Air fresheners can be expensive and many of them are too strong or have a chemical smell that’s just not pleasant. Most of them have a smell that gags me anyway but sometimes I do like to spray a little something around the house to give it a festive smell. During the holiday season I stock up on Aura Cacia Candy Cane Aromatherapy Mist (LOVE that stuff!!) and other times I make my own.

Making Gelatin Air Fresheners

Step #1  Decide what type of scent you’d like to have. Lavender is calming, eucalyptus is invigorating and deters spiders, and lemon is fresh and clean. Purchase the essential oils online at a place like Mountain Rose Herbs or at other natural grocery stores like Whole Foods. Craft stores may have some too for making scented floral arrangements but they may also infuse them with synthetic fragrance too.

Step #2  Bring one cup of water to a boil and mix in four packets of unflavored gelatin. Stir until the gelatin has dissolved and then remove from heat. Ethical vegans may not want to use gelatin so an alternative may be needed for them.

Step #3  If you want it to have texture, you can add items like lemon peel, eucalyptus leaves, cloves, or even flowers.

Step #4  Add up to ten drops of your chosen essential oil and a cup of cool water.

Step #5  Pour into your chosen container, baby food jars work well. Cap or cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to cool.

When cool, you’ll have gel air fresheners you can place wherever you need, or want, them.

However, if you’d rather mist the offensive area or spritz freshener where you need it, you can make a spray air freshener.

Spray Air Fresheners

Step #1 – Again, choose your favorite essential oil or a combination of oils. 

Step #2 – Get a spray bottle. If you use homemade green cleaners you likely already have some of these.

Step #3 -  Add one cup of witch hazel, which you can also buy at the dollar store or drug store.

Step #4 – Add 10 or more drops of your preferred essential oils, cap, shake and spray when needed.

You can also place essential oils on pine cones, potpourri items or other decorations around your home for a natural air freshener without the expense or the chemicals. You can even dry them at home yourself in a dehydrator.

Natural, green moms can have all the luxuries we used to have… now they are just safer and healthier for our us and our families.

Food-borne illnesses often begin in the kitchen. Bacteria that tend to live in kitchens include staphylococcus, salmonella, shigella dysenteriae, and e-coli. These germs tend to proliferate on sponges and cutting boards, but they can be on countertops and other surfaces as well. I am less of a germaphobe since my green journey began and I fear the harsh chemcial cleaners more than most germs. Since meat rarely makes an appearance in our home anymore I don’t have to worry as much either but I still like to keep things sanitized… as long as it is done safely.

You can combat most kitchen germs with natural remedies. Here are some natural substances and their role in kitchen sanitization.

1. Grapefruit seed extract, or GSE

GSE is an extremely broad-spectrum antibiotic substance. It is made from the seeds (and sometimes the peel and leaves) of grapefruits and grapefruit trees. I use it in this natural carpet cleaner recipe.

According to author and herbal scholar Stephen Harrod Buhner, “GSE has been found to be more powerful as a cleaning disinfectant than standard hospital preparations.” In other words, it works better than the disinfectant the hospitals use! GSE is active against a large number of bacteria, including the ones listed above. It is even effective against haemophilus influenzae, which causes ear infections, sinusitis, and meningitis. To make a disinfectant spray, add 30 to 40 drops to 1 quart of water and shake.

2. Vinegar

An acidic solution, vinegar kills some germs and microbes and inhibits their growth – if it didn’t, it would not be used to preserve foods (think pickles). To make a sanitizing spray from white or apple cider vinegar, mix 1/4 – 1/2 cup vinegar per cup of water. You can add some essential oil of bergamot, orange, or lemon to this solution to make it smell good and add even more antibacterial action (bergamot is a citrus fruit and its essential oil has, like all citrus, antibacterial action). I use white vinegar in my own cleaning as well as Vinegar of 4 Theives.

3. Hydrogen peroxide

A 1996 study showed that hydrogen peroxide, when combined with an equal amount of vinegar, is a potent bacteria killer. Salmonella, shigella and e-coli were all vanquished by this solution. You can also spray hydrogen peroxide directly onto countertops, or mix it with an equal amount of water.

