Making My Own Coconut Flour

If you are looking for a low carb recipe or something for your Paleo diet, you are almost always going to run across the ingredients almond flour and coconut flour. At first, you look frantically everywhere thinking for sure grocery stores carry such items. Then you realize, not always, and if they do, it's normally really pricey. The only thing I found close to me was Bob's Red Mill Flour I can purchase at Big Lots or, if I have a sharp eye, at Publix or Bi-Lo. I decided, although it is nice to have a back up bag, I really should just make my own. 

This week I experimented with making my own coconut flour. The process itself is really not all that hard. It can be a bit time consuming,  but other than that, it's really easy. The hardest step I found was trying to find unsweetened coconut flakes, dried or not dried. I looked e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e, well, everywhere within a 30  mile radius. I'm sorry. I'm not driving 45 minutes to an hour away just to pick up a bag of unsweetened coconut. You can find sweetened coconut flakes everywhere. And you can still use it, but it adds carbs to your meals and unnecessary sugar that causes your body to crave more and more...and, yes, even more. I actually found some unsweetened coconut by accident. I was checking out prices on frozen berries at my favorite grocery store, Piggly Wiggly {"I'm Stickin' with The Pig"..."Local Since Forever"...yada yada}, when I saw small bags of unsweetened coconut, two bags for $3. I was so stinkin' excited!   So I figured it was a small enough amount that I could experiment on and NOT break the bank. And it worked out swimmingly. 

I made coconut flour two ways. Depending on what you have in your kitchen or what kind of time you are working on, you can make your own coconut flour for your meals. And as my daughter says, "Easy peasy, lemon squeezy". 

Homemade Coconut Flour

What's on the bottom is all but 1 cup of Bob's Red Mill Coconut Flour
that I paid around 10 BUCKS for. The top half is all but 1 cup
 of my homemade coconut flour that cost me only 3 to make. 

 Step 1: Drying the flakes 

Method 1: Dehydrator 

1. Line your dehydrator with parchment paper. If your dehydrator doesn't have hundreds of little slats your coconut can fall through, then lucky you! 
2. Spread out the coconut in as much of a single layer as possible. 
3. Turn on your dehydrator and go about your day. 

This is a small batch and got me a little less than half a cup,
which is fine since most of the recipes I use are right around 1/2 cup of coconut flour. 

When I did this method, I did only one sheet, and it took about 8-10 hours for the flakes to dry. Honestly, if you are going to do it this way, I would prep it, turn it on, and go to bed. When you wake up in the morning, you can quickly grind the flour and make some pancakes or muffins or something delicious. 

Method 2: Cookie Sheet

1. Turn your oven on LOW, between 170-200. I started mine at 170, but about an hour later, bumped it up to 200, and there it stayed until the end. 
2. Spread the coconut in a single layer on a cookie sheet. 
3. Bake for 2-3 hours. After the first 1 1/2 hours, I started checking every 15-20 minutes. You don't want to BAKE the coconut, you just want to dry it. And my experience with coconut is once it starts baking, it can cook FAST. 

This method is ideal if you are going to be home working around the house anyway. I worked in the yard, gardening, while my coconut was drying. I had the windows open so I could hear the timer go off every 20 minutes. It forced me to come inside, check the coconut, and drink some water before heading back outside. 

Step 2: Grinding the Dried Coconut

Now that your unsweetened coconut is dried, the rest of the process takes only about 2 minutes. 

1. Dump your dried coconut into your blender, Vitamix {if you are lucky enough to have one...which makes me super duper jealous}, or your Magic Bullet. 
2. Pulse the coconut. I pulse and then shook the container, then pulsed again. Coconut has oils in it that can cause all your hard work to clump together. So I just shake it a little between pulses to make sure everything stays separated. 
3. Keep blending until the coconut flakes become a fine powder and then STOP. If you keep going, you can make coconut butter, which I'm sure is delicious, and something I plan on trying next time, but it's not going to help you make your pancakes. 

That's it! Just dry and grind. "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!" 

I have kicked around the idea of purchasing some dried unsweetened coconut flakes in bulk online. I can use the coconut flakes, not ground up as a flour, to make all kinds of things, such as these Coconut Nested Eggs {see picture below}. I'm just not sure if it will save me money or if it all comes out the same. 

This is really just 1 egg, 1/4 cup of unsweetened dried coconut flakes,
and about 15 minutes of your time. I love, love, love this recipe.
 I made 12 in my large muffin tin. Each family member got two with a slice of bacon,
and the kids fought over who was going to get an additional egg. Win-Win.  

And if you are looking for a recipe using coconut flour, here's one I made this morning for breakfast: Lemon Coconut Flour Pancakes

I didn't have any lemon extract, so these were more "Cinnamon Coconut Flour Pancakes", but after making the batter I realized I could have used lemon zest. So next time....

