Rachel Kaly, Author at Sweet Simple Living

I haven’t shampooed my hair in months…Part 2!

November 3, 2015

I was totally blown away at the response my first “no-poo” blog post got. People are clearly very intrigued by this! So hopefully this information helps some people and explains it a little bit more. I’m going to share a bit about my hair-journey and how I went from shampooing everyday to ditching shampoo entirely.

Stretching my Washes with Shampoo..
Growing up I shampooed my hair everyday. It was just the normal thing to do. I explained in my previous post that shampoo strips your hair’s natural oils, telling your scalp it needs to produce more. This is why so many people get greasy looking hair every night and have to wash their hair everyday to get rid of it. This was the case for me. At one point I had “side bangs” and sometimes I had to wash my hair once and then later in the day wash my bangs because they would already look greasy. It was bad. Last year I kept hearing more and more about how you shouldn’t wash your hair everyday because its bad for your hair. As someone with dry damaged hair, I thought I should give this a shot, so I started stretching my washes. I started off washing my hair every night. Then I started drastically cutting down on the amount of shampoo I was using, so I would focus a smaller amount on my roots and around my scalp where it tended to get oily. After my hair adjusted to this I started skipping a day. I did that for about a month and my hair got used to it so I started skipping 2 days…and so on and so forth until I was fine washing my hair every 5 days. That’s as far as I got before I decided to try this no-poo thing out. I think all in all it was probably 5 or 6 months that it took to get my hair and scalp to the point of washing every 5 days, but it did adjust. And I did notice my hair seemed healthier than before when I started doing this.

Throwing out the shampoo and going through “the transition”…
If you switch from commercial shampoo to any natural/homemade wash your hair will go through what us no-pooers call “the transition”. This is a horrible, terrible, horrendous time where your hair and scalp are freaking out because they just don’t know what’s going on. Haha that’s the best way I know to describe it. This is a whole new adjustment period that is way worse than the minor oiliness you go through when you’re trying to stretch out your washes. This phase can last anywhere from 2 weeks to several months and its not fun. If you shampoo your hair everyday and use lots of products in your hair, it could take even longer. People who already don’t use product in their hair and already stretched their washes out tend to have an easier transition phase. The hair has years worth of silicone and chemical build up that it needs to shed out, as well as getting your scalp to slow down oil production. Many people that try no-poo end up quitting early on because they can’t handle this phase, or they say that no-poo doesn’t work for them because they never really got through this phase. No poo can work for everyone, its just a matter of getting through the grueling transition phase and finding a wash method that works for your hair type. It can be a long frustrating process and I completely understand it not being worth the hassle for most people. I seriously thought about quitting more times than I want to admit. Poor, sweet Ryan had to put up with me complaining about my horrible hair, but he was so supportive and told me I’d get through it. And I did! After my very last shampoo, my hair looked good for about 5 days, which was how long I was going between washes, and then after that, it started to get greasy. And worse and worse and worse. A few people commented on my last post that they would like to try this but they’re afraid that they’d look like a grease bucket. All I can say, is you will. There’s no way around it unfortunately.. There are ways to hide it and get through it, which I’ll get to in a minute, but if you do try this, know that your hair will look bad for at least a few weeks. :/ I’ve seen so many people say that this doesn’t work for them and their hair looked awful when they tried it. Its important to realize that that is a part of the process and that its totally normal. Your scalp has to adjust to producing just the amount of oil that your hair needs, and that takes some time. Its unpleasant but you can get through it if you are really determined. My hair only looked really bad for 2 weeks before it started to calm down a little. Then about 2 more months before I felt comfortable to wear it down completely. It felt like an eternity though. This brings me to my next topic..

Getting through transition without looking like it..
I had to get creative with ways to style my hair during my transition phase. I remember the first day I had to go to work after my hair started getting really bad. I had it up in a messy bun and wore a cloth headband. My mother-in-law told me my hair looked really cute that day, so I thought that was kind of funny.. I told her I had started this no-poo thing and that that was the only way I could wear my hair because it didn’t look good. I fell in love with wearing headbands and bandanas during this time..they’re a cute girly way to wear your hair and hide oiliness at the same time. I wore a lot of ponytails too, and on a good day I could pull off a cute fishtail braid. Pulling the side back in a french braid is another great way to hide oiliness. Another thing I started to depend on was dry shampoo powder. (Although, I kind of sabotaged my transition phase and slowed it down by using it too much..) For dry shampoo I use arrowroot powder. Some people also use cornstarch. Its a fine white powder than you dust over your roots with a makeup brush and kinda massage it into your roots like you’re shampooing. It absorbs the excess oil, and then you just brush it out. This works great for me because I’m blonde. My sister has slightly darker hair and when I told her to try it, she wasn’t thrilled with it, probably because it didn’t really match her hair. Brunettes usually mix some cacao powder in to darken the powder. If you use too much powder though, it removes a lot of oil, and it is actually considered a “wash” so its not recommended to use too much of it, as it can make your scalp keep producing more oil for longer. I didn’t pay any attention to this recommendation though because I hated having oily hair so much. In hindsight I wish I would’ve used less dry shampoo because I think it made my transition phase longer than it would have been had I just sucked it up and dealt with it. 🙂 One other thing that is absolutely essential, even if you have no interest in going no-poo, is a boar bristle brush! (BBB is the quick abbreviation a lot of people use.) The natural fibers slide through the hair, spreading the oil down towards the ends when you brush. Its really important to move that excess oil from the roots, down the shaft of the hair to condition the bottom half and the ends! I brush with my BBB in the morning and before bed. It really helps when you’re trying to stretch your washes too. Here are some of my getting-through-transition-phase selfies. I promise I really don’t take selfies very often at all, so I feel somewhat embarrassed posting all these at once.. 🙂 I talked/texted my sister a lot during this time to vent about my hair and just talking about hair in general so I would sometimes send her updates on what my hair looked like, or how I was wearing it so that you couldn’t tell it was oily. I think seeing them might give someone hope that you don’t have to LOOK like you’re going through transition, and that there are ways of hiding it.

