bar of soap

Step 2:

Pour distilled water into a large pot. Gently add grated soap, glycerin and essential oil (if using). 

Step 3:

Stir gently over medium heat until all of the soap has melted. 

Step 4:

Pour carefully into a large glass bowl and let sit for 12 hours (I did mine overnight)

How it looked when I left it to go to bed.

12 hours later! It is soap! Mine was solidish and smelled wonderful!

Step 5:

Blend gently with a hand mixer til smooth. At this point you can add a little bit more water to it til it is the texture/consistency that you prefer. 

Mine was perfect!

Step 6:

Pour carefully into containers for storage. I prefer to use glass for storage so that there is no chance of chemicals leaching out through plastic. If you aren't worried about that, then using the jug of water you got the distilled water from would work perfectly too. 

My batch yielded just a smidge under 3 quarts. 

Now, lets see how this compares to store bought hand soap...

 Walmart sells a 5.5 ounce pumper of hand soap for 98 cents. That makes it 18 cents per ounce. 

My cost:

$4.09 for the bar of soap

$.75 for the distilled water

$.53 for the glycerin

and the essential oil I already had so it was free 

(If you buy the essential oil then it would be around $5 for the bottle and then you used probably $.10 worth of oil in the batch of soap)

$5.37 total for 89 ounces of soap (two quarts = 64 ounces and then 25 ounces for the last quart jar which isn't completely filled)

Which ends up being..... drum roll please......

$0.06 per ounce! 

Six cents per ounce for all natural, safe liquid hand soap! 

*Note: I found the vegetable glycerin and the castile soap online at vitacost. I also found very affordable essential oils on their site. If you are wanting to start making your own cleaning and household supplies I would highly recommend purchasing from their site. Here is my referral link which will get you $10 off your first $30 purchase!

https://www.vitacostrewards.com/JTFPQEc

Homemade Laundry Soap Powder ~ Borax Free!

Here is my laundry soap recipe for powdered laundry soap that is free of toxins, chemicals, parabens, nasty things, etc.

It is super easy and quick to make (took me less than 5 minutes and that includes set-up and clean-up!).

Ingredients needed:

1, 5 oz Bar of castile soap (I usedDr. Bronner's Lavender)

2 cups Super Washing Soda

1/4 cup Pure Baking Soda

Step 1:

Grate the soap up as fine as you can. My Food Processor has a grating attachment so I used that. If you don't have one you can use a cheese grater. 

Step 2:

Use the blade in your food processor and add the baking soda and washing soda to the grated soap. 

Step 3:

Blend together in the food processor until it is as fine as it can possibly get

Mine was a perfect, smooth powder.

Step 4:

Pour (or funnel if you are prone to spills like me!) into an empty container. I used a quart sized mason jar because I always have lots of empty canning jars lying around.  I also like to label and date things so I used some masking tape. 

Use 1-2 Tablespoons of it per load of laundry. 1 Tablespoon works great for a regular sized load (remember, it is super concentrated because there are no chemicals or extra toxins in it). I am using 2 Tablespoons for a larger or dirtier load. 

Now, we all know that soap doesn't break down and wash as well in cold water as it does in hot. I was most all of our clothing in cold water so I had to figure out how to get the detergent to breakdown  so I didn't end up with clumps of soap on my clothes when they came out of the washer. 

Solution!

Spoon your desired amount (1 or 2 Tablespoons) into a jar or cup. 

Add very hot water (don't burn yourself!)

Then stir gently until all of the soap is dissolved (only takes a minute). Once it is all dissolved, just pour it into the washing machine like you would with any other detergent. 

Here is my first load using this recipe. My clothes are soft, smell and feel clean, and have no clumps of soap on them. 

I got my castile soap online at Vitacost. They have the best deal that I was able to find it for. They also have TONS of other organic, gluten-free, healthy, vitamins, natural options, essential oils, etc on their site. I have ordered from them numerous times and have always been very happy!

Here is my referral link where you can get $10 off your first purchase! 

https://www.vitacostrewards.com/JTFPQEc

When it was all said and done, the laundry soap cost me $6.05 to make and yielded 39 ounces. 1 Tablespoon is 1/2 an ounce. So using 1 Tablespoon per load you would get 78 loads (39 using 2 Tablespoons per load). That ends up being just over 7 cents per load (15 cents per 2 Tablespoon load)!  

Purex Free & Clear is 15 cents per load when bought at Walmart, and have you read the ingredients list?!  This home-made detergent is cheaper, healthier, more natural and you have the satisfaction of knowing that you made it yourself! 

Organic Low-Sugar Pineapple Jelly

Last night I made some organic, low-sugar pineapple jelly. It was amazing!! Here is the recipe and instructions!

Pour two 32 ounce jars (64 ounces total) of organic 100% unsweetened pineapple juice into a large pot on the stove-top. I used RW Knudsen brand that I got for $1.49 per bottle! 

Add 9 Tablespoons of Low or No-Sugar-Needed Pectin . I add it one or two Tablespoons at a time and stir it in before adding more to prevent clumps. 

Add 9 Tablespoons of Organic Lemon Juice (I use Santa Cruz brand).

Bring to a boil. 

Add 2 1/2 cups of organic sugar and stir. Bring to a rapid boil and boil for 1 minute. *Note: it foams up HUGE so be sure to stir it continually while it is rapidly boiling. 

Once it has boiled rapidly for one minute, turn off the heat and skim off the foam. Pour it into pre-sanitized canning jars leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. 

After getting the lids and rings on, process them in a hot water bath for at least 5 minutes (I did it for 10 minutes as that is what I always do my jams and jellies for). 

Then remove the jars from the hot water bath and let them cool for 24 hours. 

My batch yielded 10 cups of jelly. 

*For more information on canning and canning safety, be sure to check out Pick Your Own's website. It has great information and USDA guidelines for safe canning practices. 

Xander Turns 2!

Xander turned 2 on Sunday. He is such an amazing little boy!! We are so blessed by and treasure him!

Here are a few pictures from his party on Monday night before we headed back home to Tacoma.