I served these pancakes with frozen berries, a little LOCAL bee pollen,
and some powdered sugar. On my pancakes, I omitted the powdered sugar
and added about a Tablespoon of homemade whipped cream. Super yummy. 

Make Your Own: Bug Spray

Woo Wee! Summertime in coastal South Carolina means feasting season for mosquitoes. Did you know that  mosquitoes can be more attracted to certain people over others? No really. If my family decides to have dinner outside (on one of the rare summer evenings when it is not sweltering), my husband and my two last children rarely get a bug bite. My oldest son and I? Covered. Absolutely covered in bug bites. I actually did some research on it, and a few factors can point to this reason. This blog post, "Why are Mosquitoes are attracted to some people more than others," is probably one of the best I've seen that explains it all.  Basically, my oldest son and I release a TON more heat than my husband and my other two children. That is a fact! I am hot when it is 70 degrees, and if you are near me when I'm hot, you can actually feel the heat come off my body. My oldest son is the same way. So....this means spending anytime outside means we are setting ourselves up for an attack. 

When I started this Make Your Own Series, I was really excited to try making my own bug spray. Why did I wait until August 1st to make it? Well, I wanted to do a ton of research. I don't like the idea of placing chemicals on my body or my children's bodies, and I didn't want to make something that could be harmful to my family or something that wouldn't work. This morning I had my children do a sort of science experience. I found a few recipes, made some bug spray, and then had my kids try out the spray. I'm actually pretty pleased with the outcome! Check it out: 

I have been saving this Ketchup bottle for a long time. This has a perfect spout for me to squirt the  bug spray . 

Make Your Own: Bug Spray

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup witch hazel (LOVE this stuff, AND I had some from when I made a Scented Room Spray)  
• 8 drops of citronella or lemongrass or some other kind of citrus scented essential oils 
• 5 drop of lavender essential oils
• 1 Tbsp olive oil 
• A funnel 
• A mason jar with a lid
• Some kind of container for the final product, with either a spray or squirt spout

Directions: 

1. Most mason jars have a little measuring line on the side, so I poured (and measured) the witch hazel in the jar. 
2. Add the essential oils. NOTE: Please make sure you are using essential oils. This will go on your skin. Don't use the kind for candles. 
3. Add the olive oil. Put on the lid and shake. 
4. Pour the liquid into your bug spray container, using the funnel. 
5. When ready to use, put a little of the bug spray in your hands and rub on your exposed skin. NOTE: this lasts only about 30 minutes, so you will have to reapply. 

So the science experiment? 

I had my sons go outside, without bug spray, for 5 minutes. Remember, one boy is like me, and gets bitten often, and the other is like my husband, and doesn't get attacked nearly as much. They could play, sit, whatever, but they had to keep track of any mosquito bites. It has been raining here, and it is really humid, so the bugs are OUT! After 5 minutes, I had them come inside, we recorded how many bug bites (they averaged 6 bites), and applied the bug spray. I then sent them back outside for 5 minutes. When they came back inside, we recorded the bites...NO BITES!!! 

Here are the boys (and the dog) hanging out while they wait for the 5 minutes to be up. 

So far so good! 

Make Your Own: Scented Room Spray

As part of my Make Your Own series,  I attacked the task of making my own Scented Room Spray. I got the idea from Under the Table and Dreaming, and frankly, I didn't change anything about it to make it my own recipe. I even used the same kind of bottle she used (an old Victoria Secrets body spray bottle). So none of this is mine, but the review at the end is entirely mine. :)

Scented Room Spray (this recipe is good for one VS bottle)

Ingredients: 

• 4 ounces of Distilled water (not sure why it has to be distilled, but it was only 1.00 at Wal-Mart for a gallon, so I didn't complain) 
• 2 ounces of Witch Hazel 
• 1 Tbsp of Scented Oil (I had some left over from when I made Heating Pads for Christmas last year)

Directions: 

1. In a medium bowl, mix the ingredients. I used a whisk. 
2. Put a funnel in the bottle you are going to use and pour in the scented mixture. 
3. Decorate the bottle...or not...
4. To Use: One or two squirts of the bottle will do....seriously. 

Review: 

I couldn't believe how well this worked! I immediately put it in my boys' bathroom (out of reach, of course) to use when guests come over. Boys are something stinky, so I thought that was a perfect place. 

Will I do this again? YES!! And I am possibly adding this to gifts for Christmas this year. These would make great last minute gifts, something for teachers, or to go in a goodie basket for a newlywed. 

