I’ve been using The Fresh 20 meal plans for the last two weeks and loving them.  This week, roasted chicken was on the menu. I have a few recipes I like to use, but The Fresh 20 had some new twists I hadn’t tried.  I decided to blend their recipe with my own and made three chickens instead of two.  The recipe is included below, but first I have to say, the best thing about roasted chickens is that there are a million ways to use the leftovers.   Here are just a few.

1. Pull the meat off the bone and store it in the fridge for quick snacks during the week.
2. Use the refrigerated meat to make sandwiches or pack with a yogurt dipping sauce for school/work lunches.
3. Make homemade chicken salad.
4. Freeze some of the meat for quick dinners.
5. Make chicken fried rice.
6. Make homemade chicken stock with the left over bones.
7. Roast some veggies, add some chicken stock and your leftover chicken and you’ve got an easy soup.
8. Toss the chicken in with pasta, veggies and drizzle with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper for an easy dinner.
9. Set up a pita stuffing bar using leftover chicken, veggies, cheeses, lettuces, etc.  This is an easy summer dinner idea when it’s too hot to cook!

And now for the recipe…

Roast Chicken Ingredients:

• 1-3 whole, pasture raised chickens
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or expeller pressed coconut oil (per chicken)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (per chicken)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper (per chicken)
• 1 tablespoon rosemary (per chicken)
• 1 clove of garlic, pressed (per chicken)
• 2 cloves of garlic, whole but peeled (per chicken)
• 1/2 lemon (per chicken)

*For a variation on this recipe, try stuffing each chicken with a sliced green apple and 2 tablespoons of real butter.

Directions for Roasting a Chicken:

If you’ve ever wonderd how to roast a chicken, this is probably the easiest way I’ve found.  I think it’s even easier than using the crockpot because you can cook several chickens at one time.  Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Remove any neck or liver pieces from the chicken cavity then rinse and pat the chickens dry.  Place them in a large roasting pan or on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

Next, mix the oil, salt, pepper and rosemary together and rub down the outside of each chicken.  Stuff the cavity with the garlic and lemon.

Roast the chicken in the 500 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 450 degrees and roast for another 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat again to 425 degrees.  Baste the chicken with pan drippings and continue roasting for 30-40 minutes.  If you are roasting more than one chicken, it may take a little longer for them to cook all the way.  The chickens are done when the internal juice runs clear and the temperature is at least 160 degrees between the thigh and the cavity.

Remove the chickens from the oven and allow them to sit for 10-15 minutes.  I use my hands to pull all the meat off the bones and I store it in BPA freezer baggies or in glass containers if I’m putting it in the fridge.

If you’re planning to make chicken stock, transfer the bones and any remaining seasonings like the lemon or garlic into your crockpot and get started.  If you don’t have time to make the stock, you can freeze the chicken carcass and make your stock another day.

What’s your favorite use for roasted chicken?

Have you guys seen all the pins on Pinterest with ideas for fun summer activities?  I think washing the car made it onto almost every list.  So what did we do on Friday to take advantage of the beautiful weather?  We washed the car.  The good news is I have some great tips on making your at home car wash a little more eco-friendly.  The really good news is that our car washing experience was a comedy of errors so while you’re picking up green car washing tips I think you’ll also pick up a few laughs.

Step 1 of the green car wash is to completely empty out your car.  If you find things you forgot you had, consider putting them in the donate pile.  Make a separate pile for recyclables like empty water bottles and a third pile for trash.

Next pull out all the carpets, shake them off and sprinkle them with baking soda.  We let it sit while we worked on the rest of the car so the baking soda could do it’s thing and absorb any unwanted odors.

 With the car completely emptied out, it’s time to vacuum. I hooked the shop vac up to an extension car and got to work.  As I was vacuuming I kept noticing a really rotten smell.  It was garbage day in our neighborhood so at first I thought it was all the trash cans out on our street.  Then I wondered if it was something that had spilled in the car.  But the odor was traveling with me as moved.  That’s when I realized it seemed to be coming from the shop vac.  The smell was getting bad so when I finished vacuuming out the car I asked my husband to come check it out. I’m so glad I didn’t look myself!  Apparently, our shop vac is the best mouse trap in the world.  According to my husband, it captured an entire family of mice that got in, but couldn’t get back out.  I won’t go into any more detail (and I’ll spare you a photo) but I’ve never been so grossed out in my life!

