As promised, here is the recipe for activated charcoal mask. It is really simple, with only two ingredients required. Activated charcoal has many benefits, one of the prime cosmetic benefits being that it draws bacteria, dirt and other particles to the surface. So, for a clear, clean skin, look no further.
I bought my activated charcoal at Dischem, and it was under R 20. I have made a lot of masks from it, and still have plenty left, so it does go very far.
This is
really easy, and a cheap way to ensure that you always have some gel on hand.
It works great for burns, skin irritations, and sun burn. I actually use it in
my home made moisturiser, and I also make a charcoal mask with it.
What you need:
Cut a piece of aloe off your plant, off the bottom leaves, as these have more gel in than the newer leaves. Cut the tip off, and the spiny sides. Leave your aloe to soak in clean water for a minimum of an hour, or preferably overnight. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT – DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! Aloe contains latex (the yellow sap that turns black), and it can cause allergic reactions. Don’t ask how I know!
Once your soaking is complete, cut the tough outer skin off (a potato peeler works great for this). Put the aloe chunks in your blender or food processor, or use a stick blender to blend the aloe until it is smooth. You will see that it becomes foamy, and kind of slimy:). Place it in the fridge and let it settle a little; once it becomes liquid, pour into a clean glass jar and store in the refrigerator for around ten days.
There are
several ways you can use the aloe gel you made – tomorrow I will share a post
on how to make an activated charcoal mask with aloe gel.
Spring has finally arrived! I love this time of year, when all the green on the leaves of trees and plants is a beautiful, fresh green, flowers are blooming, the sky is brilliant blue, and we can finally stop wearing our entire wardrobe in one go!
In case you hadn’t noticed, this is my favourite season:)! Along with the warmer days, the kiddos think this is the start of ice-cream and ice-lolly season.
Here is a super-easy recipe, no ice-cream maker required.
Ingredients:
500 ml full cream milk
5 tablespoons sugar
Vanilla to taste
Method:
Place the milk in glass jars, filled no more that three- quarters full. Allow to freeze for around four hours. Take the jars out, and let them stand out of the freezer for a half an hour. Place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender, and blend for no more than two minutes, until creamy. If it is set enough for your liking, you can eat it right away, or pop into the freezer for another half hour until set.
You can add other ingredients before blending, such as cocoa for chocolate ice cream, or even fruit pulp for a fruity ice cream.
**using milk instead of cream will not produce as smooth and creamy final product, but it’s still good.
Bone broth is something that is well worth making. It is easy, very cheap and really, really good for you. It offers a number of health benefits, including collagen, calcium, vitamins and minerals. Sound good? I use bone broth as the base for soups, sauces and drink it on it’s own. As soon as I start feeling like I am coming down with something, I start drinking lots of bone broth (or chicken soup made with bone broth), and it really does seem to help with recovery. My family have also noticed that soups and stews taste better when using the bone broth as the liquid instead of water.
Okay, so this habit has earned me some funny looks from friends and family – I have a bag (several!) in my freezer, that all my vegetable peelings, carrot ends, celery ends, some eggshells and bones end up. I use this as the basis for the bone broth.
What you need:
1 – 1.2 kg chicken, turkey, pork, beef, lamb, or other bones (try to get bones that have lots of connective tissue—feet, knuckles, necks, backs, etc.) I generally use a mix of bones – chicken, pork and beef – whatever we ate that had bones in!
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
4 cups roughly chopped carrots, onions, and celery (or scraps). I use scraps for this, unless I have too many of one kind of vegetable, and not enough of another. My bone broth has potato peels, tops of tomatoes, carrot peels and tops, bits of green pepper that may have been looking a little wrinkly, but are not rotten, just not as firm as desired. You get the idea – anything goes, just not anything that is actually rotten or bad.
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
1 teaspoon sea salt
water
stems of herbs for flavour – I use thyme, rosemary etc, – after stripping the leaves, I throw the stems in my broth bag, or keep them in a container.
INSTRUCTIONS
In a large soup pot, place the bones, apple cider vinegar, carrots, onions, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns, herbs and salt.
Fill pot with water until it covers the bones by about 2 cm.
Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to as low as your stove will go. It must be just barely bubbling. Cover with the lid slightly ajar and cook for 24 hours for poultry bones and 48 hours for red meat bones.
When cooking time is up, strain through a fine mesh sieve, and transfer to jars for storing in the fridge or freezer.
Once chilled, the broth should be jiggly and have a layer of fat on top. Scrape off the fat and use it for other purposes.
***You can also cook this in the pressure cooker or slow cooker. In the pressure cooker, cook on pressure for three hours and allow to cool and depressurise on it’s own. Once cool, strain and store by either freezing in jars, storing in the fridge (it will keep for around a week in the fridge), or by freezing in ice trays until solid and then placing the cubes in plastic bags in the freezer. To cook in the slow cooker, cook on low for 18 – 24 hours, and strain once cooled. Store by freezing as per above instructions.
