No Poo: One Month In

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I’m going to be totally honest. I HATE THIS!

The first few weeks were all about learning how much baking soda to use, and that you need to wash it all out. It takes a really long time for me to get all of the baking soda out of my hair, but after an evening spent near to tears on my bathroom floor, because I couldn’t run a brush through it to save my life I learned that it is worth the extra time. In case you are wondering the only way I was able to comb out the tangles was my slathering my hair with coconut oil, which meant I went to work the next day with the greasiest hair you have ever seen.

I think my hair is starting to adjust because this is the first time it didn’t become a complete grease ball the day after washing. I’m going to try to hold out for another couple weeks before I throw in the towel. You can read about why I started this experiment here.

You see it’s not just the time it takes to do this new routine, mixing up the stuff before the shower, the extra time to really rub it in, and then the time to really make sure it’s all out. I mean that’s pretty bad on its own but the fact that my curls aren’t really looking that much better, and they don’t last as long as they used to is enough to say it’s not worth it. Then there is the smell. Chuck says that he doesn’t notice it, but I do. My hair smells dirty, like old stale laundry, and I’m not loving that, like at all.

The dry skin is another thing. I want to preface this by saying I have always had this problem, that dry skin is a constant plague, and that most normal shampoos will give me this problem, so severe dry skin like this is not necessarily a side effect of the no-poo experiment (though I usually only have these problems in the deepest winter months). The skin around my hair line, my forehead, behind my ears, and the base of my neck are all so dry that the skin there is cracking and bleeding. Seriously can you picture dry skin around the hair line and a greasy mess on top and the back of my head. It’s a good look I’ve got right now. This is something that can happen to me in the
winter even if I’m using something like Head & Shoulders

, so I often do hair
masks and oil rubs that time of year to ease it a bit. The thing is that it’s
not winter, and I’m getting this, which makes me think that it will only get
worse that time of year.On a positive note this is my first weekend that is totally free. Meaning I actually have time to catch up on laundry, and vacuum for the first time in months. Literally months. I’m stoked for this. So this is my one and one down for the link up over on Chrystina Noel.

I’m still holding out a bit to see if this gets any easier, but in the mean time I’d love some recommendations for Vegan, sulfite/ate free shampoos or conditioners if you have any?!

Recently No. 3

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

This Guy and this article brings tears to my eyes. I’m so happy to call Burb’s a friend. We are all so proud of you man!

Do you realize that this is my 400th post. I mean 400 is a lot of posting. It’s kind of an accomplishment.

For some more woman fueled inspiration.

Oh and:
Rothblatt created this awesome/terrifying robot, and all people want to talk about is her gender? – Best quote ever from this article. I mean seriously I would give anything to spend an afternoon with Martine.

I started learning about essential oils. Not only buying my first set, but picking up some reading material too. So far so good. The headaches are at bay, and the sleeping is so much better. Chuck May or may not be convinced they are the cause of some of his headaches, but we are working on that.

I got in touch with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while for some much needed chats. It was reviving.

September was the month of weddings. Kicked off by my future brother & sister in law over labor day weekend.

It was also the month of tomatoes. So.Many.Tomatoes.

Keeping this in mind while I plan a fall detox.

Apple Picking is a highlight for me every year, and since then I have been on an apple recipes binge. If your interested in everything apple check out some of my past recipes (Chicken w/ Apples & Fennel, Apple Pork Chops, Engagement Tart, Crockpot Clean Applesauce, Apple Spice Meatballs, & Vermonter Panini)

This Idea. WOW

Vegans talking about ex-Vegans – The concept doesnt just apply to vegans.

10 most important things to simplify your life.

And while we are on the topic, I will be doing alot of cleaning this weekend so here 5 Questions to ask yourself while Decluttering

Yoga might have to start happening more often. These poses are a good start.

I relaunched my old recipe page. Replacing my pinterest boards It’s the best I can do now, but someday I would like to use pictures as well instead of just titles. That is a lot of coding with blogger though, so it’s a ways down the road.