As you can see I got by wearing lots of headbands/bandanas and pinning the front sections of my hair back, or wearing my hair up. (Plus dry shampoo around the roots!) These things helped keep my hair in place so you couldn’t tell that there were any issues underneath. That was the plan at least. I hope it worked. 😉 Now I’ve actually embraced these hairstyles and wear them even when I’m not trying to hide hair issues. If you’re a hat person, that would be the ultimate way of hiding it. Or if you are a stay at home mom, or any other type of work-from-home person, you probably wouldn’t even have to worry about looking presentable. I work with people everyday at my job, so while I don’t have to look super “professional” I do have to look nice and presentable. My hair never really looked perfect by any means, but it didn’t look extremely oily and gross either, and that’s what matters. 😉 I still have battles with my hair; Its not perfect now by any means, but its getting better and I have TONS of new growth. Little baby hairs started popping up everywhere about a month after I started this no-poo experience, so I know my hair must like what I’m doing! Also, I now only have to curl my hair once a week and the curls last me all week without any product. I just throw it up in a top knot when I take a shower so it doesn’t get wet, and the loose curls stay put. Its awesome. I’m pretty low-maintenance, so for me this is one of the best things about it. 🙂

In closing, I wanted to clarify a few things.. I still DO wash my hair. Right now I wash it every 5-7 days but hope to go longer as my hair continues to get used to this. I’ll write a part 3 in a few weeks or so explaining the different washes I’ve tried. I’ve experimented with tons of different natural wash methods and I think I’ve found my wash. I want to keep using it for a few more weeks to make sure its going to work out for me, and then I’ll share more on this! I’ve had a lot of people question me about this and express interest in trying it, so I feel its important to know what you’re getting into if you do decide to try it. I just wanted to stress that one more time. 🙂 I would give it at least 2 months before quitting. If you don’t have that kind of time to deal with it or have no interest in going fully no-poo, I’d recommend just stretching your washes out as much as you can and looking for a more natural shampoo with less of those harmful chemicals! This is a great website that rates thousands of commercial beauty products and brands on their toxicity. The products rated 1-3 aren’t so bad for you, but the ratings go up to a 10 which are the worst of the worst. You can search your favorite products to see how many chemicals are actually in them, and choose better options when necessary!
Thanks for reading. 🙂 Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about my transition or no-poo!

I Haven’t Shampooed My Hair In Months Pt. 1

October 28, 2015

So I’ve been procrastinating in writing this post for months now because of the reaction I would get from people. I know there will be people who think I’ve completely gone mad to do this, but I have my reasons! And before you think I’m totally disgusting for ditching shampoo, let me show you my hair to assure you I haven’t gone complete weirdo cavewoman on you and that I still look pretty much exactly the same…Just with healthier hair. Ryan took this photo of me today. 🙂 Today marks 3 months since the last time I used shampoo!

Sooo…I haven’t shampooed my hair in months. When I first heard about the “no-poo” (no-shampoo) movement, I actually thought it was really weird and too extreme for me and knew it was something I would never do. Hahaa. I guess I changed my mind. I was switching everything else out in my bathroom cabinet so I couldn’t just leave out shampoo without trying it first!

Why give up shampoo?
So the first question people ask when I tell them I quit commercial shampoo is “Why?” “What’s wrong with using regular shampoo?” So I’ll go into that a little bit. Shampoos, conditioners, and every other commercial beauty product contains a long list of ingredients that are very obscure. Just pick up your shampoo bottle and count how many ingredients are in that bottle. How many of those ingredients do you actually recognize? Probably just the water.. Shampoos and conditioners contain chemicals like artificial fragrances, foaming agents, silicones, phthalates, parabens, and the list goes on. Many of these chemicals have been linked to cancer, developmental problems, diseases, infertility, and cause hormonal problems. Yuck! (I’m not a scientist to really be able to explain all this, but I’ll leave this link here that explains only a fraction of these chemicals and the what’s been linked to them.) But, the more of these chemicals you can avoid, the better. Also…shampoo strips our hair of its natural oil called sebum. God designed our bodies to take care of themselves (for the most part!) without us needing to do a whole lot of extra junk to supplement it. Sebum is the best conditioner/anti frizz serum for our hair, and its free! My hair used to be terrible. Dry, frizzy, brittle, course, and damaged. It still is some of these things, but as I continue this natural hair care journey and continue to trim my damaged ends, I know those things will eventually all go away! My hair has already come a long way from how it was when I was shampooing daily. If we let our scalp and body do what it was designed to do, our hair can become healthy again. When we use shampoo daily, its strips our hair and scalp of its natural sebum, drying out our hair and scalp. So by shampooing often, it sends our scalp into overdrive oil-production to combat the dryness, which makes us feel like we need to keep washing our hair to get rid of all the extra oil. Its a nasty horrible cycle that is extremely hard to break out of. Because shampoo is so drying, we also have to use conditioner…Conditioner coats our hair in silicone to make it look healthy and shiny and soft. The key is “make it look“. This doesn’t mean our hair is actually healthy, its just coated in plastic to hide all the damage from using shampoo. One last reason to give up shampoo…I’m saving a ton of money. Non salon brand shampoos seem to be around $5/bottle, plus $5 for the bottle of conditioner. I used to spend about this much every other week on shampoo and conditioner when I was washing my hair everyday. Even more if you buy fancier shampoo! I am not a math person so I’m not going to do the math of how much money I’m saving, but its a LOT. And I’m a huge fan of saving money! 🙂

When did we become so dependent on products like shampoo?
This brings me to my next point…Women haven’t been shampooing their hair for that long. Commercial shampoo has only been around 80 years. What did people do before that? Its interesting to think about! I did some research about this and found out a few things that are pretty fascinating. To me at least. 🙂 On May 10, 1908 the New York Times published this article that told women that it was okay to shampoo their hair every two weeks, which was frequent, considering the norm was about once a month or every 6 weeks during this time period! Also, keep in mind that when they say “shampoo” they weren’t using shampoo as we think of it, as it had not yet been invented yet. People used to wash their hair with regular soap which is very drying because the pH is not compatible with that of our scalp, so washing this way once a month worked for them. In the 1930’s the first synthetic liquid shampoo was invented, and that’s where it all began! People still washed their hair less often up until the 70’s-80’s when companies started telling consumers they should most definitely be shampooing everyday if they wanted to have beautiful hair. Which in turn brought in more cash for them with women purchasing more and more of the stuff. The fact is…people have not been shampooing their hair way longer than people have been shampooing their hair, and they were doing just fine before commercially available shampoo became a thing. So why does everyone use shampoo, and use it so often? The media tells us to and its just become a normal part of our culture. Also, now we need it. Once we enter into the cycle of stripping the sebum from our hair every day or every other day we’re trapped! Okay, not really, but if you want to quit shampoo its just a really extremely hard and frustrating process while your scalp adjusts and starts to realize it doesn’t need to produce so much oil!

