Dressed Up Black Beans and Rice

Black beans and rice is an incredibly easy staple meal. It's healthy and fairly cheap to boot, making it great for an end-of-month recipe when the grocery budget is almost maxed out. My way of making it adds a bit more flavor and makes it a one-pot meal, veggies included. The recipe leaves you enough for leftovers for lunches or dinners for a few days. Buying a big bag of black beans, instead of canned gives the meal a better texture and saves you some cash. It's also healthier as canned beans can have added salt. The same goes for bag rice vs. instant.

Dressed Up Black Beans and Rice

• 1 lb. black beans, from bag not can
• 1/2 lb. sweet Italian sausage, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 lb. frozen green pepper and onion mix
• 8 servings long grain enriched white rice

Soak the black beans in a pot over night then cook beans per instructions on bag.
Rinse then prepare rice per instructions on bag.
Brown sausage in a skillet.  
Heat green peppers and onions in microwave, 5 minutes.
Combine all ingredients in a large pot.
Serve and enjoy!

Dressed Up Black Beans and Rice

Black beans and rice is an incredibly easy staple meal. It's healthy and fairly cheap to boot, making it great for an end-of-month recipe when the grocery budget is almost maxed out. My way of making it adds a bit more flavor and makes it a one-pot meal, veggies included. The recipe leaves you enough for leftovers for lunches or dinners for a few days. Buying a big bag of black beans, instead of canned gives the meal a better texture and saves you some cash. It's also healthier as canned beans can have added salt. The same goes for bag rice vs. instant.

Dressed Up Black Beans and Rice

• 1 lb. black beans, from bag not can
• 1/2 lb. sweet Italian sausage, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 lb. frozen green pepper and onion mix
• 8 servings long grain enriched white rice

Soak the black beans in a pot over night then cook beans per instructions on bag.
Rinse then prepare rice per instructions on bag.
Brown sausage in a skillet.  
Heat green peppers and onions in microwave, 5 minutes.
Combine all ingredients in a large pot.
Serve and enjoy!

Cooking with M: What's for Dinner?

It's time again to do the menu planning for the upcoming week. You might notice a theme for Tuesdays--this day I try to have a green salad as a meatless veggie meal. I also have pasta once a week (usually without meat but this week is an exception) to have another meatless meal and because M2 loves her pasta. It's also easy and makes leftovers for A.

We also keep fresh fruit in the house for breakfasts, snacks and lunches throughout the week. M2 has fruit for breakfast every day. I base the fruit on what is on sale and looks good at the store. There's also a stash of frozen fruit and some can fruit in case we get in a fruit pinch.

This week's fruit
Apples, oranges, bananas, green and black grapes, peaches and nectarines

Saturday
Spaghetti and meatballs with side salad
Sunday
Whole roast chicken, parsley buttered potatoes and mixed veggies (I picked up a whole chicken when they were on sale, froze it and it's now defrosting)
Monday
Chicken and dumplings (I've been craving this and the whole chicken leftovers are great for this)
Tuesday
Green salad
Wednesday
Grilled cheese and soup
Thursday
Steak, baked potatoes and green beans
Friday
Leftovers

Product Review: Seventh Generation Dish Soap

I don't know about you, but I am tired of using dish soap that doesn't cut grease, smells bad, costs a fortune (and still doesn't work), leaves an icky film on hands and dishes, and/or takes a ton to clean anything. That's why I decided to try some new dish soaps, like the Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day one I reviewed here and now Seventh Generation Natural Dish Liquid in free & clear. You can get it on Amazon for a good price in 25 oz. bottle packs of 1, 2, or 6. There is even a 50 oz. bottle.

Rating Out of 10

Overall: 10

Scent: 10

Gentle on Hands: 10

Cleaning Power: 10

Cost: 9

To sum things up quickly, this soap is awesome. It is scent and dye free, hypoallergenic and environmentally friendly. This one 25 fl. oz. bottle has lasted us three months and is still going. I just refilled the soap dispenser today and there is STILL about half a dispenser left. You only need a tiny amount to wash your hands or dishes. Any more, and you end up with way too many bubbles. You just don't need much. That tiny bit cuts through grease and smells easily leaving dishes nice and clean with little effort. It even rinses off quickly without leaving a film.

