MYO: All Natural Baby Powder or Dusting Powder

This fun little project was so quick and easy I'm certain anyone can do it in just minutes! It's as easy as 1.2.3... Just think- you can  make your own apothecary creations! It's so much fun, I'm going to share with you and I hope you will give it a try!

First you need to have a baby powder shaker! I just saved my old one, a travel size bottle from a gift pack that was given to me because I'm a packrat frugal! But you can buy one, or just get a clean empty spice bottle with a shaker lid. 

1. Gather Supplies.

The next you need to do is gather your ingredients! Put them all out on your work surface to make it easier. 

 You will need:

2. Measure and Whisk together.

 3 T Arrowroot powder

4 T Cornstarch 

2 T Cosmetic grade clay

Essential oils as desired.2-4 drops.

                                                                           Then use the recipe to measure out your ingredients. Stir them well with a wire whisk. 

Then... 

Wait for it...

3. Pour into shaker.

                                                                            Use a funnel to pour your HOME MADE ALL NATURAL BABY POWDER in your shaker. Don't forget to label it, with ingredients in case you forget. 

Go ahead, laugh out loud at how simple that was! (and try to refrain from kicking yourself for not doing it earlier!)

 

 Now go find an adorable baby butt and sprinkle some on!

Here are a few tips: 

*If you want it scented you can try adding a couple drops of essential oils. Lavender is a good one for babies. But take it easy- start with 2 drops and go from there. You can always add more but you can't take it back.

*Keep in mind that if your baby is sensitive to new products their could be a reaction, so know your baby, know their skin and act accordingly. 

*For a slow healing rash or other skin issues, you can even add powdered herbs like comfrey to help it heal. Try the herbs in a separate batch and stick with the basic batch for every day use. Use about 1-2 tsp of each powdered herb, depending on their strength, for this size recipe. 

*You can use the same basic recipe and concept above with mint oil, just a drop or two, for a cooling deodorizing dusting powder for mama to wear in the summer heat! I love it!

So there you have it- Fast - Fun- Refreshing- and Cheap!
 Home made body products for you and your family that are good for you and good for your wallet!

"She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands." Proverbs 31:13 KJV

Blessings,

Staci

Snow Cones!!! - the natural way! - MYO snow cone syrup

Snow cones are a favorite summer time treat! And any kid loves a snow cone, even if their parents are slightly crunchy! The store bought syrups are made with corn syrup or sugar, artificial flavors and artificial colors -YUK! Who wants to eat that? So our solution is simple, make a natural snow cone! YESSSS!!!! The cool thing is when you make your own syrups YOU get to decide what flavors you like, what goes into them, AND you save money! Have you seen the price on those syrups!? So to kick off the fun, why not ask your kids to come up with flavors they'd like to try! The crazy ones can be the tastiest of treats so go ahead and let them imagine!

Here's how to get started...

First you're going to make a syrup...

Using your own favorite recipe, or the one below make a syrup, or several syrups and let it chill. This is the super fun creative part! It's also the messy part, but hey, sometimes having fun means making a mess!

My recipe:
1 cup honey (raw is best)
1 cup water or 100% natural fruit juice
1/2 teaspoon 100% natural flavoring, or a couple of essential oils that are edible.

Mix honey and water/juice over low heat, stirring consistently, until well blended, so the honey is completely dissolved. Don't cook it, just warm it so the honey will mix in. Then remove from heat and add your flavors/ essential oils. Adjust the amounts to your own taste. If you really want colored syrups and are not using juice, you can purchase truly natural food colorings from a health food store or online. They're made from food, like beets make red etc.

A couple tips

• If you use juice you can leave out the flavors or blend flavors and juices to make them super cool!

• If you'd rather use natural unrefined sugar you can do that, either using 1 or 2 cups sugar, depending on how sweet and syrupy you want it. 
• For younger children lean to the simpler side on flavors.
• For an adult party you can get really complex flavor combinations and really wow your guests!

Beside, the typical flavors, here are a few more flavor ideas:

• hazelnut espresso
• blackberry lavender
• lemon lime mint
• watermelon pomegranate
  
• pineapple coconut
• green tea pear

Once your syrups have chilled put them in neat bottles like these, they look pretty and are easier to poor from. You could also use ketchup style squeeze bottles, used for candy making or picnics from the kitchen 

or cake decorating supply section at any department store.