Well, that’s it for today! I have way too much information and stuff to say about this to fit it all into one blog post so I thought I would spread it out a bit. If this sounds interesting to you at all, stay tuned or subscribe to get updates! If you now officially think I’m a freak-weirdo, you can just ignore the next few hair related posts, no worries. Haha… I’ll get around to posting more recipes soon! 🙂
My next no-poo post will be about how I transitioned my hair and scalp over from shampooing every single day to now not using it at all. I’ll also do a post about different natural “wash” methods I’ve tried so far, and what I’ve found to work best for my hair type and water type!
Thanks for reading! I know I’m crazy for doing this, and I don’t expect anyone to jump on the bandwagon with me, but if you have any curious questions feel free to ask. I might to a little Q+A post! 🙂
Read Part 2 Here!

Using 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 to Improve Ourselves + Our Relationships

October 27, 2015

This past weekend I went home to Lexington, Virginia for a friend’s wedding and to visit my parents. My parents have been having “home church” lately with some close family friends that used to go to our church and I got to experience it and contribute a little. I really liked it! I go to a big church right now, so experiencing something different was refreshing- especially with a small group of people including my parents and another family I’ve known for YEARS, so I felt comfortable enough to share and contribute. Which probably wouldn’t be the case with most people. I’m pretty introverted and tend to only share and contribute with people I feel really comfortable with. 🙂
Anyways! My dad started off talking about Luke 8: 3-14 where John the baptist was baptizing people and telling them to repent of their sins, and that their lives should show the fruits of repentance. We noted that the specific fruits of repentance were different for each group of people and we were chatting about what ours might be and how we can figure out what those might be for us individually. I mentioned that it reminded me of the fruits of the spirit as well as 1 Corinthians 13. We often associate 1 Corinthians 13 with romantic love, quoting it at weddings and such, but its not often used as a verse for practical application in our lives. I’ve always liked to use this verse for pinpointing flaws in myself. It really comes in handy! Everyone in the group seemed to really like this idea so I thought sharing it here might be helpful for others!
I’ve specifically found this verse to be helpful in relationships. Whether its family, friends, your spouse or a total stranger, we all have interactions with people that don’t exactly go so well where we know we didn’t handle something the way we should have. OR a lot of times when we have unpleasant interactions with another person, we like to point the finger at the other person and what they’ve done wrong, ignoring the way we’ve acted, or something we’ve said or done. Next time this happens to you, think about 1 Corinthians 13! It helps point the finger back at yourself instead of the other person, because in any relationship or even stranger-interaction, its a 2-way street and we need to only worry about ourselves and what we’ve done so we can admit it, correct it, and hopefully do less of it in the future. 😉
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” Specific ones that often jump out to me personally are “keeps no record of wrongs” and “not easily angered.” I can also always use a little extra patience. 🙂 I seriously believe that if you use this verse to constantly check yourself, you will be so much better for it. Ask yourself at the end of the day, or specifically after an unpleasant interaction with another person: “Was I patient? Was I kind? Have I been envious? Have I boasted? Am I prideful? Was I rude? Have I been self-seeking? Have I been easily angered? Have I been keeping track of someone’s wrongdoings? Do I delight in evil? Do I rejoice in the truth? Do I protect, trust, hope and persevere?” There is usually always at least one thing from that list that we didn’t quite do if we’re being honest with ourselves at the end of the day. This verse really helps me to remember little things that I otherwise would not have thought of. I need to remember this verse and use it more often, so I’ve designed a little printable below that can be hung on the fridge or inside your bathroom cabinet or wherever you will see it to be a constant reminder. Feel free to print it off and hang it up if you think it might help you too!
One other point… After I shared about this verse, my dad chimed in to reminded us of 1 John 4:8 that says “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” God is love. So you could also recite 1 Corinthians 13 and replace “love” with “God” and it would be true. So if we want to become more Christ-like, this is a pretty great place to start. I think it is my favorite verse now.

Blogging Bloopers…Soggy Fries and Giant Pretzel Blob.

October 18, 2015

As a way of being real and sharing my imperfections with anyone reading my blog, I am introducing Blogging Bloopers! A series I plan on continuing on and off here on my site. In the blogging world, and even just on social media in general, we always post the pretty stuff. The things that turn out perfect and the things we’re happy about, but never share the ugly stuff or the mistakes. I don’t think we do it on purpose to seem perfect or anything, maybe some people do…but it just makes sense to blog and share our successes and things that we’re proud of. I have been thinking about this and decided to just call myself out for doing this too. I know no one is going to want to read a food blog post entitled “Soggy Homemade Fries,” so I’ll spare you from posting recipes like this, but I still don’t want to pretend like this stuff never happens so here I go…A few fails from this week that I probably would have blogged about had they not been a total disasters. 🙂

Soggy Fries…
I had read somewhere that soaking your potatoes for awhile before baking them makes them more crispy and makes them so much better. I make homemade fries all the time, and thought this seemed like the best tip. So I soaked them for an hour or so. I think you’re supposed to soak them much longer for this to be effective because it didn’t do anything. Our oven is also extremely finicky. Its so hard to cook things properly. I’ve said this before, but Ryan and I are living in our fifth wheel camper right now while we save for a house so I have an itty bitty oven that requires me to only cook at low temperatures or else it burns the bottom of the food, and doesn’t cook the middle properly. Its really annoying sometimes and I like to blame a lot of my baking fails on this factor. 🙂 Anyways…after baking these fries for well over an hour, we were starving and just ate them how they were. They had a great flavor, but some of them weren’t completely cooked, some were crispy, and some were just soggy. Not exactly food blog material, but it happens!

