Gifts of Furniture Cleaner / Polish, Citrus All Purpose Cleaner, Face Creams, Lotions, Salt Scrub & more...

Sent out gifts on Monday. Here are what two care packages of homemade Essential and Garden Produce goodies look like. A sampling of home cleaning supplies, lotions, scrubs, sprays, and sample oils. I send detailed information for those who I know will love playing with oils, a sheet on any oil I send, and instructions on how to apply the herbal treatments. On each bottle is the general recipe (I don't put measurements, because it would just get to crowded). 

 Box one is to someone who will love playing with the oils. They have herbal knowledge, but are new to Essential Oils. The box below is for a loved one who will enjoy the products I made, but isn't really interested in herbs; so the box contains mainly instructions on how to use.

 Items before I boxed them up:

This shipment held items made from the fresh, clean power of citrus.

I decided to use real citrus peels, instead of just my essential oils this time. I used the citrus peels in both cleaning products, as well as sea salt scrubs. Recipes are coming up... 

Note: if you wish to make both the Citrus All Purpose Cleaner and the Furniture Polish, a short cut is to: First I put the lemon, lime, grapefruit, and orange peels into the juicer. Then pour white vinegar into the machine to get the loose bits through and to help the peels to give up their oils. I took this citrus goodness and put it into my furniture polish and into my all purpose cleaner mix. I left the furniture polish as is, but strained any peel bits out of the citrus for the all purpose spray cleaner. And of course, you can use drops of Essential oils "instead of" / or "in addition to" real citrus peel 

Basic All Purpose Cleaner:

1 Tbl. OnGuard Cleaner

20 Drops Purity

20 drops Wild Orange

1 C. White Vinegar

1 C. Distilled Water

1/2 C Rubbing Alcohol

Mix, shake well. Pour into spray bottle. Use on most surfaces: counter tops, windows, mirrors, and cabinets.

Recipes:

Citrus All Purpose Cleaner:

1 1/2 C. Citrus Peels 

1/2 C, White Vinegar

Soak peels overnight in flat container.

Juice Mixture in morning. Discard dry peel, keep juice and vinegar mixture. Strain to remove solid pieces. To the strained citrus mixture, 

add half of the basic All Purpose Cleaner Mixture (recipe above).

Now you have two cleaners, one is citrus for the extra tough cleans, (like kitchen cabinets with grease finger-prints) and a regular basic cleaner too!

Citrus Furniture Cleaner & Polish: 

Ingredients: 

3 Lemon's peel, one whole lemon

4 Lime's peel

2 Orange's peel

1 Grapefruit peel

1/4 White Vinegar

1/2 C. Almond Oil

1/2 C. Walnut Oil

Instructions:

Juice just the peels in a juicer with one whole lemon; 

Add to the juicer:

1/4 White Vinegar to clean out the bits. 

Discard the dry peel into the recycling bin. Use the pulp mixture in your polish. 

Add the 

1/2 C. Almond Oil

1/2 C. Walnut Oil

Mix with a hand mixer to make creamy.

Store in a glass container; pour out onto a clothe and use on your wood furniture for a rich wood glow!

Note: I later changed my container because my sprayer clogged (Mixture too thick to spray) and this was plastic. At the time I made it, I didn't have a good glass container. Now I do. ;-) This wood table has been through a families abuse and the color now pops! The two smaller containers I sent out were plastic squirt travel bottles, meant for shampoo (glass would have been better, but it is what I had on hand).

Also included in gift boxes:

 Carpet Cleaner: 
(See grey lidded glass jars on the back left?)
8 oz. Baking Soda
15 drops of Clove
20 drops of Wild Orange
20 drops of Lavender
Fill four 4oz. glass jars with lid or perpetrated top (like with powder). Shake on carpet; let set one hour; vacuum rug.

Refreshing Mist Spray: 
(See blue and brown glass spray bottles in middle?)
4oz. Distilled Water
20 drops of Eucalyptus
16 drops of Lavender
10 drops of Lemongrass
Fill 4 oz. glass jar with spray top. (I made three 4 oz. jars by doing this three times).  