Now that your syrups are ready, it's time to bring on the fun!

Shave your ice using a blender or ice shaver. Put the ice into cups and pour the flavors over the ice!

The only thing left to do is enjoy your cool sweet treat that you made yourself! (Oh and don't forget to share with the kids)
 The best thing about these is that although they are a treat, they're not nutritionally empty like the sugar syrups made from white refined sugar!

Tune in next time, we'll show you how to make your own home made juices! We're also going to teach you how to make herbal syrups! Did you know that Lemon Balm can help to calm super rowdy summer crazy kids! Learn how to have fun with your kids using herbal syrups that they'll love!

"And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God." Deuteronomy 28:2 KJV

Blessings,

Staci

MYO Canned milk and French Fries!

My grandmother tells me about the vouchers used during the depression, each person was only allowed to buy a certain amount of things like sugar and gasoline per month, so they had to have vouchers to purchase them. She remembers her mother saving vouchers to be able to buy enough extra sugar for a birthday cake. I can't imagine what that was like, but I know hard times happen and I try to be prepared for them.
 One of the things I think we'll miss most during hard times is the occasional treat! I'm not a fast food person myself, but I do like to enjoy the occasional french fry, usually home made. You may be thinking, yeah I can make french fries! Sure, I make home made fries with fresh potatoes too. (You do NOT have to deep fry them!) But I'm going to share with you a video that teaches you how to put up potatoes when they're on sale, or abundant in your garden and then be able to use them later for home made french fries! How neat is that! There's also a tip in there about how to keep potatoes from getting starchy during the canning process! So for a great video on putting up french fries, watch this!

 

The next thing I want to discuss can often be a topic of heated discussion. What is it? Canned milk. Today I'm going to share with you not only the how, but also the why. Did you know that store bought canned milk is not only homogenized, but it is also irradiated! (who needs irradiated food!?) I for one don't want that, but there are different ideas on whether or not you can safely can milk at home. On the one hand you have people who have done it safely for years with never a problem. On the other hand you have die hard ball blue book advocates and extension program studiers who swear that you can't! WHY? They never give a good reason, other than the standard: "Because you don't have commercial equipment to do it with". My response has always been "SO WHAT? Give me a real answer. What is it about the commercial process that is supposed to be better than my processing abilities?" And you know what, there is never a clear, founded reason. My ball book says that 240` is the temperature at which bacteria, mold and yeasts are destroyed. The only time I've ever heard of foods not being able to come up to temp correctly is when they're too dense. Milk definitely is not. Then there are others who say it won't taste right. Well, sure if you over cook it, which you don't have to. Thirdly, I've heard "you can't kill the bacteria in milk". Well my answer to that is that raw milk from a trusted source is safe to drink, so why not canned? I am of the school of thought that there really isn't a good reason other than money. If you can it yourself, you don't have to buy it from them, dairy companies, big AGRI- business. HMMM. Shame on them.

I've found a video in which a lovely lady teaches you how to can milk, using a clean kitchen and proper canning methods. She shares with viewers that canned milk is over a dollar a can in some places. And the cost of canning it is much lower. (try 25 cents a pint!) She also has the testimony of actual use. She said it tastes great over cereal, because it's not over processed! I think that's a smart way to prepare for the future without going broke! Here you go!

(The embedding abilities were disabled, so I'll give you the link instead)
Canning Milk, by the Preppers Wife, Prepare today, for tomorrow come what may.

*Edited to add- On a side note, I just read an article that said you can use the same process for canning other kinds of milk too! And a woman shared that her grandmother canned fresh cream for many years, to use when they couldn't get to the market. 


Will you give me a moment to tug at your ear?... It is not conspiracy theory, sensationalism, or paranoia. It is a fact of life that hard times can and will come. Whether for just your family or for the world over or somewhere in between, they do come. We can certainly trust in the Lord for all that we need, but we do see scriptural examples of God telling His people to prepare. Please learn about preparedness, for your family, however you choose to do it, keep your eyes upon the Lord, but remember to do what you can to prepare yourself and your family for hard times that you may face. It is not my wish that any of His children would suffer and that's part of the reason why I share what I can.