4. Tea tree oil

Also an anti-fungal, clinical research has shown tea tree oil to be effective against many antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It definitely works to kill staphylococus, e-coli, shigella, and salmonella. In a spray bottle, combine and shake 2 cups water, 1/2 tsp. liquid soap, 2 tablespoons white vinegar, and 20 drops of tea tree oil.

5. Neem oil

Neem oil comes from the seeds of a tree that is native to India, and is more than a sanitizer. It is also an insect repellent, and keeping insects at bay is an important component to kitchen cleanliness. It does not dissolve well in water without some sort of emulsifier, such as liquid soap. The best way to make a neem cleaner is to mix the neem oil in a vegetable-based, liquid soap such as castile (think Dr. Bronners). Then, use a few drops of this soap to clean your kitchen counters or try mixing the neem-soap mixture with water in a spray bottle. Shake it well. You can also use Neem Oil spray soaps in your garden and in the shower. I love Neem oil!

Don’t let anyone tell you that green means dirty and germy because it just isn’t so! My younger brother likes to call me a dirty hippie to bait me… well he got the hippie part right at least.

Attn: Giveaway at the end of this post!!

These are some of the cookbooks I have picked up of late in order to cook up some delicious veggie meals for hubby and kids. I have lots of great cookbooks to add to my collection and we have had some really yummy meals. I am not much of an on the fly cook… I need recipes, a plan, etc. After years of meat based meals I had a nice repertoire of meaty meals but very few veggie based ones (not counting raw recipes of course). I am finally starting to feel a bit more confident that I can whip up some tasty vegetarian or vegan meals that won’t leave people scrunching their noses. Not every meal I have made of late has been a success, in fact I had one really big FAIL, but over all I am liking these books and the recipes.

Let me start from the top down (see picture above):

The Complete Mexican, South American, and Caribbean Cookbook – This is not veggie based cookbook per say but I borrowed this from my mom.. who borrowed it from my brother (who has probably lived in all those countries) after she insisted that it had lots of meatless recipes. After trying some I bought it without hesitation when I saw it in the bargain bin at Barnes and Noble recently. Among the winners are Black Bean Burritos, Red Bean Chili on Rice, Bean Salad, Coconut Rice, and Rice and Peas. It also a bunch of salsa recipes and a great recipe for Cashew Nut Milk (which I converted to raw). It is like a Cuban Horchata!

The Best Ever Indian Cookbook – I bought this book hoping that it would have lots of meatless recipes in it since I know a portion of Indian Hindus are vegetarian. I used to eat in an Indian restaurant in Phoenix all the time and while they did have lots of lamb dishes they also had plenty of veggie based options too. This book did turn out to have meatless meals and a large section dedicated to these types of dishes. BUT alas I have not quite gotten the hang of Indian cooking yet. For every meal that turns out good there is one that is just bland and gross IMO. I made a dish that had potatoes, red split lentils, rice, and various spices and it was just mushy and bland and no one wanted to eat it.

Vegan Brunch – This is an awesome book despite the fact that it is REALLY heavy on the tofu dishes. Since we don’t do soy that renders half the book kinda useless but recipes for Cranberry Orange Nut Muffins, Lemon Cashew Crepes, Gingerbread Waffles, and Pumpkin Pancakes makes this book a winner despite the tofuti-ness. Since I am not a morning person it is a rare day when breakfast is much more than raw granola or fresh fruit so my family is thankful at least that perhaps ONE breakfast a week can be a yummy breakout from our routine.

The Kind Diet – I already review this AWESOME book here. So go have a look see. This is the book I am giving away too… see the bottom for details! Here is a recent meal where I made the Bok Choy drizzled with Ume Vinaigrette:

The Blue Heron Cookbook – This is a cookbook full of recipes that are served at the Blue Heron Zen Retreat Center. It is an incredible book and I would recommend it just for its fabulous stories and gorgeous illustrations but the food is good too! How often do you sit and and read through an entire cookbook like its a novel? I loved getting to know the family who lives and works at this retreat and hearing the stories behind the recipes. It is just a fascinating cookbook and the hand drawn pictures just give it such a dreamy, whimsical feel. Recipes we particularly liked where the Banana Bread (which uses whole wheat flour and honey), the Sunday Pancakes (which are to DIE for!!), the Adzuki Beans and Rice, and the Simply Miso Soup. If you have a cook in the family, they would be delighted to get this unique book as a gift.

