Gluten-Free Loaded Potato Soup Recipe

Give yourself at least an hour to have this made and ready to serve. This loaded potato soup recipe will make a side for 6-8.

Potato Soup Ingredients

• 4-5 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 8-10 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 cups whipping milk or whole milk (or use 4 cups of a milk substitute—like rice milk—and skip the broth)
• 2 cups chicken broth (vegetable broth or water would work too)
• 8 oz smokey mild cheddar cheese, hand shredded
• 3 Tbsp King Arthur’s Gluten-Free 1-1 Flour
• Bacon bits
• 1/2 medium white onion, diced
• Green onions
• Salt and pepper

How to Make Loaded Potato Soup

In a large pot, melt 8 Tbsp of the butter and add potatoes. Cover and stir occasionally, keeping the heat on medium-low, allowing the potatoes to soften without browning or sticking to the bottom. When potatoes are cooked, remove to a separate bowl.

Melt the remaining butter in the large pot and use a whisk to mix in the flour and diced onions. Allow the flour to just start browning before adding in the milk and broth. Continue mixing and reduce heat to avoid reaching a boil. Mixture should be very runny and smooth.

Using an immersion blender (or potato masher), blend some of the cooked potatoes in the separate bowl smooth before returning them to the large pot with the milk and flour mixture. Allow some of the potatoes to remain chunky. Mix in the pot well to fully combine liquids with potatoes, adding salt and pepper to taste.

You may need to add additional milk or water to get the consistency of a thick soup (not mashed potatoes). When the soup is just a bit thinner than you want, add about half the shredded cheese and turn the heat off.

Serve topped with shredded cheese, bacon and green onions.

Make it a full meal and serve loaded potato soup with:

• Easy Honey Baked Salmon
• Sausage Pepper Skillet
• Or my Apple Cherry Glazed Holiday Ham for special occasions!

Recipe Notes

If you are using another kind of flour, add a Tbsp or two more to the recipe. King Arthur GF flour tends to give a thicker result than most flours.

Cooking the potatoes fully in the oil (butter) before adding any water (milk or broth) allowed the potatoes to cook without the starches interacting with the water. Only simmmer after adding the milk and cheese to avoid curdling. This resulted in a very smooth and creamy potato soup that wasn’t at all “gluey” or grainy.

It may be tempting not to add a bunch of other ingredients (like garlic), but the simple flavors here are incredible—especially if you find a smoky cheddar to use as a highlight ingredient.

Pin it now to make later:

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Here is the image I saw from John Belvedere and used for inspiration (I have no clue what flavors they use):

At first, you might think this is incredibly filling. But, mac ‘n cheese, fries or baked beans are common sides to include next to a burger. So, really, this just cuts out the bun. It also goes great with lower-carb sides (fruits and vegetables) to help balance it out.

Mac N Cheese Waffle Burger Ingredients

For each burger, you will need: two waffle squares, two smash burger patties, bacon, smoked cheddar sauce, mac n cheese sauce and smoky honey mustard.

Mac N Cheese Waffle “Bun” (and Mac N Cheese Sauce)

• 1 package macaroni
• 32 oz Velveeta original cheese, divided
• 8 oz smoked white cheddar
• 4 oz smoked sweet Swiss
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• approx. 1/2 cup whipping cream, divided
• 1/4 cup butter
• Seasoning (I used black pepper, Lawry’s and Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb)

Smoked White Cheddar Sauce

• 4 oz smoked white cheddar cheese
• 2 tbsp whipping cream
• 1 tbsp butter

Smoky Honey Mustard Sauce

• 2 tbsp mayo
• 2 tbsp Heinz Carolina Sweet Mustard BBQ sauce
• 1 tbsp Roasted Pepper Sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp ground paprika
• 4-7 drops of liquid smoke

Mac N Cheese Waffle Burger Instructions

Mac N Cheese Waffle Buns: Start by melting the butter in a large sauce pan over low heat. Add about 2/3 of the Velveeta cheese, sliced into 1/2 inch slices. Allow to sit on low heat for a few minutes, softening. Meanwhile, start water in a large sauce pan for noodles with 1tbsp salt, Lawrys and Mrs. Dash (to flavor noodles). Strain noodles when they are al dente (about 6 minutes) and run under cold water until completely cooled.

Grate the cheddar and Swiss cheese, adding it to the Velveeta mixture. Add approximately 1-2 tsp. of black pepper, Mrs. Dash and Lawry’s (to taste). Add 1/4 cup whipping cream and stir until cheeses are smooth and mixture is thick, but creamy. In a separate small bowl, mix remaining whipping cream (about 1/4 cup) and flour until smooth.

In a large bowl, pour all but about 1 cup of the Velveeta mixture (set the 1 cup aside for Mac N Cheese Sauce). Add the flour mixture to your large bowl of Mac N Cheese sauce and mix well. Add noodles and gently fold in until completely coated. Add both eggs and gently mix in until the egg is no longer separate from the cheese mixture at all.

When the waffle iron or press is hot, spray with nonstick spray and add the Mac N Cheese. Press the iron together and hold to ensure the crevices’ are filled. Check, cooking until waffles start to turn golden brown (this takes longer than waffles). Spread buns on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 300° while you make the rest of the buns, burgers and sauces.

As you are making waffles, fry up bacon and then make your smash patties (just very thin patties). I seasoned my patties with a little pepper and Lawrys.

Sauces: For the Smoked White Cheddar Sauce, simply melt ingredients slowly on the stove or in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. For the Smoky Honey Mustard Sauce, whisk all ingredients together. For the Mac N Cheese Sauce, add 2-4 more tbsp to the 1 cup of reserved Mac N Cheese mix and melt together until smooth.

Assembling the Mac N Cheese Waffle Burgers

Not too bad, right? At this point, you just layer your ingredients.

• Bottom Mac N Cheese Waffle square
• Smoky Honey Mustard Sauce
• 1st burger patty
• Smoked White Cheddar Sauce
• Smoky Honey Mustard Sauce
• 2nd burger patty
• Bacon
• Mac N Cheese Sauce
• Top Mac N Cheese Waffle square

This burger went really well with asparagus and fresh watermelon!

Make sure you pin it for later:

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You are busy, tired and burned-out by the end of the day. I get it. I really do.

But, family meals are too important to skip. Eating together has always played a key role in training kids and keeping families healthy.

If you don’t know, we spend a lot of time together as a family. Even when Knick is busy with coaching and I’m stretched thin, we still eat 99% of our dinners together. It is easier to do this with little kids, since they will be busy themselves as they get older. But, eating together requires prioritizing family meals at all times. Understanding the importance of eating together as a family and how you can make that easier is the first step to establishing that priority.

September is National Family Meals Month and I am so excited to partner with the FMI Foundation to bring you this post on family meals.

Keep reading for some helpful tips and inspiration to get you started on making those family memories across the table.

Are Family Meals Really that Important?

