Home-made natural face care

Who wants to spend $20-30 on facial masks, cleansers, and exfoliators? NOT ME! So, head to your kitchen and whip up some face love!

Blend equal parts yogurt, orange peel and lemon peel; use as a mask to help acne prone skin.

Lightly beat an egg white. Add lemon juice. Use as a mask to tighten pores.

Grind up some blue cornmeal into superfine powder. Add a little to the palm of your hand. Mix with water and use as a scrub or a mask to remove blackheads.

Grind up brown rice into a superfine powder. Add a little to your palm, add water, use as a scrub or a mask to help ease oily skin and detox large pores.

Grind colloidal oatmeal, oat bran, and oat flour (or any mixture of 1 or more of these ingredients) into a powder. Add to your palm, add water, and use as a skin buffing wash or mask.

Grind sea salt and colloidal oatmeal to a fine powder. Add to your palm, add water, and use as a skin detoxifier and hydrating scrub.

Make a tea with chammomile, peppermint, and sage or basil (you can add rose water and honey for hydration) and use as a natural toner.

Got more? Add 'em in the comments section!

Dark and Dense Chocolate Sorbet

Dark and Dense Chocolate Sorbet

2 c WATER

1 c SUGAR

1 c unsweetened COCOA POWDER

Combine water and sugar in a heavy saucepan over med heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Whisk in cocoa and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and pour through a fine strainer into a bowl. Chill in fridge for a couple of hours (if you can wait that long. Stir before poring into ice cream maker. Follow manufacturers directions.

This is a simple treat that yields outstanding results. The sorbet is somehow dense and almost creamy in texture, yet uses no dairy products!

For simple variations add 1/2 c toasted nuts to mixer during last half of batch freezing, add 1 tsp instant espresso along with cocoa powder, or add 1/2 tsp peppermint extract to cooled mixture before freezing.

Farmer's Market Bruschetta

It doesn't get any better or more summery than this. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

What you need:
A few heirloom tomatoes (choose several different varieties and colors)
A little olive oil
Some fresh garlic, crushed or sliced, depending on your methods (see below)
Some fresh basil, ribboned
A nice loaf of bread (I like ciabatta, but you choose your favorite), sliced

What you need to do:
1. Either steep the garlic in the oil and brush it on the sliced bread, or, if you worry about food poisoning, just brush the oil on the bread, then cut the garlic cloves in half and rub them on the bread. Toast or grill the bread until crunchy.
2. Chop your tomatoes into small chunks. Mix them with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, and basil to taste.
3. Cram as many tomatoes on each toast as you can and EAT.

Shrimp Kebabs

1 c fresh cilantro
1 c fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/4 c lemon juice
2 T chopped garlic
2 t paprika
1 t kosher salt
1/4 t cayenne
1/2 c olive oil
2 lbs extra large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Preheat grill or broiler to high

Process cilantro, parsley, lemon juice, garlic, paprika, salt, and cayenne in a blender of food processor. Pulse until chopped, scraping down sides as needed. Drizzle in olive oil while machine is running.

Pour marinade over shrimp; marinate 15 minutes.

Skewer shrimp from the tail-end through to the head end. Grill 2 minutes per side.

The book says to serve with creamed corn but I serve with rice.

This is really good (so much so that we served at our wedding).

From Cuisine at Home (Weeknight Menus).

Sweet potato muffins

Oh the sweet goodness. I made these for my kids (who otherwise refuse to eat sweet potatoes) and they ate 2-3 each! Needless to say, they were a hit. The kids even continued eating them once they knew the "secret ingredient" and then asked me to make another batch!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup Agave nectar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 t vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t salt
2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1/2-2/3 cup craisens or raisens (I used craisens)
1/3 cup smashed walnuts or pecans

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin tins.
2. Whisk together sugars, oil, vanilla and eggs.
3. Add flours, baking powder, spices and sweet potatoes and blend. Don't over mix. Allow the sweet potatoes to be chunky. Blend in the craisens and nuts.
4. Spoon the batter into tins (it will be kind of thick). Bake for about 20 minutes.
5. Eat. Yum.

*notes: if you don't have or don't like agave nectar, you may use about 1 cup of brown sugar total; honey would also be delicious. You may also omit the wheat germ, but then I would add a bit more flour to compensate. The original recipe that I stole and modified called for 4 cups of shredded sweet potato. I hadn't noticed and I steamed and smashed mine. I think it would be good either way, if you don't feel like going through the trouble of smashing.

Banana Souffle

Banana Souffle

2 ripe bananas

3 T water

1/3 c plus 1 T sugar

1/2 t cornstarch

pinch of cinnamon

4 egg whites

pinch of salt

Butter and sugar 4 4-ounce ramekins. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel the bananas, and puree in a food processor until smooth. In a small saucepan, bring water and the 1/3 cup of sugar to a boil. Simmer 4 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved. Add banana puree, cornstarch, and cinnamon to sugar syrup, and stir until incorporated. Set aside to cool completely. (this is important – if you rush it and the mixture is still hot, it won’t fold into the egg whites correctly.) In a stainless steel bowl, beat egg whites and salt until foamy. Add remaining tablespoon of sugar and beat to soft peaks. Fold cooled banana puree into egg white mixture. Pour into ramekins and place ramekins on a baking sheet.

