My friends think I’m a regular Martha Stewart…

They think this because I make my own play dough and granola (among other reasons…one being I love to bake and I make great desserts).

The play dough happened because at my son’s preschool at the beginning of the school year we had to sign up for a month to provide play dough for the class. We could either make it (recipe provided for us) or buy it if we were so inclined to go that direction. I signed up for January and decided to make it. My philosophy was “why buy it?” Plus, there was this nagging thought in the back of my head…what other chemicals do they put in the store brands that are toxic. It might SAY non toxic, but to whose standards? The government’s? I don’t trust the government’s standards on non toxic (see other post on toxicity in our cosmetics).

So I made the play dough. I was doing it for a few reasons actually. First, it HAD to be cheaper than buying it…and in today’s economy, that is a big reason. Second, the reason stated above regarding toxicity. Third, I just couldn’t deal with the environmental aspect of buying all of those plastic little containers. I am trying to lower the carbon foot print of this family. Hard to do when there are all of these personal little sized items out there available to buy. Marketing individual sizes has certainly hit when it comes to our children. Yes, I want him to eat yogurt at lunch, but those little small containers just fill up our landfills – because you know those small plastic containers aren’t getting recycled at school! Plus, Hunter eats about three of those in one setting. Buying those cute little containers of play dough was out of the question.

So I made my own…and the only tough parts were stirring it fast enough in the big pot (my arms got tired…note to self, need to work out the upper arms) and getting it purple enough with the food coloring. Getting it purple enough (and not lavender) was actually the hardest part of the whole deal. Of course it had to be “purple month” in January and not blue, red or green! HA! But it turned out and was incredibly easy and it eased my mind when Hunter came home and I found out he had been eating the play dough (as all kids do at some point in their lives). At least I knew he wasn’t eating a whole bunch of chemicals.
And that is the final reason why I bake, make play dough, and make things from scratch (like cakes, muffins, cookies) rather than processed by a manufacturer…I know what the ingredients REALLY are!!! Call me Martha, but I like knowing that I can substitute apple sauce (with no added sugar) for the oil, and cut the sugar in half, etc., it makes me feel like I am doing the right thing on many different levels.