Carpet Deodorizer

Carpet Deodorizer was something I never used before, and now that I live in a house with mostly wood floors - never thought I would feel the need to use. That was, however, before my husband and I adopted/acquired Abby. Abby is an older, chubby, lovable dog - who - lets face it - kind of stinks. I've washed and groomed her, but she still smells like a dog. I thought of using a carpet deodorizer for the rugs and her beds - but was nervous that they might leave some sort of chemical behind. So, when a few of the other HHH girls and I got together to make another batch of soap and some household cleaners, I decided to give the all natural carpet deodorizer a try!

The recipe is super simple:
Baking Soda
10 drops of essential oil

Does it really get any easier? I used lavender essential oil and I'm loving it. I used an old grated cheese container, filled it mostly to the top and added the essential oil. I sprinkle it only my rugs and dog beds, let it sit for 10-20 minutes, and then vacuum it up! It leaves everything smelling beautifully. I'm tempted to pour it all over Abby and vacuum her up - I'll let you know if I do!!

Soap - From My Point of View

Nicole amazingly chronicled our first foray into soap making a few weeks ago. I loved her post, and I really, really loved the pictures she took of our finished product. I've been using our peppermint concoction for weeks now and wanted to give you my opinion of actually using the soap.

I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical. Scratch that, a lot skeptical. First off, it had been eons since I'd used anything but body wash. I mean, I honestly couldn't remember the last time I had even held a bar of soap, let alone used one. Secondly, I love me some loofah. I was worried that a pouf or loofah wouldn't pair well with a bar of soap. I mean, what's better than squeezing some body wash onto a pouf? Lastly, can you say Lye? Because I can, and the thought of lye scared the pants off me. Let's address these issues, shall we?

Working backwards now, just to mix things up. I love science. Chemistry was my best friend through high school and into college. Mixing dangerous chemicals never made me nervous, not a single time. I have no idea why the thought of Lye just about gave me hives. No, I do know why. Because it is dangerous. And the book we were reading said that a single bead of sweat mixed with the stuff would eat through your arm and a steal plate and all the concrete surrounding Chernobyl. I exaggerate, but that's exactly how I felt. Nevertheless, I put on a brave face, some goggles, and some gloves. Guess what? Not only am I alive to talk about my not-at-all harrowing experience, but it really wasn't bad at all. Don't worry, you can do it! Just use common sense and caution (and it wouldn't hurt to have three lovely ladies standing by your side, either).

Concerning a loofah or pouf. You needn't give them up and use a (gasp) washcloth. I found a lovely sponge loofah and it works wonderfully with my bar of soap. The soap we made lathers beautifully. Honestly, I do not believe I have ever had such a rich, creamy, beautiful lather. My body wash never lathered so well, and certainly never left me feeling so squeaky clean and silky smooth. I've even used the lather to shave my legs (As I've recently run out of my homemade shaving cream and have yet to whip up some more). I step out of the shower and my legs automatically feel as though I've already put lotion on...but without that grimy feeling I'd get from certain body washes. You know, where it leaves a sort of film all over your skin, or was that just me? Suffice it to say, loofah or not I get an amazing lather.

Alright, here comes a shocker. I am officially a bar soap convert. Good Bye body wash, Hello (Hand/Homemade) soap!!! At first I wasn't sure, now I don't think I'll go back to using body wash. Especially because my soap is Handmade, Homemade, Lathers great, and comes without all that nasty plastic packaging! Just another way for me to help reduce my plastic consumption, all while using something I made with my very own hands! I don't think I can say enough about this soap, but I'll stop, for now. ...I love it!!!!....ok, done....seriously though....I think I'll go take a shower now...

Getting Lucky

One of the many things I love about being married is the fact that you are able to create your own traditions. We all had our own routines as children when birthdays rolled around, but as adults you can pretty much establish your own plan for birthdays and other holidays. It's great to be able to piece together your own history with someone, while continuing to honor the history of your childhood.