Make Your Own...Honey Vanilla Body Wash

In my quest to save money, and show my kids how cool their mama is by making our own products, I have made a list of items I want to attempt to make. So as occasions have arrived, I have made Bath Fizzies, Ant Killer Shaker (a serious life saver for my ant-infested yard!), Watering Can, Hair Detangler, Cold Remedy (yuck!), Laundry Detergent (my number 1 post of all time and favorite thing to make over and over again), Hand Scrub, and Dishwashing Detergent. I'm far from completing my list, but I have had a blast experimenting with the different homemade stuff.

So when I was looking at my list of things I still want to make, I saw "Body Wash" on the list and decided to tackle that next. I found a few simple recipes and I'm excited to share my own version of body wash. When I buy body wash, I almost always get "vanilla-scented" body wash. I love, love, LOVE the way vanilla smells. So when I decided to make my own body wash, I knew I wanted to add a little something-something to make it vanilla-y. AND I love honey. My parents are beekeepers. It has been a family tradition for GENERATIONS, and I want to honor my family by also adding a little honey to the body wash. My mother makes incredible items such as limp balm and hand cream that includes honey, and I cannot tell you how good honey is for the skin. (NOTE: always get local honey. It tastes better and is much better for you). Adding a little honey to something that is going on your skin is for sure the way to go.

So without further ado:

Honey Vanilla Body Wash


Ingredients:

• 2 bars of soap (I had some Ivory soap left over from Making Clouds and an extra bar of Dove Moisturizing soap that I tried to use in making the clouds. DO NOT use Dove for the clouds. It STINKS. ) 
• 2 cups of water
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup honey

Directions: 

1. Finely grate soap. 
2. Mix soap and the rest of the ingredients into a pot and stir continuously over medium-low heat until all the soap has melted (about 5-8 minutes) 
3. Let cool slightly. 
4. Pour into large containers (of your choice...I'm eventually going to transfer mine into an old body wash container) using a funnel and then let cool completely. 
5. When using, pour no more than a quarter size onto your sponge or poof or whatever it is you have and use like normal. 

I had enough to make two 16 ounce mason jars (love my mason jars!!) before I transferred it to the old body wash container. So pretty, huh! 

Love it! It's so creamy and smells lovely. I'm super excited to use this and continue to make this (and save so much money too!) 

Happy "Homemaking", yall! 

Make Your Own: Bath Bombs (or Bath Fizzies)

Oh, Easter eggs, I knew I could come up with some other use for you rather than just reappearing in random places around my home. I already made a Bird Feeder with so many of those leftover Easter eggs, but now I'm going to use them as a mold for those Bath Fizzies I wanted to make. As part of my Make Your Own Series, I have been waiting for a great opportunity to make these little "peace-makers". I did a little research to find the most common recipe using the most common stuff I already had around the house. These bath fizzies were super easy to make, and my children have already enjoyed using them. 

Here's the "recipe"...and for those of you who struggled through Chemistry class in high school, like I did, this will give you a new sense of appreciation for that particular science. 

Make Your Own Bath Fizzies 

Things You'll Need: 

(NOTE: most of the recipes I found said to measure the dry ingredients by weight. I didn't have a kitchen scale, so I didn't do it by weight, and they still turned out fine)

• 8 oz Baking Soda
• 4 oz Citric Acid (see note below about this) 
• 4 oz Corn Starch 
• 40 oz Sea Salt or Kosher Salt 
• 2 1/4 tsp Water
• 2 tsp of Essential or Fragrance Oil (make sure you use the kind for the body, NOT the kind for candles....and I used Peppermint because I had some left over from this Christmas gift Minty Bath Salts) 
• 2 1/2 Tbsp of light oil... I used extra light olive oil
• Food coloring 
• PLASTIC EASTER EGGS...the sides don't have to match or even stick together. 

Instructions: 

1. Put all the dry ingredients in a large glass bowl. Gently whisk these together until it is smooth. 
2. In a small bowl (or even a 1 cup measuring cup), blend together the wet ingredients. You are going to want to do this in a container that will make the next step easy for slooow pouring. 
3. SLOWLY pour the about a Tbsp at a time of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients while whisking. If you are pouring too quickly, it will start foaming. If foaming happens, quickly mix the dry ingredients and foam together to stop the reaction. Once all the wet is mixed with the dry, it should clump together fairly easily. 
4. Firmly fill each side of the plastic Easter egg with the mixture. Let it set (really it can be ready in about 2 minutes). 
5. TO USE: Gently tap out the Bath Fizzie from the Easter egg into a tub of warm water. It will fizz your bath into a sweet getaway. For my daughter, I just dropped the plastic egg half into the tub. We watched it fizz and slowly rise to the surface as the egg emptied of the Bath Fizzie. She loved it! 

