Strawberry Cream Pie

We are baking, or shall we say, mixing the easiest spring pie!  Sweet & seasonal strawberries top a light and creamy pie filling that’s drizzled with a little chocolate on top.

This recipe comes together in minutes and is super easy to prepare.  It’s also super adaptable.  We love this in a prepared Oreo pie crust, but a graham cracker crust or traditional pie crust is equally yummy.  If you don’t have strawberries, feel free to substitute them with raspberries or blueberries (or even doubling the chocolate topping for a different twist!).

Safe make up & beauty products

Hello gorgeous!  Looking for some lovely beauty products without the nasty chemicals?  Then this article is for you!

Feeling and looking beautiful should not come with the price tag of our health.  It’s important for makeup companies to know that we want beauty products that don’t hinder our wellbeing in any way.  I vote with my money, and will purchase products that are free of:

• Benzophenones (oxybenzone) – Can have photoallergic reactions and is a hormone disrupter.
• Paraben (butylparaben, ethylparaben, methylparaben, propylparaben) – The most widely used preservative in cosmetics and personal care products.  It can mimic estrogen in the body, may disrupt hormones and possibly increase the risk of breast cancer.  (see this video -http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/research/endocrine/videos/makeup.cfm)
• Phthalates – A chemical additive that can disrupt the endocrine system, mimic estrogen, cause thyroid problems, allergies and asthma.
• Sulfates (sodium laurly sulfate SLS or sodium laureth sulfate SLES) – This thickening, lathering agent is a skin irritant (despite being used in products that you put on your skin!) and can mimic estrogen.  SLS has been linked to cancer causing carcinogens.

A resource is the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database.  Just type in your make up brand and it will give you the lowdown on that product http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/  My complaint with this site is that it does not state why some products don’t get better marks than others.  So, use it.  But sometimes question how they came to their conclusions.

Here’s what is in my makeup bag!  I am very happy with all of these safe beauty products:

• Zuzu liquid eyeliner
• Gabriel foundation
• Mineral Fusion lipstick
• Badger lip tint & shimmer
• Pacifica Hawaiian Ruby Guava perfume

What products do you use and love? 

Grow Great Grub

Do your summer plans include growing great grub or a garden that fits your space & schedule?  If so, we have two book recommendations that you need to check out: 

1. Grow Great Grub: Organic Food From Small Spaces by Gayla Trail is a wonderful how-to gardening book loaded with great photographs & nuggets of tips!  I love that this book gets to the point and doesn’t waste reader’s time with extra words.  There are pictures and oodles of excellent tips to get started and apply immediately!
2. I Garden: Urban Style by Reggie Solomon and Michael Nolan is packed with gorgeous photographs and helpful information to identify what you want out of your garden and how to get it.  It focuses on the urban garden, but their information is pertinent for anyone starting small or working with window boxes and container gardening.  

8 natural cleaning ingredients

If your spring involves any cleaning, we’ve got 8 natural cleaning ingredients to get the job done well & safely!

Our good friends at Natural Home Magazine put together this list of 8 products that you probably have at home that can naturally and thoroughly clean without the nasty & dangerous chemicals that are in most traditional products:

Baking Soda: A truly multitasking cleaner, baking soda is a perfect substitute for cleaning powders that scour sinks and tubs without scratching. It’s also great for wiping down and deodorizing the fridge. Combined with an equal amount of vinegar, baking soda can freshen drains and prevent them from clogging.

Coconut banana carrot cake

This cake takes the cake!   Literally.  It’s moist, tender, delicious and dare I say it for a cake… rather healthy!   Loaded with coconut, banana, carrot, cinnamon and zero refined sugar, this will quickly become a go-to recipe!  The cake batter is sweetened with maple syrup.  It’s so good and perfect for any special ending to a meal!

It is super delicious unadorned, but if you want to top it with a traditional cream cheese frosting, it doesn’t get any better than the one we have (warning:  the icing recipe is an old school, sugary-buttery-lick-your-fingers-icing… but everything in moderation… right?)!

