Coconut Oil – A million uses

Coconut Oil

Oh, the wondrous things you can do.

There are a million uses

and who knew?

Alright, enough rhyming.  There are literally a million uses falling short of an organic lubricant for Nasa.

Here are some of them:

 1.Simple easy Body lotion.  It states it right on the back of the bottle….under cooking.  So after you sautte up some dinner lather some on your skin if your are feeling a little dry.

2. Sunscreen.  I know of a few people that substitute organic Coconut oil for sunscreen   They never burn and come home extremely tan.  I have not attempted this one yet but I know it is an option.

3. Chest rub.  Ditch the Vicks and make your own. Sonia at Natural New Age Mum has a recipe for a homemade chest rub.  This one I am actually going to make!

4. Body Scrub.  Shania at Food for my Family has a great recipe for a homemade organic Coconut oil and Ginger body scrub.  It looks fairly simple to make and you just may have most of the ingredients on hand. Another recipe for body scrub can be found over with Lindsey at Fashion Food & Foreplay. Hers includes Lavender!

5. Diaper Rash cream.  Wabi Sabi Baby has an all natural recipe for Coconut oil Diaper rash cream.  This one is golden. I was never comfortable with diaper rash cream and all the additives being smeared on my boys.

6. Eye cream.  A friend of mine makes her own under eye cream.  About a 1/4 cup of Coconut oil with some vitamin D and E. (soft-gels broken and squeezed into the oil).  Microwave it for a few seconds to make it a little easier to stir. Wait for it to cool and apply.

7. Hair Cream.  Add a little health to your hair!  Check out Coconut Oil Benefits for You for a detailed method of applying and “healing” your hair.

Not quite a million on this page but I think these will get you going if you plan on substituting Coconut oil for almost anything!

Cookie Ice Cream Bowls

This last Labor day we were invited to a day with friends that included food and swimming.  Two of our absolute favorite things.

My friend, knowing my passion for ANYTHING sweet, assigned me deserts to bring. I was excited!  I was going to raid my Pinterest Carbtastic board for inspiration and bring something that would amaze everyone.  That was Saturday morning and then my procrastination struck and I suddenly I found myself sitting on the couch Labor day morning realizing I did not plan my fabulous desert.

I decided to take the easy route and make Snickerdoodle cookies because I had the ingredients on hand and I was out of time.

It was in the middle of the second batch that I realized that I could bring something “new” to the barbecue.

Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Bowls!

All I had to do was squish some cookie batter on greased upside down muffin tins…

 Bake it at 350 for 8 minutes (or golden brown)

Allow them to cool and pull them off

Voila!

They were a big hit and I didn’t have to run to the grocery store for any last minute ingredients.

Just a few quick tips.  The dough does bake together (at least mine did) and they will need to be separated.  It is important to wait for them to cool because I damaged a few in my rush to get them off the tin.

Enjoy!




Green Thumb Thursday Link up

I know I missed Green Thumb Thursday last week but it was an incredibly busy week and if I remember correctly I was asleep both Wednesday and Thursday night by 8:45.

Today it is back.  Here is my DIY.

How to make a compost bin:

We left our magnificent compost bin at our old house so I have had to create a new one for our winter plants.

We went to walmart and spent 4.88 on a simple thick plastic trash can with a plastic lid.  I made sure that the lid clicked on tight and took it home.

Homemade Compost Bin

I got the drill out and made holes through out for the compost to breath.

Make holes with a drill. Use a large drill bit

Homemade compost bin

I am not sure if the coloring of the trash can will affect the compost.  I will find out in the coming months.

Your turn.  Link up any DIY projects you would like to share! Please no giveaways or links to other link parties!

Don’t forget the FRESCHETTA GIVEAWAY going on now!


 

 

 

 

 

Homemade Apple Butter

The first things first, this is NOT butter.  I always believed that when a recipe had butter in the title than there must be something in it that is dairy.

It’s a lie.

The butter in Apple BUTTER is a lie.

Liar or not, the stuff is good and incredibly easy to make.  I found the recipe on Pick Your Own.org, a great resource.
How to make Homemade Apple Butter The ingredients that you need for Homemade Apple Butter:

Applesauce – fresh or Canned

Cinnamon

Ground Cloves

Sugar

Crock-pot

I am going to give you a brief How To make the Apple Butter because I made a few mistakes in the recipe provided on Pick Your Own.

Homemade Apple Butter with Applesauce1. They recommend 9 quarts of applesauce.  My crockpot is not big enough to handle 9 quarts or 288 ounces of Applesauce so I cut it in half.  I used 3 quarts of Applesauce. I also chose to use jarred Unsweetened Applesauce. I did not have the time, patience, or cash to purchase that many apples to make my homemade applesauce. I’m lazy so sue me.

