Dreadlocks 101

Well, today my dreadlocks turned one year old! I told The Hero last night that sounds silly because people don't usually have birthdays for hairstyles, but in the dreadlock community, it's actually pretty common! Dreadlocks are like wine, they get much better with age, there are necessary stages along the way that aren't so palatable, and you can rush the process but you really shouldn't, it'll be a lot better that way.

When I first decided to go dreaded, I thought I would need to see a "loctician", someone who will professionally put in dreads and maintain them, most people who have impeccably polished and straight dreadlocks do this. It is costly, and they tend to use products on the dreads. I wanted neither of those things. So I did some research and found that while I would need to be more patient than having them put in, I could do them myself and let nature take over. I looked at pictures of lots of different people and talked to lots of dread heads. There are so many ways out there that people care for their dreads and form them, and that makes sense, because there are many different types of hair out there! Straight, thin, or fine hair can't be cut, washed, or styled like curly, thick, or ethnic hair, so why wouldn't there be just as many ways to treat dreads as there are for other hairstyles? I'll just talk about what's true for MY hair here, sense that's what I'm an expert on.

If you  know me in real life or online well, you know that there's pretty much no question off limits with me. I don't offend easily and I love to help set the record straight or answer a question if I can. Today I found that when I posted a celebratory status about my dreadies one year birthday, I had a lot of friends interested in seeing pictures of them and asking questions. I'll compile that all in one place here. :)

Braden asked about the history of dreadlocks, specifically, who invented them (and what do they taste like)? That's because he's Braden. I wouldn't have him any other way. I think the history of dreads is fascinating. Dreadlocks have many different names in many cultures, some cultures have used them as a fashion and some from religious admonitions to let no metal either of comb or scissor touch the hair. They did not become popular among western society until the 1970's. Wikipedia has loads of information on the history of dreads in our society and worldwide.

Novie asked about getting started with dreadlocks, what does it take, what do you do? First step, ditch shampoo and conditioner, throw away hairbrush (be rid of temptation!), possibly cover mirrors (be rid of knowing!). I washed my hair with baking soda only for a week, to get it super clean and start to inhibit the oil production, oily hair doesn't dread well. No combing, even in the shower with your fingers. Messy is better! You will go through an ugly duckling phase. I felt like a hot mess for a while, but it pays off! At about a week into the baking soda washes, I felt ready and sectioned my hair to use the "rip and twist" method. I sectioned it into pieces about half as thick as you want your dreads, and I was very organic with my sections, just grabbing what my hair tended to split into on it's own. It took a few hours to rip and twist all of it. Be gentle, though, you don't want to be pulling out hair. I'll post a video about what I do for maintenance and you'll see the rip and twist method there, though there are lots of other videos out on the interwebs that show it as well.

Brian and Michelle both asked me about washing, which is the most common question I get and the one I'm happiest to answer! MOST people who have dreads wash them regularly. It's a misconception that you don't wash dreads. My personal washing routine, which I do once a week usually, twice a week sometimes,  involves diluting about a tablespoon of Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap (the peppermint is my favorite, I get out feeling like a york patty! Castile soap is a must, no residue!) in warm water in a container that makes it easy to pour over my hair. Then I wash like you would any hair, I scrub the scalp, sometimes with a sea salt scrub for a treat, and then I rub the dreads too, and rinse thoroughly. I think people are often surprised that I scrub the scalp. Most people don't know that dreaded hair is often loose and untangled the last two inches or so between dread and scalp, I can slip my fingers "under" each one and there's plenty of room. They would be quite uncomfortable if they were right on my scalp. Drip dry! It takes a long time to dry, about 8-12 hours for me. Jessica asked if they smell. They smell like peppermint on wash day and like hair on every other day! If you clean them regularly and let them dry thoroughly, they should never smell.

