Call for Submissions: June Natural Living Blog Carnival

I’m excited to announce the June Natural Living Blog Carnival, sponsored by the Green Moms Network and hosted by Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project! We will be hosting the June Natural Living Blog Carnival on Thursday, June 20, 2013.

June 2013 Submission Details

Theme: A Natural Challenge

Take 1 or 2 weeks to explore a natural practice that you have yet to try, then tell us about how it went. Perhaps it was cloth diapering, cooking completely from scratch, ditching all paper products, eliminating plastic purchases or line drying your laundry. The possibilities are endless!

Signup Deadline: Thursday, June 13, 2013

Add yourself to the linky below to sign up for this month’s carnival.

Carnival Date: Thursday, June 20, 2013

Before the carnival goes live, we will send you an email with the details, links, and html that you will need to paste into your blog post. Please have your blog post scheduled to publish on June 20, 2013 between midnight and 9 a.m. EST (6 a.m. PST).

Guidelines:

• Blog post should be a new post, not previously published.
• Please write with proper spelling and grammar and keep your content family friendly and supportive of this month’s topic.
• Anyone found to be writing off topic or not including the linky and intro copy will be given 24 hours to rectify the issue or be removed from the linky.
• You must submit your link before the carnival goes live to the link provided in the email you'll receive before the carnival.

Connect With Us

Bookmark the Natural Living Blog Carnival page in order to check back for future topics.

You are invited to join the Green Moms Network if you are interested in connecting with other bloggers dedicated to green and natural living.

Subscribe to our blogs via email and follow us on Facebook or Twitter to stay updated on any carnival announcements.

Chrystal: Email, Facebook, Twitter
Brittany: Email, Facebook, Twitter

Share Your Work:

If you are participating or have previously participated in a Natural Living blog carnival and would like a button to put in your sidebar, grab this code and share with your readers (and potential sponsors) that you write about natural living!

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Questions

If you have any questions please contact either Chrystal at chrystal {at} happymothering {dot} com or Brittany at thepistachioproject {at} gmail {dot} com.

Sign up for June's Carnival! Fill out this linky form!

Just add your blog name, link, your name and your email address, and we’ll email you with instructions on participating when submissions close on June 13!

In A Nutshell: 5/21/13

Welcome to In A Nutshell. This is a weekly feature that will allow you to see some of the posts from other blogs that I've read and found interesting. Each Tuesday, I will highlight a few posts that I loved from the previous week. I will also do a brief summery of The Pistachio Project's post from the following week as well so that you can easily catch up if you missed reading them.

Some of my Favorite Posts from Around the Blogosphere

25 Ways to Use Coconut Butter from The Coconut Mama - I've just started to use coconut butter and am looking forward to trying out some of these recipes!

Stuffed and Roasted Onions from Gluten Free SCD and Veggie - These look amazing! If we didn't avoid nuts in our family, I'd definitely be making these!

9 Natural Remedies for Cellulite from Wellness Mama - I would imagine cellulite remedies is one of those things that most women are always on the look out for. Check out these remedies and give them a try.

The Pistachio Project's Week in Review

Garlic Potato Soup - Looking for a nice rich soup to add to your recipe rotation? Try this amazing recipe.

Skin Brightening Sugar Scrub - If you want a great refreshing sugar scrub then look no further! This scrub is packed with lemon which is not only a mood booster but also a skin brightener!

Simply Natural Saturdays - The Pistachio Project's other weekly feature which allows other bloggers to link up their natural posts. This is a great way to find amazing posts and great blogs.

Garlic Potato Soup

I used Grammarly to grammar check this post.

This last year, my family began adding soups to our dinner rotation greatly. We started this for a few reasons, first, it can be a meatless meal and this works well for us as we do not eat all that much meat. Secondly, we almost always have broth because I make tons after we cook a whole chicken. Third, it's cheap. This really has a lot to do with the fact that it can be meatless and the fact that we already have the broth. Not to mention that soup can be an incredibly nutritious meal.

I don't know about you but some people in my family do not like eating the same thing over and over again. Therefore, to appease the family, I went searching for a new recipe and came up with this lovely soup.

Garlic Potato Soup

1/2 cup butter
2 onions - chopped
1-2 Tab. minced garlic
6 red potatoes - peeled and diced (or if you prefer, you can leave unpeeled)
6 cups chicken broth
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

Place onions and butter in a large pot, cover and cook 20 minutes or until translucent. Add garlic and potatoes, cover and cook for 15 minutes; stir occasionally. Pour broth into the pot along with seasonings. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool off a bit. Transfer to a blender (or use an
immersion blender) and blend till smooth. This may need to be done in batches as this does make quite a bit of soup. Once the soup has been blended you can heat it back up (if necessary) and serve.







Linked at: Fat Tuesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Party Wave Wednesday

Simply Natural Saturdays: 5/18/13

 Grab the Badge

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Simply Natural Saturdays Hosts

Brittany at The Pistachio Project

Krystyna at Spring Mountain Living
Brittney at Brittleby's Corner
Kassie at Going Green with the Grizls

Featured Post

Are you Overdosing on Essential Herbal Oils - Weed 'em and Reap

I love essential oils but sometime too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. Read Weed 'em and Reap's take on how we should use essential oils.

Skin Brightening Sugar Scrub

Welcome to the May 2013 Natural Living Blog Carnival: Taking Time for Mom. This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Natural Living Blog Carnival hosted by Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project through the Green Moms Network. Oftentimes, Moms are so busy taking care of their families that they forget to take care of themselves. This month our carnival participants have written posts about what they do just for themselves.

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I'm a mama to four kids. I think it goes without saying that I rarely get any time for myself. I am ok with this. I know that eventually I'll have a season in my life where I'll have too much time to myself so it will all balance out eventually. That being said, I still need to find ways to do a few small things for myself so that I stay sane. 

One way I can take a little mini break and get some "me time" in is with my beauty routine. Really it's not a routine at all. I'm generally lucky to just brush my teeth before someone is begging for breakfast. However, every once in a while I have the opportunity to actually take my time getting ready. When I do find that time, I like to splurge with a nice sugar scrub.

This sugar scrub is a nice fine scrub so it's great for the body or face. The lemon in it has skin brightening properties so it will leave your face looking fresh and can even help fade blemishes over time. The sugar helps lightly scrub away dead skin while the coconut oil moisturizes your skin so it feels great.

Skin Brightening Sugar Scrub

1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon

2-5 drops lemon essential oil (optional)

Directions: 

Mix all ingredients and pour into a jar for storing. I like to use glass jars like mason jars but anything will work. To use, rub the scrub lightly over face or body.

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Visit Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project to learn more about participating in next month’s Natural Living Blog Carnival! Please take some time to enjoy the posts our other carnival participants have contributed: