Tag: Recipes

Homemade Chapstick

Posted on by keepinthesunlightblog@gmail.com

I’ve been making this homemade chapstick for years, and I LOVE it!  It’s natural, smooth, easy to make, and affordable.  AND you get to reuse chapstick containers!

There are many, many recipes for homemade chapsticks online if you start searching.  You can easily reuse a chapstick container you’ve already used, or you can buy empty ones.  I’ve purchased them at Natural Grocers in the past, but once you have some, they’re great to reuse.  I usually like to put a label on them with the date I made them, just so I know.  I don’t make too many at once, since it doesn’t have the same preservative chemicals that store-bought ones have.

This recipe makes four tubes, but you can easily double it, halve it, etc.  I also love that you could make these as gifts, especially if you just need something small for a bunch of people.  Or, you could create a gift basket with homemade body scrub, homemade lotion, etc. and include this as part of a bundle of gifts.

I’ve searched and searched the Internet to give a link and credit to this recipe, as I really dislike sharing recipes that aren’t mine.  But the only credit I found when I wrote this down years and years ago was Yahoo.com, which is no help, and I cannot find this anywhere.  I’ll post this modified version here with huge apologies to whoever wrote the original.  But, as I said there are many other recipes out there.

The beeswax takes a bit of patience when it’s melting, and cleanup can be a bit greasy, but it’s really super simple to make these.  I find beeswax at Natural Grocers or local Farmer’s markets, but it seems beeswax is much easier to find than it once was.

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Modified recipe:

Orange Lip Balm

Melt together:

8 tsp. sunflower oil or almond oil

2 tsp. (.3 oz or so) or beeswax

Remove from heat.  Then add:

1 tsp honey

6 drops orange essential oil (or your choice)

Stir well.  Pour while still liquid into 4 chapstick containers

(If you don’t have chapstick container, you can pour into a small container such as an Altoid tin and use as a balm.)

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Hope you enjoy!

Blackberry Crumble

Posted on by keepinthesunlightblog@gmail.com

Recipe

I remember our first summer after moving to our new state and realizing that with it brought treasure troves of blackberries!  I’d never had an especial interest in blackberries; I felt quite indifferent about them.  But seeing these gorgeous berries EVERYwhere was incredible.  Some people are cynical about these summer ‘intruders,’ rolling their eyes about the nuisance.  But, well probably because they aren’t taking over our own space, we love them!  We’ve found our favorite parks and hikes to collect them, and it’s become a summer tradition.

Yes, they take some work.  Buying blackberries in a bag from the frozen section or picking them up at a Farmers’ Market would be a far easier option, but collecting them ourselves on a summer outing makes the work and the reward are that much sweeter.  (Granted, my husband does the majority of the picking.  Those vines are PRICKLY, and the kids lose their motivation partway through.  And they would rather eat on the spot than collect anyway, which is all part of the fun; it just doesn’t leave us much for baking a treat.)  We usually have a couple reusable to-go containers in the car anyway, which helps for impromptu finds, but today we realized a reusable water bottle is even more convenient for carrying around while collecting berries.  It’s a great activity to get us out of the house, connect us in a common goal, and remind us all of the gifts of Nature.

I am sure there are many lovely recipes out there; this is the simplest of concepts.  But here is the one we used this year.  I substituted with gluten-free flour and it’s still VERY delicious.  We did not have 6 cups of blackberries (we’re not that patient),  so I did 1/3 of what was needed to mix with the berries.  As for the crumble, I only halved it, cuz, well, it’s awesome.  Next time, I’d use a little less butter, as the crumble was more clumpy and less scatter-y than I would have liked (if that even makes sense).  Vanilla ice cream is a beautiful compliment to this summer treat.  Enjoy!

(Blast!  I meant to get a photo, but we always gobble this up too quickly.)

Quiche – Gluten-Free

Posted on by keepinthesunlightblog@gmail.com

Recipe

I’ve been gluten-free for about 7 months.  And while I do feel more energy and less brain fog, I do still struggle sometimes with what exactly to eat.  I finally got some gluten-free cookbooks from the library, which I’ve been slowly making my way through.  But even when I don’t use the recipes from these cookbooks, they remind me that there really are a lot of GF possibilities.

This quiche is from the Internet, but I used the GF flour blend from Cooking for Your Gluten-Free Teen.  I loved the simplicity of the crust on this recipe, since most of the others I had found involved lengthy refrigerator times.  Maybe they turn out a little better (?), but I was perfectly happy with this recipe.  More than happy.  The whole family loved it, even the one who doesn’t usually like to try new foods.  Also, I didn’t even roll out the crust (shhh!).  I simply pushed it into the pan and spread it around to fill all the spots.  Again, maybe it would be slightly better with a rolled-out crust, but a made quiche is far better than one that seems like too much hassle.

For fillers, I used some leftover bacon, deli ham (which I cooked briefly first), cooked onions, cheese (of course), and green olives.  Wow!  I want to make bunches of these and freeze them.  I want to bring them on one-night trips so we have an easy, affordable dinner.  I love it!   With every slice I served, I imagined the high cost of getting such a decadent gluten-free, organic quiche at any food establishment.  And while we will still support our local, awesome, conscious food places when we can, it sure is nice to have our own homemade version as well!

A Different Sort of Tiramisu

Posted on by keepinthesunlightblog@gmail.com

Recipe

I don’t really like Tiramisu.  <Gasp!  What?  Say it isn’t so!>  I remember when it was all the rage in the late 80s/early 90s, and I felt almost embarrassed to admit my dislike for this popular dessert.  Perhaps I should give it another Green-Eggs-and-Ham try sometime, but I’ve just never felt inclined.

THIS recipe does not remind me of traditional tiramisu much at all.  Perhaps some would even be appalled at its comparison.  But this lovely gluten-free treat is crazy yummy.  I’ve only made it twice – once on New Year’s (a great new tradition, I think) and once on the day we celebrate the Italian branch of our family.  The trick I’ve learned is not to eat it right away –Torture, I know.  But, I don’t find it as good when it’s fresh, even after it’s done the necessary cooling time.  Both times I almost gave up on it.  But once it’s sat in the fridge for awhile….Oh, Wowza!  Dangerously delicious.  I highly recommend these tiramisu bars as a celebratory treat!

(I used espresso powder from King Arthur for the coffee bit.)

Update:
This is now a New Year’s tradition for us, and it is so wonderful to look forward to!!