“Home Cooking in America 2020,” by the FMI Foundation[1] notes the biggest reasons families don’t cook meals and eat together at home include lacking time, energy and inspiration. But, homemade family meals create a deep connection, can cost less and can be healthier.

It showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic:

• 40% of American adults say they are cooking more
• 23% are planning more meals in advance
• 18% are trying new dishes more often

Studies show that family meals improve fruit and vegetable consumption. My kids are always more willing to try vegetables if they see us (especially dad) eating them first. Family meals improve communication, teach table behavior and give us a set time to spend time together each day.

Whatever our new normal will be, we need to stay physically and emotionally fit. Family meals help with both. But, so many meals at home means we need to get creative with options for healthy, cheap and easy meals.

Cheap, Healthy and Filling Family Meals

I know all too well what it’s like to feel broke and in need of a cheap meal. Sometimes money gets tight and that’s when you need meal ideas that will stretch out those pay periods without sacrificing your family’s health. Rather than spend money on fast food, you can make cheaper dinners at home. My go-to cost-conscious meal typically involves:

Chicken: usually the cheapest by the pound of the meats, chicken is also one of the more nutritious—high in protein and low in fat. I try to find on-the-bone meat for around $.99/lb and boneless for under $2/lb. It can be added to pasta, grilled, baked or fried.

Green vegetable: Adding a green food to the plate adds nutrients and vitamins without starches or carbs. In-season vegetables are the cheapest and can be as low as $.99/lb. Asparagus, green beans, bell peppers (we eat these raw) and broccoli are all great vegetables to snag when they are on sale. You can also opt for a bag of frozen peas for $1. Kids are probably going to push back a bit on this, but it’s really important to keep putting green foods in front of your kids, despite their protest. I personally make my kids (over 2) eat at least one bite.

Potatoes: Not necessarily the healthiest vegetable, but kids do need carbs to fuel their incredible energy. Unprocessed potatoes are natural and filling. Sweet potatoes are the most nutrient-dense and are a complex carb. Potatoes are very cheap per pound (less than $1) and easy to roast with a little butter or oil, salt, pepper and seasoning salt. They should be started early, since they will usually take longer than the rest of your meal. If you are in a hurry, try microwaving for 3-4 minutes before putting them in the oven to speed up their cooking process.

For our family, a home-cooked meal of chicken, vegetables and potatoes will cost around $10. Add in something fun, like watermelon, and you can still stay under $15.

Not bad for a family meal, right?

You can switch it up with these cheap ingredients instead of the potatoes:

• Pasta noodles (Hearty Chicken and Noodles Soup or chicken parmesan)
• Rice (chicken stir fry or just as a side)
• Homemade bread (it’s cheap and delicious! Try my Perfectly Homemade Dinner Rolls)
• Tortillas (chicken tacos)
• Tortilla chips (chicken nachos)
• Beans (buy them dried in the bag for a healthier, cheaper option)

Fast and Easy Family Meals

I like to make complicated meals because cooking is an art form. But, sometimes you are short on time. Making pretty or complicated food isn’t the point. Sometimes we hold ourselves back because we put too much pressure on the process.

I reached out to Krista Marshall, creator of Everyday Moms Meals, and she stated it perfectly: “Putting a delicious meal on the table to bring your family together can be the best part of a busy day. No matter how simple the meal might be, the most important thing is everyone sharing time with one another, creating memories.”

My personal go-to meals when I’m in a rush are spaghetti and tacos.

It’s also a huge time-saver if I have the chance to make meals ahead of time for the freezer to heat up on another day for dinner. Meatloaf, quiche and chili are a few of my top homemade freezer meals. Even just freezing the cooked meat can be a huge time-saver (like cooked ground beef for spaghetti or tacos). I also tend to put big batches of chicken or burgers on the grill if I can, saving part of the batch in the freezer for a future meal.

Special Family Meals

Sometimes you can splurge—in time or cost—and those are special family meals! While all family meals are important, the special ones can be the most memorable. Some of our favorite ideas for changing up the scene include:

• Outdoor (picnic blanket in the backyard before we had a patio set)
• Our local cinema bar and grille or drive-in movie theater
• Party platters (they love crackers, cheese, sliced meats and wings they can self-serve)

Get creative with your family meals!

When I was a kid, my family ate a lot of meals together. However, some of the most memorable family meals I participated in were at my friend’s house—her parents would let the teens plan a themed family dinner we prepared mostly unaided and presented to the rest of the group. We did a drive-in Dog ‘n Suds while on rollerblades, a very wild Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Tea Party and other creative themes.

Eat More Meals as a Family

So, how many meals should you eat as a family?

According to the FMI: As many as you can.

The Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (JNEB) recently published a review[2] that sorted through over 1200 studies to look for dietary outcomes linked to family meals. The review found studies agreed on a noticeably higher level of fruit and vegetables during family meals and a lower number of sugar-sweetened beverages.

Did you know September is National Fruit and Veggies Month too? So, take this as your reminder that the goal is  1-2 cups of both fruits and vegetables for kids aged 2-13. Planting a garden has gone far in getting my kids excited about trying vegetables. Having them help make the meal really helps them want to eat it–but that’s a whole other can of worms for another post.

Keep bringing your family together for meals and check out the Family Meals Movement for more ideas and information!

Additional Sources:
<sub>1. FMI Foundation. (2020). Home Cooking in America 2020, a Special Report based on U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends.
2. Robson SM, McCullough MB, Rex S, Munafò MR, Taylor G. Family Meal Frequency, Diet, and Family Functioning: A Systematic Review with Meta-analyses. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2020;52(5):553-564. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2019.12.012</sub> 

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And I love art projects that:

• Are fun crafts for my kids
• Teach a lesson
• Make a memory
• Are something I want to keep

Handprint crafts are some of my favorite because it reminds me just how small they were at one point. So, combine that with a dinosaur kids craft about nighttime and daytime–and we’ve got a winner.

My kids are always thrilled to use paint. They love anything that could potentially destroy the house.

How to Make Dinosaur Handprints (And Dinosaur Footprints too!)

For this dinosaur kids craft, the supply list isn’t long:

• Acrylic paint (I personally use professional paint and avoid “washable” kids paint that isn’t really made for long-term value)
• Paintbrushes (large and small)
• Cardstock paper (I used black and parchment)
• Paper plates or bowls (to hold paint)
• Baby wipes

Start with Handprints (or Footprints)

Pro tip: practice having them keep their hands open before you paint. Mix colors to get a more textured/dynamic dino. Talk about how cold the paint feels and keep reminding them to keep their hands open.

We also talk a lot about not touching anything else. Tell them just to focus on holding their fingers open and not trying to touch the paper. You do all the work of placing their hand and gently pressing up each finger. Pull the hand straight up to get a clean handprint.

Wipe down immediately with wipes (and keep an old grocery sack on hand for the messy wipes. Wash hands after most of the paint is off. So far (fingers crossed), we’ve never made any messes with handprint art projects.

