Recipe

Gluten Free Peasant Bread and Quiche

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If you are following a gluten-free diet, then you know how hard it is to find a good peasant bread, or really any bread that feels special enough for holiday events or gifting. This peasant bread recipe is that something special. It is easy enough for novice bakers and can be made into an herb bread if desired. The texture is perfect for accompanying soups and salad, or just cutting off a piece and adding any sort of spread on it. I’ve  never had to toast this bread and I seriously cannot say that about any other gluten-free bread I’ve had, even the loaves of fresh bread from a nearby gluten-free bakery. Since spring brings with it Easter, Passover, Equinox celebrations, and Mother’s Day, I thought this would be a good time to share the recipe here although I have it on my previous blog so it might sound familiar to some of you. It’s the most visited post on that site by far.

The actual how-to will take you to another blog where I found a regular bread recipe that sounded like it’d be a good fit for gluten-free flours. This is because it is a no-knead bread, and that works well for gluten-free breads since kneading is done to activate gluten’s stickiness, but other flours do not react the same way. Gluten-free breads are always made with several different flours and starches in an effort to mimic that ‘glue’ that gluten naturally gives to wheat, rye, and barley. I use a lot of oat flour in my breads but you can substitute other gf flours or even just go with a gf bread mix such as one from Jovial, Pamela’s, or Manini’s. I find the bread turns out best with the flour combination below, but the pre-made mixes are great in a pinch, though if you do use one, adjust the salt according to how much the mix already has in it. (You’ll have to do a bit of educated guesswork.) Those three websites all have great recipes by the way, so if you are looking for more gluten-free ideas, check them out.

For the Peasant Bread, follow this link to the how-to, but replace the flour with: 1.5 C of gluten-free oat flour, 1 C millet flour, 1/2 C tapioca starch, 1/2 C brown rice flour, and 1/2 C sorghum flour. You can add 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum or psyllium husk powder for a more even texture if you wish, and I replaced greasing the bowls with butter with olive oil to make the bread dairy free. When greasing the pyrex bowls, really layer it on because I’ve ruined several crusts with not enough oil on the bowls. I think it works even better to spray the bowls with either coconut oil or olive oil instead of just using the liquid version so you can really layer it on. Whatever you use, use a lot. If you aren’t gluten free, try it in the original form and let me know if it’s good that way too. I bet it is and it’s so easy!

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Make this bread with the quiche recipe below for a special holiday meal or just to make a regular weekday feel special.

This quiche recipe from Delicious Living sounds perfect for Easter Morning brunch, but the way Amy Palanjian has written it makes it actually a great weekday option as well because you can make it ahead of time and just grab on busy mornings. Either way, it’s naturally gluten-free without substitutions. Here’s the full recipe courtesy of Delicious Living.

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Picture is Palanjian’s

Thyme’s vibrant flavor enhances mild goat cheese and eggs and aromatically complements parsley’s steady flavor. Make these easy, egg-based bites up to three days in advance, and store in the fridge for a quick power breakfast on busy days.

Ingredients:

  • 1 shallot
  • 1 cup packed and shredded baby spinach or kale
  • ½ cup lightly packed, minced fresh parsley
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
  • 8 eggs
  • ½ cup crumbled goat cheese
  • ½ cup low-fat (1 percent) cottage cheese
  • ⅓ cup cornmeal
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375°, and grease a standard muffin tin with cooking spray.
  2. Chop shallot, greens, parsley and thyme in a food processor. Stir together with remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Divide evenly into prepared pan, filling each cup about two-thirds full.
  3. Bake for 20–22 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool for 2 minutes in pan, and run a paring knife around edges to loosen. Serve warm.