Once we recovered from the mouse situation we were ready to start cleaning and DISINFECTING the interior of the car.  We went with our stand by, a spray bottle with a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water.  Our seats are leather and this seemed to work really well.  We did a little spot test first to be sure.  If you’re seats are cloth, sprinkling them with baking soda and vacuuming is another good option.  For the dusty dashboard I used a dry microfiber cloth.  It was a great tool for getting in the vents and around all the details of the dash and it was a good job for our 4 year old.

Our next target was the interior carpeting.  It had multiple stains including a recent smoothie spill that hadn’t been cleaned very well.  We mixed up a batch of one part kosher salt, one part water to make a paste to help scrub out the stains.

Here’s a before pic of one of the stains.  We scrubbed it with an old hairbrush after letting the salt paste sit for awhile.

Here’s the after photo.  The stain isn’t completely gone, but it’s much better!

The final step was washing the outside of the car.  We chose pure castille soap to give our van a green clean.  Here are a few other tips for making the washing part a little more eco-friendly.  If your husband and your neighbors can stand it, park the car in the grass (just for the car wash).  The water will filter into the grass, which reduces waste and actually helps filter the water.  Another tip is to prepare two buckets.  One for soapy water and one for rinse water.

Here’s my little guy manning the rinse bucket.  He was in charge of the clean sponges we used to rinse the car and followed after his big brother and I who were using the soapy water and a sponge to give the outside of the van a good wash.  Using the two bucket system saves water because you aren’t running the hose the entire time.  You really only need it to fill the buckets and give the car a quick rinse to start so you aren’t rubbing around chunks of rock or dirt when you wash, which could scratch it.  You can empty and refill the buckets as needed.  One suggestion, supervise the kids if you let them man the soap bucket.  My oldest son poured the soap all by himself and I learned that you really only need a capful.  He used about a cup full and we had a really hard time rinsing all the soap off.  The hot sun was drying the soap onto the car faster than we could rinse it.  It was quite a scene as I worked to chase down the soap streaks with a clean sponge and eventually the hose (I know that defeats the original idea of the two bucket system) before the sun could bake them onto the car.

The final step is vacuuming the rugs that you sprinkled with baking soda at the start of your car wash.  I don’t have a photo because I had to go to the local car wash and pay $3 to use their vacuum.  I wasn’t getting near the shop vac once I knew what had been in it!

So, that’s it.  Our green car wash was a bit stressful with the mice infested shop vac and the soap that wouldn’t rinse.  It didn’t leave as much time for water fights as we had hoped.  But the car is clean and we still have the whole summer ahead of us to test the fun factor on all of the Pinterest activity lists.

Is a car wash on your summer bucket list?  What activity are you most looking forward to over summer break?

]]> http://broccolicupcake.com/blog/2012/05/green-your-car-wash/feed/ 0 http://broccolicupcake.com/blog/2012/05/how-to-kill-weeds-naturally/ http://broccolicupcake.com/blog/2012/05/how-to-kill-weeds-naturally/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 13:58:18 +0000 broccolicupcake http://broccolicupcake.com/blog/?p=2711

I have to start with a confession.  We used to be those people who got our yards sprayed.  What they sprayed it with, I honestly don’t know and I didn’t want to find out.  It was something my husband insisted on after 2 years of trying to grow grass in Tennessee and finally investing in sod.  He didn’t want the weeds to take over and our money to be wasted.  I know the man on the spray truck used to tell me it was safe for our dogs and our kids as long as we waited for it to dry, but that never really made me feel better.

