cream of chicken stew

So, I made this stew the other day, and it is delicious. It is one of the best stews/soups I have ever had. It has a sweet flavor that is accented by some fabulous herbs and it is wonderful.

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (cover in water and cook on low for a day on the stove or in a crock pot substitute chicken broth and cooked chicken)
• 2 cups of chicken broth (from the broth you made or good quality store bought) 
• Meat from 1 whole chicken cut up (you could use 6 chicken thighs)
• 2 Tbsp of butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• Optional red peppers, mushrooms, corn, peas, other veggies
• 2 tsp-1 Tbsp of sea salt (do not use if substituting store bought chicken broth)
• 1 tsp-1 Tbsp of pepper
• 2 tsp of dried thyme
• 2 tsp of dried rosemary
• 1 Tbsp of dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp of mustard
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 2 cups of full fat milk (can substitute coconut milk)
• 1/2 cup of cream. This is optional, it tastes great with or without it.

To make the chicken broth and cook the chicken, Place the whole chicken in a stove or crock pot, (Remove the bag from the gizzards and cook them too) cover with water and cook on low for a day. You can add in herbs or veggies to make the broth more nutritious. Remove the chicken from the pot, carefully, into a large bowl. Let cool until you can manage to handle it. Remove the meat and put the bones back into the broth and continue to cook on low for a day. You can either continue to cook the gizzards in the broth, eat them, or put them in the stew. The next day you can strain out the bones and put into jars and keep in the refrigerator. this tastes great to cook rice, veggies, add to sauces or drink by itself. 

To make the stew, melt the butter in a pot (I like my dutch oven) and cook your vegetables until the onions become translucent. (If you are using raw chicken, add them in now and cook before adding everything else)  Add everything else and simmer for about an hour. 

Recipe inspired by the chicken stew recipe in the cookbook, "part time paleo"

Something a little different

Today I woke up to the most darling face.
The most darling face, smiling at me.

I love waking up with Thomas trying to get over to his dad, to attack him. He is such a boy! Already at seven months, he crawls over me up to Jacob, pounces on him and yells like we do when we tickle him. Jacob tickles him back and I take neither side, just to be fair.

We then went downstairs, started breakfast, changed a very full diaper, and Thomas played with a peach while I started breakfast.
We ate, all together. Thomas at his highchair, Jacob and I at the table.
Our morning, full of love and laughter, was beautiful.
Thomas played while I came up with new recipes, and he took a bath while I cleaned.
He had so much fun, as usual.
When he was done his arms came up, reaching for me to hold him.
We played peak a boo while I finished cleaning and had lunch on the kitchen floor. All three of us sat on the cool tile; Jacob and I held hands, Thomas switched from my lap, to Jacobs, to the floor playing with an apple, and back again.
While I cleaned up and Jacob went back to work, Thomas had a couple tantrums letting me know it was time for his second nap.
This one was marvelous! Two hours of reading while he slept in my arms. He slept too long, and woke up cranky and had to be carried in his wrap while I made dinner. He played outside with his dad while I played with plants; and we all ate shortly thereafter.

Jacob and I watched a documentary while Thomas played with his food; he made such a mess that he had to have another bath. We listened to music and relaxed for a while until Thomas nursed before going to sleep. He held my hand and looked into my eyes. It's a funny thing, how a baby can make you feel like they know the reason for everything.

My night is not over yet, Thomas will still wake up too nurse, not to mention the dishes, soon it will be though, and a new day will start with its own blessings and challenges; But what a wonderful, ordinary day it has been.

Crab apple facial toner diy

Its crab apple season where I live, so to take advantage of these marvelous little fruits I decided to try out a new toner that worked surprisingly well. 

This toner uses crab apples to deliver nourishing vitamins like vitamin A and C to your skin. 

Ingredients

4 crab apples, or one small apple cut up
1/2 cup of water
Optional 2 Tbsp of witch hazel or floral water/hydrosol 

Directions

Simmer the apple in the water for 10 minutes. Let cool, add in witch hazel or floral water if desired. Place in either a sparay bottle or apply to the skin using a cotton pad. 

Diy Gelatin hair gel

I like to use this hair gel to keep my hair in place when I put it up or in a braid. It is so easy to make, and costs only pennies. 

1/4 - 1/2 tsp of gelatin mixed with 1/2 cup of water.

Let it heat up for a couple minutes in a sauce pan until the gelatin has dissolved. Pour into a container, and chill in the refrigerator until set. 

Mix it up with a fork to make it easier to use. Keep in the refrigerator. Will last a week or two.

Additional options; use rose, or orange blossom water in place of some or all of the water. Add in some vanilla extract, or essential oils for sent.

Watch how to

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PH Balanced Shampoo

I've been using this shampoo recipe for a couple weeks now, it has transformed my hair for the better. It is so soft and manageable and I love it!

This diy is so easy to do, I use yogurt, which makes this a little more acidic, more like a 4 on the ph scale, where as using coconut milk will make it perfectly balanced with your hair at a 4.5. Coconut milk has a ph of 7, aloe vera a ph of 3, and honey can be anywhere from a 4 to a 6. Raw milk can be substituted, as well as any other non dairy milk. The raw milk and yogurt have probiotics that I find help keep my scalp happy.

