How to Clean Your Cast Iron Skillet: No Fuss Version

Okay guys. I'm about to show you something scary...

My first every "vlog" post. Don't laugh too much, okay? 

I was learning about how important it is to mix it up sometimes by adding video to my blog. And then the hilarious Sarah Jackson (who I met through the 30 Day Blog Challenge) was telling me how easy it is to just experiment with iMovie.

So I did!

And I thought the easiest intro to vlogging (for me) and the most helpful (for some of you who's asked me about my cast iron) would be to show you how I clean and season a really dirty skillet.

Here goes nothing!

So I think we can all agree... my video-making skills need work! But I'm crossing my fingers that was at least somewhat helpful. To someone. Somewhere.

Some important extras to note: 

I didn't mention in the video... you shouldn't usually cook acidic foods (like tomatoes) in cast iron and you also shouldn't usually wash cast iron with soap. Both things will break up your lovely shiny "seasoning" that comes from repeated use and repeated trips to the 450 degree oven.

That being said, I sometimes do both. I'm free spirited a rebel like that.

If you break the rules, just make sure not to forget to oil it before putting it back in the drawer!

For more detailed information on cast iron care, check out this pinterest board from Lodge.

And if you're curious what else I cook with check out this blog post. 

How do you care for your cast iron? Did I miss anything super super important? Please tell me in the comments!

Kid-Approved Cold Remedy | Homemade Elderberry Syrup and Tea

If it looks like happy hour at the Aiduk Casa, you're kind of right! We are experimenting with a new recipe for homemade elderberry syrup and the girls love their new "berry medicine." I've purchased it before from amazon but it wasn't cheap and I wasn't too happy that it had so much sugar in it. So I had it on the back burner to research a DIY version... well it came to the forefront of my mind pretty quick this fall. (Thanks for the crappy weather Germany)

Basically, my immune system decided to celebrate the start of cold/flu season by being a piece of crap and letting me get sick twice. 

So I decided that I just don't have time for that and I also don't have time (or patience) for a sick kid every other week. School has started back up and with the yuckier weather we're looking at lots of time inside sharing germs with the whole KMC.

Enter this amazing Elderberry Syrup Recipe from Katie of Wellness Mama.

I've only made two batches so I can't speak from personal experience yet about it's potency... but it SEEMS pretty dang awesome!

First, it's easy. Busy mom points.

Second, it makes the house smell super good (cinnamon and cloves!) for the whole afternoon. 

Third, I don't have to bribe or brainwash my kids to take it. Like I do for my ginger lemon tea or my shots of raw apple cider vinegar.

Cheers to our good health this season and bottoms up!

Seriously you can't get much more kid-friendly (or husband-friendly for that matter!) than a super sweet mix of immune-boosting, vitamin-rich berries with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and honey!

Bonus round - at the end of my first batch of syrup, Jesse had the great idea to see if the "leftovers" had enough juice left to steep as a tea! And sure enough... I just store them in the fridge in a glass jar and fill up the tea ball as needed.

So that's how I'm using the pound of elderberries that I got from Mountain Rose Herbs this fall! I was pretty sick with a nasty cold this week and I pretty much had a shot of elderberry syrup every few hours, either a cup of elderberry tea or a cup of ginger lemon tea in my hands at all times, and early bedtimes. After two days I was feeling much better! (Which could totally be all in my head, but hey, beginner's luck with all this hippie voodoo is fine by me if it made me feel better faster!)

If you want some more detailed info about the benefits of elderberries you can check this out.

Sherri of Raisin Acres Farm has a great post on how to PLANT your own bushes of elderberries!

And they are currently out of stock over at Mountain Rose Herbs, but if you do purchase anything from them please consider using my affiliate link at the top right sidebar to help support the blog!

So there you go - my first adventure with Elderberry! Here's to thriving this cold/flu season!

