Strawberry matcha sorbet popsicle

It's been really hot these last two weeks for most people. My kids are getting cranky because going outside to play in the sprinkler is still too hot. Luckily we have our AC (even if it can't maintain it's programmed temperature if it's over 95F) So in attempt to keep my kids cool and hydrated I made popsicles. My daughter is over the moon for them.

First you are going to make sure you have popsicle mold. I love the silicone ice pop mold in comparison to the the the Popsicle stick molds. I feel as though they are more secure and less likely to spill. 

The recipe was really easy.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of frozen strawberries ( You can use fresh, but i would still freeze them before hand to make sure you get the right consistency)
• 3 cups of unsweetened vanilla coconut milk (You can sub some for water for a less coconut flavor
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon of matcha tea powder
• Sweetened with local honey to taste ( I used 2 tablespoons, but will probably use less next time) 

Blend coconut milk and strawberries first, then mix in the rest of the ingredients. It's definitely more of a sorbet than anything else. You can pour it into a tupperware and just scoop out a little bowl for a late night snack. Yumm :D

The kids love having something they can take outside and run with so I pour the sorbet into the molds. If you use frozen strawberries I would freeze for about 3 hours before eating, longer if your strawberries weren't frozen.

DIY Coconut aloe lotion (And how to harvest aloe)

I have this aloe plant that was given to me as a housewarming gift from my sister in law 5 years ago. I struggle with using it enough, so I decided to look into making a really hydrating lotion.

Aloe is known for it's healing properties when it comes to skin it does good against sun burns and small wounds. Aloe is also a anti-inflammatory and moisture rich without being oily. I knew I wanted to use coconut oil for it's antibacterial and an smooth consistency so finding other ingredients that weren't  overly oily were a must.

This is my aloe plant, I should probably move the poor thing to a bigger pot, but I like having it on my window sill. If you don't have an aloe plant you can get one here or you may be able to get away using aloe vera gel from the store.

To harvest the aloe I cut off 3 of the leaves that were about 5 inches long. I cut the thorny sides off each leaf first. Then using a knife I peeled the top and bottom off of the leave leaving as much meat as possible. It's a bit of a messy process but I ended up with with these clear gels strips that I blended down into a gel. you should get about 1/4 cup of aloe gel.

Now onto the lotion.

Ingredients

1/4 oz (2.5 teaspoons) beeswax

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon of grapeseed oil

1/8 teaspoon vitamin E oil

1/4 cup aloe gel

10 drops of essential oils ( I used 2 drops tea tree, 3 drops jasmine, 5 drops lavender

Melt down the beeswax on the stove top. When it is melted add it to coconut and grapeseed oil and mix using a blender. Once it's blended smoothly add vitamin E and aloe gel, again blend till smooth. Wait till everything has cooled a bit before mixing in the essential oils. 

Fermented salsa

This is my recipe for a femented salsa.It os really easy to make especially if you already have some extra whey in your fridge.

Fermented foods are known for being packed full of probiotics, and this salsa is so yummy.

5 or 6 good sized Roma tomatoes
1/2 a bunch of cilantro
1/2 yellow onion
1 or 2 chilies or peppers for spice (I like Serrano chilies)
Splash of Lime
Splash of lemon
Spices ( I used salt, cumin, red peppers, chili powder,)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of whey. (This is optional. You can ferment without the use of added whey )

Chop and blend ingredients together. Let it sit on the counter for a couple days, then enjoy! Last for 6 months in the fridge

Breastmilk yogurt melts

I recently got asked to share my recipe for breastmilk yogurt melts. It has been almost a year since my nursling self weaned, but I still remember this easy recipe. I found these little melts were great for a teething toddler. and my daughter who was 9 when I first made these even loved them.

Ingredients

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 cup breast milk
• 2 tablespoons ground oats (optional for thicker consistency)

Put mixture in a ziplock bag and trim a corner off. On a cookie sheet small enough to fit in your freezer lay out some wax paper and use the ziplock bag to squeeze out small circles onto to the wax paper. When the sheet is full of dots place in the freezer. It won't take very long for the to freeze.

Picture from http://dailymom.com/

Homemade deodorant (Updated 8-21-17)

Okay, I told you I would post this here, so here it is!! My homemade deodorant. First off I would like to point out that there is a big difference between deodorant and antiperspirants. Deodorant kills bacteria when you sweat, so you don't smell. Antiperspirants stop you from sweating with aluminum. Aluminum is only one of the many hazardous ingredients inside of store bought antiperspirants and deodorants, most of which can heavily impact or hormones.
Secondly a lot of homemade deodorants use significantly more baking soda then you need to keep dry, in return you may end up with chemical burns this is what many people will tell you is the "transitional period". There is no reason that you body needs to endure pain to go healthy. Please if you have a painful reaction to something please find the source ingredient and limit use are stop altogether. Baking soda may cause chemical burns in higher concentrations, but  in smaller amounts should be perfectly safe to use. 