Add a Simple Prehistoric Background

Before adding details to the dinosaur handprints, I had the boys help me add backgrounds. We kept them very simple with a line of brown paint for the ground (and maybe a few green leaves). We added stars and moon to the black paper while we talked about night time, and we added the sun to the parchment when as we talked about day time.

My preschooler had to be more “accurate” with his sun, moon, stars and plants, but I gave my 2-year-old more freedom. Klay added lots of yellow “sun” to his and I love it.

Add the Details

I helped them add tails, legs, spines and teeth to their dinosaurs as needed. We waited until they were dry and then added faces with an extra-fine Sharpie marker.

They really loved this dinosaur print project and it went on the fridge as soon as it was dry and dated. (Pro tip: always add names and dates in the bottom corner because you will always forget. Always.)

Check out more adorable handprint and footprint projects!

Pin This Dinosaur Kids Craft for Later!

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Fall Vegetable Seeds for August in Zone 5 or 6

We sit right in between growing zones 5 and 6 here in our spot in the midwest. Technically, I think we are now zone 5b, but it has changed and could also be considered 6a.

 A week ago I planted my leftover Swiss Chard, spinach and onion seeds. Here are some things you can plant in August if you are zone 5 or 6:

• Carrots
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard
• Kale
• Collards
• Bok Choy
• Lettuce
• Broccoli
• Celery
• Beets
• Green Onions
• Fall Radishes
• Summer squash and zucchini (zone 6a or 6b)

I’m getting a lot of tomatoes and seeing the beginnings of peppers right now. But setting up another round of greens is really exciting for me this year.

Vegetable Growth Progress in August

Right now, the greens are slowing down and some of them are trying to bolt. I’ve been really impressed with the Blue Kale I have from Bakersfield. It seems highly heat resistant and hasn’t bolted at all, plus the bugs don’t seem to bother it much.

This is Chinese Multicolor Spinach and it’s been really fun and pretty. It is really happy in my tall planters, handles low water very well, doesn’t mind heat and has hardly had a bug bite at all!

I LOVE Swiss Chard. I grabbed Vulcan Swiss Chard this year and it’s been happy. Unfortunately, the rabbits loved it too and ate one of my rows completely. But, thankfully, I had some in the tall planter (where they can’t reach), though it isn’t as happy with the placement and is definitely on the small side.

I have a terrible time with collards. I’m going to figure it out someday (and that is the beauty of gardening), but for now, they are always spindly and bug-ridden. I keep killing worms and pulling off chewed-up leaves. This year’s look better than last years and I have gotten a few decent leaves. But, at some point, I’m going to figure it out.

Onions have been a favorite this year. I have had some great success with them popping up everywhere (and even returning from last year to SEED!). And the kids have been practically fighting over who gets to eat their “spicy” green onion leaves. I’m more than happy to hand them some green foods to munch on while outside.

But hooray for fall seedlings! I’m really excited about these. I ran out of my greens powder really fast last year and I’m planning on making a LOT more this year. I already have two jars full!

So get your fall vegetable seeds in now before the end of August!

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Check out my latest podcast on chalk walking with kids:

We spend an entire day sweating over 8’ squares in the middle of Main Street. It’s intensive and grueling. We might be a little crazy to have done it for 10 years.

And, yes…since I’m the only one pushing it, I realize I’m basically talking about myself in plural. But, technically, I’ve drug my husband and kids into it as well.

Anyways.

This year was a little different…and WE WON!

Check out this blog for a brief history of our (my) street drawings and tips for chalk walking yourself!

Chalk Walking Since ‘06

If you didn’t know, I have my degree in art. It’s been a passion since I was little, though that is a topic for another post. In college, I heard about our local chalk walk because a sponsored opportunity came up.

That first year, our piece was semi-terrible. There is a bit of a learning curve for working that big and working in chalk. But it was still fun and I came back the next year ready.

There are a few things that make chalk walks really fun. In our city, the chalk walk is part of our biggest festival and our biggest art-centered event. Thousands of artists flood our street to create eight foot blocks of art.

Tips for a Chalk Walk

If you’ve never worked on an eight foot square, you’d probably be surprised at just how much work it is and how many things you do differently than with a normal drawing. There are things you have to remember or you will either burn out, hate your final result or regret it the next day. Here are some things I’ve learned from more than a decade of experience.

1. Skew the Image

In our Trolls piece, for example, their heads had to get larger toward the top of the square. If you viewed it from straight above, it looked warped with a larger top and their legs tiny in comparison, but from the sidewalk it looked right.

To get the shapes right, I used a trick from art class: take a picture. For some reason, when you look at the picture of your picture, you get a new perspective and it highlights your proportion or shape flaws.

• We did this all the time with our still lives and paintings—especially if they were big or you had been working on them a while. It gives you fresh eyes somehow.
• Draw a quick outline sketch on your square in a mid-tone color (nothing that’s hard to cover over.
• Take a picture on your cell phone from where most viewers will be standing.
• If it looks warped (i.e. you want to get higher for a more accurate picture), adjust for the proportions by enlarging the top of the image.
• Take pictures as you go to make sure the proportions are staying correct.

2. Paint a Base Layer

Cement will literally eat your chalk. Using tempura paint will give you a base layer to work on for better color accuracy and the good of your paint. You can see those first two examples above from college that I overdid the paint and we didn’t use much chalk at all. Now, I’ve learned to put down a more basic base that helps conserve colors but allows for the chalk medium.

3. Tape Your Square

Use tape to create a clean edge for your square. You might not think it’s a big deal, but when you are done and you pull away the tape, you have a very clean edge that gives the square a professional look. I have used most types of tape and duct tape is my favorite because it holds the best despite the wet paint and dirt. Have someone help you if possible and you will speed up the process for an 8’ square.

4. Pack the Right Chalk Walk Supplies

Aside from the obvious chalk and paint, there are a number of things you will want to bring to an intensive chalk walk.

Bathroom towel: You might want to sit on something besides the concrete (which gets very hard and very hot) You may want to wipe your sweat. Pick old towels you don’t care about—we have “garage” towels for this kind of thing (the place towels go when they are no longer fit for the bathroom).

Wear real shoes: Not everyone does this, but I find it incredibly important to wear real shoes that I will be as comfortable as I can be on the hard pavement all day. I bring flip flops for as soon as I’m done and ready to just walk around.

Water: Our chalk walk supplies ice cold water and wash stations, but you almost can’t have enough. I also bring a gallon jug of water for rinsing, mixing and whatever, and a canteen of ice water for drinking. You never know when water will run out and it’s just not worth having that happen!

Snacks: Preferably ones that won’t make you thirsty. Fruit snacks, celery, cheese (in a lunch cooler) are all good picks. You won’t want to eat a lot if it’s sunny, but you should take a few breaks.

