In 2012, I embarked on a mission to make one new food from scratch each month. It was quite an adventure, and ever since, I have loved trying my hand at making new foods from time to time.
Not gonna lie. Sometimes, it’s really difficult – like puff pastry! Yikes!
But more often, it’s far easier than I would imagine.
Like when I had a hankering for nachos. Usually, I would just spread some chips on a baking sheet, shred cheese over the top, and pop it in the oven to melt.
But sometimes, I really crave that creamy dipping type of cheese.
Now, the nacho cheese available in jars at the store isn’t something I want in my body. One brand has more partially hydrogenated soybean oil and modified food starch than it had actual cheese! Yellow 5 & 6 and MSG are just a few more ingredients to avoid.
So instead, I did a quick internet search for a from-scratch recipe and found “5 Minute Nacho Cheese Sauce” at budgetbytes.com. I especially love the tips for success and options for switching up the recipe!
I made some minor modifications and came up with this, which is about right for a single serving:
– 1 Tbs. butter
– 1 Tbs. flour
– 1/2 c. milk (I used 2%)
– 3 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (it’s what I had)
– pinch of black pepper infused pink himalayan sea salt
– sprinkle of chili powder
You start with a roux – melt the butter and stir in the flour for a minute or so until it's cooked. Add the milk and whisk until the mixture has thickened. I've found that I need to cook on a bit higher heat to get this done. It will take forever on low to medium heat.
Last, stir in the cheese until melted and season. See? Simple!
Scoop it up with some minimal ingredients chips or go all out and top it with all the things.
I'm not going to claim it's healthy, but at least it's avoiding the artificial crap found in the jarred cheese.
And it absolutely satisfies my nacho cheese cravings and tastes so much better than my memories of the store bought version! Just another item I will be making myself from now on!
Is there a food you’ve discovered is better homemade than store-bought? Please share your recipe in the comments and inspire us!
Is there something you want to try? I'm happy to share a recipe if I have one!
I saw my first mosquito of the year the other day. There really should be more of a break between the snow melting and the mosquitoes arriving, wouldn't you agree?
Since you're reading this post, you probably already know you should avoid conventional bug sprays. The ingredients are almost all toxic, and DEET is gaining a reputation as a poison to be avoided at all costs.
Certain agencies encourage an abundance of caution regarding mosquito-borne illnesses. However, the reality is that the insecticides recommended to deal with the problem are actually far more dangerous.
West Nile is the most common mosquito-borne illness in the U.S. yet very few mosquitoes carry it. And even if you are somehow bitten by an infected mosquito, your chance of becoming infected and severely ill are around 1%.
So weigh the risks – way less than a 1% chance of illness OR guaranteed poisons in your system?
But even though mosquito bites are more of a nuisance than a health threat, no one wants to deal with mosquitoes or any other biting insects, so what can you do that is effective but also natural?
1 – Eat Garlic
While this has not been proven (and many known natural remedies have never been "proven"), I have noticed the effect of eating garlic myself. When I first started cooking, before I learned much about herbs and spices, I used a LOT of garlic. After some time, I noticed that I no longer got many mosquito bites.
Some time later, my garlic consumption dwindled, and the mosquitoes started to bother me more again.
While, again, this isn't proven, and it might not work for everyone, garlic is extremely good for you. Adding extra to your diet is certainly not going to hurt, even if it doesn't make a difference to the mosquitoes. You're not out anything by trying.
2 – Essential Oils
Many bugs don't enjoy the scent of certain essential oils, so these oils can create an unwelcoming atmosphere.
Some of the best known bug-disliked oils include citronella, lemongrass, lavender, eucalyptus, tea tree, and peppermint. Different bugs dislike different scents more than others. For instance, mosquitoes really don't like citronella, but peppermint is better for deterring ants.
There are a few ways to use essential oils to keep comfortable outdoors. First, you can drop oils onto your clothing (be careful with light colored clothing). The fabric will act as a passive diffuser, but it might be most effective to place the oils on areas near bare skin.
