In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I wanted to fix something from south of the border. But at the same time, I wanted to try something different. So this taco filling combines ground beef with black beans, which add some great fiber as well as stretching the meal, but adding the inexpensive beans. The result
This recipe is so simple to make and so tasty too! Of course, the slow cooker is my favorite small appliance to use, and recipes like this are the result. To make the meal complete, cook up some brown rice and steam some veggies. Slow Cooker Mushroom Chicken Print Recipe type: Slow Cooker Author: K
About a year ago, I learned about the potential health risk of using store bought antiperspirants. Many people are unaware that most store bought antiperspirants are considered over the counter drugs and regulated by the FDA. This is due to the use of aluminum salt, which blocks the pores and prevents perspiration which changes body
I absolutely hate store bought toilet bowl cleaners! Every time I used one, I could just smell the overwhelming smell of toxic fumes. It got to the point that using toilet bowl cleaner actually made me feel ill. So that led me to looking for a natural solution that not only got my toilet cleaned,
The rice cooker is a versatile small appliance for your kitchen. One of the best features of the rice cooker is it’s ability to fix entire meals with easy. You can’t get an easier meal to prepare than this yummy beans and rice dish. Serve it as a side dish, or make it a meal.
The result was absolutely fabulous! This is now going into our regular meal rotation. It’s also a quick, easy and filling meal to make!
| Black Bean and Ground Beef Tacos |
We made 1 taco for each person. They were pretty large and very filling!
We also added some hot salsa for extra spice.
If using cayenne, add it with the other seasonings.
This recipe is so simple to make and so tasty too! Of course, the slow cooker is my favorite small appliance to use, and recipes like this are the result.
To make the meal complete, cook up some brown rice and steam some veggies.
| Slow Cooker Mushroom Chicken |
Regular use of aluminum increases risk of Alzheimer disease and breast cancer. Paraben usage also increases risk of breast cancer. Meanwhile, these ingredients have been deemed safe by the FDA and continue to be used.
After learning about the risks associated with store bought deodorant and antiperspirants, I decided to switch to natural products that were free from these offending ingredients.
I tried a couple of natural products but kept running into the same problem…..they weren’t helping me to be odor free!
So my next step was to start looking for recipes that might work. The results? I managed to find a recipe that worked even better than any other product.
Here is the recipe that I put together….
| Natural Homemade Deodorant |
For those whose skin is sensitive to the baking soda, mix 3 tbsp of arrowroot powder to 1 tbsp of baking soda.
This deodorant will melt at high temperatures, so keep in a cool place (I keep mine in the refrigerator)
You can mix two essential oils. My favorite combination is 4 drops lavender and 3-4 drops rosemary. It smells fantastic. Do be careful of use of citrus based essential oils…you may be more sensitive to the sun after use of orange.
So I have tested a bunch of different recipes and this is what I finally came up with that has worked for me. Adding grapefruit seed extract really adds the bacteria, virus and parasite killing power to this mix!
| Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaner |
I actually put this mixture in a squeeze bottle so that I can get it underneath the rim of the toilet. You can just pour it into the bowl, but an inexpensive squeeze bottle makes it much easier.
Serve it as a side dish, or make it a meal. To add a little more protein, simply add some cooked leftover chicken!
| Rice Cooker Beans and Rice |
You can top this with a little shredded cheese or add some ground cumin and cilantro.
I will be the first to admit that I know very little about cooking rice. Up until recently, I was the kind of person who always used quick cooking rice products. But recently, we made the decision to start using regular brown rice, instead of instant rice, because it is much cheaper to purchase bagged rice than the instant kind. And although we bought a large bag of brown rice, it had been sitting unopened in our cupboard.
Why? It takes almost an hour on the stove top to cook brown rice. And I’ll admit that I am a just a little lazy at times about cooking. I will opt for meals that are much more simple to make, just to save some time. I just didn’t want to have to deal with monitoring rice on the stove for almost an hour.
My husband had been asking me to fix rice more often, so I had been looking for a solution to make cooking rice easier. My search led me to discover the joy of using a rice cooker. These small kitchen appliances are so incredibly easy to use that there is no excuse to not fix rice regularly!
It couldn’t be easier to use a rice cooker! You add one part rice, two parts water, and turn the unit on. If you have a basic model, you will have to watch the time. Your brown rice will be done in about 50 minutes. That’s it! For my digital, programmable unit, there is a button for brown rice to push. It beeps to indicate when the rice has finished cooking (also about 50 minutes). So easy, even my husband will be happy to make rice now!
The price of a rice cooker can vary greatly. I’ve seen very basic models carried for as little as $14 and the advanced cookers going for several hundred dollars. The price is effected by capacity, which starts at 6 cups and goes on up. Different cookers also have different features. A basic model has an on and off switch. More expensive models are digital and programmable.
After doing a little research, my hubby and I went to the store and he bought me an inexpensive digital and programmable 8 cup rice cooker by Aroma. It was less than $30 at our local Walmart. It has a button for white rice, one for brown rice and one for steaming meat or veggies. It also has a start delay feature, so that I can put the rice and water in the cooker in the morning and set it to start in time for dinner. Mine also has a feature to keep the rice warm after it has finished cooking.
There is a misconception that these cookers only cook rice, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, they can cook rice and other grains, such as quinoa, millet and bulgur. A rice cooker is great for cooking your morning oatmeal. You can even fix an entire meal! The first thing I fixed in my rice cooker was a recipe for rice and beans, which we used as a full meal.
Before this week, I knew very little about how great rice cookers are, and how much you can do with this versatile little appliance. If I were to recommend small appliances that are inexpensive to purchase, but make life more convenient, my first choice will always be a crock-pot, but now my second choice will be a rice cooker!
Do your research and find out which rice cooker and which features will work best for you. I think you will love it as much as I do!
Look for a whole new section on healthy and clean rice cooker recipes!
| Easy No Bake Ball Cookies |
There is a lot of talk about pink slime in the news today. So what is pink slime and where exactly does it come from? This is a clip from Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution in which he easily demonstrates and explains what pink slime is, and where it is from. It is very eye opening.
| Clean Cornbread |
Serve warm either plain, or with a light drizzle of local honey! Yum!
When moving to a cleaner, healthier life, one of the things that many people do is make the switch from regular store produce to organic produce. Many people site pesticide use as a major reason for switching to organic. Large, corporate farming operations use a host of pesticides to ward of insects that destroy crops. Unfortunately, these pesticides carry a good deal of health risks such as nerve damage, birth defects and cancer. Children are especially vulnerable to damage from pesticides.
But you can significantly reduce your exposure to pesticides by avoiding these fruits and vegetables or purchasing the organic versions.
For more information on pesticide testing on produce, check out the Environmental Working Group’s site and get a copy of their downloadable shopper’s guide.