PER SERVING: 87 cal, 4g fat (2g mono, 1g poly, 2g sat), 127mg chol, 201mg sodium, 5 carb (0g fiber, 0g sugars), 7g protein

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How to Make Rose Oil (Quick Method)

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There are two traditional ways to make an herbal oil. The first method is referred to as the Folk Method, the Cold Method, or even the Solar Method although you can do it in the winter without the sun’s help, it just means that no artificial heat is used. Letting the sun help with herbal infusion is recommended though when that is an option, but here in the Pacific Northwest, there are few months in the year when that is viable. The cold method is what I used in the video series one and two where I infused olive oil with Roses for about 4 weeks. This method that I’m sharing below is called the Quick Method or the Hot Method because it is done on the stove-top and you have your oil in a matter of hours instead of weeks. So you might be wondering why everyone just doesn’t use the hot method if it’s so much faster, and the answer to that is the Folk Method in herbalism is generally the preferred method for best preserving all the healing properties of an herb. With the artificial heat comes the chance of over-heating and ruining some of the herb’s beneficial attributes, as well as the oil’s beneficial attributes. Many aspects of herbalism have a Folk Method vs. a Quick Method, with even the microwave being employed at times in Quick Method recipes, such as melting wax for lip balm for example. If you are mindful of keeping the heat on low and using a double boiler approach, this method should give you fabulous, fragrant oil that you can use the same day on your skin or in a more extensive recipe. If you are not pressed for time though, using the Cold Method is actually simpler and offers less opportunities for damage to the herbs and oil.

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Herbal Infusion in Oil using Quick Method (Hot Method) 

Put your herb or herbs into the top of some kind of double boiler. I use a measuring glass in a pot of water. Add the oil of choice (olive oil is most common and what I use, but you can use something different such as sweet almond oil or grapeseed oil). The oil should more than cover the herbs, with plenty of room for movement.

Fill the bottom of the double boiler with water, then place it all on low heat. This mixture should stay on low heat until the oil takes on some of the color and fragrance of the herbs, so count on at least one hour, then let the mixture cool before straining and bottling. Some recipes have the oil on low low heat for up to 48 hours so don’t worry about letting it sit on heat for too long. Dried herbs are preferred because anytime you introduce water into an oil preparation, you also introduce the potential for bacteria. Fresh herbs are called for in certain cases, such as with St. John’s Wort which makes a fantastic massage oil since it eases aches and pains, in which case it is recommended to dry wilt the fresh herbs for 24-48 hours before placing them in oil. Stir the herbs while they are on the heat every once in a while with a wooden chopstick.

Because I have Rose buds instead of Rose petals, I bruised and chopped the buds a bit with the largest blade I have before adding them to the oil. The more surface area available on your herbs, the better, and bruising them starts the process of releasing their oils and fragrance.

This often gets people asking, why not use herbal powder then…? You can use herbal powders, but straining the finished oil is difficult, and you might not ever get it completely free of the powder. If you do use a powder, plan on straining with a clean coffee filter two or more times, instead of straining with a cheesecloth over a stainless steel strainer. Once the herbs are strained from the oil, store in a glass jar in a cool, dark place for up to six months and always check for rancidity before using (the smell will be ‘off’). If you can refrigerate your oils, they will last longer.

Use rose oil as a moisturizer or serum alone, or add essential oils to it for even more benefits, or use the oil in recipes for lip balm, healing salves, or body butters. Rose is known to be hydrating, softening, beautifying, and particularly good for mature and/or sun damaged skin. Other good herbs to infuse into oils are calendula, lavender, or peppermint which is particularly revitalizing for tired feet and legs. Get creative with whatever you have in your particular corner of the world.

Happy Spring to everyone in the Northern Hemisphere. I hope the change of seasons has infused everyone with lightness and loveliness. Enjoy and please subscribe (top right or down below if on mobile) for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share with anyone who might benefit from this article.

 

 

 

Cleaner and Greener Laundry

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It was recently my birthday and I was going to ask my friend for dryer balls because I knew she made them as gifts for others, but then it occurred to me to instead ask her to show me how to make them, and that maybe others would like the directions too. She is always up for a crafting date, even if it involves awkward videoing and way too many photos, (such a good sport!) so below is the tutorial of my multi-talented friend Lani teaching how to make the inevitable task of laundry a bit greener.