Emily and Shaina asked me about maintenance. Dreads don't need much maintenance, but there are a few rules of thumb that are super handy! Avoid: products, wax, residue. These things can cause dreads to take longer to tangle, trap moisture and ick leading to fungus or mold (ewww), and create problems leading to having to take out dreads early or chop/shave them off. That's not always how it happens, but I don't want to take any chances, and I like my dreads as clean as possible, so I don't want anything in them that could trap dirt. Some of my dreads have fallen out (I mean like a braid would fall out, not like fell off) so I re-twist and rip them, and some of my ends get looser than I like, so I twist and rip those when I feel like it. When I want them to be tighter, I spray them with sea salt water. When they're too fuzzy, you can roll them between your palms or wear a wool hat or tube or even sleep on an old wool sweater to help suck in some of the loose hair. Some people use crochet hooks to do this, I think it's damaging and time consuming, and leads to an overly-manicured look that I don't like. I don't judge if you do! The last thing to address is that dreads like to grab onto each other and intertwine to create a larger dread. In theory, they will keep doing this until all your hair is one big dread. I separate them weekly. You can add beads and ornaments like wraps to help smooth out big loops and bumps or just for fun. Here's a video of me demonstrating twist and rip on a dread that's got too much loose hair, separating some at the root, and adding a bead to smooth a bump:

 Emily asked about comparing pictures of other dreads and how they all look different, like I mentioned, different methods of maintenance and different hair types will result in lots of different dreads, as will the level of maturity of each. :)


Audra and Michelle asked about deciding to have dreads and deciding not to have dreads anymore. I got dreads as kind of a bucket list thing. I've always admired beautiful women with dreads, the confidence and natural beauty that the style seems to embody to me. I had a 3 month old baby and my hair was always looking bedraggled. I wanted a roll out of bed and go hairstyle that brought the edginess I was used to and was easy and CHEAP to keep up. I decided it was time to pursue my dream and I got the dreads! :) When I'm done with them, I can trim them to any length or leave them and comb them out one at a time with some olive oil and patience, or if I'm feeling a little G.I. Jane, I could shave them off. The Hero has threatened me though if I do that, so odds are I'll probably comb them out.  Have any more questions? Leave a comment, I'm happy to answer!

Tiny Kitchen! (or: Where I actually follow through and MAKE something off Pinterest)

   Have you been on Pinterest? If you have, you will have extra appreciation for this post. If you haven't, Pinterest is like a trapper-keeper for your internets. You can keep all the cool ideas you see online in one place, and organize them into little picture books for safe keeping. You can also look at all your friends ideas or "pins" and even strangers', then you can borrow theirs. This turns into an endless click-fest of ideas and things and pinning and re-pinning and a hoarders worthy stockpile of ideas and creativity that usually sees not-a-lot of follow-through. I am proud to say, though, that I, Mompyre, with help from The Hero, have completed a project off of Pinterest, and we made the Dragon Baby an epic little play kitchen for less than $30. *space for you to marvel at my awesomeness* I will now proceed to show you how!

Ok, first, you have to train your brain to see beyond what is into what could be. Think extreme make-over, thrift store edition. Paint is your friend! I think you could do this project for $20 or less, I "splurged" on a few things. If you spent $40-$50 you could go all out and turn out a super high-end kitchen. Where applicable, I'll break down ways to scrimp and where you could splurge.

The link that started it all: 10 Eco-Friendly DIY Play Kitchens
Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/nytepyre/

Step 1. Get the furniture first! You can make do with all kinds of different pieces, put them together, leave them apart, do one big piece, it's all up to you and dependent on your space situation. Our house is very small, so we went with a very compact little kitchenette! We're thinking of adding a fridge out of a small book case next. We spent two weekends looking at various thrift shops for something that would "speak" to us and scream Take me home! I can't wait to be your kitchen! Go with an open mind, several configurations you might like, and a price point to stick to, then let the pieces you find guide your vision. Remember to think outside the box. I wanted a unit with a back so my kitchen would have a backsplash. The Hero found a short TV stand that was perfect, but backless. I was sad until a unique tray caught my eye and became my backsplash. If you are too set on one thing, you may never find it at the thrift. For what it's worth, Salvation Army and Goodwill tend to price furniture pieces high, so looking for a more genuine thrift store with some really crappy pieces is your best bet, though don't rule the other ones out. Also, if you see a ton of hipsters hanging around outside, they've already raised their prices and are no longer a thrift store, rather, they are now a vintage boutique. They only kept the name to bring more hipsters. Run Away! If you see a family with several kids or really weird people heading in, Run Inside!

