DIY Toothpaste

My cousin showed me this post from ThankYour Body on how to make your own all-natural, flouride-free toothpaste from coconut oil and bentonite clay. I liked it, but what the heck is bentonite clay? Where do you get it and what else do you use it for? And why is that toothpaste brown?! Ok, I'll admit it, I've grown to love commercial toothpaste - it's white, it's thick, and for the past 30ish years, it has done me well. But I'm open-minded so I decided to try this recipe from TheChalkboardMag. All of the ingredients were in my kitchen cupboards so I had no excuse not to try it (FYI - if you don't have any of these ingredients, just stop by Whole Foods).

All you need to make about 2oz. worth is:

1. 2 Tablespoons of baking soda
2. 2 Tablespoons of coconut oil
3. 20 drops of peppermint oil (to make it taste minty)
4. 1 teaspoon of sea salt (optional and I don't recommend it - I'll get you why later).

It's quite easy - just add all the contents to your little container (I used a 4 ounce mason jar).

As you can see, it barely filled up half of the jar. So hey, if you don't like it, it's not like you wasted too much!

To put it on the toothbrush, I had to dip my toothbrush into the jar (which probably isn't very sanitary but it was so runny, I had no choice! Makes sense, now, as to why people use bentonite clay).

And the results? Well, I felt like I ran out of toothpaste halfway through the brushing but even worse, it felt like I licked a salt cube. I couldn't get the taste of salt out of my mouth so I had to brush my teeth again, this time with my commercial toothpaste. While salt is a great antibacterial (remember when your doctor told you to gargle with warm salt water when you had a sore throat?), it can also be very abrasive if you have sensitive gums. That, along with the taste, makes me recommend not adding salt.

However, if you don't want to use a toothpaste with fluoride in it, this might be a good alternative for you. Just... don't use salt. Or if you do, use very little. Your taste buds will thank you.

TOTAL COSTS: About $18 to make as much as you want!
$1.59 for baking soda from Vons
$5.99 for coconut oil from Whole Foods
$7.99 for peppermint oil from Whole Foods
$1.99 for sea salt from Vons

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Less than 5 minutes

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
This is so simple because it's only 4 ingredients (or 3, if you leave out the salt), mixed into a container, and put right onto your toothbrush. It's supposed to last up to six months, if stored properly. I doubt, though, it would last you that long if you brushed twice daily.

DIY Vanilla Extract

I love finding out I can make my own things, like brown sugar or laundry detergent. But when I saw this post by TidyMom on how to make your own vanilla extract, I was all in. Sure, I knew it would take a while, but it's totally worth it in the end. The smell alone is heavenly! So here's what you'll need:

1. Vanilla beans (available at your grocery store with the spices)
2. Vodka
3. A glass container to hold the vanilla
4. A sharp knife
5. Something to remind you once a week (app on your phone, perhaps?)
6. (optional) A funnel or measuring glass to help pour the vodka into the container



Start by cutting your beans in half (so I had two long beans and cut them in half to make four small beans)

Then using your knife, start 1/4" from one end and carefully slice the bean in half lengthwise.

Place the beans into your container (I just used the same container the beans originally came in), and pour in your vodka. The original post recommends 6-8 vanilla bean pieces (or 3 to 4 whole beans) with 8 ounces of vodka.

And now... the waiting game. Place your container in a dark, cool place (like the back of the pantry) and once a week, shake the container. How long do you have to do this? Well, 6 weeks is fine but if you wait 8 weeks, the flavor and color will be more intense. Here's what mine looked like week by week:

You can see the gradual change in color week by week, but you have to be patient (and you have to remember to shake it -- I had to set a reminder on my phone for the same day/time every week). Have fun making your own vanilla extract -- these would be great gifts come the holiday season!

TOTAL COSTS: About $18 (but I also bought a 750ml bottle!)

$5.99 for vanilla beans from Whole Foods

$11.99 for Smirnoff vodka from BevMo

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 6-8 weeks

You can start using the vanilla around the 6 week mark but I recommend waiting another two weeks so you can have a richer flavor!

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5

You're not doing much of anything, it's the vodka and vanilla that's doing all the work!

