Homemade Dishwasher Tablets

I ran out of dishwasher detergent and I don't need anything from the store so I decided after some years' break to make my own. I was inspired by this recipe a friend shared with me recently. I didn't want to use the lemon drink mix, and I am not very good at following recipes, I always change them a little (although I like to think of it as a skill it really is more of a handicap and changing recipes or not measuring because "real cooks don't measure" etc. doesn't always end up well...) so I came up with this recipe:


Homemade Lemon Scented Dishwasher Detergent Tablets

1 cup washing soda (if you don't have washing soda, no need to run into the store, although they have it at laundry aisles, just follow the instructions below how to MAKE some from baking soda!)
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup citric acid
1/2 cup salt
(no need to use your fancy sea salts or pink Himalayan salts here, just the refined cheap table salt will do)
20 drops lemon essential oil
1 cup water

1. Make your washing soda from baking soda if you don't have any: Heat baking soda for 30 minutes in an oven proof dish in 400F and your baking soda magically becomes washing soda! This has something to do with chemistry, NaHCO3 becoming Na2CO3, but let's not go there. You can google it if you want to know more.
2. After the newly made washing soda has cooled down, mix in all the other ingredients. If you prefer powder form, just leave the water out and use as is.
3. Mix well, let it do its fizzing (I kept thinking that it could be useful for the dishwashing if the fizzing happened in the washer?) and form into little balls and let dry. You can also press the mixture in ice cube trays. I only had heart shaped ice cube molds and lego shaped molds so that's what I got... Fun and fancy.

TIP: Use vinegar instead of rinse aid.

Aren't they cute?

Follow this link to see my other nontoxic and homemade detergents recipes (there is another dishwasher detergent recipe too).

Carrot Top Pesto And 10 Other Ways To Use Carrot Tops

Carrots store best with their tops removed so remove
 them as soon as you bring them home or harvest them.

Not throwing away food is one of my pet peeves. A new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report found out that 30% of the food produced in the United States is wasted every single day. That is a lot. Big part of it is of course the stores and restaurants, not all households throw away a third of their food but still. I have nearly zero tolerance for throwing away food. I have noticed that when not buying bread and milk and junk foods, we throw very little food away. The vegetables rarely go bad if stored right. Some vegetables like roots and cabbage and hard shelled squashes and pumpkins last for a very long time. Fermented, they last even longer. The meat, stored properly (ours is most often in the freezer), does not have to go bad. Overripe fruit I freeze for smoothies or bake, all others we eat. I use all parts of vegetables usually and I boil leftover bones, chicken legs, necks, fish heads and carcasses etc. to nourishing broth.

I am always looking for more ways to utilize all parts of our food sources. I was asked recently how to use the carrot tops so I thought I'd collect ideas in a post. I first heard about utilizing the carrot tops when someone told me that in Finland - where I used to sell vegetables and berries and chantarelles at a small town farmers market - Chinese immigrants come to collect the carrot tops the sellers throw away as the customers do not want them in their baskets. Wow, so you can eat them too. here are five ways to utilize them and lastly the recipe of a carrot top pesto.

Oh and before you bring up the myth about carrot tops being toxic, check out this excellent post busting the myth.

1. Mix them in your sauteed greens

Chop greens like chard, kale, collard, mustard greens or turnip greens and mix some carrot tops in the mix. Sautee in a pan in broth.

2. Use them instead of parsley

Carrot is in the same plant family as parsley. The flavor is not exactly the same but you can just fine use it instead of parsley in recipes. Try it for instance in Robin Hood Chicken.

3. Add them to your stock pot

When making vegetable or meat broth, some use vegetables and parsley to improve the flavor. Try adding the carrot tops in your next batch of broth.

4. Add to salads
Garnish any salad with carrot tops. Chop them first or cut in one inch pieces with scissors.

5. Herbes Salées (Salt Herb Preserve)

Preserve your end of the season herbs with carrot tops in a jar with salt. Very cool recipe from Well Preserved.

6. Steam them

Simple recipe: Steam the carrot tops, add some coconut aminos (try coconut oil too) and enjoy!

7. Green smoothies
Add some carrot tops to your green smoothie. Our favorite green smoothie is: 1/2 banana, 1/3 cup blueberries, a few handfuls of greens, a few splashes of water or coconut milk and ice. Put in a blender and blend until smooth!

8. Juice them
Just like with smoothies, use the greens like any greens in your green juice. Juice some carrot tops with an apple, carrots, a small piece of ginger and a small clove of garlic (my favorite juice recipe).

9. Medicinal uses (Source: http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/carrotops.html#medicinal)
Carrot greens have antiseptic qualities. They have been added to mouthwashes. They have also been mixed with honey and used to disinfect sores.They are also diuretic and can help treat kidney disease and edema. Chewing carrot leaves can heal injuries in the mouth, bad breath, gum bleeding and mouth ulcers. Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40-c. 90), who catalogued over 600 medicinal plant specie, said that the Greeks used carrot leaves against cancerous tumors.