Over the last few years, we went from getting our lawn sprayed, to only getting it fertilized with a natural fertilizer, to not doing anything at all (except on our own.)  We finally realized that the lush, perfectly manicured suburban lawn wasn’t worth the risk.  And in one short season, the Tennessee heat turned our back yard into a full blown weed field.  When the grass is cut you honestly can’t tell, it just looks green, and it’s soft enough for the kids to run around barefoot.  So no big deal, until this spring.  We have a new weed.  It’s wide, it grows tall, it spreads like crazy and it’s covered in incredibly sharp prickers.  Everyone one of us has ended up soaking a foot or hand in an Epsom salt bath trying to work one or three out from under our skin.  In the interest of a fun, barefoot summer, I had to find a way to rid our back yard of this weed.  But the question was how?  I still didn’t want to introduce chemicals into the yard.  I did a little research and decided to try two natural weed killers, boiling water and one of my favorite household tools, white vinegar.

Below are the results of my experiment.

Vinegar as a Natural Weed Killer:

Slightly discolored edges 24 hours after vinegar treatment.

Almost totally brown 24 hours after boiling water treatment.

This seemed to be the most effective natural method for the giant weeds covered in prickers.  The minute the boiling water hit them they started to shrink and wilt and within 5-10 minutes they started turning black around the edges.  It was easy to keep track of which weeds I’d already treated because there was a noticeable difference in them. By the next morning, all of the weeds treated with boiling water were completely shriveled up and brown. Within in 3-5 days they were totally brown and crispy and there were no more prickers to worry about.  Within 10 days they had completely disappeared.  None of them needed a second treatment.  The only negative is that the boiling water killed the grass around the weed and left small brown spots around the yard.  But after a week or two those started to fill back in.  Boiling water also worked well on smaller weeds in the flower beds and cracks in the sidewalk. I could usually pull the weeds treated with boiling water after letting them sit for about 10-15 minutes. Just be sure not to treat anything to close to a plant you love.

My conclusion – boiling water works faster and gives better overall results as a natural weed killer.  I used a tea kettle to boil the water and carry it to the backyard so the biggest negative is that it was time consuming.  The vinegar worked, but not as consistently or as quickly and it took a lot of vinegar to get the job done.

How do you kill weeds naturally?

Ingredients:

• 4 organic chicken breasts
• 3 tablespoons of expeller pressed coconut oil (if it’s not expeller pressed you will taste the coconut)
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• 2 bell peppers (red, orange or yellow) thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons of raw honey
• 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
• sea salt and black pepper

Directions for crockpot vinegar chicken:

Put all of the ingredients into a large crockpot starting with the veggies and ending with the chicken broth.  Cook on high for 4 hours then on low for approximately 2 hours until you can shred the chicken easily with a spoon.

The finished product will look something like this.  Serve with whatever sides you like.  We went with quinoa and green beans, but a side salad would be great and easy.

Cross your fingers and hope your family enjoys it.  At least that’s what I do at dinner time   Luckily, this meal was a hit!

Do you have a favorite crockpot recipe?

Have you guys ever heard of food based healing?

I recently read Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr, a food warrior who used the healing powers of a plant based diet to manage cancer.  Her story ignited my interest in the topic, which sounds a lot like the famous quote, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”  But what exactly is food based healing and how can we apply it to our own diets and ailments?

Scott Bailey, owner of Healing Hands Wellness and Massage in Nashville shares the answers to these questions in this guest post…So what is Food Based Healing? 

Well the simple answer is that by eating the right foods most diseases can be reversed. The real secret is using the very specific foods for the specific disease. Kiwi is quick to help reverse asthma.  I have seen and heard of hundreds of cases of reversing this unnecessary disease by following the asthma food protocol and several have taken just one week to reverse. I am privileged to have been trained by Jeff Primack. Jeff has tested these protocols with thousands of people and after 10 years of fine tuning, published the “Conquering Any Disease”, book, from which are the protocols that I teach.

At the core of this program are fruits and vegetables, medicinal mushrooms and tonic herbs that help to reverse diseases. They contain Phytochemicals that help to unlock the body’s endocrine system. Most of us don’t get enough phytochemicals in our regular diet. Phytochemicals hide in the cellulose fibers of seeds, stems, skin and rinds of fruits and vegetables we eat and most of those parts we throw away.  This is why in this program we use a 3-horsepower blender to break out the phytochemicals and micronize the seeds, stems and rinds.  Juicing is not the same because it discards the very important parts, the fiber, in which God intended us to eat and where the phytochemicals are.