This is the best blogging advice I’ve seen in a loooong time.

I also launched a newsletter, that you should totally sign up for. There will be no spam, I promise. Just a once a month update that includes the tops posts from the past month as well as anything written by me elsewhere on the net and any big news I have for you. It’s totally worth it. Just sign up already!

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And because we haven’t talked music in a while, and I’m totally obsessed with song right now.

All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor on Grooveshark

Campfire Maple Chipotle Pork & Beans

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

So I may or may not have mentioned this recipe before. What
I haven’t told you is that I have made it before, more than once, and this my
friends was by far the best version I have ever made. The original recipe can
be found here. Man Barry knows where it’s at when we are talking maple and
chipotle. I am however convinced that the smoky campfire flavor that gets added
in when you cook it over a fire adds something that just sends it over the top,
over the moon in fact.

I probably could have eaten the entire thing myself, had it
not been for our other camping pals who were standing around hungrily with their
collapsible silverware. I think it was well received since it had cooled off
quite a bit and we sat huddled around the fire. There was just enough spice to
warm us up heart and soul so we could make it through the final wet and rainy
night at our camp ground. Chuck even said it was his favorite version yet.

Seriously give it a try.

Campfire Maple Chipotle Pork & Beans (Serves 4-6)

2 lbs lean pork, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 tsp black pepper

1.2 tsp cumin

1 tsp chipotle powder

½ cup brown sugar

½ tsp salt

½ lb apple smoked Bacon, diced

1 large onion, peeled & diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

½ cup beer (or water)

2 tsp chipotle powder

1 tsp salt

½ cup apple cider vinegar

1 tsp dried thyme

1 cup maple syrup

3 large bay leaves

1 (14oz) can pureed tomatoes

2 (14oz ) Cans navy beans, drained & rinsed

In a large bowl (or ziplock bag) combine black pepper,
cumin, chipotle powder, salt, and brown sugar, stirring well to combine. Add
pork and toss to coat. In a large Dutch oven sauté bacon over medium heat until
it is crispy. Drain the grease and add butter and onion to the pan. Cook the
onion until it begins to turn translucent 2-3 minutes, and add the garlic. Cook
for an additional minute before adding the cubed pork. Once the pork is cooked
through, about 5-7 minutes add in the beer, chipotle powder, salt, vinegar,
thyme, syrup and bay leaves. Allow the mixture to simmer and the liquid to
reduce to about ½ before adding in the
pureed tomatoes and beans. Stir well to combine and cook for an additional 2-3
minutes before serving.

Camping tip 1: Prep everything ahead of time, combining the
pork with its spices in a ziplock bag, and the chipotle powder, salt, vinegar,
thyme, syrup and bay leaves in a reusable container to be added at once. It
also helps to drain and rinse the beans then place them in a container as well.
This all helps cut down on the waist while you are camping and the amount of
stuff you have to bring/remember.

Camping tip 2: Get a large fire burning for a few hours
until you have a strong bed of coals. Place your cast iron dutch oven right
over the coals and place some smaller pieces of wood around the edges to keep
burning. This will work for your medium high heat.

Camping tip 3: Don’t drain the grease, and don’t add the
butter. The grease will work as your butter, and add a bit more flavor. Besides
you don’t need animals sneaking around liking up your grease.

Camping tip 4: Final cooking time will depend on the heat of
your fire, but if you want the flavors blend you can allow it to cook all day,
adding water to keep it from getting to thick.

Garden Lessons Learned, & Next Year

By Jessica

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This garden year was a really eye opening year for me. We
tried a lot of vegetables that we have never tried before (cabbage, broccoli, heirloom carrots) and I learned so
much. I think it’s important to recap everything that happened in order to do
better next year and to keep a history of my progress as a gardener.

This year we decided to add a more nutrient rich soil and use raised beds, since our native soil is basically useless sand. This is the same basic raised bed system we used in our first garden *** I think this has
helped so much! We also decided to try the square foot method, which I think
works really well with the small space that we have.

Things I have learned from this year.