³⁵"And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine." Genesis 41:35-36 KJV

Blessings,
Staci

MYO- "white", brown and powdered sugar!

Yes, you can MYO "white", brown, and powdered sugar!

 I am really excited about the recipes I'm going to share with you today! Why because we need them! In todays world it is very hard to come by truly healthful food. I own and love the book called Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon. If you've never heard of it you can have a look here. 

In her book Sally talks about sugar and sweeteners. She talks about their effect on our bodies and reccomends we stick to natural sweeteners in their natural form, used in small amounts. While I haven't exactly mastered the "small amounts" part. I do use natural sweeteners and not processed. For example we use raw honey, raw agave nectar, fruit pulp (home made), and dried fruits. Now for cane sugar, she recommends ONLY using Sucanat or Demerara. Well they both taste fine, but taste isn't always enough. Sucanat is atrociously expensive, and Demerara is too coarse for use in a lot of baking. (I mix it in with the liquid ingredients to dissolve it, for bread and cakes) IE the chocolate chip cookies I was dying for the other night. So like they say, necessity is the mother of invention right. Well, I NEEDED those cookies, but didn't want to resort to white sugar and well demerara doesn't go over well in cookies, they're overly crunchy because of the large crystals which don't dissolve. So I made my own "white" sugar, and then used that sugar and molasses to make some brown sugar too! The cookies turned out great and satisfied the need without loading my body up on white sugar. (Brown sugar is simply white sugar mixed with molasses. Even when you buy it from the store.) So, I know you're all drooling to know how to Make Your Own "white" and brown sugar.

Here you go...

For the "white" sugar:
you need a blender and some demerara sugar. That's it! Take your blender and put about 2 cups of the demerara sugar in. It will hold more than that, but won't grind it well so don't try. (I did try this in my flour mill once, and it hurt the finish on the burrs, not a good idea, stick to the blender)

Now you're going to put the lid on and hit the "grind" setting, which was on the high side, above the middle button for my blender. Only grind for a few seconds. Stop and stir well.

Then grind again. Do this a few times until the granules look smaller and similar to white sugar. The sugar will turn to powder if you're not careful, so take it slow.

Stop and stir, stop and stir until it's relatively uniform. Now Pour it in your sugar canister and make some more until your sugar canister is full of "healthy white sugar". Make sure you tap your pitcher well to get all the fine sugar off the blade and out of the bottom or it will stop up the blender. It only took me about 5 minutes to fill mine.

For "white" powdered sugar:
Use the same process as above, only grinding it longer to a fine powder. Now some recipes for "confectioners" sugar say to add corn starch to it. If you want to that's fine, it won't hurt anyting, but I usually don't bother with it. So that's it, fill your powdered sugar jar with this and next time you want to make frosting you can do it with healthy (er) sugar.

Now for the brown sugar:
All brown sugar, even from the store, is made of white sugar with molasses mixed into it. So take your new "white" sugar and place it in a mixer, I used my kitchenaid, and add a little molasses to it. Let it mix well with the paddle until it's all uniformly brown and there are no more little balls of molasses. The biggest thing I need to point out is that this is a time for patience! I start out with the mixer on 2 then turn it up to 4 ONLY AFTER the sugar and the molasses are blended. Otherwise you will have a mess. Then just let it work the molasses into the sugar and stand back and marvel at yourself! You just saved a ton of money and a trip to the health food store! My approximate measurements were about 5 cups of MY "white" sugar to about 1/4 cup molasses, for a medium brown sugar.
If you'd like to see the actual process of brown sugar, here is a great tutorial my dear friend Jamie made. *But note that her ratios are different,* because she is using true white sugar. We are not. Our sugar already has some molasses in it naturally so we'll have to add less molasses and more sugar to make it light. Notice that she offers ratios for golden, light and dark brown sugar. You can do the same with yours. Just adjust the amount of molasses. More molasses makes a darker brown sugar and less makes a lighter brown sugar.

²⁷"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27 KJV

I pray this recipe and tutorial has been a blessing to you! Now go Make Your Own "white", brown and powdered sugar for all your healthy, natural baking needs!

Blessings! 

