Are you ready for another week of green and natural ideas?

What is “Your Green Resource”? It’s your chance to share all your green ideas, resources and solutions with ALL of our readers! That’s right, when you link up on any of our blogs, your idea will get shared with all of the readers here and at:

Andrea of The Greenbacks Gal, Emily at Live Renewed and Megan at Sorta Crunchy

We know that many of you have posts of your own about your green journey that our readers will love. Some examples of Green Resources you can link up:

* Real Food Recipes
* Repurposed Projects
* Upcycled Projects
* Organic Gardening Tips
* DIY Natural or Green
* Thrifty Solutions

In addition to making this a weekly place where you can both share and learn new green ideas, each week we’ll be Pinning our favorite post to the Your Green Resource board! We want your green ideas to go viral – so we’ll pin the post for you!

The pinned post from last week is:

Raw Lemon Pie Bar @ Good Girl Gone Green

I couldn’t resist pinning this recipe. It looks so delicious and is full of nutritious fruit and nuts.

I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve got to share this week.

Don’t forget to link back to one of the hostess so we can all find these great green resources!

Please link to your post, not your homepage.

Happy Thursday!

Well known as a digestive aid, peppermint is also a powerful energizer and useful in treating headaches and fatigue.

I’m sharing four simple treatments that include peppermint at Simple Homemade, including this lovely foot scrub recipe:

Invigorating Foot Scrub

Read the rest and get the recipe at Simple Homemade:

Homemade Peppermint Foot Scrub {and Three Other Uses for Peppermint}

Shared at Your Green Resource.

I wish I could give you all flowers and chocolate. And an afternoon out. (Wouldn’t that be nice.)

If you are reading this then I have prayed that you might see your value as a woman, as a mother.

I pray that you may know. . .

. . . you can make a difference in the lives of others.

. . . your smiling eyes mean the world to your child.

. . . your sacrifices do not go unnoticed. God sees.

. . . your undivided attention speaks more than any gift money can buy.

. . .your hours upon hours of seemingly mundane tasks are a sweet fragrance to the Heavenly Father.

. . . you are loved mightily by the One who made you.

Even when they days seem long and hard, I pray you know it is all worth it.

Dear mother, you are changing the world.

I pray you will find rest and nourishment in the brief moments that come your way and that you might continue to walk the path of motherhood with faithfulness.

Fight distraction and forge ahead.

You are important!

With love,
Stacy

Are you ready for another week of green and natural ideas?

What is “Your Green Resource”? It’s your chance to share all your green ideas, resources and solutions with ALL of our readers! That’s right, when you link up on any of our blogs, your idea will get shared with all of the readers here and at:

Andrea of The Greenbacks Gal, Emily at Live Renewed and Megan at Sorta Crunchy

We know that many of you have posts of your own about your green journey that our readers will love. Some examples of Green Resources you can link up:

* Real Food Recipes
* Repurposed Projects
* Upcycled Projects
* Organic Gardening Tips
* DIY Natural or Green
* Thrifty Solutions

In addition to making this a weekly place where you can both share and learn new green ideas, each week we’ll be Pinning our favorite post to the Your Green Resource board! We want your green ideas to go viral – so we’ll pin the post for you!

The pinned post from last week is:

The Kitchen Basket from Molly Makes Do.

This is a lovely idea that helps little ones feel big. I know my toddler would really enjoy a kitchen basket. After seeing this post, I’m going to put one together for her.

I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve got to share this week.

Don’t forget to link back to one of the hostess so we can all find these great green resources!

Please link to your post, not your homepage.

Happy Thursday!

Most of us could use a few more vegetables in our diet.

But there’s so much washing and chopping, they can often get overlooked.

Today I’m sharing some tips for adding more vegetables to food you are already cooking. In this post my goal to give you some ideas for increasing your veggies intake without increasing your stress level or creating  a lot more work.

