St. Patrick's Day in Memphis is good.

Today that hot guy I call my spouse, the kid, and I volunteered planting trees and pulling weeds for the 7th Annual Wolf River Conservancy Tree Planting at Shelby Farms.  I (shamefully) forgot my camera and missed some wonderful photo opportunities.  (A) was COVERED in mud.  He kept getting his shoes stuck in the mud and loved to hear the 'slush-pop' sound of pulling them out.  I know he's only 16 months old, but it's never to early to teach the kids about volunteerism and environmentalism, right?  Truthfully, I didn't get as much done with him as I would have without him, but everyone seemed to enjoy his youthful and oh-so-helpful presence.  

We later took that little bead hoarder to the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Beale St.  He loved the floats, especially the Bol Weevils, and once he figured out that he would get stuff thrown at us if he caught their attention he became a silly waving fool.  (A) was amazed by the horses and carriages and was thrilled to get to pet one.  His squealing grin was priceless.  We ran into an acquaintance on the walk back to the car and Abe the Babe gave his collection of trinkets to her two little girls that missed the parade.  I love that he shared so generously and am so grateful that that stuff didn't make it into the endless number of things I wish were easier to get rid of pile at the house.

It's funny, earlier in the day (G) and I were reminiscing about how our pre-kid Saint Patty's Days were so fun.  As I looked around at the people doing the pub crawls and partying, I realized how much more fun I was having just hanging with my boys and enjoying their company and (A)'s excitement at all these new things.  It really is amazing how parenthood changes one's perceptions.

Uh, you know you want some of these cupcakes.

Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Banana Amaretto Buttercream Frosting

Yield: 24ish cupcakes
Banana Pecan Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cup of unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 ¾ cups of granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 ½ (about 4) cups very ripe bananas (roasted, if you have the time or forethought to do so)
¼ cup milk
¼ cup yogurt
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup pecans (or walnuts, if you prefer)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
Put 5 bananas in a baking pan and stick them in the oven for about 45 minutes or even just until you are ready to mix them into the batter.  The husk will be blackened.  Roasting the bananas makes them softer, sweeter, and stronger flavored.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter on medium speed until creamy (about 3 or 4 minutes).  Add sugar and vanilla and beat on medium speed until fluffy (about 3 minutes).  Scrape down the bowl, add eggs, and beat until just combined.  Scrape down the bowl again and add bananas (mash them first if you do not roast them), chocolate chips, and nuts.  Beat until just combined.  Turn the mixer to low speed.  Add 1 cup of the flour mixture, the yogurt, 1 cup of flour mixture, the milk, the remaining flour (tedious, but trust me doing it in this order is what gives them the perfect texture).  Scrape down the bowl, and mix on low speed for a few more seconds.
Fill the cupcake liners about ¾ full.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  While the cupcakes are baking it’s time to make the frosting.  Once the cupcakes are done transfer the pans to a cooling rack for 20 minutes.  Remove the cupcakes from the pans and place them on the rack to cool completely.

Banana Amaretto Buttercream Frosting
½ cup or 1 ripe banana (roasted, if you have the time or forethought to do so)
½ tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Amaretto
½ stick unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1/8tsp salt
3 cups (or to appropriate thickness) confectioners’ sugar
Beat butter and salt on medium speed until creamy.  Add banana, lemon juice, and Amaretto until combined.  Begin adding confectioners’ sugar one cup at a time until you achieve desired thickness (should be around 3 cups).  Beat until fluffy.  Put into a ziplock bag and stick it in the refrigerator until cupcakes are complete cooled.  Cut tip off of one edge of the ziplock bag and squeeze onto cooled cupcakes.

Once complete, I like to melt a couple of baking chocolate squares and drizzle them on top of the frosted cupcakes.

St. Patrick's Day came early due to rain. Weird.

It's super rainy 'round these parts today, booooooo... So we decided it was time to celebrate St. Patrick's day a day early.  I put together a Saint Patty's Day sensory bucket set filled with green and gold stuff from all over the house (balls, necklaces, books, a snake, letters for the work 'Luck', a rattle, drink stirrers) and added some Mardi Gras coins, dollar store St. Patrick's Day buttons and tattoos.  Toddler Turkey Feathers thoroughly enjoyed exploring all the little items.  He was wonderful at removing the balls from the other 'stuff' and dividing them back and forth between the baskets.  My goal is to have him be able to separate the items by color, size, object, etc...

Additional (A) related news, he had his Cardiologist appointment this week and all was well.  He does have a heart murmur, but it is considered an innocent murmur meaning that his heart beats to the tune of a different drummer and nothing else.  Doc said "If he wants to be an Olympic athlete, let him.  The murmur means nothing."  With his energy level, daredevilisms, and athleticism, he ought to be an Olympic athlete.  I wasn't terribly worried to begin with, but it's still relieving to hear.  Yay!

