Author: Bekah

Sourdough (Bread Machine) Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting ❤️

Posted on by Bekah
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A Family Tradition

When my now-husband and I first started dating, I was excited to bake yummy treats to impress him. The saying goes that "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," so I figured it couldn't hurt to do some culinary bonding. 😉 Our first Christmas as a couple, I really pulled out all the stops and made a huge spread for us to enjoy together. One of the stars of the show on that Christmas morning was my from-scratch cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing. Since that day, my cinnamon rolls have been kind of a tradition in our family. They're on the table every Christmas morning, but not only then... any time we are all together for breakfast, they have made a delicious treat!

The one problem with my traditional cinnamon roll recipe was that it called for instant yeast, which meant that on the day we wanted warm cinnamon rolls, I had to spend a long time in the kitchen. And it would be several hours from the time I first mixed and kneaded the dough to the time we could finally sink our teeth into a warm cinnamon roll. So that meant spending a decent portion of Christmas morning in the kitchen, mixing ingredients and working with dough instead of relaxing with my family.

When I began my sourdough journey a few months ago, I initially worried that I would spend hours in the kitchen slaving over a starter and doing stretch and folds, but I ended up being amazed at how much more freedom I had with sourdough! The "bulk fermentation" process meant that instead of needing to be home for at least a stretch of several hours after mixing ingredients for bread, I could mix them in the bread machine and then put the whole canister into the fridge and forget about it until the next day (or even several days later) when I had time to bake it. I was determined to find a way to do the same thing with my cinnamon roll recipe.

Breakdown of Process

After a lot of calculations and weighing different ingredients, I finally had a recipe draft that I was ready to use this weekend. So on Saturday afternoon at 3:15 pm, I added all my ingredients to the bread machine canister. I was a little worried because I didn't know how the recipe would do, now that I had converted it to sourdough. And I was also worried that my starter wouldn't be active enough to make them rise properly. In a moment of daring, I just pulled my starter from the fridge and used it cold after stirring a notable "hooch" back in. I figured my starter would just be "fed" when I added all the bread and water (and other ingredients) to it and hoped for the best.

Our bread machine is the Amazon Basics one that retails for around $70. This particular machine has a cycle (option 7) that kneads the dough two separate times, giving the dough a brief rest in between the kneading. The entire cycle lasts an hour and a half, but I have used this machine long enough that I know after an hour, it's not going to do anything else with the dough except sit there and let it rise. So an hour after I added all my cinnamon roll ingredients to the canister, I stopped the cycle, covered the canister with plastic wrap, and placed it in the back of our fridge. If you're doing the math, that was at 4:15 pm on Saturday afternoon. That's all I did to the dough on Saturday. We just enjoyed the rest of our afternoon together as a family and went to bed without another thought of the cinnamon rolls.

On Sunday morning, I opened the fridge at 8:22 am, curious if the dough would be proofed enough for us to make cinnamon rolls for brunch. The dough had risen a little in the canister and looked beautiful, a rich golden color thanks to the butter and eggs used in this recipe (instead of oil like my loaf bread). I nervously stuck my finger into the dough to do the "poke test." The dough was just right. It depressed under my finger but rose slowly back after I pulled my finger away. I was elated by my success so far! I immediately plopped the dough onto the counter and began rolling it out. It was smooth and rolled just as well as my original recipe did!

After rolling out the dough, I spread softened butter on top and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top of that. Then I simply rolled up the dough, cut it with my pastry cutter, and placed the rolls in my baking pan (covered with a tea towel) and went back into the other room to check on my baby. It was only 8:30 am, so I had only spent a grand total of 8 minutes working with dough that morning.

We left the rolls to rise for 45 minutes before I checked on them and found them to be almost doubled in size. So I preheated the oven to 350 and came back about 15 minutes later to put the rolls into the oven. We let them bake for 25 minutes before checking them. They rose wonderfully in the oven and were busting at the seams of my pan, which had previously had plenty of space between rolls. They weren't quite done, so we let them bake for 10 more minutes before pulling them out. I mixed up a quick and easy cream cheese frosting and smothered the rolls in it before serving them, still warm and deliciously gooey, at 10:30 am. I think this recipe is going to be our go-to for Christmas mornings from now on!

Breakdown of Ingredients

Water: Hydrates the flour and helps sourdough starter mix more thoroughly with the dough so it can leaven it.

