My First Adventure into Fermentation....Homemade Yogurt!

Hey everyone! Well the snow and cold have certainly not been relenting here or anywhere else. Yesterday we just got nailed with over a foot of snow! And while it certainly makes life a bit more difficult, it is oh so beautiful and gave me my first ever "adult" snow day since graduating college! With all this time on my hands, I thought I'd make a recipe I'd been wanting to try for a while, but that takes a good amount of time and watching to complete: homemade yogurt. Now don't get me wrong, this recipe couldn't be easier, it just requires you to be there to complete simple steps every few hours-- kind of like making homemade bread. Very hands-off, but takes a little while.

Bentonite Clay Masque

Facial masks have recently become one of my favorite beauty routines to do every once in a while. Even though I don't do them every day or even every week, I think they are an important and incredible part of a natural beauty routine. It always makes me think of the ayurvedic principle called "dinacharya", which means the importance of a daily routine, be it health or beauty. And though you definitely don't have to do clay facial masks everyday, I think there's a lot to the concept of "self-pampering", especially in our modern society in which self care and self love seem to be kind of taboo. Taking time out of your day to make sure you appreciate yourself and your body is supremely important both mentally and physically, and throwing in a few of these  face masks every once in a while definitely helps!

Dandelion Green and Sage Pesto

So lets do a low-down on dandelions. While some may think of them as that pesky weed that's ruining their otherwise prisitne lawns, they are really one of nature's little gems. There's a reason they grow everywhere, because they're screaming out "eat me, eat me!!" A beautiful little flower, yes, but dandelions also produce quite the array of medicinal and delicious edibles parts. Actually, you can eat every single part of the dandelion plant; flowers, leaves, stems, roots and all. All parts are delicious and super healthy. The flowers are great tossed into salads, the roots are great made into teas or even pickled, but what we're concerned with here is the leaf, or greens as some call it. You can do a ton of stuff with the greens, and with a fresh, yet slightly bitter and astringent taste they add great depth to salads, stir fries, soups, or pretty much anywhere that you'd use something, say...like spinach or arugula. One of my favorite things to do with them, however, is to make a pesto! What a great medicinal combination of medicinal ingredients...raw garlic, olive oil, sage, dandelion greens. Perfect for detoxing and cleansing the body. I put this pesto on pretty much everything, but a few of my favorites were on roasted carrots and sweet potatoes (sage goes phenomenally with root veggies), on sandwiches (especially breakfast sandwiches!) and on rice or pasta. Try this one out, it is truly delicious. (PS your local grocer should carry dandelion greens in their produce section, some don't but I've generally had good luck finding them...or alternatively wait till we thaw out of this cold snowy winter and go pick them yourself!)

Lemon, Ginger & Goji Berry Tea

I had never tried goji berries before making this recipe. I had always been kind of curious about them, but not really knowing how/ what to prepare them in, I was a little clueless. Then I stumbled upon this post online  about a goji berry tea. Hmm..well lemon ginger tea is one of my favorite things ever, so why not throw in a few gojies while I'm at it? Turns out goji berries are really yummy! To me they somehow taste like dates..in a weird sort of way. But in any case they're really good. I drink this tea when I wake up, before my coffee and breakfast etc. It feels very cleansing and refreshing. Try doubling or tripling the recipe and keeping it in a container in your fridge for the week, either drink it cold or reheat whenever you please. So if you like ginger and lemon, and want to be a goji berry convert, try this little recipe.

Pumpkin, Spinach and Astragalus Soup

To continue upon my "The Roasting of the Pumpkin" post, something had to be made immediately after roasting that big ol' pumpkin. I decided that a nice soup could be good, and after a trip to the local herb shop earlier in the day I decided to use some astragalus root to give it a nice winter immune boost. Now what, may you ask, is astragalus root?

Homemade Lip Balm

One of my numerous attempts at making all homemade christmas gifts this year was homemade lip balm. Now lip balm is one thing that i've always kind of pushed to the wayside and considered too expensive to buy, but now my whole viewpoint on the stuff has changed. Why would I pay $5 for a tiny little tube of burt's bees when I can make ten times the amount of the exact same peppermint beeswax lip balm for under $3? Seems silly now... but now I (and hopefully my family too) will have luscious, hydrated lips all winter!