Mrs. E's DIY Laundry Stuff for Your Various Laundering Needs

I use different types of homemade laundry detergent for different things.  I started making my own detergents while I was pregnant with my son.  I first tried the soapy powder formulation.  I like it OK, but I seem to go through it much faster than I thought I would.  I still use a powdered version for cloth diapers and towels because I like the fact that there are no suds, those items come out smelling like nothing (which is wonderful if your child has skin or scent sensitivities), and there is no soap residue build up on these items that can cause them to perform there jobs ineffectively.  I also use a liquid detergent because it seems to last us much longer as I make 5 gallons at a time, and it seems to save a little bit more money than the powdered versions.  Our family has had great success with these detergent recipes and I hope they are helpful to you, too.

My Go-To Laundry Powder  (It's cloth diaper safe)

2 cups Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
2 cups Borax
1 cup OxyClean
10 drops essential oil, optional (I stick with lavender with the baby as I know it very rarely causes skin irritation in children. It adds a VERY light scent to the laundry for more of a scent see the Dryer Ball section below.)

1/2 vinegar added to soak cycle for diaper laundry

I know a lot of people are freaked out that there is no soap in this one, but I swear to you that it works like a charm.  If it works on cloth diapers, it will work on anything.  This is also my go to detergent for towels because it lacks the soap which can make your towels water-resistant, making wet cleanups with them a exercise in utter futility.

I have been using this for 17 months now on our cloth diapers and they always smell clean right out of the wash; I have never had to strip them from detergent build up; we don't have a single stained diaper; and the materials have held up even after a year and a half of every other day washings.

Cloth Diaper Care Directions:
Pee diapers go straight into the pail (lined with a water-proof cloth liner), soiled diapers must be rinsed off in the toilet before going into the pail.  Every other day, I pull out the liner (just like a bag of trash) and through the whole thing into the washing machine.  I add 1/2 cup of vinegar and run through a COLD soak cycle.  When that completes, I turn the water to HOT and add 1/3 cup of laundry powder and wash.  You can dry them in the dryer or on a dry line in the sun.  If you dry them in the sun routinely (when possible), the diapers will have fewer stains, hold up longer, and smell even fresher; but you will need to through them in the dryer afterwards for 3-5 minutes on high heat to soften them.

Laundry Powder for People Who Feel Like Soap Makes it Cleaner

2 cups 20 Mule Team Borax
2 cups Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
2 bars of soap, finely grated (Ivory, Fels Naptha, or Zote)

1/2 cup OxyClean (optional, be careful as this can bleach certain items)
10-15 drops essential oil, optional (You can use any that you like.  I prefer a simple lavender.)

This should only take about 10 minutes to make.  You can buzz the grated soap in the coffee grinder for a finer texture, if you want.  Stir thoroughly.  It should roughly be the consistency of cornmeal.  This does NOT suds up much but do not worry, it will clean just the same.  The soap will melt into the water shortly and will not stain clothes so don't fret over putting in before or after laundry is in the wash or the temperature of the water, it doesn't matter.

Use 1 tbsp - 1/2 cup per load of laundry depending on size and filth of laundry.

I used this detergent regularly for a couple of years and my laundry was just as clean as it was when I used store bought detergent.  When I did my stain testing, it did no better, no worse than store bought laundry detergent.  In other words, you still need to pretreat stains.  The laundry smells nice, subtle but clean.  It ends up costing around 4 cents per load.  I do NOT recommend using this on towels or cloth diapers as the soap can make them water-resistant so they will not work as intended after some time.

The Utilitarian Laundry Liquid

This is a bit more time consuming to make than the powders, as in it takes 30 minutes or so.  At first, I wasn't sold on the liquid due to the fact that it took more time to whip up, but I generally prefer to use the liquid for washing so it's a trade-off.  It saves more money than the previous option as it averages around 2 cents per load.

1 bar of soap, shredded (Ivory, Fels Naptha, or Zote)
1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax

5-gallon bucket
Water

Heat shredded soap and 4 cups of water in pot over med-low heat, stirring routinely until soap is melted (about 10 minutes).  Fill a 5-gallon bucket 1/2 way with hot water.  Pour in melted soap mixture.  Add Super Washing Soda and Borax.  Stir very well (I use a yardstick so that I can stir the bottom).  Fill the bucket the rest of the way with hot water.  Stir well again.  Cover and let it sit over night.  It should gel over night, but depending on the weather/house temperature, it can up to 36 hours to cool enough to gel completely.  Stir again. Use 1/4 to a 1/2 cup per load depending on the amount of laundry and the grossness of it.

I switched to using this recipe about 6 months ago and it works the same as all the name brand liquid detergents out there. You will still have to pre-treat stains as always.  It saves a bit a money and in my opinion smells far better than the cheap store brand or discount brand laundry detergents.