"Uh-Oh Spaghettios".. In Which We All Realize Certain Childhood Memories are Not What We Thought

Here's the most recent Aiduk Family self-portrait. We were on our way out the door to take the girls to their first ever sushi buffet! It was a really nice family outing. (but no, they didn't really like sushi that much)

I am still very proud of the fact that my girls eat almost everything. I am thankful that I read and followed the advice of this book by Dr. Greene when Lily was just born... the cliff notes version = feed your babies everything you eat (hopefully a wide/healthy variety of flavor threads and veggies) from a very young age. Even if they refuse at first, just have them try a bite regularly and move on. Eventually they will become accustomed to it. A good example of how this has worked for us is that at one time or another both girls refused raw tomatoes and spicy chili. But now both foods are a favorite. 

Please don't hear what I'm not saying: MY KIDS AREN'T PERFECT EATERS. They go through picky stages. They for some strange reason refuse to love avocados as much as I do. And they also don't like mashed potatoes (I KNOW)... But all in all, I'm proud of their adventurous eating and that they do in fact sometimes eat veggies.

But don't think I never grab a box of mac n cheese or that I don't get in PB&J school lunch ruts. (I'm currently in the midst of that one!)

The whole point of all this is to share the story of how Jesse recently became aware that in this [in my opinion very noble] quest to educate my children on as much of a variety of delicious food as possible, I have neglected certain areas of food that he feels essential to their development as well rounded AMERICAN individuals. 

So here's how it went down: 

Jesse: (talking to the girls about something that dropped on the ground) "Uh-oh Spaghettios!"

Lily: (looking confused) 

Jesse: (long pause) "Do you know what Spaghettios are???"

Lily: (slowly shakes head no) 

Jesse: "JESS! Did you know the girls don't know what Spaghettios are??????" 

Me: "Ew, do we have to introduce them to that crap?"

Jesse: "Lily and Sam, you are in for a treat! Next week, we're having Spaghettios AND grilled cheese for dinner!" 

(he looks suspiciously at me) "...and it HAS to be sliced AMERICAN cheese."

Me: (as I reach for the grocery list) "Double ew." 

Nothing says American heritage like "imitation pasteurized process cheese food"... mmmm "food like products"...

So I may or may not have had a hard time finding Spaghettios at the Commissary. Silly me, thought they'd be near the Cambells Soup... but no matter. These two disgusting delicious cans of fake food American culinary genius finally made their way into the shopping cart. 

(If it's possible, I have become EVEN MORE of a real-food-snob since living in Europe. As our family's resident hippie, I am definitely the activist for removing most of what I consider "fake food" from our family's pantry/fridge...but I digress...)

When "the big night" of our "special dinner" was upon us, Lily asked me what I was making and I said FAKE FOOD! :o) But I still told her it was a fun food that Mommy and Daddy remember from when we were kids.

It was fun to make this little bit of childhood nostalgia. J was a bit more excited than I was, but still..

Come to find out, our childhood memories of how delicious Spaghettios are seem to be somewhat... flawed. 

The funniest part? Lily and Sam didn't even like it that much! 

So the moral of the story is J, LJ, and SJ still wish Mommy served up more "fake food" every once in awhile... but we anomalously agree that Spagettios don't have to appear regularly on the table.

The general consensus was "Meh."

(You know you're a hippie when you have an entire blog post devoted to picking on Spaghettios. You're welcome!)

Cleaning Schedules Really Do Work - WHO KNEW?

Okay guys so in the interest of full disclosure my house hasn't been the cleanest place on earth lately.  I always used to pride myself on having a really clean and tidy house.  Once the kids were born I was still happy to say my house was tidy - relatively clutter free - but not so clean.  

Things that would have grossed you out about my house in recent years:
   -bathrooms that were only cleaned once a month... or less... or only when they started to smell...
   -dust bunnies that could talk
   -cobwebs in the corners that had whole villages of spiders living in them
   -sticky stuff on the kitchen and dining room floors that may or may not have been so caked on I just gave up

And that's just naming a few icky spots in the house.  My cleaning mantra before the girls were born was "clean it when it's dirty" or at least "clean once a week, top to bottom"... and then it became "clean only what's necessary"... and that somehow morphed into "CLEAN WHEN COMPANY IS COMING OVER OHMYGOSH THIS HOUSE IS GROSS!"