Starter (flour and water): Acts as a leavening agent and also breaks down the phytic acid in the flour so that the nutrients in the grain (particularly folic acid) can be more bioavailable when we eat it.

Bread flour: A high protein flour (i.e. bread flour) is very helpful when making a recipe that is rising with either yeast or sourdough (instead of baking soda or baking powder). When I make these cinnamon rolls, I like to use whole wheat flour for health benefits, but I always use at least half bread flour because that gives me the best results with the rise.

Sugar: Sweetens the dough. I use an unrefined organic sugar that we buy at Walmart for a pretty affordable price. I know you can also buy unrefined sugar in bulk and save money that way.

Softened butter: Adds richness, flavor, and a soft texture to the rolls. You could also use oil, but butter gives the best results for this recipe. We buy bulk packages of unsalted butter from Sam's Club, and that is what I used for this batch. You could probably use salted butter as well.

Salt: Adds flavor to the dough.

Egg plus egg yolk: Adds hydration and richness of flavor and texture to this dough. It also gives a beautiful golden color to the rolls and is a source of healthy fat and nutrients, including choline.

The rolls are filled with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. The butter adds flavor and helps the cinnamon sugar mixture to adhere to the dough. The cinnamon and sugar add flavor and sweetness to your rolls. 🙂

The cream cheese frosting is made simply with butter (for flavor and richness), cream cheese (for flavor and richness), vanilla (for flavor), and powdered sugar (for sweetness).

Sourdough (Bread Machine) Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting ❤️

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The most delicious, ooey gooey cinnamon rolls mixed in a bread machine using refrigerated sourdough starter. It doesn't get much easier than that!

⏲ Prep Time: 15 minutes

⏳ Cook Time: 25-35 minutes

🍴Yields: 9 large cinnamon rolls

Ingredients:

  • 92 grams room temperature water (about 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
  • 114 grams starter (about 1/2 cup)
  • 404 grams bread flour (about 2.5 cups plus 2 tablespoon) - optionally, I used 100 grams whole wheat and the rest (304 grams) bread flour in the rolls pictured here
  • 45 grams sugar (about 1/4 cup)
  • 52 grams softened butter (about 1/4 cup)
  • 3 grams salt (about 3/4 teaspoon)
  • 1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tablespoons softened butter
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 3 tablespoons softened butter
  • 5 ounces softened cream cheese (set it out at room temp for a few minutes to soften)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 10 tablespoons powdered sugar (about 2/3 cup)

Directions:

  1. Tare scale to 0 (if using to measure ingredients in grams). Place bread machine canister on scale and tare scale to 0 again. Measure out the water, starter, flour, sugar, 52 grams softened butter, salt, and eggs, and add to canister, taring scale between each ingredient.
  2. Once all ingredients have been added, place canister in bread machine and start "dough" cycle (this is option #7 on the Amazon basics bread machine, but if you have a different machine, you just want to select a setting that will knead your dough twice).
    • ***No Bread Machine? No problem! If you don't have a bread machine, you can also mix and knead your dough using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment on medium speed. Mix all the dough ingredients (first 7 ingredients) until the mixture clings to the dough hook and you can see through the dough when you stretch it (you can look up "window pane test" online for an example). This may take a while, but be patient. 🙂 All you're looking for is a dough that holds together really well so it will rise well and be "workable" when you go to roll it out for the cinnamon rolls.
  3. After bread machine has finished kneading the dough, cover canister with plastic wrap and place dough in the refrigerator to proof. Refrigerate for 16-24 hours or till dough passes the poke test (see below).
    • Poke test: Stick your finger in the dough and poke it up to your first knuckle. If dough rises back slowly, it passes the poke test and is ready to roll out. If it rises quickly, it needs to proof longer. If it stays depressed and doesn't spring back, it has over proofed. Don't panic if you overproof it. Just go ahead and try to roll it out if possible. A lot of times, you can save it even if it's a gloppy sloppy mess just by kneading the dough for a few minutes.
  4. After dough has proofed in the fridge for 16-24 hours, remove it from the refrigerator and roll it out into a rectangle about 12 inches by 16 inches.
  5. Spread 2 tablespoons of softened butter on top of dough. Mix 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon together and sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over top of dough.
  6. Take the top edge of dough (the long side of the rectangle) and begin rolling dough in a spiral. Once dough is rolled up, use knife, pastry cutter, or floss to cut into 1 inch sections. Place dough sections in baking dish with the spiral facing up. Place a tea towel on top and allow rolls to rise for approximately 45 minutes to an hour or till doubled in size.
  7. Preheat oven to 350. Place baking dish with cinnamon rolls in the oven and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-35 minutes or till golden brown on top.
  8. While rolls are baking, mix 3 tablespoons butter, 5 ounces cream cheese, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and 10 tablespoons powdered sugar. Whisk together till powdered sugar is dissolved and there are no lumps.
  9. Remove rolls from oven when they are golden brown. Allow rolls to sit at room temperature for approximately 10-15 minutes before spreading cream cheese frosting on top. Frost, and serve warm with coffee, tea, or milk. Enjoy! ❤️

