Pesto Linguine with Scallops & Roasted Tomatoes

The Man decided to have a boy's night out so I decided to indulge myself with some delicious seafood pasta! The best part is that it takes about 15 minutes to make! This is a gluten free version, but you can use regular pasta, too.

Serves 2

Pesto

• 1 cup basil leaves
• 1 oz pine nuts, lightly toasted
• ¼ c parmesan cheese, grated
• 1-2 roasted garlic cloves, minced
• ⅛ c olive oil
• Salt and pepper (optional)

Put all the ingredients into a food processor except the olive oil. Blend until paste forms, then slowly add the olive oil until a sauce forms. Add salt and pepper if desired and pulse to mix.

DIY Toothpaste with Baking Soda and Bentonite Clay

I am going to confess something that might sound a little strange. The truth is that I brush my teeth with dirt. Okaaaaay, technically, it's not dirt-- it's clay, but dirt sounds way more dramatic. {Scarlett O'Hara inspired swoon}

If you are blog follower of mine then you might not be too shocked to see that I am playing with dirt like substances... in my mouth. After all, you know I'm a little naturalistic crazy. But seriously, trust me, brushing your teeth with dirt is kind of amazing so don't write it off just yet!

I knew I had to over haul my home care products after I saw this article.

But this is why you should think about using bentonite clay in particular: 

• It's all natural and that is AWESOME. 
• Clay absorbs the bad stuff and removes it from your body. It's actually nature's detox agent. People (and animals) ingest clay for an internal cleanse.
• It actually enhanced gum repair 
• Also, using clay will also decreased cavities by increasing the remineralizing of the teeth. 

Clay can do all of those things because it is jam packed full of nutrients and negatively charged ions that truly clean your teeth.

Flor-Essence 7 Day Herbal Cleanse Review

As you may know, I've really enjoyed getting personally with you lately. Just last month I posted about sex and Ryan Gosling and today we get to talk about bodily functions! Yay!

I know that you're super excited to read about poop, but I will try to keep the details less like "New York Ripper" and more like "Justin Bieber's Live Tour". I know both are pretty nauseating, but one is definitely more gory than the other. (That quip was for for my niece. She better be reading this.) {snickers} 

Flor-Essense 7 Day Herbal Cleanse

I decided to use the Flor-Essence 7 Day Cleanse because it's completely based on natural herbs. What I think is really cool is that it's actually from a formula used by a North American Indian Tribe.

It's made with mostly organic herbs and the tea is rated by the non-GMO project so I know that I'm getting a safe, plant based product. I also really liked this cleanse because it's gentle and less likely to cause any issues. A lot of people who take the regular colon blowouts as a detox end up with chronic constipation and, frankly, that's pretty hard to deal with. Literally.

Norwex vs E-Cloth: Cleaning Without Chemicals

Would you believe me if I told you that you could clean without chemicals and get a BETTER result?

I found out about Norwex when Emily, an awesome person/blog reader, told me about how well they had worked to clean her windows. And when you guys tell me that something is awesome-- I listen!!!

These types of cleaning products require only water to work and can clean just about any surface. I really love that these products are reusable and washable to they really reduce our environmental impact and save some money on paper towels/cleaners! Emily's story inspired me so much that I bought a bundle of Norwex products to try out. It included a window cloth, an all purpose cloth, and a dust mitten. 

But while on Amazon I saw that there was a similar brand which provided more products for less money, but didn't get quite as good of reviews as Norwex. I thought that this would be a great opportunity for a BATTLE! They cost about $20 less than the Norwex products so I wondered if the difference in cleaning would equate to the difference in cost...

Norwex vs E-Cloth (dun dun duuuuuun!)
1) Dust Mitten (Norwex) and Dusting Cloth (E-cloth)
The Norwex dusting glove is a lot like the Swiffer dusting products. It picks up the dust without it just being relocated which I LOVE. It even handled my pet hair dilemma which is fantastic because I have a lot of pet fur. With the Norwex, I cleaned everything and I could have kept going, but I was out of dust. (darn!)

The E-cloth worked more like a traditional duster and seemed to move the dust around rather than collected it unless you completely wet it, wring it out and the dust with it. It does a much better job this way! So if you purchase the e-cloth duster, please make sure that you get it nice and wet before you dust!

2) All Purpose Cloth (Norwex ) vs Kitchen Cloth (E-Cloth)
The previous owners of our house must have put some voodoo magic curse on the kitchen granite because there has always been these bumpy areas. Seriously, it is the arch-enemy of my life. Nothing has ever worked to get any of it off! So, I did the obvious: I cleaned half of the bumpy areas with Norwex and the other half with E-cloth. Guess what?! It's 98% gone! These are amazing!! Just water! Seriously! Whhhhaaat?!?!

{mind blown} Pooooft!

I actually thought both product performed well, but I loved the added scrubber on the E-cloth product. The Norwex product has a ribbed side that is for scrubbing, but I liked the E-cloth scubber just a little more for tough spots. Seriously, both did great though!

3) Window Cloth (Norwex and E-Cloth)
OMG. It worked! Like Windex! Sure, it requires slightly more elbow grease than a typical spray window cleaner, but it's totally worth it! It removed pet nose stains, finger prints, dust and there were zero streaking on any window or mirror!

{sigh} I'm in love!

Both products are awesome, but I liked that you only needed one cloth for the Norwex window cleaner while you needed two (a cleaner and a polish cloth) for E-Cloth. But if we are going simply by performance-- they are just about equal.

4) And There is MORE!
The E-Cloth Home Cleaning Set also provides a stainless steel cloth, range and stovetop cloth, and a bathroom cloth which are not provided in the Norwex set.