Now, as you may or may not have noticed, I've had a lot of company this Spring/Summer.  Which in turn means my house has been relatively clean.  BUT it was still stressful each time I had to clean, because I was so far behind on the normal chores that a deep down clean took FOREVER!  Cleaning schedule to the rescue.  

In the interest of even more full disclosure, it was Jesse's idea.  And at first I was mad that *gasp* he'd even THINK to suggest I am not a domestic goddess ;o) he was right in the end.  The idea is pretty simple and smart housewives all through the ages have thought of it before me... but I just took my white chalkboard marker and wrote the main things down next to the days of the week:

Sunday - tidy
Monday - floors
Tuesday - laundry
Wednesday - bathrooms
Thursday - laundry
Friday - dust
Saturday - laundry

Now I don't always need to do laundry every other day like that.  Nor do I really need to do a deep down scrub of the bathrooms every single week.  But it still helps me stay on top of things when I write it down for a weekly once over. The other thing that really REALLY helps (me) is to make sure I do the daily chore before lunchtime.  Otherwise, I almost never get around to it and it has to be rolled over to the next day.  I actually find it most helpful when I do it right after breakfast and before I a) open up the laptop or b) go off on our morning adventure.  The early [cleaning] bird gets the [clean house] worm ;o)

I've only been following this schedule since Brother left, but can I just say that it works?  Because Mom and Dad and Steph will be here in a few days and instead of feeling bummed that I have to block out an entire day for cleaning, I really don't feel like I need to do much at all!  It's a miracle!  All I have to do is a few wipe-down or quick-sweep kind of chores. AMAZING!

It's crazy how much easier it is to do quick chores on a regular basis than procrastinating (indefinitely!) on all the chores (until company comes!)  In fact, because of this simple cleaning schedule, I feel much happier with how home life is going.  When things are clean and fresh and tidy, my brain and my heart smile.  Cleaning schedules RULE!

And that's my random tidbit of housewifely advice for the day.  

Hanging a Frame Collage Like a Pro

After yesterday's post about how much of a mess I can make in my living room, I feel like I should remind you that I actually do make my house look nice sometimes!

This is the most recent photo frame collage that Jesse helped me hang a few weeks ago.  Isn't it fun?  It's a collection of some of my favorite pictures from our anniversary trip last summer.  I'm going to use it as our wall to commemorate that trip, periodically switching out the shots so we get to enjoy all the great pictures (and memories) that we love.  It's 20 frames and I could literally fill them with just favorite shots of Paris.  Or Venice.  So yeah, I love rotating pics.

I'm not very Martha Stewart-y and my version of interior decorating falls mainly in the "I want to see and display some of these great photos I'm always taking".  This is my kitchen collage of food photography.  Kirsten (hi K!) helped me with it and taught me a brilliant way to hang photo collages... which I thought I'd share with you!

Side note: I painted and distressed the frames myself with sand paper.  Pretty simple.  I love the pop of my favorite color!  Oh yellow, how you thrill me.  

So here is Kirsten's excellent collage-hanging method:

1.  Measure the frames and cut out exact paper replicas.  I'll call them your shadows.

2.  Hang your paper shadows on the wall with tape or sticky tack or something that won't damage your paint.  This makes it easy to measure the exact spacing you want between photos.  And also make sure you're putting them up level.

3.  Speaking of level, use one.  I downloaded a free app for my iPod touch so I can have a mini version right in my back pocket.

4.  Step back and look at your collage to make sure you like it.  That's one of the main reasons I love this way of hanging frames... you can rearrange them if you don't like it at first!

5.  Flip your frames over and measure EXACTLY where the nail hole is.  Mark this on each of the paper shadows and hammer your nail right into the shadow!

