Another Variation

Here's another variation to the luscious hand cream recipe. In this one I substituted some of the beeswax for shea butter and some of the grapeseed oil for olive oil.

Luscious Hand Cream with Shea Butter
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 ounces beeswax
1/2 ounce shea butter (unrefined)
1 cup distilled water
3-4 drops vitamin E oil
essential oils

Directions: Add beeswax and shea to oils and heat until wax is melted and oil is warm. Heat water in a separate container until about the same temperature as the oil/wax mix. Place oil/wax in blender turn on low. In a thin stream add water slowly until it is completely mixed into the oil. Add essential oils of your choice until your desired scent is reached. Pour into containers. Enjoy!!!

This option seems to be a little greasier than the first, but it once absorbs into your skin it feels wonderful. We used a combination of grapefruit and patchouli essential oils yummmmm.

Luscious Hand and Body Cream

Yes, it's Tuesday, but I'll give you a break from my usual "fish recipe" post for a wonderfully, luscious hand and body cream.
I don't know about y'all, but our skin has been so dry lately. I think all this wonderful curling up in front of the fire with a good book is catching up with me :).

Hand and Body Cream
1 cup sweet almond oil
1 cup water
2 ounces beeswax
essential oils of your choice
Directions: Add beeswax to oil and heat until wax is melted and oil is warm. Heat water in a separate container until about the same temperature as the oil/wax mix. Place oil/wax in blender turn on low. In a thin stream add water slowly until it is completely mixed into the oil. Add essential oils of your choice until your desired scent is reached. Pour into containers. Enjoy!!!

Comments- the first time I made this I used just almond oil and it was really terrific. The next time I used 1/2 grape seed oil and 1/2 almond oil- I liked this better. I also added several capsules of vitamin E oil (good for your skin and also acts as a preservative). For the scent I like lavender mixed with peppermint. This does make a sweet girly smell. For the whole family, you might want to stick with peppermint or bergamot. Right after you make it, it is pourable. As it cools it will harden to a more cream texture.

For a wonderful treat use it while it is still warm. Wonderfullllllllll....... and the best part- no toxic ingredients. I actually had the thought yesterday while mine was cooling on the counter, "what if someone walks by and thinks this is icing?" No worry- it won't kill 'em!

Mixing Grains

Here's a thought - if you have a grain mill and mill your own flour, the next time you mill try using a variety of grains instead of milling a single type. I used to struggle to keep up with whole wheat flour, spelt flour, rye flour, and so on.
Lately I've been mixing the grains as I put them in the mill for a one of a kind flour. One of our favorites is a Prairie Gold/Spelt combination. Watch out for the low/no gluten grains such as oat groats and pastry berries if you are making breads with yeast. It is fine to use those on quick or non- yeasted breads. Happy baking!!! P.S. Who knows you might develop the next "designer" flour :)

What About Grapeseed Oil?

I found a bottle of grapeseed oil at Costco the other day. I was surprised to find it was cheaper per ounce than the olive oil. Anyway, I had run across this oil in many soap recipes and have been curious to give it a try so I bought it. While doing some research, I ran across some interesting facts from these two great sites:



5 Great Uses:



1. Use to treat blemishes

2. Use as a makeup remover

3. Use as a massage

4. Use to moisturize extremely sensitive skin

5. Use in your bath



Grapeseed Oil Good For Skin Care


Grapeseed oil has the same antioxidants as green tea, black tea, berries and red wine. These antioxidants are called procyanidolic oligomers (PCO’s), known for there health giving properties, and are more powerful than vitamin C and vitamin E.



Since our skin absorbs and sends into our bodies what we put on it, I love to use products on my skin that are safe to consume. Look at the ingredients you put on your skin. Would you eat them? Food for thought (so to speak:))

Easy to Take Elderberry

I found this at Whole Foods a few months ago. I love having these on hand for times when we are away from home or I'm out of my homemade syrup. And, if you're curious they taste really good.
They are much cheaper here than at Whole Foods. I hope everyone is healthy and enjoying the season.

Smoothies Anyone

Smoothies- the options are endless!!
Right after I snapped this picture I thought of all the wonderful ingredients I left out. What about yogurt, kefir, etc.? Anyway, here are a few possible ingredients for your next smoothie break- frozen bananas, frozen blueberries, frozen mango, frozen pineapple, dates, ground flax seed, carob powder, spinach (promise you'll never know its in there:)) almond butter, maple syrup, coconut oil, ... just to name a few. Try to think of ways you can sneak really nutritious ingredients in without anyone being able to tell.

Our smoothies always begin with frozen bananas. We literally could buy a whole box of bananas just to freeze. After that it all depends on what your in the mood for. Here are some of our favorites:

Blueberry Delight
frozen bananas, frozen blueberries, spoonful of: ground flax seeds, coconut oil, and almond butter

Orange Delight
frozen bananas, naval oranges (peeled), 1/2 cup or so of yogurt. Blend really well to break up the orange pulp.

