Greentree Harvest Party

Fire Chief William and his dalmatian Ruby




Poor Ruby fell asleep just like this

Soothing Oatmeal Bath

Dry-skin season is upon us so that means red, dry, flakey skin for my poor, sensitive, scandinavian-skinned children. Aveeno oatmeal bath is ridiculously expensive so last winter I took to the internet to find a home-made alternative. This recipe for oatmeal bath works great and really soothes their dry skin. It is also great for diaper rashes.

Homemade Oatmeal Bath

1 cup of oats (any kind as long as they aren't flavored)
Coffee grinder or food processer ( I use my Magic bullet with the grinder blade)
Lavender Essential Oil (optional)

Blend the oats on the highest setting until you have a very fine, consistent powder. To make sure the oats are the right consistency, stir 1 tablespoon of the ground oats into a glass of warm water. If the oats absorb the water and give it a milky look and a silky feel, you've blended enough.

Add a few drops of essential oil to the powder and sprinkle into a warm tub. Soak for 15-20 minutes.

This really did seem to help! There are tons of recipes online for Colloidal Oatmeal Baths but this one seemed easiest. I grabbed it from this website which says it can be used for chicken pox, sunburn, dry skin, eczema, diaper rash and more.

Best Sugar Cut-out Cookie Recipe EVER

Ok, so this is not my recipe, it is a borrowed recipe from my good friend Amanda but it is just too excellent to keep to myself. These cookies are just the right consistency and taste awesome. Enjoy!


Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

-1 cup white sugar
-1 cup butter, softened
-3 ounces cream cheese, softened
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon almond extract
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 egg yolk
-2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg yolk. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour until well blended. Chill the dough for 8 hours, or until it can be easily worked with and rolled out.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

3. On a floured surface, roll out the dough 1/3 at a time to 1/8 inch thickness, refrigerating remaining dough until ready to use. (It gets very sticky! I have to use lots of flour!) Cut into desired shapes with lightly floured cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Leave cookies plain for frosting, or brush with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with candy sprinkles or colored sugar.

4. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light and golden brown. Cool cookies completely before frosting.



ButterCream Frosting

-1/3 c. butter, softened
-3 c. sifter powdered sugar
-2 tbs milk
-1 ½ t. vanilla

Sift powdered sugar and blend into other ingredients.

Happy Birthdays

Yesterday was William's 2nd birthday. We decided to get some traditions started and took Will to get donuts and then to the book store to buy a birthday book. We thought it'd be cool to look back and see what he was interested in every year as he grows older. This year he picked L, M, N, O Peas. . . well, let's be honest we sort of picked it- he ran all over the place pulling random books off the shelves yelling "DIS ONE!" when we asked him what book he wanted. He was much more interested in the Sesame Street stuffed animals and the giant plastic microphones ( Borders, why do you carry these?).

William shares a birthday with my Dad who turned 60 yesterday. That seems really old to me (sorry dad) and it made me realize how old I am getting! I wish my parents were closer to us to we could all go out and celebrate these birthday boys together!

Here is a picture of Will in one of his favorite gifts-his very first Radio Flyer Wagon from Grandpa and Grandma Morsch.

William's 2nd Fireman Birthday

William turns 2 in just 4 days so we celebrated his birthday yesterday. Our dear friends have a son Graham who was born 2 weeks before Will so we did a joint birthday party. We met these friends in our childbirth class that we took when we were having Will so the boys have known each other literally, since birth. It has been so fun to watch them change and grow these past two years. Will is OBSESSED with fire engines these days so that was the theme. He typically wears a fireman's helmet around the house while he plays and sometimes forces us to wear them too, so he was completely delighted to see everyone walking around with helmets on. We had so much fun with all of our friends eating cake, pushing firetrucks around and throwing hay. :)

I still cannot believe my baby is a walking/talking/wrestling/dancing two-year-old! Sniffle, Sniffle.

My Favorite Home Remedies

I am not a fan of putting chemicals and dyes into my body or the bodies of my small children so I have recently become very interested in researching and using various home remedies/homeopathics to treat illnesses in our family. Over the past couple of years I have come up with a list of favorites:

Colds/Coughs/Congestion - drano

sore throat - lighter fluid

runny nose/burning ears - I Can't Believe Its Not Butter (topical use only)

broken leg - peanut butter and candy canes

Ha, ok so Brad wrote those while I was out of the room.