*Step 2 or 3. Get your paint on! We happened to decide to paint first and find bits and pieces later. I can't say as there's a right or wrong way to go, but be prepared to do some touch-ups if you paint first and jigsaw or drill later. Here's where I splurged a bit, but was still thrifty. I'm the kind of person who browses the paint section of a hardware store at any opportunity and picks out paint chips and colors for rooms in a house I don't even own (*yet*). I decided to buy custom paint colors.

• Super Frugal: Buy abandoned paint! Any place that mixes paint has a section of paint that is reduced in price because someone had it mixed up and then didn't want it. You can find some fun and funky colors there sometimes! It's also your best bet for getting glossy finishes cheap. Always check this section, one person's "ick!" is another person's dream color! This is especially great for me sometimes because I tend to pick bolder colors than most, so some people get scared of their choice and leave it, and I get to snatch up my perfect hue at a fraction of the cost, and I really mean a fraction, most of these abandoned paints go for easily 60-75% off. 
• Cheaply Chic: Buy your perfect tones in sample sizes. Most paint mixers have samples available of any brand, even the name brand colors. The sample sizes are usually 7-8 oz. and will definitely do a small project. We bought a sample each of my favorite muse colors of the moment, lime and turquoise, to do this project. we painted all the surface areas of the unit with two coats and we still have a little paint left of each color. A word of caution: most samples will only come in flat finish. If you're hoping for more shine, go ahead and buy the next size up which will come in any finish or a polyurethane finish to top coat with.
• Go All Out: I don't really have to explain this one, but there are tons of more expensive and fabulous options out there. Glitter finish, whiteboard paint, chalkboard paint, metallic, magnetic paint, crackle finish, you name it! Go crazy if you've got the cash and the will!

*Step 3 or 2: Get the Hardware! Or the faux hardware. We used a mix of real hardware, wood, and detail painting to get the look in our kitchen. Thrift stores are your friend here! The hardest part to find was the faucet. We found one a month or two back, when I was just talking this idea. I won't say who, but SOMEONE in my family told me not to buy the brand new faucet from IKEA's "as-is" section for $5... I regretted that decision later, when I had a hard time finding one used. Someone made up for it by finding the one we ended up going with at the thrift for $3, so I guess he's off the hook. Be persistent in finding what you want, and think of all the little things in different ways, look for shape and scale above what the current function is. For us, a small steel bowl became a sink basin, an ugly gold and paint-speckled faucet got some steel wool love and a brushed aluminum spray paint, some wooden daisies and drawer knobs from the craft store became a stove top, and a toothbrush holder became a utensil crock. A cheap curtain rod can hold up thrift store curtains, hemmed pillowcases, or store-bought curtains as well as home-made. These are used to hide food and dish storage in ours, as you'll see in the finished pictures.

Step 4: Finish and Polish! Almost there! A drill, screwdriver, and jigsaw came in handy for our design, but your design is totally yours and may be different. If you have a problem area, think of a creative solution! Some detail painting can help in the imagination department, but don't forget, kids tend to come with quite an imagination of their own, so don't stress if you're not getting all the things you want into the finished product. Remember how many things you could make out of a cardboard tube or box as a kid? The kitchen is just icing on the cake, the real magic is in the kid that will enjoy it. Add in some tiny utensils, dishes, and play foods, and voila! You've got an awesome and polished little kitchen that looks and IS worth three or four times what you paid for it, plus, it's custom, and I'd rather have this cute little thing in my real kitchen than a large, plastic beast of a kitchen I paid too much for any day!

