Easy Blueberry Greek Yogurt Bark Healthy Recipe

This blueberry Greek yogurt bark recipe is healthy and easy to make.  It's great for kids or adults, and you can enjoy it for breakfast, a sweet treat, or as a snack. I'll admit that I don't always eat as healthy as I could.  I mean I'm trying, but then life happens. Eating healthy takes work.  I meal plan before I go shopping so I can plan healthy (or healthier)  meals, but sometimes I just don't have time. This blueberry Greek yogurt bark recipe is perfect for those busy weeks.  There are only to ingredients: yogurt and blueberries. My kids love cooking, and this is one of those recipes that they could make when they were little.  They like getting creative with different fruits. Of course, none of my kids can agree on the same flavor.  This recipe is easy to make two flavors at once.  If you want to add nuts, add them to part of it so not everyone has to eat parts with nuts. BLUEBERRY GREEK YOGURT BARK HEALTHY RECIPE You can make this with your choi

3 Easy Melt and Pour Soap Recipes Using Essential Oils

How to make three easy melt and pour soap recipes using essential oils.  The oils and supplies are in the September 2019 Simply Earth Essential Oil Recipe Box. It is really almost September?  To rephrase that, is summer really over?   I demand a redo.  It rained all of June.  We've had like 3 hot days and now it's fall already.  I feel like we got ripped off this year. But alas, it is the end of August.  I can't scroll through Facebook without seeing back to school photos.  We are doing a week of a soft start.   The kids need to learn their new homeschool curriculum, so we are just doing one lesson per subject per day this week. With the end of the month comes my next Simply Earth Essential Oil Recipe Box .  The September box is a fun one!  It's all about soap making.   You'll make 3 soaps, one diffuser blend, a compress, and a roller bottle. 3 Easy Melt and Pour Soap Recipes Using Essential Oils The Simply Earth Essential Oil R

Skinny Mocha Frappe Recipe Sugar Free Vegan Dairy Free Options

How to make a delicious skinny mocha frappe recipe.  This iced coffee drink is sugar free and can be made vegan and dairy free.   My daughter spent most of the summer at the theater.  Thankfully, we have a wonderful community theater that's only 10 minutes away.  That's pretty amazing considering that I live in the middle of nowhere. Sometime I drop her off at the theater and enjoy a few hours alone outside of the house.  It's a small town, so there aren't many options. When I say small, I mean small.  There are two dollar stores, two thrift stores, and that's about it for shopping after 5 p.m.   There are a few restaurants, and there's a McDonald's near the theater.  I may have developed a slight weakness for their mocha frappes during my alone time. I needed to kill some time, it was hot, and they are so good.  It was like coffee house taste for two dollars and some change.   They taste amazing, but they are definitely a somet

Tips for Caregivers of Elderly

Thank you to Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield for sponsoring this post. As always, all enthusiasm is my own. I'm in what's known as the sandwich generation. It's that time in my life where I'm taking care of my kids and my parents, and I'm sandwiched between them. I have three kids at home, two with special needs, and I'm also the primary caregiver for my mother. She's in her late 60s, so she's not that old, but she has some medical issues, and needs some help in order to live independently. She functions okay for her daily living, but she needs help cleaning, shopping, going to doctor's appointments, and with managing her finances right now. She’s my mom and of course I'll do everything I can, but it's hard. I work full time and homeschool my kids, so it can get crazy fitting it all into my day. If you're part of the sandwich generation, there is help. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicare Advantage plans offer

Calendula and Lavender Fluffy Whipped Soap Recipe for Dry Skin

This calendula and lavender fluffy whipped soap recipe is easy to make with melt and pour soap.  It has real calendula and lavender and natural essential oils.   My skin is dry in the summer from the sun and swimming almost daily.  In the winter, it's dry because of the cold dry air.  Basically, my skin is dry all the time. I use a moisturizer every day and use moisturizing soaps and body washes.  When my skin gets really dry, it's extremely itchy and annoying. Two of my favorite herbs for dry or irritated skin are calendula and lavender.  They work well together to reduce itching and help the skin recover. I used both the herbs to make the calendula and lavender fluffy whipped soap recipe.  This is a fun recipe, and it's great to use as a shaving soap. It's also fun for kids.  It almost feels like a dry shaving cream.  It's fun to play with while washing hands, especially with kids who like a little extra sensory input. Most fluffy whipped soap