Place baking sheet in oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 375 degrees. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until puffed up and browned. Don’t open the oven to peek! Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

borrowed from: http://tastyeatsathome.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/banana-souffle-for-holiday-food-fest/

Sunscreen

Tis the season, and new reports out say that most of the sunscreens we love to spray and/or slather are not just ineffective, but downright dangerous. If you want to know which ones are better, check out this website: http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen/.

On that note, if you want to see how your soaps and make-ups stack up, check out the Skin Deep website at http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/. Or, just order from Stephanie! ;-)

New format

Per Stephanie's suggestion, we will change the format of the blog. Continue to post your fabulous recipes (or post for the first time, for those of you who still haven't... you know who you are!), but now also post your fabulous food finds and fabulous product finds. Pretty much anything goes, as long as it is fabulous! Find a brand of soap you love? Tell us. Find a cool kitchen tool? Spill it. Find a secret website with the best coupons ever? Tell me quick!

Delicious 100% whole wheat bread

I'm usually not a fan of the bread recipes that contain 100% whole wheat flour. It's too heavy for me. Finally! I found a slightly sweet, very light and fluffy recipe, that works well at my high altitude (where bread making has proven challenging at times). Hope you like it too!

100% Whole Grain Wheat Bread

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

2 3/4 cups of hot water
1/3 cup of oil, olive is fine
1/4 cup of raw sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon salt, sea salt is good
7 1/2 cups (max) of 100% whole grain wheat flour
2 tablespoons of dry active yeast

Directions:

1. Place the first five ingredients in the bowl and mix.

2. Add: 2 Cups 100% whole grain wheat flour. Mix, then add 2 tablespoons of dry active yeast. If your not sure about your yeast proof it in a little warm water first.

3. Add: 4 cups of 100% whole grain wheat flour.

4. Mix until the consistency is some what even. Then continue to slowly add flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough quits sticking to the sides of the bowl. It should be tacky to the touch. The trick is to have enough consistency to stand up with the least amount of flour so the bread will be fluffy. In any case do not exceed 7 1/2 cups of wheat flour. You can trade one cup of wheat flour for one cup of all purpose white if you wish. Don't over mix or the bread will be tough.

5. When your dough is finished, Cover the bowl and let it rise for about 30-45 minutes. The dough will be larger but it doesn't need to double when using a heavy mixer.

6. Grease two bread pans with Crisco. You can also flour the pans to reduce sticking.

7. Mix again just enough to knock it down at least close to the original size.

8. Drop the dough on a floured surface so you can work the dough and shape it. Roll it in the flour and shape it in your hands to make a nice ball getting enough flour on it so it isn't sticky.

Divide the ball in half and do it again.

Shape the loaves by turning the dough under it's self over and over. When the dough is shaped right the sides and ends will be sealed and all you will see is a nice oblong shaped loaf with smooth sides and top.

Drop the loaves in your bread pans and let them rise until almost doubled. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 36 minutes. If you forgot to preheat 41 minutes. (gas oven)

9. When done turn the bread out of the pan to a rack to cool. You can eat it right away. Don't wrap it until completely cooled. (Condensation will make it soggy) Put in tinfoil to store on the counter. If you put it in the refrigerator it will turn into a brick. Enjoy.

Notes: If you like fluffy brown bread this it. No white flour here. You can use any 100% whole grain wheat flour. I mill my own. This bread is not heavy like most 100% whole wheat breads. If it is you used too much flour and your dough was too stiff. If it flattens out and won't stand up you need more flour. The total amount of flour is usually about 7 cups. This recipe has been in my family for years and we all make it. We make a lot more now that we have powerful mixers and the hand kneeding is bye bye.

Serves: 12

Preparation time: 3 hours

Banana Wontons

fried banana wontons
2 bananas
13-14 wonton wrappers
ground cloves

slice your bananas in sections about 1 inch across.

1 c oil (canola, peanut, or any other veggie)

powdered sugar for dusting

On a wide dry surface lay out your wonton wrappers, banana slices, cloves and have a small bowl of water ready.

Place the slice of banana in the center of the wonton wrapper, sprinkle with ground cloves.

fold one corner over to the top of the banana slice, dab the corner with a bit of the water, fold the next corner over and so on until the banana is sealed inside.

repeat until all the banana slices are used. Heat up the oil in a medium to small frying pan over high heat. let it warm up for at least 1-2 minutes before gently dropping in a few of the wontons to cook. Cook until brown and crisp, turning halfway through. Once fully cooked, scoop them out onto a cooling rack or plate covered with a paper towel to soak up some of the oil.

We also added some variations to this recipe from Sweet Beet and Green Bean. We successfully added chocolate chips, coconut, cinnamon and slivered almonds to the bananas. Dusting with powdered sugar was good, but for a more decadent and even healthier alternative, I would drizzle with honey or agave nectar and dust with cinnamon sugar.

More than anything I just loved how quick and easy it was, and not ordinary or predictable like some desserts.