Food Dyes & Additives Proven Unsafe!

Food Dyes & Additives Proven Unsafe!

Homemade Goo Gone

Homemade Goo Gone

Mix 1 part baking soda and 1 part coconut oil, rubbed a little on the sticky spot, and let it sit for a minute or so. Then scrubbed the spot with a scouring pad, rinsed it off, and voilà! Good as new, gunk is gone.

Ranch crackers

Everyone loves them!!! A box of saltines, 1 1/2 C. of oil, ranch dressing packet, 2 tsp. garlic powder, 2 tsp. crushed red pepper. Mix, pour over saltines in container, bake 10 min. on low. (200* or 250*)these are AMAZING!!!!!

USES FOR VINEGAR

45 Uses for Vinegar ► http://bit.ly/ZlWEZ4

1. Clear dirt off PCs and electronics

Your computer, printer, fax machine, and other home office gear will work better if you keep them clean and dust-free. Turn off your machine and wash with a mix of equal parts white vinegar and water. Wash with a cloth, not a spray bottle. You can use cotton swabs for tight spaces.

2. Get rid of smoke odor

If you’ve recently burned a steak or can’t get rid of that cigarette smell, remove the lingering smoky odor by placing a shallow bowl about three-quarters full of white or cider vinegar in the room where the scent is strongest. To get the smell out of the air, moisten a cloth and wave it in the air.

3. Wipe away mildew

Use undiluted vinegar to wipe away heavy mildew stains. Mix it with water to clean light mildew stains. You can even use a vinegar mist in a spray bottle to prevent mildew stains from forming in rugs and carpets.

4. Clean chrome and stainless steel

To clean chrome and stainless steel fixtures around your home, apply a light misting of undiluted white vinegar from a recycled spray bottle. Buff with a soft cloth to bring out the brightness.

5. Unglue stickers, decals, and price tags

Don’t you hate when you peel a sticker off of your new furniture or product and it’s still sticky from the glue? Worry no more! Use full-strength white vinegar and gently scrape it off the product. Use an expired credit card to scrape. You can also uses this solution to get glue off of glass, plastic and walls.

6. Brighten up brickwork

Have dingy bricks around your fireplace? Use 1 cup of white vinegar mixed with 1 gallon of warm water to scrub the area. Your bricks will be looking shiny and nice!

7. Revitalize wood paneling

You can also use vinegar to shine up your dull wood paneling. Mix 1 pint warm water with 4 tablespoons white or apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Let the mixture soak for a few minutes and then polish.

8. Remove carpet stains

You can lift out many stains from your carpet with vinegar:
For light stains, mix 2 tablespoons salt with ½ cup white vinegar. Rub into the stain, let try and vacuum.
For tough, ground-in dirt and other stains, make a paste of 1 tablespoon vinegar with 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and rub it into the stain using a dry cloth. Let it set for two days, then vacuum.

9. Keep car windows frost-free

Vinegar is a great way to keep frost from forming on your car windows. Spray the outside of your windows with a mixture of 3 parts white vinegar to 1 part water.

10. Refresh your refrigerator

Have you ever smelled a refrigerator that hasn’t been used for a long time? It’s gross! You can freshen up your fridge with a mixture of equal parts white vinegar and water. You can use the solution to wash the interior and exterior of the fridge.

11. Steam-clean your microwave

Fill a bowl with 1 cup water and ¼ cup vinegar. Set the bowl in the microwave and cook on high for 5 minutes. Once the bowl cools down, use the solution to wipe off the walls of the microwave.

12. Disinfect cutting boards

Use full-strength white vinegar to clean wood cutting boards or butcher block countertops. This is a great alternative to dishwasher detergent because it can weaken surfaces and wood fiber. It disinfects against E.coli, salmonellsa and staphylococcus.

13. Clean china, crystal, and glassware

Have soap spots and dingy spots on your dishes after you put them in the dishwasher? Simply add a few ounces of vinegar to your dishwasher. It will prevent those hard-water stains from showing up.

14. Trap fruit flies

Did you bring home fruit flies from the market? You can make traps for them that can be used anywhere around your house by filling an old jar about halfway with apple cider vinegar. Punch a few holes in the lid, screw it back on, and you’re good to go.