Giant Pretzel Blob…
I just posted about having an appetizers night as something really fun to do for dinner on a weekend. This past Friday we did this and I thought it was a brilliant idea, and it would have been if I hadn’t had so much to do that day and had to rush around trying to make all this food..Next time I won’t try to make everything completely from scratch in one day and try to blog about it at the same time. Luckily my boneless wings turned out really delicious so I still had some material to blog about, but my original idea was to blog about the pretzels and beer cheese dip that I made that turned out to be a giant frustrating disaster. Haha…once again I blame that darn oven. I also blame myself for trying to rush through it. I’ve made pretzels before that turned out great so I know its possible! Anyhow…as I kept checking on my pretzels they kept getting bigger and bigger, joining each other on the pan to form one giant pretzel blob. When they were still kinda gooey and slimy, I told Ryan they looked like Jabba the hut. (He made me watch Star Wars, so I can make Star Wars jokes now haha) It looks REAL appetizing I know. Who wouldn’t want to learn how to make these babies? Oh…and the beer cheese dip didn’t turn out good either. I somewhat followed a recipe, but it was the exact same way I make cheese sauces for mac n cheese or casseroles except instead of milk, they used beer. I figured it looked easy enough. But it was not good. Ryan didn’t think it tasted like anything at all, and I thought it still tasted like beer. Which I don’t like the taste of.. so that didn’t go so well. I was probably supposed to cook it out more or something…because I’ve had delicious beer cheese dips, and they haven’t ever actually taste like beer. Oh well!

Lunch of champions…
I am always an advocate of eating homemade and unprocessed foods, and for the most part, healthier stuff, but that doesn’t mean I always follow my own advice. I went shooting with Ryan yesterday at a range, and what was supposed to be a “snack to tie us over till dinner time” turned into us eating chocolate and an entire bag of chips. Shame on me! I paid for it with a stomach ache though. We’ve all done it though, right? 🙂

That’s it for now. I’m sure I’ll have more fails as I continue my blogging journey to share with you all! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Sweet ‘N Spicy Boneless Wings

October 18, 2015

Lately I’ve been trying to get more creative in the kitchen for dinner time which led to this sweet ‘n spicy boneless wings recipe! Monday-Friday I always cook us dinner. Saturdays we usually have leftovers or go out somewhere, and Sundays we always hangout with Ryan’s family and eat with them. After getting to the point where I was bored with cooking the same types of things, and bored with a lot things we ate, I decided to try and be a little more creative with dinner ideas which led me to Pinterest and food blogs! (Which I enjoyed so much I eventually decided start my own. :)) Lately I’ve been a little ambitious, making up new recipes or trying out ideas I see online. This has helped me get excited about cooking dinner again, and especially excited to eat it. Ryan and I love food.. So I’ve been enjoying cooking things we can actually look forward to eating and having some fun with it!

This week I had the idea to do an appetizers night! This is in no way healthy, but oh well. Once in awhile is fine. 😉 Ryan and I sometimes go to Applebee’s with our friends for “half-priced apps after 9” and we have a few go-to appetizers we love to order and share. We love the soft pretzels with beer cheese dip, and their sweet & spicy boneless wings! I thought it would be a really fun dinner to just make a bunch of appetizers and pig-out. Perfect for a fun Friday night in with a movie!

So for this dinner I obviously decided to make pretzels with beer cheese dip and sweet spicy boneless wings. I’ll be sharing how I made the wings below! Fried chicken is something my dad taught me how to make and its really delicious, but for these I wanted to try something totally new to make them REALLY crispy and thick like the boneless wings you get at a restaurant. Its definitely not how I’d make fried chicken normally, the breading was thicker than what I’d want for a normal chicken dinner, but for this purpose it was perfect. Just reallyyy messy. This sauce is something I make a lot to go on asian stir fry type dishes. Its sweet, spicy, and garlic-y. These tasted great dipped in the sweet spicy sauce, then in some ranch! Just like how we do it at Applebee’s or Buffalo Wild Wings. 🙂

Fried Chicken Ingredients:
-1 package (1-2 lbs) boneless chicken breasts (or actual boneless wings if you want..)
-1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar)
-1/4 cup water
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-1 tbs. paprika
-salt & pepper
-other spices optional
-extra whole wheat flour + breadcrumbs for dusting
-vegetable oil for frying

Sauce Ingredients:
-3 tbs. cornstarch
-3 minced cloves of garlic
-1/2 cup pineapple juice (orange juice is good too!)
-1/4 cup raw honey
-1/4 cup coconut sugar
-1/2 tsp. ground ginger
-1/2 tsp. pepper
-1 tbs. soy sauce
-1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
-2-4 tbs water

Directions:
Cut chicken breasts into nuggets size. Fill a shallow pie pan with equal parts flour and breadcrumbs. Coat all nuggets with flour mixture. In a separate bowl mix the buttermilk, water, flour, and spices into a thick batter. Add more water if its too thick. Carefully dip each nugget into the batter, coating it completely, then coat it in the flour mixture again. Heat about a 1/2 inch of vegetable oil in a skillet and add the chicken pieces and cook over medium heat until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
To make the sauce, add all ingredients to a saucepan except for the water. Heat over medium, stirring frequently until a thick sauce forms. Add a few tablespoons of water as needed to create your desired consistency. Coat the wings in the sauce or just use it for dipping, whichever you would like. Enjoy!

Yummmm…These would be good with tons of other sauces too. Or even as plain ol chicken nuggets. I love me some fried chicken!

Follow Christ, not Christians

October 17, 2015

Originally when I started this blog, I thought it would be a fun place to share my recipes, photos, and natural living tips. I didn’t really plan on writing posts about Christianity or my faith, but I guess this is just a place for me to share a little bit of everything in my life. 🙂

When I’m by myself on a quiet day my mind tends to wander. The other day while my mind was wandering I got to thinking about Christians, and specifically what it looks like to be a Christian. I think if we were to be honest, most people have in their mind, an idea of what the “ideal Christian” looks like. That person that just seems to have it all together. Maybe its that facebook friend who’s always posting encouraging scripture verses on her page.. Maybe its your sweet old grandmother who went to church faithfully every day and quietly read her Bible every night before bed.. Maybe its that person you know who’s always talking about God in every conversation, or the person who always gets really into the praise and worship at church.. Maybe its your pastor or youth pastor or some famous Christian leader.. Maybe its a missionary who’s actually out ministering to people and doing good everyday. Whoever it is, I’m sure we all have people we kind of look up to and put on this pedestal of “amazing Christian person that must really have it all together” as well as the idea of how we are supposed to talk or act to fit in with this ideal type of person.

I think sometimes we, as Christians, find ourselves thinking about people like this and comparing ourselves to others and how they express their faith. We think about our shortcomings. We think that our expression of faith is somehow inferior because it doesn’t look like someone else’s. We forget to realize that God created us all very differently. We all have different personalities, different talents, and different callings. I was reminded this week that we are not supposed to try and become more like other Christians, but more like Christ. (This seems like a duh moment. Haha but it really clicked for me.) Christians are messed up people, just like everyone else. Christians will let you down and always fall short, because we’re all human. There are no ideal Christians, and no people we should strive to live up to or become like. Only Christ! He loves and appreciates us exactly where we are and how we are. He also takes pleasure in every expression of faith and worship, no matter how big or small, loud or quiet.