I love how gentle it is on my hands. There is no need for a separate hand soap in the kitchen. My hands don't get dried out at all. Nor do they feel slimy or sticky after. This isn't one of those soaps that claim to have no scent then smell icky, it really has no scent at all (and this is coming from a pregnant lady with a sensitive nose). Let me tell ya, when dish soap smells were driving me nuts in the first trimester, this was a lifesaver.

We end up saving time washing pots, pans and dishes (everything that can't go in or doesn't fit in the dishwasher) since the soap works so well.

It costs a bit more than cheap brand. As A pointed out, it's worth it since it lasts so long. He is a big fan of this soap as well. We've tried the cheaper soaps, like Ajax, and have to use a ton to clean anything. Thus, Seventh Generation actually saves us money. I'd still like it even more if it cost less, though. I haven't tried any of the scented versions of this soap because I honestly don't think it's needed. The free and clear is awesome.

Seriously, I can't say enough good things about the Seventh Generation dish soap. There is literally not one negative thing I can think of to say about it. I wholeheartedly suggest you try it for yourself.
This post contains affiliate links.

Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day

Time to get cleaning.

I'm reviewing the products above today, just in time for spring cleaning. From left to right, there is the lemon verbena hand soap, lavender dish soap and geranium countertop spray. All are touted as being environmentally friendly and safer for you, along with being made with essential oils and free of chlorine, fake colors, parabens, phthalates, glycol solvents, animal-derived ingredients and formaldehyde. Because it is biodegradable, these would be great for those readers with septic systems.

The Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day website gives you more information about each product, what's available, and, best of all, breaks down all the ingredients to tell you what they are and what they do. That's a wonderful feature many companies don't do. The site itself is easy to navigate and pleasing to the eye.

The line comes in many different scents and offers other products. You can find them on Amazon and in some stores. I love how the packaging has a 50s-housewife-feel, while being modern. It's very fun and upbeat and the colors are perfect.

Hand Soap

Ratings (out of 10)

Overall: 7

Scent: 7

Gentle on Hands: 6

Cleaning Power: 7

Cost: 4

In our house, we usually keep regular dish soap in a dispenser at the kitchen sink as a multi-purpose soap. The Mrs. Meyer's hand soap is much easier on my hands for sure. It's taken up residence next to the dish soap. A little bit goes a long way, there's no need to use a giant squirt unless your hands are really, really dirty. However, it is nice. The lemon verbena scent is nice and leaves your hands smelling pretty for awhile. I'm usually not a fan of lemony scents, so that's saying something! Even A has been using this instead of the dish soap. I don't think it's a ton better than other hand soaps, maybe a touch.

What sets this soap apart is the cruelty-free and biodegradable qualities. The soap is clear because it's free of all those fake dyes. In fact, all the products I tested are. I really liked that about them.

This bottle made from 25 percent post-consumer plastic. All the ingredients I can't even pronounce listed on the bottle do worry me, but the Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day website does the breakdown of each ingredient and what it does on the website to give you peace of mind. One bottle is much more expensive than Softsoap or the store brand equivalent. You can also get some fancy soaps for around this price.

Final review: It's a solid product. If you really like it and have the extra money to spend, I'd say go for it. We don't, so I'll be sticking to cheaper brands.

Countertop Spray

Ratings (out of 10)

Overall: 8

Scent: 9

Gentle on Hands: 8

Cleaning Power: 8

Cost: 5

The counter top spray one was my favorite of the three. I tried the geranium scent and it smells so good for hours after use. It definitely freshens the air as it claims. My countertops are left sparkling clean and any gunk was easy to get off. It is not a disinfecting spray, by the way. Like the hand soap, 25 percent of the container is post-consumer plastic. I haven't tried this in the bathroom but imagine it'd work well on counters there, too.

The bottle says the product is 98 percent plant derived, which is a big environmental plus. Again, the list of ingredients make me a bit leery, but there is a breakdown on the Mrs. Meyer's website for this one as well. The bottle is running out rather quickly, but I also tend to spray a lot to be sure I'm getting everything clean. You could probably use less and be fine.

Final review: This is a great product! While I really like it and it works great, I don't think I'll be a regular customer since my usual vinegar wash works almost as well, disinfects and is cheaper--mainly, because it's cheaper. Though, the vinegar doesn't smell nearly as good! The best part of the cleaner is really having the geranium scent for hours so your house smells like fresh flowers. If we had the extra cash, this would go on my shopping list. I was going to give this one a 9 (it's hard to get a 10 from me!) what brought it down was the price. If you have the money to splurge or hate vinegar, I'd say go for it.