Carob Delight (tastes just like the chocolate ice cream from Wendy's)
frozen bananas, heaping spoonful of carob powder, maple syrup, ground flax seed, almond butter

Strawberry Delight
frozen bananas, frozen strawberries, frozen mango, 3-4 large spinach leaves, coconut oil.

What about you? What are some of your favorite combinations?

Homemade (sort of ) Disinfectant Spray

I've been searching for a recipe for a good effective disinfectant spray (without bleach if possible) and here's what I ran across.

Wow- how easy and I love that both vinegar and hydrogen peroxide are so cheap. I now have under my kitchen sink a spray bottle of each.

"It doesn't matter which you use first - you can spray with the vinegar then
the hydrogen peroxide, or with the hydrogen peroxide followed by the vinegar.
You won't get any lingering taste of vinegar or hydrogen peroxide, and neither
is toxic to you if a small amount remains on the produce. As a bonus: The paired
sprays work exceptionally well in sanitizing counters and other food preparation
surfaces -- including wood cutting boards. In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed virtually all
Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli bacteria on heavily contaminated food and
surfaces when used in this fashion, making this spray combination more effective
at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach or any
commercially available kitchen cleaner. "

An Easy Yogurt Maker

We've been making yogurt lately. Not only is it delicious it is so much less expensive than the store bought kind.

It's really simple. All you need is: a heating pad, stainless steel bowl, thermometer, fresh milk, and plain yogurt (store bought or from a previous batch).

First I heat my milk to 150 degrees in a water bath to pasturize it ( my milk is raw). Next, I let it cool to 110 degrees. Then I add 2 T yogurt for every quart of milk, stir it in, cover, and let it sit for seven hours undisturbed on top of a heating pad on meduim heat. I also wrap some towels around the bowl to insulate it. - presto a wonderful batch of yogurt.

Suffering from the sniffles and elderberries exploding in the kitchen

Walking down the driveway this morning I noticed a huge puff of smoke coming from our pine trees. I thought what could that possibly be? And then it dawned on me - pollen! That was pollen - clouds of it. Everytime the wind would blow a huge puff of pollen was released into the air. No wonder we have the sniffles and been sneezing to beat the band. I think we have gone through a case of kleenex in two days :).

A couple of kids started to feel rather miserable so I headed to my box of herbs fresh from San Fransico Herb Company to search out dried elderberries. Here's my thinking - I'll make a huge batch of elderberry syrup and that'll head off whatever ills are looming.

I soaked the elderberries, simmered them- no problem until.... the blender. The instructions said to "puree the warm berries in a blender" so I dumped the whole batch in without a thought. One pulse later and warm elderberry juice was all over me and all over the kitchen- it was as if they just exploded. I hate I didn't take a picture, but I wasn't thinking so clearly as the time. Thankfully, my dear sweet daughter helped me clean up the mess and all my efforts bore a quart of elderberry syrup.

Turns out those with the yuckies were quickly mended and the rest of us have been faithfully taking our elderberry.

Anyway for the brave and daring- here's the recipe. (Actually it's not that difficult; however, I would amend the instuctions to puree in small batches the warm berries in a blender and we added more honey to taste)

Elderberry Syrup

2 cups dried elderberries

1 quart boiling water

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup lemon juice

Place berries in an uncovered saucepan and pour boiling water over them. Cover and let soak overnight. The next day, simmer the berries for 30 minutes. Puree the warm berries in a blender, adding remaining ingredients as you blend. Pour the syrup into a clean bottle and store in the refrigerator.

From - Herbs for Health and Healing by Kathi Keville

Here's some interesting information on elderberries.

To Soak Or Not To Soak

After nearly seventeen years of baking whole wheat bread I've recently learned about the health benefits of soaking the freshly ground flour before baking in order to produce a lighter more digestible loaf.

I had read several articles on the subject, but to be quite honest I didn't want to change a system that had worked for many years. Bread making had become automatic for me and more recently for my girls who have taken over 90% of all the baking. Gee, now I have to do something else to make my homemade healthy bread more healthy!

Oh well, I might as well give it a try. If you are interested Sue Gregg has some really good information on the subject of soaking flour and also has some tips for adapting her recipes.

I'm generally pleased with the quality and taste of the bread using this new method, but its going to take a little time to perfect the system. In a nutshell you soak freshly ground flour in water and some acidic agent (lemon juice, vinegar, yogurt etc.) for 12 hours. This mixture becomes the base for your bread. From this point I make bread as I normally do by adding the rest of the ingredients (you do have to add some non soaked flour), kneading the dough, rising, and baking.

