Homemade Lip Goodness

This past week, my sisters and I got together to make some lip balm. We don’t get together often to do things like this. But when we do, it’s always a treat because I would not have made lip balm on my own. We followed a simple recipe found on Green Bee’s blog to make the base and then had fun creating our own lip balm concoctions using different extracts and essential oils.

In lieu of jojoba oil we used sweet almond oil, but I found that some other recipes say you can use olive oil too. Instead of using just peppermint oil (which we got at London Drugs), we bought some different extracts to play with: lemon, coconut, orange and almond (we found these at Superstore). We decided to use the microwave instead because it seemed more convenient, allowing us to have more control over the melting process. As for the containers we found cute ones at Daiso, but you could probably reuse empty containers or lip balm tubes too.

Through the process we learned a few things:

• it’s somewhat messy. You end up getting wax everywhere. You should probably use a grater, bowls, utensils, etc. that you don’t really care for because it’s hard to get the wax and the greasiness off of them afterwards. You may also want to line your work area with newspaper to make cleaning up spillage easier because pouring the melted base into a small tube or container requires steady hands and good coordination.
• you need to work fast. The base sets pretty quick. Have your flavouring oils and extract combos ready to add to the base, eye droppers worked well here.
• as for getting the melted base into the containers, we used a chopstick. But a straight stick of any sort (like a stir stick) would work too. We used the stick as a guide, pouring the melted base down it into the container.
• though you can use extracts, we would probably stick with essential oils next time. (Just be sure the ones you choose are safe for your lips). Compared to oils, you need to use more extract. The larger volume of extract to base ratio resulted in the extract separating from the base in some of our batches when it set.
• we added a bit of honey to some of the batches for flavour and sweetness. You need to melt the honey well into the base (watch that you don’t end up burning it) or else it will separate too.
• write down your recipes, so that you know what and how much you added for future batches.
• in some batches, we also shaved some cocoa butter into the beeswax mix for the base. The cocoa butter made for a softer, creamier lip balm and added a nice cocoa smell.

Here’s some of the concoctions we came up with: almond-cocoa, honey-lemon, coconut-orange, and cocoa-mint.

Let us know if you’ve tried this yourself and what you’ve come up with.

Summer Jam’In

A recent trip to a nearby strawberry patch opened my eyes to a whole new way to savour local berries all year long. We went to a no-spray strawberry patch with some friends to pick some lush, in-season berries. The strawberries were not super sweet but they were deliciously juicy, deep crimsom red and percolated a sweet strawberry scent. Of course, we walked away with only one bucket full of strawberries but it was hard to resist looking for more and picking all the ripe strawberries in our row.

A suggestion from a friend got me looking into freezer jam recipes. I do have to admit I have always been apprehensive about the whole jamming process. I always imagined a big huge enamel soup pot, sitting on the stove, boiling away with jars of jam inside clanging against one another. Surprisingly, the recipe was relatively easy to follow, required no cooking and called for a few simple ingredients: berries, sugar, and gelling powder. I found a Club House gelling powder that required less than half the amount of sugar as other recipes that call for just plain pectin. Following the recipe on the package; I measured, my daughter smashed and mashed the strawberries, and half and hour later we had jam for our toast.

We are looking forward to raspberry, blackberry and blueberry picking so that we can make some more jam this season! Yummy!

By the way, all my jam supplies were picked up at the local supermarket, aside from the berries of course!

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Mommy, What’s that Smell?

My two and a half year old’s sense of smell is amazingly keen. In her young age, she has grouped scents into two categories: “yucky” and “yummy” smells. Those “yucky” smells (garbage, burnt toast, fish sauce, manure) cause her to scrunch up her face and pinch her nose; and those “yummy” smells entice her to take several deep breathes of whatever it is (chocolate, mangoes, cinnamon, lavender shampoo).

Since her nose is so savvy I want to treat it to more natural fragrances…

When we attended EPIC Vancouver back in April we met a wonderful company, headed by a mom & daughter team, called Smell This! Aromatherapy. They gave us samples of eco-friendly air fresheners, called Re-scentables. It’s sachets of Kosher rock salts that are scented with drops of essential oils. What a great idea! The wonderful thing about it is that they are reusable (adding whatever essential oil your nose desires when the scent diminishes) and it is a simple MIY project even for those who aren’t crafty.

• buy, sew or find a small fabric sachet (I had some lying around that held some soap)
• fill it up with about 2-3 tablespoons of rock salts (Kosher is apparently best because it doesn’t contain iodine)
• add about 20 drops of essential oil (but you can experiment with how strong of a scent you want by adding less or more)
• close up your little sachet tightly (with a string/elastic/clip so none of the salt spills out) and it’s ready to go
• Just remember to keep it out of reach of curious little fingers

I’ve already placed a few around the house; even at the bottom of the diaper pail. Hopefully, it’ll help lessen that “yucky” smell.

≡mar

Follow-up on Veggie Spray

Remember that veggie spray that I was so gung-ho about from the Oprah show? Well, I looked more into it. From what I found, I was not convinced that veggie sprays in general (commercial or home-made) are the solution to my problem of having to search high and low for organic fruits and veggies at reasonable prices. You can say that I was a bit naive to assume that I had discovered the answer to counter the world of pesticide-sprayed produce, thus trivializing the need for organic farms.

I found many MIY (make-it-yourself) recipes which included ingredients like vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, Palmolive dish soap and saw some reviews on some commercial ones (Fit, Nature Clean), but concluded that there is no wash out there that will remove all pesticides. It depends on the produce and it depends on the chemical make-up of the pesticide used. There are just some darn awful pesticides that cling tightly to the surface, get absorbed systemically, or are trapped underneath the waxy coating on produce.

However, I have been using the veggie spray recipe since finding out about it. I figure removing whatever I can from fruits and veggies was better than not doing anything at all. I deviated from the recipe a bit by eliminating the grapefruit seed extract (I had a tough time justifying spending $30 for a little bottle of that stuff). Also, because I make mine straight in the spray bottle, I made sure to add the baking soda to the vinegar/water solution slowly and then leave it uncapped overnight.  The baking soda makes it very fizzy and it will leak out of the nozzle otherwise.

My conclusion from all this:

• buy organic whenever possible especially when it comes to the “dirty dozen“
• invest in a veggie brush, to aid in removing some of the visible dirt and residue
• still use a veggie spray or a wash of some sort, even on organic produce (to counter bacteria & general people handling) — doing something is better than nothing

≡mar

MIY (Make it Yourself): Veggie Spray

My mother-in-law told me about a home-made veggie spray recipe that she saw on the Oprah show to remove pesticides from your fruits and veggies. I was so excited about it that I looked it up and wanted to try it out right away. I will let you know how it goes. Here’s the recipe:

Sophie Uliano’s Veggie Cleaner Spray

From Oprah’s Earth Day Event

(If you can’t buy organic produce, you need to make sure you wash it thoroughly. Use this spray to make sure your fruit and vegetables are squeaky clean)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. baking soda
• 20 drops of grapefruit seed extract

Combine all ingredients in a large container. Then, transfer to a spray bottle with a pump. Spray mixture on produce, and rinse thoroughly after 5 to 10 minutes.

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≡mar