This image is of the Lotions, Eve Cream, Day Cream, and Shea Body Butter gifts:

Shea Butter Ingredients:

1 1/2 C. Shea Butter, 

15 drops Myrrh,

3 1/2 Tbl. Aloe Vera,

2 Tbl. Vitamin E and C.

15 drops Lavender,

15 drops Frankincense

7 drops Lemon Balm (besides, therapeutic benefits, also works as a bug repellent).

Fill three 4oz. glass jars.  

Sea Salt Scrub ingredients:

1 C. citrus peel pulp
1 C. Geranium Essence, (or substitute 20 drops of Geranium oil),
1 C. Sea Salt,
1/2 C. Epson Salt, 
2 Tbl. Vitamin E, 
10 drops Lavender,
10 drops Myrrh,
10 drops Frankincense, 
7 drops Lemon, 
7 drops Wild Orange
7 drops Rosemary (Optional)
This makes 3 1/2 C's. ~I filled four glass containers (Three recycled 1 C.'s & one 4oz. canning jar). 

Sore Muscle Cream ingredients and product:

20 drops Deep Blue, (or for a dbl recipe: 40 drops)

20 drops Eucalyptus, (or for a dbl recipe: 40 drops)

10 drops Peppermint, (or for a dbl recipe: 20 drops)

1/4 C. Solid Coconut Oil, (or for a double recipe: 1/2 C.)

3/4 C. Cocoa Butter (or for a double recipe: 1  1/2 C.) 
If you're using refined cocoa butter, it is already creamy for use. If you're using raw-hard-purest-form cocoa butter (which is awesome!), you will need to melt it. Black cocoa butter is the hardest I've used. 
Your options are: 1. In a dbl broiler (two pans, larger one has water in it) to slowly melt it. Or 2. Add boiling liquid to cocoa butter and it will melt. Coconut and Almond have a high smoke rate, meaning they can get to boiling without ruining them. But, don't take them past the point of a boil, or you can ruin their properties. ~Perhaps even making them contain free-radicals.
In general you need a ratio of 75% cocoa to 25% liquid in the form of water or oil (like Sweet Almond or Coconut Oil). 
After melting the cocoa butter, and mixing your coconut and cocoa butter together, you may need to refrigerate to make solid again before you can whip it up with a mixer to make an amazing creamy body butter. I pop mine into the freezer for 15-20 min.'s. ;0)
Add your essential oil drops to creamy mixture and stir in. Fill three glass containers with screw top lid (I recycle & use canning jars).(Or if you doubled the recipe, then six glass jars). ---I edited this because I had a question about how to use the cocoa butter from one person, and another question about how I got six jars out of the recipe. Giving away three, I kept three for myself ;0).--- 

For Night and Day Face Cream Recipes: 
http://lisakramerartlifestyle.blogspot.com/2016/05/diy-geranium-essence-for-lotions-day.html

For Eyelash Serum, Bug Off, Diffuser, Baby Wipes & more Recipes: http://lisakramerartlifestyle.blogspot.com/2016/03/essential-oil-recipes-ive-been-enjoying.html 

For Hair recipes:
http://lisakramerartlifestyle.blogspot.com/2011/01/home-remedies-to-treat-winter-hair.html

For more Cleaning recipes: 
http://lisakramerartlifestyle.blogspot.com/2011/01/clean-your-house-w-household-items.html
and
http://lisakramerartlifestyle.blogspot.com/2016/04/courtesy-rmos-i-stumbled-upon-their.html

The mixture of goodies before I sent the packages out: 

*Note: If you enlarge this picture and spy a gift that isn't included on this blog post, simply ask via comment or in person and I'll add the recipe to this post. I didn't put every recipe that is in the picture(sent as gifts), because I didn't want the post to be too long.

Autie Lisa's Lemonade

Auntie Lisa’s Lemonade was originally published in 1996, since then, I have added the idea of making syrup, instead of just combining the sugar with the water. Times and techniques change and this is considered the better way today. ;-) I also mix it up and do the variation recipe sometimes, and it was not in the 1996 publication either. ;-) Enjoy your yummy Ice Cold lemonade!

Ingredients:

5 lemons

5 limes, 5 oranges

3 Qts water

1 ½ -2 C’s white sugar

Directions:

Optional prep: Thinly slice one lemon, one lime, and one orange and place one slice in an ice-cube tray, filling with water and making ice cubes with the slices in them.

