How to Make Your Own Healing Salve with Plantain-infused Olive and Coconut Oils

Whether you are looking for a safe salve for diaper rashes, or something to rub into working hands that could use a little TLC from all those winter-weather cracks, or an active playful child who has knees and elbows, this salve is for you. It's good for use on insect bites, scratches, rashes, nicks, cuts, dry skin, you name it - and even works as an earthy lip-balm.

How to Make Your own Lacto-Fermented Salsa

Salsa is widely loved for its ability to spice up - or simply add flavor to - any dish, Mexican-themed or not. Unfortunately, it is hard to find good salsa in regular markets. With the high pesticide content of peppers, tomatoes, and onions along with the genetic modification of tomatoes, what was once a healthful addition to the meal has now become a big question mark on the table. To really get the most bang for your buck, making homemade salsa from ingredients you know and trust is always your best bet. While ingredients can be combined into a spicy concoction and then canned to preserve them, many are coming around to fermentation as a means of making delicious, organic salsa. Here's a recipe you can use to make your own fermented salsa.

Make Your Own Coffee and Coconut Oil Exfoliating Scrubs

Coffee beans aren’t only invigorating as a beverage, they’re also revitalizing when used as a body scrub! Repurposed coffee grounds could become the best part of your morning routine. Trust me, once you try this you’ll have no trouble at all rousing yourself out of bed in the morning. Imagine stepping into a steaming hot shower, and literally scrubbing away the sleep and slumber with fragrant ground coffee, silky coconut oil, and pure essential oils! You’ll leave the shower feeling so energized, and with that lovely, natural glow – people will ask where you’re hiding the fountain of youth! Consider the benefits of improved circulation, smooth + hydrated skin, and positively looking like you woke up ready to take on the world with that fresh, bright face of yours.

How to Preserve Fresh Herbs in Coconut Oil

It’s springtime again, and everything is growing like it should. Our gardens are bursting with rosemary, basil, dill, oregano and all manner of fresh, bold, aromatic and savory herbs. It’s undeniably great to have an abundant herb garden at your fingertips, but what if you have more herbs ready for harvest than you are ready to use? Nothing need be lost, and with a little bit of coconut oil, an ice cube tray and a freezer, you can save your lovely bouquet of herbs for later, but still enjoy the same fresh flavor you would expect the morning you picked them.

How To Season A Stainless Steel Pan with Coconut Oil To Create A Non Stick Surface

I love cooking on stainless steel pans, but it took some practice and some tips and tricks to get the hang of using these wonderful pans. In this video I showed you how to preheat your pan and then I added some coconut oil followed by adding my egg mixture and demonstrated how to cook your eggs in a stainless steel pan without having them stick all over the pan.

Creating an Active Sourdough Starter From Two Simple Ingredients

Creating and keeping a sourdough starter can seem like an intimidating task to the uninitiated. It is quite amazing how this slurry of flour and water leavens and ferments bread. Despite its mysterious abilities, this age-old souring and leavening agent is surprisingly simple to make. There are many ways to create a sourdough starter. Indeed, you can find starter recipes that include fruit juice, potatoes and their cooking water, and commercial yeast online. All of these are viable options for leavening your bread with a homemade sourdough starter. For simplicity’s sake, however, this article will focus on a sourdough starter created simply with flour and water.

Cleaning Copper Pots with Coconut Oil

Copper instantly responds to changes in temperature and this thermal conductivity ensures an even distribution of heat, so everything gets cooked consistently and evenly. The downside is that copper requires more TLC than standard stainless steel. This can be easily prevented by regularly using my very own copper cleaner.

How to Make Your Own Herbal Coconut Oil Salve

No home-based herbal medicine cabinet is complete without an herbal salve. These salves can be used for a range of maladies including scratches, cuts, scrapes, burns, insect bites, and more. Having a jar or container of this at the ready is a quick way to transfer the healing properties of dried herbs to your loved ones.

Easy Homemade Coconut Oil Chocolate Recipes

Coconut oil makes fantastic homemade chocolate. With just a few extra ingredients, coconut oil will morph into an impressively smooth, rich dark chocolate that won’t require a chocolate-making class to learn. The easiest coconut oil chocolates require no cooking and generally all the ingredients are blended together in one easy step.

Homemade Coconut Oil Deodorant Recipe with Essential Oils

Deodorants can be among the most toxic skin care products on the market. Commercial deodorants often contain toxic ingredients such as aluminum and parabens. Parabens are found in 99 percent of breast cancer tissues, for example. You can make your own non-toxic deodorant with virgin coconut oil and essential oils with my recipe below. This recipe is designed to fill a wide-mouth glass jar, so that you can use your fingers to apply. Many commercial deodorants are "roll-ons," which means you are reapplying toxins from your sweat back into your armpits each time you use it. With the paste-like consistency of this recipe, you can use your clean fingers to apply under each arm. By using virgin coconut oil and pure essential oils, you are putting healthy antioxidants and plant extracts into your skin.

Non-Toxic Household Cleaner Recipes You can Make at Home with Essential Oils

Your household cleaners could be some of the most dangerous products in your home. Most commercial household cleaners contain toxic chemicals that can harm or even kill you. Learn how to make inexpensive non-toxic household cleaners yourself at home with powerful essential oils and other simple ingredients with these six recipes.

Homemade Coconut Oil Sunscreen Recipe

Most commercial sunscreens contain a wide variety of toxic ingredients. Make your own sunscreen at home using safe oils, including coconut oil.

Peppermint Whipped Body Butter with Coconut Oil Recipe

by Katie
WellnessMama.com 

I really enjoy giving homemade, natural gifts, and coconut oil is a wonderful ingredient in most homemade creations. Homemade Lotion Bars are a favorite gift idea because they are so versatile and can be made to suit any skin type or need.

My most recent creation is another gift favorite: Peppermint Whipped Body Butter!

It has many of […]

Homemade Coconut Oil Lip Balms

by KerryAnn Foster
Cooking Traditional Foods
Before I made the switch to natural body care products, I lived with a tube of lip balm always within reach.  Despite constant application, my lips were always dry.  Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was chronically dehydrated and eating too little fat.  Both your fluid and your fat intake […]

Home-made Coconut Oil Deodorant

by KerryAnn Foster
Cooking Traditional Foods
Of all of the body products I have made at home, coconut oil deodorant has made me the happiest. I was thrilled to be able to get away from the paraben and aluminum-filled commercial deodorants but still find something that works well. I’ve used this deodorant and it has worked wonderfully well for everything except […]

Homemade Coconut Lotion Bars

Making your own coconut oil skin care products at home is simple with this easy recipe. These coconut oil lotion bars are made with natural, non-toxic ingredients and are great for the whole family. They also make excellent gifts, so make some extra and share the coconut oil goodness!