All-Natural Shoe Deodorizer.

A moment of honesty: my feet smell pretty bad... sometimes. Mom has always told me, "If you would just wear socks, then your feet wouldn't smell."

Wearing socks isn't always practical. One of my favorite pairs of shoes is from the Green Toe line made by Simple. Unfortunately, this brand went out of business about a year ago, so they are no longer made. Bummer.

But either way, I love these shoes, and I will do whatever it takes to keep them smelling fresh. Here's my recipe for a natural deodorizer. I put it in a mason jar with a parmesan cheese shaker lid. Saw that on Pinterest once, so I had to find a clever use for it.

What you need:

Lavender, eucalyptus, and tea tree essential oils (or whatever)
3/4 cup baking soda
1/2 cup organic cornstarch (arrowroot powder would work well, too)

To do:

Mix the above ingredients until there are no clumps. Shake into offensive shoes. Leave for a few hours or overnight. Voila.

Recipe Review: Chickpea Bajane

 

(source)

Tonight, while I was over at Mark's place (by the way, we just celebrated our one year this past Wednesday!), I decided to try this new recipe.

How I stumbled upon this recipe is actually interesting in itself. I was at work a few weeks ago, and someone left a copy of this recipe by one of the printing stations. You can find the original recipe here.

I love anything vegetarian, as you know, and this seemed especially delicious, so I gave it a try!

Changes I made:
- unsalted vegetable broth (and I salted the recipe instead, although lightly)
- frozen spinach instead of fresh (so I added it along with the fennel and carrots)
- cooked the quinoa longer (it did not at all seem done after 15 minutes. I probably cooked it closer to 25 minutes)
- cooked the chickpea mixture longer after adding the final ingredients (probably 5 minutes)

Verdict:
This was totally different from anything I've ever made before, flavor-wise. The fennel (which I usually don't care for) was not too overpowering, but in the future, I would probably use less anyway, and more carrots. Would I make this again? Definitely! I will probably tweak it, though, so suit my own liking a little more. It was absolutely delicious, however, and I would definitely serve it to guests.