The first loaves were a little bit doughy and the rise time took much longer because the dough was at room temperature. The next time I added less water and the same amount of flour. This time when I got ready to make bread I heated the remaining water (really hot) and added that in with the rest of the ingredients. The rise was much better. I also added more flour while the dough was kneading.

Several months later-

.... here I am months later and we love our soaked bread. I think we have made every boo boo in the book, but now our system is working smoothly.

Here's our old recipe: (we mix and knead our bread in the Bosch mixer)

6 cups very warm water
2 cups oats
2/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup honey
2 T salt
4 T yeast
12-14 cups flour or until the dough cleans the bowl

Mix, knead, rise and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes

This recipe made really great bread, but we much more pleased with the soaking method.

Here's the soaked recipe:

The night before we make bread- mix together 4 cups hot water, 1/4 cup yogurt, and 8-10 cups whole wheat flour. Cover and leave out on the counter until the next day.

The next day- add to yesterday's dough 2 2/3 cups very hot water, 1 cup honey and mix until the bowl of dough loosens up. Pour this mixture into the Bosch and add 2 T salt and 1/4 cup yeast. Add freshly ground flour until the dough pulls away from the bowl. Knead for 5 minutes, let rise, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Some of our many mistakes:
Challange- the dough after sitting out for 12 hours wasn't warm enough to get a good quick rise- Solution- use slightly hotter water than usual for the remaining water; use freshly ground flour (it's warm) and let the bread rise in a warmer oven.

Challenge- the soaking dough becomes a hard clumpy mass
Solution- add the hot water to the bowl and let it soften the mass; stir and break up the dough with a mixing spoon until it becomes stirable then pour it into the Bosch

Challenge- help the mixer is slinging wet dough all over my kitchen
Solution- soak your dough in a glass bowl and add the water, honey etc. to the bowl to soften the dough before you pour it in the mixer and turn it on. If you try to soften the dough with the dough hook on it will slosh down the outside of the bowl all over the counter making a terrible mess- (can you tell I'm experienced :))

Challenge- I'm exhausted- you mean I have to do one more thing before I go to bed.
Solution- make it part of your dinner preparation routine. Don't wait until you get ready for bed do it during the day or as part of your dinner preparation- you just won't finish it until the next day.

Challenge- Oh no I forgot about my soaking dough and it's been over 24 hours.
Solution- go ahead and make bread with it anyway. We have let ours soak for as long as 48 hours and it is even better. It has a wonderful sour dough flavor.

Good luck- let me know how yours turns out.

"Healthy Version" 2

Here's another healthy recipe of chocolate chip cookies to try!
This recipes new twists are peanut butter, dark chocolate, and honey.
The honey in these cookies gives them a tender, chewy texture.


Whole Wheat Chocolate Peanut Oatmeal Cookies

1 c. melted butter
1c. honey
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 c. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. oats
6 oz. chocolate chips or 3.53 oz. bar of dark chocolate, chopped (we put about 2/3 of the bar into the cookies, but you could use the whole thing if you like a lot of chocolate in your cookies)


Mix all ingredients together and place them by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cookies will still be soft when done.

Another idea: Sucanat is a unrefined natural sugar that would probably be a good substitute for the sugars in this recipe. We didn't have any on hand so I couldn't use it in the cookies but you can find it at health food stores.

"Healthy Version" 1

Who doesn't enjoy a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie? Here's a recipe that uses whole wheat flour instead of refined white flour. My sister Hannah made these yesterday and they were delicious.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies:

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 cup oats
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine softened butter and sugars. Beat for 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla, mixing together well. Next add in flour, salt, soda, and oats. Lastly fold in chocolate chips and nuts.
Scoop rounded tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.


Chocolate chip cookies with dark chocolate coming up so stay tuned!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Guess you can tell what I've been up to lately. After a rather busy weekend I succumbed to a sore throat, achy body, and a general overall lousy feeling.

I'm back on my feet (somewhat) today after a day of rest and many healthy "treatments". Here are a few of my favorites:

Routine Care and Immunity Boosting

• Emergen C- we love these little packets- contains 1000 mg of vitamin C & many extras (our Walmart carries these)
  
• garlic capsules- taken daily to boost immunity

Sore Throat Treatment

• gargle with warm salt water (I remember doing this as a child)- it really works and is so soothing!
• make a warm drink of lemon juice and honey- sip on this throughout the day to relieve a dry scratchy throat

Overall Lousy Feeling

• Berry Well- we just love this stuff. A teaspoon 3 times a day helps shorten an illness and reduce the severity.
• Echinacea Complete Care Wellness Tea by Celestial Seasonings- two to three cups a day as soon as you notice any symptoms.
  

Ear Ache

• Garlic Ear Oil- I wished I had known this remedy when the children were younger- it seems as if we went through dozens of antibiotics. For achy ears we put drops in the ear canal three times a day. I haven't used an antibiotic for ear aches in eight years!
  

What about you? What are your favorite home remedies?