Expressions of Perceptions

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I buy a jar of herbal salve from a health food store every month, and I love it.  It’s made by the owners, and I totally trust them and their ingredients.  I, however, don’t like to rely on others for things.  I like making things myself as much as possible.  So, I decided to try to make the vitex (chastetree berry) salve that I usually buy.  Yeah, it would save money, too, but really, I’d just like to learn one more skill and add one more item to the long list of things that I no longer need to purchase.

I just ordered chastetree berries (vitex) from Savvy Teas and Herbs, and I’ve already got olive oil and beeswax.  I think I read that I need vitamin E oil to use as a preservative, too.  I’ll need to double-check on that.

From what I’ve read in my research, I’ll need to grind the chastetree berries in a coffee grinder, fill a glass jar with them, and top it off with enough olive oil to cover the herbs.  Then, I’ll need to put the jar on top of a wash cloth in a crock pot on the “low” setting for 2-3 days, refilling the water around the jar as it evaporates.

I’ll then need to strain the oil, put it in a double boiler on the stove, and warm it enough to melt the beeswax in it. 

That’s how you make a salve – melt beeswax and oil together.  Making an herbal salve is just melting herb-infused oil with beeswax.  The beeswax firms the oil so it’s not runny anymore. 

I’ve made salve before.  It’s just the herbal part that I haven’t done.  I hope it works.  I should have my chastetree berries in about a week or so, so I’ll find out soon.

Also, does anyone know how to make a wild yam salve???  The wild yam is a root, not an herb, so I’m not sure how to go about making wild yam infused oil.  I thought about just emptying a bottle of wild yam capsules into the oil.  Does anyone know if that would work?

Yesterday, I made homemade dishwasher detergent based on a recipe I found on MotherEarthNews.com.  It was incredibly simple.  The most difficult part was locating the ingredients, but that’s just because I live in such a small town.  I found the ingredients (all 3 of them) in a fairly small grocery store in a small neighboring town.

I tweaked the recipe a bit and added an extra ingredient for a pleasant scent.  I tried it out last night, and it worked just fine – with no chemical odor whatsoever, unlike the store-bought detergents.  So, here’s what I came up with:

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

2 cups washing soda

1 cup borax

3/4 cup baking soda

1 tablespoon peppermint extract, optional

Combine all of the ingredients in an air-tight container.  Shake to combine.  Use 1-2 tablespoons per load of dishes.

*The original recipe and others can be found on this MotherEarthNews.com page.

To measure a solid fat (coconut oil, lard, beef tallow) for a recipe, fill a large measuring cup with one cup of cold water.  Add the fat until the level of the water is 1 cup more than the amount of fat you need.  Drain the water, and your fat is perfectly measured!

A couple weeks ago, I was generously given some green beans, and I had some yellow beans in my garden.  I love fresh beans cooked in salt and butter, but I had tried (and liked) a “dilly bean” once, and it is canning season, so I thought I’d try my hand at canning a batch of dilly beans.

Now if you know me, you know I’m not really one to follow a recipe.  I just can’t leave well enough alone.  I’ve got to personalize it and make it my very own.

Well, I made a batch of dilly beans, gave a jar to the person that gave me the green beans, and put the rest of the jars of beans in my basement.  I actually forgot about them until one day when I was grocery shopping and had a woman come up to me and exclaim “I have got to have your recipe!”  Of course I replied “Okay.  Which one?”  (See, I can be easy to get along with.)  To which, she gushed about how much she loved my dilly beans that had been shared with her by the man who gave me the green beans.

You can find the recipe for dilly beans in many canning books.  That’s where I found the recipe… before I “personalized” it.  I made a few minor changes, like the type of vinegar, but apparently they made for a great tasting bean, and I was even told that the juice would make a great salad dressing.  So, at the risk of sharing my “secret recipe”, here’s how I made them:

Dilly Beans

 2 lbs. fresh green or yellow beans

1/4 c. canning salt (I used sea salt.)

2 c. vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar, Bragg brand with 5% acidity.)

2 c. water

4 cloves garlic

4-6 tsp. dried dill weed

~ 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (I was out of flakes, so I added a few dashes of Red Hot to each jar.)

 Yield: 4 pints

Wash and trim ends from beans.  Cut into 4-inch pieces, or small enough to fit in the jars.  Place beans in jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.  Add 1 clove garlic, 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. dill weed, and a pinch of red pepper flakes (or hot sauce) to each sterilized pint jar.

In a pot on the stove, combine water, vinegar, and salt.  Bring to a boil to dissolve the salt.  Stir.  Pour hot liquid over beans, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.

Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes (for an altitude of 1,001-6,000 feet).  (As of 3/13/2011, the town in which I live has an altitude of 1,732 feet, with the county’s altitude ranging from 1,600-1,900 feet.)