A cart: Or, in my case, I’ve taken a stroller. It’s super helpful when you can roll all your stuff to your spot from wherever you finally found for free parking. I’m not sure what I’ll do next year when I have no strollers…not sure I’m ready to drag out a Radio Flyer, but it might come to that.

SUNSCREEN: I can’t stress this enough. Layer it on. Multiple times in the day. You will still get burned (especially if you are as white as me). My husband and kids have so far, never burned.

Printed reference images: It is SO hard to really see your phone in the sun. Do yourself a huge favor and print out a page of reference images for whatever you are making. All the cool kids do it. You can print it pretty cheap somewhere like Fed Ex Office if you don’t have a color printer. Take two copies in case you spill paint, or water, or smear chalk dust on one. Pin it down with a bottle of paint or box of chalk because it will always try to blow away from you no matter how dead and sweltering the air.

Paper towels: Take a whole roll. They are helpful for smearing chalk to preserve your fingers (and you NEED to preserve those fingers because they will go raw).

Shade: The jury is out on this one for me. Some chalk walkers bring their own tents, but I’m usually setting up by myself and don’t want the hassle. It would be awesome to have protection from the abusive sun, but I’ve also seen peoples tents blowing down the street when a quick wind picked up. And at a certain point, the sun will move to where the tent isn’t helpful to anyone but your neighbor (though it does a nice job during high noon).

Extra pastels: Save all your pastels that you don’t use so you have more for the next year. I have a whole box of pastels and I reorganize them after every chalk walk to condense my boxes and throw away any tiny nubs.

5. Start Ahead of Time

If you are putting down paint (which I highly recommend), then you will need to give it time to dry. This doesn’t take long, but you waste precious cool early morning hours if you do it the day of the event. If at all possible, go as soon as they give away the squares (ours allow us on the squares the Friday night before the Saturday chalk walk) and get the paint layer done.

If you are doing really big characters (like our Pikachu), you will need to do your quick sketch and paint the different sections accordingly to save time and resources. We could save a lot of yellow (Pikachu) by painting his whole shape yellow. The smaller characters could just be done on white. For the mermaid and Cinderella, I painted the background blue to save on the chalk too. Do big sections of color, not the whole thing white, if you want to save on chalk.

6. Create Something Recognizable

One of the most irritating questions you will hear over and over during the blistering hot experience is: “What is that????”

Now, it isn’t really the fault of the people passing by…they are just wandering around and talking about the art. But, in my opinion, it’s repetitive, semi-distracting and makes you feel like you need to tell them.

On the flip side, when they can immediately tell what it is, you get to hear how much they like it.

Maybe you don’t care.  And that’s cool too. Part of the experience for me is trying to get it to where most people can enjoy it for as much of the day as possible. I’ve realized this makes the whole process even more enjoyable.

Main character first: This feels so counter-intuitive to how I do art. Normally everything leads up to the focal point for me. But, start with the character sketch. When you like the proportions start detailing that character before you build in the background much at all. It also gives you an important boost to get something done before it gets too hot.

Start early: For our chalk walk, the bulk of people come around 10am-1pm. But many artists aren’t starting until 9! I try to get there early and I try to get my character pretty close to done before most people are walking through. Again, totally so I can hear the “ooh” and “ahh” over “Huh???” So, vanity purposes only…well, that and it’s cooler until around 10 anyways.

FACE THE RIGHT DIRECTION: Most people are walking on one side (the side walk side), but so many face toward the center of the street. Face where people are walking and they’ll be more captivated.

Don’t leave your reference paper out: Okay, totally differences of opinion here…I do NOT like to feel like I’m being compared to the reference I’m using. Some people tape a big version to the bottom of their square so passers can see it. I’m guessing it’s definitely so people won’t keep asking what they are working on. But, then you get to hear them mumbling about if you are off or not.

Choose something identifiable: It doesn’t have to be a cartoon character—it could be a beautiful country scene, animal, logo or artwork. People love pop culture references and movies, though. They get excited when they know what you are working on. Especially the kids. And, as much as you don’t turn around (there are just too many in the constant flow), it’s really neat to hear a little girl scream, “MOMMY, ARIEL! SHE’S SO PRETTY! AND FLOUNDER! OOH POKEMON!” and that happens a lot. I appreciate recognizable characters even more now that my own kids are that way. As I’ll share, they weren’t super jazzed by my latest square in tribute to Ernie Barnes).

My Little Mermaid square is a good example of what I’m talking about here. I wanted to reference the fact that Disney had just announced the live action Ariel will be played by Halle Bailey. We were excited about it, but I didn’t want her to be mistaken for “just some mermaid” because she isn’t the traditional Disney Ariel yet (and the movie itself hadn’t been made).

So, to help with the recognition and validation factor, I drew Flounder and Sebastian. So, clearly I didn’t draw Ariel’s face wrong because I know how to draw a character. It was a popular square and I got mostly positive feedback from people passing by.

Ooh and did you notice Goldeen in the corner? Yep, we had a floater come over from our neighboring Pokemon square, which only the truest of Pokemon nerds caught.

And the Pokemon square was another example of recognition because everyone knew Pikachu, most saw Charmander or Squirtle, and only a few knew background characters, like Meowth, Psyduck, Muchlax, Haunter and Wobbuffet. So it combined easy recognition with that deeper layer for the true fans.

7. Don’t Really Take a Break Until the End

It is super tempting to stop and walk around or go take a break. Take short breaks, but know it’s going to be a lot harder to come back. Once you go into the air conditioning, it’s basically over.

Stand up and stretch your back or sit down to give your feet a break, but don’t get too comfy. When it’s all over, you will have plenty of break time. The cold shower might be the best part of the day.

Chalk Walking with Kids

The big change came with the kids. There were a couple of summers where I had a tiny baby or was too pregnant to do it. But I missed it.

But, taking kids is hard. They don’t last nearly as long (heck, I barely last), and they either do their own thing or need to be told every step. I really wanted them to be able to participate so they would learn:

• Focus: it’s hard to stay focused on something big for so long
• Flexibility: You never know what the weather will be like. Last year, ours got washed away. This year, we did a virtual version. They have expectations, but they learn to adapt.
• Letting go: It’s hard to spend so much time on something and watch it get destroyed in the next day or two. It’s a great way for them to learn that we can spend a lot of time and effort on something and not have to keep it.
• Family Bond: We do this as a whole family (even including extended family!). So it has become a really fun tradition and the kids look forward to it. This year Kniya told me she would “never forget doing it on The Main Street.”

I could not do this without my MiL, FiL and husband, though. There is just no way I could do something very complicated if I had them all the whole time. Most years, we all go get the square(s), tape and paint the background on Friday night. Then, Saturday morning I get up early and leave to start.

Knick’s parents come to help with the kids while I’m free and clear at the chalk walk. A little after noon, the bring the kids over so they can help. Last year I had their square ready!