Here is my REAL list:

Colds/Cough/Congestion-

Emergen- C-3-4 packs a day while I'm feeling gross
Echinacea Throat Spray- 3-4 times a day
Neti-Pot- I will love it forever despite how nasty it is to see your snot flow out
Eucalyptus Oil- I use it in the humidifier, bath tub, and mixed with a carrier oil as a chest rub
Pulsatilla- I use this homeopathic when I suspect an infection (thick nasal gunk)
Gypsy Cold Care Tea- Tastes great and helps to clear you out
Warm Compress- press a warm, wet wash cloth on sinuses. This helps to loosen gunk up
Steam- Hot shower with lots of steam works wonders

Tummy Troubles

Papaya & Pineapple Enzyme- Helps with digestion and you can buy them at Trader Joe's
Probiotics- We like the Culturelle packets for the kids and the tablets for the grown-ups
Chamomile Tea- This tea is both calmative and helps with digestive upset

Stress/Anxiety/Insomnia

Chamomile Tea- This really helps me relax and sleep. I drank it all the time while I was pregnant
Rescue Remedy- These drops are made of flower essences and help to calm you when you're feeling overwhelmed/stressed
Epsom Salts, lavender oil and eucalyptus oil- I mix 1 cup of salts with 5-10 drops of oil and relax in a warm bath

Ear Ache

Pulsatilla- for ear pain that gets worse at night
Belladona- for pain and inflammation
Hyland's Ear Ache Drops- these work wonders on sore ears. They are a homeopathic blend and you use them 3-4 times a day

I am not a naturapath or a doctor, just a mama that finds these remedies helpful in my home. :)

Weekend Trip

This weekend we ventured north. The boys stayed in Cissna Park for the weekend and Will had the time of his young life riding Rusty the horse & Papa's combine, fishing, learning to shoot the bow and more.

Ruby and I continued on to see my best friend from high school and her new baby Jillian. These two cuties are 7 weeks apart and destined to be bffs like their mamas. :)

I also had a chance to catch up with my best friends from college. We played with babies, ate good food, drank wine, made cookies and just enjoyed each other. Whenever I come home from these little trips I feel both refreshed and sad that we aren't closer.

All in all in was a great weekend (despite the fact that Ruby girl cried for HOURS while we were driving there and back) and I can't wait until next time when we can make the trip with the whole fam!

Wubby

I'm a sucker for a good baby product. Recently a friend asked me if I'd ever seen "the beenie babies with the pacifiers attached at the end". She explained to me that the stuffed animal helped to keep the pacifier in the baby's mouth. I thought the idea sounded hilarious so I looked them up online. Now I think the idea is genius. Ruby screams like she is being tortured in the car so I needed a way to easily find her Soothie while I was driving. The answer- the WubbaNub. I am hooked. I can shove this little giraffe in her swaddle blanket and car seat straps and her little paci stays right in its place. She also cutely holds onto it when she is not swaddled up. Happy baby, happy mama! :)

Tractor Land

The Kirkwood Farmer's Market is awesome all the time but it is especially awesome during Fall. They have tons of mums, gourds, pumpkins, cider, etc. but the coolest thing of all is Tractor Land. They have a bunch of old-school Mini John Deere Ride-on tractors and this year they added a pool full of corn for the kids to play in. Tractor Land is open every day in October until 8pm so I think we will basically be living there.

Chicken Tikka Masala

This is hands down my favorite food of all time. When we lived in Bloomington-Normal there was an awesome Indian restaurant that we'd get Tikka Masala and curry from all the time. I had a fellow Indian food lover friend and we'd stuff ourselves silly at Puran. Now, here I am in St. Louis, MO with tons of delicious Indian restaurants to choose from and no one to eat it with me! Brad likes it but doesn't love it and none of my other friends (that I know of) are into it. So alas, I looked up some recipes and I made it myself. It was sort of time consuming but pretty simple. My house smelled scrumptious all day and I have a new favorite recipe. :)

Chicken Tikka Masala

Marinade:

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in 1-inch cubes
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice--about 3-4 lemons
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 quart plain whole milk yogurt

Mix together, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, garam masala, oil, salt, chili powder, and yogurt. Stir in chicken until well coated.

Cover tightly and chill overnight, or for at least 8 hours, stirring once or twice.

Next Day:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove chicken from marinade and place on baking sheet in a single layer. You will have to sort of shake off each piece before laying it on the sheet. Bake for 30 minutes.

Transfer to CROCK POT set to HIGH setting.

Meanwhile, make sauce:

Sauce:

2 teaspoons coconut oil
1 medium size white onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
2 teaspoons fresh minced garlic
15 oz. Bionaturae Organic Strained Tomatoes (It comes in a jar not a can-hurray for no BPA!)
2 teaspoons garam masala
salt to taste
6 ounces organic heavy whipping cream
1 Tablespoons fresh cilantro (optional)

Saute onion, garlic, and ginger in the oil until the onion is clear. Add strained tomatoes, garam masala, and salt.

Heat through, stirring often. Add cream in 1 ounce portions, stirring to mix well after each addition.

Add sauce to chicken in hot crock pot. Switch the setting of the crock pot to low. Mix well, stirring to coat all the chicken in sauce. Cook for 2 or 3 hours on low setting, stirring every hour, if possible. When cooked, garnish with cilantro and serve over basmati rice with naan bread.

*This recipe makes a lot of Chicken Tikka Masala. I would say it could serve 6-8 people.