Sunday, September 29, 2013

Freshly Juiced Lemons

lemons

I have enough lemon juice in my freezer to last at least a year now. We’ve had a hybrid citrus tree in our backyard for about 5 years. It hasn’t done much for us until this year. I’ve heard numerous times that citrus trees take a while to really produce anything worthwhile. Well, all of our dreams for this little (or not so little anymore) tree came true this year. As mentioned, the tree is a hybrid so we have key limes, meyer lemons, ponderosa lemons, and kumquats. We’ve gotten a few kumquats, and the ponderosa’s are plentiful, but not great yet. The key limes and meyer lemons made up for everything else this year. We had more meyers than I knew what to do with and I couldn’t let them go to waste like some did last year. So, I decided to make “lemon juice pellets” that I could freeze and use throughout the year. Here’s the process.

I washed all of my lemons thoroughly. I am estimating it was around 50-60 lemons. First I cut each end off. Then, I halved some of the lemons, quartered others. I juiced them using my Breville Juice Fountain. This produced several batches of beautiful and extremely fragrant lemon juice. I poured the juice into mini muffin pans and froze that for a few hours. After freezing, I popped out each pellet and filled freezer bags with them. Whenever I need lemon juice, I simply let a pellet melt, which only takes a few short minutes. I’ll also add that I left all of the rind on when I juiced them. The smell was incredible, this was beyond easy, and it’s so convenient to have lemon juice at the ready whenever I need it.

lemon juice
lemon juice

 

 

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Five Favorites

 via

Instead of Lovely Links this week, I’m linking up with Moxie Wife for Five Favorites. Here are my five favorites.

1. White pumpkins! Or any of the non traditional looking pumpkins. The Lowes in my area had them on the cheap last weekend!

2. Fall is a favorite in general, which unfortunately has not arrived yet for us! Boo hoo.

3. These gluten free pumpkin muffins…yes, I know…more fall, more pumpkin!

4. Coconut oil sugar face scrubs = luxurious

5. Hugo Naturals Shampoo…I’ve used it for a while now and I love it more and more. It’s very kind to the tresses.

 

 

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Lovely Links

via

We are desperately in need of some Fall weather around here. Until then, I’ll pretend!

1. Just discovered this site this week, and really enjoyed it.

2. These boots…holy SWOON! And, Seleta has a really great coupon for them, so visit her site to check it out.

3. Fell in love with this ring after seeing C. Style put it in the middle of two diamond bands

4. And since I am always talking about figs, I found this great resource from Martha in which she includes several awesome recipes. By the way, my fig tree is still bursting with baby figs and I’m so excited.

5. This is a great, pretty affordable store that I just discovered over the summer.

 

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Coconut Oil

coconut oil sugar scrub

I am rarely ever without a jar of coconut oil. It is so versatile, and it’s uses range from cooking oil to facial cleansing oil, to everything in between.

Here are eleven ways I use coconut oil:

to coat vegetables that are are going to be roasted
for sautéing veggies
when baking, as a substitute for other oils
when making homemade granola bars
in salad dressing (mixed with other ingredients)
as cuticle moisturizer
as after shave leg moisturizer
in hair to tame the frizz
on the scalp to help dryness
as a makeup remover
as a facial cleanser

I use coconut oil quite often in my kitchen in place of other oils. I’m also loving it as my face cleanser. I’ve cleansed only with oil now for the last 6-8 months. This method really agrees with my skin as my skin tone has evened out greatly and I rarely ever breakout. Makeup comes off very easily with coconut oil as well.

I’ll leave you with a recipe for my favorite facial scrub.

Coconut Oil Lime Sugar Scrub

1 tbs coconut oil
1 tsp lime juice
1 tbs sugar of your choice

Mix together and slather this on your face in circular motions. You will wake up the next morning with fabulously bright skin!

 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Lovely Links

peach flowers, glass bottles via

1. These stamps from an Etsy shop are really cute, and very useful too!

2. Another Etsy shop I am loving…I could totally have one of these prints in my house.

3. After switching to all natural beauty and cleaning products, I would like to move to healthier candle options now. These look like they would fit the bill quite well.

4. Just discovered this blog and I’m loving it!

5. And here’s another “new to me” blog that I’m enjoying.

 

Monday, September 9, 2013

Fig Pizza (gluten free)

fig pizza

fig pizza

fig pizza

I’ve been wanting to try this fig pizza since last summer. As you know, I absolutely love figs and can get them pretty easily during the summer months. I based my recipe off of Kate’s, and it did not disappoint. Well, it was actually FABULOUS!

I used this crust recipe, which is my “go to” gluten free pizza crust recipe. It’s delicious, but you may want to double the batch for a larger pizza. I also added 2 tbs. fresh basil, garlic, and onion powder to the pizza dough for a little flavor boost.

Cook the crust by itself for about 10 minutes on 350.

Add toppings. I added sliced figs, Sara Lee honey ham, green onions, black olives, shredded mozzarella, and crumbled bleu cheese.

Put entire pizza in the oven on 350 until cheese becomes golden brown. It took 20-25 minutes to turn golden in my oven. Enjoy!