Second, if you'll be in a limited area and have electrical access, you can diffuse oils to create an atmosphere around you. Oils linger in the air for quite some time, so the protection can last a while.
Third, and my favorite, you can make a spray. Choose whatever oils will work best for the insects you wish to deter, put 20-30 drops total in a small spray bottle, add a splash of witch hazel and apple cider vinegar, and top off the bottle with water. Spray on you or around the area where you'll be.
3 - Plants
I already mentioned how bugs dislike certain plants, and this applies to more than just their essential oil form. Plant lemongrass around your patio area, oregano in your garden, and mint near your doorways. The plants won't give off the concentrated scent of essential oils, but they're always there, and it requires no extra effort on your part.
Other Things to Consider
Your blood type, skin or clothing color, and alcohol consumption can all affect how attracted mosquitoes are to you.
Mosquitoes demonstrate a preference for people with type O blood. They are also attracted to darker colors, so wearing light-colored clothing can help. And if you've consumed alcohol, you may also attract more mosquitoes.
If you'd like to get your hands on the most effective essential oils, use this link.
This is one of only a couple oil brands that distills its oils to maintain ALL their beneficial properties.
It’s hard to say exactly when my natural health journey began.
What I consider the first “official” step was making foods from scratch, which seems almost poetic somehow.
I believe it was in 2011 when the news broke about the ingredients in the bread at a certain sandwich chain – ingredients that were also found in yoga mats.
Should anything in a yoga mat be in my sandwich? My thought was “no!”
That led to what was probably the first real step I took toward living more naturally – knowing what was going into the food I was consuming.
In 2012, I made a resolution to make one new food item from scratch each month.
I started with bread. Looking back, it probably wasn’t the easiest place to begin, but probably in part due to the fact that it’s the item which had inspired this mission in the first place, it seemed like a logical starting point for me.
It may not be as pretty as store-bought bread, but it tastes much better, and I can feel good about what’s in it!
I learned about yeast and proofing and different types of flours, and I realized that it wasn’t as difficult as I had anticipated. Sure, it took time – a lot of it! But much of it was time waiting for the dough to rise, and I could work on other things while I waited. I could only bake bread on days I didn’t work, but if you’ve ever eaten homemade bread fresh out of the oven, you know that it’s well worth it!
My other adventures that year included other bread items, such as burger buns, pita bread, and pizza crust, as well as things like peanut butter cups, jam, and more.
My advice if you’d like to take on making food from scratch? Start with what interests you, so you’ll be more likely to stick with it. For me, it was bread, crazy as that seems. For you, it might be something simpler, and that’s fantastic! Wherever you feel led to begin, start there. But don’t be afraid to try something more difficult. It’s all a journey, and what matters is the lessons you learn along the way.
If you'd like to start baking your own bread, this was the first recipe I tried, and it's still my base that I play around with.
And if you'd like to learn more about simple – and not as simple – swap-outs for common toxins, we talk about stuff like that all the time in my free Facebook group.
You've likely heard of greenwashing – when a company claims to be eco-friendly but actually isn't.
Unfortunately, a similar phenomenon is becoming common in the wellness and beauty industries. I don't know that there is a separate term for this, so I'm going to call it "cleanwashing."
What is "Cleanwashing"?
Like greenwashing, cleanwashing is when a company makes false claims in an attempt to appeal to customers who hold a certain value – in this case, being ingredient-conscious and interested in non-toxic products.
There are no regulations stopping companies from claiming to be "non-toxic," "natural," or "clean." They can put any of those words on their labels in an effort to get health-conscious buyers to select their product.
All too often, these companies don't have any concern with being truly clean or natural, and their products reflect that. The front label makes them sound great, but the ingredients tell a different story.
Why Should You Worry About Cleanwashing?
Using non-toxic ingredients is so important. If you're here reading this, you probably already know that, but if you want to learn more, feel free to look around this blog a bit more or join my Facebook community.
