Two Important Lessons

The past few weeks have been bombs for me in the kitchen and in the house, and while that should give plenty of fuel for blogging (considering the point of this blog is to share my mishaps in granola living), it's left me discouraged and unmotivated to share. I did, however, learn some valuable lessons that I need to share, now that I have finally found the time to step out of the kitchen and to plop myself down in front of a computer.

1. DO NOT under any circumstances add salt to already salted peanuts.

A couple of weeks ago I stood in front of my food processor with my notepad and pen, ready to perfect my homemade peanut butter. In went one cup of salted, roasted peanuts, one teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of oil. My plan was to gradually add more of each element until I got the perfect blend, take note of what I had added and share it with all of you lovely readers. After one whirl of the motor I took a taste and was almost knocked off my feet. The saltiness was overwhelming, to say the least. I tried adding more peanuts, more oil, honey, maple syrup, more oil, more peanuts, more honey, sugar, ANYTHING to lessen the salt flavor. Nothing worked. I couldn't throw it out because I felt bad about how may ingredients I had put into this project and furthermore, I didn't have anymore peanuts left, so I knew if I wanted peanut butter then I would have to suck it up and eat what I had made. And I did. Every last bite. Boy was I glad when it was all gone. Lesson learned.

2. Let the volcano happen IN the toilet not ON the counter.

As a wanna-be granola mother I am on a quest to remove as many chemical "toxins" from my house as possible. I am not quite sure what that even means, but I think it means I have to make some of my own cleaning products. Since I don't want to throw money down the drain I have decided to continue to use the products I already own and replace them when they run out with homemade concoctions. The first to go was toilet bowl cleaner. A quick google search brought up a ton of recipes, all centering around two main ingredients: baking soda and vinegar. Perfect! I happened to have those two in my kitchen. So, last Friday I went into my kitchen and got a measuring cup, filled it with the appropriate amount of baking soda and added the appropriate amount of vinegar. I figured I could mix it first and then put it into a spray bottle. Apparently I didn't pay much attention in elementary science because I had a volcanic explosion on my counter top. The "lava" spilled all over the counter and down onto the floor. Needless to say, I had sparkling counter tops and only half-way decent looking toilet bowls. Next time I will mix it in the toilet. Also (and this one is for free), do yourself a favor and DON'T use apple cider vinegar. It's amber color, when sitting in your toilet, looks like someone forgot to flush. It's definitely no the clean blue color I am used to, but alas, I press on.