Easy Dairy Free Fudge

I love this easy 4 ingredient fudge. I actually freeze it in small portions to divvy out later. I add this to oatmeal or warm it up over ice cream or you could eat it plain (it does melt when left out over time).

Ingredients:

1 - 4oz unsweetened chocolate
1 can of full fat coconut milk
1/4 or 1/2 cup of agave nectar (depending on how sweet you like it)
1 tsp. vanilla

Add the first 3 ingredients into a pan. Place the pan on the stove at medium heat. Stir until all 3 ingredients are melted, then keeping stirring while it boils for about 10 to 15 minutes. You will notice the fudge will start to thicken. Take off stove and add the vanilla.

I pour it into shallow individual cupcake forms and then freeze. Once frozen, I pop each fudge square out and place into a Ziploc bag and then throw again into the freezer until I am ready to use.

Thanks, Heather Eats Almond Butter

Using essential oils to clean the inside of the car

I was reading an article in Doterra Living regarding cleaning your car using essential oils. I knew my car was dusty and dirty, so I said what the heck and since I had all the ingredients, why not try it.

                                  Look at the gunk - YIKES!

 Look at all that dust - ICK!

First I got all the ingredients out:

Water
White Vinegar
2-6 drops of your favorite essential oils (Citrus Bliss is what I used)
Spray Bottle - I used one that I had picked up at the Goodwill

Mix equal parts of water and white vinegar, then add your essential oils (I used 3, but next time I will bump this up to 6).  I used 2 Tablespoon each of water and white vinegar. Shake once the lid is on tight. I sprayed this solution on the vinyl of the dashboard and the console, also the slider which covers the cup holders. Waited a little bit, then I wiped all this down with the clean dry towel. WOW - you sold me. Trust me  - the white vinegar smell eventually goes away and I think if I use more of the oil I wouldn't have this problem.  

Now look at the after pictures - they tell the real answer if this product works - what do you think?

Thanks, Doterra Living Magazine

DIY - Homemade potting soil

Somewhere I read that flowers and veggies do better with a mixture of peat moss (keep moisture and air around plant roots), vermiculite (holds extra water) and compost (adds nutrients and holds water and improves plant growth) instead of regular plant soil. So I found the above staples at my Home Depot store (don't be shocked at the initial cost - the peat moss has lasted me 2 years - just be sure you seal the bag properly to save the material). I use a mix of 1:1 of each material in an empty plastic cat litter with a handle. This makes it easier to transport around my yard to add the dirt to plants that have depleted the required amount of dirt and also to replant store bought plants.

This combination works especially well with the reduced plants I buy at Home Depot at half price.

Homemade Febreeze Recipes

I was cleaning rooms today and noticed how raunchy some of the bedding smelled. So I searched high and low for some Febreeze and low and behold was totally out of it. What does a girl need to do -I looked on the internet for a recipe of course. That is exactly what I did and came up with a zillion different recipes - which one did I settle on, well I will tell you. I used this one since I didn't need a specific size of bottle.

1. I used a funnel and poured 2 Tablespoons of fabric softener into a spray bottle. (check out how to make your own fabric softener here)
2. I then added 2 Tablespoons of white vinegar (I buy mine at Costco in bulk).
3. Take out the funnel and add six to ten drops of your favorite essential oils. I like citrus or lavender.
4.  Fill the rest of your bottle with water.
5. Shake until well combined.

That's it. Spray on anything to get rid of unwanted smells.

**UPDATE: First of all you need to make sure your sprayer works - I got all of my new Febreeze into my sprayer bottle and then the darn thing wouldn't work. Had to search high and low for another spray bottle, I will definitely put spray bottles on my list to look for when I'm out and about.

Thanks, thefrugalgirls

Slugs and new plants

This year I am behind on planting my garden - YIKES - what is a girl to do. Well, I finally got a few plants that I bought into the ground, but a few days later noticed that they were being eatin. No way! - the slugs were making their rounds. So I had read somewhere if you sprinkle crushed eggshells around your new plants it will help keep the slugs away. That is what I did. 

Now I will wait and see if this helps the slug problem and it can't hurt the cucumbers having a little calcium from the eggshells.

Easy Whipped Homemade Coconut Soap

After using regular soap on my face and having it be dry constantly, I started looking on the internet for some solutions. A couple of years ago, I came across Camp Wander blog, where she creates natural products using mainly coconut oil and essential oils. What her blog represented was what I was looking for and it began a re-introduction to essential oils that I had been playing with for years. This site came me recipes that I could make using products I believed in.

Here is a recipe for her Whipped Coconut Soap that I tweaked a little.