1 cup ripe banana, mashed

2 cups carrots, grated
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup coconut oil (or butter), melted
4 eggs
2 cups almond flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup coconut
1/3-1/2 cup organic raisins (optional)
¼ cup walnuts, finely chopped (optional)

8-ounce cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of cinnamon & nutmeg, optional
Drop of milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Grease and flour a bundt pan.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix together banana, maple syrup, coconut oil and eggs until well mixed.  Add almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda and vanilla.  Mix until incorporated.  Add carrots and coconut.  Mix until combined.  Add raisins and walnuts, and mix until incorporated.
4. Pour into prepared pan.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
5. Cool cake completely.
6. For the icing:  Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and spices (if using), beat until combined.  Very gradually add a drop of milk until you reach the right creamy consistency (be careful to add a very little at a time!). 

What we are loving:  these stainless steel cups!  We got them for the kids, but oddly they are most coveted by adults.  I think grownups feel like they are drinking out of a mint julep cup… but they are perfect for kiddos!  They can safely drink from these without the worry of plastic leaching or breakage.

Spring Foods in Season Now!

Spring has sprung and so have seasonal fruits, vegetables and herbs!  Eating seasonally (and locally) is an easy & tasty way to be green! 

NaturalHome Magazine just posted a wonderful list of what will be hitting your local farmers market or natural grocery stores now (or soon).  Eat seasonally with:

 

Herbs: chervil, chives, dill, horseradish root, mint, parsley, tarragon

Salad greens: arugula (rocket), baby lettuces, endive, mâche (corn salad), mizuna, pac choi, sorrel, spinach, watercress

Cooking greens: beet greens, chard, collards, kale, radish greens, spinach, turnip greens

Root veggies: beets, parsnips, radishes, salad turnips

Fruits: apricots, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, cherries, nectarines, peaches, plums, raspberries, rhubarb (not technically a fruit), strawberries

Ephemeral garden treats: garlic scapes, pea shoots

Wild edibles: cactus pears, cattails, claytonia (miner’s lettuce), dandelion greens, fiddlehead ferns, lamb’s quarters, morel mushrooms, nettles, pokeweed, purslane, ramps (wild leeks)

Garden veggies: asparagus, garden peas, potatoes, scallions, spring onions, sugar snap peas

Meat: Most pasture-raised meat and wild game is best in the fall and winter, but spring is a great time to stock up on frozen and aged meats. In some areas, there is also a spring turkey season.

Fish: Spring is the season for most freshwater fish including bass, carp, catfish, crappie, pike, salmon, sunfish, trout and walleye. Saltwater seasons vary.

Dairy: Fresh milk and cheeses made with milk from animals that graze on green pasture are highly nutritious in late spring.

Eggs: Fresh farm eggs are rich with omega-3 fatty acids and other grass-derived nutrients in spring.

Nuts and seeds: Because most kinds of nuts are not harvested in the spring, you will want to choose roasted nuts for the best flavor. (Note: Nuts freeze well, so stock up like a squirrel in fall when they are in season.)

What we’re reading now:

Eat Like a Dinosaur:Recipe & Guidebook for Gluten-Free Kids

Written by The Paleo Parents and Illustrated by Amanda Gates

sweet (spinach) mini muffins

Shh, don’t tell your little shamrocks that the ‘green’ ingredient is spinach!  Kids will love the muffins because they are sweet & scrumptious!  Parents will love them because they are made with wholesome ingredients like spinach, apple sauce and almond flour.  These mini bites are super moist (thanks to the almond flour) and the perfect combination of healthy and delicious.

I like to throw in some raisins and/or coconut (chopped walnuts would be a good addition too!), but this recipe is perfect as is. 

1 cup fresh spinach, packed

½ cup organic applesauce
1 organic egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup maple syrup
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1 ¼ cups almond flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1.      Preheat oven to 350 F.

2.      Place the spinach, applesauce, egg, vanilla, maple syrup and melted butter in a food processor and puree.  Add the almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Pulse until combined.

3.      Drop batter into 24 lined or greased mini muffin tins. 

4.      Bake for 11-12 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Makes approximately 24 mini muffins

We are loving these reusable produce bags!  No more plastic bags :)