***If your bone broth is not gelled once cooled and refrigerated: it is preferred that it gels, because it means that the collagen amounts in the broth is high, but it isn’t the end of the world if it doesn’t. It is still highly nutritious, so don’t toss it. Just try using bones with more connective tissue next time. Or if it really bugs you, you can try cooking it for longer to make it more concentrated. PLEASE NOTE – THE BROTH WILL NOT GEL IF IT IS STILL WARM OR AT ROOM TEMPERATURE!
As you know, I recently had a pantry emergency. I ran out of everything! If you’re anything like me, Worcester sauce features heavily in the cooking scheme of things, and I go through the stuff like nobody’s business. I began wondering if you could make it yourself, so I did some research into this – I simply could not believe what went into Worcester sauce! Sardines, for starters – the list of ingredients was extremely long, and I definitely didn’t have most of the ingredients on hand, so what was I to do? The answer of course, was experiment!
I am not saying it’s identical, and it tasted like there was something missing in the first batch, which I suspect is the tamarind extract, but it’s pretty darn close. And it works, as I have gone through two bottles already, and the results with meat are great. So here goes:
INGREDIENTS
1 small peeled clove fresh garlic or one teaspoon of crushed garlic
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar; 1/4 cup malt vinegar; OR 1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon tamarind paste- I didn’t have, so I left this out on the first batch. It tastes fine without, but more authentic with the paste
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon ground clove or two whole cloves
INSTRUCTIONS
Cook all the ingredients together until the onion is soft. If you like, you can blend everything together before straining with a stick blender or immersion blender, just to extract the maximum flavour. Strain and pour into a bottle (I love using old soy sauce bottles that I washed and kept for this, it works really well). Refrigerate, and shake before using.
NOTES: This should last up to two months in the fridge, but if you’re like me, it will only last two weeks!
The general move these days seems to be to move away from the more chemically-laden commercial chemicals, and towards the more “natural” ways of cleaning. Reasons for this are two-fold – the price of the commercial cleaners play a factor, as many of these products are quite pricey, and the second, and for many, the most important factor, is the lack of all the chemicals and preservatives that most products contain today.
Many people are becoming more aware of what they are putting in and on their bodies, and the products they are using in their homes. In case you hadn’t noticed by now, I am one of those people. Yes, I am motivated by the cost factor, but the primary motivator is the awareness of there being better, just as effective ways to get the job done, without worrying that you are unwittingly poisoning yourself or your family.
I admit, I am a clean freak, and spring cleaning in my house is a major operation…while there are some things I would not budge on (yet!), like giving up the dish washing liquid and my laundry detergent, there are other things I have been willing to try, such as the vinegar cleaner. And surprise – it is pretty darn effective, especially with the addition of the orange peel! I am quite happy to use this to clean and polish my home with…I have been wondering where I could buy vinegar by the barrel! LOL!
This is really easy to make, and I have seen varied uses on the internet for the citrus vinegar. I personally use it diluted to clean my kitchen counters, bathroom, etc. I also tried using it as a substitute for fabric softener – it seemed to work pretty well. The vinegar smell faded, and then I could smell the oranges.
What you need:
A glass jar (I used an old beetroot salad jar)
Orange peels (from around two oranges)
White vinegar
Method:
Place your orange peels in the jar, pour vinegar over, and leave to infuse for around 4 weeks. When the orange smell is the primary smell, strain with a sieve and bottle. Dilute at a ratio of 1:1 when ready to use.
Tips:
*When filling your jar with orange peels, the orange peels should more or less fill the jar when packed loosely. The longer you leave the vinegar to infuse, the stronger your orange smell will be.
*You can use other citrus peels instead, but orange peels work best for busting grease and grime.
*You can add herbs as well – I have added cloves before, and I have a batch infusing that I added a cinnamon stick to.
As the days seem to be warming up somewhat, there seems to
be a hint of spring in the air…or is that just wishful thinking on my part? I
hate winter, always have – I am convinced I am one part bear! I would happily
hibernate all winter!
As it starts warming up though, I start feeling the urge to
throw windows open, let the fresh air in…and spring clean!
I know that it’s not everyone’s favourite words, but I actually
enjoy spring cleaning (okay, not the cleaning, but the result!) – it gives me
the sense that I am going into the new season of the year with (almost) a new
beginning, a fresh start. I love smelling the clean scents, after the
stuffiness of winter.
And let’s be honest – there is something very satisfying
about looking around your home and everything is clean and fresh and sparkling.