MYO Mixes- taco seasoning and chilli powder

At the last MOPS meeting I attended we made taco seasoning from scratch and bagged it up in a decorative bag. I used mine last night and it was great! The whole family loved it! But of coarse being the crunchy mama I am I thought... "there has to be a way to make your own chilli powder too, I hate the nasty additives in the store bought stuff". With a little research I found out that yes you can make it yourself!  Admit it, I know you are all excited to know how to MYO taco seasoning and chilli powder! Aren't you!?

Without further delay here are the recipes! Enjoy!

* T. = tablespoon and t. = teaspoon ;-)

Chilli powder

Ingredients

• 6 dried red chilies, mild to medium heat (like ancho)
• 3 dried red chilies, high heat (like cayenne)
• 1 T. good quality ground paprika
• 2 T. cumin seeds, toasted and ground
• 2 T. garlic powder
• 1 T. ground Mexican Oregano
• Sea salt as desired

Directions

Heat your oven to 250ºF. Remove stems seeds from chilies. Arrange chilies in single layer on baking sheet and toast for about 5 min. Remover smaller ones before they burn and toast larger ones a little longer, maybe 5 minutes. They all need to be very dry. You can also do this on a BBQ for a nice smoky flavor. Let cool and break into pieces. Pulverize in blender, or grinder, to a powder. Add remaining ingredients and blend until combined. Store in an airtight container.

• Adjust the hot/mild pepper ratio for your taste by substituting equal amounts. 
• Salt to taste or leave out, most store bought chilli powder does have salt.

 Taco Seasoning
   Ingredients
            4 T. chilli powder
            1 t. garlic powder
            1 t. onion powder
            1 t. red pepper flakes
            1 t. mexican oregano
            2 t. paprika
            2 T. ground cumin
            4 t. sea salt
            4 teaspoons pepper



Mix all ingredients and add 3-4 T. to about a pound of meat. This makes a batch good for several uses. 



¹⁰ "Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned." Ezekiel 24:10 KJV

I hope these recipes are a blessing to you, and to anyone you want to share them with. Feel free to link back to my blog if you'd like to share this post!


Blessings!

New Blog Series - Make Your Own! recipes and tutorials for MYO everything!

I love knowing how to make EVERYTHING, even if I don't do it every single time, or even if I just know how but haven’t done it. I love knowledge. As a homeschool mom and a practical person I tell you this... If you spend any time in any endeavor, let it be knowledge that is useful. Know the Lord first and foremost, let your knowledge begin there. Then gain knowledge of how to take care of your family well, how to feed them and heal them and clothe them. I believe this knowledge is more important that stock-piling dry goods or medicine, or shopping for a good bargain. Why? Because no matter how much you store, someone can always take it away. Most everything has an expiration date and will go bad, clothes get worn out and outgrown. But when you know how to make the things that are usually purchased, when you know how to help others, that knowledge will last your lifetime. Things you think you don’t need to know may end up being a blessing to someone who needs to learn. Be a blessing to your family and your friends, or even to strangers, learn to do for your family and teach others to do the same. 

³The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

 ⁴That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
 ⁵To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.  Titus 2:3-5 KJV

 MYO- mixes
One of the skills I enjoy is making home made mixes. I have many reasons for making them, but here are a few ...

• When manufacturers purchase ingredients for products the main focus is their bottom line. That’s not good news for us. When you make your own mixes you control what goes into your mixes. Be it natural, organic or home grown, with MYO you can have the time saving benefit of mixes without sacrificing the health of your family.
• You know exactly what ingredients are in them, so you can use homemade mixes for ANY special diet needs...
• They're easy to use and much lower in cost than store bought mixes, which means you can have the convenience of mixes without the cost!...
• They're made with your own fresh and natural ingredients, so your mix is far superior to store bought both in quality and taste...
• You can save time, money and energy making your mixes ahead at least a few batches at a time. (make it once use it thrice!)

I think mixes are so beneficial that I decided to start a blog series labeled MYO (make your own) sharing recipes and tips for MYO everything! I’m starting with make your own mixes, featuring everything from spices to soups to baking mixes. The series will continue on, as I learn more to share, so if you're looking for just those, click on the MYO blog tag to the right! Other recipes will be under the recipes label. But please feel free to poke around and enjoy the whole blog! We love visitors too so feel free to share and link back to my blog. And thanks for stopping by!

Be Blessed!