6.  Hang your pictures on the wall and then either gently pull the papers out from under them or pull the papers off first. Sometimes it's good to leave the papers up so that if you step back and realize you made a mistake you can still move the papers around.

7.  Enjoy your photos!

Thanks Kirsten, for teaching me to fish in the framing department!  I love it!

If you're interested in these "frameless" frames, check out MCS Industries 4x6 frames , MCS Industries 5x7 frames , and MCS Industries 8x10 frames . All from amazon and very easy to use!

What Happens When a Hippie (and Her Kids) Catch a Cold

Nothing reveals how much of a hippie I am like when we get sick.  All of Aiduk girls came down with a really bad cold last week.  It was interesting, too, because I actually seemed to get the worst of it.  Which sucks, cause Moms don't get sick days!  And the littles were really whiny even though they weren't really all that sick.  So that kind of made everyone whiny!

I can't really complain about getting sick because it's seriously the first time we've had any illness in this house since the kids picked up Fifths' Disease in November (and got Jesse so sick we had to take him to the ER!)  All I can do is laugh a little because this batch of sickness came right after I was bragging that we have been so healthy this winter. Karma ;o)  

But we made it through and we're all on the mend... in less than a week.  And I wanted to share with you all the funny things I do that (I think) helped us get better faster.  No meds required!

#1: Ginger Lemon Tea.  This tea is seriously the only thing that made my throat feel better... I could barely swallow for a couple days and so the tea kettle was on pretty much nonstop.  I made sure they girls drank it right along with me. (they didn't seem to have sore throats, but everyone had crazy runny noses and congestion)  And we also added the punch of raw honey.  (Health benefits of raw honey)

Look at all those snot rags!  YUM.  We watched 1-2 kid movies a day while snuggling on the couch and stuffing cloth tissues into the fountains of snot coming from all three of our noses.  Cloth tissues are so awesome.  They are so much easier on your nose and they can take much more of a beating.  You know, like, it's a better tissue-to-snot-capacity than a Kleenex.  Too much info?  

We also napped and slept as much as we could.  And the girls went to bed at 6pm three nights in a row... I followed close behind at the awesome hour of 8pm at least twice.  And no one woke up till almost 8am.  I was thankful we were all able to sleep well so our bodies could recover.  

I started taking shots of raw apple cider vinegar.  Cause that's not weird.  My poor brainwashed children, God bless em, actually ask for this crap as "spicy medicine".  You would not understand why they ask for it if you could see them take it by the spoonful... they cough and sputter every time!  Poor things.

But yeah the first day when I was really really sick I took a half shot every two hours.  I think I was able to coax the girls to take about three tablespoons throughout the day.

I was so thankful that a couple weeks ago I made and froze some 24-hour chicken stock.  Bone broth is great when you're sick.  And any time.  But it's so comforting when sick.

Hippies get weird about food when they're sick.  It's like something happens to my brain and I start thinking of all the anti-bacterial, immune-boosting foods I can come up with.  And I throw them into a hippie-potion we'll call "soup" (which involved a lot of stock and chopped up homemade lacto-fermented vegetables.)  It was actually pretty delicious.

Oh yeah and let's not forget the amazing power of garlic.  Cause who doesn't love three coughing sniffling humans with garlic breath?  Jesse?  Whatever, he loves it.  I put LOTS of garlic in those soups.

So everyone's pretty healthy again, except me.  Still got the lingering cough and suuuuper runny nose.  But I'm functioning again, so that's good!  Especially since we have a crazy week ahead.

Between the doctor's appointments, Jesse's pin-removal surgery, the recovery, and trying to squeeze my birthday celebrations somewhere into his convalescent leave, it might be quiet on the blog this week.  I think I'll take the time to snuggle up and watch movies with the rest of em... that is, unless I'm bursting to tell you something or share some pictures.  Then you might see me.

Till then I leave you with this advice: don't brag about being healthy or you'll get slammed with a cold right before a busy week.  But then, if you do, be a hippie and try some of my weird concoctions to let me know if they work for you, too!  

