Have you ordered your holiday cards yet? I plan to take a ton of family photos while we are on our Thanksgiving trip to Sanibel Island this weekend. When I get home, I plan to spend some time getting my cards ordered from Pear Tree Greetings. Pear Tree Greetings is a fabulous, eco-friendly and sustainable source of festive greeting cards, invitations, gift & decor, stationary, and more!
Pear Tree Greetings is made up of a small team who brings you exclusive, award-winning designs, premium products all at about 40% less than their competitors!
I am trying to decide if I want to do vintage cards, photo cards or a modern card this year! There are so many beautiful options – how will I choose!
Full Disclosure: I reviewed Pear Tree Greetings holiday cards for this review.
Most years we host Thanksgiving dinner at our home – however, this year we don’t have family coming into town to visit so we decided to travel for Thanksgiving. We booked a week at a fun, red cottage on Sanibel Island. We are meeting the mister’s uncle and aunt there for a little fun in the sun!
On our way there, we plan to pick up Thanksgiving dinner from Whole Foods and of course, we will pack our favorite wine too! Our week will be spent outside beach combing (Sanibel is known as the best place to shell in the country!), biking the island (you don’t need a car!), checking out the local shops and eateries, and taking long walks with Noodles and Olive. We are super excited! While I love hosting Thanksgiving dinner, I think it will be nice to sleep in late on the big day (no housecleaning or cooking!) and enjoy Thanksgiving dinner outside next to the ocean.
How about you – do you have an unconventional Thanksgiving planned? Are you traveling? Where are you off to?
If you are like our family, you look for the healthiest products when grocery shopping! I like my family to eat a very healthy and balanced diet, and I admit we still have our snacks from time to time! When picking out snacks for road trips or impromptu trip to the beach, we try to be more conscientious in picking ones that are free from GMO’s, artificial colors, preservatives, refined sugars, MSG and hydogenated oils. And with the holidays right around the corner, we usually have some snacks on hand for friends and family who stop by. So when Snikiddy asked if we would like to try some of their snacks, we jumped on the chance. Snikiddy currently offers three product lines: Baked Fries, Cheese Puffs, and Eat Your Vegetables. We really enjoyed these healthier versions of some of our favorite snacks and think you will too! Read on to learn more about them:
1. Baked Fries
These are perfect for all you potato chip addicts out there, especially if you desire a healthier option. Baked Fries come in Cheddar Cheese, Sea Salt, Barbeque, Original Seasoning, Bold Buffalo, and Hot & Spicy, each of which boasts a profile with 50% less fat than regular potato chips, no gluten, no GMO’s, no MSG, and no cholesterol. To top it off, they’re kosher, as well as vegetarian, with one vegan friendly option. I am not a chip fan – but Eben and his friends enjoyed this one!
2. Cheese Puffs
The two flavors of Cheese Puffs are Grilled Cheese and Mac ’n Cheese. They are gluten free and non-GMO, contain no trans fats or MSG, and they’re low in saturated fat too. MSG is called an excitotoxin because it can overexcite you body’s cells to the point of serious damage. It’s also been shown to destroy neurons in an area of the brain that leads to obesity. Snikiddy seems to understand these dangers, and excludes MSG from its ingredients list entirely. We all enjoyed these ones – they reminded me of the cheese puffs that my grandma always had on hand – but without all of the junk.
3. Eat Your Vegetables
These are veggie chips, each a combination of different vegetables: carrot, kale, konjac, spinach, broccoli, tomato, beet, and shitake mushroom. Each bag is low in sodium, weighing in between 140mg and 150mg per serving. Eat Your Vegetables come in five flavors: Salt & Lime, Sea Salt, Sour Cream & Onion, Jalapeno Ranch, and Italian Herb & Olive Oil. These were the mister’s favorite – he loves tortilla chips.
If you are looking for some great snacks that are healthier too – give Snikiddy Snacks a try!
Full Disclosure: We received samples of Snikiddy snacks – and would have shared them with you regardless because they are good-for-you yummy!
There are many advantages to choosing cloth diapers over disposable diapers. Disposable diapers are the third largest component of landfill waste. All for an item that is using only for a super short period of time. On top of that, it takes hundreds of years for a disposable diaper takes to decompose. Plus, the production of disposable diapers is not environmentally friendly – not to mention the amount of chemicals found inside of diaper, the same diaper that will touching your baby’s body. With the growing enthusiasm for cloth diapers, more and more superior products are available every day. Read on for 4 other reasons you should definitely consider using cloth diapers, then give them a try!
1. They’re much better for the environment Reusable cloth diapers need never to see a landfill at all. They can be washed at home in your washing machine or sent out through a home delivery cloth diaper service.
2. They are just as effective as disposables Whether the diaper is cloth or disposable, it needs to be changed often. Dryness is the best way to prevent diaper rash, and most cases of diaper rash occur simply because the diaper wasn’t changed as often as necessary. If they are being used correctly and changed as often as needed, cloth diapers are just as absorbent and no more likely to cause diaper rash than disposables.