I wax nostalgic on this because Carl and I have established a pretty fantastic new tradition for his birthday! Each year, either on his actual birthday or the day before or after it, we go out to breakfast at Lucky's in Tremont. Lucky's is an amazing local bakery and restaurant which has recently gotten a lot of press. Back in the spring, it was featured on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" a Food Network show. Click here to read about the episode.

I'm happy Lucky's was profiled on the show, because it's the type of place that deserves to be praised. Not only is their food amazing, but they do amazing things for the local economy. Almost all of their food is homemade on the premises, and that includes every single component of their Reuben sandwich! Most of the vegetables and herbs they pull right from their garden out back. In fact, if you decide to eat al fresco at Lucky's (something I've never been a fan of, unless it's a covered area. I am pretty much an indoorsy person!) you will be seated out among the vegetable garden! Pretty cool. In addition to merely pulling their ingredients out from the back door, they use milk, cheese and meat that are locally grown and produced.

Carl and I both got the Shipwreck for his birthday breakfast, and I can't even begin to discuss how amazing it is. When I tell you about it, you might be put-off, thinking that it sounds exactly like one of those monstrous and greasy breakfast scrambles at any host of notorious breakfast chains. Please understand me when I tell you that this is on an entirely different planet than those dishes! Yes, this one has scrambled eggs mixed with potatoes, cheese, bacon and random vegetables. BUT, the fresh quality of the ingredients infuses everything and makes it taste almost light. Your stomach will NOT hurt after eating this, I can promise you that! It is served with 4 slices of house-made Como Toast, and I stacked some of the Shipwreck inbetween the slices to create a sandwich of sorts. Yum!

Lucky's serves breakfast and brunch. I am always tempted to order their homemade granola, which is absolutely a delight to look at. Seriously, a work of culinary art. Also on the menu is their macaroni and cheese, which looks positively sinful, and the famous Reuben, of which all parts are made on the premises. They cure the beef on sight, make the thousand island dressing on site complete with pickled cucumbers from the garden, whip up the bread in the kitchen and also brine the sauerkraut back there too. It doesn't get any fresher than that!

At the front of Lucky's is the bakery counter and coffee station. While we wait for our food, I invariably trot over to the counter and order up some brownies and cookies to take home. They are always delightful and rich and out of this world. You MUST go to Lucky's (which, by the way, derives its name because of the numbers in its address: 777 Starkweather Ave.) This is a fabulous restaurant for homemade dishes and sustainable living/cooking!

Happy Birthday, Sondra!

My Dearest Sondra,

Where to begin… I think our phrase, “you are my person” best expresses our friendship! You are an amazingly beautiful person both inside and out. I am so proud to call you my friend and so happy that we were put in a classroom together way back when. I knew in that first week that we were going to be great friends – however – I don’t think I could have imagined how deep our friendship has grown over the past two and a half years (is that all its been?! I feel like you’ve been my friend forever).


Thank you for being a great friend, a wonderful bridesmaid, the person I can call when I’m freaking out or crying or just have to share one silly comment. Thank you for understanding so much about who I am – about the need for curly fries and brownie delights – and for bringing two of the loveliest ladies into my life (Meredith and Megan, of course!) for all of these reasons – I will always cherish you.


Have a happy, happy birthday – filled with the people you love!!


Lots of Love,
Nicole



Sondra, Sondra, Sondra! Happy Birthday!


Wow. I can't even begin to express how much you've come to mean to me in the past year. There have been so many times when I've thought to myself "We must have been destined for one another." (Countless times when we've been spazzing out via facebook or text and Steve has turned to me and said "You and Sondra were meant to be together. Seriously.") Sometimes I can't believe the amount of interests, likes, dislikes, and so on that we have in common. Can you say: Jane Austen, Modern Family, Arrested Development, Books of all sorts, Marrying "Mr. Darcy," Movies, Cooking, Shopping, Laughing, worrying, being generally ridiculous, and a million other little things that truly make us meant to be.