And, while they are helping, the other adults watch the babies (so far there’s always been at least one too young to help) and Knick helps the kids with their coloring. I’m usually still working on a different part (last year I was working on Ariel’s background).

This year it was a bit different because it was virtual. We still packed up and headed over to my aunt’s house to work in her driveway. The kids were not focused or into it! Ha. But they had a blast in her yard. And, when Knick came later with Klay, he helped me smooth in some backgrounds and got the kids to help me finish up.

Definitely not my best squares ever, but for four, I felt like it went well. And technically, my square was just the huge giraffe.

A Tribute to a Master

Normally, I don’t do the categories. I just get too competitive.

They usually aren’t really things I would naturally work on and I’d hate to work extremely hard all day on something I picked for a category with the sole purpose of winning. I tell my kids that’s not the point of the chalk walk at all. I’m not sure I’ve ever really entered unless I happened to do one that fits a category. I know in more than 10 years of chalk walks, I’ve never won before!

But, this year, after finishing four, I saw the category I couldn’t pass up.

I was preparing to submit my work for the virtual online gallery, when I noticed “Olympics” was one of the categories. Ernie Barnes was my favorite artist for a long time and has been one of my biggest influences. His fluid and powerful figures are not fake, but their realism is exaggerated. I was drawn to the elongation and how he seemed to capture the feeling of the moment.

In college, I had an assignment to contact a professional artist and interview them. We were supposed to try and pick someone famous and they had to be living (so we could actually interview them). I sent out requests to Kadir Nelson and Ernie Barnes.

Kadir Nelson emailed me back and was willing to answer my questions via email. Ernie Barnes’ assistant responded by passing me to another assistant. I’m not sure who I talked to or how many layers, but I finally convinced them that I had read every book on him (I owned them!) and just really wanted to talk to him. They had me send over a list of questions and told me I could call at a specified time for a 10-minute interview.

To say I was over the moon is an understatement. I floated on clouds.

The interview with Mr. Barnes started off a little stiff. He seemed unsure of why I wanted to talk to him or what we would have in common. I had read how much he didn’t like the more abstract and modern forms of art. I led with how I shared his perspective. As soon as I told him that, he opened up like a fire hose and told me so much. How he would take in a scene and just feel the rhythm before attempting any shapes. How important the feelings conveyed were and not just realism. I respected the 10-minute limit, as much as I could have listened to him talk for hours.

It is the 16^th century master painter Michelangelo in whom Barnes can be said to have found his strongest influence both spiritually and philosophically. Michelangelo’s figures of heroic proportion and spiritual nobility are far removed from the heretofore classical concepts of bodily movement and heft. Barnes’ symbols, like Michelangelo’s, derive their power from portraying the convolutions of the soul through the contortions of movement.

(Preface by Joan D’Arcy for From Pads to Pallets Ernie Barnes)

He was the 1984 official Olympic artist. This was a big deal, considering he grew up during Jim Crowe laws when he didn’t have access to museums and finding famous artists as inspiration. When he asked about where he could find “paintings by Negro artists” as a senior high school student on an art trip, the museum docent responded, “Your people don’t express themselves that way.”

He went on to become an NFL player before having the connections to start opening doors for his art! After retiring, he connected with NFL owners before eventually picking up commissions and getting a gallery opening.

He so influenced my own style, that I had to do a tribute.

So, during nap time, I grabbed my pastel box and got to work on a pavement section in our back yard during nap time. When my kids saw it, they were highly disappointed it wasn’t a Mickey Mouse square. But that’s okay. I did this one for myself.

I updated the jerseys a bit and I swapped out his lead runner for a Ussain Bolt reference. And I did it in my own style, which is a little softer.

Two days later it all washed away.

The post Participating in a Virtual Chalk Walk with My Kids appeared first on MidKid Mama.

What is a Victory Garden?

During WWI, Victory Gardens were a way for the nation to rally together and ease the national supply chains, sending much-needed supplies to the troops. After the war ended, the focus on gardening subsided. But, when the United States was drawn into another world war (WWII), Americans started growing their fruits and vegetables in whatever large flower boxes, backyard areas, rooftop spaces and deserted lots they could find.

According to History, the most popular produce grown in the gardens included:

• Beans
• Beets
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• Peas
• Tomatoes
• Turnips
• Squash
• Swiss Chard

By 1944, as many as 20 million victory gardens spanned the nation, producing over 8 million tons of fruits and vegetables (40% of consumed produce).

Why Should We Bring Victory Gardens Back

Gardening is good no matter the year or current events. BUT, now more than ever, people should be starting gardens.

Did you know the soil is good for your mental peace?

Studies have shown that microbes in the soil act as antidepressants, stimulating serotonin production. You’ve heard a little dirt never hurt, but this is really a complicated way to say a little dirt can really help. During a time where we have more down time and need projects that don’t revolve around hanging out, gardening is the perfect solutions.

“Although the government’s promotion of victory gardens ended with the war, a renaissance movement has sprouted up in recent years in support of self-sufficiency and eating seasonally to improve health through local, organic farming and sustainable agriculture.” -History

These Victory Gardens are more about personal victories and community victories than a national one. There are so many reasons a garden is worthwhile:

• Learn a new skill you can pass along to your children
• Create sustainable food that doesn’t require transportation or packaging
• Get your kids excited to try new vegetables they helped grow
• Pass along extra fruits and vegetables to your neighbors
• Preserve extras so you have garden produce on hand year round
• Enjoy nature with a productive outdoor hobby
• Explore varieties you can’t find in the store
• Enjoy fresh produce (psst! It tastes SO much better when it’s sun-ripened)
• Control what is in the dirt or on the plants (organic gardening is a thing!)

Planting Your Personal Victory Garden

Let’s make this a thing! Are you gardening? It isn’t too late to get started! There are different vegetables that can be started at different points of spring and summer. You can plant from seeds started indoors, sew seeds directly into the ground or purchase seedlings (small plants) for your garden.

Just get something in the ground this year. Try a few things and be committed to weeding and a little watering (don’t overwater!). Give yourself a lot of grace because there is a learning curve.

Easy vegetables to grow from seeds sewn right into the garden:

• Green beans (make sure you have space to plant at least a few rows)
• Peas (these need to be planted early)
• Swiss Chard (I really like planting them in closely spaced rows and picking the leaves young)
• Bunching or green onions
• Carrots and radishes
• Corn (very easy to grow, but takes a LOT of space—several rows or it won’t be properly pollinated)
• Pumpkins/squash/gourds (plants take several square feet of space, so only if you have the room)

Easy vegetables to grow in the garden from seedlings/starts:

• Tomatoes (use a cage or they fall over and struggle to produce)
• Squash/Watermelon (takes several square feet of space)
• Herbs (especially creeping thyme)
• Strawberries (you may only get a few the first year, but these spread rapidly)
• Potatoes (won’t be ready to harvest until fall)

Participating in Community Gardens and Food Banks

If you really have no space to even add a pot, look into community gardens near you. Some neighborhoods get permits from the city to turn empty lots into community gardens. Spaces like this can offer a place to enjoy the outdoors and participate in the community wellness. People who help in the community gardens can enjoy their produce throughout the summer.

