i love food. i mean, i really truly am madly in love with food. that's why i married a cook!

this blog was originally started to write about food. i have expanded to all kinds of things available alongside food, like shampoo, conditioner, dishwasher powder, and laundry detergent. i hope i can enlighten your curiosity.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

dish soap

eric hates the trader joe's dish soap.  and vocalizes this opinion almost every day.

its true, its not very sudsy.  but it does work.  i don't think we'll be buying it again.  its our second try, one with the lavender, now with the orange, and its just not good enough.

we really liked the method dish soap.  its got the awesome pump, though not a foaming pump.  we need to find a 'green' version with the foaming pump so eric stops using the foaming hand soap as dish soap.  i think we can get the foamy bottle and make it ourselves from normal dish soap, i'll have to look into it.  we'd probably use less dish soap in the long run that way.

has anybody else used a foamy bottle and made their own foaming dish soap?

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

breakfast adventures

we've either been a bisquick or from scratch pancake makers.  this morning mini and i made pancakes using trader joe's buttermilk pancake mix.  i just used the recipe as it is on the box, no special additions, no jazzing it up.  they were BORING!  not horrible, just fairly flavor free.  usually we throw in some vanilla, maybe some sugar, brown sugar if we're feeling saucy, but i wanted their base-line pancake just to see what we're working with here.  next batch will be getting the fancy additions, because these were just... bland.  minerva didn't mind them at all, she ate 2 of them without complaint, or even seemingly noticing that they were different from the usual.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

trader joe's liquid laundry detergent

i am in love with trader joe's laundry detergent! (liquid)  you could use it in an HE machine, it smells fabulous with lavender essential oil, and it works pretty well, too!  i'm routinely impressed with what washes out of our clothes without any added effort.  plus, perhaps one of the key selling points, its cheap!  we're talking less than $10 for 64 loads of laundry.

i belong to a cloth diaper group, and every single time somebody asks for opinions about detergents, i always pipe up about trader joe's laundry detergent.  i have the powder, too, as i've heard it suggested that the powder is better for cloth, but really i haven't noticed any specific difference.  so i just switch them off, depending on my mood, and how dirty the diapers are that particular load.  (heheheh load heheheheh)  so far so good on both accounts, but the powder is unscented! where's the fun in that!?

i don't care if i become a millionaire and can afford any kind of washer and detergent that i want, i will still use trader joe's.

Friday, February 15, 2013

shiny happy hair

i have never been a brand-loyal hair product user for any length of time.  i switch back and forth, use new products, fall in love, find something new, fall in love with that, and on and on.  for the past few years, i've been experimenting with trader joe's and whole foods shampoos and conditioners.  both are eco-friendly, no animal testing, contain organic ingredients, no SLS, parabens, all the goods.  so whats the difference?

trader joe's tea tree tingle shampoo and conditioner

this is our go-to shampoo and conditioner.  its refreshing, its organic, and it leaves our hair soft, shiny, and clean.

whole foods mint conditioner

last year, i bought the lavender shampoo and conditioner, and i was not pleased.  the shampoo SUCKED!  so i didn't buy either again.  but i did remember the conditioner being ok, so i tried it again, as its fairly inexpensive, plus this time i noticed that they have multiple formulas.  maybe this is new?  either way, i got the normal to dry hair conditioner this time.  i'm pleasantly surprised.  my hair is shiny and super soft.  eric, however, has been a bit greasier than usual.  perhaps he needs to stick with the trader joe's.