I don't think that the stainless steel and bathroom cleaners are necessary because the Norwex "all purpose cloth" can do those functions too; but I LOVE the range and stovetop cloth. I'd definitely recommend it for daily cleaning of the range because it totally kicks butt. Seriously.

How did I never know about this?!

It also has been tested to remove bacteria from surfaces using just the cloth and water! WTF. {mind blown x infinity}. And they last up to 300 washes! Sweet.

So what's better than function? Cost and saving the world, of course. 
If you buy the Norwex packet with all three items, it's about $50. That's less than $17 per item, but it lasts for 300 washes and you won't need to wash it every time you use it. Win.

I've made a simple math problem to help you see how you could save money:

Cleaning supplies + paper towels = money
Reusable cloths + water= savings. 
Savings in cleaning supplies = more shoes

Now that's logical, people.

Plus, it will help save the world! No more chemicals and less waste! Plus Emily told me that 13 billion tons of paper towel are tossed into our landfills every year? Isn't that crazy?! But you can make a difference! I think these cleaning cloths are a great way to be more eco-friendly.

Conclusion
So which is better? Eh. It's hard to say. They both did very well! The E-Cloth kit does have a lot of "extras", but I feel like most of them aren't necessary except the range and stovetop cloth (love it) and I don't really like extra clutter (I have enough-- trust me).

The price tag on the E-Cloth set is about $20 less than the price of the Norwex kit. Is it worth it? Personally, I prefer the Norwex duster and window cleaner just a little more than the e-cloth, but I love the e-cloth oven range. Oh, the choices!

Here are some links to look at the products on Amazon.com (affiliate links-- if you buy the recommended product you pay the same price and I get an Amazon commission to buy more cool stuff from Amazon to blog about. True story.)

Norwex Household Package

E-Cloth Home Cleaning Set, 8 Count

Norwex Microfiber Dusting Mitt

You can search and find products separately as well if you only want to buy one or two of the products instead of the kits!

Have you tried Norwex or E-Cloth? I would love to hear if your mind was blown as much as mine! And I have to give a big shout out to Emily for introducing me to the idea of using Norwex! THANK YOU!!

**If you're interested in a E-Cloth GIVEAWAY check out this post!!***

Looking for Other Ways to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution: 
Clean up Indoor Air Pollution with these easy steps 

P.S. Due to the multitude of comments which contain Norwex affiliates who are trying to gain business by leaving comments on my blog: If you are a Norwex Rep and you leave a comment with your Norwex link-- that is spam and you will be deleted. Be respectful. This is my "home" and these are my visitors. 

Disclaimer: I was not paid or compensated for this review.

If you buy any of the products from my recommended Amazon links I will get a very tiny and rather small commission from Amazon (your price stays the same) which I will use to buy more stuff to blog about. True Story. 

Drinking Dirt: Bentonite Clay Detox

Since it's February, you might expect that I'm going to post about romance or how to knit a scarf or maybe even something football related, but I'm not doing that. We are going in a totally different direction! I'm going to talk about dirt and poop. Woohoo!!! Excited, right?! It's so much better than love and stuff. Ew.

So, I drink dirt. I just love saying that. People never know if I'm serious or if I'm using my "special" sense of humor on them. I'm definitely serious. But it's a special kind of dirt called Bentonite Clay.

Not only is it a great detox, but it's also helped with IBS symptoms.

Why I Drink Dirt
1) It's Natural
Bentonite Clay is one of the most powerful substances Mother Nature has given us.

Have you ever watched those wildlife documentaries and seen the animals shamelessly eating dirt? They are actually eating clay. They instinctually know that clay will help with digestion and elimination of toxins. It's programmed into their behavior and I bet that at one time in history it was our instinct to eat dirt, too. But I bet that some jerk-face decided that it was "uncivilized" to eat dirt and everyone else was like "Yay! Woo!! Civilized people! No dirt!!" so we stopped.

I bet it happened just like that.

2) Detox
This isn't just any dirt. Bentonite clay that can produce a negative electric charge once it's hydrated which helps to pull heavy metals, toxins and radioactive material out of your body and into your poop which then goes into the toilet thus exiting your holy vessel. It's pretty awesome.

However-- this is super important-- don't let your clay come in contact with metal. The negative ions will absorb the ions from the metal and then a) the clay loses some of it's pull b) you are drinking some metals which will bind to the clay and be excreted, but still-- you are ingesting metal. No thank you.

It's similar to eating Wheaties apparently. Watch this YouTube Video. It's about cereal and a magnet and what happens when they collide! It's slightly disturbing so watch at your own risk (especially if you like Wheaties). Also, it's a good reason to go buy some clay.

If that doesn't freak you out, then you can look at this article which shows you 32 surprising sources of toxic heavy metals.

3) Help certain ailments

Clay has been researched through evidence based studies and definitely seems promising, but it hasn't been researched for all it's potential yet. We are seeing more people with different ailments claiming that bentonite clay has helped their symptoms or even recovery from their illness.

Bentonite Clay could be beneficial with health concerns like the following:

• Supports digestion
• Supports healthy skin 
• Help boost up the immune system
• Cleanse the liver, colon and skin
• Help provide some trace minerals that humans can sometimes lack in their diets
• Improves symptoms of dehydration
• Aids in the absorption of nutrients
• Helps support healthy gut flora
• Supports parasite removal from the gut
• Help to to correct the imbalances in bacteria of the GI tract

People who should NOT take clay:

• Iron absorption issues -- you may need blood monitoring.
• High blood pressure
• Check with your doctor if you are taking prescription medications to make sure it will not interfere with their absorption. ALWAYS take medication and vitamins either 30 minutes before or 2 hours after you ingest clay. 
• If you have concerns, always check with your doctor.