I used 1 cup Coconut Oil (from Costco)
1 Tablespoon Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (from Costco)
1 Tablespoon Dr. Bonners Liquid Castile Soap (travel section at Target)

I softened the Coconut Oil by placing it outside in the sun for about 20 minutes (left the lid on so things wouldn't fly in and adhere to the oil). Once it was a little soft I measured it out and put it in my KitchenAid mixer. Next I added the Olive Oil and the Castile Soap. Then I turned on the mix and let the beater whirl the oils together (this worked better than the hand held mixer for me - got all the lumps out). In addition, I added 3 drops of each Lavender, Geranium, Ylang Ylang and Frankincense. See below why I choose those essential oils.

**Update - I forgot to tell  you how I use my soap - get about 1 Tablespoon (a quarter size and blend it on your palms of your hand and then spread on your face, even the back of your hands. Afterwards, I grab one of my homemade cotton washcloth's and put it in hot water and place on my face and steam for awhile. This helps the essential oils penetrate the skin. Rinse off the back of your hands and pat face and hands with a towel. Then add your moisturizer. 

Lavender - Lavender is a universal oil that has been traditionally been known to balance the body and to work whenever there is a need.

Frankincense - This oil may help with aging.

Ylang Ylang -  This oil is for skin problems and balancing euqilibrium.

Geranium - This works as a cleanser for oily skin and may even liven up pale skin. It also helps keeps the skin supple. 

Hey they all have properties that work for me. 

Easy way to unstick a window or a door on a track!

Have you ever had a window or slider get stuck that it's almost impossible to open? Well this happens to me every few months to my sliding door. I don't know what happens - but I have a simple solution. Take an old taper candle (one that you don't want any more - since it will have a weird grove in it) and rub it over the track. This somehow lubricates it. Do it on both sides of the window or slider - I promise it will work. I know what you are thinking - sure, it will. But try it and see for yourself.

Lemon Vinegar Disinfectant

This is a great disinfectant for counter tops, bathrooms and kitchens.

Ingredients:

Lemon peels (from the lemonade made previously)

Wide mouth Mason jar with lid

White vinegar

Chop up the lemon peels

and place them into an empty mason jar. 

Pour the white vinegar over the lemon peels. 

Place the lid on tightly and put in a dark corner and forget about 2 weeks. 

After it has steeped for the 2 weeks pour the lemon vinegar into an empty container, discard the peels by dumping them into your disposal it will make it smell great. 

Add 1:1 water to your lemon vinegar, stir and put into a spray bottle.

Spray counters and then wipe with a damp cloth. Works great on walls also.

Source: onegoodthingbyjillee.com

DIY Dishwashing Tablets

DIY Tablet Dishwashing Soap

Currently I am using a combination of Finish tablets that I got for a really good price like 5 years ago and homemade powdered dishwashing soap.  I want to try homemade tablet dishwashing soap before I run out of the Finish, so I thought today would be a great time to try it out. I found this recipe on onehundreddollarsamonth web site. I had all the ingredients and so I said what the heck, today is the day.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Borax
1 Cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Epsom Salt
3/4 Cup Lemon Juice

Mix the first three and get all the lumps out before adding the lemon juice. When adding the lemon juice I noticed it starting to fizz but this a normal reaction to the other ingredients.

I bought square silicone ice cube trays at Ikea for $1.00 and thought this would be suitable for this project. 

I used a small Pampered Chef scooper that is around 1 TBSP size and scooped out the solution and placed in the ice cube trays. It made 36 squares. 

Smash down the ingredients so they are sort of uniformed and let dry for a couple of hours. This way when you pop them out of the ice cube trays hopefully they won’t crumble. Place one in the tray of your dishwasher.

Don't forget to store in an air tight container. 

I have tried washing dishes with this twice now and love it. Also it is economical. 

Thanks, onehundreddollarsamonth

Fresh Smelling Towels

Lately my towels have smelled sour and disgusting. I didn’t want to throw them out and start over; I probably would have the same problem again eventually. So I cruised the internet looking for a solution. I found the ideal answer on Pinterest. I tried it and it works like a charm. Now I have nice smelling towels without having to buy new ones.

Here is the recipe that I used with my front loading HE machine:

*Throw dirty towels into washer

*Fill the soap dish with 1 cup white vinegar

*Wash on hottest setting (I put mine on speedy wash for 20 minutes).

After this cycle I sprinkled a cup of baking soda on top of my wet towels and ran it again on the speedy wash cycle.

I then placed clean towels into the dryer and dried them very well. They came out smelling fresh and clean.

UPDATE:  After playing around with this recipe, I have come to the conclusion that it makes sense to put in soap in the soap area and in the fabric softener goes the white vinegar. After the first wash, if you need to add the ½ cup of baking soda you can add this to your towels within the washer. Make sure you dry your towels extremely well and this solution works well every time. No more musty smelling towels.

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