Junebug's Junkyard

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Goin' Pioneer - Easter Egg Style!

Easter egg coloring is a wonderful family memory I have with my 3 siblings and my mother. It was a tradition we continued into our adulthood. Yes, I colored Easter eggs as college student with my Mom and younger brothers - it was a blast! Silly to some, but funny and memory making to us! When I had my twins, I knew this special little craft was one I wanted to share with them.

However, concern over artificial food dyes and petrol based chemicals in traditional Easter egg dye kits prompted me to do a little experimenting with natural, food based dyes. I decided to try out a batch of egg dyeing long before Easter comes around again. At just over 1 year old last Easter, my kids haven't really been old enough at any previous Easter holidays to really enjoy the egg dyeing part of the celebrations. Now at 17 months, I knew this was a craft they would get a kick out of today for practice and even more so at age 2 - the next time Easter rolls around.

Mama and twins on our 1st Easter (twins 3 months) 2012

A quick internet search got me on the way for food based Easter egg dye ingredients. On my next grocery trip I bought the basics for dyeing eggs the old fashioned way! I started very simple with carrots for orange, spinach for green, concord grape juice for blue or purple and golden apples for yellow. I purchased some white vinegar to really soak up the dye into the eggshells and get that color out! There were at least 20 more options for making more color combinations and deeper hues, but I wanted to start basic as a jumping off point. All of my ingredients were organic, including the cage free white eggs we used.

Left to Right: organic spinach, organic white vinegar, organic golden apples, organic concord grape juice, organic carrots, and cage free white eggs

Most of the tips out there suggested a hot dye bath, so I boiled the eggs inside of pots with the food dye bases and a tablespoon of white vinegar. I did a 15 minute boil and then tested my colors. They weren't very dark and the eggs had started to crack. I suspected my heat was too high. So, I turned off my pots and let the dyes cool. Immediately I noticed the grape juice soaked eggs had a nice blueish, purple hue to them. Yay! Organic, no sugar added juice and perfectly dyed eggs. I let those cool and moved to the more challenging colors.

Boil the eggs with the dye materials

A few things I had read said to refrigerate the eggs overnight in a bowl with the dye for deeper color. I also wanted the egg dye to cool so that my kids could participate in the dyeing process! After a weekend of family parties, we were ready to dip into those egg dyes again. The green and orange didn't have much pigment to them and the yellow hardly at all. I added some turmeric - an Indian spice often used to color mustard yellow - and boy did those eggs turn yellow fast!

Left to Right: concord grape, carrots, golden apples & turmeric, spinach

I let the babies have a few of the eggs and some small cups of dye. Knowing we probably wouldn't get colored eggs out of the cold bath, but thinking we could still have some fun! This is what they immediately did with the dye:

I knew nothing was in that dye except organic vegetable/fruit juice, water and vinegar. Drink away my sweet ones!

I also had a natural egg dyeing kit left over from the previous Easter. It's made by a company called Natural Earth Paints. Their dyes are based in things found in Mother Nature such as vegetables, spices and fruit. They then break these materials down into small particles that dissolve in hot water. I did a batch of cage free eggs with these natural dyes to compare them to my own homemade food dye baths. The results were great!

Natural Egg Dye by Natural Earth Paint

I also had an observation when picking up my weekly order of cage free, local, farm fresh eggs. They were so colorful, I wouldn't even have to dye them! Look at these beauties in their natural form:

Farm fresh, cage free, organic eggs!

Now I feel confident about the deviled eggs I'm going to make for my family with these dyed eggs. Have you ever cracked open one of those store bought kit dyed eggs and found blue dye on the whites of your hard-boiled egg? You are ingesting those dye chemicals!

While my dyes may not have the pigmentation of the grocery store, mass distributed Haas version, I still loved this little experiment! No artificial food dyes such as FD&C Red No. 40 or Tartrazine Yellow No. 5 made from synthetic materials. Not only have those compounds been linked to ADHD in children, some types of cancer, allergic reactions and hives but they are made from petrol chemicals that harm the environment! Petrol chemicals are derived from petroleum - YES! As in gasoline! I know I don't want to eat gasoline and I really do not want my children to ingest it. These dyes are labeled as food safe in most Easter egg dye kits because they aren't known to cause side effects. That doesn't mean they aren't bad for you! It just means the FDA hasn't labeled them as such. Because they don't know 'for sure,' the dyes are allowed to be labeled as food safe. Sounds like a racket to me!