1.       Cook on stove-top the water to a boil, add sugar; making syrup. Stir until sugar is completely melted into the water.

2.       Take off stove and let cool.

The strainer will catch the seeds. 

3.       Meanwhile, squeeze (or juice machine) the juice from four of the lemons, 4 of the limes and 4 of the oranges; pour into a gallon container.

4.       If you did not make the citrus ice cubes, just thinly slice the remaining fruit and set aside for garnish.

5.       Add syrup to juice according to taste. (Some will like it sweeter and use all of the sugar syrup; others will like less of the sweet syrup, choosing a more tart taste).

6.       Serve on ice with the fruit slices froze into its ice cube trays. Or just serve on ice with the fruit slices added as a garnish into the lemonade mixture. Makes 13-16 servings, (about one gallon).

I grow my own citrus. This is an image of some limes (yes, those orange-sized green things are limes) that I waited to long to pick. They are huge, lol. Not sure if they will yield much juice, but we will see. ;-)

Variation: For a pulp-like juice, an option, instead of squeezing out the juice of the citrus, is to puree’ the entire fruit, peel and all; making a less clear juice. The peel adds a thickness that is worth trying to see which way you like your lemonade best. Try a half recipe of each version the first time to see which way you like it. The white part of the peel doesn't seem to make it bitter like we would assume. ;-) Note: Also a dash of salt will take away any possible bitterness to whichever recipe version you choose.

This recipe makes very pretty lemonade with all the colorful peels and fruit! Enjoy! ;0)

This time of year, there is nothing that says Autumn better than Mulled Cider.

Yummy..........................................................................................................................................................................................

Fall, it is now not too hot, and not too cold to enjoy some outdoor family FuN.

Taking a thermos of this hot beverage will add to the atmosphere of your outdoor enjoyment.

Ingredients: 

1/2 Gallon of fresh, unfiltered apple cider (or make homemade apple cider from smooched cooked apples from your local orchard) I grow Granny Smith and Gala trees, so your backyard tree works fine too. ;-)

2 large oranges (one just for decoration)

15 cloves

4 sticks of cinnamon

15 allspice berries

1 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg

7 pods of cardamon or (whole coriander seed)

1/4 C brown sugar

1 apple (optional)

Directions:

1. Pour the apple cider into a saucepan, cover, turn the stove-top to medium-high heat.

2. Use a vegetable peeler to peel one of the oranges, to also be used for for a garnish later. Insert half of the cloves into the peeled orange. (or just skip the fancy part and throw the cloves and a cut up orange, peel and all into the pot). Add the rest of the ingredients to the orange and pot. Keep covered and heat the mulled cider mixture to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes on low heat.

3. Use a fine mesh sieve to strain the hot mulled cider to catch the solid pieces of spices and orange.

4. If for adults, you can spike it if you like w: Bourbon, brandy or rum.

5. Serve hot. Add a cinnamon stick, orange peel, apple slice, or an orange wedge w several cloves poked into it for a garnish. (See picture of garnish).

Tonight's Dinner: Low carb, low fat, no sugar... Chicken Lettuce Wraps & Springtime Lemon salad.

Tonight I wanted to make something really easy, due to it being a school night and I started dinner later than usual. A friend had just requested a low carb recipe, so my mind was in that zone when I created tonight's dinner. You can use any recipe you have for tacos, or meals that you need to lay on pasta, rice, or potatoes, just eliminate the carb by replacing them with a lettuce leaf or a bed of field greens. Arugula is a personal favorite of mine; I just love the peppery flavor this green lettuce provides! Tonight, I just used Bibb lettuce because it makes a nice cup, kinda like a healthier taco shell. ;-)Walla, instant low carb meal! Hee...

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

Pam (olive oil)

1 Lb. ground chicken

Fresh Ground blk pepper to taste, about ¼ tea.

Salt to taste, about 1/8 tea.

1 C. vertically sliced red onion

Artichoke heart out of an artichoke. Or, buy jarred or canned (about ½ C.) 

Cut off bottom; Boil artichoke on stove (bottom in water --until done; about 20-25 min's):

 Cut up core of artichoke:

1/3 C. large cherry tomatoes or small tomatoes cut in half.

1 Tbl fresh oregano torn off stems.

1 Tbl fresh flat leaf parsley torn off stems.

10 garlic stuffed grn olives cut into about 4 slices. 