Read the post here:

7 Ways to Add More Veggies to Food You’re Already Cooking

Top image credit

Shared at Your Green Resource.

Are you ready for another week of green and natural ideas?

What is “Your Green Resource”? It’s your chance to share all your green ideas, resources and solutions with ALL of our readers! That’s right, when you link up on any of our blogs, your idea will get shared with all of the readers here and at:

Andrea of The Greenbacks Gal, Emily at Live Renewed and Megan at Sorta Crunchy

We know that many of you have posts of your own about your green journey that our readers will love. Some examples of Green Resources you can link up:

* Real Food Recipes
* Repurposed Projects
* Upcycled Projects
* Organic Gardening Tips
* DIY Natural or Green
* Thrifty Solutions

In addition to making this a weekly place where you can both share and learn new green ideas, each week we’ll be Pinning our favorite post to the Your Green Resource board! We want your green ideas to go viral – so we’ll pin the post for you!

The pinned post from last week is:

Homemade Lara Bars @ Living Crunchy

I do love a good Lara bar, but have ventured into making my own yet. These ones look absolutely delicious. I’ve got them on my to-do list for the future. Living Crunchy shares recipes for five different bars!

I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve got to share this week.

Don’t forget to link back to one of the hostess so we can all find these great green resources!

Please link to your post, not your homepage.

Happy Thursday!

I always seem to cook too much rice. Do you do that? I hope I’m not the only one!

The following broccoli rice recipe is a great way to use up leftover rice and boost nutrition at dinner.

The ingredients can be tweaked to suit your taste. Add extra cheese, or leave it out all together.

Extra vegetables would also be excellent. Mushrooms and red pepper would be well suited to this dish.  Add them along with the onions and saute.

Broccoli Rice

Adapted from the  More-with-Less Cookbook.

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 – 2 cups cooked brown rice
1 onion, chopped
3/4 – 1 cup grated cheese
2 – 3 cups broccoli, chopped, cooked and drained
1/2 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste ( I used a few shakes of seasoned salt and a little pepper)

Method

Melt butter in skillet and add onion. Saute until soft and translucent. About 10 minutes.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Pour into a greased casserole dish, cover and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Serve alongside fish, chicken, or beef.

What’s your favorite way to use leftover rice?

Welcome to Week 31 of Your Green Resource! Last week we had 59 entries. There’s lots and lots of good information being shared. I love it!

What is “Your Green Resource”? It’s your chance to share all your green ideas, resources and solutions with ALL of our readers! That’s right, when you link up on any of our blogs, your idea will get shared with all of the readers here and at:

Andrea of The Greenbacks Gal, Emily at Live Renewed and Megan at Sorta Crunchy

We know that many of you have posts of your own about your green journey that our readers will love. Some examples of Green Resources you can link up:

* Real Food Recipes
* Repurposed Projects
* Upcycled Projects
* Organic Gardening Tips
* DIY Natural or Green
* Thrifty Solutions

In addition to making this a weekly place where you can both share and learn new green ideas, each week we’ll be Pinning our favorite post to the Your Green Resource board! We want your green ideas to go viral – so we’ll pin the post for you!

The pinned post from last week is:

Homemade butter @ Whole Living with Stephanie.

I chose to pin this post because Stephanie shows just how easy it is to make your own butter. This is not something I do on a regular basis, but it sure is fun every once in a while. Especially when the kids get involved. They are always so impressed. In fact, I can still remember making butter in school (many years ago). The class passed the jar around and all took a turn shaking it. Fun times.

I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve got to share this week.

Don’t forget to link back to one of the hostess so we can all find these great green resources!

Please link to your post, not your homepage.

Happy Thursday!

Body oil is excellent for dry skin. It feels extremely luxurious, but need not be kept for special occasions; body oil is a perfect moisturizer for every day use as it hydrates skin exceptionally well.

To use body oil: apply to damp skin after a warm shower (even better if you’ve used a body scrub).