I'm Obsessed with this Book, You have to Read it NOW!

A few months ago, I was stuck in an "I don't really like being a stay-at-home-mom slump"... to the point where I was much more likely to call myself a "stuck-at-home" mom, at least in my head.  I was praying that God would help me have more of that heart for my home life that I once cherished... and I found it in a suspiciously coincidental highly providential trip to a bookstore later that week.

Last year, at the recommendation of my sister, I read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. And I just loved it! Gretchen has such a great, energetic passion for learning and discovering and writing... and researching the ins and outs of happiness.

Jesse and I were walking aimlessly through the bookstore on base (a favorite tag-along to most of our date nights) and I saw Gretchen's new book on a shelf:  Happier at Home .  I immediately added it to my Christmas list.  And I'm so glad I did!  It's not just for stay-at-home-moms... it's for anyone who has a home.  Which is all of you.

Gretchen says, "Behind our unremarkable front door waits a little world of our own making, a place of safety, exploration, comfort, and love." 

And I love this quote from William Butler Yeats:  "Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that thing, but simply growth.  We are happy when we are growing."

Here are some of the ways she wanted to grow that I want to copy pretty much 100%:

- cultivate a shrine (set up your possessions in a way that makes you smile)
- kiss in the morning, kiss at night (cultivate closeness with your spouse)
- make the positive argument (apply positive thinking to your relationships)
- under-react to a problem (especially with kid-tastrophes)
- enter into the interests of others (try to learn to love the things your family loves)
- give warm greetings and farewells (again, show your family you care)
- resist happiness leeches (don't be a snob, but take care to surround yourself with people who build you up)
- guard my children's free time (I would add, guard my free time as well)
- suffer for fifteen minutes (tackle an unpleasant project for 15 minutes a day and it will be done in no time)
- embrace good smells (our sense of smell is strongly connected to our emotions and memories)
- jump (being silly makes you feel happier!)
- plan nice little surprises (I want to be constantly thinking of small but meaningful blessings for my family)
- be a tourist without leaving home (appreciate your neighbhorhood... easy enough when I live in Germany!)
- practice nonrandom acts of kindness (be real and kind with the "familiar strangers" you see week to week)
- focus on now (be present in each moment of the day... so much easier said than done!)

In her research on her two happy-project books, Gretchen has come up with "Eight Splendid Truths" and these are my four favorites:

- the days are long, but the years are short
- I'm not happy unless I think I'm happy
- the only person I can change is myself
- now is now

I learned so much from Gretchen and I ended the book feeling so energized and excited and HAPPY about my home!  I've already applied quite a few of her great ideas.  And even just thinking more mindfully about our home life has made our home life happier.  It's a great book kids, you should go get it right this second!

Sprucing Up My Re-purposed Glass Jars. And a Kitchen Tip

I save any good glass container that I can get my hands on.  Best part?  They come free with our food!  Like... jalapenos, pickles, jelly, salsa, cheez whiz, and peanut butter.  I try to use them for all sorts of food storage, but especially for things that we are going to want to reheat in the microwave.

The peanut butter jars we buy (Smuckers natural creamy) are the perfect size for Jesse's lunch containers.  Soup, chili, etc... no spills in his bag AND he can heat them in the microwave without getting cancer.  Hopefully.

The mismatching lids were starting to bug me so I bought some enamel paint at the craft store on base.  

Then I went back for some black for Jesse's peanut butter lids.  Cause I wasn't thinking when I picked out all my favorite BRIGHT colors that maybe my husband wouldn't want sunshine yellow in his lunch ;o)

Two coats did the trick and now I have some matching lids!

I don't know what actual crafty people do to get oil based paints out of brushes (and off of hands) but I just mixed some baking soda with some coconut oil and a little water.  Worked great!

Once the lids were dry they were ready for storing leftovers!  Yay for being cheap frugal and using what I have... but also yay for cheap paint to give it a little bit of flair.

