De's Essentials

Hikes, hotdogs, hot chocolate and games. Couldn’t ask for a better Family Day! . . #lifeisgreatwithoils #familydaybc #familyday #getoutside #overthefire #familytime #gameday #roastinghotdogs #beautifulday

We have had an enjoyable, mild winter thus far. I feel as though we’ve had as much rain as snow this year. Today was a bit chiller and it’s supposed to drop for the rest of the week. Although it’s been colder than what we have had, the sun was shining which made for a beautiful day! . . Since it’s now winter, soup was on the menu for dinner. Chicken tortellini soup with salad and a homemade chocolate cake for dessert. The soup was from the freezer cookbook so all I had t...o do was thaw and heat. I added 2 drops of Cinnamon oil to the cake batter because I love the taste of cinnamon and chocolate. . . Money saving tip: buy your staples in bulk. Everyone’s staples will be different. Purchasing these items in bulk will save you money as the larger the package, the less the cost per gram. The staples I buy in bulk are flour, sugar, dried beans, rice, pasta, lentils and coffee. I store my rice, flour and sugar in large containers in my pantry and have smaller containers of them on my kitchen. Pasta, beans and lentils are put into glass containers and kept in the kitchen on display. Purchasing this stuff in bulk will save you time (less trips to the grocery store) and money and you will have less packaging to throw in the garbage. . . What staples do you always have on hand? . . #lifeisgreatwithoils #chillyweather #soupday #homemadegoodness #betterthanfromabox #easypeasy #freezermeals #savetimeandmoney See more

I like salad. Sometimes I want a salad as a meal...and sometimes I want a cheeseburger too. This is the best of both worlds. It’s also kid friendly...Ky pretty much licked the bowl clean... . . It was also easy and quick to make. Dinner was on the table under 20. Gotta love those dinners! .... . Money saving tip: Learn to make your favourite take out meals at home. This cost less than $8.00 to make and gave 4 servings. You can’t get a Big Mac for $2.00.... . . #lifeisgreatwithoils #betterthantakeout #saveyourmoney #quickandeasy #easypeasy #makeitathome #soyummy #dinnerunder20 #cheapandeasymeals See more

Well, they’re not pretty, but boy did they taste good! . . These enchiladas were from the Freezer cookbook I posted a while back. The one recipe serves 6 so I needed up making 3 meals out of it. .... . Great thing about these are that you cook them from frozen and they are ready in 40 minutes. Perfect for those busy nights or when you forget to pull something out of the freezer (we’ve all been there). . . #lifeisgreatwithoils #betterthantakeout #makeyourown #cookinhwithdoterra #yummy #easypeasy See more

Coconut rice, creamy, garlicky Brussels Sprouts and pork chops! Yummy! . . The rice was from a meal I made a couple of weeks ago. I had a bunch left over so I portioned it into meal size portions and froze it. Great time and money saver! .... . Money saving tip: Use frozen veg when not in season. A 1 kg bag of frozen vegetables is about $8.00 and, depending on what you are making and your family size, will give you enough for 6-10 meals. Works out to around $1.00 a meal. . . #lifeisgreateithoils #savetimeandmoney #cookathome #lessthan30minutes #betterthantakeout #thinkoutsidethebox See more

Dinner last night was super quick and super delish! Got busy, lost track of time, had to find something quick to make before Ky faded to a shadow.... . . These Black Bean Tacos took 15 minutes from start to finish. With a hint of lime and chilli powder, these tacos have 5 ingredients in the filling and won’t break the bank. You probably have most of the ingredients in your cupboard. I did use corn torts for this but you may be able to sub in flour torts if you are so incl...ined. I find corn tortillas are way less expensive than flour torts, freeze well and taste pretty good. The only thing I didn’t have was fresh cilantro. I did have it in my list this week, but, since there was none at the store.... I used the Mexican Blend from doTERRA instead. It has lime, cilantro and cumin oils in it so it paired perfectly with the dish. . . Anyways, long story short, 15 minutes to get on the table and Ky loved them. Easy, delicious and inexpensive. Who could ask for more? . . #lifeisgreatwithoils #easypeasy #quickanddelicious #inexpensive #betterthantakeout #15minutes #cookingwithdoterra See more