I stored a bunch of these in a ziplock bag in the bathroom. They have kept pretty well inside the plastic eggs. I was pleasantly pleased with the final product. Try it with a different scent, put a few together of Mom on Mother's Day or make a few to give as a birthday gift. 

NOTE on Citric Acid: this was the hardest to find, but I ended up finding them in the canning section of the grocery store. This is canning season, so it was on the shelves. If you are looking for it during NON-canning season (is there ever a season such as this?) you may need to check out your local Ace Hardware. 

So here is my attempt to get a picture of the fizzing in action. Can you see the yellow Easter egg on the left? 

As all the Bath Fizz emptied the Easter egg, it slowly rose to the top. See all the bubbles? Neat, huh? 

And this is where I store them. 

Make Your Own: Ant Killer Shaker

Last week's post about Make Your Own Watering Can out of a milk jug got my creative juices flowing. I am super serious about my garden this year (thanks to my New Year's Resolution), so I've made me a little basket that carries my tools, my garden diagram (yes, I made one of those), my watering can, fertilizer, and now, the ant killer. Last summer was the summer of all summers to get eaten up by ants. For serious, I was a walking buffet every time I walked into the yard. Not this year, though. I'm determined to keep my feet (and arms, back, and face...yes, face) free of ant bites this year. So I bought this big mama-jama bag of ant killer.

Ant killer is scary. That is poison that I am carrying around the yard, and the bag I got is pretty big. The directions say to sprinkle only about a tablespoon or so on each ant bed, so I couldn't see myself really lugging around such a huge bag. After feeling so proud about my watering can, I knew I could do something similar with the ant killer. So I rummaged through my recycling bin (another NYR), and found exactly what I needed to make killing ants safer and easier to handle (not to mention easier to carry in my basket).

Ant Killer Shaker:

What You'll Need: 

• small plastic jar with a lid (I used a peanut butter jar)
• 1 coffee filter
• scissors
• a rubber band
• 2 paper towels, one of them damp
• a permanent marker 
• ant killer 

Instructions: 

1. Clean out the plastic jar and dry completely. 
2. Cover the opening of the jar with the coffee filter and use the rubber band to hold it on, binding the rubber band over the filter and around the rim of the jar. 
3. Make a few small holes in the top of the coffee filter with the scissors. Pierce the filter and turn 360 degrees. You need to make sure you make an opening, not a slit. The ant killer will not go through a slit. 
4. Remove the coffee filter and fill the jar with ant killer. Replace the filter and rubber band. Put the lid of the jar on top of the jar and tighten. Adjust the filter and rubber band as needed. 
5. Using the damp paper towel, clean off the outside of the jar. This is to make sure that if you did get the poison on the outside of the jar, you remove it to keep your hands clean. Once you have cleaned the outside, use the dry paper towel to dry it off completely for the next step. 
6. Clearly mark on the outside of the jar with the permanent marker "Ant Killer" or something similar to that. You want to make sure others know what is inside the jar. 
7. Store in a safe place out of reach of children. Wash your hands after each use to be safe. 
8. To use: take the lid off the jar and sprinkle over the ant bed. I have also"stirred up" the ant bed to make sure I get the poison close to the inside as possible. I want those bad boys to DIE. If you have a particularly large ant bed, you can carefully remove the filter and rubber band and pour more if needed. 

Make sure to always wash your hands after using. Although it is safely inside the jar, you never know how much may get on your hands in the pouring. 

I sure hope you and I can join forces and make a difference in the world by killing these pesky insects! 

I am not, in any way, advertising a particular brand of ant killer.
See that itty-bitty ant bed? That is at the end of my kids' slide. 

Here is a closer look to the Ant Killer Shaker. Five holes in the top works for us.
More or less for you, depending on your need! :) 

Make Your Own: Watering Can

It's Springtime. Yup. It's already hit 90 degrees here. BUT part of my New Year's Resolution this year is to have a successful garden. My dad, who has a HUGE garden and comes from a long line of farmers, has been guiding me step by step to help me out. It makes me wish I had paid attention when I was younger.

So in attempt to have a successful garden and get my kids involved, I found this great idea on Pinterest: make a watering can out of milk jug. We go through at least a gallon of milk a week, and I have been feeling pretty crummy throwing out those jugs. So every other jug or so I wash it out good, and save it. My original purpose was to make liquid laundry detergent (which is on my Make Your Own list), but since my dry laundry detergent is working well, I have all these milk jugs begging to be used. Lucky for me, I can now use one or two to water my plants...or have my kids do it! So...