15. Tenderize and purify meats and seafood

Soaking a lean or inexpensive cut of red meat in a couple of cups of vinegar breaks down tough fibers to make it more tender. You can also use vinegar to tenderize seafood steaks. Let the meat or fish soak in full-strength vinegar overnight.

16. Control your dandruff

Can’t wear those black shirts because your dandruff will show? Vinegar to the rescue! After shampooing, rinse your hair with a mixture of 2 cups apple cider vinegar and 2 cups cold water.

17. Ease sunburn and itching

Gently rub a sunburn or rash with cotton balls or a soft cloth soaked with white or cider vinegar. Try to apply this before the sunburn begins to sting. You can use this to help treat insect bites or rashes from poison ivy or poison oak.

18. Clean your eyeglasses

When it’s more difficult to see with your glasses on than it is with them off, it’s a clear indication that they’re in need of a good cleaning. Applying a few drops of white vinegar to your glass lenses and wiping them with a soft cloth will easily remove dirt, sweat, and fingerprints, and leave them spotless. Don’t use vinegar on plastic lenses, however

19. Stop reds from running

Unless you have a fondness for pink-tinted clothing, take one simple precaution to prevent red washable clothes from ruining your wash loads. Soak your new clothes in a few cups of undiluted white vinegar for 10-15 minutes before their first washing. You’ll never have to worry about running colors again! This also works with other bright colors that you worry might run.

20. Speed germination of flower seed

You can get woody seeds, such as moonflower, passionflower, morning glory, and gourds, off to a healthier start by lightly rubbing them between a couple of sheets of fine sandpaper-and soaking them overnight in a solution of 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and 1 pint warm water. Next morning, remove the seeds from the solution, rinse them off, and plant them

Classic Old Fashioned Meatloaf {Cooked In A Cast Iron Skillet}

2 lbs. hamburger
1 cup saltine cracker crumbs (oatmeal or bread crumbs)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup bell pepper chopped (my addition)
2 eggs
3/4-1 cup evaporated milk (whole milk or half and half)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander (my addition)
2 cups of water
1 cup ketchup


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 10-inch cast iron skillet with a non stick cooking spray; set aside. In a large bowl, combine all the above ingredients, except for the water and ketchup, and mix together until well blended. Be careful not to handle the meat mixture to much. Shape into a round bun and place in the cast iron skillet. Pour water half way up in the skillet. Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until meatloaf is done. Spoon ketchup over the meatloaf and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.

Practical Cookbook Holder

Practical Cookbook Holder

Make your own toothpaste

COMMERCIAL TOOTHPASTE INGREDIENTS: SODIUM FLUORIDE 0.15% W/V FLUORIDE ION, BAKING SODA, GLYCERIN, HYDRATED SILICA, HYDROXYETHYLCELLULOSE, METHYLPARABEN, PROPYLPARABEN, SILICA, SODIUM BICARBONATE, SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE, SODIUM SACCHARIN, TITANIUM DIOXIDE, WATER.

Ingredients:

1. 2 tbs coconut oil
2. 2 tbs baking soda
3. Peppermint essential oil — at least 10 drops

Directions:

1. Soften your coconut oil on the stove top.
2. Pour into a little glass container — a baby food jar works great!
3. Add the baking soda and peppermint oil and stir.
4. Stir every 5-10 minutes or so until the coconut oil hardens again –otherwise the baking soda will fall to the bottom: this is the tricky part.

Coconut oil is anti-microbial, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial.  It is also full of nutrients such as lauric acid and saturated fat! and vitamin K and E that your body needs!  And baking soda is a very low abrasive to get your teeth clean!  I checked out this chart made from a dentist at Save your Smile and baking soda is a “7″ on the abrasive scale on a scale from 1 – 250.

Lotion Bars

Have you ever noticed that when you use your body lotion your skin never stays moist and you find yourself going back to the lotion bottle over and over?  Look at the ingredients in your lotion and see if your lotion contains isopropyl alcohol and/or mineral oil.  Both of these actually are very drying to your skin.  

The alcohol gives a temporary sense of coolness due to evaporation. Mineral oil is found in lotions, soaps, baby oil, cosmetics, and motor oil. Mineral oil is a clear, liquid oil with no scent and will not spoil. It is very inexpensive because it is produced as a byproduct of the distillation of gasoline from crude oil. It is great for oiling your wooden cutting boards--but not your skin. Mineral oil does not penetrate to soften. It is difficult to absorb, coats your skin, and clogs the pores.  