Well, that was it! Short and sweet…I just felt like I should share my thoughts. If you’ve ever felt like you don’t quite measure up to your idea of that “ideal Christian person” maybe it’ll be a great reminder for you too that that doesn’t exist, and becoming more like Christ should always be our ultimate goal, and that looks different for everyone. 🙂

5 Ways I Get Rid of Headaches Naturally

October 13, 2015

Headaches used to be a pretty common issue for me. I would get at least a couple every week it seemed like, and sometimes more. About a year ago Ryan and I were chatting about drinking water and he told me some things he had read about how much water you’re supposed to drink per day and how practically no one drinks as much as they should. He also said if he ever has a headache, he chugs a water and it usually goes away. I thought there had to be something to this! (Not that I should’ve been surprised.) When I was younger I didn’t drink much water at all. I basically only drank it when I was doing sports, and never any other time. Last year I decided I was going to start drinking a lot more water and it really changed a few things in my life! My skin got clearer, I had more energy, and I got way less headaches which was a miracle. Although headaches are not common for me anymore, I do still get them on occasion for various reasons, and I have a list of go-to remedies that I’ll try and usually have quick success with! If all else fails I will take some ibuprofen, but its usually not even necessary anymore which is awesome! Here is my list of 5 ways I get rid of headaches naturally!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links that earn me a small commission if you purchase something through them but don’t cost you a thing. I only link to things I actually use and love myself.

1- Chug a Water Bottle

You should’ve seen this one coming. 🙂 Majority of the time when I get a headache it is because I slacked off in the water-drinking department and I’m dehydrated. If I have a headache and I know I didn’t drink enough water that day, this is always the first thing I do. Sometimes this is all that I need to do to get rid of a headache! If I did drink a lot of water, I’ll usually still try to drink more because it does still help most times.

2- Essential Oils

Something I always always keep with me in my bag is my little roller bottle blend of headache essential oils. I bought this blend from Eden’s Garden and it is my favorite. It is a blend of basil, chamomile, frankincense, lavender, peppermint, rosemary, sweet marjoram and wintergreen. I very highly recommend it and I use it every single time I get a headache! In my roller bottle, I put about 30 drops of this blend in, and topped it off with some grape seed oil to make it last longer. Even at this diluted concentration it usually works well. If I have a killer terrible headache, I’ll use the oil straight from the bottle so its much stronger. I would recommend testing a small patch of skin with the oil before using it neat though because it could be too strong and irritating for some people. I personally love it and it doesn’t bother my skin at all. Before I purchased this blend, I also had success just using peppermint essential oil by itself, but I do prefer this blend to straight peppermint oil. I put the oil on my temples, and along my hairline on my forehead, and on the back of my neck. It smells very minty and feels very cold on your skin. A combination of the cooling effects and the smell work together to ease away the pain of a headache. If my headache is mild, using this oil usually takes it away by itself. If I have a terrible headache, this usually won’t completely take it away, but I still use it because it is extremely soothing and makes a headache a lot more tolerable to deal with while I try other remedies to finish the job!

3- Heating Pad or Rice Pack

I absolutely love rice packs. I’m pretty sure that’s not actually what they’re called but for some reason its always what I’ve called them. 🙂 Its basically an oversized bean bag filled with rice that you microwave and use as a heating pad. They’re awesome for back or stomach cramps and pain, injuries, or headaches. I bought this exact one (not an affiliate link) off Etsy a few years ago and have gotten plenty of use from it. Heating pads would also do the job, but I like the weight of the rice pack; something about the heaviness with the heat is nice. I typically don’t use this for a headache unless its a really bad one. I’ll heat it up for 2-3 minutes and rest it on the back of my neck. If feels SO good and soothing. If I do this at the same time as using essential oils, it is seriously so relaxing and comforting. The combination of the hot and cold feeling does something magical.. It gives me almost instant relief, but the downside is this only works if I’m just chilling at home. If I’m out and about or at work or something, I obviously can’t walk around with a bag of rice on my neck. Haha

4- Eat something

This might not help everyone, and it doesn’t always help me, but sometimes it does, so I thought I would include it. I’ve struggled on and off with low blood sugar issues my whole life. I always have to eat every meal in a timely manner, and eat enough or I will get sick.. This happened all the time when I was little if I didn’t eat soon enough. I would start feeling weird and shaky and just have absolutely no energy. Then I would get a killer headache. Then I would feel nauseous. If I got to that point, it was too late. Nothing would help. I would feel so nauseous and sick that the thought of food would make me want to gag. A lot of times I would actually get sick, despite my empty stomach. Because of this weird issue, I try to always make sure I have a plan for my meals, and if I’m relying on someone else for this, I keep snacks with me. It has saved me from many otherwise inevitable headaches before. I can always tell if a headache I have is being caused by this because I’ll feel weak and shaky and obviously hungry. If I have a blood sugar headache and I eat something quickly it will go away right away. Some foods that I’ve noticed over the years that help with this are anything with natural sugars. Especially if I’m already nauseous and nothing else sounds good, I can usually eat some fruit, and the natural sugars help me bounce back. Side note: Since drinking more water, this is another thing that has significantly reduced. I don’t get low blood sugar as often!

5- Reduce/Remove any tension

This includes everything from switching to glasses if contact lenses are causing the eyes to strain, taking your hair down if its pulled back or removing headbands or hats. It also includes stretching your back, shoulders, neck, and jaw. One time I had a terrible headache all day that I could not get rid of. I had tried everything above, as well as taking actual medicine, multiple times, and could not figure out why my headache wouldn’t go away. Eventually I realized I had a headband on so I took it off, and 10 minutes later my headache was gone. That little bit of pressure can sometimes do this. I’ve also had this happen with ponytails if I have my hair pulled back for several days in a row. By removing strain, you’re removing the cause of the headache. Some people have a really tense neck/shoulders/back from sitting or standing all day, and a lot of people also have a tense jaw (Me). If I’m concentrating on something, or if I’m anxious or stressed about anything, or even if I’m just driving, my jaw tends to tense up without me even realizing it. I regularly stretch my jaw and it has helped a lot. Stretching in general really helps you relax and ease any tension you may not realize you have, and make a headache go away faster.