Once you're aware of how some of these common ingredients affect your body, you choose to avoid them. However, that can be difficult when all the labels on the products at the store claim to be "clean." It's completely natural to see that label and believe you are getting a non-toxic, safe product. In reality, it may not be at all. And that disturbs me so much!
How Do You Avoid Cleanwashing?
There's really only two ways to avoid cleanwashing.
1 - Become ingredient savvy and always read the labels. This can be very difficult since some common-looking words are toxic ingredients, and some chemical-looking words are safe. The simplest recommendation I can make is to avoid fragrance/parfum. Usually (not always), companies that make the effort to avoid fragrance will also avoid other toxins. It's not foolproof, but it's better than nothing.
2 - Find companies you trust implicitly to only use pure, safe ingredients. This can take a little time and effort and research, but it's so comforting once you know you've found one.
What are Some Examples of Cleanwashing Companies?
I generally avoid mentioning specific companies and prefer that people do their own research. However, this is what people always ask for, so I'm mentioning a few to help you out. These are some of the most common companies I see people claiming are "clean":
1 - Melaleuca – uses fragrance (and tries to pass it off as somehow safer than other fragrances) and fluoride. Honestly, the shady marketing of this company creeps me out – you never hear its name mentioned, only "wellness boxes."
2 - Seventh Generation – uses sodium lauryl sulfate (another recognizable one I look for) and is owned by Unilever, which produces highly toxic products, indicating they don't value clean products beyond the profit
3 - Method – uses fragrance and artificial colors and is owned by S.C. Johnson
4 - Mrs. Meyers – uses sodium lauryl sulfate and polysorbate 80 (a third recognizable one I look for) and is also owned by S.C. Johnson
Choosing Safe Products
I mostly had cleaning products in mind when I wrote this, but there are other companies specializing in personal care or nutrition products that are also cleanwashing. Maybe I'll talk about them another day.
In the meantime, you can read how to not get overwhelmed learning ingredients. Hopefully, it will make the process a little less daunting.
Several years ago, I became aware of what the products I was using on my body were doing to my health, and I didn’t like it.
I wanted to make a change, but I didn’t know where to begin.
There were just so many ingredients in products, and I didn’t know what 90% of the items on the ingredient labels were.
Did I really need to research every single one? Spend hours standing in the aisle at the store, looking up ingredients on my phone?
It had to be easier than that!
Then, I realized there was one ingredient that was common in almost all products which contained other toxic ingredients.
And I knew that if I eliminated that one ingredient, I would also avoid a lot of other toxins.
What is that ingredient?
Fragrance – sometimes labeled as “parfum.”
So what about fragrance makes it something to be avoided?
It is a cover word for thousands of ingredients, most of which are petroleum-based and, therefore, toxic. Because specific fragrance blends are considered proprietary information, companies are not required to disclose which ingredients they use in their own fragrance blends. It could be one natural ingredient, or, more likely, it could be 100 petroleum-based ingredients.
With this knowledge, I set out on a course that took me a full year to complete – making my home free of synthetic fragrances.
I began by replacing the items I ran out of with fragrance-free alternatives or ones scented with natural substances.
My deodorant happened to be the first thing that ran out, and my husband’s deodorant happened to be the last. In between, I replaced our shampoo, household cleaners, dish soap, laundry soap, skin care, and much more.
I ditched candles and air fresheners altogether and learned to make many things myself from pure ingredients, including foaming hand soap and perfumes.
I didn’t notice it at first, but over time, I realized that I wasn’t getting headaches anymore. More time passed, and I noticed that I hadn’t had any sinus issues in quite some time. In fact, I felt really good more often than not.
I won’t claim it’s easy to switch out nearly all products in your home, but like with most anything, take it one step, one product, one day at a time.
Small changes over time will get you much further than standing still because you’re overwhelmed at the thought of doing it all at once.
If you’d like to learn more about living a life free from fragrance and
other toxins, I welcome you to join me in my Facebook group.