Succulent Bath Bombs DIY With a Bath Melt on Top For Dry Skin

This adorable succulent bath bomb recipe is made with coconut milk powder and shea butter to moisturize skin.  It also has a cute bath melt succulent on top for more moisturizing for your skin. I love it when I can get creative with my DIY projects, like this succulent bath bombs DIY.  I love my succulent mold, so I was brainstorming ideas and new projects to make using it. I'd already made soap, so bath melts seemed like a good idea.  My daughter wanted some more bath bombs, and I thought why not put the bath melt on top of a bath bomb? This succulent bath bombs DIY is adorable, so it would even be cute just sitting in the bath.  When you drop it into the water, it fizzes and releases the butters and coconut milk powder to moisturize your skin. These bath bombs DIY are very moisturizing, so they are excellent for dry skin.  The bath melts have shea butter, cocoa butter, and aloe vera powder for your skin.  The bath bombs have more shea butter and powdered coconut milk for

Moisturizing Succulent Bath Melt Recipe With Emulsifier and Shea Butter

This adorable succulent bath melt recipe with emulsifier is made with an emulsifier and shea butter for soft skin.  The oils mix with the water for all over moisturizing. I'm glad that succulents are trending right now because they are so cute.  I'd love to have them all over my home, but I have cats. Carly would probably ignore them like she ignores everyone and everything, but Chloe would be playing soccer with them and eating them. So for now, I use my soap mold to decorate with succulents.  I've made soaps and sugar scrub soaps, and this time I made a bath melt recipe with emulsifier. Bath melts are easy to make and use.  You just put one or two of them in the bath and they melt, releasing the oils into the water. I add an emulsifier to my bath melts so the butters and oil mix with the water.  This recipe is great for dry skin, too. While they are great bath products on their own, I made extras to make succulent bath bombs.  I'm posting those Thur

Unicorn Sugar Scrub Exfoliating Soap Bar Recipe

How to make a unicorn sugar scrub exfoliating soap bar recipe.  This cute bar is full of glitter and smells like Unicorn Kisses with a natural fragrance oil blend. I've been making melt and pour soap for something like 15 years now.  I'm not a noob, but that doesn't mean that every project comes out perfect. I prefer not to say mistakes because I did learn something from the experience.  So we will channel Bob Ross and call it a happy accident.   A few weeks ago, I picked up an adorable unicorn soap mold.  It was fairly large, so I decided to make some layered ombre unicorn soaps. I got out my supplies, I melted, and I started pouring.  I was so excited to unmold it, but that excitement left as soon as I saw what it looked like.   To be fair, Dakota loved the ombre unicorn soaps.  She declared it the best soap ever.  I mean it was purple, glittery, and shaped like a unicorn, so there's that. It wasn't a total flop.  It was cute, but you

Healthy Banana Bread Recipe No Sugar

This easy healthy banana bread recipe can be made in one bowl.  It has no refined sugar and white whole wheat flour. I have two picky eaters.  I am fully prepared to plan a gourmet chicken tender meal for my oldest son's wedding.  My younger son will most likely have chicken nuggets at his, probably catered from Chick Fil A. For the first few years of their lives, they ate great.  They didn't get any added sugar or salt, and I did everything right as far as their eating.  I made their baby foods, I cooked from scratch, and they had plenty of opportunity to try new foods. Then it all changed.  When David was 7, he would eat seven different foods, all of them soft and full of carbs.  We did swallow studies and tests, blood work, therapies, and everything we could think of with limited success.   Kids with autism who have feeding issues won't "eat when they are hungry" or "grow out of it."  We tried not offering him extra foods per the

Natural Skin Care At Home 6 Easy Recipes

Six easy recipes for natural skin care at home.  These recipes use four essential oils and common and inexpensive ingredients to make six different recipes. I've been making a real effort to use only natural skin care at home the last few years.  I switched to natural skin care products and I do make my own scrubs, masks, and other skin care products. My daughter is only 12-years-old, so she's a little young for skin care, but she's not too young to learn how to use natural products for her skin and overall wellness. I hope that by seeing me use natural products, she'll want to and have the knowledge to do it herself when she gets older. I got my August 2019 Simply Earth Essential Oil Recipe Box a little early to share with all of you.  This month's theme is natural skin care at home.  It has 6 easy recipes plus a diffuser blend that you can make to use while you're pampering your skin. NATURAL SKIN CARE AT HOME 6 EASY RECIPES This post is s