Make Your Own: Watering Can

What You'll Need: 

• Milk jug, cleaned out (I cleaned mine out and then ran it through a wash in the dishwasher) 
• Sharp knife
• Water
• (optional) plant food (the kind that needs to be mixed with water)

Instructions: 

1. Take the lid off the jug and place it on a sturdy surface. I put mine on my counter. Just make sure it is sturdy and level. With a sharp knife, pierce the top of the lid. Slowly and carefully turn the knife. This will make a nice little round hole. In the picture below, you can see my first attempt. On the left you can see where I thought if I just pierce the lid a few times it would work...uh no. You need little round holes like the one on the right. 

2. Add plant food to the jug. Slowly add water to fill the jug. I really like doing this! I have no clue how much water my old watering can holds, so when the plant food instructions said "1 scoop per gallon", I was just guessing. This way, I know how much water! Yay! 

I'm not advertising "Expert" plant food. It just happened to be what I got. 

LABEL! You don't want someone to mistake this as kool-aid or something. 

3. Begin using! 

What I really love about this idea is that my kids can use it! While I am planting or putting away stuff, my kids can walk around the garden or yard and water the plants. ALSO, I hate having to drag my hose everywhere. The moment my dog sees the hose, she things it's playtime, so this reduces the chance of another destroyed hose. (For real, she rips the nozzle off the hose. We bought 4 hoses last summer). Finally, I love the way this pours out. It helps make sure I don't overwater my plants! 

And check out the garden fairy that helped me out! 

When I told her that was good, I got all the pictures I needed, she insisted on finishing the job.
::sigh:: makes a mama proud! 

Cleaning: Make Your Own...Hair Detangler

It's been a while since I've dried to Make my Own something. I really wasn't in desperate need for anything. I did have to refill my MYO Dishwashing Detergent and Laundry Detergent on the same day, recently, but that is about it. Until about a week ago. My precious (princess) daughter and I got into it when I tried to comb out her long, luscious, golden locks after getting out of the bath. That girl would rather run around with major tangles in her hair than have me try to get them out. So I needed a detangler, and since it was on my list of Make Your Own items, I pulled out my camera, dug out some bottles I had been saving for such a time as this, and got to work.

It was EASY! And it works, too! I did a little research and they all said about the same (water, conditioner, and shake!). I added just a little bit more to mine, put it in a bottle I hadn't seen in my research, and I have myself (I mean, my daughter) a nice, inexpensive bottle of hair detangler that is going to last us a while.

What You'll Need:

• Water
• 1-2 Tbsp hair conditioner 
• 1 Tbsp anti-frizz conditioner (if your conditioner does this anti-frizz thing, then all you need is the conditioner. Mine doesn't...so there you have it) 
• Container with a pump (I used an old dish detergent foaming bottle and pump...on purpose...I like foam) 

Instructions: 

1. Make sure your container is completely clean and dry. No use in having dish detergent in your bottle of detangler. I ran mine through the dish washer cycle twice and then let it dry completely. 
2. Add the conditioner and anti-frizz conditioner to the bottle. 
3. Sloooowly add water. If you do it too quickly, the conditioners will bubble up. And you don't want bubbles just yet. 
4. Put on the lid tightly and gently shake to mix the ingredients together. They will separate at some point, so don't freak if it doesn't mix completely. 

And you are ready to go! 

My review: 

It doesn't foam all that well. but it works great! I give mine a little shake before I use it to make sure there's some conditioner going in the hair. And I haven't heard any complaints yet. :) 

This is the bottle I use. See how it separates? Also, label. My husband thought it was hand soap and almost freaked when he saw me put it in her hair. :) 

And we have long, luscious, golden, happy locks again! 

See? All smiles. No tears. (Please note that she dressed herself and her shirt is on inside out) 

Wednesday's Cleaning: Make Your Own Cold Remedy

I didn't have a desperate need for any cleaning products this week, but what I did need was a recipe for a cold remedy. The weather outside is beautiful. It's a cool ~65 degrees, sunny, and just pleasant. And despite the fact I have been taking my bee pollen and other vitamins regularly, and I've been drinking plenty of water, spending a few hours outside working in the garden for the past few days opened me up to catching a spring cold. I normally resort to taking a clariton, drinking hot mint tea, and sucking down some local honey like it's nobody's business the moment a cold strikes, but this one hit me in the middle of the night. My throat was instantly dry, scratchy, and just painful. I am going on vacation with my husband in the near future, and I didn't want a silly cold to keep me bundled up in the hotel room, so I began looking for some natural cold remedies to try.

I found one that I had not heard of before: tumeric milk, or Haldi milk. Now before I go and just mix a bunch of spices together and throw in my body, I did a little research on this so-called homemade cold remedy. I found some interesting things:

1. Tumeric apparently has "healing powers". One guy, Arun Shanbhag, on his blog, talked about how he remembers his mother and grandmother using tumeric for all kinds of things, including cuts. He said scientists are linking tumeric to have the same qualities as tylenol.