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Homemade bone broth doesn't have to be hard...

Crockpot Chicken Bone Broth

Rich, flavorful bone broth made easy!

⏲️ Prep Time: 15 minutes

⏳ Cook Time: 20-32 hours

🍴Serves: 2 quarts broth plus several lbs cooked, shredded chicken meat

Ingredients

Directions

Place chicken in crockpot. Remove packet of organ meats from within chicken cavity and, if desired, place organ meats in crockpot with chicken. Otherwise, discard organ meats. Add salt, pepper, ground turmeric, fresh parsley, garlic, onion, and olive oil, as well as the initial 2 cups of filtered water. Cook on high for 4-8 hours while checking on crockpot every so often, flipping chicken at least every 2-3 hours or as needed to prevent burning. Turn down crockpot heat and cook an additional 2-3 hours on low or until internal temperature of chicken meat reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit and chicken is falling easily off the bones.

Remove meat from bones and replace bones in crockpot before adding vinegar, thyme, additional salt and pepper to taste, carrots, celery, and additional water to fill the crockpot. Set crockpot to low and simmer broth for 12-24 hours, stirring every so often and replacing water as needed to prevent burning. After broth has simmered the preferred time, strain broth through a colander to remove the bones and place broth in the fridge or freezer. Store in fridge up to 5 days or in freezer up to 3 months. Can be used in recipes or sipped by itself.

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How do I use bone broth once I've made it?

One of my favorite quick and easy recipes for lunches and no-fuss dinners is chicken salad sandwiches. I use the bone broth in the recipe, as well as some of the shredded chicken that was also prepared during this process. We spread our chicken salad on homemade sourdough bread or make tortilla wraps with it. The options are endless! I will include our family's favorite chicken salad recipe below.

I also use the bone broth whenever a recipe calls for chicken broth or vegetable broth. It is so flavorful and adds depth to any recipe I've used it. You can sip on warm bone broth when you're feeling unwell (it's one of my favorite things to have on hand for that early postpartum phase when you're still healing and feeling exhausted).

Bekah's Homemade Chicken Salad

Mix all ingredients together and serve on sandwiches, crackers or wraps. Enjoy!

  1. Hsu, D., Lee, C., Tsai, W., Chien, Y. (2017). "Essential and toxic metals in animal bone broths." Food and nutrition research. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080%2F16546628.2017.1347478 ↩︎
  2. "Inclusion of Chicken Broth AAC1 as a dietary supplement modulates the gut microbiome: results of next generation DNA sequencing." Federation of American Sciences for Experimental Biology. doi: https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.854.3 ↩︎
  3. "Analysis of the Anti-inflammatory Capacity of Bone Broth in a Murine Model of Ulcerative Colitis." Medicina (Kaunas). (2021). Link to article ↩︎
  4. Hsu, D., Lee, C., Tsai, W., & Chien, Y. (2017). "Essential and toxic metals in animal bone broths." Food and nutrition research. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080%2F16546628.2017.1347478 ↩︎
  5. "The Pros and Cons of Eating Organ Meat." Diet, Food & Fitness (August 4, 2022). https://health.clevelandclinic.org/organ-meat-benefits ↩︎

Drowning in Baby Clothes? How I created capsule wardrobes for 2 under 2 (and why I’ll never go back)

Posted on by Bekah

One thing that is guaranteed to cause me stress is a messy, cluttered house that I feel is out of control. When I was pregnant with my first daughter (we'll call her ZB), I was so excited to be having a baby girl, and I collected all the cute, frilly accessories to put in our sky-blue Peter Rabbit nursery. After she was born, I struggled to keep up with her laundry, and her little closet frequently overflowed (even though a good 25% of it was clothes she had outgrown). I couldn't rotate the old clothes out quickly enough before it was time to change sizes again.

