Cloth diapers

This blog entry is more in line with the ideals we have here at the Kitchen Kennel. I've been trying for quite some time to use cloth diapers on our little girl, with unsatisfactory results. From infancy onward, there have been several setbacks.

At first, the prefold cloth diapers were too big for her. I'd put them on her, put her down in her crib and her bottom would be elevated with her feet unable to touch the bed.

Later I tried some Kushies brand All-in-one diapers. They held wetness well enough and were very easy to handle and change on her. The downside was they took at least three dryer cycles to completely dry. I'd use them one day and spend half the next day cleaning them.

Then, another element I couldn't deal with was the water quality at the apartment we were renting. Even with the use of bleach, OxiClean or other brightening laundry agents, our whites would come out dingy every time. I stopped wearing white shirts. All my dish towels looked like muddy rags after a few weeks. I didn't want my little girl to wear something that close to her bottom which was dingy and contaminated with who-knows-what.

I just gave up. Pampers were good enough. 

With moving into our new house, my husband and I decided we needed to get back on track with trying cloth diapers. We have good clean well water here, as well as new washer and dryer. I wanted to get back to my ideals of not adding to the landfills. My husband didn't want the new house to start smelling like a diaper pail. We both like to lower our living expenses whenever possible, and most importantly, our little girl was getting tired of disposable diapers. She was getting irritated at the waist and legs by her Pampers and started pulling them down,sometimes completely off and occasionally leaving a wet spot on the rug. Time to get serious about cloth diapers!

Finally I found gDiapers at our nearest Babies-R-Us store. They're a great introduction to cloth diapering. They have a comfy cloth exterior, a snap-in vinyl liner and then you place either a flushable liner, cloth liner or any absorbing material of your choice for catching the messes. I started with the flushable inserts rather than cloth. When those went very well, I made the leap and tried using my prefolds. (I had quite a supply from my baby shower, I might as well put them to use.) I had to set up a wet bucket for holding the messy prefolds until I had enough to wash. I found a medium sized, snap lid (and cute looking -very important) tote at Target. I bought matching smaller totes for the prefolds and liners, but that's just me being silly. I place the wet prefolds in the tote in a water and Borax solution and they can sit for about 24 hours without stinking, until I have enough for a small load of wash. 

Granted, there is the drawback of occasionally getting your hands dirty. It's not pleasant, but for an ex-farmgirl and an EMT, these things don't phase us one bit.

The sun helps blanch out any colors from messy diaper stains and our Carbon Footprint and diaper expense has lowered dramatically. Plus, she looks so cute in her little gPants. Happy Mommy!

Getting back to cooking

This photo sums things up quite well. Baby D isn't a baby anymore. She's a full fledged toddler and eager to help and learn everything in every way.
This is my new kitchen. It's not finished but it's workable. You'll notice there are no drawers or window trim, but this is minor. I'm bound and determined to start getting back to my love of cooking. On Friday I went all out and made pasta noodles and a meat sauce. I always use my food processor to make the noodles and then my hand crank pasta roller machine. Unfortunately, the crank was missing. It's either packed in an odd box, or was moved by my helpful toddler. I found out just how labor intensive rolling out pasta with a simple rolling pin can be. Time to start dropping hints to the hubby that I'd like a Kitchenaid pasta maker attachment.

Meat sauce:

• 1 lb Ground Italian sausage (or pork, or beef, whichever you'd prefer)
• 1 Tbsp Olive oil
• 1 Onion diced fine
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 14oz cans diced tomatoes (or use fresh if they are in season)
• 1 Tbsp Tomato Paste
• pinch cinnamon
• 1 tsp dried Oregano
• 1 tsp dried Basil
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Dry Red Wine

Heat oil in large pot. Add onions and garlic and sweat until softened. Add ground meat and brown over medium heat. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon, oregano, basil, and red wine. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Add sugar, stir and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer covered for 30 minutes or longer.