I believe the main reason why the three killer diseases are at epidemic numbers is that our traditional diet is very low in Phytochemicals. Our health depends on us returning back to nature and discovering where these Phytochemicals are most concentrated and consuming them as often and as much as possible. So here is where the smoothies come in. By blending our fruits and vegetables and micronizing them with a 3 horsepower blend we can get more phytochemicals in our diet faster and easier. You may be wondering by now, “what do these smoothies taste like?” grass, hay? No. If they did we wouldn’t be able to get thousands to drink them daily or even twice. Jeff worked very hard and tasted hundreds of recipes before coming up with 95 recipes that are in the “Smoothie Formulas” book. These smoothies taste great.

The smoothies for specific diseases include:

Accelerated Weight Loss that is Healing for your Body, Allergies, Anemia, Arthritis, Asthma, ADD, Poor circulation. Cancer of all kinds, Chronic Fatigue, Colds & Flu Virus, Digestive Problems(constipation, IBS, ulcers), Depression, Diabetes 1&2, Eye & Vision problems, Heart Disease, High Cholesterol. Infertility, Insomnia, Kidney Stones, Menopause, Osteoporosis, Prostrate issues, Sexual Problems, Thyroid Problems.

If you live in Nashville, or in driving distance, and you’re interested in learning more about food based healing, check out Scott’s upcoming class and tasting and register online.

Food Healing and Taste experience at Healing Hands Wellness and Massage

411 East Iris Dr Nashville, TN 37204 in Berry Hill

May 12, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Cost is $20 and seating is limited so please reserve your seat today by calling 615-292-9270!

www.healinghandswellnessmassage.com

If you have questions about food based healing or if you have experience with it please share in the comments. I will be attending a class at Healing Hands Wellness and Massage this summer and will definitely follow up and share what I learn.

After your enthusiasm for the tips on naturally cleaning your bathroom with vinegar, baking soda and lemon I think you guys are gonna LOVE this post!  I’ll start with a confession.  I was super skeptical when I was asked to try soapberries.  Haven’t heard of them?  Neither had I.  But I’m so glad I know about them now.

What is a Soapberry?

Soapberries are actual berries that contain saponin, which is a natural surfactant, the active ingredient in soaps that separate the dirt, oils and such from your clothes.   Thanks to saponin, these natural little berries are capable of cleaning your dishes, your laundry, your windows and much more without a single chemical.  And I’m about to show you the proof.

My Tests:

I decided to put my bag of soapberries to the test in 3 ways.  First I dropped 2 soapberries into a spray bottle and mixed them with 8 oz of warm water to make a general cleaning solution.  I shook the bottle up a little and used the natural solution to tackle an embarrassingly dirty built in bench in my kitchen.  This bench is probably the most used piece of furniture in our home.  It sits around our kitchen table where we do school every day, where we eat, where we play cards, where we color, you get the idea. And my sweet little boys love to stand on it, rather than sit, so it is covered in dirty little foot prints, hand prints, and yes, some food.  After preparing the mix, all I did was spray it directly onto the bench and wipe it down.  I think it’s clear from the photo below where I tried the soapberry solution and how it worked.  It cut right through the dirt.  After taking this photo, I went back and cleaned the whole bench, which now looks fabulous.

Next, I mixed up a second solution to tackle the dirt and streaks on my windows and mirrors.  I dropped 2 soapberries into a clean spray bottle, mixed in 8 oz of warm water and 1 3/4 tablespoons of white vinegar.  Below are the before and after photos from my back door, which the kids open with their hands as they run in and out from the backyard.

BEFORE

AFTER

My final test was a load of laundry.  I wasn’t taking it easy on the remaining soapberries.  I needed to wash two large blankets from our recent beach trip, both of which had been sitting in the laundry room under wet towels for two weeks!  They smelled like a musty mix of seashells and sunscreen.  I dropped the remaining 5 soapberries into the provided muslin drawstring bag, tied it shut and tossed them in the wash with the blankets.  A photo can’t really do this justice since they haven’t invented smell-o-vision yet, but I will tell you that the blankets came out of the dryer fluffy, clean and smelling fresh.  The reality is they basically had no smell at all, which I personally love.  I couldn’t smell the musty old beach odor and I also didn’t smell any fragrances or chemicals.  That’s exactly what I want from a clean load of laundry.  Soapberries can be used over and over again in the wash until they are broken up and have lost their luster.  That’s when you know it’s time to replace them.

