The Easiest, Best, Yummiest Homemade Salsa!

I am making this all the time!  Good thing it's so easy!  Now, the hardest part about this recipe is telling you how I make it.  Cuz I'm really notorious for not measuring! :0)  Just a shake of this and a dab of that...that looks about right.  

So....I'm going to do my best to tell you how I make this.  As you can probably tell, it tastes different every time I make it.  But, it's always good.  

Unless we don't have any cilantro.  And, then it's only mediocre.  I mean, what is salsa without cilantro, right?

Salsa 

1 29 oz. can diced tomatoes (can't wait until I have my own canned tomatoes to use in this!)
1/2 large onion
2 T minced garlic
fresh cilantro
1/2 jalapeno or more depending on how hot you like it
2 tsp. black pepper
2 T Cumin
red pepper (a small shake)
white pepper (a large shake)
Turmeric (a medium shake) optional

Throw it all in the blender until blended well.  If we are eating it right away...I just let the blender go for a while as I cook the meal.  This helps it to blend and get the flavors popping!!  And, we keep the bag of chips (On the Border are the best!) close by and keep tasting it.  You know, that way we know if we need to keep tweaking it.  :0)

 It's always better/hotter the next day.

I did make this batch with the turmeric and that's why it has the orange-y look to it.  In case you don't know--turmeric is bright yellow.

Give it a try and let me know how you like it!  I'm expecting some comments about this one.  Everybody loves salsa, right?!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Dawn 

I linked up here: and here: and here:

Easy DIY Laundry Detergent and Bleach!

 

Wash Day Prayer from Mamarocks.com 

There are so many ways to make your own laundry detergent!  Wow!  Finding the one that works best for your family might just be a challenge for you--like it was for me.  

We have LOTS of laundry and I don't just mean a LOT--I mean really more like TONS!  Well, maybe I exaggerate, but between my husband's construction job (wintertime is the worst because he layers and layers), our Christmas tree farm, my 2 yr. old and 5 yr. old boys and our inside puppy and a new sandbox on the front porch...I am constantly doing  one.  more.  load.  

Well, ok...my daughter and I make messes and have lots of clothes, too.  Can't blame it all on the guys!

My kids love baths and that means lots of towels (because I clean the floor with them afterward, hehehe!). Between those towels and the kitchen dish cloth and towel that are constantly being used to clean the floor--oops! Yes, I caught that--into the hamper now...phew the laundry seems endless!  

We are looking into more ways to be chemical-free in this house.  Therefore, we are trying all kinds of DIY, make-your-own products.  It's been fun and time-consuming...but, we love it when we find something that works!   

After looking at so many recipes and wanting a liquid recipe that did not involve grating soap (lazy, I know....sigh) and that did not clump up horribly and make it impossible to use the container I have, finally, I came up with a recipe of my own.  

Here it is:

1 Gallon hot water

1/3 c. salt

1/4 c. washing soda

2/3 c. Liquid Castile Soap

1/3 c. Borax

20 drops Wild Orange Essential Oil

I heated the water on the stove, until just getting hot.  You'll need to figure out how hot you want it to be. :0)  I didn't want it to be boiling, but just hot enough to dissolve all the powders and keep anything from clumping.  

I added the salt, stirred.  

Added the rest of the ingredients one at a time and stirred.  

Then, let it cool.  

Once not too hot to the touch, I added the essential oil and poured into my container.  

I like my laundry detergent to have a healthy, hearty citrus smell....so, you might want to start with 10 drops of any EO you like to see if that's enough for you.

Use 1/4 - 1/2 cup for each load

I just print my label in a Microsoft Word Document and then tape it to the container with clear packing tape--to make it waterproof.  I try to keep the recipe of everything I make on the container that holds it.  Otherwise, when it's time to make more, I either can't find the recipe or it takes too long to find it and I get sidetracked doing 3 or 4 other things before I remember that I was going to make it. :0) (Anyone relate to that??)

Homemade Bleach

I found this recipe for Homemade Bleach and was so excited to give it a try.  Who knew you could also make homemade bleach?  I'd never read the ingredients on my bleach bottle.  Have you?

My bottle says (what I can read of it, anyway....the print is tinier than tiny, we're talking microscopic here!) sodium hydrochloride 6%, other ingredients 94%.  So, ummm...what are the other ingredients?  Why don't they have to put that on there?  ugh!  I only know that it's some powerful stuff!  Which probably means it is not good for us.  

I mixed up this recipe for one gallon.

2 cups hydrogen peroxide (3% solution)
2 tsp. citric acid
13 cups water
20 drops lemon essential oil

Use 1/2 - 1 cup per load of laundry.

