Natural Cleaning is Shockingly Effective

I've been wanting to make my own household cleaner for some time. I don't mind supporting Method or Seventh Generation and (until recently) would have said that you can pry my Clorox Cleanup from my salmonella-covered hands, but the idea of making my own and knowing precisely what is in that bottle is very appealing to me. Also, natural cleaners made with herbs and essential oils can disinfect thoroughly and are not known to cause antibiotic resistance. I did some research and tried a few recipes and have been absolutely flabbergasted that what I make with a few simple ingredients cleans better than storebought. Unbelievable!

Tea Tree oil has antispetic/antiobiotic properties, so I include it. I'm uncertain about the efficacy when diluted in a half-gallon of liquid. I don't have near a 5% ratio of TTO in my cleaner, but my kids are almost old enough to warrant purchase of a microscope so I will run my own little experiment on this and report back soon. Regardless, vinegar is a very effective natural disinfectant so we're good either way.

You probably have most of these in your kitchen already!

Becky's All-Purpose Household Cleaner

Mix 1/4 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup white vinegar with 2 qts hot water. Add a squeeze of liquid dish soap, 1/2 tsp drops of tea tree oil and 5-10 drops of essential oil that smells good to you (lemongrass and sage are quite nice). Put in a spray bottle and feel good about cleaning. For tough grime, spray on and let it sit for a few minutes before wiping. 

If you live in Nashville and want to try this, let me know and I'll be happy to make you a batch! I know it sounds odd, but I have been amazed by how well this cleans. I am also working on a spray formula with water/vinegar for cleaning hardwood floors. I refuse to use a mop bucket.

Essential oils are fairly easy to find; I purchased mine from the Plantlife store at Amazon.com and they combined shipping for several small bottles.

Update from Spring 2014: I started making this with castile soap vs. plain dish soap, and found that it separated. As it turns out, mixing castile soap directly with vinegar actually de-saponifies it, based on this post from Lisa at the Dr. Bronner blog. So, for now, I will stick with unscented dish soap.

Pizza and a Movie

Toppings to please everyone.

Everyone loves pizza, right? Well, not my kids...not until we started making it ourselves. We all look forward to our Friday Pizza and Movie night now. The kids can help as much or as little as they like, whether by kneading dough, adding toppings, or just watching during the afternoon snack. The first few times we made pizza, the children loved helping but refused to eat anything. Once they finally ate some, they were hooked and now pizza is becoming a vehicle for them to try new and exotic toppings like pepperoni or red onion.

I used to be incredibly intimidated by baking, what with all the precise measurements or even weighing (how fussy!) and odd lingo like "knead until smooth" or "punch down." I have discovered, to my delight, that I can kind of blunder my way through many breads and doughs and they turn out just fine. 

If my 4-year-old can knead, so can you!

With this recipe, some kneading is required (about 5 minutes). I just stretched and turned mine...basically was experimental and had fun with it. I prefer my approach, but if you want a tutorial, here is a nice one from epicurious.com. I'm warning you though, it is a lot more meticulous than my Fun-with-Flour Method and I also don't go to the trouble of dividing the dough into two balls...this is supposed to be fun, easy dinner! Note repeated use of the word "fun" here. I use a pizza peel and pizza stone, but you could bake this on a cookie sheet if you don't have one. Just check it a little sooner and adjust the cooking time as needed.

If you don't have the inclination to make your own pizza dough, you can buy raw pizza dough from your grocery's deli, which can be frozen -- just remember to pop it in the fridge in the morning and you can use it that night. You can also get a totally premade crust in the bread aisle if that floats your boat. If you find your family loves Pizza Night, then at some point do try to make your own crust. It is easier than you think!

Doughball, ready to rise. Looks fancy, doesn't it?

I plan on about 20 minutes to make the dough, then I give it about 1-2 hours to rise. In the winter, I turn my oven on "hold warm" while I make the dough, then turn it off before putting the dough in. I have cut the dough in half before rising and frozen part of it and this works just fine, so if you only need one pizza...or wanted to make a double batch and freeze half, it will work.