We are bombarded by artificial dyes in everything from fruit snacks, candy, mac and cheese and soda. Artificial dyes like FD&C Red No. 40, or Tartrazine Yellow No. 5. These synthetic colors are made from petroleum and other chemicals. These dyes have been found to cause cancer, hives, hyperactivity and other issues in adults and children. - See more at: http://www.stevespangler.com/seasonal-science/day-4-egg-week-dying-easter-eggs-naturally/#sthash.282az74d.dpuf

I'm at ease knowing that from locally sourced cage free eggs to my food based dyes, all of my ingredients came from local, organic sources. Which makes the holiday tradition that much more sweet! 'Hoppy' and delicious Easter fun for everyone!

Easter 2013 (twins 15 months)

Diapers. The Stinky, the Toxic, and the Homewrecker!

When I was 7 months pregnant with my twins in 2011, there was a foregone conclusion by most people around me that I would be using disposable diapers. Most of my friends and family used them. They were cheap. Easy to find. Convenient, of course. But I had a few friends who used cloth diapers and the idea intrigued me. So, I started doing my homework - as I always do when taking on a new venture. I learned a lot! Who knew diapers were so complicated? What I discovered was shocking, alarming and finally pleasant.

I started with the 2 obvious options.

Cloth. For me, this was the first consideration because it's the Eco- friendly, i.e. green way to go. But in real life, cloth diapers are SO smelly. I soon realized with 2 little poopers I would be doing mucho laundry. MUCHO. Like loads and loads of it everyday. Unless I was resigned to the smell of that diaper pail. See above - no thanks! Sorry friends that cloth diaper your babes - your diapers pails are stink-y, no matter how many candles you burn or air fresheners you attach to the pail. Nobody has the time to wash their diapers everyday and it's just a natural consequence. Some people are willing to live with this and I commend them. I am not one of those people.

I also soon learned that cloth diapers have come a long, long way since the days when my mom did it with me. No one uses clothes pins anymore - thank goodness! They have fancy wraps and the earthy mamas who use them call the diapers 'fluff' as a cute, affectionate term. They are self proclaimed fluff addicts. The covers are adorable. I received a customized one with dragonflies on it (I love dragonflies!). They have inserts you can wash, flushable parts, rinsing 'ducks' that attach to your toilet, pails that seal, special eco soap. It's a wonderful world! But you still have to deal with mounds of, well, let's face it, poopy laundry.

Look at all of that cute 'fluff'

I worked in some daycare centers while I was in college, about *gasp* 13 years ago. Many parents in the Seattle area were ahead of the green curve and even in the year 2000 were using cloth diapers. We had a diaper service come to our daycare center and take away those pooptastic bags of diapers for us. I wondered to myself, now how would that look in your home? So, again, I got out my super mama sleuth hat and started digging. Turns out diaper services aren't so green friendly. They use harsh bleaches to get those diapers white and clean and it makes sense. You are sharing diapers that your baby has done her business on and then getting new diapers your neighbor's baby did his business on. Ewwww! Eco-friendly diaper services are up and coming, but alas there were none in the Portland Metro area when I started my search. I was actually shocked! Isn't Oregon the home of being green? There's a money making business waiting to be started Mamas!

So we move to the next logical diaper - the disposable. That nasty little homewrecker. Home being our lovely planet Earth. The facts on disposable diapers are staggering and a little horrifying. One child will use around 8,000-10,000 disposable diapers over the course of the diaper wearing years. The image below shows about 5,000 disposable diapers. That's half the amount ONE child will use in her lifetime! These diapers are made from plastics and chemicals that take hundreds of years to break down in our landfills. They are filled with human waste and there are no enforced regulations on the waste in diapers in landfills. One consequence that is being discussed, is the possibilty of that waste leaking into our water supply. Scary stuff, right?

5,000 disposable diapers - about 1/2 what ONE child will use over the course of his diaper wearing years!

It gets worse! 200,000 trees each year are lost to the manufacture of disposable diapers for babies in the U.S. alone. Let's not forget about petrochemicals! It has been estimated that it takes takes 3.4 billion gallons of oil every year to make those diapers. That is a huge strain on our natural resources.

Finally, what about all of the plastic fillers, bleaching agents, lead, PVC and other nasty stuff that completes the ingredient list in a diaper? Well, what about it? Diapers have direct contact all day long with your baby's skin. Our skin is our largest organ and what we put on it gets absorbed directly into our blood stream. Don't believe me? Ever heard of a morphine patch? Hospital grade pain relief that is soaked into your skin from a patch. The same goes for other patch like medications - nicotine, birth control. Yet, we don't think twice about the 24 hour a day patch our babies wear for the first 3 years of their lives!