$$Cost: I did not include in the cost total all of DB's already extensive food and dish selection, but they are from various places, the food and wooden cookware is all from the fabulous people at Melissa and Doug, and is featured on the bar over there --> where it is linked directly to Amazon, who usually have great deals on their products. The tiny pan is from the thrift store for less than a dollar, and the metal and plastic cooking utensils are a bundle from IKEA for $4. Making food out of felt is easy too, but that's a post for another day! Here's our cost breakdown:

Item	Store	Price
TV Stand	Thrift	$6.99
Breakfast Tray	Thrift	$1.19
Bowl	Thrift	$2.00
Faucet	Thrift	$2.99
Paint (2 @ 2.50)	Home Depot	$5.00
Wood Craft Spirals	Michaels'	$0.60
Wood Knobs	Jo-Ann	$1.99
Curtain Material	Jo-Ann	$3.99
Coupon!!	Jo-Ann	$(5.00)
Curtain Rod	IKEA	$3.00
Towel Holder	Thrift	$1.90
Hooks	Home Depot	$2.50
Toothbrush Holder	Thrift	$1.90
Total		$29.05

I'm a yogurt maker! Me!

We buy a lot of yogurt around here. The Hero makes a smoothie every morning and Dragon Baby and I enjoy them on occasion too, we usually have to conserve our portions a lot to make one quart of plain yogurt last each week. The yogurt we buy is a fantastic grass-fed live culture yogurt and its high quality is one of the reasons I pay $5.99 each week for the quart jar. I've been looking into ways to save money on the yogurt though, so I've been doing my research and found a few ways to do so. This method: http://www.makeyourownyogurt.com/ is the one I picked to follow for a few reasons:

• It promised thick yogurt without added ingredients or straining!
• It doesn't require special equipment
• It took steps to keep the yogurt cultures alive but other cultures out
• It doesn't require buying additional starter cultures each time
• I use the yogurt I already like for the starter, so my yogurt will be similar

Well I finished my first batch late last night, and chilled it overnight to thicken as recommended, and I cannot tell you how excited I was last night, it already smelled tasty and this morning it was so thick and creamy. I felt like a huge success! I followed the method on the link to a tee, the only thing I might add is if you have an immersion blender, it might help to make a creamier integration before putting the culture into containers for chilling, I'm sure a blender, stand or hand mixer might produce the same results. I stirred by hand and I had a hard time whipping the curds into the liquid effectively. I should also admit here that it was like 1 AM when I got to this stage and I did not want to stir, so there was a lack in motivation. :P

I love the texture of it, I really needed a slightly thickened yogurt. I held the milk at 185° F for  30 minutes as was recommended for a thicker yogurt. If you want a greek-style yogurt, you could sieve it through a cheese cloth to get your desired thickness, though you do lose some health-benefits by straining the liquids out, the remaining yogurt curds are still great for you. (If you leave it in the cheesecloth a long time, you get a cream-cheese style yogurt, FYI!)

Enjoy a picture of my tasty home-made yogurt! See how nice and thick it is? This is not strained in any way, just followed the recipe.

So let's get on with the important part: reviewing the recipe and breaking down the savings! The recipe delivered everything it promised. I'm thrilled with the results and you don't need to be a kitchen genius by any means to make this happen. I will note that my heating pad runs hot, the recipe called to run it on medium and I kicked it down to low. It's ancient, though, so don't think that will apply to you automatically!

The recipe made 2 quarts of yogurt for me, so I'll do a price comparison for you:

Store-Bought:    Home-made:                   Savings:
     2 Quarts              1/2 Gal Milk @ $3.99           Buy: $11.99          
      x $5.99                - Bottle dep. @$2.00          -Make: $1.99
      $11.99                                         $1.99           Save:$10.00

Definitely worth it! It was so easy to make and it tastes amazing! Let me know if you try it out or add any flavors (which the author mentions adding after the whole process is over, to preserve the culture!) Happy yogurt making!

