DIY Homemade Dye Free Snow Cone Recipe

by Jenny Irvine // August 14, 2014 // 1 Comment

DIY DYE FREE Snow Cone Recipe - Fun for the whole family! Dye Free, Allergy Friendly, Gluten, and Dairy Free too!

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Have you every made your own snow cones? Summer is just getting started and we are excited to ‘dive in’ . Here at “My Happy Homestead” there are some long standing traditions that have just become a staple –

Yes, making our own snow cones is really one of our ‘must do‘ homestead activities– no food dyes, no artificial ingredients- just memories. If there’s time in your schedule this one is super quick, easy, and inexpensive.

Homemade Dye Free Snow Cones

Ingredients;

Ice

Frozen fruit juice concentrate or berry sauce

Other Supplies Needed;

Snow cone cups and straws (we have these and love them)

Blender or snow cone machine

Direction;

Prepare syrup. Simply combine 2 parts juice concentrate to 1 part water. You can also make your own berry sauce if preferred-it is just heavenly on a hot day. Thin berry sauce as needed with a bit of water. (Our most recent snow cones were orange pineapple…yummmmy!)

Shave ice in blender or if you have a cute little snow cone machine then use that. Using an ice cream scoop put desired amount of shaved ice in each of your snow cone cups-carefully pour syrup on top and dive in!

Printable Recipe

Supplies;

Walking Tacos

by Jenny Irvine // July 31, 2014 // No Comments

I’m sure I’ve said it before and if I haven’t- here it is, lunch is my least favorite meal of the day.

With so many food sensitive kids and the constant feeding of my little morning food grazers – breakfast runs into a morning snack- which runs into lunch- which seems to look like a little bit bigger snack. There is so much food served in my house between the hours of 7:00AM to 1:00PM there truly are days I wonder if I’m running a house or a food service company. Since lunch is at the tail end of it all- basically, it is the meal that gets the end of my energy, and lets face it Momma is ready to throw in the towel by then.

So I’m constantly searching for an easy way out or a quick serve solution – walking tacos my friend have won my heart for this reason.

Yes, they are not going to win an unprocessed, healthy living award but they taste good, are quick, easy, budget friendly, gluten free, and kids love them. So give it a try for a special treat- your kids will thank you- and heck, even healthy families can cheat sometimes.

walking tacos recipe, mexican food, gluten free, kid friendly, lunch ideas

Walking Taco Recipe

Serving 4

Ingredients;

1 lb lean ground beef (turkey or chicken work great too)

1 once of your favorite taco seasoning

4 (2.5 ounce packages of corn chips)

2 C, shredded lettuce

1 C. shredded or diced cheese

1/2 C. diced tomatoes (we only had cherry at the time)

1/3 C. salsa

1/3 C. sour cream

Directions;

Place ground meat in skillet on medium/low heat. Cook and stir until browned and cooked through. Drain any access grease. Add taco seasoning and prepare as directed.

Now, comes the fun part. With the bags unopened, carefully crush the corn chips (just slightly-do not turn them into corn powder). Carefully open the bags and begin assembly. Divide the ground meat evenly into all the bags and begin adding all of your favorite ingredients (lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa)

Serve in the bag with a fork- and to make them extra kid friendly I like to put my kids in a mug to prevent the bag from tipping/spilling over while scooping.

What is your go-to lunch for your family?

Printable Recipe

DIY Lavender Mist Duos as Hair Detangler Recipe

by Jenny Irvine // July 17, 2014 // No Comments

I am so excited today to introduce to you my friend Monika from thelittlebackyardfarm. I’m sure you will love her as much as I do and without further a do here she is sharing her recipe for –

DIY Lavender Mist/Hair Detangler Recipe

photo’s take by thelittebackyardfarm – Monika Weglarz

Both of my kids have long hair and my son has very thick hair on top of that. We used to wrestle with it every morning until my daughter “accidentally” used my lavender mist spray that I LOVE to use for my wavy hair (to keep them from frizzing).

Not only were they both in love with the nice mild lavender smell, but they also liked the fact that brushing their hair was less painful. I am not exaggerating when I say that they fought over the bottle every morning.

I then decided it would be easier to make them each their own (I mean who wants to share hair products, right?).

Lavender mist is not only a great detangler but it is also works great to tame and de-frizz naturally curly and wavy hair.

Lavender Mist/ Hair Detangler Recipe

You will need:

Small pot

2 cups Water *

1 Tablespoon Homemade Lavender oil (click here if you would like to make it yourself)

Rosemary stem (for hair shine)

2 Drops of vitamin E oil (to support hair growth – optional)

Cheesecloth

Funnel

Plastic bottle (I get mine in dollar store)

*I created this recipe based on the size of plastic bottle I am using. If you are not sure about the volume of your bottle, please measure it by filling it up with water all the way to the top (as some water will evaporated during boiling) and then pour into measuring cup. Based on that adjust the amount of oil you will need for the recipe (e.g. for 1 cup of water use ½ tablespoon of lavender oil).

First pour water into a pot and bring to boil. Remove the pot from heat, add the lavender oil, rosemary stem, vitamin E oil, and cover with a lid.

Let it steep until the whole mixture cools down.

Then take the cheesecloth and strain the liquid thru into a bowl and then back into the pot. I do this so the oil gets absorbed into the cheesecloth and too much of it doesn’t end up in the bottle (that causes greasy hair). Repeat this process couple times. You will still end up with some oil in the bottle, which is fine because it sits on top and doesn’t get into the sprayer tube. On the last round of straining, pour it into the plastic bottle, using the funnel, and close.

I hope you enjoy the nice aroma and convenience of this mist!

Monika Weglarz grew up in Czech Republic spending weekends and summers at her grandfather’s cottage, digging in his garden and learning from him the love for growing food. With time and experience, together with her husband, she is becoming more passionate about inspiring people to grow their own food no matter how much space or knowledge they have to begin with.

These days, if you don’t find her in the backyard attending to the chickens, turkeys or the garden, she is most likely spending time with her family. She is a girl of many interests, besides spending her days homeschooling her two kids, she also enjoys knitting, yoga, photography, crafting,reading, and running – in no particular order. You can follow her weekly posts on her blog The Little Backyard Farm … her daily photos on Instagram… her favorite things on Pinterest… and her updates on Facebook…

NOTE: The above post is written as a guest blogger – the accuracy, thoughts, and opinions may or may not be that of myhappyhomestead. Under the Creative Commons License CC BY-ND 3.0 under no circumstance will myhappyhomestead be held reliable for the information provided.

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