DIY Deodorant

While it's springtime in the rest of the country, it's 90+ degrees here every day in Los Angeles. We like to pretend like we're glamorous and on the cutting edge of the latest trends, and we might be, but we're also sweating buckets and only going from one air-conditioned setting to the next (home to car to office to car to home). So when I found this post by Greatist, I thought it was perfect timing. Since we're sweating and stinking it up over here, chances are, you will be soon too. Why not try to make your own deodorant with a few household items, ditch the chemicals, and smell good all at the same time?

You only need four ingredients:

1/2 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of cornstarch
1/4 cup of baking soda
1/8-1/4 teaspoon of essential oil (I chose lavender, since it's a calming smell, but any essential oil of your choice is fine)

If you live in California, chances are your coconut oil is already a liquid goo. If you don't and it's not, stick it in the microwave for 10-15 second intervals until it has completely melted, then pour it into a bowl.

Add your essential oil, cornstarch and baking soda. It'll go from a big lumpy, liquidy mess to...

A big bowl of odd-looking milk. I couldn't get all the clumps out but I did my best.

Next, pour it into a jar (if you want to apply the deodorant with your fingers) or pour into an empty deodorant container (I found it helped to pour the mixture into a measuring cup first). I used an old Dove bottle and still had 1/4 cup left over!

Stick the container in the fridge and let it harden. I gave mine an hour.

This is what turns me off - the second it touches your skin, it starts to melt so you have to act fast. If you don't, streaks of coconut oil will run down your arms. I let the deodorant harden in the fridge overnight, thinking it just needed more time, but it still melted quickly.

A couple pluses? It smells great (because of the essential oil) AND when something straight from the fridge touches your hot mess of a body, it feels amazing.

However, I sweat. I need an antiperspirant. This won't stop you from perspiring, it'll just stop you from smelling bad while you do it. Perhaps if I had sensitive skin or if I was afraid my deodorant was going to give me cancer, I'd be more inclined to use this but in this hot LA weather, this isn't going to cut it.


TOTAL COSTS: About $20
$5.99 for coconut oil from Whole Foods
$1.80 for cornstarch from Vons
$1.59 for baking soda from Vons
$10.99 for lavender essential oil from Whole Foods
Empty deodorant container already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME:
5 minutes to make the mixture and pour into container
minutes to let it harden

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
While it's incredibly easy to make, it's also incredibly messy.

No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Bars or "Why Didn't I Make These Sooner?!" Bars

I don't say this about many things, but I wish I had seen this recipe from MoneySavingMom years ago. It has absolutely everything a high school kid for a bake sale, a poor college kid, a mom, and ME could ever want: simplicity, no oven, and chocolate + peanut butter = the ultimate marriage of flavors. If you have a dinner party tomorrow night and want an easy dessert or maybe you just want to treat yourself, grab a pan, a measuring cup, and these ingredients and be prepared to have your mouth salivate in 3... 2... 1...

* 1 Cup of peanut butter (make sure you have an almost full jar, as you'll use almost 3/4 of the contents!)

* 1/2 Cup of honey

* 1/2 Cup of coconut oil (or butter, if you prefer)

* 2 Cups of old fashion oats

* 1 Cup of shredded coconut

* 1/2 Cup of chopped nuts (I used walnuts), raisins, or dried cranberries

* 1 1/4 Cups of chocolate chips (photo shows mini but I used semi-sweet regular chocolate chips)

* 1 teaspoon of vanilla

In a medium saucepan, melt the peanut butter, honey and coconut oil (or butter). Make sure it doesn't burn by stirring frequently (took mine about 4 minutes to melt completely).

Once it has melted, take the pan off the heat and add the oats, shredded coconut, chocolate chips, nuts/raisins, and vanilla. Stir until the chocolate has completely melted.

Pour the mixture into a greased 9x13 pan and set in your fridge to harden.

How long you ask? Good question. I found after two hours it wasn't quite hard enough, 5 hours was better, but overnight would be ideal. If you do leave them to harden overnight, be prepared to get a workout - these suckers were so thick they were difficult to cut out but so worth it!

There are so many different variations you could do - you could replace or add gluten free oats, flax seed, almond butter, salt, etc. Someone in the original post's comments said this makes 24 bars at 240 calories/piece, but really, who's counting? Just cut them up and enjoy. Life's too short to skip dessert.