Bonus- Acupressure Techniques
I added this as a bonus because I’ve never actually tried it yet. I was Skyping with my sister yesterday telling her this idea for a blog post, and she told me about it! There are certain pressure points on our bodies that, if massaged, can release headache tension and relieve the headache. Here’s what she has to say:
“I use pressure points in my hands to get rid of headaches. I mainly get tension headaches, and heard that the best way to relieve headache pain was to massage the L muscle in your palm. (The largest muscle that you see when you make an L shape with your hands.) It takes a few minutes of deep tissue massaging but you immediately start feeling the pressure release. Once I’ve massaged both hands my headache feels much better.”

The next time I get a headache I will definitely try this! Does anyone else find success with these things or have any other go-to natural remedies for a headache before resorting to sleeping or taking medicine? Let me know!

My Photo-Biz Journey

October 11, 2015

This is a question I hear pretty often, so I thought I would address it here and explain a bit about my experiences in starting my own photography business, where it has ended up, and my future with it. This is kind of long and goes into details that I feel are important in understanding my journey and decisions I’m making for myself and my business. You’ve been warned. 🙂

For those who don’t know, I have a photography business that specializes in portraits of families and children, while occasionally shooting other things like couples, engagements, seniors, etc. I started this business unofficially during the fall of 2011 kind of by accident. I always really enjoyed photography, but knew nothing about the technicalities of it. An old classmate of mine contacted me about shooting his engagement photos. As someone who just purchased my first “real” camera and loved taking photos, this seemed like the coolest and funnest opportunity, so I took the job, not knowing what I was doing whatsoever. 🙂 After that session I was so excited, and thought I had done a pretty awesome job. (Ha! If I only knew.) From there I went on to create a Facebook page to share my work, and spent my days learning more and more about photography, light, shooting in manual, interacting with and posing clients, contracts, legalities, taxes, business licenses, and the list goes on. I used my friends and sister as my subjects, doing fun photoshoots all the time which helped me grow. Somehow this passion eventually did turn into a real, professional, tax-paying business, and I did get much better at it!

I’ve always had pretty realistic expectations about my business and knew that if I ever wanted it to be a full-time job then I would have to do a few things- Charge a lot more for it, work a lot harder, and continually invest a ton of time and money back into it. Becoming a full time professional photographer can be done, but it is incredibly challenging hard work. I have a few photographer friends who have done this and I have so much respect for them. It is really not an easy job. Even though it may look and seem simple, easy, and fun- it is WORK. I found this out in a huge way when I relocated my business from Virginia to Tennessee.

In Virginia my business was pretty small-time, but also growing. I lived in a very small town where everybody is connected by mutual friends and acquaintances. Word of mouth goes a long way in a town like that and its the best advertising you can get! Here in Tennessee I live in a suburb town of Nashville which is a lot bigger than what I’m used to, and growing rapidly. And of course when I first moved I didn’t know anyone. There are wayyyy more people here, and also way more photographers. I didn’t have a clue as to what I was going to do to get my business up and running in my new town.

I did some research for ideas, and talked to a few photographer friends and eventually decided that I would post a “deal” on Living Social and Amazon local for my business. If you’re not familiar with these sites, they work with local businesses to give them a boost of traffic by advertising for them and selling a voucher for their service that is significantly discounted- which is awesome for consumers and sucky for the business owner. Just saying. At the time I thought this would be the easiest and fastest way for me to get my name out there even though it would mean working for next to nothing. The deal sites took my normal rate, which was already very low at the time, cut it by 75% because they said they can’t sell photography vouchers for any more than $xx amount, and sold the vouchers for that much. In turn I got roughly 40% of the total profit. They got half, and I got half, but the credit card precessing fees got taken out of my half so it ended up being even less. Once the deal was finished, I ended up selling about 60 vouchers for hour long photo sessions, which I was stoked about. Little did I know, I was about to lose my love for photography and be completely miserable for the next 5-ish months..

After spending hours of time responding back and forth to emails from that many people, trying to schedule that many sessions (while working a normal day job), traveling to and from the sessions, actually shooting them, culling and editing the photos, and then following up with the individual clients, I ended up making significantly less than minimum wage for a ton of very stressful time-consuming work. When I ran the deal, it was the late summer of 2013, which meant that everyone who bought a voucher wanted fall photos in time for Christmas, and I was trying oh-so-hard to accommodate everyone’s wishes. I was working like crazy y’all. Every single Saturday and Sunday that year I had a session or two and even some during the week. I think one weekend I had 5.. I had zero time to enjoy my favorite fall season or do anything other than work, take photos, edit, and email people. During this time, I started to really hate photography, and honestly, I dreaded every single photo session I booked. If someone had to cancel or reschedule last minute or if we got rained out, instead of being bummed/upset/annoyed which would be a normal photographer’s reaction, I REJOICED. I knew that had to be a bad sign. I was burnt out and found absolutely no joy in my business anymore, which was really sad!

Eventually the crazy rush of the Living Social clients subsided, winter began, and I got to lead a calm pleasant life again, but I was left wondering. Wondering if it was worth it. Wondering if anyone would actually rebook me with my normal prices after paying a fraction for the same thing previously. Wondering if this was the beginning of my success story, or if I was done. I decided to be proactive with the base of clients I had formed and I used a variety of marketing strategies to try and keep my business going. Email lists, mini sessions, referral cards, hand-written thank you notes, repeat client discounts, black Friday deals. To make a long story short, I never really found anything that worked that well for me.

Business has slowly dwindled and dwindled, and eventually I just stopped trying. When asking successful photographers for advice, they’ve always said the same things. “Raise your prices…You’ll find clients that really value you once you charge more…You need to value yourself and your time and your art and then you’ll find the type of clientele who will…If you keep offering deals, you’ll only attract people looking for a deal…You can’t be successful unless you’re charging enough for your time…” And so forth. These types of sayings are all too common to hear in photography groups. They emphasize all these points from a business and money perspective. I know that these statements are true, but they’ve always come off as harsh and almost snobby to me. Please know that I mean no disrespect to any photographer who has ever given advice like this- I know this way of thinking is what has led to many successful businesses, but to me, it makes it all about the money which has been what’s ruined it for me. I guess I’m just not much of a business person! When I was constantly hearing those things, and thinking about my business from that point of view, I got kinda caught up in my ego and thinking about how much my skills were worth and how to find people who would finally see that and appreciate it and pay for it, which then made me feel snobby, which then made me feel guilty. My goal with my business was never to make a ton of money. It was to do something I loved as a job, with the perk of getting paid for it and creating beautiful images for people to treasure. If I didn’t love it anymore, what was the point? Over the course of the past couple years I tried raising my prices and I’ve tried discounting them. Both have given me minimal results at best, and neither ever made me any happier with my business.