Something's gotta give

It wasn't until her little sister (we'll call her IZ) came along 16 months later though that I was forced to wake up to this new reality: something had to change. With 2 babies so close in age and the younger one receiving the older one's clothes without much turnaround time between, there were baby girl clothes everywhere! Even with my perfectionistic standards, I could not keep up with either the laundry (so many blowouts from the younger one and so many food disasters from the older one) or the clothing rotation between putting away the older one's clothes once she'd outgrown them and then pulling those same clothes out again just a few short months later when her sister grew into them.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the overwhelm was not limited to my girls' clothes. I found myself in a weird transitional phase where I was too big for pre-pregnancy clothes and too small for maternity ... oh, and let's not forget, half of the clothes that I did fit into would not work because they were not nursing friendly. Nevertheless, my closet and drawers were stuffed with clothes, and I found myself feeling negative every morning when I would go to pick out my outfit; more than half of the clothes that I saw were clothes that I couldn't wear. In desperation, I scoured the internet for advice on handling the wardrobe dilemma that is "newly postpartum and nursing."

Enter the Capsule Wardrobe!

I listened to a TED talk by Jennifer L. Scott on "The ten-item wardrobe" and was applying the principles from that into my own wardrobe (that's another whole blog post lol) when it occurred to me ... why can't my girls have a capsule wardrobe? As it was, they were outgrowing their clothes before getting a chance to wear all of them, so why not narrow their wardrobes down to our favorite outfits that look really cute and are also really comfortable and functional? Why do I have to push hangers of "not my favorite" onesies to the side every time I pick out an outfit?

In my experience, the 80/20 rule is true for baby clothes as well. We all have our favorite outfits that we love for our babies to wear, and - at least in my case - those are the ones we reach for most often. Before the capsule wardrobe system, I was washing and redressing my girls in the same 10-15 outfits (only about 20% of their respective wardrobes) again and again, while about 80% of their clothes were just hanging there and not being worn. So, why in the world did I have all those extra clothes in there just to have the toddler eventually pull them off their hangers and get them dirty so I'd have to wash them again?! I decided to completely rethink the way I was managing their clothes, and as a result, I actually enjoy dressing them again. And I don't feel overwhelmed by baby clothes anymore!

Strategies for decreasing overwhelm

If I could speak to pre-second-baby-me (heck, even pre-first-baby-me), I would advise her to do the following from the get-go:

  1. Minimize way, way down. Especially if you have two babies close in age who are passing clothes down to each other, the more minimal the better (within reason).
    • With babies and toddlers, I can't be quite as minimal as I am with my own clothes, just because they're messy and they still have pretty frequent blowouts and food messes. So, I do keep some extras, but not a ton of extras.
    • Personally, I found it helpful to keep count of how many onesies/sleepers/pants etc. we were going through every week, and I used that number to set a hard limit for how many items to keep in each respective category. For example, we always have seven onesies (that all fit!) for my younger daughter. And we always have five rompers/dresses for her (see more on the individual categories below).
    • I keep more than seven total daily outfits because accidents happen, and although I generally do laundry every day, I want to have the freedom to go longer and still have clean clothes. Set a limit that works for you and for your family's lifestyle.
    • Also, when you're minimizing, if there's a pair of pants (for example) that doesn't coordinate with any shirts or onesies, it may be time to rethink that pair of pants. I have found so much relief by just keeping clothes that go well together, so I don't have to think so much every morning. 🙂
  2. One load of laundry a day.
    • With very few exceptions, I wash one load of laundry a day. I don't try to do multiple loads in one day, and I try to avoid skipping a day as well.
    • I have simplified my sorting into 2 basic categories:
      • 1. "Laundry items that are delicate and can't be thrown in the dryer" (i.e. bras, delicates, and clothing with stains)
      • 2. "Laundry items that are not delicate and can be thrown in the dryer" (i.e. towels and washcloths). I run kitchen and bathroom towels laundry in the same load. I know that may be controversial, but I figure it's better to wash them together than to get behind and have wet towels just sitting there breeding mold and microbes. Occasionally, I will break a particularly nasty load up and wash it separately, but for the sake of not getting behind, I generally try to just keep things simple so it gets done.
    • Our laundry pattern generally goes "Clothing one day, towels and washcloths the next."
  3. Finish that load of laundry before going to bed.
    • This means dry, fold and put away everything. This is why I avoid trying to do multiple loads in a day, because inevitably, I forget to put a load in the dryer or I leave it sitting in the basket, and the next day it's still sitting there and has to be done in addition to the next day's laundry. You see where I'm going here?
    • Little tasks done to completion on a consistent basis are more effective than sporadic laundry marathons - at least in my experience.
  4. Minimizing will help you to complete step 3, because your loads will be much smaller. Just had to put that piece of encouragement in there, because I know how daunting that felt when I first tried to implement it and how easy it is now 🙂
  5. Simplify the rotation process. I originally thought I needed to have big rubbermaid tubs for each individual size. Picture: 1 tub for newborn, 1 tub for 3 month, 1 tub for 6 month, and so on and so on .... Let me just save you the trouble by letting you know now: That is way too complicated for an overwhelmed mama, and it takes up way too much space. Don't get me wrong here -- I love organized spaces, and I tend to actually be a microorganizer with very detailed categories. But with two babies so close in age, I had to drastically simplify it.