Recipe:

• 2/3 cups coconut oil
• 1/2 1/4 an ounce of beeswax (I prefer a softer deodorant so I decreased the amount of beeswax)
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda(With the addition of shea butter I found I could increase the baking soda to teaspoon without irritation)
• 1 capsule of vitamin E oil (this time I used a bottle so I tried my best to eyeball it)
• 2 deodorant empty deodorant containers
• 20- 40 drops of essential oils I prefer at least 10 drops to be tee tree 

Some of the oil blends I like are

• 5 drops of thieves EOs, and 15 drops of lavender EOs
• 5 drops of sweet orange EOs, 5 drops of bergamot EOs, 5 drops lavender EOs, and 5 drops of Jasmine EOs

Mix all the ingredients except the essential oils in a small pot over low heat, until coconut oil and beeswax are melted. Take off heat and add essential oils. pour into your containers and set aside in the fridge for 2 hours or until solid.

This deodorant doesn't need to be left in the fridge. So feel free to put in your bathroom cabinet without fear of it melting. it goes on really smooth and my highly sensitive skin hasn't had a breakout since I made the switch. If you think you would prefer a more dense deodorant add more beeswax.

How to make yogurt

Yogurt is easy to make, and costs significantly less then store bought. So why did it take me to so long to start making my own?  Learning to trust the fermentation process has always been hard for me and even scarier when it comes to dairy, but we have been fermenting foods for 1,000's of years.

Now that I feel I have mastered yogurt I want to share with you the 2 worse things you could do when making yogurt: 1) curdle the milk 2) don't let milk cool enough before adding starter. In both of these situations you will still make yogurt, so take a breath and jump in.

This is the method I use to make yogurt

What you need

• 1/2 Gallon of high fat dairy milk
• 1/2 cup of starter yogurt leftover plain yogurt from you last  batch or any store bought plain yogurt that says it has live cultures will work
• Cooking thermometer
• Large pot
• Crockpot
• 2 large towels

First you need a 1/2 gallon of milk (preferably a high fat content dairy milk), pour the milk into a pot and slowly heat up the milk

I usually keep the stove at medium low while bringing up the milk temperature to 180 F - 190 F. This is to sterilize the milk

Pour the milk into your crockpot and wait till the milk cools below 120 F before adding in your 1/2 cup of starter. Make sure you mix the yogurt in well.

Wrap you crockpot in the two large towels to keep it slightly warm while it ferments. Leave it alone for 12 to 18 hours

Your yogurt should come out thick and creamy, you can get a yogurt strainer if you would prefer more a of a Greek yogurt thickness.

I usually add honey to half of my yogurt for breakfast, and keep the other half plain for curry and a sour cream substitute.

ENJOY!

Crayon Lip Gloss

I made myself some crayon lip gloss.

Just a few broken crayons of your color choice, some beeswax, and coconut oil. Melt and mix and your done.

On stovetop slowly melt together in a small pot

1 Tablespoon of coconut oil

1/2 inch slice off of a 1oz bar of beeswax

add broken crayons till you receive  desired colored

I added 1 drop of Theives essentail oil and 1 drop of sweet orange essential oil after pouring into container. 

Apple cider vinegar rinse

This is the recipe I’m using for my no poo challenge

Ingredients

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Green tea bag
3 drops of rosemary essential oil
3 drops of lavender essential oil
1 1/2 cups Water

Steep the tea in hot water then and pour all the ingredients into a bottle.

Use: Wet hair then apply rinse to scalp and run fingers down through hair to the tips. Some people prefer using a spay bottle.

ACV has a similar acidic pH balance to hair. Shampoo is alkaline and upsets your natural pH balance wich is why we have to shampoo so often.

Green tea can help reduce shedding, help with dandruff and psoriasis, and increase hair growth.

Rosemary essential oil is good for hair growth as well. For the men rosemary slows down premature hair loss.

Lavender essential oil is great for keeping hair strong and prevention of dandruff.

DIY Body wash

Ingredients

1 cup Castile soap ( I used Dr. Woods)
1 cup water
3 Tbsp coconut oil ( I used Better Body)
1/2 cup olive oil (I used Organic ’ s extra virgin)
5-7 Drops of essential oils ( I used peppermint and lavender from Fabulous Frannie)

Add all the ingredients into your container using a funnel, give it a good shake and your ready to go.