In the past week, I accidentally washed two lids in the dishwasher.  Don't do that.  Also, be careful when stacking them in your pile of dishes to dry by the sink... apparently the paint scratches easily ;o)

Oh and don't lick the lid.  It's smells awful and is surely toxic.  Okay now I'm wondering if it was a good idea to paint our FOOD STORAGE jars with toxic paint.  Hmm.  Well, at least they look pretty!

Kitchen tip: you can write directly on glass with a sharpie.  That way you can tell which jar of red stuff in your fridge is homemade salsa and which one is homemade pasta sauce.  Or pizza sauce.  You get the point.  So all you have to do to remove the sharpie note is wash it and scrub gently with an abrasive sponge.  Not the crazy kind that takes your skin off and scratches glass/metal... the gentle kind that doesn't.

My Dad taught me that... HI DAD!

Crunchy Christmas in July

My Mountain Rose Herb order came yesterday!  This rainbow pepper grinder is probably the thing I'm most excited about!  It's refillable AND they sell it in bulk AND it tastes really yummy AND it's non-irradiated.

I learned from my favorite cookbook Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon that most conventional spices you buy in the grocery store are exposed to radiation.  I guess the idea is the same old industrial food idea: see how we can give the food as long a shelf life as possible, even if that means compromising the nutritional integrity of the food.  

So I've been seeking sources of non-irradiated spices.  I'm not sure exactly what happens to food when you expose it to radiation, but rumor on the streets is that it a) kills all the good enzyme content of the food (which is the reason traditional cultures used spices in the first place!) and b) possibly alters the genetic code of the food.  Some scientists worry that irradiated foods can cause cancer.  If any of this is even sort of true then I'm going to try to serve my family fresh (and pretty!) peppercorns without a side of cancer causing radiation.  


Okay, off my hippie soapbox.  For now ;o) 

Moving on to my other new goodies.  I'm starting my essential oil collection.  They aren't cheap, so though I want to buy quite a few more, they'll have to wait a little bit.

These four oils, as well as the lavender and peppermint I have already bought from MRH, are going to be used to treat regular ailments such as acne, back pain, bruises, chapped skin, colds, congestion, cuts, diaper rash, dry skin, fever, headache, insects (repellent and bites), jet lag, sore throat, stretch marks, sunburn, and wrinkles!

Like how it was all alphabetized for ya? ;o)  I had to use my handy-dandy essential oil usage book to remember what all I was going to use them for ha!  

Beeswax + arrowroot powder + coconut oil + baking soda + essential oils = homemade deo for my bo.    I'm hoping to try this recipe today and then I'll give it a few weeks trial period and let you know how it works for my stink.  Or I'll let Jesse tell you how it works for my stink ;o)  I've been a very bad hippie lately and stopped using my old homemade deo because it wasn't practical for our trip (no portable refrigerators in my backpack) and because it just wasn't working quite like I wanted it to.

Hopefully I'll be armed and (not) dangerous(ly smelling) with this new recipe.  Stay tuned!

Bethanne shared this recipe for homemade lotion forever ago (hi Bethanne!) and I'm finally getting around to trying it.  Lily's skin issues have me desperate.  Again, I'll give it a try this week and let you know how it goes.

I'm going to use those adorable jars to put hippie concoctions in (mostly so I can have some of whatever available both at the girls' changing table and downstairs).  

Aloe vera for all of our skin issues (Lily especially, but also the rest of us if we get sunburned or just want some good moisturization).

Castille soap: my second trial.  All the hippies use it (for anything you use soap for, but I'm going to try it in the kitchen sink on my dishes) because it's all natural and has no harmful chemicals or additives.  But I didn't like the residue left by the first brand I tried (Dr. Bronner's I think) so we'll see if this is better.  I love the idea of washing our dishes without chemicals... since we eat off of them and all. 


And cinnamon.  You know, for eating in your oatmeal or granola.  Nothing fancy... and non-irradiated, too!

So that's that.  Thanks for staying with me if you could care less what kind of hippie packages I get in the mail.  And thanks for reading if you want to learn more about hippie stuff!