I like using soap nuts to wash my laundry, but my husband prefers liquid laundry detergent.  We were running low on liquid detergent, and I knew he wouldn’t try the soap nuts for his work uniforms (he’s “set in his ways”) so I figured I’d make some liquid detergent.  There are many different recipes for homemade laundry detergent, but here’s how I make mine:

Ingredients:

1 (14 oz.) box of baking soda (or 2 cups, doesn’t have to be exact)

2 (4 oz.) bars of pure olive oil soap (or whatever natural soap you choose)

4 gallons of water

1 (4 or 5 gallon) bucket with lid

*optional, 1 tsp. tea tree oil or other essential oil for fragrance

Directions:

1.  Grate the soap.  You’ll probably end up with around 3 cups of grated soap, and hopefully not monster muscles.  My olive ol soap grates easier than cheese, but I know that mainstream soaps are like rocks and could definitely give you some resistance.

2.  Put the baking soda and grated soap in the bucket.

3.  Add 1 gallon of hot water to the bucket, stir it around, put the lid on, and let it rest for and hour or so (or even overnight).  This will melt the soap and dissolve the baking soda.

4.  Remove the lid.  Stir.  Add the essential oil if you’re using it.  Add 3 gallons of room temperature water.  Stir again.  Put the lid back on, and congratulate yourself on making homemade laundry detergent.

Stir before using each time, or put in used laundry detergent bottles and shake before using.  It may be gooey or clumpy, that’s normal.  Use 1/2 cup per full load of laundry, or 1 cup for very soiled loads.

See, wasn’t that easy?!  Now, go wash some laundry!  Then, come back here and tell me how well it worked for you!

Chocolate is a hallmark Valentine’s Day treat, and I can totally see why:  Valentine’s Day is about love, practically everyone loves chocolate, so Valentine’s Day = chocolate!  Am I right?  Ok, maybe not.  Nonetheless, they do have a connection of some sort.

I actually hadn’t planned on incorporating chocolate into my Valentine’s Day, but when I was cleaning out my cupboards the other day, I found my heart shaped chocolate lollipop molds.  Upcoming holiday, mysteriously-appearing chocolate mold, clearly it was meant to be!

Really though, after I explained to my 3 year old daughter what the mold was for, she got super-excited, so now we have to use it.  Don’t worry, I’m not complaining.  I’ll take nearly any excuse to eat chocolate.

We, however, don’t have any chocolate to melt and mold.  So what are we to do?  Make homemade!  I came across a recipe for homemade chocolate at HeavenlyHomemakers.com, and I’m anxious to try it.  See for yourself at http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/making-homemade-chocolate-chips-in-detail

I’m thinking it’d be pretty good with a homemade nut butter center.  Yes, I’m also using this as an excuse to make more homemade nut butter… and to use up the rest of those Christmas candy papers (you know, the ones that look like short little cupcake papers) that are still taking up space in my lazy susan.

Anyway, enough writing.  It’s time for chocolate-making!  Mmmmmmmm…..

Since the weather’s been so harsh (read: non-stop freezing rain), I haven’t made it to the grocery store yet this month.  I’m out of practically everything, so now it’s time to get creative.  I dug out what was left of a bag of walnuts and a nearly empty bag of raw almonds and decided to make, for lack of a better title, “walnut almond butter”.

I put the walnuts and almonds in the food processor and pulsed until they were crumbly.  (Note to self:  Next time, wait until husband is awake before putting almonds in the food processor.)  They seemed a bit dry, and I know that some brands of peanut butter have added oil, so I added a bit of coconut oil.  Since I have quite a sweet tooth sometimes, I added a little raw honey, too.

Then, I turned the food processor on high and processed my mixture, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides, for what seemed like forever.  This is probably just because I had 3 young children also vying for my attention, nonetheless it took longer than I thought it would.

Realistically, it was only a matter of minutes before it became “buttery”.  The processing warmed it up and melted the coconut oil, which I think helped make the mixture creamy.  (Note to readers: Be careful not to burn your “butter”.)

Anyway, it tasted great on homemade chocolate graham crackers and as a dip for apple slices.

So, the entire recipes is:  nuts, oil, honey.  Process till “buttery”. 

Far from exact measurements, I know, but it gives you a good base.  You may want to make a little or alot.  You may want yours heavily or mildly sweetened.  Give it a try, adjust it to suit your taste, and pat yourself on the back (trust me, I did) for making some healthy homemade nut butter.

Who wouldn’t want to wake up to a hot breakfast on a cold day?  Intrigued?  Try this recipe for super-creamy overnight oatmeal.  It’s slowly cooked to perfection while you sleep!

Overnight Apple Oatmeal Ingredients:

1 c. old fashioned oats

1 large apple, peeled, cored, & sliced

1/3 c. raisins

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tbsp. brown sugar

3 1/4 c. water

* 1/3 c. chopped walnuts, optional

Spray your slow cooker insert with nonstick cooking spray.  Add all of the ingredients.  Cook covered on low overnight, about 10 hours.  Stir and serve.