This body wash is thin but lathers really well so you only need a little bit. It rinses clean and leaves skin soft.

Wool Dryer balls

First grab some wool yarn from your craft store. I was able to make 4 dryer balls with just one skein.

To start the ball wrap around three of your fingers 20 times

Then wrap another 20 times around the middle.

This should allow you to pinches the sides together to make a circle.

Keep wrapping yarn around until it's the size of your palm.

Once all your balls are made stuff them down a leg of old nylon stockings. You need to separate the balls I just tied knots in the the stocking between each ball. You can use an acrylic yarn but don't use wool.

Now to felt your balls you need to run them through your washer and dryer at the hottest setting. Once done just remove from the stockings and add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to each ball and leave in your dryer for the next time you do laundry.

Your new dryer balls will save you money by reducing dryer time, but still leave your clothes static
free soft and smelling great!

DIY face toner

Ingredients
Green tea
Lavender essential oil
Tea Tree essential oil

Brew some green tea and let it steep till cool. Add 10 drops of tea tree oil, and 10 drops of lavender oil.

To use you can either put some on a cotton pad or in the palm of your hands and pat on face. Follow up with using a moisturizer.

If you have oily skin you can add some apple cider vinegar and/or use lemon juice/essential oil. If you use lemon it is suggested you don’t use it every day. Lemon can mess with your natural ph balance and lighten your skin.

Green tea contains a number of healthy benefits for skin such as it can increase the skin’s elasticity, cleanse the skin and reduce the size of pores and give your skin a youthful glow. Lavender evens out your skin tone and has a revitalizing effect on your skin. Tea Tree oil has natural antiseptic qualities, and anti-inflammatory properties that can be beneficial for acne prone skin.

Coconut oil body scrub.

Ingredients

2 cups of coconut
2 TBS of olive oil (You can use other oils too. This is to keep the coconut oil soft)
2 TBS of Epsom salt
5-10 drops of essential oils

Whip together the coconut and olive oil. ( it was suggested to me to use a stand mixer, seeing how I don’t have one I ended up using a whisk extension on my hand mixer. ) Add epsom salt and essential oil.

Use: rub on your body and let sit for a couple minutes. Rinse off in either a shower or bath.

Essential oil ideas.
Sweet orange for a pick me up
Peppermint for muscle pain (kinda feels like icy hot)
Lavender for those nice relaxing baths

    

Relaxing bath.

I recently tore a ligament or two in my ankle causing it to swell and bruise, it was quite painful. I was told by a friend to soak it after the first day. Wanting a speedy recovery I decided to spice up my bath.

1 handful of oats. This is to soothe and soften your skin, and after having my ankle wrapped up it was drying out.(If your concerned about clogging you pipes you can toss it into a coffee filter and tie it of with a rubber band)
5 drops of lavender oil for aromatherapy to soothe your nerves.
5 drops of rosemary oil to relax muscle pain and aches.

This is the concoction, and I must say I very much enjoyed it.

DIY carpet powder

DIY carpet powder

What you will need.
-Mason jar
-Essential oil
-Baking soda
-Paper

Start off by tracing and cutting out the shape of the mason jar lid. 

Make small little holes in the lid(I used a thumb tact), you will probably want larger hole then I made mine.

 Fill jar with baking soda, add 10 drops of essential oils and shake it up with the original lid. I used Lavender in mine, but you can use whatever you like in yours. Replace original lid with your paper lid. 

Headache Balm

My grandmother has chronic headaches that have gotten really bad in the last year. She has had her doctor run scans to try and diagnose, but they have no idea what is causing it. The headaches are so severe that she is unable to speak during them. Her doctor has given her a strong pain killer she is only allowed to take once a day, which only gives her small relief. So I decided to make her an essential oil headache balm, after having good personal experience with peppermint essential oils for my headaches. Today she called me to say she didn’t need take her pain killer yesterday because the balm was doing the trick!

In a small container mix:

5 tbls coconut oil (might want to work in some bee wax to help keep it solid)
4 drops lavender essential oils
4 drops rosemary essential oils
8 drops peppermint essential oils

Use: inhale for aromatherapy, or rub on forehead, temples, and/or back of the neck.

All purpose cleaner

My All purpose cleaner

1/4 cup vinegar

1 Tsp baking soda

1/2 Tsp of dish detergent

Fill bottle with warm water

I add a couple drop of sweet orange and tea tree essential oil into mine