Make It How You Like It Granola

After hours of searching for the perfect granola recipe, I finally gave up!! Armed with several I liked, I decided to create a new one. I call it Make It How You Like It Granola, because that's just what I did! And, oh how yummy!!! And, for those of you who really don't like to follow a recipe, like me, you will love this. For those of you who need more direction, you will love this! Also, Eli loved helping make this- scooping, pouring, stirring- all the things he's really good at doing :) And, he loves to help eat it!

For the recipe:

First, choose 6 cups of nuts and/or seeds: pecans, pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds) raw sunflower seeds, almonds (whole or slivered), walnuts, flax seeds. For mine, I chose 2 cups of slivered almonds, 2 cups walnuts (which I chopped in my food processor), 1 cup pepitas and 1 cup sunflower seeds. If you choose whole walnuts, almonds, and/or pecans, coarsely chop them in a food processor.

Next, choose 5-7 cups of the following- oats, unsweetened coconut, almond meal, flaxmeal. I choose 2 cups of oats and 3 cups of coconut. If I were choosing 7 cups of almond meal and flaxmeal, I would use whole almonds/flax seeds and chop them finer than coarse but not as fine as fine in a food processor. I like my granola to be a bit chunky.

Add 1 t cinnamon and 1 t salt.

Add the wet ingredients: 1/2 cup raw honey, 3 tsp vanilla, 1 cup oil- I used coconut oil in a liquid state. I'm sure safflower oil would be good too, or any other better grade oil.

Optional 1/2- 1 cup dried fruit- I used cranberries.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix everything together. Spread mixture on baking sheet (either on 2 or do in batches). Bake for 10 mins and stir. Do this 1 or 2 more times. I like to cook mine for 30 min. You're looking for a nice light golden color. It will darken just a little when it cools, it will also dry as it cools. Once cool/dry, store.

                                                                    Before baking

                                                      Packaged for Christmas Presents!

We're still here!

I'm so sorry I haven't updated in awhile!! But seriously, the June/July updates would have read like this:

It's hot.
Yep, still hot.
Garden is baking in the sun.
Still hot.
Had to turn the hose on mist to help keep the chickens cool.
Chickens are miserable.
Hell, I'm miserable.
Eli wants it to snow.
I hate this weather.
Back porch temperature says 108 degrees.
And again today
And again
And again, etc.

August was better. September was nice. And now, in October, it's turned off rainy. We've even had our first frost- VERY early this year!

Yesterday, I made 15 pint jars of pesto. Not too bad since I thought we had lost all of the basil, but the plants made a nice recovery in August.

So, here's to nicer weather and MORE UPDATES TO COME! A little peak for upcoming posts... our turkeys are beautiful!

YES YOU CAN!

This post is inspired by the Play At Home Mom YES YOU CAN photo album on facebook.

YES, you can help Daddy spread dirt and then have some to play with in a bin. YES you can dig for worms. YES you can use your hands, or a scoop, or even dump some in your hair. YES, YES, YES, please explore your world, enjoy and have fun learning!

Toothpaste, Mouthwash and Deodorant

I'm needing to make some toothpaste, mouthwash and deodorant and thought I'd write up a quick post with the recipes.

Toothpaste
We use the pretty basic recipe floating around out there, with of course our own little twist on it.

2 Tablespoons melted Coconut Oil
1 Tablespoon Xylitol- I prefer xylitol over baking soda. It sweetens it plus is thought to help restore minerals to the teeth! I use the flat blade of our Silver Bullet blender to grind it finer for toothpaste
1 teaspoon Nixall- optional but it makes it even more anti-bacterial
About 10-15 drops of Essential Oil- I use Peppermint Oil- it gives it that minty fresh taste plus is anti-bacterial

Mix everything together. The Coconut Oil will solidify when it cools. I keep mine in a small plastic container.

Mouthwash
Okay, so we LOVE Nixall. This is a CLEAN, GREEN disinfectant which is anti- bacterial, fungal, and viral PLUS it's safe enough to drink. It is EPA and FDA approved for many uses. It's more effective than bleach and has killed EVERYTHING it's been tested on, which includes every Level 1 Virus. This has been tested, proved and approved, not just wives tales and maybes. THIS STUFF WORKS!

One of our many uses is a mouthwash. In the 10:1 dilution with 10 parts water to 1 part Nixall, I add Peppermint Oil for that fresh minty taste.

Deodorant
Another one of those basic recipes, with our twist.