So what's an eco AND convenience lovin' mama to do? Turns out, there are some viable alternatives to the old standards. Thank goodness!
Biodegradable disposable diapers. Produced without harsh chemicals. Totally compostable. Ding Ding Ding. Bambo Nature and the Honest Company are a few of the names we have tried.
www.honest.com http://bambonatureusa.com/
The Honest Company makes totally plant based, biodegradable diapers that are super cute to boot! These have been our favorite. They are hypoallergenic, so that means diaper rash that can come with disposable diapers isn't as big of a risk. They are free of chlorine bleaching agents. All the ink used is lead free (did you know regular disposable diapers have lead in them, getting leached into your baby's skin with each wear?).

Urine is an acid. If you have ever done experiments with acids - in chemistry or even just in your kitchen, you know acid breaks down materials like nothing else. Marinade a steak in pineapple juice. The very acidic citrus breaks down and tenderizes meat wonderfully! However, it is not so wonderful when it's a chemical laden material breaking down into your child's bloodstream.

My twins modeling their Honest diapers at 6 months old

The Honest Company states on every package of diapers that their products are free from: chlorine processing, latex, lotions, fragrances, common allergens, phthalates, optical brighteners, PVC, heavy metals, organotins (MBT, DBT, TBT) & harsh petrochemical additives.

The only downfall of some of the natural diapers is the leakage factor. They don't really hold up against diapers that are made to last 12 hours while your baby sleeps. The 7th Generation overnights do a pretty good job of keeping my kids leakproofed overnight. While they are chlorine free, they are not biodegrable. Cloth diapers are even worse for overnights, only lasting about 3-4 hours before your baby will be wet and feeling it. So we deal with it or sometimes double up before bed. I'm hoping over time and new product development, overnight diapers will vastly improve in this niche of baby diapering.

Safe for your baby, your home and your planet! Sometimes we mamas need convenience and I'm so happy to report that there are a few companies who are wising up to this way of thinking. I don't like having to sacrifice convenience for earth friendly and non-toxic. There should be choices in consumerism and I'm choosing to support companies who make products like this. Diapers are a multi-billion dollar industry that doesn't inform it's consumers of the process and ingredients that go into making it's product. I don't buy food like that and I'm certainly not going to buy baby goods from companies who aren't up front about the content of their wares.

A powerful statement that I like to remember is "Vote with your dollar." It is with a strong voice that I will continue to support companies who empower their customers through knowledge. My dollar and my vote will go towards supporting the flexibility of choice and viable green, non-toxic alternatives to everyday household products.

Still rockin' the Honest diapers at 17 months

Link to instructions on how to make a diaper cake. Totally Awesome Diaper Cake Instructions

Getting My Sealegs with a Nautical Themed Diaper Cake

Honest.com diapers, pirates and anchors

My best friend from college is having a baby boy...and that of course means a baby shower! I wasn't the one throwing it, but wanted to do something special for her all the same. I decided to make a diaper cake! For this particular friend, we have a funny sense of humor and like to make light of things like diaper cakes as being over the top and a little obnoxious. Something you would see a Real Housewife making - well, paying someone else to make - like a 6 tier diaper cake for her friends' baby shower, spilling over with frothy blue chiffon and lace. But, I concluded that diaper cakes are also super practical and really very cute! Since this friend and I share a mutual love for the Real Housewives, the obnoxious but also the sentimental, the practical and the adorable...a diaper cake it was!

I had gotten the idea from a blog I frequently read, at Honest.com. I use their wonderful, biodegradable diapers on my twins. They are totally chemical, fragrance, and chlorine free. Safe for little ones' skin and bodies. They are also SO cute. I mean caaaa-yoooote! Her shower was nautical themed and they have pirate diapers and blue anchors for boys. How perfect! They had some instructions to make a diaper cake and I followed it loosely, but perfected and made it easier for myself. I also watched a few You Tube videos and I was ready to get 'baking.'

This is a shower gift that your friend or family member will never forget and you can customize so easily. So give your old plain white disposable diapers - chock-full of-chemicals destined to rot- in a landfill - forever - a break! Use some cute and chemical free diapers, customize the cake and make it your own!

To make a 4 tier cake:

My helper sampling the goods

100 Newborn Diapers. You can use other sizes, but make sure that you use the same size throughout so that your cake is even in all it's tiers. The Newborn size made the cake a manageable width and height. You will probably have some extra diapers with 100 count. Just give the mother to be the extras - she's going to need them! I used 80 in mine and had to fill it in with toilet paper rolls and tissue. Extra diapers to fill in gaps would have been helpful. It's better to get more then to not have enough!

Small rubber bands but large enough to secure a rolled up diaper. 1 for each diaper, so 100. Get extra in case they break. Roll each diaper individually, starting with the open end. Make sure it's nice and tight. Secure with a rubber band.