Thank you for being so amazing, thank you for being the best of friends, thank you for helping to make Cleveland my home. Before getting to know you better and forming such a great friendship Cleveland was simply where I lived. You've helped me put down roots here, Sondra, and I will always be grateful for you.




Happy Birthday Sondra! I can hardly believe that this is the 5th birthday I've had the privilege of celebrating with you... where has all the time gone? When I began working in the suite next to you, I knew I'd love you but I couldn't even fathom how wonderful our friendship would turn out. All the madness we endured, the trials we helped one another through and all of the chocolate we shared did nothing but deepened our bond. I can admit I was worried our friendship would change when I left work and it has, but only for the better. I guess there's something to be said for having to plan to see one another. And how could I not come to love you more when you love Gabe as much as you do.


Thank you for being such a wonderful friend and for spending your birthday with me and Gabe! Love you!

Our First Tree

Okay, so you’re probably thinking – it’s a tree – who cares. Well, I do! I think that trees are an important part of life, they are kind of a “forever thing” not like flowers and plants. With water and love and sunshine, this tree will be in our backyard for many many years to come – and that’s kind of a big thing, when you think about it. I had even incorporated trees into our wedding ceremony. We had an outdoor wedding, and I didn’t think the unity candle would work with the wind – and I wasn’t a fan of the colored sand thing. So, I came up with the “unity tree” idea. We were going to plant a tree during our wedding ceremony, my mom putting in the water, his mom adding the dirt, and finally us adding the seed. I would of course love to be telling you that this was the tree we planted in our backyard. However, as most wedding aren’t without their mishaps, we forgot the water for the unity tree and before the night was over the glass container it was planted in was broken and thrown away. So, our unity tree was more of a symbolic thing.

Anyway, my husband, who is a landscaper and a lover of trees (when we’re out walking he wows me with is knowledge of all the scientific names of trees – very sexy), did the actual picking of the tree and found the perfect spot in the backyard. I (sort of) helped him dig the hole and there we were – standing in our very own backyard – with our very first tree. Happy Earth Day, Little Tree!

This is the poem that was read while we did the “unity tree” during the ceremony:

Tree of Love
Sandra E. McBride

From the seed of this day,
Let their love grow
As the tree grows,

Reaching down, to build
Strong roots,

Reaching out, to provide
Comfort and sustenance,

Reaching up, to seek
The grace of God.

Let their love grow
As the tree grows,
Deeper, wider, stronger
With each passing year.

Le Polpette di carne di Itallian deliziose

The Ingredients needed to make the most Delicious Italian Meatballs:

• 
• 1 pound fresh ground beef
• 1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onions
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat oven at 350 degrees

1. Lightly beat egg
2. Add breadcrumbs, onion, cheese and spices
3. Add meat (make sure you really mix the meat in well, because tasting a clump of the spices unbounded in a meatball is quite overwhelming)
4. Form into 1-inch balls
5. Bake 15 - 20 minutes on a baking sheet (I cover mine with aluminum foil to help with clean-up & aluminum foil is recyclable!)
6. Remove from sheet and marinade in pasta sauce. I generally dump pasta sauce in my crock pot and let them simmer all day.

Making these meatballs is scarily simple and they are truly the most marvelous meatballs I've ever eaten... coming from a person who is not a big meat eater anyways. This would be the perfect opportunity to make Sondra's pasta sauce to go along with the meatballs!

Everything all mixed together:

Ready for the oven:

Baked and ready for the sauce:

And then I forgot to take any more pictures!

Bon Appetite!

Drain Cleaner

I just took a shower. A shower that involved standing in water up to my ankles because my drain stopped draining. Ugh. Here's a quick fix:

1 Cup of Salt
1 Cup of Baking Soda
Mix then pour over drain.
Follow with 1 Cup Vinegar
Let Stand 3 Minutes
Rinse with Hot Water

Orrrr.....

1 Cup Baking Soda, Down the drain.
1 Cup White Vinegar, Down the Drain.
Allow to foam for 5 minutes
1 Gallon Boiling Water, Down the Drain

This time, I used the first recipe since I didn't feel like waiting around for water to boil (not to mention all my large water boiling pots are all currently in use).

