My doTERRA story

Let's take a break from recipes and talk essential oils. 

I was first introduced to essential oils, in particular doTERRA essential oils, last summer. One of my friends invited me to a class that her sister Jenn was teaching about making homemade cleaners and spa products using common household ingredients (ie vinegar, baking soda, etc) and essential oils. Jenn is very knowledgeable and passionate about essential oils. It was a great class.

By the end of the class I was totally convinced that I needed to have some Lemon oil to try making some of my own cleaners. What do you know, it worked! Not only that, but it was actually kind of fun to clean with a fresh essential oil scent instead of harsh chemicals.

Next, I wanted to try some Lavender and On Guard, doTERRA's protective blend - good for strengthening the immune system. I used Lavender to make bath salts, fabric softener, and applied it topically when someone in my family needed help relaxing.


I started applying the On Guard on my children's feet every night before bed, and I soon noticed that they were not catching nearly as many colds, and when they did get a sniffle it stayed just that - a sniffle. This was amazing considering Nathan usually has one cold after another during cold and flu season.

By now, I was hooked, and my husband was a believer too! He and I had both taken On Guard internally when we had felt like we were getting sick and within hours felt better. (Not all essential oils can be taken internally - click here for more info on safely using essential oils).

So in December of 2012, I did what I should have done months earlier, I paid the $35 enrollment fee that allows you to receive wholesale pricing (a 25% discount). My Christmas present was ordering a beautiful diffuser and several other oils that I had been wanting. They arrived in plenty of time to be used during my labor with my third baby, and were invaluable in helping me to relax and lessening my discomfort during natural childbirth. But that is a story for another day.

Since then, I have been using the oils on a daily basis and have grown to love them even more. From the PastTense blend for headaches and tension, to Wild Orange for flavoring my water and putting me in a better mood, essential oils have enriched my family's life in so many ways. I have decided to be more active in sharing these oils with others because I have seen how they can help with so many things.

If there is a health concern that you have, please drop me a line at themenumama@gmail.com. I would be happy to send a sample out for you to try.

What are your greatest health concerns?
Do you enjoy learning about natural health alternatives? 

Healthy Thai Steak Tacos

This is Jared, my husband. He does not get a lot of face time on the blog, but truthfully he has created some of the best recipes on here.

Check out this recipe that he created: Philly Cheese-Steak Pizza.

Since Jared loves steak but we are both trying to eat more healthy foods, this recipe from How Sweet It Is immediately caught my eye. When I saw that it included mangoes (Jared's favorite fruit), I knew I had to make it.

Don't be intimidated by the ingredient list, these are quite easy to whip up. And you won't even miss the cheese or sour cream that are the usual unhealthy additions to tacos.

Healthy Thai Beef Tacos
serves 3-4
printable recipe

1 1/2 pounds flank steak
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

marinade
3/4 cup light (canned) coconut milk
1 tablespoon sesame oil
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
1/3 cup sweet chili sauce

quick mango salsa
1/2 mango, chopped
1 shallot, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
a sprinkle each of sugar, salt & pepper

tacos
1 teaspoon canola oil
8-10 corn tortillas
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
green leaf or romaine lettuce + fresh cilantro for topping

Sprinkle flank steak with salt and pepper. Combine coconut milk, sesame oil, chili sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar and cilantro in a bowl and whisk. Add flank steak to a ziplock bag or a shallow baking dish and pour marinade overtop. Refrigerate and let sit for 6-24 hours.

When ready to prepare, remove steak from fridge and let sit for 20-30 minutes. In a bowl, combine mango, shallot, jalapeno, salt, sugar and pepper, mix thoroughly, then set aside.

Heat a large oven-safe skillet (like cast iron) over high heat. At the same time, preheat the broiler in your oven. (You can also grill the steak if you wish.) Using a pastry brush, brush oil onto the skillet so there is only a very thin layer. Remove steak from marinade with kitchen tongs, placing in the skillet. Sear on both sides for 2-3 minutes.

Remove skillet and place is the oven directly under the broiler. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then flip and cook for 2-3 minutes more. This resulted in medium-rare meat for us, so cook for longer if you like your steak cooked more. Our steak was about an inch thick.

Remove skillet from oven, and place steak on a cutting board to rest for 15-20 minutes.

At this time, assemble your tortillas (warm them if desired), salsa, extra chili sauce for drizzling and cilantro. After the steak has rested, slice it into thin strips.

Assemble tacos as desired and eat! So flavorful and satisfying. My pictures really don't do this meal justice, I highly recommend checking out Jessica's blog at How Sweet Eats for some amazing pictures and more delicious recipes!

What fruit are you loving this summer? I can't seem to get enough of the cherries this year!

It's a Hard Knock Life...

This morning I ripped up a couple of old towels, dressed my kids in their swim suits, put on some kids music and had them scrub the floors with me.