Click Here for the original diy from thankyourbody.com

If it's not accid it will make your hair softer. If it is to soft, perhaps try more coconut milk and less aloe vera and don't use yogurt or maybe just a little bit. You could also use c just coconut milk and no yogut and add in a probiotic supliment if you still want some extra bacteria. Apple cider vinegar rinses will also add probiotics, keeping away dandruff, eczema, etc.

I use 1 par honey, 2 parts yogurt (or 2 parts milk), and 3 parts aloe vera. I mix it in an applicator bottle, and simply shampoo my hair with it. It will not suds. I also like to clean my face with it. Currently I need to wash my hair about 2 to 3 times a week with this shampoo, but that might change with the seasons.

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Medicine Mama's bee magic review

I have been using Medicine Mama's bee magic for about a month now on my face and my baby. It has worked marvelously on sunburns, dry scaly skin, diaper rash, blemishes, burns, and scrapes. I also use it to repel water from my babies bum since it is a wax and oil base it wicks moisture away nicely. 

These products have fabulous ingredients;

such as, propolis (bees mix their wax with tree resins to make this germicidal "glue" for their hives), healing honey, royal jelly (extremely nourishing, it is used to feed to "baby bees" to make the strongest, healthiest queen possible), anti aging bee pollen, and olive oil and beeswax to moisturize and protect the skin. The ingredients don't change much from that, other than some add avocado oil, and others take away some of the bee ingredients.

I love Medicine Mama's products, it can be a bit oily on my T spot (my forehead, nose, and chin) but other than that I have nothing bad to say at all. 

I usually post recipes, beauty DIY's and health tips once or twice a week so if you want more then subscribe over on the side bar. :)

Cinnamon Roll mask

This healing mask smells just like cinnamon rolls! The cinnamon and honey combine to kill any unwanted bacteria and cleanse your pores while the yogurt removes dead skin. The cinnamon will also make blood come to the surface of the skin, plumping it up and removing blemishes more quickly. Ghee can be used to clean your face (learn how to HERE) and as a moisturizer to soften and heal your skin. (Ghee also works great on cuts and burns. It also smells delightfully of nutty caramel.)

Ingredients:
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Yogurt
1 Tbsp Honey

Mix and apply to a clean face. Let the mask sit 5 to 20 min. depending on how much time you have, also if you have sensitive skin you may not want the cinnamon on your face as long. It will burn at first (because of the cinnamon) but soon you wont notice it.


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8 reasons why I love coconut oil

Life has definitely changed for me in the last month since having Thomas, but it sure has been a joy! I just have time for a short post today, so here is a list of 8 of my favorite uses for coconut oil.

1. Under eye treatment. It works wonders on dark under eye circles.

2. With cocoa butter for an all over body butter. Melt them together and whip if you like, then keep in a pretty jar.

3. Oil pulling, for detoxing and making my teeth white. Read more about this HERE.

4. It makes excellent toothpaste, find out how HERE.

5. It tastes so good, woks great for high heat (try making orange chicken with it) and is one of the best fats for your body! (Read more about healthy fats HERE.)

6. It makes a nice healing salve. Being antibacterial, and microbial and very healing in general it woks nicely to help wounds heal.

7. Works great for my babies skin. It helped heal his dried skin, the cuts on his feet from the jaundice tests, and his belly button (the cord came off before it healed properly. I didn't want to put anything on it that would make it burn, so I tried coconut oil, it worked so good!)

8. As a light sunscreen. Coconut oil is a natural 5spf which is fine for me since I don't go out in the sun between about 10 and 4 when its to hot for me.


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Easy Asian ground meat with veggies

This is an incredibly easy meal to make, that serves several people on a budget. 

Prep time: 0-5 min Cook time: 20-30 min Serves: 4 or more

Ingreedients:

1/2 cup of rice per person

1 pound of veggies of choice (I love green beans or broccoli)

1 pound of ground meet of choice

1 tbsp of sesame oil

1/4 cup of soy or tamari sauce

2 tbsp of rice wine vinegar (red wine vinegar works nicely also)

1 tbsp of honey

2-4 cloves of minced garlic

1/4 to 1 inch of fresh ginger minced or grated. (you can use powdered) 

Asian hot sauce to taste 

Directions:

Cook the rice however you like, I do 1 cup of rice with 2 and 1/4 to 1/3 cups of water boiled then simmered until it is done. I just kind of guess basically, you may want to follow more specific directions though. 

In a pan or wok cook any onions and hard veggies first. Add in the ground meet and let it start cooking, then add in all the flavors (everything but any other veggies). Once the meat is cooked add in any other veggies you want cooked. I usually add in the frozen veggies now on top and put a lid on. Any water that comes off of the veggies helps to make a sauce. You can always defrost any veggies before, I just always forget and this works fine. add your meat and veggies to some rice and eat up. I never said it was classy, just delicious ;)

 I usually post recipes, beauty DIY's and health tips once or twice a week so if you want more then subscribe over on the side bar.