Going natural: quick, easy and not expensive at all

Happy Valentine's Day!

We passed a great milestone today, our dishwasher ran with the last toxic dishwasher soap cube. This means that the house is almost toxic cleaning products free! We still use conventional dish soap when washing dishes by hand but that is because we still have so much of it. I hate wasting stuff even it will kill you when you eat it. Does natural dishwasher do that? I honestly do not know.
(It's by the way very hard to blog and watch Hope Floats at the same time...)

My under the sink cabinet after removing (most) toxic cleaning products

It was surprisingly easy and quick to get rid of toxic cleaning products. I had already been changing our way of eating and the use of plastic over the course of a few months. This kept me online reading almost every day and then my in-laws told me there was a documentary on about products that are hurting our unborn babies.

Spicy honey pumpkin pie recipe, no refined sugar

This is a smooth spicy honey-pumpkin pie. It is of course refined sugar free and simple to make. You do not need many ingredients or much time to whip this up!

  Spicy Honey Pumpkin pie

250 grams/ a cup of (organic) orange pumpkin, seeds removed and cut in small cubes (if organic you do not have to remove the skin) Alternatively you could use the same amount of canned pumpkin.
3 tablespoons honey and 1 for decoration
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or speculaaskruiden if you know what those are)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 pack of puff pastry

Elvis to keep away the terrors and some other things I have been up to

My hubby is watching a horror movie and even smidgins of it freak me out. With noise cancelling in-ear phones blaring Elvis into my brain I still seem to look up just when some little girl is puking blood or a freaky ghost is standing behind someone. I have therefor moved to our dining room table (actually just dining table, we wished we had a separate room hahaha) which has no view of the tv and resigned to writing this overdue post on Saturday night.

Listening to Stitch's Elvis song on this great spotify Disney playlist 50 best of family and kids movies.

I have been up to a lot lately. Too much to remember which sometimes leaves me doing stupid stuff like playing the Simpsons App until I get my thoughts straight.

I have been working on making a small picture book for toddlers to learn sign language. If you find that interesting please let me know. That would be a great boost to finish it.

Saying I love you

I decided to make a whole new bear for my etsy store which is easy to make, looks cute and can be dressed. I plan to make them all unique, each one coming with a little subscription of their character and a matching set of clothes. Also I want to sell clothes and patterns on the side. It seems fun but my babe holds me back sometimes as I cannot use the sewing machine when she is not in her playpen or when she is asleep because it will wake her (our appartment is tiny.). I finished my second version and it looks great so I am starting production soon. Now onto the clothes! Fun :)

First prototype, his arms are already falling off...

Furthermore I just put all my refined sugar stuff into a box, and it is a BIG box, goodness. My decorated cake shop has all but closed because I cannot make myself bake anymore of my usual recipes or use fondant to cover anything. I do not know how I am going to get rid of all this refined sugar. I think I am going to make things and try to sell them until I run out. It would sure clear up a lot of space in my kitchen.

BIG amazon box full of refined sugar stuff and I have another one nearby, what to do, what to do...

With both my nieces birthdays coming up I do have to think about how I am going to make them pretty cakes. Therefore I am starting a search for the perfect unrefined decorated cake. I have started work on a sugar free marzipan fondant that can be rolled out. If I find it you will be the first to know of course :)

Cake idea for my niece who is turning 1!

Next week I will be posting a recipe for sugar free pumpkin pie and I am trying to update the site with small things like hover pin it buttons and a printer friendly version so keep checking back!