My Clothing Rotation System

My system is three large bins lined up in my basement (with labels):

When my oldest outgrows an outfit, the second I realize it's too small, I immediately put it in Box B (things for IZ to grow into). I then look in Box A for a similar item that she can now wear instead. When my youngest outgrows an outfit, I immediately put it in Box C and reach for a similar replacement item in Box B.

This process is uncomplicated enough that I can just do it on a daily maintenance basis. Eventually, Box C gets overfilled and I'm faced with the more complicated emotional task of going through that box (that's another whole post, and I will be happy to share my system for doing that as well). But on a daily basis, I just pull items out of rotation and swap when I first notice they're too small.

What do I do with all of the extra baby clothes?

Okay, so you've minimized your baby clothes down to the basics, but now what? In my case, after I had completed this step, I had piles and piles of clothes and now I had to figure out what to do with them. That is enough to make any mama overwhelmed. I get it. In my experience, it's important not to overthink it. Handle each item only once, decide which pile to put it in (I suggest dark trash bags so you can't see the items and second-guess yourself), and then move on to the next item. Once you're done, handle the piles - without looking at the items again! - and take them to their respective homes.

  1. Stained or damaged clothing
    • I get it. This is most likely sentimental clothing that has been quite literally worn out. It's SO hard to declutter these types of baby items. But it's also really hard to be overwhelmed on a daily basis.
    • For me, this meant that I only kept THE very most sentimental items (and I set a hard limit at 10), and the rest of this pile ended up going in the trash. And even when I think back on the items that I sent out, I don't miss them! Life is so much easier now that they're gone.
    • Some people send these sentimental baby clothes to small businesses that incorporate them into quilts or t-shirts etc. You do what makes you happy. I can only say what worked for me, and I don't regret it. 🙂
  2. Clothing that is still in good condition, but belongs to someone else (and they want it back)
    • This category can be overwhelming to tackle too. You have this pressure to make sure the items don't get damaged, because who wants to be that person who borrowed someone's sentimental clothes and ruined or lost them?! My best advice is to just get it back to them ASAP. Get it out of your house and off your mental to-do list as soon as your baby has outgrown it.
  3. Clothing that is still in good condition and can be sold or donated
    • It's your choice what to do with this pile. I have sold "sets" of baby clothes that all are within a certain size (example: a bunch of 0-3 month baby clothes for $10). Depending on your level of overwhelm, you may or may not feel up to the challenge of finding a buyer etc. When I'm particularly overwhelmed, I find it much easier to just get it out of the house. Sometimes it's better to see improvements in your home sooner, and it's not always worth the hassle of trying to get a few bucks.

My Babies' Capsule Wardrobes

Now that I've shared my tips, and explained my system, are you ready for the summer edition of our current capsule wardrobes for 2 under 2? 🙂

For ZB:

four pairs of pants (two pairs not pictured)

For IZ:

A word on accessories:

They share a basket of bows, and they each have a sunhat of their own. Realistically, the toddler doesn't keep any bows on her head even when I do put them on, so I generally limit bows to the baby (under close supervision ... I never can get over my anxiety around strangulation risks) or on them both during picture time. We always have just what we need, even if there is only one red bow, for example. There is always a complimentary color for the other sister to wear.