I think I might get in the shower again, now that it will be a true shower and not a shower /ankle bath combo.

Beware Microbeads

Okay, maybe you are way smarter and far more well informed than I. Maybe you already know what I just learned. Let me start at the beginning.

One of my best friends from way back when came for a bit of a visit a few weeks ago. We were catching up and I (of course!) started telling my friend, Liz, about all of the amazing things HHH has been making, doing, creating, and pondering. Liz told me that she's also been trying to be a bit more green. One of her main goals is reducing her plastic waste.; trying to buy fewer plastic ensconced items. Wow. Think about it, everything comes cased in plastic. What's more, Liz let me onto something that hadn't ever crossed my mind. Microbeads. Do you know what microbeads are? Plastic. Small plastic orbs produced solely to be flushed into the water system. Whoa. I was aghast. I love microbeads. They leave my skin so soft and radiant. If it says "microdermabrasion" I am in. Or, I was in. I am officially out. No more.

Once my visit with Liz was over I immediately started researching microbeads. If any of the following are listed in the ingredient list - steer clear: “micro-fine polyethylene granules,” or “polyethylene micro-spheres,” or “polyethylene beads.” Or just polyethylene. All that just means plastic. Plastic that we are producing at mass rates just to wash our faces and then rinse down the drain. The thought made me a little sick. There are "safe microbeads" Be on the lookout for all-natural exfoliants. Some companies make it a priority to only use natural ingredients to lend their products that special coarse consistency we long for.

Read this. It's an older article (circa 2007) but it was a great read. I feel enlightened, and stressed. The following is just a small excerpt from Weisman's article.

“Exfoliants: little granules that massage you as you bathe.” He selects a peach-colored tube of St. Ives Apricot Scrub; its label reads: 100% natural exfoliants. “This stuff is okay. The granules are actually chunks of ground-up jojoba seeds and walnut shells.” Other natural brands use grape seeds, apricot hulls, coarse sugar, or sea salt. “The rest of them,” he says, with a sweep of his hand, “have all gone to plastic.”

I'm glad to know that some companies are providing safe alternatives to plastics. Along with St. Ives, here are a few more you can look into: Korres (a company from Greece, that makes several gentle scrubs for the face and body with ingredients like jojoba beads, finely ground bamboo, and walnut granules.) Kiss My Face (Try Rough Seas Organic Sudz shower gel) Pangea Organics Burt’s Bees (Citrus Facial Scrub with ground almonds, pecans and oats) Now I've not used these products, but I've seen the companies repeated several times in articles on alternatives to microbeads.

I'm sure there are many, many other companies and products as well. Let's look for these companies and support the products they make, shall we? I for one am with Liz, I am going to try and reduce my plastic waste. For me this means only natural exfoliants from here on out and buying more "naked" products. I feel a little better knowing that I will no longer be blatantly pouring small plastic spheres into our water. Can you hear my sigh of relief?

Who Knew?

Several months ago, I happened upon a set of all-natural cleaning recipes on a website. I forwarded the link onto my three HHH buddies, and Megan sent me this incredibly jazzed-up word document listing each of the recipes and their respective ingredients. (I still need to ask her just how she did this, as the formatting was way stylish and cute!)

As I gleefully printed her Document Art (as it can be best described!) I saw a recipe for rust remover. What really caught my eye was the ingredients: Salt and a Lime. That's all. As I pictured myself drinking a margarita (what other lime and salt combinations come to mind, I ask you??) I immediately became intrigued. It had recently come to pass that our cast iron skillet acquired a rust spot. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it made me sad. We use our cast iron skillet frequently and I was looking for a good way to remove the rust without damaging the skillet or jeopardizing the finish. After all, this skillet is used to cook our food on a routine basis, so the last thing I wanted was to use harsh chemicals that could possibly linger on the skillet and get into a future batch of food. Yikes!