In the original recipe she offers lemon juice as a substitute for citric acid.  I have the lemon juice, but decided I would rather this last longer and felt like the lemon juice might go bad. (?)  That's why I used citric acid.

I love this!  It's working wonders on our clothes and they smell so much better than when I used regular bleach!

Here is the shelf just over my washing machine.

I use plain vinegar in the rinse cycle (sometimes I add a few drops of EO).  I use dryer balls and aluminum foil in my dryer, too.  No more toxin-filled dryer sheets--yay! 

I love knowing my laundry is no longer full of TOXINS and is fresh smelling and CLEAN!

Have you gone toxin-free with your laundry, yet?  If so, comment and tell me what you do.  If not, what's keeping you from it?  Please share some of your recipes here, too.  

Thanks for stopping by!
Dawn

I linked up here:

Click the link and find some more great information from different blogs. You might even find a blog to follow!

and here:  Natural Living Link-Up

Stinky Feet No More!

UPDATE: August, 2013
 My daughter, Hannah has a terrible sweaty foot problem which leads to...you guessed it...really foul, putrid, rank, smelly feet--oh my!  

We have found the most wonderful of solutions!  We put baking soda, ReFresh essential oil blend and witch hazel in a spray bottle.  She sprays it in her shoes at night.  It's working...we don't have to burn her shoes every night any more...it was getting expensive.  Just kidding!  :0)

But seriously, it is working and the rest of us don't have heavenly smelling feet, either.  So, we're all trying it.  It works especially well for crocs!

My soon to be 2 yr. old, Judah wears his Crocs 24/7.  I'm not kidding...he really does sleep in them!  If one comes off in the night, he will wake up crying and desperately trying to find it.  Go figure!  I can't keep shoes on the rest of us and then I birth a child who won't be without them!  He even cries to change a diaper because he knows he will have to remove the crocs!

Here is the recipe I use:

Stinky Feet No More
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda  (We are no longer using baking soda)
20 drops ReFresh essential oil blend
top off with witch hazel

You need to shake this each time you use it.

This recipe is for a 2 oz. spray bottle.  We were having trouble with the mist sprayer, so switched to this bottle with the trigger sprayer and it's working much better.  It just happened to be a 4 oz. The baking soda tends to clog the sprayer and the blend works just as well without it.

These are the oils included in ReFresh:

6 drops Cilantro essential oil

8 drops Citronella essential oil

20 drops Lemon essential oil

31 drops White Fir essential oil

13 drops Lime essential oil

7 drops Melaleuca essential oil

Please comment below and share what you do for stinky feet.

I linked up to:  

http://www.day2dayjoys.com/p/healthy-2day-wednesdays.html



Dawn 

Dawn's Bug Beware!

I made my own insect repellant with essential oils.  So excited to give it a try.  We are about to go 'sploring on our 40 acres looking for a flock of turkeys we've been seeing around our house.  Sadly, we think our Australian Shepherd puppy, Middie must have scared them off the other day and they've not been back.  We need serious insect repellant around here.  The chiggers and ticks think they own the place.  We don't seem to have much trouble with mosquitos although they are around, because we have a pretty healthy bat population that keeps the mosquitos thinned out.  We love to sit at my in-love's and watch the bats fly just at dusk during the summertime.

I am not very good at taking pictures for ya'll. Thought I'd use my Modern Essentials book and the current book I'm skimming that I borrowed from the library (Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens--can you guess what's in our near future??) for the background.  Also used my new rolls of washi tape that I love!  Thanks for the idea Camp Wander

ok, back to the insect repellant :0)!

I found a recipe at two different places on the web.
Natural Homemade Mosquito Spray

and

DIY: Insect Repellant

So, I tweaked them and came up with my own.  Here it is:

Dawn's Bug Beware
12 oz Witch Hazel
15 drops citronella essential oil 
15 drops lemongrass essential oil
10 drops peppermint
10 drops tea tree (melaleuca)
10 drops eucalyptus

I put these into several different size glass spray bottles. 

2 - 4 oz. bottles    One for the front door and one for the back door.
1 - 2 oz. bottle      For the van
3 - 1 oz. bottles    For the car, truck, and my purse.

So there you have it.  We will be giving it a try and I will update in a few weeks or so and let you all know how it's working. 

All essential oils can be purchased at Spark Naturals.  Be sure to use code "sonshine" for a 10% discount.


I've shared and linked this post over at Sustain Create and Flow  for
Wildcrafting Wednesday  and Natural Living Link-up  Please stop by and check out some awesome posts by other bloggers.

Please leave a comment!  Thanks for stopping by!

P.S.  I did not name it until after I'd already made the labels...next time!!
Dawn