Those who grow in their own yards can also help their communities by donating their extras to neighbors, churches and food banks. Ample Harvest is one resource that can help you find locations that accept extra produce.

Share this on your page or with someone who could start a garden, and let’s get more people planting their own food!

The post Starting a Victory Garden during a Global Pandemic appeared first on MidKid Mama.

But, what if something happened and you couldn’t leave your house for a few days—would you be able to comfortably survive? Do you have the food, water and basic necessities on hand to make things work for even a week or two? There is a reality of natural disasters, diseases, storms and other things occurring at any time and with little-to-no warning.

The current virus threat has schools, workplaces and even whole countries closing down to anything but necessary travel. But I also remember ice storms taking out our power and making it very difficult to travel for over a week when I was a teenager. It happened again when I was in my twenties and living in my own house. There was also the blizzard of ’68 that my parents’ generation will never forget—where the snow was up to the rooftops across our state.

So, are you prepared for the realities of disaster situations?

US Disaster Preparedness Stats

Many people aren’t prepping enough. If something did go wrong, the more people who are prepared to manage their own care for a time, the less emergency services have to rush in with supplies and solutions. If we all had a week or two’s worth of supplies on hand, we could care for ourselves and neighbors that need help.

The last US census reported only about half of American households are storing water. Around 80% of families did report having enough nonperishable foods to last the family for three days. FEMA has stated:

If an earthquake, hurricane, winter storm, or other disaster strikes your community, you might not have access to food, water, and electricity for days or even weeks. By taking some time now to store emergency food and water supplies, you can provide for your entire family.

Back when the ice storms knocked out the power and made it impossible to drive, stores were closed and things were tricky. I remember we had plenty of food, but we shared a friend’s generator so we didn’t lose the food in our refrigerator or have our phone batteries die. We had to have sources of heat, water and cooking, since the power was gone and a boil advisory was in effect for our area. If we would have been down to the last bits of food and supplies before the storm hit unexpectedly, we would have been in a little trouble and had to depend on neighbors and friends for help.

Basic Prepping for Beginners

Prepping and disaster readiness might seem a little out there for many. Perhaps you picture people in off-the-grid underground bunkers with freeze-dried soups and metallic heat-reflecting blankets. But what I’m talking about is scaled back, simple and manageable.

Basic prepping should include necessities you that you are already using in your daily lives for the most part. With basic prepper storage, you want to focus on items that are easy to store, easy to use and have a longer shelf life.

The goal will be to choose items you already use on a weekly, monthly or occasional basis so you can swap them out regularly. You don’t want to buy a special dried soup that you never actually use and it eventually goes bad. You don’t need to waste money on strange foods just because they will last a long time. You can choose items that will be swapped out over time and used naturally in the course of your family’s meal planning.

Easy Snacks

It is a good idea to have foods that can make easy snacks that are fun and filling. Items like Pop Tarts have a very long shelf life, are packaged individually and take no work to prepare (in case of a power outage). Something like pop corn is also fun and filling, but would take power to make, so it works if you just can’t travel. Snacking items can contain veggies, like the fruit and applesauce pouches they have for kids. Try to include as many nutritional snacks as you can in your storage. You want things that last for a while and are easy to store, but many of those items are not going to have a lot of green things in them.

Meal Basics

When you are planning your storage, think about what you need to make a good meal. Most of our meals include vegetables, a starch or carb and then meat. When you are storing food, you want a mixture of these items. It is easy to store a lot of frozen meat, dried noodles and very few vegetables if you aren’t thinking about it much. You don’t want to get overly heavy on the frozen or canned storage because canned items contain more sodium and frozen foods won’t last as long if the power goes out.

Some items, like rice, will require water and a heat source to prepare. While you will have power in many scenarios, you can’t always count on it. A mix of raw and cooked foods is helpful so you are prepared with or without power.

Some items, like noodles, are easy to store, but fairly pointless if you don’t have other things (like sauce or meat) to go well with them. So, when prepping, try to think about whole meals. Try to choose items that can be used in more than one way. Oatmeal, rice and peanut butter are foods dogs can eat too, for example. Canned chicken can be used for sandwiches, soups or on any kind of noodles without any work to thaw or cook it.

Pantry Food Storage

Pantry foods are dried, canned or packaged foods that don’t need to be kept in a specific climate. Preferably your pantry food storage will be a place other than your normal kitchen pantry and will be on the cool/dark side. You can use a basement closet, linen closet or even a big tote under a bed for this. The goal with the pantry storage is to have a few items on hand that you will use over time and replace with new storage items. How many pantry items you keep on hand will vary based on how much space you want to allot to your storage and how much extra food you want to keep on hand.

Get a locking plastic storage tote for items that could easily attract pests. You don’t want to have mice or bugs getting into your storage and invading your home because food is too accessible. A large locking storage tote will keep your items dry, collected into a neat space and safe from pests. Items that are well package in jars or cans will not need to be included in the tote for storage.

Check dates of everything you are planning to store. Ideally, your items will be good for a year or more. Some items, like crackers, don’t have long dates before they start to go stale. You want to give yourself room in case you forget to swap something out, so you want to avoid keeping any short dates in your pantry food storage. Checking the dates will give you an idea of roughly how long you have until you need to use it. If Pop Tarts aren’t really part of your regular family diet, then you know you have a whole year or so before you need to buy another box and use the current storage ones for a fun snack.

Examples of Pantry Food Storage:

• Popcorn
• Pop Tarts
• Snack pouches and/or baby food
• Rice
• Oatmeal
• Couscous
• Quinoa
• Nuts and seeds
• Dried fruit
• Ramen noodles
• Spaghetti/rotini/macaroni noodles
• Egg noodles
• Canned meat, veggies and fruit
• Spaghetti sauce
• Peanut butter
• Honey
• Pancake mix
• Syrup
• Salt/pepper/spices (like 1 or 2)
• Oil
• Flour and yeast (if you like to bake)
• Water flavoring (preferably with vitamins or electrolytes)
• Coffee

Frozen Food Storage

How many things you can store in the freezer is going to largely depend on how much freezer space you have. It’s really nice when you have a separate refrigerator/freezer or deep freezer for food storage because it will give you a lot more space. But even if you don’t, just a few choice items can be stored in the back of your regular freezer in case of emergency.

