People of the World!! Spice up your life!!

That's right.  I'm using a Spice Girls song to inspire you to add a little Sriracha to your life.  Don't judge, because you know that the rooster sauce contains a unique and genius blend of flavors and spices that is analogous to the British 90s pop band.

Now, i have traditionally been a spice wimp-the type of sissy that loves her some mild salsa, but NEVER medium!  However, i have recently broadened my horizons, expanded my palate, or maybe fallen victim to crazy post-partum/lactational hormonal fluctuations, and have realized the magic that is....SRIRACHA!!!  What follows are my most exciting sriracha experiments to date.  Hopefully, they are not the last.

Sriracha Infused Hummus

2 cups garbanzo beans (chickpeas) either from can or cooked
3 cloves garlic
1 T salt
juice of 1 lemon
2 T tahini
1 T (or more!!) sriracha

Blend ingredients with enough water to make a nice hummusy texture.  if you've cooked the beans from dry, then you can add the drained water.  some people like to use broth.  don't stress, just get some liquid in there.

Serve with carrot sticks, celery, cucumber slices, pita, tortilla chips, or whatever else you feel moved to hummusify.









                                               SriChaCha Dirty Martini

 

4 oz Vodka
1 oz Vermouth
2 oz Olive Juice
1 T Sriracha

Shake with plenty of ice and pour into a chilled glass.  I actually prefer a little more olive juice, but i think i have a sodium deficiency or something...  Garnish with what have you.







         








          Sriracha Dip

1/4 cup Veganaise*
1/4 cup Soy yogurt*
2 T sriracha

Mix, then dip things into it.

*If you absolutely insist on using "real" dairy products, then go for it.  Just remember you are making the cows cry and you are eating the breast milk from another species.  J/k.  I'm really not a rabid vegan.  Or even any sort of vegan.  I just try to minimize my dairy consumption for a variety of reasons :)












Hopefully these three recipes (if they can even be called that-in my opinion it's just putzing in the kitchen) will spice up your life and give you reason to go on living another day!

Q: What Bleaches Better than Bleach

A: The Sun!!

I'm a little ambivalent about posting the following picture.  Part of me can hear my mom's constant reprimands and reminders to be "lady-like," and feels a little sheepish.  The other part of me is in arrested development as a silly middle schooler who delights in potty humor.  So here it is.  A picture of a poopy diapers.

 Of course, the fact is that as parents, our lives are riddled with poopyness.  And, being a cloth diapering parent, adds an additional degree of poopyness to one's days.  To be sure, i will eventually devote more posts to the cloth diaper subject.  But for now, i just want to share this little fact with you.  The above diapers had all of the poo poo rinsed off immediately after being removed from the Little One.  They went through an intense wash with hot water and an extra rinse. Still, the poo remained... :(  Now, do you really want to put the harsh chemicals of stain removers and/or bleach on something that will go against a sensitive babe's sensitive parts?  Not really.  Although i did try all sorts of stain removers in the early days of parenting.  Then, a dear hippy friend told me to just put them in the sun.  Well, we certainly have lots of sun here in the desert.  The diapers above were placed in a sunny spot in my back yard, and by day's end.....

VOILA!  Dazzling right?!  So next time your baby blows out more than seems humanly possible, or maybe you spill a little red wine (presumptively from the stress of dealing with said blowouts and all the other fun things) and it spills on your white shirt, try a little solar stain removal :)

Pill boxes are not just for really old people

I'm always looking for ways to simplify my life and streamline my day.  The way i figure it, the more i do on autopilot, the more actual free time i get to accomplish more meaningful things...like scrubbing congealed food from the kids' table, or otherwise making the world a better place.  As you might guess, i am of the demographic that is obsessed with supplements.  My four year old takes a multivitamin, a fishy vitamin (fish oil-which is the only exception to our vegetarian diet since she won't take flaxseed oil!), enzymes (very helpful for her wheat allergy), and...a chocolate chip because the multivitamin doesn't taste good...*sheepish look*


















I was getting all of the aforementioned out for her every morning before hitting upon the genius idea of putting each day's allotment of supplements in a pill box.

Now, each Sunday (or even Saturday if i'm feeling especially industrious and top of things) i fill up a week's worth all at once.  I place the container in my DD's accessible kitchen drawer and each morning she is able to pull it out and take her daily supplements.  ***Disclaimer*** If your child is of an age where they might open all of the compartments and take a seven multivitamins at once, please put this out of reach!!!

Another fun little benefit, is that Little One is able to practice her concept of days of the week and such using the pill box.  I say, "what day is it today?"  And she (knowing the sequence of the days of the week, but not which day it is today upon waking) will say whilst counting the empty compartments, "sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday..." and then, happening upon today's heretofore unconsumed compartment exclaim, "FRIDAY!"  For extra environmental enrichment, i wrote out the full name of each day on each rectangle with sharpie-in english and spanish :)  que bueno!!

So, Shazam!!  You will now save approximately 4 minutes of time each week.  Promise me to do something super amazing with that time.

How to not be stinky without endangering your life or your wallet

You may or may not be of the persuasion that aluminum in deodorant can cause cancer and/or alzheimer's. The National Cancer Institute says no, but then, doesn't their business model require lots of people getting cancer?  (Dude! Maybe it's, like, a conspiracy...man).  Dr. Mercola says yes, but he says a lot of ...interesting things.  Me?  I like to err on the side of paranoia.  Er, I mean, caution!

I tried using Toms of Maine natural deodorants (Tom's of Maine Natural Deodorant Stick, Lemongrass, 2.25-Ounce Stick (Pack of 6)).  And my husband LOVES his natural Crystal deodorant Crystal - Crystal Stick Body Deodorant, 4.25 oz sticks)  (see above Mercola article).  However, both of these products are simply deodorants and not antiperspirants.  I prefer to think of myself a lady (despite my propensity for cursing and appreciation of crass humor), and as such, i do not enjoy having sweaty underarms.  This presents a problem for me since i live in the desert!  Until recently i just went ahead and wore the cancer antiperspirant, figuring that all my other paranoias (like avoiding parabens, flouride, aluminum cookware, BPA, pesticides, chemical cleaning products, etc.) would balance it all out.  Fortunately, i found a solution!!

Homemade Deodorant Recipe

5 T coconut oil (Nature's Way Organic Coconut Oil, 16 Ounce)
1/4 c. baking soda
1/4 c. cornstarch

Mix ingredients together.  If needed, add more cornstarch and/or baking soda to achieve a thick deodorant-like consistency.  For fragrance, you can add a few drops of essential oils like lavender Aura Cacia 100% Pure Essential Oil Lavender -- 0.5 fl oz.  You can put the mixture in an old deodorant tube, so that you can still experience twisting and applying as you are accustomed.  I didn't have one, so i put it in a 4 oz tupperware container.  That's it!  You're done!  You now have an inexpensive, antiperspirant deodorant that is so non-toxic, you could literally eat it!

How does it work?  Coconut oil is naturally antibacterial (among other magical properties later to be examined in this blog!) and bacteria is what causes unseemly odors to begin with.  Baking soda neutralizes odors.  And cornstarch absorbs moisture, leaving you nice and dry even when you endure summer temperatures of 105+ degrees!

Enjoying the freshness :)