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Lani
Not everyone is ready to switch to a natural laundry detergent, but just about anyone can reduce their ecological imprint by cutting drying time with wool dryer balls. If you replace fabric softener completely with these balls, then that makes each load even more environmentally friendly, not to mention budget friendly. If you like the scent of fabric softener, you can add a couple of drops of essential oil to your dryer balls before throwing them in with a load and that gives you complete control over how your clothes smell, without unhealthy fragrances and such. Wool dryer balls are incredibly easy to make and there is hardly any packaging involved, plus no weird chemicals. You can buy them of course if you are not in the mood to roll wool, but trust me when I say, anyone can do this. Be aware of the kind of wool you buy because it needs to be able to felt. 100% Roving wool is what Lani told me to get and it worked well.

If you are perusing natural laundry detergents though, I have a fun fact for you. You know that brand Country Save? It was founded (in Washington state) by a guy named Elmer Pearson. Any ideas on what other product Mr. Pearson is behind…? The clue is in his name. Or should I have said glue, instead of clue? Yes! Elmer’s glue! He didn’t get rich off of that ubiquitous glue by the way because he never held the patent, but you can read more about him here if you are interested. Back to dryer balls, here’s what you need:

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Wool Dryer Balls

Roving Wool (One skein will make approximately 2 balls)

Pantyhose or nylon knee highs (that you aren’t going to wear anymore)

Scissors

A large eyed needle or crochet hook (There are two below the yarn, and together they look like tweezers, but they are just needles).

To start, wrap some yarn around three fingers about 10 times, then take it off your hand and wrap it the other way a few times. Here’s a video of Lani showing how to get the ball rolling (har har):

Continue wrapping up the ball into a round shape until the ball is around softball or baseball size.60CC06EA-3A85-42CD-B760-E6E47C36BC39[1]Once your ball is a good size, take a large-eyed needle or crochet hook to bury the end of the yarn into the ball. You can completely bury it, or cut off the end of the yarn after a few tucks if you prefer. Here’s Lani showing how it’s done:

Once the balls are complete with the loose yarn tucked in, they are put into nylon stockings, tied off with string that is not the same wool because you do not want it to felt, then thrown into the washing machine for a hot wash with any other items that are washed on hot. They are then dried on high heat. I have a big old top loader and it took two cycles of washing for mine to felt, and really I wasn’t sure if they had until after the high heat drying. Lani has a more modern front loader and says hers typically take 3 or 4 wash cycles before felting.

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To use these you need 3-5 balls so they are creating space in your load to allow for faster drying and they soften the fabric as they bounce around and pummel the clothes. You can add a drop or two of essential oils to the balls for scenting. I’d start small and add more the next time if it isn’t enough for you. I’m excited to use mine and to play with the scenting myself! Thank you Lani!!!

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What they look like after felting
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Bay Rum Aftershave and Toner

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Did you know you can make your own Bay Rum? That old school scent that men use as cologne and can be made into other things as well…? When I first ran across a recipe for it I had a small mental freak-out, along the lines of, “Wait, what? You mean Bay Rum is literally just bay leaves and rum? Of course!! Oh my gosh I have to make it!” So I did, adding cinnamon sticks and cloves along with the bay leaves, then finishing it with some vanilla extract. It smells manly and awesome, familiar in a nonspecific way. So far I’ve only made an aftershave/toner with it, but I intend to infuse more men’s inspired goodies because it’s such a traditional scent that even though it’s a tad old school, it is still so recognizable.

Making Bay Rum is the same as making any other herbal extract, just with Rum as the alcohol. As with all traditional herbal recipes, there are endless ways to do this. Here’s what I used:

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Bay Rum:

1/2 Cup Bay leaves

2 Cinnamon Sticks

4 Cloves

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After combining these into a glass jar, I shook them up daily or at least every other day for about four weeks. Then I poured the strained liquid into a glass jar and added 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

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1/4 Cup Bay Rum

1/8 Cup Witch Hazel

1/8 Cup Distilled Water

1 teaspoon Aloe Juice (or gel)

1 teaspoon Glycerine

8 drops Bergamot essential oil

8 drops Bay essential oil

Put all ingredients together into a glass bottle with either a spray top or just a screw lid. Shake before using each time and it’s best used right after cleansing and/or shaving. Can be used on face, neck, and body for its toner actions (balancing pH) and as cologne.

