Ingredients

• Red Bell Peppers, organic (2 large)
• Zucchini, organic (2 medium)
• Chicken tenders, natural (1lb)
• Canned Tomatoes, organic (28oz) (type depends on preferred liking)
• Water (optional) (1/2 cup)

Directions

1. Place chicken separated in bottom of baking dish.
2. Cut up veggies and place on top of chicken in baking dish.
3. Pour tomatoes and water over veggies and chicken.
4. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes.
5. Check chicken temperature to make sure it is 165°F to verify it is fully cooked.
6. Enjoy!

Nutritional Information

• Calories: 142.5
• Fat: 1.3g
• Cholesterol: 48.8mg
• Sodium: 229.6mg
• Carbohydrates: 11g
• Fiber: 3.5g
• Sugar: 6g
• Protein: 22g

Makes 4 servings

Modifications
Will change nutritional information

• Swap out peppers and zucchini for preferred veggies

Ingredients

• Eggs, large brown natural cage-free (12)
• Mayonnaise, light canola (1/4 cup)
• Mustard, yellow organic (1 tsp)

Directions

1. Hard Boil eggs using desired method (See Egg Boiling Steps).
2. Cut up hard boiled eggs into a large bowl.
3. Add mayonnaise and mustard to eggs and mix thoroughly.
4. Enjoy!

Nutritional Information
Serving size 3oz

• Calories:118.1
• Fat: 8.1g
• Cholesterol: 322.5mg
• Sodium: 121.9mg
• Carbohydrates: 1.5g
• Fiber: 0g
• Sugar: 0g
• Protein: 9g

Makes 8 servings

Modifications
Will change nutritional information

• Add more or less of the ingredients depending on preference

After a long summer struggling to keep their facility open, The Dinner Company in Salisbury, MD is closing its doors. I received an email earlier this week letting me know and I was saddened to hear but understood - people are cutting back everywhere they can save a few dollars. They are staying in business though just modifying their business strategy in these trying economic times. They have reinvented themselves to exclusively a dinner delivery system. I considered the meal delivery option, however, I like preparing our meals and making adjustments when needed (that was one of my two favorite things about The Dinner Company - the other getting to socialize with the owners), so unless we are super busy, I feel as if we will be preparing our meals again. I have learned so much though that I have so many new tools at my disposal for preparing meals ahead of time now.

Over the last couple months as I was hearing that they were having troubles but hanging in there, my husband and I started planning a back-up strategy (always have a back-up plan with as many things as you can). We wanted a way we could still have our prepared meals that we put in the freezer and then into the oven, but where we could modify things, should the opportunity arise. During out recent visits to The Dinner Company, we started to change over to glass dishes to store our dinners in the freezer to reduce waste and tried to put as many things into zipper plastic bags to reduce the space needed in the freezer. We also wanted to go more organic and natural with our food choices which The Dinner Company was moving to with using natural chicken, but they started thinking about moving to organic right before the economy started to suffer, so some of that got put on hold - understandable. We now have the opportunity to eat more natural and organic foods, decrease our packaging waste, and use the glass bakeware that we bought by preparing our own meals at home.

For tools to get us started, don’t have to go out and buy much to prepare. We already have the bakeware and lots of kitchen tools that we have collected over the years from places like Pampered Chef. The largest learning curve will be the oven temperature and length of time to cook the meals along with figuring out nutritional information and thinking of what to prepare for the next week or two.  At the start, I believe we will prepare a week of meals ahead of time, however, I would like to move to preparing meals 2 weeks ahead of time to give more variety to choose from and less preparation time over all.

Planning and preparing meals for a time will be more complicated, but we adjust well. Once we get into our new routine, all will be fine. At least I have a whole month to plan for the change since next week I get to pick up the meals for next month that we ordered and paid for at the beginning of this month. When I heard they were closing their doors, I was afraid that we would loose the money that we paid for these upcoming meals, but they are two wonderful people that are treating their customers well even when they are struggling. I am so proud of them and hope they succeed in their next venture.

As a result of this new food cooking adventure of ours, I will now be posting meal creations with pictures, ingredients, and notes. How exciting!

I am so happy with my final cake for the completion of Course 1 of The Wilton Method of Cake Decorating.