So, I tried the 2-ingredient rust remover. And, you guessed it, it worked. Like a charm, to be precise! I became immediately enamored of this all-natural rust remover and used it to take off a few rust spots by my bathroom sink, where I accidentally left bobby pins which then got wet, creating a rusty mess. (Am I the only person these things happen to??) Unfortunately, I don't have before-and-after pictures, but please trust me that this recipe will get rid of rust and you will be thrilled that you didn't spend money on a special cleaner or cough up a lung while using that cleaner in your house.

So, without further ado...

The Rapturous Rust Remover

Ingredients:

Lime
Salt (kosher or other coarse-grained salt, such as sea salt. Although I guess table salt would work in a pinch!)

Directions:

Layer salt onto the rust. Squeeze lime juice over salt, being sure to save the lime rind. Wait 2-3 hours. Then, scrub salt away with the rind from the lime. (You will be surprised at how strong the rind is...I expected it to crumble or tear apart, but I scrubbed at the rust pretty vigorously and it maintained its shape) Voila! Your rust will be gone.

Do You Love Cake?

So I've had a hard time deciding what to post for my turn at Random Recipe this week. Lots of different things have been floating around in my head, jostling for first place with regards to this weeks post. I'll try and post a few of the ideas in my head later in the week, but for now I've settled on sharing Italian Love Cake with everyone. I guess the deciding factor in posting this recipe is that I've made it a few times recently and each time I make this Love Cake everyone asks for the recipe. And then everyone who makes the Love Cake for themselves raves about how easy it was and how everyone at their gathering loved it. So many rave reviews can't be wrong, right? The above scenario is exactly how I happened upon this Love Cake recipe, Love Cake sashayed into my blissfully unaware life during college. One of my roommates invited me home for dinner one evening and her amazing mother served Italian Love Cake for dessert. I begged for the recipe, and my roommates mother (thankfully) obliged! Italian love Cake tastes like heaven and is deceptively easy to make (although you could potentially make it a labor intensive process - more on that in a minute). Are you ready for heaven?

Italian Love Cake

16 oz. Ricotta (I know, I know, but TRUST ME!!!)
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp Vanilla (I tip a bit more in, just for good measure)
1 box chocolate cake mix (You'll need all the ingredients to make this as well)
1 box chocolate pudding (You'll need the ingredients to make this too!)
1 container cool whip
Grease a 9x13 pan (I actually like to use two smaller pans, but whatever floats your boat)

Make cake according to directions, place in pan.

In a separate bowl mix ricotta, sugar, and vanilla, while beating in one egg at a time. When smooth spread evenly across chocolate cake batter.
Bake for 45-50 minutes. Test with a knife for done-ness.

For frosting, make chocolate pudding according to package directions and mix in container of cool whip. Frost after cake in completely cool.

How easy is that?!? I like the semi-homemade element, but you could definitely make a chocolate cake from scratch. You could also make a Chocolate Mousse for the "frosting" if you preferred. I like to bak mine in two smaller pans and then flip them out of the pans onto a platter. I then frost them, I just think the presentation is a bit nicer than simply smoothing frosting over the top of a 9x13 pan. Although it's a bit tougher to pull off. I flip the cake out of the pan onto a plate and then flip the cake from the plate onto my serving platter. I don't know if it's worth the extra step to you, if it is though then it is also definitely worth baking in two pans. The last time I made Love Cake I baked it in one large pan and then tried to pull off the double flip...it didn't work out so well.

Christmas Edition Italian Love Cake!

I know, you're still thinking about the ricotta, aren't you? trust me (actually, trust my roommate's mother). It's amazing without being ricotta-y. The layer of ricotta is the magic layer, you spread it on top of the chocolate cake and then while it's baking it does a sort of magic flip thing and the ricotta ends up on the bottom of the pan. (I realize that it's not really magic, and there's a perfectly sensible explanation - such as the ricotta mixture being denser than the cake mixture - but you wouldn't want to ruin the magic of Italian Love Cake...would you? I didn't think so. We'll stick with the "magic" explanation, shall we?)

Okay, go forth and make Love...Cake....Love Cake.