Make carrot top tea for detoxing, strengthening kidneys or urinary issues: Take a handful of carrot leaves, wash them, tear them in pieces and put them in a pot. Pour boiling water on them, cover and steep until tea has cooled down. Strain the tea and drink it or store in the fridge for a few days.

10. Yellow dye

Use them for yellow natural dye! Incredible, huh? Follow these directions.

And finally:

Carrot Top Pesto

Tops from 3 bunches of carrots

1-2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp sea salt

1/2-3/4 cups of olive oil (or enough for the blender to blend well)

a handful of fresh basil leaves 

(ground black pepper to taste)

(1 tsp nutritional yeast)

Add all ingredients in a blender and blend until desired consistency. You can also use a food processor. Eat with zucchini pasta, put on grilled veggies or dip veggies in it.

For more autoimmune paleo recipes, check out this roundtable by Phoenix Helix where this recipe is posted as well.

Make your own coconut milk

Yes, you can make it yourself! Never buy the canned (possibly with BPA in the lining) coconut milk with icky additives again. And save money. All you need is some shredded coconut, water, blender, a strainer and cheese cloth (or a kitchen towel or an old cloth diaper or a nut milk bag).

Home made coconut milk

1 cup shredded coconut
2 cups water
(amounts are not so crucial)

Follow these steps to make your own creamy and additive free coconut milk:

1. Boil some water. Turn it off just when it is about to boil.

2. Put the coconut in a blender and add the water. Let sit for a few minutes.

3. Put the lid on and - carefully, it is hot! - blend for a few minutes or as long as needed so it seems like there are no more solid parts and it looks creamy.

4. Strain it through a cheese cloth in a strainer. Squeeze the last part to get all the liquid through the cloth. That's it! Store in the fridge. It will separate so shake before using. Use for homemade icecreams or make your own coconut milk kefir. If you make kefir, make sure to blend and strain well, otherwise the solid parts sometimes become a mass of coconut on the top of the kefir and the kefir grains get stuck in there and you'll loose it while trying to dig them out (speaking from experience as you can tell).

Fizzy Water Kefir – A Healthy Homemade Soda (Difficulty level: Easy!)

Water kefir is a caffeine free, probiotic and fizzy! Water kefir is made of water and sugar and additional fruit juices can be added. Water kefir is fermented only for a day or two. It is easy to make and don’t require a lot of effort or special skills.

Water kefir grains multiply quickly so you might find someone locally who is willing to share theirs. You can also order dehydrated water kefir grains online. Follow their instructions for rehydrating them – or you can also find instructions online.

How to make water kefir?

2-3 tbsps or more rehydrated water kefir grains
1 quart of water
2-4 tbsp organic sugar (do not used refined white sugar that is stripped of minerals, the grains will need the minerals for nourishment)
A pinch of baking soda – this is for pH
One inch piece of kombu sea weed (some use bone meal instead) – this is to feed the grains

You’ll also need a 1.5 quart ball jar or a jar with an airlock (I use Pickl-it) or a cheese cloth or kitchen towel and a rubber band or piece of string to cover it.

1.  Place your grains in the jar.

2. Add water, sugar, baking soda and the kombu. At this point some add dried fruit. I find that my kefir has gotten slimy if I add dried fruit now so I skip it. Leave space to your jar, don’t fill it to the rim.

3. Mix with a spoon (or don’t mix, I don’t think it is critical, I sometimes skip this step). Close the lid and attach airlock if using. If you close the lid completely and don’t have an airlock, some pressure can accumulate in the jar from the fermentation process. If you leave it out for a long time, burb the jar by opening it after a day or two to let the pressure out.

4. Let ferment in room temperature and in preferably a dark spot for 24-48 hours. When bubbles are forming it is ready. You can also taste the kefir before you start fermenting and after and it should be less sweet when it is ready as some of the sugar has been used in the process.

5. Strain the grains from the water kefir to make another batch. People say metal strainers aren't good for this purpose because they will weaken the culture. I am a rebel and I use a stainless steel strainer (never aluminum though, heard that is the worst). I don't leave them to sit in it though so they touch it just briefly. I don't like plastic so I don't want to use a plastic strainer and the bamboo strainer is hard to clean. But I put it on the photo as it should be a better option. I usually leave some of the liquid in the new batch to help it but I do not know if it is necessary.

6. Now you can either drink the kefir or bottle it for a secondary fermentation: Put the kefir in a bottle with a flip top lid or some other air tight seal top. You can add some fruit juice (or dried fruit) at this point to help make it bubblier. One of my favorite flavors is apricot-pomegranate.

