Homemade Chemical-free Toothpaste

So my mom bought me a "make your own natural toothpaste" kit for Christmas. I put it all together tonight. I'm guessing at the measurements because they were all pre-measured in the kit, but these are the ingredients I used. The last three I added.

1/2c bentonite clay
3 cinnamon sticks (about 2.5"ea.)
1T dried stevia leaf
2T whole cloves
1t Celtic sea salt
2t baking soda

(2 packets xylitol sweetener, 3T activated charcoal powder, and one whole nutmeg)

I simmered the cinnamon, cloves, stevia, and nutmeg in 1 1/2c of water in a saucepan for 30 minutes. Then I strained them into a glass and added the salt, baking powder, and xylitol. I added the charcoal to the clay and then mixed in the liquid till I got a paste.

I currently store it in a glass container in a drawer (away from light) and add it to my toothbrush with a wooden chopstick so as to be sanitary.

Apparently, the clay is super absorbent and shouldn't be stored in plastic or metal as it can absorb the chemicals and heavy metals. I'm a little worried because my toothbrush bristles are plastic...but I figure that at least it's better than using fluoride toothpaste...? Maybe? Hopefully? Am I gonna die?.....Moving on....

According to the instructions that came with my kit, cinnamon and cloves are anti-bacterial (so is nutmeg, which is why I added it). Stevia is a natural and non-cavity forming sweetener (so is xylitol, which is why I added it too...plus, it's supposed to strengthen enamel from what I've read). The clay absorbs bacteria and scrubs gunk off your teeth (so does charcoal, plus it's supposed to whiten somehow...even though it's black...?).

I know I sound confused in this post, but I'm actually really excited to use it because my gums have been receding for the past 20 or so years and maybe this will help. I've used it a couple of times so far and it feels and tastes pretty good.

I'll have to post an update at some point. Will this toothpaste solve all my paranoid health concerns or will it aid and abet my teeth rotting out of my head? Stay tuned for the answer!

The End!

Tikka Masala with Tons of Vegetables and Optional Chicken

My friend, Stephanie Blok, asked me for this recipe, so I figured I'd throw it up here. I actually stole and modified the ingredients from the recipe from here: http://mongoliankitchen.com/vegetable-tikka-masala/ and...totally didn't follow the directions.

If you are trying to limit meat in your diet, the beans and other ingredients still give you plenty of protein, but you can add chicken for taste if you so desire.

The main idea for this recipe was to clear out some space in my freezer, so...some of these ingredients aren't really in Indian recipes, but...anyways, it tastes just like it's from an Indian restaurant, so there!

Ingredients:

    Spices: (If you don't have all these, play around.)
1. 1 tsp ginger powder
2. 2 tsp curry powder
3. 2 tsp cardamom
4. 1/2 a dried chili
5. 1/2 tsp cinnamon
6. 1 tsp garam masala
7. 1/2 tsp turmeric
8. 2 tsp tandoori spice
9. 1 tsp chili powder
10. 1 tsp coriander

    Vegetables and Meat (optional)
1. 2 handfuls of frozen onion
2. 2 medium sweet potatoes (chopped to 1")
3. 1 bag of dried beans (I used split peas, but I bet lentils would be awesome)
4. 1 handful of frozen colored peppers
5. coconut shavings (add to your taste)
6. asparagus (clearing the freezer)
7. chicken cut into 1" pieces (Optional. I just had to get rid of some chicken in my freezer)

     Sauce
1. 2 cups frozen pumpkin (or a can of pumpkin, but not pumpkin pie filling)
2. 1 can of chopped tomatoes (look for low sodium)
3. 2 cups of frozen butternut squash (you don't have to have this, I just needed to...you guessed it!...clear out the freezer)
3. 4 cloves of garlic


Directions:

(If you don't have a pressure cooker, soak the beans over night.)