2. Another site, Eat This!, claims that scientists are now linking tumeric to curing or aiding in the cure of breast cancer.

3. Remedy Quarterly, an online journal, also claims Tumeric milk is a great way to cure a sore throat.

I found quite a few other sites that pretty much say the same thing, so I thought I would give it a shot. The ingredients are simple, already in my pantry, and I was ready to try anything. Here's the recipe (found, pretty much, across the board in all my research) and please read my review at the end before you try this.

Tumeric Milk


Things You'll Need:

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp ground tumeric
• 1/4 tsp crushed ginger
• 2 black peppercorns
• ground cinnamon
• honey or other natural sweetener

Instructions: 

1. Boil the milk to a boil and add the spices. Bring down to a simmer for about 10 minutes. 
2. Pour into a mug and add a sweetener.
3. Drink before you go to bed. 

It's really that simple. Some recipes called for actual ginger to be crushed, others said it was fine to use the ginger powder. All said to include the pepper. Matter of fact, they said it was important to have the pepper because it helps the tumeric to release the "healing agents". 

This is what it looks like simmering. Just like any time you cook milk, it can burn easily, so keep stirring. 

My evening buddies 

My REVIEW: 

• Okay, first off, there is a reason why all the recipes called for sweetener. It is bitter. Oh man. It surprised me. At first it had the pleasant taste of chai tea. I was all excited to have a new drink, but then seconds later, it hit me with a great big, ew. 

Yeah, this was pretty much my face the entire time I drank it. 

• Did it work? Well, I can tell you, I don't know if it's because I drank warm milk before bed, or if there is a reason you are supposed to drink this before bed, but I was seriously sleepy about 15 minutes after drinking it. And when I went to sleep, I slept hard, for about 4 hours. My dreams were crazy and vivid. I don't know if those dreams had anything to do with the drink or with the book I'm reading, but they were crazy. 
• When I woke up this morning, my throat still hurt. Not as much, but it still hurt. I ended up making me a cup of hot mint tea, and I feel all kinds of better now. 

Now, I have a crazy amount of friends who are into doing everything natural. If you are one of those, and you have tried this recipe for a cold before, please respond to this post. Did I do it wrong? Do I need to drink it a couple of times before it works? Am I way off? 

As for me, I'm not sure I would try this again anytime soon, unless someone can make a good argument why I should. Otherwise, I'm sticking to my mint tea remedy. 

Wednesday's Cleaning: Make Your Own...Laundry Detergent (part 1)

Oh, economy, how I love how you've forced me to be resourceful. Luckily I have started a new series on how to Make Your Own...(cleaning and body products). My goal in making my own stuff is to save money, recycle (jars, bottles, milk jugs, etc), and to be green. If you have not been following my list so far, see the Make Your Own Intro. I have connected links to the products I have already made and my reviews of them. Check them out, share ideas of things I can make, and share your own reviews of the products.

Today's MYO is Laundry Detergent (the dry kind). I initially set out to make the liquid version, especially since I have been saving milk jugs specifically for this purpose. But since it requires the liquid to sit for 24 hours, and I was in desperate need of laundry detergent, I decided to give the dry detergent a shot. So I did a TON of research on recipes, and almost all of them said the same thing: Soap (such as Ivory), Washing Powder, and Borax. Since I didn't want to store hop looking for Washing Soda (that should be in the laundry section of your grocery store or Wal-Mart, but my luck, they would be out), I decided to hit up my local Ace Hardware. I LOVE that place. It was where I found canning jars for a reasonable price when all the other stores were out, where I get my keys duplicated, and where it is a kid-friendly place. When I walked in, this is the first thing I saw:

See the little open space on the top shelf? That is a print out of instructions on how to make it liquid-style (said same thing as all my research), and gave a brief explanation on all the ingredients. See how I love Ace Hardware? I was so excited to see this display that I nearly squealed with joy right there in the store.

So on to the "recipe"

Laundry Detergent (dry)


What You'll Need:

• 1 bar of Fels Naptha soap 
• 1/2 cup Washing Soda
• 1/2 cup Borax 

Instructions: 

1. In a large bowl, grate the soap. Add the Washing Soda and Borax. Mix well. 
2. Using a funnel, pour into a container that you can seal air-tight. I used an old salsa jar that I had cleaned, soaked in very hot water, and dried completely. 

To Use: Pour 1 Tbsp (for a Normal load) into the water then add the clothes. Wash as normal. 

For me, 1 Tbsp is about half a capful, so I wrote that on the jar with a permanent marker. 

