So yesterday I felt in a "making" mood. My friend Megan came over and we ate lunch, had coffee, took turns cuddling her two month old boy, and made a ton of really cool stuff! It took us a little less than two hours to crank out some amazing smelling, all natural, fun and wonderful products. Today I will share the recipes we made.
First we made a variation on Alton Brown's homemade hot cocoa mix.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/hot-cocoa-recipe/index.html
For each half gallon jar we used:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder
3 cups powdered milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 T. cornstarch
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Just put in a bowl, mix well, and pour into jar. On jar top write instructions: Hot Cocoa Mix: Mix 3 - 4 Tablespoons into 8 oz hot water.
Oatmeal Cookie Bath Soak
For each pint jar place the following ingredients in a blender:
2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tsp dried or fresh orange peel
1/2 tsp ginger
When powdered mix in 2 tsp to 1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract. Add at the end, or it will clump in the blender. Pour into jars and label. To use pour some into a warm bath to soften and scent the skin.
Herbal Bath Soak
For each pint jar place the following ingredients in a blender:
1 cup baking soda
large handful dried chamomile flowers
large handful dried lavender flowers
large handful dried lemon balm
Blend till powdery. Mix in a bowl with a heaping cup of citric acid. Pour into jar and label. To use pour some into a warm bath and relax.
Cold/Flu Bath Soak
For each pint jar place the following ingredients in a blender:
1 cup baking soda
large handful dried mint
large handful dried sage or pineapple sage
Blend till powdery. Mix in a bowl with a heaping cup of citric acid and 20 drops of eucalyptus oil. Pour into jars and label. To use pour some into a warm bath and inhale deeply.
Sunrise Scrub
We made 4 pints of this, but I didn't measure anything.
Sugar- a few cups
Salt- maybe a cup
Enough olive oil to thoroughly moisten but not so much it isn't absorbed by the sugar and salt.
Grapefruit essential oil
Rosemary essential oil
Mix all and pack into jars. Label. To use simply scoop and scrub all over to wake up and smell lovely.
Bath bombs
We made 18, but again we didn't measure
Equal parts baking soda and citric acid, mixed in a bowl
While stirring pour in olive oil till it will hold together like pie dough, but isn't too wet.
Stir in essential oils. We used lavender and an orange vanilla mix. It is lovely. You can either pack this in a jar or pack tightly into silicone muffin cups and let dry till solid enough to remove. Pop one into a warm tub and watch it fizz and spread a beautiful smell through your bathroom. It will soften your skin and leave you feeling clean and soft.
Tinted Lip Balm
I didn't really measure this either.
Coconut oil- a few tablespoons
Cocoa butter- a few tablespoons
Olive oil- a teaspoon or two
Beeswax pellets- a few tablespoons
A teaspoon or so of bare minerals red eye color, you can use any similar product
A few drops of cinnamon essential oil
Melt in a double boiler and mix well. Carefully pour into lip balm tubes with a funnel. Let harden, and use as much as you like.
Cookie Scented Lotion Bars
1/2 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup cocoa butter
1/2 cup beeswax pellets
Vanilla extract, 2-3 teaspoons
1/2 tsp cinnamon
I can't remember if we used any other spices.
Melt in a double boiler, mix well, pour into silicone muffin cups and let harden. Rub all over to soften and scent your skin. It is so lovely and moisturizing.
Face Scrub
Pour baking soda into a bowl. Stir in olive oil till it forms a nice paste. Stir in some lavender essential oil. Pour into jar and label. To use simply scoop out a bit and rub well into your face, cover with a hot moist facecloth and buff off the scrub. Rinse well and enjoy your soft smooth face.
Toothpaste
Redmond clay, maybe a cup
Xylitol, maybe a cup and a half
Baking soda, maybe a third cup
Salt, maybe a quarter cup
Mix, then stir in water till it is a paste, and a few drops tea tree essential oil, and as much cinnamon, wintergreen, peppermint, clove or citrus essential oil till you like the way it tastes. I also added some trace mineral drops since I had them on hand.
If anyone would be interested I could totally give a class on making all this kind of stuff. Give me some money so I can buy the materials, and come over for a couple of hours and learn to make everything, and take it all home. Let me know, as I would love to do it!
Monday, December 9, 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Quinoa "Mac and cheese"
Okay so this recipe kinda came out of a Mac and cheese craving, but also a desire to make it a bit more healthy than just opening a boxed version... And it came out great! This would be great for my gluten free friends, although it is by no means vegan!