La la la la la la....Our Bluesday Night

We had a bluesday night party tonight, and screened the newly released to DVD/BluRay Smurfs movie. It was actually pretty good! I didn't see it in the theater, because in addition to never having the time/money/energy/childfree time to go to the movies anymore, I'm constantly being disappointed by remakes and makeovers of things I enjoy. Especially movies. They always seem to mess up something!! I could  make a laundry list of disappointing remake movies, but I won't! Smurfs didn't do that. The smurfs I love were still there and their personalities were fantastic, there were even well placed jokes about smurf culture delivered by the ever lovable NPH. The fun twist that brought them to live action was played well and some of the voice acting was really good. I served up some blue corn tortilla chips and salsa, some sugar cookies iced with smurfs hats on them, and blueberry apple cider. The blue snacks and blue clothes set the mood for a fun movie night. I'm going to have to have movie nights more often. Themed parties are fun! Pictures for your enjoyment! (P.S. I've written a few new recipes recently, so expect them to come soon!)

UNprocessed Recipe - Green Bean Casserole

I've had some bees in my bonnet recently to work on creating recipes that can either stand up to or one up their traditional but overly processed counterparts. This one is one of my favorite holiday meal sides, that creamy green bean casserole with the crunchy onions on top. Yum! The Hero absolutely loves this casserole, and he was my inspiration to start with this one in the unprocessing process. It turned out fantastic, even better than the original, we thought. Here's how I did it:  

Green Bean Casserole

• 1.5 lb. fresh green beans, cut in 2 in. lengths

Mushroom Soup

• 2 cups diced or chopped fresh mushrooms (crimini, shitake, or portobello)
• 1 pint whole milk or coconut milk + 1/2 cup reserved
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• 1/2 tsp. rubbed sage
• 3 T. Butter or butter substitute
• 1 rounded T. flour

Crispy Shallots

• 2 or 3 medium-large shallots, sliced thin and separated
• 3 T. flour
• 2 tsp. house seasoning blend, or salt and pepper
• 3 T. water

Steam green beans to desired tenderness, pour in 8x8 square glass baking dish. Simmer chopped mushrooms in the milk or coconut milk with salt, pepper, thyme, and sage until mushrooms are well done. While mushrooms are simmering, prepare crispy shallots by tossing thinly sliced and separated shallots in seasoned flour. I use a tupperware with a lid to shake them. I used Old Bay to season mine, but any seasoning blend or simple salt and pepper will do. Pre-heat oven to 375 F.

Once the shallots are well coated in the dry flour, sprinkle in the  water to make a batter, toss again and let sit while your oil heats. In a small cast-iron skillet over medium heat, heat some oil and test a piece of shallot in the oil to see if it's hot enough. fry up the shallots leaving enough room in between that they don't become one whole fritter! It took me 4 or 5 batches in my small skillet. Turn them over once in the middle of the fry so both sides cook evenly. Remove to a paper towel or newsprint covered rack while you finish the soup. In a larger skillet or pot, create a roux with the butter or butter substitute and enough flour that you have a peanut-butter consistency roux. Stir with a spatula to keep it all moving, once it is a light tan color, slowly add in the simmered mushroom and milk or coconut milk mixture, stirring vigorously to smooth. Add extra milk to reach an easily pourable cream soup consistency. Pour the soup evenly over the green beans in the pan and top with fried shallots. Bake for 15 minutes or until hot, preferably bubbly. Let cool for just a few minutes before serving!

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We had this with a whole chicken in the crock pot. It was a tasty combo! I can't wait to dig into the leftovers for lunch this week sometime. I'm excited to get into some other traditionally processed recipes and bring them back to real food roots! If you have a dish you love that's usually heavy in the processed foods and you'd like to see my take on it, drop me a line!

God I hope they get it...