I challenged myself to new levels for this one. I didn’t use the Crisco icing for any of the icing this week. All of the icing is by Cherrybrook Kitchen. It was the chocolate icing for the roses and the vanilla icing for the rest - again I substituted organic butter for the recommended margarine. When using butter instead of Crisco, the icing needs to be refridgerated to be stiff and then it warms up as you use it. So, whenever it gets to soft, back into the fridge it goes. Unless you are icing the cake however, then you do not want it refridgerated. For the cake this week, I chose the Namaste Foods Spice Cake and did the Carrot Cake Variation. For the directions, I followed their directions with one deviation - I replaced the 2/3 cup oil with 1/3 cup applesauce and 1 Tbsp +1 tsp of oil to reduce the fat and it came out beautifully. For the carrot cake variation, I added their recommended 1 cup of shredded carrot and for the nuts and fruit, I added 1/2 cup (56g) of chopped walnuts and 1/4 cup (40g) of organic raisins. I meant to add 1/2 cup of raisins, so I will see how this tastes and see if it needs more raisins or if it was a good omission.

I did the roses before class this week since I thought it would be a lot of pressure to do six roses in the time given and have them not melt (due to the butter in the icing) without having a fridge nearby.

I did take a cooler with me to class to keep the roses and icing cooled. It worked out great. Also, when I was working with the icing in class and it became too soft, I placed it in the cooler for a couple minutes and then I was great to work with again. I know it sounds like a lot of trouble to go through, but I would prefer to make something I like and will probably eat than to make something I won’t like.  We received a Certificate of Merit at the end of the class and a $5 off coupon to encourage us to take the next class.

The next class, The Wilton Method of Cake Decorating Course 2: Flowers and Borders, is slated to start the beginning of November 2008. I think we are going to hold off on taking that class until late winter or spring since I just don’t know how much more cake we can eat - and November is just so busy getting ready for Christmas toward the end of the month. Wow! To think, Christmas is less than 3 months away.

The Dinner Company pictured below is where we prepare our dinner meals each month. I was supposed to join my friend in a scrapbooking challenge where we had to chose something we do routinely or do often and then do a scrapbook page about it. Immediately, I chose our monthly Dinner Company visit. I planned to take some pictures the next time we went and forgot, so the following month, I remembered to take the pictures. Then, these past 2 months I have been trying to sit down and do a page or two, but it just keeps dropping off my priority list. I started to feel bad a couple weeks ago since I think this all started in May, so I decided to post the pictures here and in the next month or two, I will do the pages and then post them here too.

The two females, Jayme and Pam, that own and run The Dinner Company are awesome. They work so hard to get customers, keep the food containers filled when customers are preparing food, and keep everything organized. This summer was a struggle for them to stay open with the slowing of the economy. This fall they are hoping things will pick up speed and more customers will come. They really have a great business going. They have facilities in Salisbury, MD, Ocean City, MD and Westminster, MD.

They have a great facility too with a nice reception area for arrivals and a waiting area that generally doesn’t have to be used since you don’t really have to ever have to wait. They have a bistro table and chairs, couch and they did have chairs that are now mine.  They were looking to sell a few items this summer to make a little extra money, so I was fortunate to buy two purple chairs that I have adored for probably 3 years. I looked everywhere for chairs like them but never found anything - but now they are mine!

As you enter, you can grab an apron on the left and then enter the work area that has stations for food preparation and tables to each side for the storage containers and labels to help prepare the food to take home. The area flows quite well and is always well organized and tidy. And, when the customer is finished with preparation, the meals can be taken home in a laundry basket. I hope they keep up the good work!

We love to be able to take food on our travels and recently, we wanted to add a trail mix but not just out of a box, so I did some research. I found out what goes into a good trail mix, I modified it like I always do, and then put one together. We love it so much that we take it everywhere now.

In a large bowl, mix the following ingredients:

• Dates (20 grams/0.7 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Raisins (20 grams/0.7 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Dried Cranberries (15 grams/0.5 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Almonds (14 grams/0.5 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Peanuts (14 grams/0.5 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Cashews (11 grams/0.4 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Walnuts (14 grams/0.5 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Pepitas (aka. Pumpkins seeds without shells) (15 grams/0.5 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Chocolate Chips (30 grams/1.1 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Granola (110 grams/3.9 oz/1-1/3 cups)

Note: All ingredients are listed in grams, ounces, and measuring device depending on how specific you want to be and what your scale reads. If you want something more exact with a closer repeatability, use the grams/oz measurements. If you want something a little bit more random or want to put it together really fast, use the Tbsp/cup measurements.

Store in an air tight container and enjoy. We store the bulk of it in a large air tight container and then put small 30 g servings in small air tight containers that we can take to work or throw in our bags when we have to run out the door quickly. It gives a whole new meaning to fast food.