4 Tablespoons Coconut Oil- melted
1/8 C. Baking Soda
1/8 C. either Cornstarch or Arrowroot
1t. Nixall (optional)
Essential Oils- optional- I love using Tea Tree Oil and Lavender- I use a total of about 15-20 drops

Mix together. The Coconut Oil will solidify when it cools. I store ours in a plastic container, not a reused deodorant container. During the summer, unless you keep your house really cool, it will get a little mushy. Plus, if you do any traveling, or camping, you really don't want your deodorant to melt all over everything.

Heat Rash
If you suffer from heat rash, like I do so often, you can use, guess what? NIXALL for deodorant! Just spray under your arms and you're good to go. Not only does it get rid of the odor causing bacteria but it also helps with heat rash. I'm telling you, this is our go to product for so many things!

One other note. If you're using identical containers for your deodorant and toothpaste, you might want to label them. Tea Tree Oil/Lavender Deodorant doesn't taste very well. Oops ;)

Bug Repellant and Bug Bites

It's that time of year again ~ BUGS!!! Here's what we use for bug repellant and then, if we forget the bug spray, we have the bug bite cream. It is possible to be outside without all the chemicals and toxins!

Bug Repellant

Liquid Soap Nuts- click here for more information on where to order, how to make, etc.
You can add various essential oils for repelling bugs, but liquid soaps nuts work just fine without any EO.  Some EO I like to add include: cedarwood, lemongrass, tea tree oil, catnip, geranium eucalyptus, lavender and peppermint. This isn't a complete list of bug repelling oils. Citronella is one as well, but I really don't like the smell. Neem oil is a great bug repellant, but oh, the smell :( I save that smell for the garden, away from me!

Bug Bite Cream

This is for those times we forget the bug repellant!

Green clay powder
Apple Cider Vinegar

Mix together to create a paste. Dab on bite(s).

Simple and effective itch relief.

Additional Summer Solutions...

Nixall is AMAZING stuff! Click here for more information and ordering.  It's a 10:1 dilution with water (10 parts water: 1 part Nixall) so one quart will make 10 quarts!

Here are just a few uses- focusing on Summer Uses:

Poison Ivy relief- just spray on infected area several times a day. Relieve itching and clears it up fast! Milo got into hemlock and got a really nasty rash which was quite resilient. He used Nixall on it anytime it started to itch. It did take awhile for that rash to clear up, but it did and with minimal itching.

Wound care for scrapes/cuts/burns- including sunburns- Just spray on affected area. Eli is constantly scraping his knees like any active 4 yr old should be in the summer. We just spray him down. It keeps the affected area from becoming infected plus promotes healing. I've personally used it for sunburn relief. It instantly takes out the sting of a burn- sun or let's say, hot broth splashing on your arm. Yes, I did that one too, ended up with a 2nd degree burn OUCH! But with Nixall, it cleared it up within days.

Ticks- The ticks are BAD this year! This isn't a "proven" use for Nixall, but it's what we noticed. When I spray myself down with Nixall, I don't get ticks. When I don't use Nixall, I find ticks on me. Also, when I have a tick, I spray it with Nixall- they have either backed out, or been very easy to remove.

Preservative for Liquid Soap Nuts- with the 10:1 dilution rate using liquid soap nuts, Nixall will act as a preservative, keeping your solution from going bad.

Liquid Soap Nuts Uses

I LOVE using Soap Nuts. They are so many uses- everything from laundry to bug repellant and best of all, NON-TOXIC!  I buy our Soap Nuts from Green Virgin Products.

I make up a gallon at a time since I use it for LOTS of things. It's one of my most important products I have in the house.


Here's my recipe for making liquid Soap Nuts


Take about 30 soapnuts in approx. 4 cups of water- bring to boil, simmer/boil for 30 min., let cool, strain out the nuts. I store mine in an empty gallon vinegar jug. I add a cup of Nixall as a preservative so it doesn't go bad, fill the jug the rest of the way with water. You can Essential Oils- EO-  if you want.


Here's a list of what I use liquid soap nuts for.


Laundry- 1/4 c per load- With the Soap Nuts from Green Virgin Products, you can still use the cold water setting on the washer.  I also add 1/2 c of vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser. Clothes won't smell like vinegar, plus in the winter, Vinegar doubles as a static cling remover. For stains and whites, we still use OxyClean.