TOTAL COSTS: About $30 if you don't have any of the ingredients

$2.69 for peanut butter

$4.29 for honey

$5.99 for coconut oil at Whole Foods (though really, you could use $1 butter from the store)

$1.99 for oats

$2.50 for shredded coconut

$5.99 for chopped nuts

$2.50 for chocolate chips

$4.99 for vanilla

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 20 minutes + at least 2 hours to cool

I still recommend you let these harden overnight but if you can't wait, I completely understand!

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5

The "hard" part might be making sure the peanut butter mixture doesn't burn but that's just a matter of keeping your eye on the pan and stirring. Really, it's not hard at all and I encourage everyone to make these!

Coconut Oil Valentine's Day Gifts

Ok, why hasn't anyone told me the awesomeness of coconut oil yet? Seriously, this stuff is so versatile... cooking and baking, beauty, ointments... someone put together a list of 101 uses and I just tried two tonight. Guys - if you need an easy, cheap, homemade Valentine's Day gift for your lady friend, go to your kitchen and get these four things to make a body/shave scrub and a facial scrub:

1. Coconut oil
2. Sugar
3. Baking soda
4. 2 empty jars

Don't know where to get coconut oil? I know for a fact that Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Vons has some. So you have no excuse. Sorry.

Ok, so in one jar, mix equal parts coconut oil and baking soda (for facial scrub). In the other jar, mix equal parts coconut oil and sugar (for the body/shave scrub). Then combine.

    

Notice how it all pretty much looks the same? You'll want to make sure you know which jar is which, as the sugar is going to feel better on the legs than baking soda (since it's a natural exfoliant). If you happen to have any lavender or peppermint extract, or a couple drops of red food coloring, that would be a nice added bonus, but certainly not necessarily. Make some labels by hand or print some out, give to your sweetie, and be silently pleased with yourself when she gives you a big smackeroo.

Now, does the body/shave scrub actually work? Well, I shaved one leg with it and one without and the leg that had the scrub felt a lot smoother. Now, this could just be a psychological, but hey, it's cheaper than any shaving gel on the shelves!

TOTAL COSTS: About $14 to make as much as you want!

$10 for coconut oil

$2.69 for sugar
$1.59 for baking soda

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Less than 5 minutes

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5

Seriously, it's three ingredients to make two awesome scrubs. Doesn't get much easier than that!

Spa in a Jar

After yesterday's gingerbread TARDIS catastrophe (click here for a good laugh), I decided I needed a blog post to help relax me, take the edge off, and not involve an oven. The answer? The Gunny Sack. She's a blogger who put together a bunch of different ideas of what you can incorporate in a spa-inspired mason jar -- this would be a perfect gift for a new mom, a friend, or even yourself!

She has a lot of different recipes but I decided to go with the peppermint foot soak and the hand scrub. I bought a couple 32 oz. mason jars from Whole Foods, a couple small glass containers from Michael's, and I already had a few 4oz. mason jars left over from my slow cooker apple butter days.

I started with the hand scrub and decided to use lavender hand soap because lavender has been shown to reduce stress (perfect for a spa jar, right?). However, if you decide to use this as well, be aware that you're not going to get much of a color and even one drop of food coloring can be overwhelming. I put in two drops and had to start over because it looked like I had liquified Barney. So you might be better off using a soap that is already tinted, like the original post.

Next, the peppermint foot soak. Now I love the smell of peppermint but if you're not a fan, you might not want to do this recipe because it will make your entire working area smell divine. Once you've mixed together the epsom salt, baking soda, peppermint extract and food coloring (I used two drops of pink food coloring instead of red and it looks lovely!), you need to lay it out on parchment paper for 30 minutes. While you wait, it's a perfect time to print out the free labels she provides, cut them out, and attach them to the jars. By the time you're done, the powder will be ready to put into jars!

Keep in mind, once you put those two jars inside your mason jar, you're not going to have much room to put in much else. I added some peppermint chapstick, 3 Lindor truffles, and 3 tea light candles . If there had been room for more goodies, I would have kept adding but as it was, it was stuffed to the top. If you want to add more, go for a bigger jar than just 32 ounces!