Ok, so it's a cheesy reference. Musicals run through my head 23 hours of the day. :) This is not a recommendation, but it is a share! There's a new company launching this month, and I'm really excited about what their goal is. They aim to be a buying club, much like Sam's or Costco, but for natural and organic foods. They will be a delivery service and intend to source produce local to your region. This is good for people like me, who would like good deals, but this is fantastic for people who live in organic food "deserts" where there are little or no options for buying these types of products. They are currently offering free memberships (usually $25 a year for the lowest tier of membership). I got one, and thought I might share the opportunity with you. They have a non-GMO promise, which I love, and their prices that they have up right now are very good. I've spoken with their customer service department on several occasions and I can tell you that they are really attentive and personable when dealing with customer relations, so I hope that translates well when they start real orders. I thought long and hard about whether to share or not, because I didn't want to recommend something I hadn't tried out yet, but I figured that by the time I had tried it, the memberships would all be paid only, so I'm just putting this out there for you to consider! I'll definitely update you on their performance once I've started ordering, but if you'd like to check them out before then and take advantage owaf the free memberships, you can visit them by clicking on the banner here. (You may have to watch *or leave running while you do something important...* a video about founding partner membership, or investing in their company before the free membership option will pop up, FYI!)

**EDIT: I forgot to mention that they have an exciting shopping option where you can sort products according to dietary needs, for example, you can see all their dairy-free options with one click. Same with gluten, etc. How exciting is that!?!**

Sausage and Cabbage remixed!

When I was a kid my mom would make sausage and cabbage in a steamer with some lemon pepper and smoked sausage, it was so tasty, so simple, and a taste that makes me think of fall. A comfort food for me, almost. I made the original a few weeks ago, but this week at the market I was inspired to do a different twist on the dish, by the star of my tweaked version:  Applegate Organic Chicken Apple Sausage

The meal is chicken apple sausage with carrot quinoa on a bed of wilted cabbage with chunky apple ginger sauce. I served some steamed cauliflower on the side. It turned out very tasty! I'll detail the meal here, if you try it, please share your feedback! This meal contains dairy in that I used butter, to make it dairy free, use a dairy free margarine or coconut oil in it's place. If you want to use a meat substitute to make it a vegetarian meal, I think that would be tasty too.

Apple Sausage with Chunky Applesauce, Quinoa, and Cabbage

• 1 C. Quinoa (rinse well in cold water in a sieve or cheesecloth)
• 1 Medium carrot, finely grated
• 1 T. Butter (or oil of your choice)

After you've rinsed your quinoa (rinsing helps eliminate that bitter taste it can take and brings out it's richer flavor), add it to a generous 2 cups of water and a dash of salt in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, cover and simmer until the water is gone. Add the butter and grated carrot once the quinoa has had plenty of time to rest and absorb the water. As you fluff with a fork, integrate the carrot and butter. Cover and let rest while you work on the apples and sausage.

• 1 package organic Applegate Chicken and Apple Sausage
• 4 small apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks (you can use sweeter apples or tart apples, but be sure they're fresh and firm to hold up to the heat and still have texture)
• 2 T. butter (or oil of your choice)
• 1/4 C. un-filtered 100% apple juice (or another liquid, just don't use sweetened, filtered juice! It'll turn out far too sweet or caramelize too soon)
• 1 T. grated ginger
• 1 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 salt
• a bit of fresh ground black pepper

In a large skillet with a lid, melt your butter or oil over medium-high head and add the cubed apple pieces. toss to coat evenly and brown a bit on each side. Add sausage, cover, and lower heat to medium. Turn sausage every minute or so, once the sausage is browning visibly on all sides, add the juice and spices, stir to coat the apples and sausage evenly with the spices. Return to simmer the fluid out, covered, while you get the cabbage ready. When the liquid is gone, turn the heat off and let rest.

• small head of cabbage, quartered, cored, and sliced. ( I used purple for the color and flavor, but you could do any cabbage)
• 1 T. butter or oil
• 1/3 cup liquid, broth or water
• pinch of salt and pepper

Melt the butter into a large skillet or wok with a lid. Toss cabbage in hot butter, add liquid and put the lid on to steam and wilt. When the cabbage is finished, plate in this order: bed of cabbage, top with a scoop of quinoa, sausage either in links or cut to diagonal medallions, and finish with the chunky applesauce. You could have fun with the sides and beverage choices. I'd love an oktoberfest beer or a hard cider, I'm thinking next time I cook this some warm homemade sourdough might compliment it. :) I hope you enjoy our new twist on cabbage and sausage!