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It always amazes me how easy it is to make custom, small-batch, clean and green products. Looking at the old recipes of simpler times is so inspiring because they used ingredients they were surrounded by at any given time, such as the sailors who started using versions of bay rum to smell better after months at sea. Back then everyone seemed to have at least some knowledge of how to use herbs and what to do with other natural ingredients that surrounded them, and that knowledge connected them to the natural world and fostered respect and perhaps more than a little awe. This connection still exists, but the threads are thinning, and it concerns me that one day only a select few will carry on these traditions and this connection. I’d love to see an edible garden on every schoolyard and creative crafting of food and herbs in the classrooms. In a world of advancing technology and all the emphasis on STEM, it’s important to consider the role of nature, art, and creativity in the world we want to leave our kids.

Happy Creating and please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.

 

How to Make a Body Butter

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Making a body butter or cream is an especially magical process because the mere act of whipping the concoction creates the luxurious feel of the product and also the opaqueness. It’s really easy to do and there are so many ways to do it that I very rarely repeat the same process twice in the exact same way. That being said, I don’t always get the proportions exactly right for a proper whip to the recipe so do follow the ingredient recommendations closely of whatever recipe you choose at least for the first time or two. Even if the whipping doesn’t make your butter quite creamy, you will still end up with a soft balm that is just as good for moisturizing, and considering all these ingredients are natural, healthy, and non-toxic, you can use them on any part of your body that needs a little lotion-y love. Use whatever essential oils you like, but just know if you are using the recipe below the cocoa butter gives the finished product a decidedly chocolate-y scent, so figure that into your scent profile. For example, orange and chocolate might be good, cedarwood and chocolate though….maybe not.) I used vanilla absolute to round out the chocolate scent and the lavender to make sure it didn’t smell completely like food, plus lavender has so many skin benefits.

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Body Butter

1/2 C Cocoa Butter

1/4 C Coconut Oil

1/8 C Shea Butter

1/8 C Rose Oil (Olive Oil based)

20 drops Lavender

10 drops Vanilla Absolute

Put all the ingredients, except for the essential oils, into a measuring cup that can go into a pot of water that will heat up to a simmer. 3756C7C8-FDB6-4FEB-B5E5-051F1F1C9E5A[1]Let the solids completely melt, then take the measuring cup out of the water and let the liquid cool. You can put the measuring cup on ice, or put it in the fridge or freezer with a clean towel on top of it. It takes a while to cool, anywhere between a half hour to an hour depending on how it is cooling (freezer or on ice or just sitting out or whatnot). If you lose track of time and find the measuring cup hours later rock solid, don’t worry, just melt it again. When the liquid feels room temperature to the touch, add the essential oils and start whipping it with an electric mixer or in a blender until it turns creamy and opaque. This could take 5-10 minutes, depending on how cool the liquid is upon starting. Pour the butter into a clean jar and keep it out of heat and light for storage. This is a very emollient body butter, good for hand or foot cream, elbows, or any part of the body that is very dry. It isn’t recommended for the face though because those hard oils and butter can be pore clogging. It smells decadent and it is really fun to make something that starts off mostly solid, melts into a liquid, then whips into a totally new texture.

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Store in a clean glass jar with a tight fitting top, in a cool, dark place. Preferably a cool, dark place up out of nosey doggie territory. I was going to give this body butter to a friend so I had it down on the bottom of my shelf of herbal things where I knew I wouldn’t forget about it, but see that cork there…? My dog took the cork out of the jar (it does smell heavenly, and very much like food despite the lavender, I have to admit) and the jar hardened to a decidedly non-butter state. Definitely not gift-worthy anymore although I’ll still use it. Now it’s back to the stove top to make another batch, this time with a screw-lid jar.

