Simple Homemade Vapor Rub

There are tons of recipes out there on the internet for homemade vapor rub, I am sure most of them work great. This is a simple, quick one that works well for us. It was one of the first things I made with essential oils and helped to convince me of the benefits of essential oils. :) To read the long version of the story you can read here Essential Oils. The short version is, it was late at night, my son had a chest cold and was having bad asthma attacks before we knew he had asthma, my hubby was out of town and well you get the picture. My friend told me to make some vapor rub with essential oils, rub it on his chest and his feet and put socks on. It helped a lot to soothe and support his respiratory system and I have used it several times since.  There are other recipes that are more complicated and some that call for beeswax but since this works for us, I saw no need to do something different. We keep this in our room where the A/C stays on most of the time and so the coconut oil stays pretty well solidified. Again because this is being rubbed into the skin I would suggest a higher end essential oil like doTerra, Native American Nutritionals, Young Living or Mountain Rose Herbs

Ingredients for kids and elderly
1/2 cup coconut oil
8 drops peppermint essential oil
8 drops eucalyptus essential oil
8 drops lavender essential oil

Ingredients for older kids and adults
1/2 cup coconut oil
15 drops peppermint essential oil
15 drops eucalyptus essential oil
15 drops lavender essential oil

Mix all the ingredient together and you are ready to go.

If you want it thicker consistency you can whip the coconut butter with some shea butter or you can melt some beeswax and mix it in. I do not find it necessary but some do.

You can use other essential oils as well, like lemon, tea tree, rosemary, pine, basil, chamomile, orange and others. If you do add more EOs however, you will need to adjust the number of drops you put in as it needs to stay safely diluted. There is a good chart / print out for diluting here Dilution Chart.

DIY Homemade Deodorant

 

 

As part of my journey to start to reduce unneeded chemicals in our lives I decided to have a go at making my own deodorant. While my cancer was not breast cancer, now that I have had cancer, I am more susceptible to getting cancer again and I figured the less chemicals near my lymph nodes and breasts the better, plus it is more cost effective. I came across this blog and recipe about a year ago, added it to my favorites, determined do make it.   http://thehumbledhomemaker.com/2012/10/natural-homemade-deodorant-recipe.html   I just recently made it for the first time. :) Nothing like procrastinating. I did switch to using store bought natural deodorant a long time ago but making my own felt like the natural next step. Now that I have made it, I really wish I had done it sooner. It was soooo easy!! At the bottom of the post you can read my assessment and tweaks I might make next time.

Ingredients
2 heaping tablespoons beeswax pellets
1 tbsp shea butter
5 tablespoons coconut oil
1/4 cup cornstarch or arrowroot powder (for sensitive skin)
1/4 cup aluminum free baking soda
10-15 drops lavender oil
10-15 drops tea tree oil
10-15 drops of other essential oil of your choice (I chose Ylang Ylang because it is supposed to help with fibromyalgia
3-4 new or used (cleaned out) deodorant tubes twisted all the way back down. When I did this, it made 3 regular sized and two travel sized.

I got the beeswax pellets at our local craft store but you can get them on Amazon, Mountain Rose Herbs, or Aromatics International. The shea butter I got off of Amazon but you can also get it at Aromatics International or Mountain Rose Herbs, probably at your local health food store as well. The aluminum free baking soda I got at our local health food store Down To Earth but you can also order it from Mountain Rose Herbs. For the essential oils, you can choose which brand you want. Since it is being applied / rubbed into the skin, I suggest a higher quality brand. I recommend doTerra, Native American Nutritionals, Young Living or Mountain Rose Herbs.  For the deodorant tubes, you can get them on Amazon, possibly your local health food store or local craft store. For me where we live, it was actually more cost effective for me to buy the cheapest deodorant at the grocery store (93 cents each), and cleaned them out.

Directions

1. Melt beeswax in a double boiler. If you do not have a double boiler you can put them in a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water.

2. Add shea butter and coconut oil and heat until just melted, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove from heat and add cornstarch and baking soda. Stir until smooth.

4. Add essential oils and mix well

5. Pour into old deodorant tubes and let sit a few hours before adding the tops. You will want to fill them until they seem to almost overflow because they will fall down a good bit once cooled.  You can see from my picture, my tube was a tad lumpy, I stirred it up better before pouring the rest.

So there you  have it, a quick and easy way to make your own deodorant! I am excited to have finally done this!

After using it for a little while, here is my assessment.

Does it work?

Yes, it works. :) I do not have to apply it any more often than I did the store bought natural deodorant. I apply it 2 -3 times a day but again I did that with the store bought stuff. I sweat a lot. I work out hard almost everyday, soaking through my work out clothes, I am in menopause so have periodic hot flashes causing me to perspire, and I just naturally sweat a lot. So 2-3 times a day may sound like a lot for you but for me it is normal. I hiked Diamond Head just this weekend with the family and had no complaints. :)

Would you make it again and if so what changes would you make?



Absolutely I would make it again. The only complaint I had was that it did not set up quite as well as I would have liked, my guess is because we live in the tropics. Not much stays in a solidified state in my pantry because of the warmth. So I think once it is time for me to make it again I will probably add a little more beeswax, maybe 3 heaping tablespoons rather than 2 to see if it sets up a little better. I will update this when I do. It still works fine. I keep it in our bedroom where we keep the A/C on and I smear it on with my fingers rather than rubbing the bar on it.



Quinoa with Bell Pepper and Pine Nuts

This dish very much reminds me of couscous dishes I ate growing up in Africa which is probably why I am so drawn to it. In all honestly it could be just as easily made with couscous but I use quinoa because I cannot eat wheat.  I think it is yummy and great for a light lunch and easy to make. Oddly enough when I first came across the recipe it was part of a recipe for stuffed bell pepper and was supposed to be the stuffing but I liked it just as well on its own. If you want the whole recipe for stuffed bell pepper just ask me. I got it out of the cookbook Vegan Fire and Spice: 200 Sultry and Savory Global Recipes, http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Fire-Spice-Sultry-Recipes/dp/0980013100/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401930187&sr=8-1&keywords=vegan+fire+and+spice
This is one of those types of recipes you can add or detract ingredients as you see fit. Like you could easily add some carrots, peas, or green beans.  Not part of the original recipe but I added to it are ginger because in case you have not noticed by now, I love ginger, and I also added mint to it.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa, bulgar, barley or couscous or grain of choice

2 cups vegetable stock or water

1/2 of a red bell pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion chopped

½ cup chopped celery

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 small fresh hot chiles, seeded and minced (optional)

¼ cup minced fresh parsley

1/4 cup mint (optional, not in original recipe)

ginger chopped (optional, not in original recipe)

1 tablespoon minced fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill

½ teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

¼ cup currants

¼ cup pine nuts

1 teaspoon sugar or natural sweetener

Freshly ground pepper

 

Directions

Cook quinoa and 2 cups vegetable stock according to package directions. Set aside to cool. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, garlic, chiles, and chopped bell pepper and cook 5 minutes or until softened. Add parsley, mint (optional), ginger (optional), dill, cumin, lemon juice, pine nuts, currants, sugar, quinoa, and salt and pepper to taste, and mix well.