If you would like to have healthy skin, stay away from mineral oils, petroleum, and synthetic oil based skincare. Lab created oils clog pores, aggravate acne, trigger allergic reactions, and makes the skin feel heavy and greasy. Remember, the skin is the body's largest organ and it needs to breathe as part of its important role in maintaining overall health!  Also, the high water content of liquid lotions can further dry and irritate the skin as evaporation takes place.

Lotion bars are a unique and fun way to moisturize your body
Use lotion bars as you would any lotion - they're just solid, not liquid. To use, hold the bar between your hands until it begins to soften to the touch. Massage the lotion bar onto your hands for a few seconds, and let the wonderful oils soak in. Your hands will feel so good!  When you use your lotion bar for the first time you might think your hands feel oily--please wait a minute or two. All of the oils will quickly absorb into your skin--for the softest skin ever. Lotion bars are made with natural oils that will not simply grease and coat the surface of your skin. Even better they are so simple to make and require such few ingredients you will never want to go back to traditional lotion again!

The few things you will want to buy (luckily only once because the supplies will last forever, you will only have to replenish ingredients) is a simple silicone or heat safe plastic mold in whatever shape and size you desire (I prefer small shapes that fit nice in the hand and are good for travel).

You can start by making the lotion bars in a pot that you want to designate for this and a simple funnel or you can purchase a small metal pouring pot (usually around $10 or less at craft store or online) and use this in a pot with water which is the double boiler method of heating. 

Here is the recipe, its so simple really... One part is 1/4 cup to fill one full tray but this will vary. You can use smaller amounts too just as long as you follow the equal parts on the recipe.

DIY Lotion Bars

• 1 part beeswax
• 1part coconut oil
• 1/2 part butter of choice (mango, shea or cocoa) **Cocoa butter is my favorite!
• 1/2 part nutrient rich oil of choice (I love almond or avocado but olive oil is just fine!)
• 1 tsp essential oil of choice (my personal favorites for this are lavender or peppermint)

Directions:

1. Melt the beeswax first, add the rest of the oils
2. When fully melted, add essential oil last
3. Pour while liquid into tray
4. Allow to cool and harden (you can put tray in fridge to speed up the process) 
5. Pop out lotion bars and put in small containers with lids.

I keep these in my purse, in my bathroom and around the house. I use them mostly on my hands and arms but sometimes as a lip gloss and great full body moisturizer. Enjoy!

Herbal Shampoo

I love making my own products!  I know what is going in them by doing it myself.  Conventional shampoos contain harmful chemicals.  They strip your hair of its own natural oils.  I have even used so called "good" shampoo and it gives me such a dry scalp.  I have made coconut milk shampoo and that has worked great, but I love herbs!  I wanted to make an herbal shampoo.  Now, it doesn't look pretty but it works.  Both the coconut milk shampoo and this herbal shampoo do not cause dry scalp for me.  

I want to give forewarning; shampoos that you make yourself do not lather well.  Just know that they will clean your hair.  I have also heard people complain that their hair is too oily after trying DIY shampoos.  That is because the hair is used to being stripped of its natural oils and it thinks that it needs to keep producing a lot of oil.  It will get used to your new routine.  Be patient.






This recipe was inspired by Life Source

Herbal Shampoo Recipe
Ingredients

•     1 c. distilled water (ensures there's no bacteria being added to it)
•     2 tsp. dried rosemary
•     2 tsp. dried rose petals
•     1/4 c. liquid castile soap
•     3 T. pure aloe vera gel
•     1/8 tsp. jojoba oil
•     35 drops rosemary essential oil

Directions

1. Place the rosemary and rose petals in a jar.
2. Fill the jar with boiling water, place a lid over the jar and let steep for at least 30 minutes or until the liquid is cool.
3. Strain the herbs and place the liquid in a shampoo bottle or jar of your choosing.
4. Add the castile soap, aloe vera gel, jojoba oil and essential oil.
5. Shake well.  Remember to shake the shampoo each time before you use it. 

The shampoo should last for several weeks.  If it takes you longer to use it, you might want to consider refrigerating it to prolong its shelf life.  I like to rinse my hair with a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water.  I added a few drops of rosemary and lavender essential oil to it also.

