Dairy Free (Vegan*) Ranch Dressing Homemade

Dairy Free (Vegan*) Ranch Dressing Homemade

Dairy Free (Vegan*) Ranch Dressing Homemade

What 

• 1/4 cup almond milk (or more for desired consistency)
• 1/2 cup mayo (or Vegan mayo*)
• 1 teaspoon fresh dill or 2 teaspoon dried dill (or to taste)
• 1 crushed garlic clove or 1 teaspoon garlic powder 
• Some chopped fresh scallions / chives or 1/2 teaspoon onion powder  
• A pinch of Himalayan salt and some pepper   

How to

1. Whisk Whisk  Whisk all ingredients together until everything is well combined
2. It can last a week or more. Store in fridge in air tight container
   

You will never believe what I did with a tomato!

What to do with extra tomatoes? 

You will never believe what I did with a tomato! 

 Tomato Facials!

There are a lot of classics out there of ways you eat these delicious fruits. If you have never grown your own tomato it might be hard to classify them as fruit in your brain. But once you get that taste.... oh so very good. I digress... this is not about eating tomatoes. No not this time. This time I am WEARING my tomato. You see? 

I was so incredibly excited to see a post on using a tomato as a facial cleaner. Tomato facials? I actually had run out of a face wash that I am glad to be done with. I am trying to use up all of my "old me" products before buying replacements. Old me did not read ingredients on soaps etc. I knew how to do it for food but did not step into the world of soap yet.  I like the idea of all these face masks too you see in the world but not only are the ingredients suspect (just google face mask lawsuits) but then there is the waste aspect. I am trying to reduce waste anywhere I can. Reduce toxins. Reduce pores! So at home facials I knew I could do. I was already doing at home hair masks. 

Can you believe my joy when I saw TOMATO FACIALS. I HAVE TOMATOES! Like too many. Huge harvest before a frost. Which also means really tiny cherry size tomatoes even though they are supposed to get to full fist or larger size. Also I have a lot of tomatoes that are getting a little too ripe to use in all recipes and those are great for tomato facials too! So all of these green tomatoes will ripen in the kitchen. The redder the tomato the better to use for this project.

Look, I am not a doctor. And I can not guarantee any results or reactions. However, how often have you just grabbed whatever from the store trusting only the marketing layer without reading the ingredients. My 15 mins were up mins ago. I let it go a little long but it is still good. My skin is tight and glowing. It makes me feel cleaner than any facial soap I have ever used. My acne feels calmed. I know you know what I mean. There is definitely a difference between angry acne and calmed acne.  

Recipe: 

Tomato (ripened - overripe)

Face (don't forget the neck. I also do top of chest too for those little bumps)

Cut in half. Rub all over face neck and problem areas. I kept layering on the juice rubbing it all in.

Let stand / sit fo 15 Mins of your time

Rinse off with a Cool or Warm Wet Washcloth 

Benefits of a tomato facial as per google:

tomato facials Reduce oil

tomato facials Act as an astringent

tomato facials Reduce pores and black heads

tomato facials Reduce sun burn

tomato facials Reduce so much more

Why does this tomato facial work? 

Tomatoes are loaded with so many good natural things. Tomatos are  a great source of vitamin C, potassium, folate, and vitamin K. Other plant compounds: 

• "Lycopene. A red pigment and antioxidant, lycopene has been extensively studied for its beneficial health effects (11Trusted Source).
• Beta carotene. An antioxidant that often gives foods a yellow or orange hue, beta carotene is converted into vitamin A in your body.
• Naringenin. Found in tomato skin, this flavonoid has been shown to decrease inflammation and protect against various diseases in mice (12Trusted Source).
• Chlorogenic acid. A powerful antioxidant compound, chlorogenic acid may lower blood pressure in people with elevated levels (13Trusted Source, 14Trusted Source)."

Tomato facials for the win! Catch you on the tomato side.

Apple Cider Vinager as conditioner for your hair

APPLE CIDER VINEAGER RINSE

Look I am not even going to apologize for yelling. I am that excited about it. I CAN NOT STOP TOUCHING MY HAIR. I also have been making others touch my hair. Please touch my hair.

FULL ok I can be done yelling Disclosure

My hair has not seen a "traditional" conditioner in years. Neither a super well known  shampoo. I try to only wash it once a week and if I do only the roots. My hair almost reaches my butt. I understand that the shorter your hair is and the different types of hair all need their own style of maintenance. I am sharing what works for me and if you have a similar situation it may work for you. When my products run out (on anything in the home) I try to ask myself. What is it that I am using and do I need to be using it or can we try something else. It is important to get out of the habit of just refilling the thing you used up without asking these questions. For me I use a certain brand of body wash shampoo just for washing my hair. I like how it makes my roots feel and love the Orange Cream smell. Then nothing. No conditioner.