I didn’t have time (or enough soapberries) to try some of the other recipes that come with these cool little natural cleansers.  But you can grind them up to make a cleaning powder, which can be turned into dish soap or floor cleaner.  You can also use them to clean jewelry.  Because they’re natural and contain no preservatives, you want to use any liquid soapberry solutions in 3-4 days.

I was truly impressed with the soapberries and I will be ordering more to use around the house.  If you’d like to give soapberries a try visit So Berry Clean.  A 4 oz bag is $9.95 and will wash approximately 60 loads of laundry.  Of course, you can use them for lots of other things as shown above.

What do you think?  Have you used or would you like to try soapberries?

*I was given a bag of soapberries free to try.  I was under no obligation to write about them and all opinions are my own.

]]> http://broccolicupcake.com/blog/2012/05/soapberries-naturally-cleaning-products-that-works/feed/ 0 http://broccolicupcake.com/blog/2012/05/growing-green-simple-tips-to-green-your-fitness-routine/ http://broccolicupcake.com/blog/2012/05/growing-green-simple-tips-to-green-your-fitness-routine/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 08:55:30 +0000 broccolicupcake http://broccolicupcake.com/blog/?p=2645 I’m excited to close out this month’s Growing Green series with a guest post from Suzanne of Suzanne Bowen Fitness.  Watch this short video for Suzanne’s expert tips on greening your workout.  She touches on everything from your moisturizer and water bottle to your sunscreen and yoga mat.

In case you didn’t catch all the helpful products Suzanne mentioned, here is a list.

• Run Run Run -  water bottles.
• Mercola – mineral sunscreens
• Sunshine Yoga – PVC free yoga mats
• Vitacost - Grapeseed Oil Moisturizer
• Blake Brody Footwear - studio footwear

How do you green your fitness routine?

The quote on the back of my Seventh Generation dish soap inspired the idea for this week’s post.  It says,

“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” – From the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy

When I think about teaching green, I naturally think of my boys and what I can do to raise them to be environmentally aware.  Below are a few ideas to help nurture a respect for nature and a sense of responsibility for their environment.

1.  Get Them Involved: Recycling, composting and gardening are three easy tasks that kids can actively participate in and even take responsibility for (depending on their age) that will help instill an Earth friendly mind-set and open up the door for conversations about caring for environment.  Even the youngest in the family can help sort paper and plastic in the recycling bin or gather tomatoes from the garden.  As you’re going about these tasks, talk to your kids about why they’re important.  Ask them what they think and if they have any other ideas for reducing waste at home.

2. Enjoy Nature – There’s no better way to instill a respect for nature in a child than to let them experience the joy and beauty of it.  Go for walks or hikes exploring your neighborhood, local parks or hiking trails.  Create a scavenger hunt list of items you might expect to find in your local environment.  Flowers, animals, even weeds can all be on the list.  Bring along a camera and take photos of the items or purchase and inexpensive notebook and some crayons and let your kids build a nature journal.  Each of our boys has a small back pack filled with a blank notebook, colored pencils, glue stick and magnifying glass.  They take these on our nature walks or trips to the park and frequently draw photos of things they see or gather leaves and other items to glue in their notebooks and identify later.

3.  Read – There are tons of great books that teach kids the importance of everything from recycling to water conservation.  We have several that we love to read, but I’ve found that the boys favorites are the books that teach them about animals and their natural habitats. These have nurtured a love of animals that is starting to transition to a natural desire to care for the environment they call home.  I’ve created a list of some of the boys favorite books below.

What would you add to this list?  Do you have a favorite tip or book for teaching kids to be green?

This is the last week of the Growing Green series.  Check back on Wednesday for a guest post on greening your fitness routine and don’t forget to visit The Frugal Seed, I Dream of Clean and Laurel of Leaves for tips on TEACHING green.