Bug Spray- straight, can add EO if you want


Garden Bug Repellant- straight or add EO and/or neem oil- I add neem oil


All Purpose Cleaner- 1T per 16 oz. spray bottle, fill with water will work just fine, but here's my recipe for a 16 oz. bottle (the 16 oz. bottles you get in the laundry section work so much better than the 32 oz. bottles, in my opinion- the 32 oz. spray bottle sprayers kept breaking, even the ones from recycling empty commercial cleaner bottles)
1T liquid soap nuts
2 T Vinegar (helps with cutting grease, using for mirrors)- it's diluted enough that you don't smell it
1/4 C Nixall- makes it anti bacterial, viral, fungal, acts as a preservative- this is optional, but this is a serious anti-everything product that I use a lot!
Various EO- I personally love a lavendar herb combination- Lavendar/Lemongrass and Lavendar/Thyme are a couple of my favorites. I even just added a bunch of herbals scents (rosemary, thyme, oregano, lemongrass with Lavendar and it was just divine!)


I use this for cleaning everything, even mirrors. For mirrors, it looks as though it's going to streak, but it's always dried just fine, without streaks.  For sinks, toilets, showers, tubs I sprinkle baking soda/borax combo, spray with solution, wipe down, rinse. I've tried a variety of cleaning solutions and this is my absolute favorite. I noticed an immediate difference in just how clean everything was- it sparkled. Much better than anything else, including commercial cleaners, and at a fraction of the cost.

What's on our Summer Shelves

So finally a post, with pictures, of what's on our summer shelves. Just because it's summer doesn't mean the learning stops! We are doing the Summer Library Reading Program and the summer homeschooling literature/activities guide from Wee Folk Art. Before being introduced to these amazing guides, I had already decided to have a summer unit about ponds, so the Wee Folk Art Puddles and Ponds summer guide really was the perfect fit. It focuses on weather and ponds through children's literature and activities. I'm also supplementing with activities from KidsSoup.com.  With Montessori, we have Practical Life Skills and Sensory items.

First a few items from May, which will probably stay out through the summer.

I bought these puzzles at the Dollar Store- there's also a snail puzzle I don't have in the picture. Eli really loves working these and he's getting better at finding matching pieces.

I have a couple of splurge items- items which I spent more than I should have, but they were just too cute to pass up! I do allow a small amount of splurge items each semester, and these little bees were one of them! They fit perfectly for our Bees Unit and Practical Life Skills.

I would like to insert here information about the Barnes and Noble Educators Discount program. They include Homeschoolers!! I would have the link, but can't find it. It was very easy, they were very polite and very helpful in assisting me in receiving my discount card, which by the way, is 20% off of ALL educational supplies- books and toys. All I had to do was tell them I was a homeschooling mom. Once I received my discount card, I used it to buy these all too cute little bees. **PLEASE NOTE** The little bees didn't come with the pom-pom balls, I added those myself, which I purchased from Wal-Mart in the party supply area.

Speaking of Educators Discounts, JoAnn's has a similar program for 15% off. You do have to show some kind of evidence that you are homeschooling- workbook that your child has worked on, lesson plans, etc. I just happen to have my Wee Folk Art book lists with me in case I find myself in a bookstore. I also had my year overview, which I had just printed out that morning, with me. They accepted it as evidence. The manager was really cool about it. She was homeschooled too and loves it when homeschoolers ask for their discount card.

Next, on our shelves...

These are items I bought from montessori-n-such.com, except for the small brown pitchers in the first picture. Those came from goodwill, on sale for 50 cents.

The crumb brush is the perfect size for smaller hands.

There were several pouring kits to choose from. I decided on this one to help teach pouring and equally dividing between several containers.

This little kit was too cute! I was afraid it would be too easy for Eli, as we've been working with tweezers/tongs for awhile now, but it was a little difficult for him. Not only does it teach fine motor skills with the tweezers, there is the sorting colors aspect as well.

Here's another couple of splurge items- spiral tongs and a little shell scoop. One of the activities I have planned for later in the summer is to have small shells which Eli will scoop, pour and then practice using the crumb brush with. The spiral tongs work very well with the pom-pom balls and placing in the little dish from goodwill which has probably been one of the most used items I have- I think it's a little egg dish?

Dish from goodwill- this was from our December shelves

Here's another Montessori activity- flower arranging. Everything came from the Dollar Store. I had to cut the flowers apart into individual stems.

Still out- folding washcloths

Texture Dominoes.

We also have the Melissa and Doug Shapes clock. We also are doing outside sensory bins. So far, we've done insta-snow and Moon Sand (8 cups flour, 1 cup oil- either baby oil or vegetable oil- we tripled the recipe for the outdoor bin, which is the Step2 raised sandbox). Eli also has a water/sand table, which I just have water in. He has a separate sandbox.