1)
Label your plants, seedlings look too much
alike. Also lay out the square feet with string to keep things organized. In the past it was easy to remember where things where, but this year we had so much that I totally lost track, and I think our garden suffered for it.

2)
Thin out your seedlings early, if you wait after
1-2 inches they may very well become a dense forest that you cannot figure out.
Also the sprouts are delicious in salads. Side note: this is especially true of
lettuce mixes, since you can’t tell the difference between them and weeds.

3)
Cabbages need way more than 1 foot of space. Next year I will put them in the corners so that the can overhang the edges of the garden.

4)
Tomatoes seem to love this cool weather and lots
of water. Make sure to water the garden 2 x daily, in the morning and at night
are best. Note: we need to get larger, stronger tomato cages, ours don’t have much left to them.

5)
Also you should really prune tomato plants. They
seem to produce so much more fruit. We came to this conclusion by pruning one
and not the other. Not super scientific but I’m not the only one who promotes
pruning.

6)
Cucumber’s hide the way beans do, so make sure you lift up all of the leaves.

7)
If you cut broccoli it will produce more
broccoli. Awesome.

Things I plan on doing next year.

1)
Pruning tomato plants early, and staying on top
of them.

2)
More cucumbers and an attempt at canning them.

3)
If we are still living here I want to double the
size of the garden, or at least increase it by 50%.

4) Composting.

5)
Grow potatoes.
6) Plant fewer beans, and stake the ones I do plant. I think I can get fewer plants to produce more if I give them more attention.
7) Get more organized, as far as spacing my plants and labeling them.

Red Lentil Stuffed Peppers

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Chuck and I have about a million favorite restaurants, but Boca is pretty high on the list. They are always coming out with more and more impressive items on their Spanish style menu, and they never disappoint.

This recipe is my own version of something off one of their tappas menus. They served piquadillo peppers stuffed with a wonderfully creamy red lentil stuffing that was pocked with texture building black beans. It was served on a super hot plate topped with an amazing salsa verde.

For my version I went with a larger bell pepper, mostly so I didn’t have to stuff 8 million peppers for one meal, and they were cheaper. I served a premade salsa on the side, because I’m a busy girl, and an added side of Spanish style rice to make it a little heftier.

It came out wonderfully, and I have now made it a bunch, it’s so filling that even Chuck doesn’t mind that it’s ‘gasp’ vegan. I mean woah. He does prefer to put the rice inside his pepper rather than on the side.

This is the kind of thing that would make a great dinner party or picky family meal. You could set up all the fillings, meat, rice, cheese, beans, or sautéed veggies and let each person stuff their own pepper before popping them in the oven together.

For someone who always thought they didn’t like stuffed peppers, I am now a convert.

Red Lentil Stuffed Peppers

Prep time: 12 hours

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 13 hours

Serves: 4 servings

Vegan Red Lentil and Black Bean Stuffed Peppers 1 cup red lentils 4 medium bell peppers ½ tbsp oil 1 small onion, diced 1 cup vegetable broth 1 tsp cumin ½ tsp chilli powder Salt & pepper to taste 1 (14 oz.) can black beans, drained & rinsed Add 2 cups of water to the lentils and let them sit overnight.

Ingredients

1 cup red lentils
4 medium bell peppers
½ tbsp oil
1 small onion, diced
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp chilli powder
Salt & pepper to taste
1 (14 oz.) can black beans, drained & rinsed

Instructions

Add 2 cups of water to the lentils and let them sit overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Slice the tops off of the peppers and remove seeds, then set aside.
In a thick bottomed skillet sauté onion over medium high heat, until it turns translucent.
Add lentils, broth and spices, stirring well to combine. Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth.
Return to pan and stir in black beans. Adjust seasonings, and cook until the mixture is thick and creamy (it should roughly hold its shape if you plop a spoonful on a plate).
Stuff peppers with the filling and place in an oven safe pan.
Cover the pan with tin foil and cook for 35-40 minutes or until the peppers begin to soften and brown.
Serve immediately.

No Poo: One Month In

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