3. They are much more cost effective Once the initial cost of the cloth diapers is met, there is very little cost to cloth diapers. A few more loads of laundry a month may bump up the water bill a few dollars. However, compared to the cost of disposable diapers, which can range from $50 to $100 dollars a month depending on your area, that cost is negligible.
4. Organic options are available Organic cotton and bamboo cloth diapers are available on the market too. Each are made with strict organic principles and have excellent absorbent capabilities. Bamboo especially is excellent at wicking moisture away from the skin. So you can feel reassured that there are no harmful chemicals touching your baby at all!
(Note: Day 1 is with green cabbage, and Day 3 is with Red. Take a look at how the cabbage “breaks down” – it’s the same amount in each container!)
Homemade sauerkraut is incredibly easy to make, is inexpensive compared to buying it in a store, and is great for you! All cruciferous vegetables (radishes, cabbage, broccoli, bok choy, etc.) naturally contain the beneficial bacteria lactobacillus, which is also found in yogurt and other fermented and cultured foods. Sauerkraut is then made by a process appropriately called lacto-fermentation, where the cabbage is submerged in a salt water solution, called brine. Then, as the sauerkraut sits, the bacteria begins to convert sugars in the cabbage into lactic acid, which is a natural preservative to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria.
Over the course of a few days, the cabbage becomes less crunchy, and the probiotics start to flourish and multiply, thus creating an amazingly tasty fermented probiotic you can eat whenever your heart desires! Here’s my recipe:
Ingredients:
1 small head of red or green cabbage, about 8 cups
1.5 Tablespoons of sea salt (Make sure to get sea salt and not iodized salt!)
Between 2-3 cups of chemical free water (spring/distilled water should be ok) If you only have tap water, let it sit out in an open container for 6 hours, and the chlorine and other chemicals will escape. Then you can use it without any trouble!
Supplies:
Large knife, long enough to cut through the entire head of cabbage
Cutting Board
Large pitcher
Several smaller mason jars, or another similar glass container with a wide mouth
Cheesecloth(s) or microfiber washcloth(s) that air can easily pass through, but bugs can’t
Rubberband(s) or elastic(s)Â large enough to fit around the wide mouthed container(s)
Cup, plate, or other object that fits inside the wide mouth container to use as a press (optional, but makes life easier)
How To:
1. Clean your cutting board, knife, and containers thoroughly, then wash your hands. It is very important to make sure that the lactobacillus bacteria have as clean of an environment as possible in which to grow. If there is a bit of bacteria on your hands when you prepare the sauerkraut, it is possible that the batch will be bad, or may even grow mold. Yuck! The salt does help prevent this, but why not give the cabbage a little boost?
2. Chop up the cabbage into pieces about as large as the nail on your pinky finger. If they’re a bit larger, that’s ok, it just helps get all of the pieces into your containers more easily. I recommend cutting the head of cabbage into four, starting with your first cut directly through the center of the stalk. Then cut those pieces in half, and then slice in small slivers until you get the size you need. This can get messy!
3. Place the cut up cabbage in a large bowl or pot, preferably not plastic. Add enough water to cover about half of the cabbage, then add the salt. Massage the cabbage with clean hands for 5-10 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when the texture of the cabbage starts to change. This is to start the fermenting process, and to dissolve the salt, so it can start it’s job of preventing the bad bacteria from flourishing.
4. Place water and cabbage into the containers, and position your press so that it pushes down the sauerkraut, and the water completely covers it. This can be a little tricky, depending on what you’re using, and may take a bit of maneuvering at first. It is very important that the water be covering the cabbage during the entire process, or the cabbage starts to rot, and you will see a moldy film appear! If you choose to not use the press, proceed with the directions, but check the containers every few hours for the first day or so and make sure that no cabbage is poking out of the water.
5. Cover with the breathable fabric, and place the elastic around the mouth of the container. Set in a room temperature spot (65-75 degrees F) for three days, and check the taste. This is when the cabbage is considered sauerkraut, and this is when you can start to jar it and put it in the fridge. If it’s not sour enough to your liking, let it sit for up to 3 weeks, and taste test along the way.
When it comes to sauerkraut, I am super impatient and eat it on day three. Maybe I’ll get my assembly line going so I can try some that has fermented longer!
Overall, my batches of sauerkraut probably cost around $1 per jar. Compare that to the pasteurized jars in the grocery stores, that’s a 75% discount, not to mention the amazing probiotic benefits! Compare it to the completely raw stuff you’ll find at your local health food store, it’s a steal!
If you’re still not set on making sauerkraut, or just don’t like the taste, I understand. We just started making water kefir, another type of probiotic drink, and I’ll show you how to make kefir soda once I have mastered it myself!