Examples of Frozen Food Storage:

• Raw or cooked meat
• Lunchmeat
• Sausages and Hotdogs
• Peas and other bagged veggies
• Bread (double bag to avoid freezer burn)
• Easy dinners (pot pies, pizza, burgers, chicken nuggets, burritos, full meals)
• Cheese (including string or sliced cheese)
• Broth (I prefer to make my own and freeze it)
• Homemade meals (chili, quiche, meatloaf, soup, stews)
• Sauces
• Fruit (berries, peaches, pineapples and cherries freeze well)

Water Storage

Occasionally a disaster situation could lead to issues with the water filtration system. There have certainly been boil advisories here before. Keeping water on hand is a good way to have a clean source of drinking water in case of emergency. FEMA recommends keeping a two-week supply of drinking water for every person in the home (that is 7-14 gallons per person!).

While the average adult will only require about a half-gallon per day, sick people, children and pregnant women will likely require more, especially in a hot environment.

“Having an ample supply of clean water is a top priority in an emergency.”

-FEMA

While there are ways to store your own water, the process does involve the right amount of chlorinated bleach. Purchasing commercially bottled water (preferably gallon size or larger to reduce packaging and make storage easier) ensures you have a safe supply of clean drinking water that will last indefinitely.

Hygienic Supplies

Different scenarios (natural disasters where you can’t travel, power outages, national pandemic) will lead to additional items you will want to keep on hand. Cleaning supplies, soap and cooking fuel are examples of things you might want to keep on hand that won’t go bad for a very long time. Medications and batteries are items you will want to swap out every time you buy more for regular use.

Here is a list of things you may or may not want to have on hand. Choose things that you would desperately need if you lost power, had to travel, couldn’t travel or another possible emergency scenario arrived.

• Cleaners
• Soap
• Medication
• Hygiene products
• Batteries
• Skillet/firewood/fuel
• Toilet Paper
• Detergent/bleach
• First aid items
• Rubbing alcohol/witch hazel
• Diapers and wipes
• Unscented candles/flashlight
• Emergency documents

Low Budget Prepping

A lot of us don’t have a big weekly budget. There isn’t much room for building up a stockpile of items. When you are trying to buy extras for disaster prep, it can start out cheap and small. You don’t need to overwhelm your budget to create a pantry buffer. Just like a savings account or rainy day fund in the bank, prepping is best when it builds up slow and steady.

Add More Over Time

Don’t rush out and buy a huge stash unless you have extra cash on hand. You can start small and build up slowly. With just five dollars, you can buy a large box of Ramen noodles, a can of chicken and a couple gallons of water. If you keep buying a few additional items each trip, you will have a couple extra weeks of food in no time.

Plan to Swap Out

It is incredibly important when you are on a low budget that you swap your items out. Plan to stock up on items you already use that you will continue to buy. Each item you purchase, you will put it in your storage stockpile and use the stockpile item.

Check Dates

You might really be surprised at how long some things last while others expire quickly. You want to check dates so you know you can use items before they go bad. If PopTarts last a year, you know you can plan to eat them at any point in the year and you don’t need to plan on them being part of the weekly menu. Other items, like some crackers and noodles, might have a much shorter shelf life, so checking the dates will give you an idea of whether or not an item is good to store. If you use those items every week, then you can store them.

Start Small

Don’t get overwhelmed. Start with just a couple of days of extra food and expand over time Think about how you are going to use your items to create meals. This will help you stay organized and not get into a hoarding situation where you have a lot of items that don’t really work together.

Keep Pests in Mind

In order to protect some items, you will want to store them carefully. While jars of peanut butter or cans of tuna are safe from pests, flour, chocolate and oatmeal are examples of items that can attract pests. From mice to weevils, there are all kinds of things that could be attracted to your stockpile. When items are stored away from your normal kitchen stash, they may be more accessible to invaders and you may not notice as quickly. Store items that could be attractive to bugs and rodents (or pets!) somewhere safe, like in a locked plastic bin.

View Storage as Zero

When you get to a place you feel comfortable with your stockpile, you want to count it as your baseline or “zero.” That means, you don’t dip into it unless you are facing an emergency. You definitely want to swap out items as you buy new ones, but you don’t want to use those items before you have the new ones to swap out. Keeping it in a place separate from your normal pantry or freezer storage for every day use will also help with that separation mentality.

Start a Garden

To help out with your storage, grocery bill and skills, start a garden! While many think of gardening as a hobby, growing vegetables can be tricky but leads to a lot of value. A garden doesn’t necessarily seem like part of disaster preparedness, but knowing how to grow your own food is an important skill.

Growing, harvesting, preserving and saving seeds for the next year are all things that many people know little about. Yet, if something went wrong with the food supply chain, it would be a valuable skill. And, on top of that, you save money while controlling the quality of your food (you can avoid pesticides and soil quality, for example).

Overall, it is important to save up items in case of emergency. Don’t wait until things go wrong to start thinking about potential disaster scenarios. If you want to listen to meal prep ideas, you can check out this podcast:

The post Easy Steps to Disaster Preparedness appeared first on MidKid Mama.

In this podcast episode, I talk about some of the differences in routines that could impact your curls. I highly recommend you don’t worry about changing products until you have spent a few months with the Curly Girl Method and have kept up a simple routine with safe products.

Why Would You Need to Change Products?

After giving your hair a chance to adjust, you may find that the products you are using are not right for your hair. Products could have a variety of problems:

• Too light (doesn’t weigh hair down enough and hair may dry fluffy—this may also happen if you aren’t adding enough of the leave-in product)
• Too heavy (makes hair feel lotiony, weighed down or grimy when fully dry)
• Not enough slip (doesn’t make hair feel smooth when added and may dry frizzy)
• Wrong ingredients (your hair might be reacting poorly to certain key ingredients, like coconut, avocado, oils or other ingredients that are technically safe)
• Bad ingredients (an accidental slip up can lead to using a product that has a wax, silicone or drying alcohol and makes the hair react badly with excessive buildup or frizz)
• Not enough balance (all hair needs varying levels of protein and moisture—you will have to figure out your best balance over time)

Remember, it may not be the products. Try changing how much you leave in or how you apply the products (like squishing the hair full of conditioner to work it in or fingercombing at a different point in your routine) before you give up on the product itself.

What Should You Do When Products Aren’t Working?

When you do determine it might be the products that are too heavy or just want to try something different, only change one. You might theorize that a lighter leave-in will give you bouncier curls, but if you change out both your leave-in and gel, you won’t know what is improving and what isn’t. Maybe the new leave-in makes your curls shinier and bouncier, but the new gel leaves your hair flatter and duller—giving you a combined result that isn’t much better than your previous routine. If you had just changed the gel, you would feel how much worse it made your hair. If you had just changed the leave-in you would immediately notice the improvement, even if it wasn’t perfect.

Don’t throw non-working products away! What you might find is that it was your application or the point in your routine that mattered more than the product itself. For the first year I thought my hair hated Vo5, but now I’ve found it actually does a great job if I only use it for the cowash step. Plus, you can use up the products you already have that are safe on days you don’t care as much about the results.