Put the sauce ingredients in a blender and puree them. Either in the bottom of a pressure cooker or in a sauce pan, saute the vegetable ingredients (except the dried beans). Put both the sauteed ingredients, the beans, and the sauce into a pressure cooker or a slow cooker. Bring to a boil and add the spices. If you are doing a pressure cooker, you will have to take some of the mixture out so the cooker has room to come to pressure. In a pressure cooker, let it all cook under pressure for five minutes and let the pressure come off naturally. This will assure the beans are nicely cooked. If you are cooking in a slow cooker, let it all cook for a few hours--turn the heat down to medium after the first hour or so. Serve it over rice. (I made saffron rice, but you don't have to if you don't want.) It serves about a million people. I had to, ironically, freeze half of it.

It tastes sooooo good! I wish I'd made naan.

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Make Your Own Blush

Making blush is as easy as making your own face powder. You start with any organic red powder and add cornstarch till it matches the blush of your skin. (I also added pearl powder by smashing up a pearl and putting it in!)

If you are more olive-toned (look best in off-white), add cinnamon, red tea powder, or powder that is cinnamon-colored.

If you are more blueish-toned (look best in white), add berry or beet powder or powder that is blueish pink.

Of course, you can mix blue tones with yellow tones if your tones are mixed.

Only make a little at a time and wash your brushes frequently as there are no preservatives in this recipe. Don't be scared by this advice! At least you are not putting harsh chemicals on your face! Some blogs say to add baking powder to help save it, but other blogs said the baking powder was too harsh on skin. I made the little travel-sized pot above with just cornstarch and beet juice powder, and it lasted me over a month without any problems.

For a complete list of makeup DIY, go here.

Make Your Own Anti-Aging Shimmery Face Powder

I thought making face powder would be something esoteric and mysterious, but as it turns out, you only need two ingredients: corn starch and cocoa powder. If you are light skinned, start with corn starch and add cocoa till you get your color. If you are dark skinned, start with cocoa and add corn starch.

The End.

However, if you want the advantage of anti-aging and shimmer, add these ingredients: cinnamon, gingko biloba (all you do is open a supplement pill and dump it in), and pearl powder. You can actually use any spice/plant powder that is tannish/brownish/shiny and is skin-beneficial, but I used these three because of their cell-renewal and antioxidant properties, and because I already had them at my house. It's like giving yourself a non-pore-clogging, sun-protecting, day-long facial!



You can buy pearl powder from eBay. It's under $10 for 100g (which is going to last you several years), or you can do what I did: Wrap a pearl in tin foil. . .and HIT IT WITH A HAMMER!

I put some of the pearl powder in my face powder, some in my eye shadow, and some in my blush. I got the idea for pearl powder because some of my BB cream from South Korea has pearl powder in it, and I love it. Pearls are organic, right? It makes your skin really shimmery.

Fun Facts and Tips:

1. Pearl powder has long been heralded in Eastern medicine as an anti-aging, sun-blocking protectant to skin. Some people even take it internally as a supplement.

2. As I said in the makeup homepage, make sure to make only a small amount at a time and clean your brushes very regularly. You can prolong the life of your powder by adding baking soda, but that can be harsh if you have sensitive skin. It's up to you! I made the small jar in the first picture with no baking soda, and that lasted a month with no problems.

3. Corn starch is a super strong oil absorber (the main ingredient in "CornSilk" powder, in fact) and cocoa is a great antioxidant and natural sun protectant. Using these two ingredients alone sets my makeup all day without constant dabbing--even better than my store-bought mineral powder!

4. You can make a small jar for about a penny, and you can be sure it fits your skin tone!

5. Here's the one drawback: If your face gets wet or sweaty, the cocoa in the powder will turn brown. Therefore, if you want to make a cheaper version of powder that you can work-out in, I suggest buying some regular powder or bronzer makeup a few shades darker than your skin tone and adding corn starch to it to stretch the formula out. It's not all-natural, but it is a far cheaper method of doing makeup.

For a complete list of make up DIY, go here.