This does harden a bit over a couple of days even with a properly closed container, so don’t be surprised if that happens. It still melts right onto (and into) your skin. We have all heard how skin is our largest organ and whatever we put on it goes into the body, so make sure you are only using the best, purest, products. You are worth it and your body will thank you. Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.

 

 

 

How to Make Your Own Toner

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Toner is one of those things that I kind of hate buying but I can’t live without. It is used between cleansing the skin and putting on a serum and/or moisturizer, and it balances the pH of the skin as well as helps the serum/moisturizer spread evenly so you get the most out of those more expensive products. Since it is the first layer on your skin after washing it, it has the potential to really help your skin be its healthiest and therefore its glow-iest, but it’s a light product so there shouldn’t be too much in it. Leave it to the serums and moisturizers to pack in the heavier oils and such, but that doesn’t mean toner can’t have some amazing ingredients too. Making your own means you can tweak it for your specific skin needs and even add in ingredients that might be missing from your other skin care products. For example, if you know your skin could benefit from more Vitamin C but you happen to love your current serum which is Vitamin A based, you can make sure your toner is strong Vitamin C by using Hibiscus tea, Vitamin C powder, and/or orange peel.

One of the easiest ways to make toner is by using Witch Hazel as the base. In fact, you can just use Witch Hazel for a toner by itself or by adding essential oils to it. Witch Hazel balances skin, soothes irritations, tightens, firms, and refreshes the skin. You can use it to cleanse your skin by pouring some onto a cotton ball and wiping your face clean. To use as a toner, it’s nice to cut it a bit with distilled water, floral water, a hydrosol, or a glycerin extract of an herb such as rose or orange peels as mentioned above. You can also just use floral waters and hydrosols alone as a toner in which case Rose water is a popular choice.

I happen to be out of toner so I am making some with what I have on hand which is: Witch Hazel, distilled water, and essential oils of Carrot Seed and Geranium. Both of those essential oils have a plethora of beneficial properties for the skin from moisture-balancing to wrinkle-fighting, and are good for dry, oily, mature, and/or combination skin. Their wide-ranging benefits for all different kinds of skin types make them similar to Rose essential oil, but a lot less expensive.

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Toner Recipe:

1/8 C Witch Hazel

1/8 C Distilled Water (a floral water or hydrosol would work beautifully too)

4 Drops Geranium Essential Oil

3 Drops Carrot Seed Essential Oil

2 oz. glass bottle with a spray top

Be sure to label your product and to shake your toner before each use.

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Speaking of different skin types, here’s an infographic from Delicious Living on best natural ingredient for different types of skin. Some of these could be added to a toner, while others work better in a mask, serum, or moisturizer. Borlind_infographic_3

Happy creating and beautifying everyone! You deserve to shine with optimal health. Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.

 

How to Make an Herbal Oil Part 1

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Making an herbal oil using the ‘cold method’ is very similar to making an herbal tincture. For the base oil you can use olive oil, almond oil, or grapeseed oil, but olive oil is the one most commonly used. Herbal oils are a great way to get the healing benefits of the herbs onto the skin where they can work on skin issues (Calendula or Rose), and also be absorbed into the body through the skin to work on things like sore muscles (St. John’s Wort). Herbal oils can also be added to baths or made into a healing  balm or butter, and essential oils can be added to herbal oils for added benefits as well.

The skin benefits of roses from their nutritious rose hips to the highly prized essential oil are well known. Making an herbal oil of roses is another way to make use of the healing and beauty-imparting benefits of roses. It is far more economical than the essential oil, and also less potent, but it makes a great base for any perfume blending or body butter creations. Rose oil itself is skin healing and beautifully scented enough to make a lovely gift just as is, even without added essential oils. After the oil has cured and been strained, simply add a few new rose buds or petals back into the strained oil for a luxurious look. How to video below:

Here is part 2 of this series, as well as how to make an herbal oil using The Quick Method.  Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.