Nutritional Information
Serving size 30 grams/1.1 oz

• Calories: 135
• Fat: 5.3g
• Carbohydrates: 19.5g
• Protein: 1.5g

There are lots of substitutions that can be made. Some substitutions are:

• use one type or other types of nuts
• use one type or other types of fruit
• use sunflower seeds or pretzels in place of pepitas
• use M&M’s or peanut butter chips in place of chocolate chips

If there are any allergies, remove those foods and either add more of something already in the recipe or something else. The trick is to keep a preferred ratio of granola to the additional ingredients. If you like it more on the granola side, then add more of it and if you don’t, then add less. Trail mix is so easy to make and it relatively good for you in small quantities when not exercising; and, it is a great energy food when hiking or such. Just remember to write down what you do end up making so you can make it the same way or know what to increase or decrease next time. Just remember, trail mix is supposed to be an energy food not junk food.

I tried something new this week for the cake class. The cake consists of the same type of cake as last week, however, I made a chocolate icing rather than the white icing like last week. I wanted to decorate it more, but we ran out of time in class. At first I was thinking Zen clowns but Carla suggested that they looked like they were around a campfire - I can definitely see both!

We did what I expected with the cake last week, we scraped the icing off the cake and then ate the cake - the icing was made with vegetable shortening (Crisco) that Matt nor I really wanted to eat. So, I thought that I would make something I knew we would eat.  I looked at the canned icing and it too is made with vegetable shortening and has transfats in it - that wasn’t an option. So, I turned to the organic/natural aisle at Giant for a solution. I found an icing mix made by the same company as the cake was made by - Cherrybrook Kitchen - and they had chocolate and vanilla.  I bought the all natural Chocolate Frosting Mix that is gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free. Instead of using the 2 1/2 sticks of margarine they suggested, I used 2 1/2 sticks of organic butter which no longer made it dairy-free, but made it taste awesome and I didn’t have to use anything artificial. With the icing made of butter it has to stay in the fridge otherwise, well, the icing gets soft and will go bad. And this week, we are actually eating the cake with the icing since it is chocolate and really good.

I still had to make the Crisco icing for the decorating portion of the cake and I chose purple and green for my colors this week. I think I might try the butter icing next week for the decorating portion - maybe I will make both and try them each out - just in case.

For decorating, we had to use clown heads and learned to build their bodies with icing. I am not that crazy about clowns, but everyone’s clowns did turn out pretty cute and not scary. We also learned how to do roses, various flowers, and a trim style that looks like shells.

Next week will be our last week. It has been fun so far.

So, here it is… the cake that I thought was going to be a disaster that actually worked out quite well…

Our objectives were: (1) to make any type of cake we wanted, then (2) make a batch of cake icing and ice the cake, then (3) make a batch of stiff icing that 1/3 would be used to practice techniques with and the other 2/3 would become medium icing and be decoration for the cake, and then (4) bring it all into class where we would work on the sunflower pattern along with other techniques.

I figured if I was going to learn all I could, I might as well do some experimenting with the cake too.  You can’t see it with it decorated, but in the pictures below it is visible that the cake is chocolate. I knew if I was going to make a cake and if there was any chance of it being eaten, it would have to be chocolate. The cake is an all natural, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, chocolate cake by Cherrybrook Kitchen. Instead of the 1/2 cup of vegetable oil they said to use in the baking of the cake, I did a little research and substituted 1/4 cup applesauce and 1 Tbsp of Canola oil in place of it. I also separated the batter into two 9″ round pans to make the cake last for 2 classes and when I did that, I reduced the time in the oven from 25 minutes to 15 minutes (the lowest recommended baking time for cupcakes) and it all worked out absolutely beautifully. It baked up nicely and tastes wonderful.

Below are some pictures I want to share some of the process of the making the icing to the icing of the cake.

And finally, it was put into its carrier for safe transport - the cake made it to and from class with no harm.

Below is just a little something extra from the class. One of our exercises was to learn to write with icing with various tips. Even though it was tracing, it was still really difficult, but once I got the hang of it, it wasn’t too bad.

Can’t wait until this tuesday, next is flowers. Not so sure about this part, but it will be fun to see everyone’s creations.