I have tried a mayo wrap with a brand I was trying to use up. It was good. It made me feel like I did a thing with things I already had in my home and that was loverly (r on purpose...say it like in My Fair Lady).  The beauty of that recipe was it was no recipe. Just put mayo on hair, leave under a hair cap (plastic bag) and eventually rinse out. It was good.

But (gosh I want to yell with excitement) this was GREAT. Do you have Apple Cider Vinegar? Water? A thing to put them in ? I use an old Shampoo or soap bottle ( too nice to throw away) from my Costco size product (less waste, better value).  This is the kind that has that industrial size hand pump on it (think the size of coffee shop flavor pump for your ... coffee).  I have seen people use spray bottles. I am hear to tell you I think that use of those is over rated and a lot of work. But to you.


Recipe.
Make sure the Apple Cider Vinegar is shaken up. If it is the good real stuff there will be sediment on the bottom.

3 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
1 cup water

Repeat a few times if you want a larger batch to live in your shower.  (I did three)

Wash hair as usual. Pump directly into hair soaking it. Leave in Apple cider vinegar whilst continuing to wash thyself. Rinse.

When hair is dry.... touch repeatedly.

Donate books to jail.

Are you in flux of books and have decided to "Tidy Up" and find that you just do not need these books but still have love for them and want them to find a good home? Here are a few different way you can donate your books to jail.

https://www.swopbehindbars.org/books-in-jail/



If you are thinking about the reference books you no longer need or never used you would be surprised that they are in high need! Here are some other book types that top the list for needed most in jails etc.

https://prisonbookprogram.org/donatesection/donate-books/top-book-requests/

Dolly Parton has an Imagininate Library free for kids. Free books by mail for kids

Dolly Parton has an Imagininate Library free for kids. Free books by mail for kids compliments of Dolly.


https://imaginationlibrary.com/

Summer time Free Audio books for teens to keep (and adults too!)

Hello everyone!
Free Audio books! FREE AUDIOBOOKS! Who does not love free!? If you know me you know it is a very favorite way to be! Free!

 Today is exciting because it is only 5 days away from the first installment of 2 FREE AUDIOBOOKS to keep that are geared towards teens. Let us be honest. A guilty pleasure of my is YA (Young Adult) novels. These are a great treat that you get to keep courtesty of Sync. They have helped expand my audio books beyond what I typically am geared towards and allow me a wider range information that expand my horizons.

SYNC is a free summer audiobook program for teens. Returning April 25, 2019, SYNC will give away two complete audiobook downloads a week - pairs of high interest titles, based on weekly themes. Sign up for email or text alerts and be first to know when new titles are available to download at www.audiobooksync.com.

Here are Sound Clips of the 2019 titles  Soundcloud Playlist

Saving basil seeds.

How to save basil seeds. Homesteading in suburbia from seed to seed. Basil start to finish. Most people take a leaf here and there from their basil. If they are ambitious pesto is in the cards. But the relationship ends there.

This is year 4 of growing basil. Each year I have gotten more and more involved with the plant itself. Here is what I've learned. 

When your basil goes to flower, pinch it off. You want the resources of the plant to go into making new leaves not seeds and flowers. They will keep producing flowers and I just to through and pick them all again. 

This promotes healthy growth.

When it flowers, some people loose interest in the plant at this point. Either letting it go calling it done or even ::gasp:: tossing the whole plant ! 

I'll admit I was tossing the flowers and seeds before. This year I'm really into drying herbs and saving seeds. 

Here's the trick. Dry everything for at least a week. It might have gone to two. Then just roll the bits you saved in your fingers. It crushes up the driers flower bits and the seeds come out! There are typically 4 seeds per pod and the pods looks like this on their own. 

You get really good at identifying the seed pods. They look like this. Typically found on the stem below the flowers (which are also edible) ! 

Fully dried and ready to store for next year ! I use an airtight little tiny jar then envelope them to protect from light deterioration. Handy to label year and plant origin! 

Any leaves that dried are saved for winter use and soups. All the crushed up basil bits that came from harvesting seeds just went into the dried jar too for later use! Great flavor!

It's obviously a time consuming and not at all "cost effecient" to the rich mans eyes. But not only is it free to save seeds but some day someone might control all the worlds seeds and have all of the fruit and produce "trademarked" and breed to have seeds that will not produce fruit. Even if that was not a worry, why not stockpile and ensure that you yourself have independence and a different gratitude for the food you create! 

What are your favorite things to do with basil ?