Simply Delicious Vegetarian – Simple title and really simple recipes. This book has an Italian bent in my opinion which pleases me since I love all things Italy. The recipes for grilled tomatoes, mushroom Lasagne, Cannelloni, Maltagliati… mmmm… simple and delightful. You would NEVER guess I am allergic to cheese eh?

Vegetarian Revenge – Better Living Without Chemistry – This is another book that emphasizes simplicity. It encourages the use of fresh, non processed ingredients and also has lots of low fat recipes. I really appreciated the soups and also the delicious fruit salads. If your fruit salads need some “punch” then you may like the Apple Celery Salad, the Orange Daikon Salad, the Indian Banana Salad, and oooh baby the Pear-Grapefruit Pomegranate Salad. This is a good book for people who fear overdoing the fat… cause fat makes everything taste delicious but too much.. well you know.

Vegetarian Cooking A Common Sense Guide – I LOVE the binding on this book. It is spiral bound inside a hard cover so you flip open to the recipe you want and it lays flat on the counter. Why do most cookbooks NOT have this feature?? Every single recipe also has a picture.. another awesome feature. The book has over 350 pages of various veggie recipes with all sorts of ethnic influences but it keeps things simple too. I like the Asian recipes especially… the Mini Thai Spring Rolls, the Udon Noodle Sushi Rolls, the Vietnamese Noodle Salad, etc. I find the Asian recipes are more likely to get my hubby’s interest since we used to order Chinese or Thai Takeout like nobody’s business when we first got married. Brings back fond memories of eating takeout in our first place… which was actually a sauna converted to a two room apartment. Good times. :)

Betty Crocker Easy Everyday Vegetarian – Honestly I haven’t made even one thing in this book yet. Think I got too many cookbooks? It has gorgeous pictures and the Betty Crocker name with its traditional feel made me think of comfort foods. Hopefully I can dig into this one soon.

The Ultimate Book of Vegan Cooking – I like this one well enough although I think the best part is the info in the opening chapters about the vegetarian lifestyle and the nutrition derived from all the different ingredients used in the book. You can’t go wrong with the the simple and flavorful  Black Beat Hot Pot or the Carrot and Nut Biryani. It also has yummy dessert recipes, including one for RAW Key Lime Pie! I couldn’t find this one online but I found mine for only $5.99 at Borders.

Now on to the giveaway! I have a copy of The Kind Diet that was sent to me by the publishers. Since I already have the book I am passing it on to one of you. To enter just leave a comment. For extra credit you can tweet about the giveaway, link to it on Facebook, Stumble it, Digg it, etc. Just leave a separate comment for all the extra credit stuff you did. A winner will be announced on Friday, December 11th! Good Luck!

Disclaimer – The Kind Diet giveaway book was sent to me gratis via the publishers, as mentioned above. I also received the Vegetarian Revenge and Blue Heron books gratis, either from the publisher or the author.

A reader was recently asking me about low impact gifts and what I would recommend for kids for Christmas. Well I certainly have my list of green gifts and all that jazz but probably my favorite gift idea is to get season passes for your local zoo. We have done this for years and it is a gift that gives throughout the entire year, not just for the month or two after Christmas… until their new toys lose their luster. It is a tradition of sorts in this house.

My kids have been very fortunate to live in two major cities that are typically honored with having the best zoos in the country. In Phoenix we had The Phoenix Zoo which usually rates 3rd in the country. We also had the World Wildlife Zoo and Out of Africa. In Columbus, we have The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium which is rated #1 in the country most years.

Seeing these guys at our local zoo is always a treat for my oldest boy, who is often homesick for his beloved Arizona. These little fellas (Gila Monsters) were not hard to find near our home and Daddy used to catch and play with them… exactly what every grown man should teach his kids to do when they find poisonous creatures.