Dish Soap

Ratings (out of 10)

Overall: 4

Scent: 3

Cleaning Power: 3

Gentle on Hands: 6

Cost: 3

The dish soap was my least favorite, by far. The first thing I noticed was that while the soap does have those essential oils, it still has sodium laureth sulfate--basically an inexpensive cleaning agent added to many soaps, shampoos, etc. It's also an ingredient I expect "healthier" brands to not have. A bit of disappointment from the start. This bottle is also only 25 percent post-consumer plastic, though that's still much more than many companies can say.

The soap cuts grease well but I found I had to use more soap than I'd expected for a more upscale product. The bubbles just weren't as plentiful as I'd like, especially for the price.

I'm a big fan of lavender, it's one of my favorite scents, but this soap is STRONG. After using it for a bit it started making me sick to my stomach and I had to switch to another. That may not bother someone else, but it bugged me. The upside of the strong smell is that all those plastic sippy cups, bibs, etc., that smell manky over time lost the mank once I soaked them with water and this soap in the sink for awhile. Not even baking soda got it all.

The biggest drawback and what cinched this as a "will not buy" for me was that it leaves a scent on all the dishes. Yes, it gets rid of the manky smell, but they're going to smell like lavender for sure. It does seem to fade eventually. That still doesn't sit well with me though, especially when using this on baby items.

Final review: An ok product. There are worse products, but there are also much better. I'll be using up the bottle and that's it. This one is not going to find its way onto my shopping list, even when we do win the lottery. I'm hoping they reformulate and improve this soap because it just isn't in line with the other products which tested much more solidly. This one's really the black sheep. For now, a skip it for sure.

This post contains affiliate links.

The Star of Multi-Purpose Cleaners

I don't know about you, but I've spent years looking for a cleaning product for the kitchen and bathrooms that truly works. One that doesn't smell horrible, doesn't cost a fortune and actually cleans is dang near impossible to find.

With our budget, those handy little one-time-use Lysol and Clorox wipes became impractical. Especially when it takes a whole bunch of them to clean anything and they don't even clean that wonderfully. Multi-purpose sprays came with a host of issues from the smell to not working at all. I hate bleach since the smell gives me a horrible headache and makes me sick to my stomach. It's also not safe around kids. There are plenty of natural products on the market but they tend to cost an arm and a leg while not always working the best. Nothing I tried even began to touch hard water stains on the sinks, toilets, counters or faucets, no matter how hard I scrubbed or what tools I used.

I had sadly resigned myself to Lysol until, one day, I could take it no more. I was totally fed up with the scent not coming out of the rags unless I washed them repeatedly with an insane amount of scented detergent. Many washings and lots of soap negated saving money by using rags. Plus, all the soap left the rags hard and icky (and still smelling a bit like Lysol). I was tired of smelling it all over the house, having M2 breathe it and it burning my hands.

As I stared at my hard-water stained sink with despair, a light popped on in my Lysol-smell-filled brain. A glimmer of hope existed. I'd been leery of trying it for years, fearing it was so simple it would never work. K had suggested it herself, extolling its virtues, a few weeks before as I told her of my Lysol woes. Finally, at my wits end, I pulled out the white vinegar from under the sink. It seemed to glow, like a be-decked Christmas tree. Angels sung from above. With one use of that vinegar on my kitchen sink, I discovered the most wonderful, cheap, effective and safe cleaning product I'd even laid my desperate-for-clean eyes on--white vinegar. Yes, folks, plain, simple white vinegar diluted with water.

After the kitchen, I quickly scampered into the bathroom to test it there. Lo and behold--my kitchen and bathroom sparkle. All the hard water stains disappeared with minimal effort. The rags came clean on the first wash leaving no nasty residual smell. The toilets gleam and lost their rings. My hands don't sting or burn. Everything is disinfected. No nasty, harmful fumes hang about. It is AMAZING! And cheaper!

Simply keep a large jug of white vinegar ($2.50 or less a bottle) on hand along with a spray bottle. Mix a 50/50 solution in the bottle and clean away. It works in the kitchen, bathrooms, outside on patio furniture--anywhere. If you want the vinegar smell to go away faster, dry surfaces with an old towel after cleaning. I don't know how I ever lived without it. You've got to try it. Seriously.