REVIEW

I have used this mix for about a week, which equals about 10 loads of laundry for us (2 boys, 1 girl, and a husband...yeah, 10 loads in 1 week is pretty good). While washing, it has this great scent, but you cannot detect any scent once the clothes of dried, unless you dry on the clothes line, then the scent is only faint. 

My clothes have come out just as clean as they normally do, which was my worry. I am actually enjoying this, and it wasn't that expensive to make. I still have plenty of Borax and Washing Soda left to make more or make other cleaning products. 

Give this a shot and tell me how you like it! 

Wednesday's Cleaning: Make Your Own Hand Scrub

Here I am in my new series "Make Your Own..." (cleaning and body products), and I am having a blast. I feel like I have my own little test lab right here in my house. So as I work my way down my list of products I want to attempt, I keep thinking of more things to try down the road. Again, if you see my list, and you don't see something that you want tested first, let me know, and I'll try it out (within reason).

How it works: I research a few "recipes", get the general consensus, read the comments for faults or warnings, try it out, and then give an HONEST review.

This week's Make Your Own is a DIY Hand Scrub.
I made hand scrubs for Christmas gifts this year, and that was one of the biggest hits. It's quick, easy, and inexpensive.

Homemade Hand Scrub  Not my recipe. I got it from here. 


What You'll Need:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar (use the white sugar. I tried a batch using Turbinado sugar. Not as pretty) 
• 1/3 cup kosher salt
• zest of 1 lemon (you can use another citrus, but I LOVE lemon, so that's what I did) 
• 1 cup olive oil (NOTE: you can use EVOO, but the final product will turn out dark green. I used the lighter version of OO, and it turned out a pretty yellow)
• 1/4 tsp pure lemon extract (this is optional, but I recommend it for that extra kick) 
• Large bowl
• Wooden spoon (it doesn't have to be wooden, but for some reason wooden just seems more old school, and I like old school) 
• Mason jars 

Instructions: 

1. In the large bowl, mix all the ingredients. Stir with the wooden spoon until well-blended. 
2. Spoon into mason jars. This mix makes about 2 cups worth, so if you get the little, itty bitty mason jars, you can make a few to go for each sink around your house. 
3. How to Use: Wet hands. Add no more than a quarter size dollop of the hand scrub to your hands and rub under warm water. 

Review

I love this stuff. Pretty much everyone who got this as a gift from me also loved it. I have one for my kitchen sink, which works GREAT for getting rid of garlic and onion smells from my hands. I keep one at my bathroom sink, which I also grab sometimes for a quick facial rub in the shower. (Be smart about this, though. Don't get it near or in your eyes). I don't use it too often for my face, though, because of the oil. I already have oily skin, but I use this scrub about once a month just for kicks and that baby soft skin on my face. My husband even likes this stuff. He came inside from working on man stuff and said the scrub worked great for getting the the gunk off his hands. Reading through reviews, I would also note that you can use really any kind of citrus. If you wanted to use EVOO, you could go with lime instead of lemon and get a really cool scrub that way too. 

So that's it. If you try it, let me know how you like it or if you have any other suggestions on what to add or take out. 

This is one of those really, really little mason jars. I keep this particular jar next to my kitchen sink, so it gets used often. See the little lemon zest in there? So pretty! 

Wednesday's Cleaning: Make Your Own: Dishwashing Detergent

Last Wednesday I introduced a new series called "Make Your Own." With Pinterest overflowing with ideas, I thought I would take a few ideas and try them out. So for the next few weeks I will be trying out recipes for all types of cleaning and body products, letting you know if it worked, and giving a heads up on what went wrong for me. I gave a list of what I plan on attempting (here), so if you would like for me to try something out that's not on that list, please let me know.

Out of necessity, I skipped topics 1-4, and went straight to #5 on my list: Dishwashing Detergent. I ran out of what I had and I figured, why not start there? So I did. I searched Pinterest and the great World Wide Web in ideas for making your own dishwashing detergent. What I have below is a basic recipe. Most of what I found had the same elements, so it was pretty easy to decide. So off to Wal-Mart I went to get just the few items I needed (and luckily I will need these items again in the near future for other projects, so I'm getting my bang for my buck!). Follow the steps below:

Make Your Own Dishwashing Detergent:

Things You Need:

• 2 cups Borax 
• 2 cups Baking Soda
• 4 small packets of Sugar-free lemonade (kool aid type of mix)
• White Vinegar

Instructions: 

1. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. OR (in retrospect, I wish I had done this OR), dump all the dry ingredients into a large ziplock bag. Zip it up and mix the ingredients by shaking the bag or by mushing it. Warning: because the ingredients are dry, they tend fly up. I don't recommend you breathing this mixture in, so slowly dump into the bowl or bag and step back just a little. It's a cleaning product, so use your smarts and don't breathe it in. 
2. Pour mixture into an air tight container. LABEL the container and set out of reach of children. 
3. TO USE: 
1. Spoon 2 Tablespoons of the detergent into correct place in your dishwasher. 
2. Add 1-2 Tablespoons of vinegar into the rinse aid compartment. 
3. Wash as normal 

Yeah, those jars say "Ragu". So? I recycle!