One side note: It may take a few minutes for the oil to soak into skin, so don’t put on and get dressed in your Sunday best in a hurry (or else you may end up with oily stains).

Body oil is also wonderful when used during a massage treatment. Especially if it’s infused with lavender.

So relaxing . . .

The recipe I am sharing today is very simple. In fact, it will probably take you longer to get the ingredients out of the cabinet than it will to make it.

Simple Lavender Body Oil

I adapted this recipe from one found in The Herbal Home Spa by Greta Breedlove.

Ingredients

• 1 cup oil (Use Grapeseed, safflower or sweet almond oil)
  Note: It is nice to use a variety of oils to make up the 1 cup. Such as 2/3 cup grapeseed and 1/3 cup safflower. If you have wheat germ oil on hand it is a lovely addition, too. But it does go rancid faster than other oils, so be aware that the shelf life will be shorter. 2/3cup Grapeseed and 1/3 cup wheat germ oil makes a lovely combination (and is recommended in the original recipe).

• 6 drops lavender essential oil

• Scant 1/8 tsp Vitamin E oil (or 10 drops)

Method

Pour all ingredients into a bottle, cap and shake to blend.

Makes about 8 ounces.

The bottle pictured above is only 4 ounces, so I halved the recipe.

If making a larger batch or dividing between smaller bottles, figure the amount needed for each bottle before beginning. It is easier to blend the ingredients in the bottle rather than in a cup and then pouring in. This is because the oils may not stay evenly mixed and one bottle would end up with lots of lavender while the other has almost none.

This would be very nice paired with a sugar scrub or bath salts for a Mother’s Day gift (or any other day gift for that matter).

I buy almost all of my supplies for making body care products and herbal remedies at Mountain Rose Herbs.

A few drops of other essential oils could be added to this. What scent would go well with lavender?

Links to Mountain Rose Herbs and Amazon.com are affiliate links.

I was first introduced to the idea of having a Salad Supper when graduating from Bible college in 2001.

Every year during graduation week, the ladies would have a Salad Supper. There would be a speaker, some awards and recognition, and everyone would bring a favorite salad to share.

It was lovely.

Because graduation is usually during warm weather, salad was a perfect supper! Especially for ladies.

Ladies like salad. Right?

I thought it was very fun and unique anyway.

Since then I’ve used this idea for a few get-togethers with other ladies.

It’s very simple.

Each person brings a salad to share.

That’s it.

As long as everyone doesn’t bring a plain, green salad, it’s good.

There are so many salad varieties once you start looking: Greek salad, antipasto, tomato salad, bread salad, rice salad, fruit salad, and so on.

Another option, is to have a build your own salad dinner or lunch.

{Image credit}

Going this route means you can handle it on your own or ask guests to bring one part of the salad to share.

Place each salad component in a bowl or combine a few on a platter, such as sliced veggies. Let each person make their own plate, just how they like it.

Some ingredients to consider including:

• Lettuce
• Mixed greens
• Fresh herbs
• Salad nuts
• Cheese, diced cheddar or crumbled blue, feta or Gorgonzola.
• Dressing and vinaigrette – like this simple shallot vinaigrette and this Balsamic dressing with thyme.
• Boiled eggs
• Bacon, cooked and crumbled
• Chicken, sliced
• Croutons
• Tomatoes
• Onions
• Snow peas or sugar snap peas
• Shredded carrot
• Avocado, sliced
• And whatever else sounds good. I’m sure you can think of lots more!

The great thing about hosting a build your own salad lunch is that everything is simple to make. You can get most of it ready the night before and rest easy the day of the get-together.

What do you think? Do these salad suppers sound doable?

What else would you add to my list of salad ingredients?

Some of the other High Five Moms are sharing hospitality tips on their blogs, too.

Check them out:

10 Ways to Be Hospitable Without Going Nuts @ A Happy Home
6 Tidy-Up Tips @ Happy Andersons