Know Your Ingredients Answer #4

MY APOLOGIES...I did not realize that this had not posted.  I thought I had saved it to post automatically.  Here is the answer!

Get ready for this...Chick-fil-A Polynesian Sauce

Chick-fil-A is sort of a delicacy in the South!  We often go there once a week.  It's one of the healthiest fast food restaurants by fast food standards.  There's not much fast food I will feed to my toddler, but for some reason, Chick-fil-A seems justifiable.  When he's ready to go play on the playground and there's a million kids running around screaming, sometimes the only way to get him to eat his "healthy" food is to say, "Here!  Here's some sauce.  Dip your chicken in it and finish eating!"  This really gave me a lot to think about!  I'm not sure if this is one step I'm ready to take!  Do I forbid it?  Do I start making my own??  Do we justify it by eating out less and in moderation?

Just FYI:  propylene glycol is used in everything from food/cosmetic additives, production of paintballs, black tattoo ink, film developing chemicals, airplane deicing, and drug solvents.  It has been reported in the literature to cause toxicity in neonates, resulting in organ failure and death.  Not exactly something I want to be ingesting in my food, and especially not something I want my children exposed to.

Know Your Ingredients #4

Ingredients:  High fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, corn-cider vinegar, distilled vinegar, tomato paste, salt, paprika, modified food starch, spices, honey, beet juice concentrate, natural flavors, xanthan gum, dehydrated onion, dehydrated garlic, and propylene glycol alginate.

Product Review: Diaper sprayer

I'm pretty sure that this doesn't even apply to anyone that follows my blog, except on the occasions my husband shows me how much he truly loves me by spraying diapers, but the next product I want to discuss is my diaper sprayer.

I'm not sure how people cloth diaper without it.  My parents have told me horror stories of dunking and swishing plastic pants and diapers when I was a baby.  I've heard everything from dumping what you can in the toilet and that's it to scraping with a knife.  The purpose of this post was not to gross anyone out!!  I promise!!  However, if there is every anyone that read my posts on cloth diapers and is even remotely interested in using cloth diapers, I didn't want to leave this very important item unmentioned.  It makes cloth diaper messes a breeze!!!

Most of the brand diaper sprayers/bidets sell from $50 but there is a Sigma brand sprayer on eBay for $25, which is where I got mine.  There are also several tutorials on how to make your own.  It's very simple to make but when I actually priced all of the parts at Lowes it was over $30.  I definitely wanted a shut off valve since it was going to be in the bathroom where Kai takes his baths.  That was really my only requirement.  I really like that this brand has variable pressure with the shut off valve.

If you think spraying diaper off is gross, you might not have potty trained a toddler.  Kai started potty training at the exact same time we switched Caitlin to cloth diapers.  Let's just say I got over the ick factor very quickly.  I would highly recommend this to anyone who might cloth diaper.  Again, not to gross anyone out, but I don't think I could deal with the mess without one.  Stains and odors are highly minimized, and I don't worry about my washing machine having to wash all of it out.

Ease of use: 10--I had it installed out of the package in about 10 minutes or less including the time it took to get all of the tools together.  The pressure is high enough to rinse but not so high that I've ever sprayed myself in the face!
Affordability: 10--Cheaper than making it myself.  I've used it for 4 months with no leaks and I plan to get at least 2 years out of it.
Efficacy:  10--It does what it says.  Simple as that.  I love the shut-off, variable pressure valve.
Overall:  10--I have no dislikes or complaints.  It hangs on a nice little hook by our toilet.  I use it almost daily and I would recommend it to anyone who cloth diapers hands down.

Homemade granola

This is one of my favorite recipes!!!  Our whole family gobbles it up.  It may not be entirely healthy by the time you get done with it, but it's got all the good stuff!

6 cups rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup water

Heat oven to 250 degrees.  Slightly grease two baking pans (I line mine with aluminum foil first).  Mix all of your ingredients together and spread the granola evenly over the two pans.  Here's the icing on the cake;  drizzle with more honey.  Bake for 1 hour, tossing every 15 min.  Cool and store in airtight container.

There are so many variations to this recipe.  You can add any seeds, nuts, dried fruits, superfoods, nutritional supplements.  If the texture of the granola isn't to your liking, there are lots of other baking times and degrees you can try.  However you make it, you really can't go wrong!

Know Your Ingredients Answer #3

The answer is Wyler's bouillon cubes.  Hydrolyzed doesn't sound good.  Partially hydrolyzed doesn't sound any better, let alone worse.  Corn syrup solids??  Yuck.  Did you see that sugar is listed twice?  What exactly is in caramel color, and what's a flavor enhancer?  If it has natural flavorings, why don't they list the natural ingredients.  I like that it has caramel color and artificial color. 

All those bowls of chicken bouillon I had after my wisdom teeth were pulled sound horrible!!!

Salt, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, corn syrup solids, sugar, beef fat, monosodium glutamate (flavor enhancer), dextrose (corn sugar), onion powder, water, garlic powder, caramel color, natural flavorings, disodium guanylate & disodium inosinate (flavor enhancers), partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (soybean oil and/or palm oil and/or cottonseed oil), artificial color.

Know Your Ingredients #3

Salt, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, corn syrup solids, sugar, beef fat, monosodium glutamate (flavor enhancer), dextrose (corn sugar), onion powder, water, garlic powder, caramel color, natural flavorings, disodium guanylate & disodium inosinate (flavor enhancers), partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (soybean oil and/or palm oil and/or cottonseed oil), artificial color.

Know Your Ingredients Answer #2

The answer was Mango Chutney.  Sorry I was late posting it.  Hard to believe all the ingredients that is in a simple condiment!