You might be thinking, “That’s great, but canning is not for me.” At least that’s what I always thought.  I wanted to try it, but I was always afraid of screwing it up and giving my family food poisoning or worse. Not anymore! According to the numerous books and tutorials I’ve read on the subject lately, preserving food is safe and easy even for even the most inexperienced and it’s no more dangerous than cooking dinner as long as you follow a few simple rules.  But this recipe isn’t really canning…it’s preserving and for me, it was a great first step that elevated my confidence enough to get me interested in putting up more of this summer’s tasty harvest!

Tools:

• 6 or more 1/2 pint freezer safe canning jars with lids and bands
• A ladle
• Tongs
• A potato masher or something to mash the berries
• Several spoons
• A measuring cup (sanitize several)
• A knife
• A large pot
• A funnel (not necessary, but it makes it easier to transfer the jam into the jars)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of mashed strawberries
• 1 3/4 cups of apple or white grape juice (be sure you get 100% juice, no sugar added)
• 3/4 cup of honey
• 1 packet of no-sugar pectin

Run all of the tools listed above through your dishwasher on the sanitize cycle or boil everything for 20 minutes.  Read through the recipe and think about the utensils you’d like to use.  You don’t want to get half way through and realize you forgot to sanitize something important.  I forgot to sanitize the measuring cup so I had to guesstimate and my jam didn’t set up perfectly.  Thankfully, it still tastes really good even if it doesn’t look like store bought jam.

Wash your strawberries thoroughly and cut off stems and any bad spots.

Mash the strawberries with your potato masher. If you  use a blender the texture will be very watery.  (This is a fun place to get the kids involved if they want to help.) Once the berries are mashed and ready to go, set up your sanitized jars next to the stove for easy transfer.  Keep the lids and bands in a pot of simmering water until you’re ready to use them.

Pour white grape juice and pectin into your large pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Once it starts to boil, stir non-stop for one minute.  Remove the pot from the heat and add the mashed berries.  Stir for one minute.  Next add the honey and stir for another minute.

  It will look something like this before it goes into the jars.

Ladle the jam into your waiting jars using a funnel if you have one.  Be sure to leave about 1/2 inch of room at the top of the jar.  The jam will expand when it freezes.  With your tongs, remove the lids and bands from the simmering water and seal the jars.

Refrigerate your jam overnight before moving it into the freezer.  The jam will stay good in the freezer for up to 6 month.  Once you open a jar and move it to the fridge you will need to use it up within 3 weeks.  But trust me, it won’t last that long.

We tried our jam for the first time this past Sunday on gluten free biscuits with organic pastured butter.  It was amazing.  Yesterday, we mixed it into our waffle batter for strawberry waffles and today we have less than 2 tablespoons left in our first jar.

Do you can or preserve foods?  If not, do you think you’ll give it a try?

*This post contains affiliate links.

Being “green” has a variety of definitions depending on who you’re talking to.  Some of us have just started paying attention to environmental issues while others have spent years adjusting their lifestyle to become a green machine!  No matter where any of us are on the spectrum there’s always something we can learn.

In order to think green it’s helpful to have a starting point.  That’s why I love the resources on Practically Green.  Their online quiz helped me to see my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to living a green life and minimizing our negative impact on the environment.  Click on the link and the site will walk you through a series of multiple choice questions.  Once you complete the quiz, you’ll get a list of recommendations for ways to improve and you will have the opportunity to choose from over 400 actions to plan your personal route to a healthier lifestyle.  For those of you who enjoy a little friendly competition, you can invite your friends, family and coworkers to join and compete to see who can complete more Earth friendly actions.

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Power Down Electronics & Use More Solar Power

Replace Paper Towels with Reusable Dish Rags/Towels

Replace Bottled Water with Reusable Water Bottles

*Affiliate links used in this post.

Visit Practically Green and take their online assessment for more personalized ideas.  While you’re at it, don’t forget to stop by the other blogs in this week’s Growing Green Series.

The Frugal Seed – Eating The Rainbow

I Dream of Clean – Repurpose to Avoid Waste

Laurel of Leaves – A Disposable Challenge

What are your simple tips for going green?