1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups veggie broth (this is super easy and gives it soooo much more flavor)
One shallot, thinly sliced
Half cup chopped scallions
About a cup of assorted cheeses (I used a combo of soft goat cheese, Romano and sharp cheddar)
1/4 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine quinoa and broth, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes. While this is simmering, sauté the shallot and scallions in olive oil. When they are tender, add the cheese, the goal is to melt the cheese smooth,so it doesn't have to be anything but cubed. Add the milk stirring often. Combine with the quinoa and serve!
1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups veggie broth (this is super easy and gives it soooo much more flavor)
One shallot, thinly sliced
Half cup chopped scallions
About a cup of assorted cheeses (I used a combo of soft goat cheese, Romano and sharp cheddar)
1/4 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine quinoa and broth, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes. While this is simmering, sauté the shallot and scallions in olive oil. When they are tender, add the cheese, the goal is to melt the cheese smooth,so it doesn't have to be anything but cubed. Add the milk stirring often. Combine with the quinoa and serve!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Flavored Vinegar
In a similar vein to extracts, flavored vinegars are super easy. Pour hot to boiling vinegar, white or cider is best, over some herbs or other flavoring agents into clean jars or bottles and seal. Wait at least a week. My favorites so far have been garlic dill, blood orange, oregano, and basil. Oh the basil is so good on a summer salad! Or just on tomatoes and cucumbers. My latest is chive blossom, which is the most beautiful jewel toned pink purple color ever. I even did a Scarborough Faire one last summer, you know parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Best chicken marinade ever. As my friend Marta mentioned on facebook these vinegars are also good sprinkled on potatoes, drizzled on salad, pasta, used as a base for dressing, or homemade mayonnaise, any number of things. Also good for cleaning, as white vinegar is a great cleaner, and things like thyme, or rosemary are antibacterial. Later in the summer I will post a picture tutorial on how I do these, as well as the finished results. Make room on the shelf with the extracts :)
Extracts!
Okay, so I haven't exactly tried this yet... And I promise to post more when I actually do, but I'm suddenly in love with the idea of making various extracts. Gonna try vanilla and lemon first, and then really the sky's the limit... At least if you can find a use for them (not sure how useful borage extract would be - hmmm unless you make your own cough drops...)
Anyway, using this recipe as a baseline
http://www.averiecooks.com/2012/11/homemade-vanilla-extract.html
I'm gonna get some alcohol and jars and see what happens!
Anyway, using this recipe as a baseline
http://www.averiecooks.com/2012/11/homemade-vanilla-extract.html
I'm gonna get some alcohol and jars and see what happens!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
My green bucket list
Okay, so I've been giving a lot of thought to the "greening" of my lifestyle over the last few years. As with any lifestyle change (at least the ones that stick) its been a slow process. I've started a mental list of things I would like to accomplish and the things I already have. I'm going to start documenting my journey here (in addition to the recipes and such) so let me begin where I do best, with a list!
Things I've already done:
1. Gone from using paper napkins to cloth. This was really a no brainer, I had lots of napkins I inherited from my grandmother, back when they USED these thing regularly! At first I wasn't sure what to do with the dirty ones, but a friend of mine came up with the DUH idea of putting a small stainless trash can in the kitchen to use as a hamper... So there we go. I love it, and it even has a removable hard plastic liner with a handle that made it ridiculously easy to bring down to the laundry.
2. Gotten rid of my old Teflon pans. I didn't realize how scary a substance this was, especially when you're an idiot like me and used metal forks and stuff to stir your food (hey I didn't know!) and scratched the hell out of them. So yeah, ten years of digesting Teflon, probably not good... But I am feeling good about the cusinart green gourmet ceramic pans I bought recently. And now I use only soft things to stir with! Also, the 50% off sale on amazon helped (going green is infuriatingly expensive, but that's a whole post).
3. Reduced my paper towel usage by 90% by buying cheap dish rags and using them for all but the most gross of messes... Sorry but anything poop or throw up related does NOT go into my washer! I also had a duh moment for this as I thought more about it. Instead of buying brand new rags, as these wear out I plan to start saving and cutting up old clothes that aren't donatable.