TIP: Using high fructose juices like pear or

apricot make the best bubbles in my experience.

7. Leave the bottles out for another day or two and then move them to fridge. It is ready to be consumed anytime.

My favorite water kefir flavors:
- Water Kefir Lemonade: Add a juice of a lemon to the secondary fermentation to make a lemonade tasting water kefir!
- Apricot Pomegranate: Add about 5-10% apricot juice and just a splash of pomegranate juice for color to the secondary fermentation. Juice squeezed by you from fresh pomegranates is the best. I tried the store pomegranate juice but it didn’t taste as good.
- Pear Ginger: Add about 5-10% pear juice and just a hint of fresh juiced ginger (or a few pieces of fresh ginger) to the secondary fermentation.
-Lemon tangerine: For the secondary fermentation add a juice from one lemon and 1-2 tangerines to a little bit less than a liter of water kefir.

What are your favorites? Do you have any tips to share?

If you are new to fermenting and have any questions, feel free to ask them in comments or by sending me email from with the contact form in the right side panel.

DIY: Antibacterial soap (Finally FDA says antibacterial soaps might not work OR be safe!)

Most soaps you see in the US are antibacterial. Scientists have been warning people that these soaps can help create resistant super bugs. The chemicals have been a reason to worry as well. Now - finally - FDA came out saying that they might not be safe and that there is no proof that they work any better than just washing your hands with soap and water! Read the whole thing from here: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm378393.htm

Using a natural soap and water works just fine. The trick is to wash your hands long enough and rinse those flu germs down the drain. You can also make your own antibacterial soap. What I do is I take an old foaming soap pump, fill it almost full with water and add then a squeeze or two of Dr. Bronner's soap. Sometimes I add a few drops of essential oils (most of them are antibacterial). I have heard some people even add apple cider vinegar but I haven't tried it myself.

DIY: Organic wool duvet

So while the rest of the family went camping and climbing to Joshua Tree, this is what I was up to. I bought a while ago this bale of wool batting from Craigslist. I have been replacing our bed and bedding for organic and nontoxic materials (see the bed in this post). Now it was the comforter's turn! I like the idea of most of our bedding being nontoxic as we spend so many hours sleeping next to them. The regular bedding can have toxic fire retardants and the polyester might outgas toxic substances as well.

This is how I did this (it was actually super easy!):

1. I spread a flat king sheet on the floor (realized later, a queen sheet would probably have been enough, I had to cut some off).

2. I spread the wool batting on the sheet (I had three pieces and I contemplated sewing them together but decided that they will stay in place after I make the knots through all the layers). At this point I measured with a king size duvet cover that the size would be right and trimmed some wool off. I still left the sheet untouched.

3. On top of the wool I put the other flat sheet and smoothed them out.

4. Starting from the middle and working towards the sides, I made knots with wool yarn through all the layers. I used an upholstery needle.

5. Then I cut the extra sheet fabric leaving it 2-3 inches bigger than the wool portion on each side.

6. Then I turned the fabric inside and pinned it and using my sewing machine I stitched all the edges with organic cotton thread.

It is the most comfortable thing I have slept under in my entire life! You can buy these online too but they cost about 400 dollars. If you can find affordable wool batting, consider making your own. It wasn't hard at all. Can't wait to go to bed tonight!

DIY: Vegetable broth powder

I have been using Rapunzel Vegetable broth powder. Since I like making stuff myself, I made this mix after I ran out of it. The ingredients are ordered from Frontier coop.

2 tbsp fine sea salt
3 tbsp nutritional yeast powder
1-2 tsp sunflower oil
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp carrot powder
1 tsp dried parsley
pinch of turmeric

Mix everything together. It is not maybe as good as the real thing but a good substitute. And homemade! I add a spoonful instead of salt in soups, casseroles and sauces.

Baby hammock

I got a tip from a friend about a baby hammock. It was pretty easy to make yourself. You can also buy these for 200 dollars or so. I used instructions from this blog (thank you Life on the roof!). All you need is 3 yards of fabric, some twill tape or bias tape, a 2 foot piece of wood, a couple of hooks, a spring (might be too tough for the light weight baby) and durable string (we used string that is used for parachutes, don't even ask why we have 100 ft of that).

I didn't want a polyester foam mattress like it is suggested on the blog post I had as a reference though so I made a more natural mattress. I sew first a pouch (14 x 30 inches) and left one end open. I stuffed it with sheep wool from an animal friendly farm and a reclaimed all wool sweater piece. Then I sew the opening and by hand I sew from eight points through the mattress to get the wool stay in one place. A pillow case is a good sheet for it.

We put hooks to a few places so we can change the place of the hammock.

I am now 39 weeks pregnant and ready for the baby to come!