 

How to Make an Herbal Tincture Part 1

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Making your own herbal tinctures is one way to really connect to herbs, make exactly what you want, and save money. If you want to make extracts without using alcohol for example, you can use apple cider vinegar or vegetable glycerine instead. You can blend several different herbs together in the tincture, or just extract one herb at a time. In the video below I just use St. John’s Wort in alcohol for the demo. For more information about natural anti-depressants and anti-anxiety herbs, check out this previous post on nervines. Be sure to label your jars with as much information as possible and maybe even write in a notebook or on a calendar what you did and when you need to do the next part. There are different schools of thought about how long a tincture needs to cure, but most medicine-makers agree that a moon cycle is an appropriate amount of time, so about 4 weeks. (That is why I have the moon information on my label.) The next step will be straining the herbs out of the liquid into dark glass dropper bottles at which point the tincture will be ready to be used. That will be in part 2, in about in a month from now, so stay tuned, and while you are at it, why not make an herbal oil as well…

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Cleansing for the New Year

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Is anyone else ready to put away the dairy and desserts and cleanse for the New Year? I personally love a good cleanse, though I’m partial to the low-suffering kind. I know people who think it’s not a real cleanse unless you take in nothing but fresh juice and water, but that never made sense to me. Our bodies like balance, and balance by extremes is not really balance at all at the human level. Just look at how bad yo-yo dieting is for people or how hard it is on the body when there are huge weight fluctuations. Gentle detox is a way to cleanse while giving the body support to adjust, instead of shocking the body and then reeling from its effects. Of course, there is a time and place for everything and if you know what you are doing and have the right support, then by all means juice away your days. If you prefer a cleansing reboot that doesn’t leave your blood sugar levels bouncing and your mood-o-meter permanently set to hangry, keep reading for some options.

Adding powdered greens to your daily routine is one way to activate detox mechanisms in your body. While cleansing you should be drinking extra glasses of water anyway, so adding a scoop or packet to one of your glasses or bottles of water is a great way to get extra goodness. It is worth noting that some green mixes, like Paradise Herbs, are formulated for energy~

while others, like the Food Science one below, are formulated more specifically for cleansing. Greens in general, whether in a powder or in a whole fresh or cooked form, are cleansing though so an energy greens mix will still work towards detoxing your system. Both these mixes came in my New Hope Blogger Box and they are tasty as well as healthy blends, but there are of course other reputable greens out there. Just be sure to read ingredients lists thoroughly.

Adding a cup or two of detoxifying herbal tea a day is another easy way to help your body cleanse. There are plenty of blends out there, such as detox teas by Yogi and Traditional Medicinals that are as easy as boiling water. Flora makes a tea concentrate that you just pour a bit out and add hot water to. They promote their cleanse every year on Facebook so you can actually join a group of others using their product to get tips and expand your knowledge a bit into the world of detox. (Plus if you join in you just might get a coupon or more, depending on if you are one of the firsts to sign up.) They do have a dry blend as well.

If you want to do something a little more involved than greens and teas, making up a batch of kitchari is what one of my herbal teachers drilled into us as the most healing, cleansing, tri-doshic thing you could do. Kitchari is a meal from the tradition of Ayurveda that is made up of mung beans and basmati rice (brown or white depending on your preference), spices, and ghee. You can eat it once a day to support a general cleanse, or you can eat kitchari three times a day and nothing else but herbal teas for 6 days straight for a more intense detox. As with all things herbal, kitchari is a traditional dish that you can find a thousand variations for so this recipe can be modified as you like. What follows is how my herbal teacher told us to make it and it has never failed me. It’s a calming meal, easy on the digestive system, and healing.

Kitchari Recipe:

1 C mung beans

1 C brown basmati rice (my herbal teacher actually used white basmati rice, so your choice really)

1 tbsp. ghee (vegans can use coconut oil)

1 tsp. each turmeric, cumin, and coriander

After soaking the mung beans overnight (or at least 6 hours), cook them in 4 C of water until they are thoroughly soft, about half an hour.