3 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded in bag if kids are eating; for adults you may want to cube fresh mozzarella cheese.

Squeeze juice out of one large juicy lemon.

Bibb lettuce leaves from one bunch.

Instructions:

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet; coat pan w Pam cooking spray. Add Onion and next 5 ingredients (through olives); cook about 3 min’s.

2. Pour out mixture in a bowl (set aside). Use skillet to cook ground chicken, salt and pepper chicken while in skillet.

3. Cook chicken until no pink is seen and it is crumbled; stirring around often.

4. Add bowl mixture to chicken and heat through (warm up the veggies).

5. Stir in cheese and add lemon juice.

6. Spoon ¼ C. chicken mixture into each of two lettuce leaves.

I just love light springtime salads and this one I literally just threw together; it's so easy! I will try to come up with measurements because I literally just made it up as I went along while posting a picture on FB, chatting with my husband, and tasting my friend’s homemade wine, lol. ;-)

Lemon and Cucumber Springtime Salad

Ingredients:

Garden cucumbers washed and cut lengthwise with a veggie peeler, cheese cutter, or sharp knife into very thin strips. (This will act as your pasta).

1 handful each of Green beans and Sugar snap peas, (about 1/2 C. of each).
Steam for 1 min and 45 sec in microwave.

Place in ice bath imediately to stop cooking.

1 Mango, cut into strips.
Just fyi when deciding whether to use a mango: They get all the sweet flavour from their carbohydrate content. There are many varieties of mangoes, and most of them have a high carbohydrate content. Since the carbohydrates are fruit based, its healthy complex carbohydrates- sucrose (as opposed to simple carbohydrates). Per 100 gms of mangos, there are about 14 gms of carbohydrates. There is almost no fat or protein content in mango. It provides you with more than your daily requirement of Vitamin A and Vitamin C. It also contains fiber, magnesium, iron and antioxidants. So, as you can see mango is overall a nutritious fruit, and like most fruits is low fat and cholesterol free!

The glycemic index of mango ranges between 41-60, so its low. So, mango does not have any significant effect in increase blood sugar levels, so it does not promote fat storage. Due to the medium glycemic index, mangoes are okay for diabetics.

1 Avocado, cut into strips.
In regard to deciding about an avocado: Carb-conscious dieters know that carbohydrates in the form of fiber are not counted as “Net Carbs” – the carbs that interfere with weight control. Half of a Haas avocado has 6 grams of Total Carbohydrate, but the 4.2 grams of fiber brings the Net Carbs down to just 1.7 grams. There are also 1.8 grams of protein, 153 calories and 15 grams of “good” fats. Plus, you’ll gain significant amounts of folate, vitamin A, vitamin E (more than any other fruit), potassium, iron, magnesium, copper, vitamin B6, and riboflavin.

Micro planed /grated lemon peel from one large lemon

Juice of the lemon.

Fresh coarsely ground blk pepper to taste.

Drizzle olive oil around on salad, about 3 circles around, maybe about 2 Tbl's.

Balsamic vinegar, two splashes, maybe about 1 Tbl.

Freshly sliced mint (optional, I did not add tonight, but thought of it... it had become dark outside-- I had already sent my husband out to get the oregano and parsley for the chicken dish, and did not want him to have to venture out again).

Assembly:

1. Place thinly sliced cucumbers into bowl.

2. Add Green beans, Sweet sugar snap peas, Mango, Avocado, and mint (if you use it).

Salad before dressing is added:

3. Drizzle oil on Salad.

4. Squeeze juice over salad, careful to catch seeds.

5. Ground blk pepper over salad, stir ingredients.

6. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over dish.

7. Sprinkle with lemon peel.

 Enjoy ;-)

What to do w Blueberries, Cherries & Strawberries? Make Jam!

I make jam with the blueberries that I manage to get, after the deer are through with my bushes, lol... The same goes for my strawberry plants, although for this shinny red fruit; it is the birds I have to watch.

In this jar I let each layer cool between applications. It has all three types of berries (Cherry, strawberry and blueberry) in three layers:

 I have planted apple, plum, and peach trees. I have yet to plant a cherry one, so I purchased a variety of three types of cherries from my grocery store to make this cherry jam.  