Review

So this worked pretty well for me. My dishes came out as clean as they normally do, and I was happy with the general results. I attached a measuring spoon to my jar with a rubber band so I would always have one there. The only problem I have had is sometimes not all the detergent would come out of the detergent compartment. BUT this happens every once in a while for me anyway. I'm going to experiment with using a little less since 2 T fills up that compartment. Otherwise, it works fine. These two jars make roughly 100 loads!! Yay! Saving money! 

**Follow Up Review** So after using this for a week, I have to add a quick review on its effectiveness. I have adjusted how much I put in my wash. I use only a 1 Tbsp instead of the recommended 2 Tbsp. BUT I have do a little pre-washing before I put my dishes in. It doesn't work great on the dishes, like the commercials where the kids put in an entire load of filthy dishes in the load and they all come out sparkly clean. But as long as I give a good little rub down of the dirty dishes before I stick them in, the detergent works just fine. 

FINALLY: I try to read through comments of other blogs that experiment with making things, and on one particular blog, a question was raised about using Borax because it can be dangerous. The author of the website wrote this: 

This is a comment found on this website: http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/dishwasherpowder regarding the toxicity of Borax.

Toxic is as toxic does." Here's exactly what Wikipedia has to say:

Boric acid, sodium borate, and sodium perborate are estimated to have a fatal dose from 0.1 to 0.5g/kg.[5] These substances are toxic to all cells, and have a slow excretion rate through the kidneys. Kidney toxicity is the greatest, with liver fatty degeneration, cerebral edema, and gastroenteritis. Boric acid solutions used as an eye wash or on abraded skin are known to be especially toxic to infants, especially after repeated use due to its slow elimination rate.

Example: a 40-lb child is 18.1 kg, which means a fatal dose of borax would be between 1.81 and 9.5 g. That means that child would have to consume about a half-teaspoon to two teaspoons of straight, non-dilute borax, assuming a kid would eat something that nasty-tasting (keeping in mind that as nasty as it is, kids are weird). Of course, you don't keep household cleaners--any household cleaners, including baking soda--where your kid could reach them, right? RIGHT? And it would take a lot less, say, bleach, to severely injure or kill a child that size with a lot greater harm to the environment in general.

If you go to PesticideInfo.org, you'll see that borax is considered neither acutely toxic nor a likely carcinogen. That website is run by the Pesticide Action Network North America, which keeps an exhaustive database of environmental toxins.

Bottom line: Borax is a problem if you repeatedly expose someone, especially small someones, *directly* to it, usually as a strong solution applied to the skin or eyes. Otherwise, washing dishes and clothes with it is not a big deal; it rinses away and doesn't compromise the environment.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor

So with that being said, just be careful. Use your best judgement. Otherwise, happy cleaning, everyone! 

Wednesday's Cleaning: Make Your Own...(Intro)

I'm starting with a new series today for cleaning. Thanks to Pinterest, inspiration from my own friends, and desperation of my own needs, I have decided to do a series called "Make Your Own". For the next couple of weeks I will be Making My Own cleaning products, all the way from dishes to windows to things for your own body. Each week I will attempt a new item, explain to you how I made it, and then write a review on how it is working so far. My goal is to help inspire you to save money on every day items around the home while still keeping it clean and functional.

Here is a short list of what I plan to make: 

1. Hand scrub (See Post Here) 
2. Laundry Detergent (See Post for Dry Detergent Here) 
3. Hair Detangler (See Post Here) 
4. Bath Fizzes (See Post Here) 
5. Dishwasher Detergent (See Post Here) 
6. Body Wash (See Post Here) 
7. All-Purpose Cleaner
8. Hand Soap
9. Scented Room Spray (See Post Here) 
10. Pesticide (Eek! This one sounds scary!) 
11. Anti-Bacterial Spray
12. Bug Spray (See Post Here) 

Added Later: 

13. Cold Remedy (See Post Here) 

14. Watering Can (See Post Here) 

15. Ant Killer Shaker (See Post Here) 

If you have an idea of something you want to make of your own, but are afraid to do so, let me know. Maybe I'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes. Please, please send me ideas! 

I'm really excited about this new series and look forward to sharing ideas and tips with you. 

Happy Cleaning, everyone! 

PS: If you follow me on Pinterest, I have an entire board of "Make Your Own" where my inspiration began. 

Photo Credit