Last week Carla, Meghan, and I went to our first class of The Wilton Method of Cake Decorating: Course 1 at Michael’s Craft Store. I was hesitant at first, not knowing how much I would have to spend and how much I would get out of the class. I thought that I should check it out thought since I would get to spend some quality time with friends and get to learn something new. After a few questions were asked of the helpful Michael’s employees, I decided to join the class. Luckily, the cost of the class was 50% off for the month of September, so the class was only $17.50 and that is for all 4 lessons (1 class per week for 4 weeks) and that included the workbook for Course 1.

The way our class worked was we didn’t need any tools for the first class, we just watched the teacher, asked questions, and took notes for this class and what we needed for the next class. The last part of the class the first night involved the teacher taking us to the section of Michael’s where the cake decorating items are located. She showed us various tools needed and what was optional and then let us paruse at our leisure. There was no obligation to buy at Michael’s, however, after some consideration, I chose to buy my items there and save some time knowing that I would be buying nice items that would last me a while.

If you don’t have any cake decorating tools to begin with, like I did, there is a bit of a start-up cost along with the cost of the class. As for the necessary tools, they have a Course 1 Student Kit that includes the “essential tools” for this class like decorator bags and tips, couplers, a spatula, a practice board, and a few other items for about $25. In addition, I chose to buy a cake carrier (since we would have to bring a cake to class each night and I didn’t have any safe way of getting a cake to class) for $15 and a cake turntable (to help with not having to turn the cake constantly and allowing for more even icing) for $10.

There are other essentials needed for the class like what you will need to bake a cake and ice it each week along with the practice icing that needs to be made which is different for each class session. Some the items for this include: meringue powder, shortening, confectioners’ sugar, flavor, icing color, and cake ingredients that you prefer. Also, there are other things for the class you will need which are small derby clown heads, waxed paper, and piping gel (but we didn’t need piping gel in our class, yet). A few of the non-essential items that could be helpful depending on what you want to accomplish are a cake leveler, extra couplers, extra decorator bags and other tips for creativity along with so many more things. The cost can really add up quick but to get the necessary extras, it can be between $20-40 depending on what you buy and where you buy it.

So far, I have attended 2 classes and have really enjoyed them. It is still a little girlee for me at times, but it really is a lot of fun and I have learned to really appreciate the art of cake decorating and why professionally decorated cakes cost so much - it really takes skill and patience to get it just right. The class is perfect for anyone wanting to learn about decorating cakes - to be a professional or for fun. I think this class is perfect for those who want to have fun and be able to make and decorate cakes for family and friends’ birthdays and the like.

We are finally moving forward again in our P90X adventure. We didn’t take our stats like I thought we would at the end of our undecided Week 2 or 3. It was decided though that we just wanted to move along in the program, so this past week was Week 4 and on Monday we will be starting Week 5 and Phase 2.  We will get to eat a little more carbohydrates and a little less protein which will be nice.

Week 4 was interesting. It consisted of total body workouts and after the 3rd day, we were sore. There is definitely muscle confusion which is part of the design of the P90X program. Week 5 will be new muscle workouts with different muscle groups worked out on different days than Weeks 1-3.  P90X always keeps it interesting and challenging.

The colds are gone and muscles are repaired, so on with the show.

Last night we started back on the P90X program. Before we started, we took our measurements (the same ones we have tracked from Day 0 and Day 14).  In most cases, Matt and I both were either better than Day 0 and worse than Day 14 or better than Day 0 and Day 14. So, we are thinking that this week is a re-do of the Week 3. We are going to take our measurements again at the end of this week, compare, officially decide if we just completed Week 3 or Week 2 (both Week 2 & 3 have the same workouts), and then proceed from there.

As I expected, it took a bit to get motivated, but once we were doing the workout, it wasn’t bad. I was surprised that I did all of the exercises, maybe not with the full enthusiasm, but I did them and that is what counts. When we first started the program, it took a few days to get into.  Don’t get me wrong, this is an awesome program; however, there is just something inherent with most people that exercise is one of those things that you have to push yourself to do. I know it is good for me, but there are just so many other things I would like to do sometimes. It will be better in a few days though and I will start looking forward to it again.

Our friend Jeremy just did his P90X Fit Test last night and I think he will be starting the program this coming Monday, so it will be nice to know that someone else that we actually know is doing this program too.

Matt is showing signs of progress on his healing from the muscle strain. We don’t want to chance it and have him re-injured, so we are taking another week off. This week, I am hoping I can do one of the exercises on one or two days to get back into it. It has been nice to not have to go right into exercising in the evening and putting off dinner, but exercise makes you stronger and healthier, so I will continue to make time for it.