Recipe for Cherry Jam:

Cherry Jam Ingredients:
4 lbs pitted cherries
6 1/4 C's sugar
2 pouches pectin
1 teaspoon butter

Directions:
1. Sterilize jars:
Sterilize jars & lids in boiling water for 15 minutes.
I do the lids and jars separately; the jars take longer to come to a boil than the lids. It also makes it easier to grab the lids with the tongs.

Use jar lifting tongs to not burn your hands when putting jars into or when taking jars out of hot water. Place hot jars on paper towels to drain after you boil them.
2. Wash, drain and remove stem's and pit's of cherries. Rough chop.

I used my pitter to make it easier.

3. Combine Fruit and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. (A boil that does not stop when your stir it).
4. Add one teaspoon of butter, it will help to keep the foam down.

5. Add pectin quickly. Return to a full rolling boil for one minute.

Here is a pic of different kinds of pectin that you can find at the grocery:

 I strongly suggest using a kitchen timer as shown in the upper right corner of this picture:

6. Pour hot jam in "still warm" jars. Fill to within 1/4 of an inch from the  top of jar.

I use a funnel and a measuring cup for this:

7. Place lids on jars.

8. Place lids and screw on top. Replace filled jars into hot water bath with 1 to 2 inches of water covering the jars and boil for an additional 15 minutes. This will seal your jam so that you can keep it unrefrigerated until opening it; the shelf life is one year. After opened, it needs to be keep in the refrigerator.

Recipe for Strawberry Jam:

Strawberry Jam Ingredients:

4 C's of crushed strawberries

7 C's sugar

1 pouch of pectin

Directions:

1. Sterilize jars:
Sterilize jars & lids in boiling water for 15 minutes.

 Using Tongs to put the hot jars on paper towels to drain. (You must move fast because you want to keep the jars warm when you add the liquid jam).

 Lids are boiled separately to make it easier to grab them and they boil quicker than jars. I start jars first.

2. Wash, drain and remove stems from strawberries with a stem tool, or use a paring knife. Roughly chop. Then take a potato masher and mash one cup at a time.

3. Combine Fruit and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. (A boil that does not stop when your stir it).

4. Add one teaspoon of butter, it will help to keep the foam down.

Otherwise, skim off the foam with a large spoon. And be careful it does not boil over... can be messy if it does.

5. Add pectin quickly. Return to a full rolling boil for one minute.

6. Pour hot jam in "still warm" jars. Fill to within 1/4 of an inch from the top of jar.

I use a funnel and a measuring cup for this; adding jam quickly into warm jars:

7. Place lids on top of jars.

8. Place lids and screw on top. Replace filled jars into hot water bath with 1 to 2 inches of water covering the jars and boil for an additional 15 minutes.

This will seal your jam so that you can keep it unrefrigerated until opening it; the shelf life is one year. After opened, it needs to be keep in the refrigerator.

Recipe for Blueberry Jam:

Blueberry Jam Ingredients:
4 1/2 C's crushed blueberries
7 C's sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 pouch pectin
Directions:
1. Sterilize jars:
Sterilize jars & lids in boiling water for 15 minutes.
Using Tongs to put the hot jars on paper towels to drain. (You must move fast because you want to keep the jars warm when you add the liquid jam).

2. Wash, drain and discard stems. Roughly crush blueberries one cup at a time with potato masher.

3. Combine Fruit, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. (A boil that does not stop when your stir it).  

4. Add one teaspoon of butter, it will help to keep the foam down.

Otherwise, skim off the foam with a large spoon. And be careful it does not boil over... can be messy if it does.

5. Add pectin quickly. Return to a full rolling boil for one minute.

6. Pour hot jam in "still warm" jars. Fill to within 1/4 of an inch from the top of jar. I use a funnel and a measuring cup for this; adding jam quickly into warm jars.

7. Place lids on jars.

8. Place lids and screw on top. Replace filled jars into hot water bath with 1 to 2 inches of water covering the jars and boil for an additional 15 minutes.

This will seal your jam so that you can keep it unrefrigerated until opening it; the shelf life is one year. After opened, it needs to be keep in the refrigerator.

For Pickles see: http://lisakramerartlifestyle.blogspot.com/2011/07/using-cukes-from-garden-how-to-make.html