Cook rice according to its instructions, depending on white or brown, then mix together with beans.

Warm the ghee in a sauce or sauté pan and add the spices, cooking until fragrant, about 2 minutes or so.

Mix the spices and ghee with the rice and beans and you are finished. Eat as often as you like.

I’ve never been big on resolutions, but I do like the spirit of renewal that January sweeps in. A gentle cleanse sets a nice tone for the year~ a reminder to think better, feel better, act better, and be better. Best wishes for health, fulfillment, beauty, and peace to everyone for the New Year. Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.

 

Herbal Gifts Kids Can Make (Adults too!)

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This time of year it can be nice to take a break from the holiday craziness for a couple of hours and be creative, work with nature’s gifts, and maybe even a kid or two, to make something for yourself or others. I remember watching Little House on the Prairie and being shocked at how excited they were for their Christmas gifts which were always something like a penny and a hand-sewn apron for their one and only doll. Those days may be long gone but we can still appreciate the small things, the natural gifts that are crafted by hand that can add a sparkle of ‘special’ to a bath, a meal, or a daily routine. Kids love to be creative and make things, something that seems to happen less and less in school these days, so really if you are crafting with kids you are giving them a gift in the making as well as in the giving. Part of the fun is the labeling and packaging too, so let yourself or your young helper/s let out their inner artist. Including instructions with the gifts is also a good idea just to make sure the receiver remembers how to use the gift days later when all the chaos and hubbub of gift giving is over, plus it’s a sneaky little writing exercise for youngsters too, and can be awfully cute. It’s also a great time to share the value of reusing glass bottles and other containers, as well as why choosing ‘natural’ over ‘artificial’ is important. Some ideas to consider:

For the cook~ Bouquet Garni, Olive Oil and Vinegar infused with herbs (For the bouquet garni you will need cooking twine or muslin bags, parsley, thyme, and a bay leaf or two, plus other herbs if you want.) Use dried herbs only with the oil, but vinegar can take dry or fresh. See video below for more details.

For the homebody~ Room spray / body spray (could even be labeled car spray for the new driver or car aficionado), body oil These links take you to other posts with videos.

For the bath and spa lover~ Bath salts, Herbal bath mixtures, Bath milks,  Salt Scrub, Massage oil (can be made the same as a body oil). See video below for more details.

For the traveler~ Herbal Eye Pillow (this link takes you to Pinterest tutorials), Relaxing essential oil perfume (this link takes you another post with a how-to video).

For the yoga and/or meditation practitioner: Chakra oils (This link takes you to another post with a how-to tutorial.)

For men~ Cologne (video below but using a recipe from Wormwood’s The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy), body oil, hair growth blend (Links to other posts with the how-to info.)

 

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Bottle of 2 oz. Castor oil with 5 drops of Rosemary Essential Oil with a dropper (for hair growth)
For the cat fanatic~ Catnip pillow (you can do this for dogs too, just sick some treats in there instead of the catnip.) Link is to Pinterest how-to tutorials.

I really enjoy the labeling process (as you can clearly see by all the options I included) so here are ideas to get you started:

Chalkboard Labels or these

Apothecary Labels

Craft Labels

Japan Style Labels

Natural History Labels

Art Nouveau Labels

European Tiles Labels

In case you can’t reuse the glass bottles and jars that you already have, here are a couple of options:

Clear Vintage Bottles

Green Vintage Bottles

Vintage Apothecary Jars

Craft Jars

Enjoy being creative and fashioning nature’s gifts into self-care treats for yourself or others, and please share with anyone who might be looking for DIY ideas, especially if they have little ones they are crafting with. Kids love creating and especially love working with herbs and essential oils. They just seem to have an instinct for the ancestral authenticity of it. I hope your winter season is full of natural delights and plenty of rest and rejuvenation. Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.