A package of XL Rubber Bands. You'll need 3. They come in much larger packages, so you'll have extras. I had to go to an office supply store to get the rubber bands in the XL size. Take sections of 3 already rolled diapers and secure them together with more small rubber bands. Wrap the XL rubber bands around the entire outside of the groups of 3, adding more groups of 3 as you go. Fill in the gaps with single rolled diapers.

Wooden Dowel - 24 inches tall. Place your groups of 3 around the dowel and secure with XL rubber bands. Do the next layer in the same manner, but make it slightly smaller then the first layer.

Double stick tape. Use double stick tape to attach one ribbon layer to the other.

16 inch cake plate.

Fabric or something 'purdy' to cover cake plate. I used a small fish net that I found at a craft store, near the shells and sand for making decorations.

Large ribbon, NOT see-through. It will cover the rubber bands on the cake. I did 1 1/2 inches and needed at least 4 yards. This is the turquoise ribbon shown in the picture around each layer of my cake.

Small decorative ribbon. It just adds a special flair for your theme. I used 5/8 inch white ribbon with crabs and starfish, 4 yards.

Glue Gun and glue sticks.

Wrap the double 'stuck' ribbon layers around the cake where your XL rubberband sits and secure with a small dab of hot glue.

Wired Ribbon for cake topper. I used clear, sparkly 2 1/2 inch ribbon for making a decorative bow cake topper. You can buy bows or have them made with your own ribbon at most craft stores for an additional fee. I learned how to make them in my craft store employment days. She's Crafty!

Decorations. I went to the craft store and found a bag of misc seashells, starfish, a fishing net, cake plate and all of my ribbon. You could do flowers for a little girl or butterflies. You could go to the dollar store and get little plastic trucks for a different themed boy cake. The possibilities are endless. A fabric store will have more ribbon selection for cute theme-y ribbon also. Go simple if you just want boy or girl or neutral colors.

Hot glue your accessories to the ribbons (cardinal rule #1- NEVER glue anything to the diapers themselves). Glue your ribbon or netting underneath the cake plate, so that no one sees it!

Set your completed cake on top of the cake plate. No need to secure, just set it up so that it's the star attraction of the shower!

Accessories. Soap, cream, wipes. Some people use these as the insides to their cake. I found this made the cake a little lopsided. Instead, wrap up your extra diapers and the misc diapering supplies in matching paper. I used black pirate paper to offset my white pirate diapers. I used some of the ribbon from my cake to match and make the whole thing cohesive. I even found a nautical sweater in little boys 3-6 months I put in the box. Theme complete!

Voila! Amazing, adorable, slightly obnoxious but always practical and cute! A diaper cake made easy for the masses, but unique with personal touches. Bon Appetit!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

What's for Dinner Tonight? Real Recipes with Real Ingredients!

Roasted Rosemary Herbed Chicken with Moist and Flavorful Brown Rice; Pan-fried Asparagus

Easy and delicious. Very little 'active' cooking time. Pretty enough to serve guests - or just for a Wednesday night!

Rice:
1 cup organic brown rice
1 1/2 cups organic chicken broth
1/2 organic white onion, chopped (save a scoop)
1 large organic carrot, chopped
fresh organic thyme (a handful, prechop) and rosemary (2 sprigs). Chop up herbs. (Save a scoop).
1 Tablespoon organic no salt seasoning (I get mine from Costco and it's SO good and doesn't have any additives like anti-caking agents!)
A little sea salt to taste
1 tsp organic extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves chopped garlic
Mix all ingredients except your saved scoops of onion and herbs into a medium size roasting pan. Stir rice mixture well!

Chicken:
1 organic whole fryer chicken, approximately 3 lbs. Place chicken breast side down on top of rice mixture.
Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil (a little goes a really long way, do sparingly!).
Sprinkle your saved scoops of onion and herbs on top of the chicken.
Don't forget to remove your giblets out of the innards of the chicken! Stuff with leftover onions, herbs, garlic, lemons - whatever you like really!
Use a hefty pat of grass fed, organic butter (salted or not, your choice).
Top with 2 additional Rosemary springs. So pretty!
Cover roasting dish and cook for 1 hour at 400. Cook at 425 for an additional 30 minutes. Remove chicken from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Cut into chicken near leg bone and ensure juices run clear.

Asparagus:
1 lb organic asparagus. I prefer the small spears.
Cut bottoms off spears so they are uniform in length.
Heat a pan with organic extra virgin olive oil up to temperature.
Add 2 cloves chopped garlic and some more organic no salt seasoning.
Pan fry until asparagus is cooked to your desired consistency, stirring often.

Serve with a nice fruit forward, red wine. I like Tempranillos or Malbecs for chicken dishes.