I am so thankful Ky loves salads. It’s the easiest way to get veggies into him . . . Anyways, this salad eats like a meal. Less than 30 minutes and dinner is on the table! .... . Yum! . . #lifeisgreatwithoils #betterthantakeout #easypeasy #fromscratch #veggies #eatitup See more

Decluttering can be somewhat of a stressful event. Especially when you take everything out of a closet or cupboard and stuff is everywhere! I have been getting rid of items for a few weeks now and everything pretty much has a home. It’s now a quite calming atmosphere. . . This blend reminds me of a spa. I have had this in my downstairs diffuser for months. Quite calming and relaxing. It definitely helped when I was going through closets and bins. .... . Put 3 drops of Peppermint and Rosemary with 2 drops of everything else. You won’t regret it! . . #lifeisgreatwithoils #calming #declutter #spaday #keepitsimple #simplify #breatheinthecalm #getridofit See more

I bought myself an amazing cookbook for Christmas from our local bookstore. For some reason, in the winter months, I would rather cook ready made meals. Not ones from the grocery store....ones that are made with fresh ingredients with no added icky ness. Maybe it’s because it gets dark so early and feels weird cooking when it looks like it’s midnight outside... . . I must say....This. Book. Rocks! .... . Each batch makes at least 6 servings so that works out to at least 2 meals per batch. There are no weird, out of the ordinary ingredients and I will bet you probably have 80% of the ingredients in your pantry, fridge and freezer already. . . There are a ton of different options and most are really inexpensive to make. There are gluten free and vegetarian options as well. You could make any of them gluten free or vegan by swapping out say the cheese and cream for vegan options and by using 1:1 or cornstarch for thickening agents. Not sure if you would want to use rice flour pasta and freeze it though. Not sure how that would work out. . . I like that there is a make it now option along with instructions on how to freeze and reheat recipes. There is also a batch chart if you want to make more than 1 batch at a time. . . Last weekend, I cleaned out my freezer and made 15 different recipes (37 meals worth). I didn’t need to purchase much as I had almost everything on hand. I spent $43.28 for the ingredients I needed. So, in short, I have a ton of ready made meals AND came under my $300.00 budget for the month of December. . . It took about 9.5 hours to get it all done. . . Check out @polarpeek for this one. It’s totally worth it! . . #lifeisgreatwithoils #makeyourown #betterthanstorebought #stickup #underbudget #easypeasy #outofthefreezerandintotheoven See more

Found a new pizza dough recipe that I’d thought I’d try out. It has garlic and onion powder in so I added those as well as a drop of Rosemary oil because, well, I like the taste. . . I didn’t want pizza, so made a Stromboli instead. Basically I made an elongated calzone... Anyways, this dough apparently freezes well and 1 batch makes enough for two meals. If it works, I may make a double batch next time and freeze most of it. .... . Btw, this dough was amazing to work with and tasted delicious! I think it’s my new favourite dough recipe... . . #lifeisgreatwithoils #cookingwithdoterra #stromboli #makeyourown #newfave #freezeit #betterthqntakeout #inexpensivemealideas See more

Pad Thai is something that I have never made at home before. Not sure why since it is super simple and very tasty. I had everything I needed on hand (except ginger so I used a drop of Ginger oil instead). It cost nothing to make (as I had everything I needed) and took less than 30 min to make. Ky even said that it was pretty good so that’s a win In my book! . . #lifeisgreateithoils #betterthamtakeout #easypeasy #padthai #makeyourown #lessthan30minutes #cookingwithdoterra #quickandtasty