Whew!!! That was a lot of stuff to get out. I write all of that to basically say…My business is on the back burner right now. I haven’t totally quit, but I’m also not really moving forward. I’m trying to find my love for photography again and to stop thinking of it as work. This year I’ve had a handful of paid sessions, and that’s it. I’m enjoying most of my weekends photoshoot-free and absolutely loving it; not taking any spare weekend for granted. I’ve started taking photos for me again, of things I want to take photos of (mostly nature, food, and everyday memories). I’ve volunteered my services for my church, which I’ve enjoyed, and I’m taking some photos for friends home in Virginia, for free/donation or as a trade/barter, and that’s the way I like it right now!

This might be totally weird, but when I get paid to do a session I feel like there is so much more pressure on me. Its a totally different mindset to me to volunteer my time for people who I know genuinely appreciate it, versus just getting paid to do a job and having certain expectations put on me. I have more creative freedom with volunteered work, and I feel legitimate joy for being able to help and give someone that gift. The formalities and money aspects of business were truly turning me away from something I used to have a real love and passion for. I’ve had family and close friends encourage and persuade me to stick with it, telling me I can do it, and saying that I shouldn’t “waste” my talent but honestly, it would be a true waste for me to continue to do business like that and to keep dreading and loathing photography like I did. The little money I was making just wasn’t and isn’t worth it to me.

Maybe I will decide to quit my business. Maybe I’ll take a year or two off and revive my business feeling fresh and renewed. Maybe I’ll go on to have an incredible successful photo business in the future. I really have no clue at this point. I’m open to any and all of those options, but right now I’m just starting to fall in love with my hobby again, and its been a slow process. Prayers and encouragement are more than welcome! If you’re one of my clients reading this, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for trusting me to capture precious memories of your family. I truly appreciate each and every person who’s ever hired me and don’t want anyone to think I’m opposed to working with them in the future. If you are interested in a session, please do reach out to me. For the rest of this year at least, I’m not turning away opportunities for photo work, I’m just in the slow-lane and not actively pursuing bookings. If for some reason I’m not able to work with you, I still have lots of photography connections and will be more than happy to find someone in your budget who can work with you. OR I am always open to trading and bartering as I wrote in my previous blog post. If you have a service, skill, or product you offer and want to trade for photos, please let me know!

If you read all of that, thanks so much. I know it was long. If anyone has any questions regarding my business please don’t hesitate to ask. I know that wasn’t exactly a good news post, but its also not bad news, because I’m in a better place now and enjoying life and finding more inspiration. That, to me is so much more important. 🙂

My 5 Favorite Old Fashioned Habits

October 9, 2015

This is a just for fun post to learn about me and some of my *new* favorite old fashioned habits. 🙂

5- Letter-Writing:

Since moving away from home I’ve occasionally written home to mom and dad, and now its a more regular thing and my dad writes me back on behalf of them both. I also now write to my sister MaryBeth in Alaska and my cousin Mandi in Massachusetts. Some of my favorite people ever! With Facebook and the internet its really easy to talk to people whenever you want, but there is something SO so special about receiving a handwritten letter or note in the mail that someone took the time to write you. Especially when its filled with hilarious inside jokes and bright colorful stickers all over it (MaryBeth ;)) I keep and treasure every note I get, no matter how unimportant the contents might seem. If any family or friends want a pen pal, let me know, I write back! Getting mail is so great and always puts a smile on my face!

4- Growing a Garden:

This past summer was the first time I tried gardening. I really enjoyed it and had a pretty successful season! My dad had a garden growing up for as long as I can remember, and fresh summer vegetables just can’t be beat. A quote that I love is “Growing your own food is like printing your own money.” I’m not sure who said that, but its so true! This past summer I had a container garden since I don’t have my own yard or space for a ‘real’ garden yet. I grew zucchini, bell peppers, cayenne peppers, tomatoes, onions, and herbs. Watching the little seeds sprout in the spring and turn into full plants is so rewarding and exciting. After this past summer, I can’t imagine not having a garden every year.

3- Repurposing/Reusing Things:

Repurposing and reusing things that would otherwise go in the trash is not only creative and fun, but it is useful and can save money too. If we have old clothes that aren’t donate-able, Ryan usually uses them for “shop rags” since those are usually used for messy jobs anyway. I also love saving any glass bottle or jar to store my different homemade beauty products and such. Canning jars are always handy too for storing things like homemade broth. Mason jars are usually about $1 a piece if you buy them new in the store, but save an old honey jar and its free! You can also make cute decorations out of things normally thrown out. This is a photo of a blue-tinted wine bottle that I took the paper wrapping and sticky residue off to make it into a cute vase for my sunflower. 🙂

2- Trading & Bartering:

This is something I would really love to do more of. Trading and bartering your skills, services, or product for another person’s used to be common, but doesn’t seem too common anymore. I design logos and also do food and portrait photography and have loved trading for services with others before. These photos are from a shoot I did with my former hairdresser (I say former because she moved away. :/) We traded a cut and color for a photo session of her and her husband. I think I was extra lucky with this one, because look how photogenic they are! These ended up being some of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken. I also love to barter with my high school friend, Meghan. She’s an excellent seamstress and makes amazing outfits and photography prop items. She also made table runners for my wedding. (Check Out Her Etsy Shop) I helped her design her logo and I’m also taking her family portraits later this month. Trading and bartering is an all-around win for everyone involved! You both get something you want for basically free. Sure, you’re giving away your own service, but for most people, giving away a service is better than paying for something with money. Its also a great way to network. (If anyone I know has a skill, service, or product and you want to barter with me for design or photo work, please let me know! Even if its something I don’t need right now, I’d love to have a network of people to trade and barter with in the future! Its seriously the best!)