But I digress…

For less than $100 you can get season passes and visit all year long with free parking to boot. We have been twice this week… once we pulled the kids out of school early to spend some time there and then the next day we went back at night to see the Zoo Lights. For an extra $20 we added two guests to our package so that the kids can take friends or we can take the grandparents. We have already been enough times to pay for our membership so it feels like ‘free fun’ all year long.

It amounts to a low cost or free activity when funds are low. It is a great way to get exercise for the whole family. Heck, instead of buying a gym membership so you can walk on their track, you can do laps around the pond at the zoo instead. It is a great learning opportunity as you can really spend time getting to know all about the animals and studying them. I know they have really encouraged my little guy to talk and make the animals sounds… something that books and Animal Planet never made him want to do. Most zoos have special seasonal events that are fun as well. We love Boo at the Zoo and Zoo Lights.  The Columbus Zoo just spent 2 years replacing all their lights with LED lights so that they could be greener.  The lights are ten times prettier in my opinion and their impact is way less. Seriously for anyone in the area,  Zoo Lights at the Columbus Zoo is on par with Disney World for festivity and beauty and I have spent many a Christmas with the mouse. They even have a chorus singing Christmas carols.

And of course it doesn’t have to be a zoo either. You could get a season pass to the local art museum, botanical center, kids play museum, or science museum. We also have the latter and find it is a great place to spend time in the winter. Seeing an IMAX movie about the coral reefs or the Grand Canyon at the Science Center is better than letting them veg out at home in front of iCarly. There are interactive exhibits and fun things to do all year long. This month ours has a day for kids to play dozens of different board games and a day for them to pretend play, using their minds to create the fun. We were totally jazzed to find out that the Titanic exhibit is coming back to our science center this spring. We have seen it once before and the kids have wanted to travel to go see it again and now it is coming to us.

Its a gift that lasts and its a gift that has many rewards and that is why season passes to some natural, educational museum or zoo would be my top gift choice for families. Buying season passes also supports what they are trying to do… preserve nature, instill a love of science, or otherwise engage our kids in meaningful ways.

I have been enjoying our holiday staycation immensly. It ends when my hubby goes back to work tomorrow and I am sad to see it end.

For Thanksgiving we went to enjoy two days with family who live a short car drive away. We had our Thanksgiving meal there. I found it easy to stay vegetarian and 50% raw just with typical Thanksgiving foods. I filled my plate and the kids plates with mashed potatoes, veggie casserole, sweet potatoes, whole wheat dinner rolls, and lots of raw veggies. No need for turkey to fill you up! We ate on a scrumptious set of amber dinnerware.

I actually did go out shopping on Black Friday but only after my mom, who went shopping while I was asleep, came back to report that her favorite store at the mall had half price winter coats for kids. My two boys needed new coats badly and I bought my daughter’s last year from the same place and it still looks and fits great so off I went. I chose orange coats for both of them… love me some orange lately! I also bought snow boots and gloves for my oldest boy and a pair of Skechers clogs for me…. cause flip flops in winter just aren’t gonna work.

The next two days were spent just lazing around the house with the kiddos. Their “holiday”  theme organic long johns became their uniform. You can see how mischievous my boys are in these pictures. In the first one my little guy is trying to get into the knitting stash so he can tangle wool yarn everywhere and in the second he and his accomplice in bed jumping are caught in the act! I do mean “caught” since they broke this same bed only 2 weeks ago… grrr.

My oldest boy put the tree up for us.In the debate between real or fake for Christmas we opted for used, fake. The tree is a loaner from someone who has 6 trees and decided to loan this to us when we indicated we might skip a tree altogether. I am just  not a Christmas person, but oh well… its for the kids. I kinda despise the fluffy white stuff that is all over the tree (and now the floor) but it is rather pretty. We decorated with vintage wooden ornaments that came from a garage sale as well as painted pine cones and homemade ornaments made with applesauce and cinnamon. I am very opposed to plastic for eco reasons and glass for safety reasons. There were two teeny glass ornaments at the bottom of the box and my little guy broke them in an hour.

These are much more my style anyway. Its weeks like these when all you have to be thankful for is abundantly clear and your heart swells so much you think it might never recover. But that is the thing about our hearts… there is always room for more love and happiness… always.