It is so much better for yourself and your hair if you make your own shampoo!  The big companies that are making shampoos don't care that the chemicals they are putting in are toxic to our bodies.  As long as we keep buying it, they will keep making it.  Let's show them that we don't want to be toxic!  Make your own! 

Sugar Scrub

You might be asking why use a sugar scrub? One word, desquamation. Des-qua-what? 

Desquamation is the natural shedding and peeling of the outermost layers of the skin. When you use an exfoliant it helps the desquamation process move a little quicker, therefore leaving you with more radiant looking skin. Sugar scrubs, which can be considered an exfoliant, help remove the impurities, excess oil and dead skin cells (doing this improves the appearance of the skin). Also, when you exfoliate your blood circulation increases, bringing more oxygen and nutrients to the skin cells, therefore also improving the color of your skin.

This is why you need more than just a face wash to cleanse your skin. 

By using a sugar scrub weekly, you will see a huge difference in the way your skin looks and feels. Please keep in mind exfoliating too much can damage the skin so it's best to do it 1-3 times weekly, with the sessions spread out.

One of the wonderful things about homemade sugar scrubs is they are made with all natural ingredients so there are no harsh side effects. The other benefit to making your own scrub is being able to control what sort of ingredients go into your recipe. This means that you can use a sugar scrub no matter if you have oily, dry, combination or mature skin.

There are different kinds of ingredients to help hydrate skin such as pure essential oils, vitamin E or butters (mango, shea or cocoa). You can add and personalize the scent by choosing one or more essential oils that you love.  If you want a calming effect the best essential oil to use is lavender but if you want an energizing feeling peppermint is the way to go.

The creativity is endless with this scrub so take my recipe and make it your own by personalizing it and choosing scents and oil combinations to your preference. You may even want to get a book on aromatherapy to see which essential oils are best to use.  I recommend looking up nourishing oils, essential oils and butters and their individual benefits online to see which ones you are drawn to and go from there. They are all wonderful so it's a personal preference type of thing. I rarely buy books on this subject anymore when there is so much free and great information online.

My favorite container for this scrub is a glass jar with lid and seashell to use as a scooper. You can however use a BPA free plastic container with a lid and a mini scooper of any kind will do just fine. This recipe makes a full 4 oz container but you can double the recipe to make it larger. Start with the least amount of scent and increase to your liking. Also please experiment with different types of sugars. I have made this scrub with all kinds of sugars and combos. My favorite is turbinado because of how course it is but I love finer sugars, even brown sugar or a combination. You can even add real salt to change it up a little, anything exfoliating is great for your skin!

If you are unsure if your face will be too sensitive it's always good to test it on the back of your hand.

As always, organic is usually best for these ingredients.

DIY Sugar Scrub

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Raw Turbinado Cane Sugar
• 1/4 cup Coconut oil
• 1 TBL avocado or olive oil (or other nutrient rich oil of choice)
• *optional* 3 drops vitamin E oil (so good for your skin if you have it)
• 1/8 tsp essential oil of choice or combination of choice (add more to your liking if you want) 
• 1, 4oz glass jar with lid
• sea shell or some other mini scooper

Directions:

• Mix all the ingredients together and place in desired container

To use the scrub, wash your face with warm water and take a small amount of scrub on your finger tips and massage gently. Massage a minute or so and wash off with warm water.

Other variations include making the scrub with clays such as white kaolin clay or mineral rich volcanic ash clay. You can add flax seed or poppy seeds as another means of exfoliants. The possibilities really are endless so have fun and enjoy!!!

Utlimate Detox Bath

~~~Ultimate Detox Bath~~~

Indulge...You deserve it!

**Bring a bottle of water with you because this works and you need to stay hydrated!!**

You can make your own mixture with other ingredients, but the basic ingredients are as follows:

-2 cups of Epsom salt (and add in another cup for every 50 pounds you are over 100 pounds)
-2 cups of baking soda
-1/3 cup of ground ginger
-Your choice of mint, herbs, or essential oils

Add all of those things (or your favorite optional ingredients) into a hot bath as it is running, and swish it around until it is as dissolved as possible. Jump in and enjoy. Be warned though...you WILL sweat, and quickly. The more ginger you use, the more you will sweat, and you can expect some pink skin within just a few minutes. Soak for at least 45 minutes, hop out and into a fluffy towel, and then spend the next fifteen minutes trying to remember your first name.