Non-Chemical Fabric Softener

2 to 5 wool dryer balls
a few drops of whatever essential oil you like (optional)

Add 1-4 drops of oil to each dryer ball (start small, each oil has a different strength so you can adjust the amount based on the specific scent you want).  Or you can skip the oil and just use them plain for no scent.  Throw them in the dryer with the laundry and dry as usual.  These have worked just as well as any chemical fabric softener I've ever purchased and I no longer have to buy or whip up anything.

DIY Coconut Lavender Body Butter

First let me start with I picked this recipe up from the folks at The Nourished Life -  http://www.livingthenourishedlife.com/2012/02/homemade-whipped-coconut-oil-body.html  My version did not turn out exactly like theirs (mine is not fluffy in texture)... but my skin is soft and I smell wonderful so I'm happy.  I played with the proportions a bit and here is my version:


1 16 oz jar of coconut oil (if you like the coconut smell purchase virgin oil, if not purchase the refined oil)
10 - 20 drops of essential oil (my favorite is lavender, but you could use any single or mixed scent you like or even skip this step)


Do NOT melt or soften the coconut oil.  Put all ingredients into an electric mixer and whip for 6 to 10 minutes until it begins to resemble whipped cream (mine never did this, but it still turned out fine).  Pour/Scoop back into jar or another decorative jar.  Done.

SO EASY!  The total cost when using items purchased from Whole Foods:
Coconut Oil: $7.99 on sale
Lavender Essential Oil 2 oz: $17.99 I used less than 1/20 of the bottle meaning about .90 worth was used (I use this stuff in a lot of different household/skin products, so I purchased the larger bottle).
So for under $10 and about 10 minutes, I have 16 oz of wonderful smelling body oil/cream.  LOVE IT!

Weekly Meal Plan #4

                                                               

Monday

Ham, Broccoli, & Cheese Casserole

Tuesday

Leftovers

Wednesday
Tilapia Taco and Spanish Rice

Thursday

Fried Pork Chops, Roasted Root Vegetables, and Green Beans

Friday

Leftovers

Saturday

Russian Borscht

Sunday

Leftovers

Ham, Broccoli, & Cheese Casserole

4 cups cooked Brown Rice

2 cups chopped Broccoli

1 1/2 cups cooked Ham

2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese

1 can Cream of Mushroom or Cream of Broccoli Soup

1/2 cup Sour Cream

Bread Crumbs, Crushed Crackers, or French's Fried Onions (for topping)

1 tsp Black Pepper

DO NOT ADD SALT - the ham is already salty.

Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in a large casserole dish, mix well.  Top with crumbs.  Cook for 30 minutes.

Tilapia Tacos

3 filets of Tilapia

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Garlic, minced

1/2 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp of Chili Powder

Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

Pinch of Sea Salt

1 Lime

2 handfuls of fresh baby Spinach

1 Avocado, peeled and sliced

1 tomato diced

1 handful of shredded Mexican Cheese

4 whole wheat flour tortillas

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place tortillas flat directly on grate or centered and draping over two tines for a taco shell shape and bake for 3-5 minutes just until warm and beginning to crisp.  Heat olive oil in pan over med-high heat.  Mix garlic, cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and salt and rub mix onto the tilapia.  Cook fish for 3 to four minutes each side.  Squeeze lime juice onto fish and shred with a fork.  Fill taco shells with tilapia, spinach, tomato, avocado, and cheese.  I usually set out sour cream, salsa, mole, green chiles, and extra cheese for garnishing and serve with black beans and corn and or Spanish rice.

Russian Borscht 
6 Beets, peeled and sliced into thick strips
2-3 Carrots, peeled and sliced into thick strips
2-3 Celery Stalks, peeled and sliced into thick strips
2 Onions, sliced (I use 1 red and 1 yellow)
2 Garlic Cloves, peeled and crushed
4 Tomatoes, chopped
3 tbsp Butter
5 cups Beef or Chicken Stock
2/3 cup of liquid from a jar of Pickled Beets (Kvas)
1 Bay Leaf
1 Parsley Sprig
2 Cloves
4 Whole Peppercorns
 Salt and Pepper to taste
Sour Cream and Chives or Dill for garnish

Melt butter in a large pan on med-low heat.  Cook onions for 5 minutes. Add beets, carrots, and celery and cook for 5 more minutes.  Add crushed garlic and chopped tomatoes and cook, stirring for 2 minutes.  Put bay leaf, parsley, cloves, and peppercorns in a piece of cheese cloth tied with string (leave one end of string long and tie to pot handle).  Add herb/spice pouch to pot along with stock.  Turn to high heat and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low and cover.  Simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.  Remove the herb/spice pouch (Bouquet Garni).  Serve topped with sour cream and either chives or dill.