Semi - Productive Saturday

Today was a very good day, even though the hubby had to work. The children and I tackled some small projects. It is always a good day when your family can come together and work towards a common goal. Even though we had chores to do, we managed to have a bit of fun with some relaxing thrown in.

The first thing on my to do list was to make up some consumables. The younger children and I made up shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste, and deodorant. I used the shampoo recipe with castile soap and the conditioner recipe with ACV and water. They seem to work well for us. It is still like store bought shampoo, just without all of the chemicals. The recipe that I use for our toothpaste is

:                               2 TBS coconut oil
                                1/4 C baking soda
                                pinch of stevia
                                6 drops of essential oil (we use wintergreen)

I wish that I could remember where I found the recipe so that I could give them credit. Unfortunately I can not find it. As for the deodorant recipe, I use this one. If you need a little extra something to cut down on strong smelling odor, I suggest using 5 drops of tea tree oil added to the deodorant. This has worked well for my teenager. I like the homemade alternative to store bought toothpaste because I do not add fluoride ;)When I make my own deodorant then I know that it is free of the chemicals that are harmful. While I don't always make our products when we are in a busy season, I feel better when I can take the tine to do it. I love knowing that my family is not exposed to harmful chemicals when they are using our homemade products.

After we were done with making the consumables we turned our attention to making a dessert for our church fellowship meal tomorrow and to making dinner. We decided to make these yummy Almond Power Bars. These bars are such a big hit at our house that they do not last long. Because we are taking them to the fellowship meal tomorrow I made a double batch. Some for church and some for home. That way everyone is happy!

While I was getting the ingredients together I realized that I was out of chocolate. The only thing I had was cocoa. So I made chocolate with cocoa, natural sugar, and coconut oil. Solved the problem. However because it has been so warm here I will need to keep them refrigerated so the chocolate does not melt. Even with this minor substitution, they are still AMAZING! I know that I have a good recipe if no one is allergic to the ingredients.

While the Almond Power Bars were setting up in the fridge, My oldest beauty helped me by cutting up potatoes to make fries. She loves to help and I love to have her help! She turned this pile of potatoes into a beautiful sheet of fries. The roast and fries baked at the same time. When all was said and done it was a great dinner!

We were also able to cook the millet up for the millet casserole that we will take tomorrow . While the beauties and I worked in the kitchen, The boys were outside. My oldest son finished his knives that he has been making. My youngest son worked on one of his projects and helped out in the kitchen when he was done outside. We did not do everything on the list but we had fun working together. A wonderfully blessed day!

                                           I really had some cute help today!
Blessings!
Michelle