TOTAL COSTS: About $11
$2.49 for 1lb of epsom salts from Whole Foods
$2.99 for peppermint chapstick from Whole Foods
$.99 for 3 Lindor truffles from Vons
$1.50 for 13.5 fl. oz of lavender soap from Michael's
$1.69 for 32oz. mason jar from Whole Foods
$.99 for small glass jar from Michael's
4oz. mason jar, food coloring, sugar, baking soda, and peppermint extract already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 1 hour, 15 minutes
This included the 30 minutes of waiting for the foot soak powder to dry and redoing one of the jars of hand scrub because of a food coloring disaster.

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
Have fun with this - it's so easy, you can include whatever you like, and the recipient of such a jar of goodies will be pleasantly surprised!

How NOT to Make a Gingerbread TARDIS

I came across this clever Dr. Who TARDIS gingerbread house and thought, "How creative! Surely that's a project I can do!" Oh how terribly, terribly wrong I was. Kids, gather 'round and let me tell you a tale of how the TARDIS stole Kat's entire weekend with 8 magical mistakes...

Mistake #1: Converting all the measurements instead of finding a different recipe.
You begin by converting all the measurements into something you can understand. From grams to cups, from millimeters to inches, you'll spend quite a lot of time just figuring out how the heck to make the dough. And yes, this calls for 8 cups of flour. And no, the dough doesn't end up tasting good at all.

Mistake #2: Leaving it in the fridge for too long.
The post says to leave it in the fridge overnight, but that's a silly, silly thing to say. For you see, when you put it in the fridge, it becomes so hard that you can't knead it and end up pouring water on it, sticking it in the oven, breaking it into smaller pieces, doing anything you can just so that it can get back to how dough should be.


Mistake #3: Making all the templates they said.
I should have stopped when the dough was a big hard rock but no, instead I spent two and a half hours cutting out all the templates they say. To save you some time:
     *Do NOT make 4 sides -- make 1 and use it over and over
     *Do NOT make 4 side panelling pieces -- again, make 1 and use it over and over
     *Do NOT make 8 corner post pieces because there are only 4 corners, not 8, and make 1 template for it, not 4.

Mistake #4: Rolling the dough too thick
My dough was about 1/4" thick which was way too thick. The thinner, the better. Otherwise, you'll end up waiting for it to bake for 15-20 minutes instead of the 6-9 minutes recommended (and my oven was at 390 degrees).

Mistake #5: Not cutting out the windows in the dough before sticking it in the oven.
Now she doesn't say to do cut out all 8 windows, so I didn't. I just traced out the lines instead of cutting them out completely. Big mistake. When you read further down in the instructions, she says to put both panelling pieces on top of one another and then stick them in the oven (?!?) so you will need to have all windows cut out. If you don't cut them out beforehand, you'll end up having your poor husband help you cut them out when they're hard as a rock and crumbing beneath your fingers. And try not to have flour on your panels before putting them in the oven. The flour will stay there. Forever.

Mistake #6: Trusting their recipe for frosting.
Don't do it. Just don't. Go buy frosting at the store and use that. Or use a different recipe. Don't trust them for a second. Even with the tiniest hole in your bag, it will still come out like a drop of water. I ended up having to write the Police Box signs in marker, because I knew there was no way this thing was going survive.

Mistake #7: Putting the frosting on the entire two-window panel
Do not put your frosting all over the panel with two windows when wanting to put the other panel with eight windows on top. The frosting will show through the six windows and that's not the effect you want to go for. Put the frosting on the back of the eight windowed panel and then stick it to the two windowed panel (like the photo).

Mistake #8: Using tape to attach wax paper to panel for windows
Tape isn't going to stick to the panels so use frosting again. It's your only chance for making it look semi-decent.

When all was said and done, I'm glad I stuck with it to the bitter end, just so I could get this photo.

Moral of the story? Admire the work others can do, and admit that some projects are best if left alone.

TOTAL COSTS: Too much
However, if you're interested, you can pick up Lyle's Golden Syrup at Whole Foods for a little over $5

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 24 hours
20 minutes to make the dough
17 hours in the fridge
2 1/2 hours to make the templates
3 hours to cut and bake the pieces
1/2 hour to frost (at which point, I pretty much gave up)

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): My first 5 out of 5 blog
If I haven't convinced you enough not to do it, then give it a shot and let me know how it goes!