Monday, March 21, 2011

Our recent happenings!

Well, we had a good (but busy) weekend. I'm having a hard time keeping up with things around the house what with William teething and being generally fussy. All three kids have been sleeping poorly, so everyone in the house has been dragging a bit with less sleep. Coffee has been my friend lately!

Last week I got a package in the mail from Mountain Rose Herbs. As a (late) Christmas gift, I got to order some stuff for making toiletries and such. Dorothy was really excited when the box came and wanted to make sure that her special "Lambie" got in the picture, too.

I ordered 3 ox beeswax, 1 lb cocoa butter, 1 lb shea butter, 1 gal refined coconut oil, and 16 oz liquid castille soap.

Dorothy liked the wax :)

I already experimented with making some body butter, but I added a bit more cornstarch than I preferred. Nevertheless, it is already helping my cracked, bleeding knuckles. With all the diaper changes, laundry, cleaning, hand washing, and cooking, my hands see a lot of water and soap. They were in dire need of help. I'm using the cream on William's cradle cap as well as redness at diaper changes. The girls love using it on their hands because the cocoa butter has such a sweet smell. I think next time I will try making some lotion bars in ice cube trays. If they turn out well, I will post the recipe. I am also planning on making a homemade shampoo with the castille soap and some other ingredients, as my scalp has been really itchy trying to find the right shampoo and conditioner. I'll be experimenting with using a bit of plain coconut oil in my hair after I shower and see if that moisturizes enough without being too greasy. The great thing about coconut oil is that it's really healthy to cook with, too. Most people recommend cooking with unrefined oil, but it costs a lot more. I feel that the refined is still much better than vegetable oils, so I've made the switch. And it's hard at room temp, so it can also be used as a substitute for butter or shortening in cooking. I still use butter for a lot of my baking, but the coconut oil is working well, too.

Some of our recent food:
A big pot of baked potato soup. Yum!
Two loaves of strawberry blueberry bread. Double yum!
Last night's dinner of muffin tin meat loaf, stuffing, and sauteed spinach. Triple yum!

I also made some to die for brownies on Saturday. I'll post the recipe really soon. They were thick and chewy!

4 comments:

Amanda said...

Any tips on making your mini tin meatloaf, I will be making them for the first time next week, worry about getting them out of the pan and the grease.

Becci said...

Spray them with cooking spray and they should come out fine. I go around the edges with a butter knife before trying to take them out. When you fill them, go all the way to the top. They bake 30-40 min. I like to use quick oats for the filler rather than bread.

Becci said...

I mean spray the tins before hand. Although I started putting butter on a paper towel or oil on a brush to grease things rather than using spray.

Johnlyn said...

I bought beeswax over Thanksgiving weekend - do you think I should do something with it or do you think it'll magically work still sitting in the package? LOL

I tend to do that too often!

I bought some unrefined coconut oil as well, but rarely use it. I should pull it out so I remember it's there! The smoke point is so much higher than butter I should use it a lot more often.