I get it. Consumer Reports is widely respected and well-known for really knowing how to do reviews and being very thorough. I'm just a mom who has spent the last nearly-decade testing over 100 natural sunscreens on her family in a mostly organized but sometimes haphazard way.I don't have a testing lab.I don't have a team of researchers.I don't even have perfect documentation on everything I did.But I am still going to shout my disagreement with Consumer Reports' 2017 sunscreen … [Read more...]
Healthy Summertime Popsicles Made by Kids (No Added Sugar!!)
Why bother making healthy popsicles? Because nobody wants to turn on the oven to bake homemade chewy granola bars in the summer!Our neighborhood is packed with kids, and they love hanging out together. When the weather is hot, popsicles tend to come out and get shared with friends.What's a household to do when we try to avoid artificial colors in food, think artificial sweeteners are dangerous for kids, and really don't want to consume a ton of white sugar either?The choices aren't … [Read more...]
Kick the K-Cups! 3 Easy Ways to Make Garbage-Free Coffee
This post is from KS contributing writer Becca Stallings of The Earthling's Handbook, with photographs by Dan Efran.How would you like to pay 8 times as much for a cup of coffee, drink endocrine disruptors along with your caffeine, and circle the Earth with junk that will never biodegrade? That's a choice millions of Americans have made in the past few years.The popularity of coffee pods blows my mind. I can see that they are very slightly more convenient than other methods of making … [Read more...]
How to Use Beets and Why You Should plus Instant Pot Black-Eyed Pea and Beet Green Soup Recipe
This post is from contributing writer Mary Voogt of Just Take A Bite.If I could have a separate garden devoted just to beets I think I would. Yes, I truly think beets are that amazing. Both for their nutritional profile and taste! Not to mention how much bang you get for your buck! Cheap nutrition is always a bonus and always a goal here at Kitchen Stewardship!A couple weeks ago my husband came into the house with a bunch of beets from our garden. My first thought was, "Yes! Beets!" My … [Read more...]
Meal Planning Basics for the Boss of the House
Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to be the boss of your meal planning like you're the boss of the house! (a little throwback to my old Monday Missions!)It turns out that planning a menu for the week is a massive help in being a good kitchen steward, perhaps even more than making and choosing natural green cleaners: it saves you time, money, helps your family eat better, reduces food waste AND totally improves sanity. I'm sure of it. That last one is probably scientifically proven … [Read more...]
Natural Wasp Spray: We Got Rid of our Wasps, No Raid Required!
Long pants and a hoodie sweatshirt on a 95-degree day?You bet, if you're trying to get rid of bees (just remember not to nab honeybees!).At least, we thought we were trying to get rid of bees, which is what we call everything that buzzes and threatens to sting, but really it's most likely that we were aiming to get rid of a wasp nest.I hope you didn't think that was our new sun protection solution! ;) No, and in fact we're always adding to our massive natural sunscreen review so that … [Read more...]
Perfect Healthy Camping Meal Plan (& a Heart-Warming Story)
Now that we've gone camping every summer since our second child was 2 months old, we feel like we're old pros. We have the same whole grain "camping pancakes" every time, and I've definitely learned how to avoid have them explode like this gluten-free version did once!We have plenty of healthy, real food meal ideas to menu plan for camping with, and we always print the packing checklist from The Family Camping Handbook (only $6.95) and rely on it heavily for meal planning. There are lots of … [Read more...]
Healthy (and Tasty!) Fruit Pizza Recipe
With a name like "fruit pizza," you'd think you were making a healthy dessert that might actually have some nourishment for your kids.But...Every recipe I've ever seen for fruit pizza uses sugar cookie dough as the base. Usually they call for pre-packaged, trans-fat and white-sugar laden monstrosities, and super sugary frosting too. That bums me out.Since Kitchen Stewardship is all about real, nourishing foods and striking a balance/not going crazy, fruit desserts should be great … [Read more...]
Secrets to Cooking Real Food, One Step at a Time {GUEST POST}
This post is from guest writer Katy of Finding HomeIn our family of six, three of us are gluten intolerant. When we realized we had to cut out an entire group of foods, we didn’t immediately turn around and try to bake a cake. In fact, the first time a birthday rolled around, I actually bought a boxed cake mix for the first time in years because I was intimidated by gluten free cakes! (I wish I had known about Katie's alternative birthday cake options!)There were too many new ingredients … [Read more...]
Salt Preserved Fresh Herbs: Simple Ingredients, Endless Possibilities
This post is by contributing writer Lori Hernandez of Three Acre Farm.Summer is here, which means the gardens are coming to life...and it's time to start harvesting and preserving produce!Yes, I know it seems early, but on our farm some of the herbs are ready to be collected, mostly because of my "lazy gardening" method that I explain more fully in my post about "Back to Eden Gardening".Every year, I let my cilantro plants go to seed in the garden, because as a good Kitchen … [Read more...]