We used doTerra's On Guard Cleaner Concentrate to make the mop water, so it was non-toxic. I loved not having to worry about their skin, their eyes, or their clothes!

I know, kind of reminds you of Little Orphan Annie a little, doesn't it? They were having fun though! In fact, I couldn't even get Hannah to smile at the camera, she was having too much fun scrubbing!

My floors look great! This may become a weekly routine.

What chores do your kids help you with?

***New recipe coming tomorrow!!!

Raspberry Cream Pie

Lately I have been trying not to make the Pioneer Woman's recipes. The problem is not that they are bad. On the contrary, they are usually very good. Too good. And very rich, which is not at all helpful when you are trying to lose weight.

Have I mentioned that I have lost 50 pounds in the last six months?

Okay, almost 10 of those pounds was Ray, but still! 

I didn't lose the weight by eating Pioneer Woman recipes every day, that is for sure. I will talk in future posts about what has been working for me, as far as eating healthier and getting into shape. For now, I will just say this: I do occasionally have treats. I love to make dessert, but I try to do it when there are plenty of other people around to eat the sweets with me. Otherwise I will end up eating the whole thing. No will power, people!

If you want a summer treat, this is a great recipe to try. One of the guests that I served it to even said, "I could eat this all day!" I tweaked the recipe just a little bit, using a little less sugar than Pioneer Woman, and substituting greek yogurt instead of regular. Oh, and just a tip - definitely make your own Oreo crust like the recipe says, the storebought versions just aren't as good!

Raspberry Cream Pie
serves 8 
printable recipe

25 whole Oreo cookies 
4 Tbsp melted butter
1 generous cup of raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar
2 (6 oz) containers of raspberry yogurt (I used raspberry greek yogurt)
1 (3.4 oz) package of vanilla instant pudding
1 cup heavy whipping cream
extra whipped cream and/or raspberries for garnish, if desired


Preheat oven to 350F. In a food processor, pulse the cookies until they are crushed. Before I had a food processor I would put the cookies in a ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them! Mix the melted butter in with the crushed cookies and press them into the bottom and up the sides of a pie pan. Place in the oven and bake for 3-4 minutes, just so the crust hardens. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.


Wash raspberries and spread out on a plate. Sprinkle the sugar on top and let them set and sweeten while you mix up the other ingredients.


Combine the yogurt and pudding mix (just the powder) in a mixing bowl. Beat on low for 1 minute. Add the heavy cream and beat on low for 30 seconds. After pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl, beat on medium-high for 2 minutes or until mixture is thick.


Gently fold the raspberries into the cream mixture, then spoon into the cooled pie crust and spread evenly. Freeze for at least two hours so the pie can set. About 20-30 minutes before serving, remove the pie from the freezer so that it will be easier to serve. It tastes yummy straight from the freezer, but it is hard to cut when it is frozen! Garnish with whipped cream and raspberries.

What is your favorite summer dessert?

Becoming a Better Mom

I originally started this blog as a way to share recipes and meal plans with my friends, as well as catalog them for myself for future reference. As my interests grow and change, this blog is morphing with them. Don't be surprised if you find me writing about topics other than cooking. I am looking forward to having discussions on parenting, fitness, natural healthcare (I am especially passionate about essential oils), homeschooling my preschoolers, and my faith.

Lately the topic that has been on my mind a lot is becoming a better mom. I am trying to challenge myself with new ways to have fun with my kids, educate them, and most importantly nurture them and help them grow into independent happy adults.

As I said in my blog post yesterday, I am constantly struggling with finding a balance between paying attention to all three of my young children and keeping up with my responsibilities around the house like cooking and cleaning. This fellow mommy blogger has come up with a great solution, check out her series of posts titled Why I Cook with My Children.

I need to be better about getting the older two in the kitchen with me!

I have also been struggling with discipline strategies. I tend to be too harsh with my kids, especially my oldest. I realize this is all relative and everyone has different parenting styles. The bottom line for me though is that my current parenting style is not how I want my parenting to be. It is not creating the kind of relationship that I want long-term with my kids.

I am a firm believer that I create my own destiny, so I know that I can change this. And frankly, the sooner the better before our bad habits are too ingrained. Some things I would like to stop doing are yelling and being impatient, typical mom things! I find that most days I am too focused on immediately stopping my kids' behaviors that I don't like, instead of trying to figure out what is causing those behaviors (like whining) in the first place.

I like to read good books to help me come up with solutions to problems I am having, so based on the recommendations found on ahaparenting.com I ordered these two books on Amazon:

I will be sure to let you know how I like the books after I read them!

Another slightly different way that I am working to improve my parenting is by learning more about natural forms of healthcare, specifically essential oils. Essential oils are for so much more than aromatherapy! They can be used to treat so many problems including ear infections, insomnia, depression, fevers, asthma, and so much more.