Getting to the finish line is the hard part though, and one
of the yuckiest jobs is cleaning the oven. I hate the commercial stuff – you need
a hazmat suit to clean your oven with the stuff. It is possible, however, to
clean your oven WITHOUT a hazmat suit and super toxic chemicals. I do – yes, it
does require a little more elbow grease, but it works! Here’s how:
INGREDIENTS
½ cup dishwashing liquid
1 cup bicarbonate of soda
½ cup hydrogen peroxide
2 tablespoon white vinegar plus extra for final rinse (or you could use the orange vinegar I will show you how to make)
10 drops of lemon essential oil
INSTRUCTIONS
Take everything out of the oven, racks included
Wipe the inside of the oven with hot, soapy water.
Mix together all the ingredients to form a paste.
Spread the paste all over the inside of the oven, but NOT on the heating
elements.
Let it stand for between a minimum of four hours to overnight.
Remove the paste with a rag, brush, or scrub sponge.
You can do a final rinse with a mixture of vinegar and water in a spray
bottle – one part vinegar to two parts water
That’s it, all done.
Notes:
*It is always a good idea to wear gloves while cleaning the oven.
* If the oven is very dirty, you may have to repeat the
steps.
Did you know that it is actually very easy to make your own plain yogurt, without any special equipment? Sounds to good to be true, or very complicated, right? Nope, it’s not!
Ingredients
1 litre / 4 cups pasteurised full cream milk
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavoured gelatin
1/4 cup plain yogurt – here I have to note that the only yogurt I have had success with is the Woolworth’s plain yogurt; it seems like it is the only yogurt that has LIVE, active cultures; it has to have live cultures, or this will NOT work. This is going to be your starter culture for your yogurt.
Instructions
Heat the milk gently to 82 degrees Celsius. Do not allow the milk to come to a boil!
Once the milk comes reaches 82 degrees, remove the pot from the heat. Allow milk to cool to between 41 and 43 degrees Celsius.
When milk reaches the required temperature, thoroughly whisk in the gelatin for about one minute. Then add the yogurt starter and continue to whisk until completely combined, (about one minute).
I don’t have a yogurt maker, so to incubate my yogurt, I pour the yogurt into a glass jar that I warmed by keeping hot water in it until I was ready to pour the yogurt in. Pour out the water, fill the jar with your yogurt. I then line a large bowl with towels, put the jar in the bowl, and cover the yogurt with more towels, to keep in the heat. This seems to work pretty well for me, but you can also use a yogurt maker, or a slow cooker that has a yogurt setting. Allow yogurt to culture for 8-12 hours, depending on taste preference. The longer you culture, the more tangy the taste. Mix the yogurt thoroughly to combine ingredients again, and transfer to the fridge.
Notes
*Only use pasteurised milk for this, but do NOT use long-life milk, it will not work!
** It’s normal to see small clumps of yellow liquid when using gelatin to thicken yogurt. It is the whey that has separated from the milk solids. Just use a whisk to gently blend it back into the yogurt.
**Remember to keep some of your yogurt for the next batch. Note, however, that using a commercial yogurt as a starter works, but you will not be able to use the yogurt you made as a culture for new batches indefinitely.
Hello, macaroni, my old friend… those of us on a tight budget have probably at least thought along those lines at some point. Pasta is reasonably cheap, quick to make and filling – and above all else, highly adaptable. It can be a quick, cheap meal, or a very decadent meal. Above all else, it is a life-saver for when you just don’t know what to make!
My daughter loves Tuna Mate, but to feed my family, I have
to buy two boxes of the kit, not counting the other ingredients. This is way
too steep for my liking, so I have developed a ‘fake-out’ version of this. It
works out much cheaper, and we have left-overs for lunch the next day.
It is actually quite simple and quick to make:)
Ingredients:
2 x tin shredded tuna, drained.
1 x packet macaroni
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons flour (or a packet of instant cheese sauce + 1-2
tablespoons flour)
Four tablespoons margarine
Sauce:
There are two options here – you can either make a white sauce from scratch, or use the “cheat” version that allows you to cut back on the amount of cheese added. If using regular white sauce, use four tablespoons flour instead of the instant sauce. If you want cheese flavour, add cheese as desired.
If I am making garlic tuna-mate, I normally just use regular
from-scratch white sauce, but if I am making cheese flavoured, I use a packet
of instant sauce as my base.
Version 1:
Melt four tablespoons margarine. Once the margarine is melted, add the contents of one packet of instant sauce (I normally use the four cheeses or the three cheeses flavours). (If making white sauce, use flour). Stir into the margarine, then add a tablespoon or two of flour, and stir that in. Gradually add your milk, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. Once all the milk has been incorporated, add the macaroni and allow the sauce to simmer until the macaroni is cooked. This should take around 20 minutes. Add the tuna, stir through until the food is warmed through out and serve hot.