Key Takeaways

When you say no to one thing, you're saying yes to something else. Do I miss all the cutesie patterned socks and baby shoes that were adorable but didn't match any of my baby's outfits? Actually, no! I enjoy the heck out of the adorable baby booties that we do have and the socks that actually coordinate with everything else in her wardrobe!

From one busy mama to another, baby clothes don't have to make you feel overwhelmed. By minimizing our baby clothes, simplifying our clothing rotation process, and consistently doing one load of laundry a day, I have finally gotten to the point where I am excited about their little clothes again ... something that I couldn't have said six months ago.

Sweet Summertime Sourdough Discard Peach Cobbler

Posted on by Bekah

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Thursday was the 4th of July, and here in the US, that's a special occasion not only for remembering the bravery of our forefathers, but also for enjoying delicious summertime treats with family and friends. My husband and I particularly love any opportunity to take a road trip and get seasonal produce, so when we heard that peaches are in season now, we loaded up our two little ones and hit the road running!

I was super excited to make a yummy peach cobbler like I do almost every year, but this time I wanted to take my grandma's recipe to the next level by making it sourdough. So, armed with my sourdough discard and my search engine's suggestions for transitioning recipes to sourdough, I began by washing, peeling, and cutting our peaches. I then dumped the peach slices into my dutch oven and added cinnamon, sugar and salt. I simmered this mixture on low heat until the juices came out of the peaches and the kitchen began to smell like heaven! I then pulled the dutch oven off the stovetop, preheated my oven to 350, and moved on to making my sourdough batter.

For my batter, I used a scale, but I will include approximate cup measurements as well. I weighed out 200 grams (about 3/4 cup) of my sourdough discard (it doesn't need to be active and bubbly for this recipe since we're using baking powder for leavening) and added that to my mixing bowl, as well as 25 grams (about 1/4 cup) of whole wheat flour, 1/3 cup milk, 1 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg. I whisked the batter together till combined and then poured the batter into my buttered 9x13 casserole dish before covering it with the peach mixture and slices of butter. I baked my cobbler at 350 for 45 minutes and our whole family was really pleased with the results.

Sweet Summertime Sourdough Discard Peach Cobbler

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Golden brown cobbler crust combined with sweet, warm peaches = summertime perfection. 🙂

⏲ Prep Time: 30 minutes

⏳ Cook Time: 40-50 minutes

🍴 Serves: Family size (9x13 inch finished cobbler)

Prepare peaches. Add cinnamon, brown sugar, and sea salt. Add peach mixture to pot or dutch oven on low heat. Simmer for a few minutes till juices come out of peaches. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350. In mixing bowl, combine sourdough discard, flour, milk, sugar, baking powder, sea salt, vanilla, and nutmeg and stir till just combined. Pour batter mixture into buttered casserole dish and spread peach mixture on top. Sprinkle slices of softened butter over cobbler mixture and bake for 40-50 minutes or till golden brown. Enjoy!

3 DIY nontoxic cleaners for your home using ingredients you already have (no essential oils necessary!)

Posted on by Bekah

When I first moved into the home where we live now, I was so excited to decorate and make it my own. One thing that was very important to me personally was to maintain a high level of cleanliness (a task which was much easier at that time than it is now, since our children weren't born yet lol). I set aside Saturday mornings as a "cleaning day" and even went so far as to do a quick vacuum of the floors every evening before bed (I don't do that every night now 😉 ). Yes, I admit that I was a bit OCD with my cleaning compared to most standards, but it brought me so much joy to clean this new home and make it as fresh and lovely as possible. I "invested" in so many scented cleaners and cleaning products with the words "natural" and "healthy" in bold letters on the side. Many of them claimed to harness the power of essential oils and boasted long lists of toxic ingredients that weren't in the bottle. Unfortunately, the harmful ingredients that were in the bottle were hidden in small letters on the back.