1- From-Scratch Cooking:

This one is probably obvious if you’ve read my blog or know me at all.
Some time, not long after Ryan and I got married I decided we were going to eat healthier- but not in a going-on-a-diet type of way or avoiding carbs or fats, but more of a eat-only-whole-foods-made-from-whole-ingredients type of thing. For me, this just meant to stop buying processed commercially made food and products and to start making my own stuff, the old-fashioned way. As much as I can anyway. 🙂 This doesn’t exactly mean everything we eat is “healthy” as some people think of “healthy”, but its made from whole ingredients and isn’t so processed with preservatives and whatever else goes into that pre-packaged stuff, so it is healthier.
Doing this has made me a much better cook! I’ve learned how to make so many things I would have just bought a mix or box to make before. This not only saves us money, but its better for us, and obviously homemade always tastes better. I love it! Some of the things I used to buy pre-made were boxed side dishes like flavored rice, or scalloped potatoes, boxed muffin and brownie mixes, packets of spice mixtures, frozen hashbrowns and french fries, pizza crust mix and pie crusts, etc. This seemed kind of challenging at first but I got used to it in no time and learned how easy it is to make stuff myself even if it takes just a bit longer. This is still a work in progress and there are still a handful of items I haven’t quite mastered to make myself, but I’m working on it! Convenience food is great sometimes, don’t get me wrong, but most evenings I have time to make things myself- it just takes a little bit more planning ahead. And it doesn’t take that long at all now that I’ve gotten the hang of this. 🙂
What are your favorite old fashioned habits? Does anyone else love letter writing, bartering, or gardening? Does anyone want to barter for some photos!? Let me know in the comments. 🙂

Peanut Butter Mug Blondie

October 7, 2015

I love recipes that I can have done in under 5 minutes. Especially desserts! I don’t normally keep sweet stuff on hand, so anytime we want dessert I’m in the kitchen whipping something up. This recipe is so perfect for a quick weeknight when you’re watching movies and need a quick sweet tooth fix. Grab your favorite mug and mix up a delicious peanut butter blondie! This is also really fun and easy to customize if you want to get creative and experiment!

Ingredients:
-5 tbs homemade baking mix (or pancake mix, bisquick, or flour + 1/8 tsp baking powder)
-1 1/2 tbs coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
-1 tbs melted butter
-3 tbs milk
-1/4 tsp vanilla
-1 tbs peanut butter
-2 tbs chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix all ingredients well in a mug at least 12 oz. in size. (It doesn’t look like much when you have it in there, but it rises and almost doubles in size when cooked!) Microwave on high 1-1:30 minutes until dough is firm in the middle. ENJOY!

Side note…This makes kind of a big portion. I’ve made this a few times and have never been able to finish mine. Its perfect size for a man. 😉

Whole Wheat “Bisquick” Baking Mix

October 6, 2015

Hey y’all! My blog got a makeover today, what do you think!? I am so excited to have purchased my first theme. (I got it from this Etsy shop.) Anyways, this post is about making your own “bisquick!” I’ve had several people ask me for this recipe so I thought it was time to share it on here. I’ll also be adding some recipes for things you can make with it! I use this ALL the time. Ryan always cooks breakfast for us in the mornings, so I like to have this on hand to make life easy when he wants to make pancakes. I also use this for homemade biscuits, my mug cobbler, and in mug blondies! (I made this the other day and they turned out SO good. I’ll be sharing this recipe soon!) So this stuff really comes in handy and is so so simple to make. I make mine in a giant mason jar so I can just add the 4 ingredients and shake it up. Here you go!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links that earn me a small commission if you purchase through them but don’t cost you a thing. I only link to items I truly love and recommend.

Ingredients:
-4 cups whole wheat flour (I love this brand)
-3 tbs. baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp salt

Mix well! 🙂

-To make pancakes, mix 1 cup of mix with 1 cup of milk, 1 egg, and 1 tsp vanilla.
-To make biscuits, mix 1 cup with about 2 tbs butter and about 1 cup of milk. Knead with more mix until its a biscuit dough consistency. Roll out and cut into biscuits, or just make drop biscuits!

If you have a wide funnel like this one, it makes it really easy to make the mix in a jar!

Healthy Pumpkin Donuts With Sorghum & Honey

October 2, 2015

It is officially pumpkin-everything season, and if you’re like me, you try and make and eat as many pumpkin flavored things as possible. After all, that’s one flavor that you’re only supposed to eat in the fall! And it makes fall all the more special. 🙂 I absolutely love pumpkin bread and wanted to create a healthy recipe that we could enjoy all season long.
This is my second attempt at a pumpkin bread recipe. My first attempt was…not so good. Our teeny tiny oven is pretty difficult to use sometimes. Ryan and I are living in our fifth wheel camper right now while we save for our first house. Its pretty fun, and I truly am enjoying this season of our lives, but I do not enjoy our oven.. I have to cook things longer at a lower temperature to get things to cook all the way through without burning which can be a challenge with some recipes. So that was an issue with baking a thick loaf of pumpkin bread. It also turned out way too UN-sweet. I wanted lightly sweetened, but the previous recipe wasn’t hardly sweet at all which is no good..So I revamped it and swapped my loaf pan for a donut pan. This attempt was much better!
My dad suggested to me that I try using butternut squash instead of pumpkin. I had never heard of this before, but he said that its sweeter than pumpkin. He also told me that butternut squash is all my Nanny ever used in her pumpkin recipes. That was enough reason to give it a shot! So I guess technically these are butternut squash donuts, but that doesn’t sound as good. Haha
The ingredients that make these donuts sweet are the banana, sorghum, and honey!

Disclosure: This post has affiliate links that earn me a small commission but don’t cost you a thing. I only link to products I use and love myself.

Ingredients:
-1 medium butternut squash (or about 1 3/4 cups pureed squash)
-1 banana
-2 eggs
-2 tbs sorghum syrup
-2 tbs honey
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 cups whole wheat flour (I use this)
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-2 tsp vital wheat gluten (I use this)
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
-1/4 tsp nutmeg

Directions:
Peel and seed your squash. Cut into cubes and boil until cooked. Puree the cooked squash. (This takes some time so I did it the night before.) Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. If mixing by hand, mix wet and dry ingredients separately before mixing them together. Grease your donut pan (Buy one here, they come in handy!) and add the batter. Bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes. You can eat them as-is, sprinkle powdered cinnamon sugar on top for a sweeter treat, or make a glaze!

*Notes on Sorghum: Curious about sorghum? I didn’t know anything about it until I visited the Amish farms with my parents a few weeks ago. I bought a huge jar of the stuff for just 6 bucks so I had to read a bit about it! Its similar to molasses. Check out the photo below for a few fun facts about it. 🙂 If you don’t have sorghum (which is highly probable) you can substitute any other natural liquid sweetener like more honey, maple syrup, or molasses.