Did you know that it is possible to make new soap out of
your soap slivers? Instead of throwing away the small left over bits of soap,
why not make a new bar of soap? Simply keep your slivers in a separate bowl in
the bathroom, and when you have enough, make a rebatch or hand-milled bar of
soap.
What you
will need:
341
grams of soap
255ml
of water (or milk – that is what I use)
Some
sort of mould – I used silicone muffin pans (and a car mould!).
Colourant
– I used gel food colour, but sparingly – you don’t want to end up looking like
a smurf
I added
a tablespoon of coconut oil to my soap
I added
dried lavender and oatmeal to two of the soap bars, please see the notes below
on this!
A
wooden spoon
Fragrance
of some sort – you could use vanilla essence, essential oils, spices, this is
entirely up to you.
Directions:
Grate
your soap as finely as possible, or simply remember to break it up into small
pieces when you put it in your collection jar or bowl.
Place
your soap and water or milk in a double boiler or slow cooker, or a small
saucepan.
Put
your slow cooker on high, but if you are using the double boiler method, use a MEDIUM
heat. If melting the soap directly in a pot, use a LOW heat. Allow the soap to
melt – this took around an hour in my slow cooker. Stir the mix occasionally,
but not too much, as it adds air to the soap which can result in air bubbles.
Every five minutes or so is sufficient. It can take between one and two hours
for the soap to melt
Once
your soap is melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. (to
around
Once
cooled sufficiently, add your fragrance, coconut oil if using and anything else
you want such as colourant.
Spoon
your soap into your mould. Allow to set for two to three days before turning
out of the mould. (if you are really impatient like me, pop it into the freezer
for around two hours and turn out of the mould)
Place
the soap on a drying rack or cooling rack and allow it to dry for about four
weeks before using. (My last batch was a week old when I started using it,
because we ran out of soap – the soap does tend to go quicker, as it is softer
than it would have been if I had waited. The soap bar lasted a week!)
Notes:
Moulds – You could use the bottom part of a milk bottle, or a juice carton, it
is really not necessary to rush out and buy moulds, unless you plan to do this
often. If you do use silicone moulds, please ONLY use for soap, not for
food. My silicone muffin pans are only used for soap, never for baking.
Grating the soap – Remember that the longer the soap stands,
the harder the soap will get, so maybe even grate it before you save it and get
a head start. I found that it helped considerably that I put the soap and milk
in the slow cooker before I went to work. When I got home, I turned on the heat
and started melting the soap. The soap was already slightly soft, and it cut
down on the melting time.
Melting the soap – I have a really old slow cooker that I
only use for soap and infusing oils. It is easier to do this in a slow cooker,
but you can still make soap even if you don’t have a slow cooker or a double
boiler. Take two pots, one larger than the other. Fill the bottom pot with
water so that it doesn’t touch the top pot when the top pot is placed inside
the larger pot – in effect a make shift double boiler. You could also use a
heat proof bowl on top of a pot of water. The idea is to provide heat to melt
the soap, but not enough to burn the soap. You can also melt it directly in a
pot, but use a pot that is a small as possible, to prevent the soap from
scorching.
Texture and consistency – Rebatch soap will never melt fully, and
the texture tends to be more grainy and thicker than melt and pour soap, (so
the experts say). I found that my mixture was runny enough to pour into the
mould, but perhaps that was because of the soap I used (my slivers were
primarily Protex brand soap).
Additions to your soap – I added the coconut oil, the colour and
some fragrance to the soap, and the consistency was fine. I then poured out
most of the soap into moulds and to the remaining soap I added dried lavender
and some oats. I found immediately that the soap congealed and didn’t want to
pour anymore – I had to spoon the remaining soap into the mould. I am not
certain how much of the lavender and the oats I added, so I am unsure as to
whether I added too much or if it was simply the addition that changed the
texture – I will check the next time and update the post to reflect my
findings.
Fragrance – try to keep your different slivers of soap
together so that you don’t end up with a weird smelling bar of soap – my
husband uses the Protex sport and I use the Protex oats or baby soap. I try to
keep my soap slivers separate from hubby’s soap – not sure the fragrances will
go together that well, and I am fairly certain he does NOT want rebatch soap
that smells like roses or any other “girly” scents! If adding extra fragrance
to your rebatch soap, use skin friendly products – vanilla essence, caramel essence
etc. or essential oils. Please do NOT
use candle fragrance oils or oils meant for diffusers etc – these fragrances
are not skin friendly!
Oils – You can add a few drops of oil such as vitamin e oil, grapeseed oil
etc, but only a few drops. If
you add too much, you could end up ruining your soap (ask me how I know!!)