Our timing: make dough, tidy up/check email/play outside (who knows where this time goes?) for 30-45 minutes, decide on movie, get everyone settled, watch half-hour or so of movie, take break to make pizzas when you realize everyone is hungry, eat pizzas while watching remainder of movie. See how demanding and precise it has to be? ha!

Tasty Pizza Dough

adapted from an unattributed recipe on foodnetwork.com

Mix well in a large bowl: 

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use a mix of half unbleached white and half white whole wheat)

1 1/2 tsp salt

After mixing, make a little well in the center and add:

1 TBSP sugar

2 1/4 tsp yeast (one packet if you use packets)

1 1/3 cups warm water

Allow this to sit for about 5 minutes or so until the water portion becomes quite foamy. This is the yeast working! My kids love to watch the "burps" made by the yeast. When it's nice and foamy, mix in 3 TBSP olive oil and then you get to knead. Use a well-floured surface! Let the kids help! I knead for about five minutes or so until it seems smooth and firm but still slightly springy. Then it goes back into the bowl we can use our hands or a brush to lightly coat the finished ball with olive oil. Let it rise until "doubled in size" or 1-2 hours, depending.

Note: I seem inclined to forget to add the olive oil until halfway through the kneading and I've worked it in late with good results. This is what I like to call error proof!  Making the pizza itself takes about as much time as you want to devote to chopping things. I use a few spoonfuls of regular jarred tomato sauce, followed by cheese, then other toppings.

To cook pizza:

Preheat the oven and pizza stone to 450 degrees.  Lightly flour your pizza peel, cut the dough in half and put it on the peel to stretch. The other half will fall limply back into the bowl and look funny and that's okay; just ignore it. You can add a tiny bit of flour to keep your hands from sticking, but you shouldn't need a whole lot at this point. You can toss it if you want, but you're more likely to tear it that way, so I suggest just stretching. 

Once it's the size you want, add a bit of sauce and toppings as you like! May I suggest that a little fresh mozzarella goes a long way? This is also a neat place to use up leftover vegetables or bits of this or that. The chicken pizza with corn cut from a leftover cob, green pepper and red onion was pretty tasty!

Put in the pizza and cook for about 12 minutes or until the crust begins to brown and feels crisp when you tap it. We make two back to back.  Scheduled for tonight: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. When the kids are older, Pizza/Movie night will probably be followed by Family Game Night but for now there is only so much Go Fish, Chutes & Ladders and Uno that we can take. 

Make it fun, make it work for you, but do make some dinner and eat together as a family! Our world will thank you.

You put a seed in the ground...

You put the seeds in the ground

And you spread the dirt around

Sprinkle water till it's coming up rosey

Then you give a happy shout

When you see a little sprout

And you smell it with your little round nosey

That's how you grow a little red ro-ro-rose

The Little Red Rose by Ellis Paul

Rosemary, mostly dormant

It's 66 here today. Four days ago it was 10 degrees and snow covered the ground. Such is the first breath of Spring in Tennessee. Two weeks ago it was about 60 for the first time in quite a while, so I went outside to prune the crape myrtle and plant a few seeds. I have noticed several spots where green plants seem to be overwintering...including some strawberry plants! This seems to me like reason enough try to go ahead and plant a few things in those areas just to see if I can get a headstart on the growing season. I started with some carrots, peas and broccoli and will add more of those, plus lettuces this week.

Here is a good example: this is oregano tucked down under the protective roots of a sage bush. There is also a bit of parsley in the garden that I have selectively harvested and I can only think it is well-protected by mulch. These areas get full sun all day and are near the house, so perhaps it creates a bit of a microclimate. Whatever the reason, it is apparent that some areas of my beds/garden seem protected from single-degree temperatures. Of the seeds I planted, I've seen some carrots coming up. I also can see some bulbs peeping through the mulch and I am very much looking forward to some flowers.

Gorgeous, isn't it? This is how an apple core turns into dirt turns into lettuce. Just the rich, earthy smell is amazing to me. I really thought compost would stink and in the summer it sometimes can smell badly...until it's turned. Even in August once I flip it with a pitchfork it just smells like, well, Earth. A beautiful bit of Earth.