4. My family has made a huge commitment to eat organic, with no HFCS, food dyes, additives or other ingredients that I can't pronounce. This has been tough, but I've gotten to be a decent chef in the last couple of years, and have gotten into the habit of cooking A ALOT. It's a pain in the butt, and has increased my food budget by at least 30%, but I don't really feel like a have a choice these days. Soooooo much crap in food. Can't even really call half of it food. Going to be starting a garden (hopefully!) this spring, so here's hoping to offset the costs a bit. My attempts at gardening for the first time since I was 10 years old ought to make for some amusing stories for this blog project! Feel free to laugh at me, I do it all the time!
Okay that's enough for now, I've promised my son some outside time today (and I'm a horrible horrible mother if I ignore my sons desire to go play outside because I'm too busy blogging about how cool and green I am!)
Things I've already done:
1. Gone from using paper napkins to cloth. This was really a no brainer, I had lots of napkins I inherited from my grandmother, back when they USED these thing regularly! At first I wasn't sure what to do with the dirty ones, but a friend of mine came up with the DUH idea of putting a small stainless trash can in the kitchen to use as a hamper... So there we go. I love it, and it even has a removable hard plastic liner with a handle that made it ridiculously easy to bring down to the laundry.
2. Gotten rid of my old Teflon pans. I didn't realize how scary a substance this was, especially when you're an idiot like me and used metal forks and stuff to stir your food (hey I didn't know!) and scratched the hell out of them. So yeah, ten years of digesting Teflon, probably not good... But I am feeling good about the cusinart green gourmet ceramic pans I bought recently. And now I use only soft things to stir with! Also, the 50% off sale on amazon helped (going green is infuriatingly expensive, but that's a whole post).
3. Reduced my paper towel usage by 90% by buying cheap dish rags and using them for all but the most gross of messes... Sorry but anything poop or throw up related does NOT go into my washer! I also had a duh moment for this as I thought more about it. Instead of buying brand new rags, as these wear out I plan to start saving and cutting up old clothes that aren't donatable.
4. My family has made a huge commitment to eat organic, with no HFCS, food dyes, additives or other ingredients that I can't pronounce. This has been tough, but I've gotten to be a decent chef in the last couple of years, and have gotten into the habit of cooking A ALOT. It's a pain in the butt, and has increased my food budget by at least 30%, but I don't really feel like a have a choice these days. Soooooo much crap in food. Can't even really call half of it food. Going to be starting a garden (hopefully!) this spring, so here's hoping to offset the costs a bit. My attempts at gardening for the first time since I was 10 years old ought to make for some amusing stories for this blog project! Feel free to laugh at me, I do it all the time!
Okay that's enough for now, I've promised my son some outside time today (and I'm a horrible horrible mother if I ignore my sons desire to go play outside because I'm too busy blogging about how cool and green I am!)
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Berber Omelet Tagine
8 eggs
1 medium onion, diced (red or sweet onions are best)
1 clove of garlic, minced 1 bell pepper, finely chopped (original recipe calls for green, but I used yellow and it was fine)
2 ripe tomatoes, diced and de-seeded (ok, so when I started to make this, I was out of tomatoes, so I used about half a cup of mild salsa and it worked great)
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
8-10 kalamata olives
Salt, fresh ground pepper to taste
cumin
In a large fry pan that can be covered Sauté the pepper and onion in olive oil over medium heat until tender, add the salt, ground pepper and garlic and sauté for one more minute. Add the tomatoes and 2 tbsp of water to the pan, cook until soft. Meanwhile whisk 6 of the eggs together until light and fluffy, add the last two eggs without breaking the yolks. Pour the eggs over the vegetables, move the unbroken yolks carefully away from the middle of the pan. Sprinkle the cilantro, olives and 2-3 pinches of cumin around the top of the eggs. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the eggs are set.
1 medium onion, diced (red or sweet onions are best)
1 clove of garlic, minced 1 bell pepper, finely chopped (original recipe calls for green, but I used yellow and it was fine)
2 ripe tomatoes, diced and de-seeded (ok, so when I started to make this, I was out of tomatoes, so I used about half a cup of mild salsa and it worked great)
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
8-10 kalamata olives
Salt, fresh ground pepper to taste
cumin
In a large fry pan that can be covered Sauté the pepper and onion in olive oil over medium heat until tender, add the salt, ground pepper and garlic and sauté for one more minute. Add the tomatoes and 2 tbsp of water to the pan, cook until soft. Meanwhile whisk 6 of the eggs together until light and fluffy, add the last two eggs without breaking the yolks. Pour the eggs over the vegetables, move the unbroken yolks carefully away from the middle of the pan. Sprinkle the cilantro, olives and 2-3 pinches of cumin around the top of the eggs. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the eggs are set.
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