Infused Oils & Homemade Feminine Tea Blend

Infused oils are all around great. There are generally 2 categories, medicinal and culinary (though often the culinary have medicinal properties as well). I decided to make a bunch of both to give out as Christmas gifts for this year. I decided to make an arnica oil, a calendula oil, and a comfrey oil in terms of medicinal and a rosemary and thyme oil as my culinary oils.

Here are the medicinal ones:

So in order to make these all i did was fill a mason jar about half to 2/3 of the way full with the dried herbs (for most infused oils it is best to use fresh, though with these 3 dried works as well and being winter are way easier to find). Then I filled up the entire jar with Olive oil and sunflower oil. Essentially any type of oil that will absorb into the skin would work here, but on a college student's budget I had to go with the cheaper stuff. All you do then is throw it on a window sill for 4-6 weeks and let the sun do its work. Shake once a day or so and you'll be golden.

Arnica- A specific external treatment for physical trauma, sprains, bruising and other injuries. Use immediately after strenuous exertion or injury to prevent, relieve and reduce swelling, bruises and pain
Calendula- Gentle, cooling, and soothing. Calendula oil is the most successful oil for assisting us with dry and damaged skin, skin inflammations, rashes, diaper irritations, and other skin disorders
Comfrey- Traditionally used for general wound healing, treatment of bruises and for skin cell proliferation

To the right are the culinary oils. They are made in the same process, though I used fresh rosemary and thyme right off the plant, and filled these with pure extra virgin olive oil, as they will actually be used in foods, so you want it to taste as good as possible. Should be delicious in a few weeks!

Feminine Tea Blend:

This is a delicious tea that I am going to bag out as christmas gifts to all the fine ladies in my family as well. It is warm and flowery, but also spicy and delicious. Here is the official recipe, but for those of us who want to cut to the chase here is the description:

"This tea is perfect for frazzled nerves or any mom in need of a mood boost. The skullcap and oat tops are classic nervine tonics that help support the nervous system during times of stress. Raspberry leaf is considered an important tonic herb for women’s health that’s rich in nutrients like iron, manganese, and niacin. The tasty addition of roses, vanilla, and cinnamon offer floral spiciness and inspire feelings of wellbeing. This tea can be sipped daily to maximize the pleasant effects."

Sources:

mountainroseherbs.com

Honey Almond Facial Soap

So I've recently been reading all about the skin healing benefits of raw honey on the skin. Not only is it great for you to eat, but it has amaaazing effects on practically every skin type. This article lays out all the benefits, but to surmise it is:

-Antibacterial and antimicrobial
-Can be drying or moisturizing, depending on your skin
-Contains tons of good-for-you enzymes
-Helps repair sores and scars
-No additives!

Be careful what you use though...only Raw or wild honey works. Other normal types of honey will often contain additives or only be a certain percentage actual honey. I got this stuff from Trader Joe's (also goes wonderfully in tea)

What I did for the cleanser was:

2 Parts raw honey

2 parts liquid almond castile soap (though any would work, I just like the idea of honey-almond)

1 Part warm water

I just added the honey and warm water and stirred it up, then added the castile soap and stirred again until everything was mixed well together into one liquid. I tried it for the first time tonight..its amazing! My skin was literally glowing..incredible what nature can do! 

Here's the final product

Followed by some ACV toner this makes the perfect nightly skin care routine!

Homemade Tinctures and Body Lotion

Today one of my best friends and I decided to take a mental health day and go get a reiki session and spend some time shopping for herbs. Probably one of the best decisions I've made in a while. After the absolutely extraordinary and enlightening reiki session, we bought a huge number of herbs to make tinctures with. I decided to make a women's health tincture, a liver detox tincture, and a quit smoking tincture. We'll see how they turn out in 3-6 weeks!

Here are the fledgling tinctures..updates to come soon!

We also made a lavender, bees wax and almond oil body lotion. It works phenomenally. Can't wait to experiment with more essential oils/ body oil combinations. 

Apple Cider Vinegar Facial Toner

The benefits of apple cider vinegar have really been coming to the forefront as of late. After stumbling across this post a few days ago, I decided I'd give it a whirl.

I used about a 1:3 ratio of ACV to water for this. Only time will tell how what effects it will have. I'll report back.

***And check out this link for a ton more health benefits and uses for ACV. It's crazy how much stuff this smelly liquid can do.