The GREEN post

Green... weird how one word can take on so many different meanings... color, young, jealous, earth friendly, money...

Green Breakfast

Spinach for breakfast? Sounds inviting right?  Ya didn't think so. I had a hard time just pulling the bag of spinach out of the fridge before 8am until I tried this super yummy but extremely healthy drink.  Even those who don't like spinach will like this because well, you can't taste the spinach but you will reap the benefits of eating it! Sounds like a win win to me.

 Gather your ingredients

Combine in blender until smooth

Enjoy

Green Smoothie Recipe
1 banana (previously peeled, sliced and frozen)
1 spoonful of peanut butter
1 cup of almond milk (you could use regular milk but why not up the health benefits with the almond milk?)
1 single serving container of vanilla Greek yogurt (once again you could use regular yogurt but why not make it more healthy?)
2 handfuls of spinach

Put all ingredients in blender in order they are listed and blend until smooth.

Original recipe found at:Iowa Girl Eats

Green Nail Polish

Seeing as mint nail polish seems to be one of the in colors this season I figured I'd give it a try.  Since I wasn't quite sure I was going to like it I just picked one of the cheap-os up at Target.  I got the Sally Hansen Extreme Wear in Mint Sorbet. I painted my fingers and toes.... While I'm not an overall fan of this particular brand of nail polish (it's thick and clumpy) the end result isn't too bad. 

While I didn't love it when I first applied it, I must say after a day or so. It's starting to grow on me.  It definitely won't be my go to color but I think it will make it into the rotation of a fun spring/summer color.

Green Cleaning

As I mentioned in a previous post about vinegar, I would like to start cleaning my house with more earth friendly products.  I have since then started to switch over to homemade 'green' cleaners and I must say the switch has been a lot easier then I thought it would be.  As a matter of fact over the weekend I cleaned with my store bought 'chemical' cleaners and I didn't realize how much I prefer the homemade ones.  Here's the recipe for the glass cleaner that I'm loving!

Glass Cleaner

¼-1/2 teaspoon liquid detergent (I use Mrs Meyer's dish soap in the basil scent seriously this must be the best smell on earth as far as clean goes)

3 tablespoons vinegar

2 cups water

Spray bottle

Put all the ingredients into a spray bottle, shake it up a bit, and use as you would a commercial brand. The soap in this recipe is important. It cuts the wax residue from the commercial brands you might have used in the past.

At first I found this recipe to be too "wet" and I thought oh no that's going to streak my mirrors right up. In fact it does the opposite.

Also, try using newspaper instead of a paper towel to clean windows and mirrors... Much better results! No matter what cleaner you are using.

Green with Envy

My brother and sister in law moved into their new house this past week and I must I am green with envy of how much space they now have... Mostly all the closet space! Congratulations on the new house!! It's beee u tiful!

Behold the power of Vinegar

I may be a little late to the whole green cleaning world, but I have been thinking of making the switch for awhile now and after all it's the thought that counts right?

I really like the idea of cleaning the house without all the harmful chemicals but in my mind it's those harmful chemicals that I feel get my house clean.  But after doing some research over the past few months I think I'm ready to take baby steps into the green world of cleaning.  Now, I can't quit all the traditional cleaning products cold turkey and I may not ever be able to give up certain ones... We'll see. However, I am going to try out some "natural" products and ways to clean and hopefully I can make my cleaning routine a little bit better for my family, the environment, and my pocketbook. 

I'm finding vinegar can be used to clean just about anything.  I recently started using it in place of my fabric softener.  When I first heard about this I was a bit, ah yea not gonna walk around smelling like a jar of pickles, but I was assured once my clothes were dry they would not smell like vinegar. I was intrigued, but not convinced. So I figured I would first try it out on my sheets and towels because if in fact they did smell I could just rewash them quick (cuz you know a load of clothes would be so much more difficult to rewash them some sheets or towels).

Anyways... I washed four beds worth of sheets and blankets, and a house full of towels and NONE I repeat NONE came out smelling like vinegar!!

I add  ½ cup to 1 cup of white vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser of my washing machine.  If you don't have one just add it to your rinse cycle or you could get a downy ball and put it in that.  The vinegar will deodorize, soften clothes, and prevent static cling.

Vinegar is a lot cheaper than traditional fabric softeners and you won't be using all those harmful chemicals.  My family also deals with sensitive skin issues, my daughter especially, so I can't really use any fabric softener on her clothes anyways so this works wonders for her stuff.

Now there are some other "recipes" for natural fabric softeners that I may try out, but for now I'm liking the plain vinegar.

*Make sure you do NOT use bleach and vinegar together as this is a very unsafe combination. You shouldn't really mix bleach with anything except water.

Do you do any "green" cleaning?