Say I’ve worked out at the gym (so I need to wash my hair), but I know I’m mostly doing things around the house for the next day or two. The perfect time to use up product, give my hair a break or test out new products is when I’m not trying to have a good hair day. I think it’s better for the hair when you change up your best routine sometimes, giving your hair new ingredients and avoiding potential buildup. I’ve always found that switching products seems to help the regular products work better.

What About Protein and Moisture?

One of the trickier parts of the Curly Girl Method is in trying to figure out whether your hair needs more moisture or protein to be balanced. It’s pretty safe to say that at first, your hair is going to crave moisture. For beginners, the recommendation is to focus on getting more moisture into your thirsty curls.

But after a few months, your hair might start to become over moisturized and need protein. With bleached hair, you may find that it needs even more protein than normal. I use protein in my leave-in and gel steps, and I even add it in my cowash from time to time. Around 3.5 months, my hair started getting limp and frizzy because it had reached the point of being over moisturized.

If you think your hair might be over moisturized, you can add protein by swapping out one of your products in your routine to something that has protein in the ingredients. It isn’t recommended that you do a protein treatment unless you are sure you are over moisturized and protein will help. If you go too far the other way in adding too much protein, your hair may become brittle and break easily. It is harder to come back from over protein treated hair than over moisturized hair, so I recommend you go slow with the protein.

Once you’ve added in protein, watch for signs that your hair has had enough. If your hair starts to look dry and a little frizzy, ease off your products that have protein. Try to find a balance that will give you healthy curls. Remember, this will actually change by season in most areas as the climate goes from warm and moist to dry and cold. So, you might need extra moisture in the winter and more protein in the summer.

The post Podcast Episode 4: When Should You Change CG Products? appeared first on MidKid Mama.

If your hair is frizzy, fluffy, wavy, curly, dry, oily or kinky, then the Curly Girl Method is right for you! The method is ideal for hair that is curly (some find they have hidden curls!), but it also works for straight hair as a way of treating hair better. The Curly Girl Method is not a particular line of products, but a way of washing and caring for your hair.

Final Wash

The beginning of your Curly Girl Journey is going to be in doing a final wash. The final wash is using a shampoo with sulfates, but no silicones or waxes. I often recommend Suave Clarifying Shampoo because it is cheap and easy. Once you have done this final shampoo, you won’t use shampoo again (unless you accidentally get a silicone or wax in your hair).

Shampoo isn’t actually cleaning your hair as much as it is stripping oils. The problem is, not only does this remove dirt and grime, it also removes natural hair oils that are good for your scalp and hair. This stripping process causes frizz. In order to tame that frizz, most conditioners and styling products contain silicones—but those silicones can only be stripped out with shampoo. So, this vicious cycle harms your hair over time.

When you stop using shampoo, you don’t stop scrubbing out the dirt. Instead of using shampoo to scrub, you will scrub with an approved (silicone-free) conditioner to co-wash your hair. You don’t need a product called cowash because that literally stands for conditioner-only washing. So using any “safe” (silicone-free) conditioner to wash your hair will work. You will need to scrub the scalp with your finger pads for a longer amount of time than shampoo, but usually only by a few minutes.

So, did you catch that? NO MORE SHAMPOO AFTER THIS STEP.

Finding Safe Ingredients

So, before you start, you will also want to get a conditioner and gel for styling your hair. You can spot bad ingredients by seeing if anything in the list ends in:

• -Cone
• -Conal
• -Xane
• Or is listed as a wax

Dimethicone, for example, is a very popular silicone ingredient. This would require a shampoo to get off of your hair. If you try to cowash with dimethicone in your cowash, leave-in or gel, then you are going to start to get a lot of build-up and frizz because your hair is still coated in the silicone.

Most of the Shea Moisture conditioners are safe, but they can be heavy for many types of hair. I highly recommend starting with the Not Your Mother’s Naturals conditioners for leaving in. Many people love Vo5 and Suave conditioners because they are so cheap and many are safe. I personally use L.A. Looks gel for styling, but there are many options. You are going to want to start very simple, though, so don’t get crazy picking out too many products.

Track Your Progress

Take a before picture. You will be shocked at how things change. Most of the time, the changes are going to be so slow you might not even notice. Once you get into it and get a good routine going, you aren’t even going to remember how bad it was. My kids don’t recognize my before picture.

Have a Best-to-Date Routine

Do your final wash, then start cowashing. You can cowash as often as you want to because it is not hard on your hair. I like to diffuse my hair to cut the drying time and increase the curl definition, but many air dry or let their hair dry overnight. You should only make a small change or two with each wash so you can see what you are really changing. If you get to wild with changing products and ways of applying those products, you won’t be able to tell what really made a negative or positive impact.

Always know your best-to-date routine. That routine is what you fall back on if a change doesn’t make it better. So if you normally squish in your conditioner, you might decide to do everything as normal except rake in the conditioner that next time. If that doesn’t improve on your frizz or clumping, you will then go back to the original routine before making a change the next time. The reason you want to keep track of your best-to-date routine is because you need to have something you can fall back on for times when your hair needs to look its best. This will also help you make educated guesses about how to adjust to get a better result for your hair.

Certain hair is going to like and dislike certain ingredients—but everyone is different. Personally, my hair hates coconut, but two of my four kids do well with coconut in their hair. If I use coconut in my hair—even way far down on the ingredients list—it makes it extra frizzy. At the same time, if I don’t diffuse starting at the roots, my hair is flat and more limp. If I don’t fingercomb my hair long enough after adding my leave-in, then my hair will be frizzier than normal. Every point of your routine can be done many different ways.

On Transition Hair

Perhaps you’ve heard of the transition hair you get with the Curly Girl Method. As your hair adjusts to the new routine, it will have to stop overproducing oils in an attempt to keep up with the stripping that you used to do with shampoo. Your hair might look horrible for a few weeks, or it may look great for a few weeks before starting to look and feel horrible. Transition hair can hit any time in the first few months. For me, my hair looked amazing at first before hitting transition around 3 months.

With transition hair, your hair may feel:

• Limp
• Frizzy
• Producty
• Unclean
• Dull
• Poufy

These are all common with transition hair and you must just press through! You can clarify by adding lemon juice to your cowash, which will help cut the grease faster without stripping the hair. I highly recommend braids, buns, headbands and clips during this time to help hide the hair you are going to hate. But once you get over this hump, you will be able to move on to truly healthy hair.

On Feeling Overwhelmed

This might not really be possible, but try not to feel overwhelmed.

It’s a learning curve that most of us didn’t know existed. There is a lot of information to relearn and ways this can change what you do with your hair. There are so many avaiable products and ways to apply them, it can be very hard to keep track.

We’ve all gotten used to the normal routines and products that we expect to work in our hair. The CGM challenges all of that and goes against what we are most used to. There are groups to help and you can always reach out for support. Start simple and go slowly. It isn’t nearly as hard as it might sound.

Listen to the podcast above and then check out my post about my 9 months progress here.

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