Homeopathic Sun Burn Treatment

Black Tea - who knew it could cure the outside of your body as well as the inside?

Alright so lots of people knew, this is the first time I've had to put it into practice.

You see normally for sunburns I turn to cheap - effective - Aloe Vera Gel.
However they add Lidocaine HCI as a topical pain reliever.
My girl is severely allergic to Lidocaine HCI.

Later I will buy an aloe plant. However this treatment is good for any first or second degree burns.

Black Tea Sun Burn Treatment

Hot Water (boiling or close to it)
2-3 Black tea bags
One wash cloth (that can be stained)
One bowl or pitcher


Steep the tea in the hot water until luke warm. Use the cloth to apply to the burn. Allow the tea to soak into the skin - do not rub off or wash off. Allow it to soak in - over night if needed.
Repeat the application for 10-15 minutes.
If the burn is on your back or in a hard to reach spot sit in the bath tub and pour the tea over the affected area.

 
My girl getting her first tea treatment - she loved the smell but hated that mama was taking her photos!
Worked great! 

Oh Sesame!

Sesame Grilled Chicken with Spicy Thai Noodles!
Tonight was the first night I made the Spicy Thai Noodles and it immediately became a family HIT!
Oh my goodness! YUM!

The chicken is easy add 1/3 to 1/2 C. Paul Newmans Low Fat Sesame Salad Dressing to a freezer bag and allow the chicken to un-thaw (or marinate).

Start both the chicken and the noodles either that morning or the night before.

Spicy Thai Noodles

1 box Angel hair pasta
1-2 tbsp. crushed red pepper    (1 for yum, 2 for HOT)
1/4 C. Veg. Oil
1/2 C. Sesame Oil
6 tbsp. Honey
6 tbsp. Soy Sauce
(one cube of cilantro if you don't have fresh)

To taste and to add right before serving green onions, cilantro, peanuts & toasted sesame seeds.

Boil, cook & drain pasta.
Heat both oils & crushed red pepper. If using the cilantro mini cube add to oils and heat over med heat in a small pan.
Strain, reserve oil.
Add honey & soy sauce to oil reserve and whisk.
Toss noodles to coat - refrigerate several hours until chilled.
Top each serving with chopped green onions, cilantro peanuts & sesame seeds.

Grill chicken either in a hot pan or on the grill and voila! Sesame paired with sesame hot & cold! Yummy!

 Mine before adding peanuts

Now I didn't roasted the peanuts however, I did cook them on low.
Peanuts are notorious for growing bacteria and mold while sitting in your closet waiting to be eaten.
Cooking them on low will kill off anywhere from 70-99.99% depending on the temp and how long you keep them over the heat.
I kept them until they were shiny and had lost the powdered look.

As I said before immediate family favorite!
In fact my hubby said that they are better then Panda's noodles!

Breakfast, Egg Sandwich & Fridge Oatmeal

Or as I like to call this blog... Breakfast his & hers.
Breakfast, the most important meal of the day.
It sets the tone.
What I have personally found out is that if I have a breakfast prepped and ready I eat less and am less hungry.
Why?
If you wake up hungry and start searching for food, no matter what you find & eat, your brain still thinks its partially hungry. Its still searching for food - a different sort of hunger, worse really as it sticks with you.

For a few months now I have been pre-making my hubbies breakfasts, simple, filling and ready to go items that can be frozen.
Namely Breakfast Burritos. He loves them, but after 4 months he wanted a different taste.
Unfortunately the french toast didn't turn out well - it was too dry and too hard to eat on the go.

My Breakfast Shake is still very yummy but not something I can make every day - especially when the kids eating half of my ingredients (darn the fact that my kids love healthy foods! LOL).

Make ahead healthy Egg McMuffins that can be frozen. Here is the original recipe including Weight Watcher points 6  & 7.
Next time I will make these following the healthy ingredients - this time my hungry hubby went shopping and bought these less then stellar ingredients. Tastes great but it isn't even close to the weight watcher points.

This is no cook over night refrigerator oatmeal - very popular right now on Pinterest. I personally love it!
I will add a few pointers though - the fruit needs to be whole or cut in half, chopping it too fine or using mango or pineapple can cause it to ferment OVERNIGHT. I am not talking about yummy fermentation, I'm talking bitter bubbly yucky throw away fermentation.
Also buying Chia - you can find this in health stores. It comes in both canisters and sold in bulk where you bag and tag your own - much cheaper this way and I will vow - this is not cheap stuff but it does go far.
I have also started adding chia to my shakes.

These have been great! He gets his filling healthier meals and we will be doing both the burritos & the McMuffins for hubby. Have fun!

Game Night Snack's

We had Sweet & Sour Sausage Wontons, Cream Cheese Wontons & Pretzels!

I bought a large package of wonton wrappers and dove on in!

Sweet & Sour Sausage Wontons

2 pieces of Sausage (unwrapped cooked and crumbled) I used chicken apple sausage
4 tbls. Sweet n' Sour sauce
1/2 pkg of wonton wrappers
1 small bowl of water

 Add the sauce to the cooked sausage - mix cook down, remove from heat.
Add 1/2 tsp 1 tsp of mix to the middle of each wrapper.
Wet the edges and fold.
I did mine in the purse shape as directed on the package.
I also baked my wontons, feel free to deep fry them if you like.
350 degrees for 10 min.

Cream Cheese Wontons

1 pkg Cream Cheese
1/2 pkg Wonton Wrappers
1/2 C. Sweet & Sour Sauce (for dipping)

Add 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp cream cheese to middle of each wonton wrapper. Again I used the purse wrap (next time I will do it differently.)
Using water to seal the edges I prepped all of them.
Baked them at 130 for 10 min.
Next time I most likely will fry these but even baked they were delicious!

Pretzel Recipe

3 3/4 C. Flour
1 1/2 tsp. table salt
Rock salt for topping
1 tsp. Veg. Oil
1 tsp. Butter
3/4 C. Plus 1 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1 1/4 C. 2 Tbsp Warm Water

Water bath recipe (for when pretzels are formed)
2 C. Warm water
2 Tbsp. Baking Soda

Prepare yeast (add to warm water allow to sit for 15 min)
Add oil to yeast and Stir
In separate bowl mix, sugar, butter, flour and salt.
Then add yeast mix.
Flour a surface & knead the dough for 10-15 min.
Add dough to a large bowl - cover & rest in a warm area (my suggestions are in microwave, oven ect)

Pre-heat oven to 425, separate into 8 sections.
Roll into long ropes, twist into pretzel shapes or into simple twists.
Dip each pretzel into water bath and then layout on parchment sheet.
Bake 10 min.
Brush with melted butter & sprinkle with rock salt.

All the food was delicious! I think I will prepare the wontons differently next time. 



 

The Cheesecake Factory ~ A Review

 The Cheesecake Factory, Murray, Utah.

For our 10th anniversary, hubby and I choose to dine together (childless!) at our local cheesecake factory.
Now I have some feed back and of course photos to share.
The first photo is my hubby's course.

It was fantastic.
Normally I don't really rave on food places ~ especially ones priced so above other normal dining.

However, besides having amazing food the cheesecake factory does a few other things RIGHT!
Lighting, music levels, plate sizes and color schematics are done well.
The color and presentation of the food, the quality of every piece that came out of the kitchen.

But what really throws them over the top?
The service.
Not kidding.
They have one person dedicated to an area.
I mean DEDICATED. He/she does not leave that area, not to turn in order slips, get food, extra plates, bread nothing.
Each server has a computer and 2-4 wait staff that support him in the running, fetching, cleaning, greeting, drink filling... well you get the idea.
This way you never have a hard time getting service.
You are never forgotten.
You never have to flag someone else down.
They are the best of the best of the best that the restaurant has to offer.
They are the "career" servers. The ones that made it up the chain, training and were promoted to the spot.

This is what really puts Cheesecake Factory over and above so many of the other restaurants.
Yes the food is amazing, yes the ambiance is great, but if you have a bad wait staff it won't matter.
One bad customer service experience leaves many people bitter toward a place.
This company should have 5 stars on service alone.
They really do know how to treat a customer right!

I highly recommend this restaurant, in any city, in any state - anywhere because its clear how much the corporation values excellence!
 

Home Made Laundry Soap (High Efficiancy)

If you have a front load washer - I'm sure you've heard the words "High Efficiency" soap.
Why?
Because the vast majority of laundry soaps both powdered and non-powder on the market today are filled with fillers - perfumes, dyes & extra junk that make it extra sudsy or even slimy.
With a front load washer - this is a major no-no.
Front load washers are amazing - mine is energy efficient, water efficient and has so many wonderful extra cool buttons and features.

However, due to not wasting water or power - you need to be careful what type of soap you use/buy.
This can get expensive or very very cheap.

This is my Home-Made Powdered High Efficiency Laundry Soap

2 Cups finely grated Fels Naptha --- can use regular soap but this work amazing and is only around 1.00     found in the laundry aisle
1 Cup Washing soda (found in laundry aisle)
1 Cup Borax (20 mule team borax easiest to find also in laundry aisle)

mix together and store in an air tight container.
use 1-2 tbls per load.

I made this batch twice and then liked it so much I just made a HUGE triple batch (2 bars made 6 Cups grated) this will last me quite a while!

Meatless Navajo Tacos

Navajo Tacos are standard Utah fair food - even our amusement park Lagoon sells them!
They are delicious - the bread is amazing!
The only major con is that they are very messy! (but oh so worth it!)

When looking up recipes the other day I couldn't find any meatless ones. So I tweaked one and made my own "healthier" version. No meat and whole wheat ;).

Navajo Fry Bread

4-5 C. Flour (going whole wheat you use 2 C. Whole Wheat flour & 2-3 C. White)
1/2 C.  Instant milk
3 1/2 tsp.  baking powder
2 C. Water
1 tsp. Salt

Oil for frying (veg oil best ~ 1 inch deep in a 10 inch - 12 inch fry pan.

Mix all ingredients (save oil) in a large bowl - pour in water last and mix well.
Knead dough lightly cover and set aside.
Heat one inch worth of veg oil in large skillet.
Pinch off dough into thin 8 inch circles.

Fry until golden on both sides
Drain onto paper towels.

Add topping of choice -
This time I cooked up refried beans, seasoned potatos, black beans and corn (grilled), lettuce, tomato, cheese, olives.
Spicy ranch dressing as a light topping.
I also recommend guacamole or avocados -  I just didn't have any on hand!

 Note: making these with whole wheat does change the taste and texture - if you want a lighter - tastier version use all white flour.
I had two reasons for going whole wheat - first off its better for you - second - I didn't have enough white flour left in my house! LOL