2. Pour 3 quarts (96 ounces) of Applesauce into the crock-pot.                                        Add 1 tablespoon of Cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cloves, 1/4 teaspoon of Allspice (Remember I halved the recipe) I did NOT remember to halve the sugar. They recommended adding half of the sugar now and the rest later. Nope, I added FOUR cups of sugar.  Maybe I added the sugar unintentionally because I was not paying attention or I subconsciously decided that four cups of sugar was exactly what it needed.  We may never know but whatever the reasoning we will have to live with the results.

3. Stir together and set on low and walk away.  I recommend starting in the evening and leaving it on all night into the next day.  The last hour I turned it up on high. It should look very dark by the end.

Homemade Apple Butter after cooking

4. I was a little worried that the “butter” was not thick enough.  However, it coated the back of my spatula and was slow to drip off.

Now to start canning

Canning supplies for Homemade Apple ButterYou will need a basket to place the jars in a pot of boiling water

Jar graber (technical name – If you are purchasing one be sure to ask for the Jar Graber)

Funnel

Lids that are sterilized and jars that are sterilized.

Check out Pick your own for the exact details.

Ta-Da! Finished product! (ignore the spices)
How to make Homemade Apple Butter

After 15 minutes in the boiling water I had some of the best Homemade Apple butter! I could not honestly believe how easy it was to make and the taste was astonishingly great! It is probably the sugar but who cares, I love it!

Sidewalk Paint , Sightword Hopscotch, and Chalk Body Outlines. Outside fun!

Yesterday I learned some new tricks for outdoor fun with my kiddos.  A steering team member in my MOPS group spoke about fun activities to do with your little ones.   She gave out some great recipes and today I am going to share one with you AND show you some of the fun we had outside…and yes, Chalk body outlines will be included.

Sidewalk Paint
1/4 Cornstarch
1/4 cold water
Food coloring of your choice
Mix together and paint.  (Yes – it does wash off)
Here they are hard at work.  The cornstarch dried with a nice green tint.  They loved it. Our sidewalk leading up to the front door is very festive.
I had another idea while they were creating their masterpieces.
Sight word Hopscotch
My six year old loves math and is not a huge fan of reading. He gets frustrated and impatient when trying to sound out words.  However this game proved to be very effective for his frustration. He didn’t mind reading while he hopped from square to square and his confidence was on a major high! Now, little does he know, I am going to start including words that are a little more challenging!Here is my favorite art project:
Chalk body outlines

I always get a chuckle out of it! I can’t help it!!!

Do you have any tips for outside fun?!

How to make Lemon Curd

During my quest for the perfect cupcake, I ran into a Lemon Cupcake recipe that called for lemon curd. I love lemon curd and immediately wanted to try it out. I only had one problem, the lemon curd that I love (Trader Joes) was not in my immediate possession. I had to wait….and wait… and wait… UNTIL this last Saturday.

My local co-op produce group, Bountiful Baskets, gave me six or seven lemons in my basket. I had no need for that many lemons! Then I got to a thinkin’.  What if I MADE myself some lemon curd.   And I did. Today. And it was good!

The site I found the recipe on is Fine Cooking.  They weren’t kidding when they said it worked.

Ingredients:
6 tbs unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
Wooden spoon
1. Beat the butter (if your butter was in the fridge pop it in the microwave for 20 seconds and it will be at room temp.  Not hard and not too soft) and sugar with an electric mixer for 2 min.
2. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 minute.
3. Mix in the lemon juice.The mixture will look curdled but it will smooth out as it cooks.  It really does!
(this is right after the transfer from the bowl to the pot)
4. In a medium, heavy based saucepan (I have an old capahlon) cook the mixture over a low heat until it looks smooth.  The butter WILL melt and it will look smooth.
5. After it is smooth INCREASE the heat to a solid medium and cook.  STIRRING CONSTANTLY until it thickens.  15 minutes.  I used a timer and it was 15 minutes exactly.
DO NOT LET IT BOIL
You should be able to leave a path with your finger on the back of your wooden spoon
6. Remove the curd from the heat and stir in the lemon zest.  Then transfer it to a bowl and press down plastic wrap on the surface to keep a skin from forming and place it in the refrigerator to completely cool.
Now the recipe says it will keep in the fridge for about a week and the freezer for 2 months.
Here’s mine-
This stuff is amazingly good!!

I felt like such a pro today! I made my own lemon curd, it is edible and it looks cute in Mason jar.  All good signs.

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