Homemade Cleaning Scrub

Here is a recipe for a nice alternative to those gross chemical-filled scrubs that you can use in your kitchen or bathroom.  This is the only scrub so far that has managed to nicely clean my enamel and steel post without scratching or leaving residue.   It's also a nice way to use up egg shells and save them from being thrown in the trash!

2-3 dozen dried egg shells
1/2 cup baking soda
Essential Oil (I use sweet orange)

The first step is the most tedious and time consuming but I think it's worth it than resort to some nasty green scrub that technically is toxic and irritating to your skin (I think you know which one I'm talking about).  You need to save up and wash out about 2-3 dozen egg shells.  Once you have enough and they are dried out you will need to boil them for about 10 minutes.  I usually have to do 2-3 batches even in a big pot.  Make sure the shells are submerged and use a strainer in the skin or a slotted spoon to remove because they will be scalding hot.

Next you can rinse the shells with cold water and other recipes don't necessarily suggest this but I peel the inner film off the inside of the shells.  This may be annoying for a lot of your but once you get the hang of it you can do it quickly.  

Next you have to lay the shells out to try again (maybe a day or so).  Using a coffee grinder break up the shells into smaller pieces and grind up until you have a fine powder.  I usually do this near the stove so the vent can suck up the dust that comes up when you open the lid of the coffee grinder.   Once you have ground up all the egg shells, transfer them to a glass jar and put in an equal or slightly greater amount of baking soda.  

Shake up the mixture (with the lid on of course).  Then shake in 10-15 drops of essential oil and shake it up again (lid on again, obviously).  

A little bit of this scrub goes a long way.  So far I have only had to make it about once every 4-6 weeks and there is always quite a bit some left over.  Since the shells don't dissolve you don't need much to get the job done.  The ingredients aren't toxic so it's also nice to know that you cleaning products won't be unsafe to wash down the drain.

Hope you try this out!

Asparagus and Couscous Side Dish

Here is a recipe that I make in bulk on Sundays and it usually lasts me through four weeknight dinners.  It's super easy and stores well.

1 bunch of asparagus
1 cup Israeli couscous
Garlic Powder, Onion, Powder, Salt and Pepper to taste

Trim the asparagus and saute in olive or canola oil until crispy, then season with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and set aside.   Heat up 1 1/4 cup of water to a boil.  Add couscous and cook until just the bite/consistency of paste. Once cooked, season couscous with garlic and onion powder.  Then fold in the asapargus, you can even add some Parmesan cheese at the end for some extra flavor.  You can add other seasonings if you'd like but it's a great dish as is.

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Homemade Toothpaste

Here is a recipe for some homemade toothpaste.  Just a warning that this will not taste or have the texture like the stuff out of the tube but after a while, you get used to it.  The baking soda is a bit salty and the paste will not foam up like regular toothpaste.  Both recipes below have worked well in terms of cleaning and whitening so I have to say they do just as well as most products you can buy.  The stevia powder is for taste only and some recipes have called for using essential oils but I just put some extract that I had laying around in the mix just so I didn't have to purchase a bottle of something new. 

1/3 cup baking soda
3-4 tbs stevia powder
1/4 tsp each of orange extract and vanilla extract
Filtered water (enough to make a paste)

Mix extract in with baking soda and slowly add water, tsp by tsp until you get the consistency you want.  I store ours in a glass container and store it in the fridge just in case but I don't see why it couldn't be kept in the medicine cabinet or on the counter. 

I tried tooth powder as well but it was not as popular with my husband and I didn't want to keep making two separate tooth cleaning products so here is the less popular recipe below:

1/8 cup of baking soda
2 tsp stevia powder
dash of peppermint extract

Mix well and store in a salt or sugar shaker.   The oil made this hard to actually sprinkle on but this batch made so little we just packed the powder directly onto our toothbrushes by dipping it in the container.  This was also stored in the fridge.  Ended up being too salty for my husband's taste but I honestly didn't mind it!

The paste turned out much better and it smelled exactly like a orange creamsicle!