One thing I forgot to mention during the first week of this exercise program. Don’t eat a lot of protein before a workout. If you must eat before a workout, eat carbohydrates and not too much. The body will burn it faster and won’t give you muscle cramps like protein will. We found this out the hard way. One day we were really hungry before working out and had a protein shake and half of a protein bar each. It didn’t seem like a lot of food, but about half an hour into the workout, we were so tired and I had a stomach cramp. We had to wait it out and return to our exercise about half an hour later. We were still tired but made it through. No more protein before working out.

So, a continual recovery of the muscle is what we are hoping for this week. The ability to get back to our exercise routine and see more results but watch our limits so that there is no more getting hurt is our goal.

This week was a little rough. We think my husband strained a muscle during one of the exercises, so by Thursday, Yoga was a no-go. We did the muscle workout on Friday. Saturday we had a yard sale for about 6 hours which left us exhausted, so we skipped the exercise on Saturday and Sunday for recuperation on many levels. Wanting to make sure that Matt heals completely, we decided to take a week off, so we will be back next week with our Week 4 “Recovery” phase of the workout.

There is a company in Salisbury, MD where in about 2 hours you can prepare meals. Once prepared all you need to do is take the meals home, put them in the freezer, thaw when needed, cook, and dinner is done. It is a lot of fun and it actually saves time and money.

The Dinner Company is the place. Located at 810 Beaglin Park Drive, Salisbury, Maryland 21804 in the same shopping center as the Old West Steak House.

There are a range of meal options including chicken, fish, beef, and vegetarian meal ideas that change monthly. There are also serving options of 2 to 3 people or 4 to 6 people and either 6 or 12 meals. Big benefits for a small additional cost include Pick-up where they prepare your meals and then you just go pick them up at their location and Delivery where they prepare your meals and deliver them to you.

I just completed my 5th visit to them and the 4th consecutive month of getting meals, it has been a joy to prepare with the help of The Dinner Company. No planning is needed other than deciding which meal to remove from the freezer and thaw. And, when I forget to thaw the dinner, I can just add time to the cook time. The directions are on stickers that you place on the meals after preparation. No containers are needed other than the recommended laundry basket in which to carry your meals home.

Please help support a local business and save time and money in the process. Check out their site for lots more cool info, meal choices, and schedules.

Also, there are more locations of the Dinner Companies in Westminster, MD and Ocean City, MD. You can find all the information at the Dinner Company website.

Results. That is one of the biggest motivational points of exercise. In my experience with exercise, results usually take a little while. Well, today on day 14, I saw them in the form of numbers. Here are the details:

Chest: lost 1.5 inches
Waist: lost 1.0 inch
Hips: lost 1.0 inch
Thighs: no change
Biceps: gained 0.5 inch on left, no change on right

Body Fat: lost 2.2%
Weight: gained 0.8 pounds

The numbers may seem small but it is actually a huge difference. It is not a change I can visually see but numbers speak much louder. Looking at the body fat % and weight numbers, I know that I have lost fat and gained muscle - awesome. The body fat number is astounding though in only 2 weeks! I am already a somewhat fit female, so my starting body fat is 24% which is in the normal range. I am only expecting to be into the middle or low end of normal since I am rather short and do not want to be an athlete, just fit.

Tomorrow will start Week 3 with the same routine as Weeks 1 & 2. I have more energy and am less tired and sore, so hopefully in another 2 weeks, more progress will be made, the numbers will show it, and I might even see a difference. It sure would be cool!

I was wondering how it was all going to work with having to eat 600 more calories than I normally do during this fitness program, but I have only gained a pound and I bet it is muscle. I get to check my body fat and measurements tomorrow to see what has changed, if anything, but I am pretty sure something has changed.

I want to get more fit rather than gain bulk. Bulk is unnecessary and I don’t like the look of big muscles on females. I feel it is unnatural. I just want to be stronger in a toned way. And now, I know I can get that out of this program which is wonderful.

It has been time consuming though, so I am really happy that Matt and I are both doing this program so we are still getting to spend time together and support each other in this process. That motivation and reinforcement keeps us going. There have been a couple of days that I have not wanted to do the exercising and wanted to do something else like play the Wii (we got Mario Kart for Matt’s birthday). So, instead of skipping the exercise, we completed the exercise for the day and then played the Wii for our reward - it was great.