After an unfortunate experience with one of those so-called "natural" cleaners getting into my eyes and burning them (and ultimately ending up in the ER to wash said cleaner out of my eyes per poison control's recommendation), I realized that I was no longer comfortable having any regularly-used and easily-accessed cleaners in our home that might have the same (or worse) effect on our toddler, who was just then starting to explore and show increasing interest in our cabinets. So I started experimenting with making my own cleaners. I soon learned that although disinfectants require specific concentrations of ingredients to be effective, general household cleaners don't necessarily have to be fussy or even measured at all - especially in the context that I use them most often (i.e. wiping down kitchen counters and cleaning up spilled milk or toddler messes). I also found that I was saving money ... a considerable amount of money! A simple multi-purpose cleaner would generally cost between $3 and $7 at the store (and I went through them quickly with 2 babies under the age of 2), but the DIY multi-purpose cleaner that I use now only costs me a squirt or two of dish soap, a dash of vinegar, and enough water to reach the top of the bottle. My multi-purpose cleaner is just as efficient at dissolving stuck-on food and sticky toddler messes as a store-bought version, and I don't need to worry about our toddler accidentally getting some in her eyes if she were to grab the bottle and do what toddlers do best. 🙂

DIY Multi-purpose cleaner

This cleaner is my favorite go-to for general household messes and cleanup. I use it to spray down my counters and sink after dinner every night during my "kitchen reset," grab it to spray down the frozen blueberry stains in toddler hand prints that end up all over the kitchen (and living room, if I don't catch her to wash her hands quickly enough!), and even use it to spot clean mud on the floor or grubby little hand prints on the sofa. It works very well for situations where a little degreasing/dirt-dissolving action is necessary, but I'm not concerned about highly infectious microbes. I just add the ingredients below to my spray bottle and shake it a little to mix everything together:

  1. Squirt of dish soap (I eyeball it and generally use about a teaspoon for a 16 ounce spray bottle. You want enough soap to harness the cleaning action of the soap, but you don't want too much, or your solution will be overly sudsy and require multiple wipes to get the soap suds off ... ask me how I know lol)
  2. Squirt of vinegar (this one is optional and may be left out if you use this spray on granite or tile surfaces, but it does add some oomph to your solution, especially for super sticky or dried-on messes. I use about a tablespoon or so for a 16 ounce spray bottle)
  3. Water (you can use distilled or filtered water if you'd like, but I personally just use the tap water that comes from our home's well and fill it to the top of the bottle).

DIY Glass cleaner

This one is super easy and only requires two basic ingredients (the cornstarch is optional, and I actually tend to leave it out when I'm mixing up this spray for a quick wipe down of a handprint-smeared window or mirror). Mix vinegar and water in equal parts (a 1:1 ratio) in a spray bottle and shake it up. It's that simple!

  1. Distilled white vinegar (I just fill the bottle up halfway with vinegar and halfway with water)
  2. Water (as with the above recipe, I just use tap water but you can also use distilled or filtered water if you'd like)
  3. (Optional: cornstarch can add a little abrasive cleaning action to your glass cleaner. I generally add about a teaspoon worth to my 16 ounce spray bottle).

DIY disinfectant spray

This one is strong enough for most household disinfecting needs as long as the surface is sufficiently wet with this solution for the appropriate amount of time. The biggest downside to this disinfectant spray is that it evaporates quickly (it's rubbing alcohol), so I generally apply it a few times before I deem the surface as thoroughly disinfected. I like to stick to around five minutes of "wet" disinfecting time, because that is generally the timeline we would go by in a medical setting. But whenever there is a particular pathogen I'm worried about, I always look it up and see if there is a specific amount of time required to disinfect it before trusting that any disinfectant will work in that scenario. Also, if you use this, please be sure to follow the safety guidelines on the back of the bottle and don't leave this spray within reach of little hands (or mouths!) or use it in an unventilated area or near a flame because it is flammable and can be an irritant to the airway in high concentrations.

  1. 70% rubbing alcohol (aka isopropyl alcohol)
  2. That's it! Seriously, I just pour rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle and use that to disinfect hard surfaces around the house (it has to be at least 70% to disinfect, and 90% generally evaporates too quickly, so 70% is my go-to)

Hello world!

Posted on by Bekah

My name is Rebekah. I suppose that's the best way to start a blog with my name in it. 🙂 I'm just a young wife and mom to two little girls. My goal in starting this blog is to encourage other moms like me, to share the tips and tricks I have learned the hard way, and to inspire you with yummy, kid-approved recipes that will nourish you and your family -- all while maintaining a tight budget. If that speaks to you, come along with me and enjoy my little moments as I share them with you!

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