Supernatural Botanicals

If you have lots of wood surfaces in your home, you know that the costs of furniture polish has skyrocketed.  And when prices start to soar sky high, so does our creativity.  How can we do it cheaper, better, and to boot….all naturally?  While there are numerous “green” recipes for homemade furniture polish, they all have the two basic ingredients…oil and lemon.  And as luck would have it, it’s all you need.

To make homemade furniture polish, simply whisk together olive oil with an equal amount of lemon juice (you can also use vinegar, but lemons smell so much nicer).  Simply leave it in the bowl you mixed it in and dip a rag in, or put the liquid mixture in a spray bottle.   The bowl method is easier and less wasteful, as you can mix only the amount you’ll need for the days’ chores.

Use a dry rag, dip the rag into the oil mixture, and buff down all your wood surfaces.  It brings the wood back to life in an instant, and makes it appear brand new.  All natural, less expensive, and oh-so-crafty!    We love this!

Get rid of the end-of-winter skin with a facial mask you can whip up in your own kitchen.  Honey is ultra-moisturizing to the skin, and gently exfoliates the skin to create a fresh glow. 

It’s simple to make.  Simply mix 1 teaspoon of honey with 2 tablespoons of milk and heat it in the microwave for 15 seconds to melt the honey. Apply on to face, let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes, wash with warm water and apply a good moisturizer.  The honey will mosturize and soften the dry skin area.   Using it for an extensive time period can actually slightly whiten skin color.

With ingredients you probably have in your fridge and pantry, you can easily whip up a homemade facial mask for an at-home spa treatment.  Don’t throw overly-ripened bananas away, use them in this facial mask…great for dry skin!

Banana Face Mask for Dry Skin
Mash half cup of natural yogurt, 1 tablespoon of honey, and 1/4 ripe banana. Apply this pack on face and neck and leave for 10 minutes and then rinse off.

Once you’ve had homemade salsa, you’ll never go back to vinegar-tinged jarred salsa again.  This salsa recipe mimics that of Mexican restaurants in that it’s made with fresh ingredients and, of course, made without vinegar.  It’s super impressive to whip up some salsa on the fly for when friends or family stops by.  I make mine in a food processor, but you can also use a blender.  Tweak it to your liking, add more peppers.  This recipe makes a medium-hot salsa. 

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Ingredients: 

Huge handful of fresh cilantro.

1 clove of garlic.

3 small jalapenos. 

1 small onion. 

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Ingredients: 

2 14 oz cans of whole tomatoes.

2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles.

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Dice onion

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Slice jalapenos long ways

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Then dice jalapenos, seeds and all to give it a nice kick

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Dice 1 clove of garlic

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Combine canned tomatoes, onion, jalapenos and garlic in the food processor. 

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Add a teaspoon (or so) of sugar

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Add a teaspoon of ground cumin to give it a good “Mexican” flavor.  Then pulse the food processor about 4-6 times, depending on how chunky you like it.  Keep pulsing if you like your salsa a thinner consistency. 

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Here’s where it all comes together.  Cilantro.  Use a lot of it.  It gives it a good garden taste.  I use a huge handful, and then pulse for 4 more pulses. 

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And there you have homemade salsa.  I blend mine to a medium consistency.  Serve with chips, with tacos, steaks, etc.  Great to have in the fridge all week long to accompany your dinners, and exceptionally good for a low-calorie snack. 

I’ve been making banana bread since 5th grade.  That’s also the year I begged my mom to teach me how to do the laundry.  I was born with domestication in my bones, evidently.    I have literally been making this recipe since I was 10 years old, so it has deeply-rooted memories of home to me.

Home smells like freshly baked banana bread.  I’ve baked thousands of loaves of banana bread.  When you stop by my house for a cup of coffee, odds are, I’ll make a banana bread while we are gossiping around the kitchen island.

Banana Bread Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°.  With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4″ x 8″ inch loaf pan.  Bake for 1 hour.  Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

*Note:  There are so many variations you can add to this, such as walnuts, banana chunks, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, sliced almonds, coconut, dried cherries, etc., in addition to various icings and glazes on the top.  For a quick icing, purchase cake icing, and microwave in its container for 30 seconds (or until pourable), pour over loaf of banana bread.  Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top of icing.  I can tell you from experience, this brings ooohhhs and aaahhhhs.