It was a rough but rewarding week. For the first 3 days, I felt dead the world. I had lots of extra sleep, each day another muscle would be sore, and by the end of the week, all my muscles had a minor general soreness to them. The food has been wonderful. I am eating almost 600 more calories than I normally eat, and haven’t gained a pound due to all of the physical exercise this program consists of which is 1 to 1 1/2 hours every day of the week. I may feel sore, but I feel great. More energy is the best reward.

Some statistical changes. My weight is unchanged, however, my would bet my body fat has decreased… we will see in another week. I have decided not to do measurement comparisons until day 14.

My muscles feel stronger and I see lines of muscles I never saw before. One of my noticeable differences: Veda, our kitty, is currently 17 pounds, I used to carry her with 2 arms up the stairs and would be a little winded by the time I got to the top of the stairs. Well, yesterday, when I was carrying her upstairs, I had her in one arm and was not out of breath at all when I got to the top of the stairs - actually, I felt like I hadn’t carried her at all - it was awesome.

Okay, so I know I said I would do an update each week (and I am still working on that post to publish on Sunday), however, I just had to tell you about the improvements already. One of the biggest things I have noticed is the improvement of my knees. I have this habit of when i sit down, I bend my knee and tuck my leg under my body and then I sit on my leg. I don’t know why I do it, but there are lots of people out there who do this. Well, I was sitting on my leg tonight while at the computer, and when I went to get up, my knee didn’t hurt at all - and it always hurts. Again, why I did it before, I don’t know, but it was just a habit I couldn’t break. But now with it not hurting, it is awesome. And, of all things, I have noticed that I have stopped sitting on my leg every time I am at the computer. I wonder if the cause of the habit is actually a weakness in the legs or knees though the process of sitting down. Who knows. All I know is that to see improvements in 3 days is just amazing!

Today we started what is going to be a grueling but rewarding adventure - the P90X extreme home fitness program. We bought DVDs that outline an exercise and nutrition plan that are guaranteed to get us fit in 90 days provided we follow the program.

The beginning of this program - what we did today - is a Fit Test. The designers of the program want to make sure you are already fit enough to do the program. We both passed (just barely), but we passed and that is all that matters. Some of the things we had to do were pull ups, push ups, and jumping jacks and quantity mattered since we both had minimums to meet. There were 8 tests in all. In addition to the fit test, we had to record body fat, weight, heart rate, and lots of measurements of arms, legs, and torso at various points before starting the fit test.

Tomorrow we are going to officially start the program. We probably should wait a few days to allow our bodies to rest from the fit test, but a Monday start is ideal and we really don’t want to wait a whole week to start. Soreness will be inevitable, either now or later it will get us, so we might as well start now.

I will keep you updated each week with progress. I know I should include pictures, we will see. Maybe I will go back and add them later or include certain pictures I find interesting per week. I will update with weight, measurements, body fat, and various things like that. It will just be amazing to see how things change week by week. The program has you check you stats at the end of each month, but I want to see how minor the changes can actually be per week. See you in a week with progress.

This past week has been all about research… so much research… mostly about the things we put in and on our bodies. From clothes to food to personal care products.

When I posted my recent article about Earth-Friendly Products, I started thinking that these items are good for the earth (petroleum-free, chlorine-free, toxin-free, cruelty-free, and organic (where the option exists)), and while those things are good for our bodies, there are additional concerns when our personal care is considered. What is the specific toxin levels of the ingredients of these products we use on our bodies?

When you start to think about it too deep, your head starts to spin. So when the dizziness stopped for me, I found a company that is all about showing you the details of the ingredients in your personal care products. The company is Environmental Working Group (EWG). The section of their site that I have been using quite frequently recently is EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. I have found many of the products I have looked for, however, they are always updating their database, and some items just aren’t there. When you can’t find an item, look up its individual ingredients.

We have come along way in using more healthy products, however, through my research, there is still more work to be done. Some products we use everyday will soon not be in our cabinets because of what I have found out. Replacements will be made soon and I will update my product use list and add explanations and links to why a change was made.

I also did a little research to find where you can get a list of companies that really are not testing their products on animals since they can say it on the product and it not be true. PETA is the best place to find this information. PETA’s website has a link to PETA’s Caring Consumer.com who has a list of Companies That Do/That Don’t Test on Animals. I am happy to say that the three main companies that we buy personal care and household cleaners from (JASON, Seventh Generation, and method) are all on the Don’t Test on Animals list. Yea!

I am happy that we have the freedom to choose the products that we use. I am also happy that others are out there to help us with the facts that we just don’t see on labels.