Home Maid Simple

Day: November 12, 2013

  • Healthy Child Healthy World with Seventh Generation

    Healthy Child Healthy World with Seventh Generation

    *Last week I had the opportunity to speak with representatives from Seventh Generation, Healthy Child Healthy World, and The Motherhood. Compensation was given. All opinions are 100% my own*

    I just have to share this video with you all. It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood before making me realize just how different the world has become for our children.

     
     
    Staggering, isn’t it? I remember going out and running through our wooded backyard without a care in the world. I often went outside without shoes on, and it was OK!  
     
    What really got me thinking, though, and really re-evaluating the everyday products I buy and use in our home was this next stat –

    In the European Union 1,328 chemicals have been banned from use in personal care items. Only 11 have been banned OR restricted in the US.

    Isn’t that crazy?  At first you might think, those Europeans just like to restrict things, they’re overly cautious. But really let’s think about it. Surely with a 1,317 difference, there’s got to be some more substance to it.

    I know I’ve shared multiple “green” cleaning products with you in the past, but truth be told, my absolute favorite cleaner is Hot Soapy water. I find it just does the best job, and it truly is the safest to use around the kids.

    I found a few more of these studies to be quite interesting and thought you’d like to look over them yourselves –

    • In a study of 10 minority newborns, more than 232 chemicals were found in the umbilical cords! Did you get that? Our babies are being exposed to hundreds of chemicals before they’re even out of the womb. Scary
    • In a study of 10 children’s face paints, all 10 tested positive for lead. Hello! You have to sign forms when buying an old house to make sure you’re aware that lead could be in the walls, but hey, let’s go paint some lead on our kids face. Sounds about right to me.
    • Studies have found flame retardant, Bisphenol-A, and other environmental chemicals in breast milk  Great, breast is best right? but how much are we losing that with the addition of chemicals into our lives. 
    • Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled children’s toys and jewelry for high lead content. Shouldn’t we test this before we buy it? Before we expose our family to potentially dangerous chemicals?
    Knowledge is power right? I hope that this knowledge will inspire you to take action as well. 
     
    5 Easy steps to decrease chemical exposure in the home #HealthyBabyHome
     
    These are some great things you can do in your home, but if you’d like to get involved on a larger scale, I encourage you to reach out to your local Senators and urge them to pass the Chemical Safety Improvement Act.
     
    Did you know that the law regulating chemical use in our everyday products has not been updated in over 35 years?!  Seriously, I think that’s a bit long. We live in a constantly changing, and growing world, not to look at something so crucial as the way we use chemicals. 
     
    You can follow this link for more information on this Act and how to contact your state Senator. 
     
     
  • Be #CartonSmart this Holiday Season

    Be #CartonSmart this Holiday Season

    This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carton Smart. All opinions are 100% mine.

    #CartonSmart Thanksgiving Stuffing

    What’s on your Thanksgiving table? 

    Green Bean Casseole, Sweet Potatoes, Cranberry Jelly, Stuffing,Turkey, Pie

    What’s really in those ingredients though?

    Preservatives. sweeteners, flavoring, dyes. Things that aren’t really that great for our bodies, and make us crave more. 

    This Thanksgiving, I’m trying to simplify our meal, and enjoy more natural preservative free foods, while also cutting back on our waste. The holidays are big cooking and bakeing seasons for people all over the country, and in turn it adds a lot of waste to our landfills.  I was pretty excited to find Pacific Foods Tetra Pak cartons.

    photo d1d52bb8-c150-4f19-9a7c-b8c9ab3c8df3_zpsac6b75dd.jpg

    Have you ever opened a can, and then placed the leftovers in the fridge in the can? I have, and the taste after is awful! The Tetra Pak cartons are resealable, and because it’s a carton instead of a can, they won’t leak metal flavoring into the food.

    photo 795e421d-1ec8-414e-b1b8-dde8f5f23ded_zps62983f0a.jpg

    Become Carton Smart this Thanksgiving and exchange your cans for cartons.  Just look at all these reasons on why you should make the switch.

    photo 1898ca76-3272-4baf-a8df-07abf60e15e3_zps1bf425e9.jpg

    When you read the list of ingredients on Pacific Foods cartons you’ll find a complete list of foods you know. For example in this Cranberry Sauce you will find cranberries, cane sugar, and water.  For more of a boost, it is also all organic!

    photo 62adf36b-e1dc-4d93-98c1-aa80d97a468d_zps600d562e.jpg

    I hope that with these few exchanges to our regular feast, we will all still have energy after eating, and not go into a food coma.   Follow #CartonSmart on Pinterest for more ideas on how to be simplify your meals this holiday season..

    Tweet @CartonSmart to share how you plan on being #CartonSmart this Holiday Season!

    Check back later for how I used the Pumpkin Puree and Chicken Stock in some traditional Thanksgiving dishes. You’re going to love them!!


    Visit Sponsor's Site

  • Pork Curry Steamed Buns

    Pork Curry Steamed Buns

    It looks like I may have a lot of “Fails” with this Food of the World party, but we sure are having fun learning about different countries and their cuisine. This month Diane had us visiting Malaysia. See how we made Pork Curry Steamed Buns, and grab some recipes to make your own.

     
     
    Malaysian cuisine has melded with many of its neighboring countries, to create its own unique flavors on Asian dishes. While doing my research I came across Rasa Malaysia. the #9 Food Blogger in the world! That is pretty impressive and makes me surprised I hadn’t come across her before. Bee, the owner is from Malaysia, but now based out of California. She shares traditional Asian dishes, that are simple to make, and some with a more Westernized twist. 
     
    I browsed the Malaysian section on her site and had a hard time choosing something. After looking at recipes forever Mark leaned over, and said: “Try those steamed buns!”  Yeah, that sounds good…except steaming bread sounds tricky. Mark recalled our trip to Japan though, where we had a pork filled steamed bun that he just loved – and so did everyone else because the line to get one was huge!
     
     
    Mark got pretty excited about trying these out, that he jumped up and started cooking up a couple different pork curries. Of course, he didn’t write anything down, so I have no recipe for you – but head over to All Recipes and search curry. There’s a lot of good ones on there. So while he did that, I followed Rasa Malaysia’s recipe for Sweet Potato Mantou (or Steamed Buns).
     
    I was a little nervous, when it took a long time to rise, but crossed my fingers they would still turn out. My verdict – these are better baked than steamed unless you have the right equipment. Bee’s recipe has you put the buns on baking or steaming paper sheets. I didn’t have either, and didn’t think they would matter – they do!  By not using these, the bottoms of our buns were still very doughy. 
     
    Eventually, I gave in, and just baked the last of them. Ah-maze-ing!  Oh, and I also used Bread Flour because I couldn’t find Bao Flour (I found steamed bun mix at our Asian Market, but not Bao flour).  That could have been the reason for the extra long rise time, but I really don’t know. 
     

    I think the sweet potato addition to the dough, really was wonderful, but they worked better in the oven. So if you want to make these, but also want to avoid steaming them, I baked mine for 10 minutes in a 350 oven.

    Do you have a favorite recipe from Malaysia? Share it in the comments!