In fact, this morning I am especially excited as my youngest, Ray slept through the night last night for the first time ever - 11 hours! The longest he has ever slept before was 5 hours and it is usually more like 3-4 hours at a time. The only thing I did differently was apply a couple of drops of Serenity essential oil blend (has lavender, ylang ylang, chamomile and some others) on his spine and behind his ears, which was the first time trying this blend on him. You had better believe he won't be going to bed without this oil from now on!

I will be blogging more about this in the future, as it is really empowering to me. However, if anyone is curious to learn more in the meantime, my friend Julie Driggs is teaching a free webinar called Dr Mom, all about using essential oils on our children. She has such great information to share. It is open to the public, so if anyone would like to listen in, simply click on this link: http://www.anymeeting.com/azdoterra1 at 7 PM MST on Thursday, August 2.

In what ways are you striving to be a better mom, or a better person in general?
Have you read any good books lately? 

***Check back tomorrow for a new recipe! I served it to dinner guests that we had Sunday evening and the wife said, "I could eat this all day!"

How to make your own baby food

When my husband and I decided we were ready for a third baby, I remember thinking "This will be perfect. Nathan will be 4 by the time the baby is born. He will be so grown up and independent, it will be easy having 3 kids."

Double trouble - and always in motion!

Ha! I'm not sure what I was thinking, but having three kids ages 4 and under is anything but easy! Babies are a lot of work and baby Ray is no exception. Our Hannah-girl has a mischievous streak and must be watched like a hawk or else! And as sweet and helpful as Nathan is, he is still just a typical 4 year old - a young child who needs lots of guidance and attention.

Most days I end up feeling like one of the kids is getting the short end of the stick when it comes to my attention. On the days I feel good about how much time I have given each of them, I look around and realize my house is in shambles for lack of attention to the housework!

Ray adores his big brother

On days like that I remember that these are the days when I will make memories that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I try to keep in mind this poem I read once:

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow
For babies grow up we learn to our sorrow
So quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep 

 Even though it takes a little extra time, I have been very excited to make my own baby food this time around. We have a great food processor this time which makes it super easy, although I suppose I could have mashed it by hand in the past. I was just always a little intimidated to make my own baby food. How silly because it is so easy!

In case any of you out there wants to try making your own baby food but is not sure how, here is a little tutorial I put together:

Homemade Baby Food

ingredient ideas:
peaches, pears, apples, peas, green beans, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes are all good starter foods
be sure to buy use fresh or frozen foods, not canned because canned foods have a lot of extra sodium

To cook peaches, carrots, green beans, or peas, I cover them with water in a pot and boil until they are soft. You don't want them totally nasty and overcooked, but you will want to cook them a little softer than you would normally eat them yourself.

You can boil sweet potatoes, pears, and apples, or you can bake them. I usually bake sweet potatoes for 1 -1 1/2 hours at 400F, depending on the size of the potato. Apples and squash need to be cut in half, cored or seeded, and placed in a baking pan filled with 1 inch of water. Bake at 400F for 30 minutes (apples) or 40 minutes (squash).

Let the cooked food cool then place it in the food processor. If it was boiled to cook it, drain it but reserve the cooking water just in case you need to add a little liquid to get it to the right consistency for baby. Puree until smooth, adding water if needed.

Yum - peas!

Place in containers and refrigerate for up to a few days or freeze for up to a few months.

These containers look small but each contain at least twice what the baby food containers in the store cost, made for less than half the price!

Do you make your own baby food or any other baby products at home? Is it worth the cost savings, or would you rather have the convenience of the store-bought option? I find I am enjoying the satisfaction of knowing exactly what I am putting into my baby's mouth.

Sunday Dinner Pork Tenderloin

I have made this pork recipe several times in the past year. Each time it has turned out perfectly moist and tender with a lovely spicy-sweet flavor. The original recipe was titled Oven-Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Brown Sugar Garlic Glaze from food.com. Try it for your next Sunday dinner!

Be sure to keep checking in this week as I share some exciting changes for the blog and of course updated kid pictures!

Sunday Dinner Pork Tenderloin

printable recipe

serves 6-8

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp finely chopped garlic

1 tsp Tabasco sauce

2 pork tenderloins

2 tsp salt

1/4-1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cinnamon

2-3 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl combine brown sugar, garlic, and Tabasco. Set aside. In another bowl stir together the salt, black pepper, cumin, chili powder, and cinnamon. This is going to be your rub. Use your fingers to rub this mixture all over the tenderloins. 

Heat a large heavy oven-proof skillet with oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Add in tenderloins (we cut each in half to fit our skillet) and brown them on all sides. 

Leaving pork in skillet, pat the brown sugar mixture onto the top of the pork. Place in the middle of the oven and roast for about 20-22 minutes, until a thermometer registers 140 degrees. Remove from oven and let sit in skillet for 10 minutes (the temperature of the pork will rise to about 155 degrees while sitting in the hot skillet).

Remove from skillet, slice and serve!