Facial Moisturizer

I have not tried this yet but I am making a mixture of Almond oil and Lavender to try as a facial moisturizer. If you try this please let me know what combination you tried and how it worked. I will post more here later after I have tried it.
Update: I have been using this for about a week now and I am very pleased. I place a very small amount on my fingers then rub it into my face in the morning and at night. It is light and not greasy as I thought it might be. I might try some other essential oils next time.

Facial Moisturizer
3 parts Carrier oil
1 part essential oils
1 part additions if desired

Mix carrier oil, additions if desired, and essential oils in a bottle. Place a few drops of the moisturizer in your hand and rub then gently rub onto face.

Normal Skin

Carrier Oils: almond, apricot, hazelnut

Essential Oils: carrot, German chamomile, geranium, fennel, frankincense, jasmine, lavender, lemon, neroli, palmarosa, rose

Additions: borage seed, evening primrose, jojoba

Dry to Normal Skin

Carrier Oils: almond, apricot, avocado, olive oil, wheatgerm

Essential Oils: carrot, German chamomile, geranium, lavender, neroli, palmarosa, patchouli, rose, rosemary, sandalwood.

Additions: borage seed, evening primrose, jojoba

Oily to Normal Skin

Carrier Oils: almond, apricot, grapeseed, hazelnut

Essential Oils: carrot, German chamomile, cypress, frankincense, geranium, jasmine, juniper, lavender, lemon, lime, marjoram, palmarosa, pettigrain, rosemary

Additions: borage seed, evening primrose

Antiaging

Essential oils to combat wrinkles: carrot, German chamomile, clary sage, fennel, frankincense, lavender, lemon, lime, myrrh, neroli, orange, palmarosa, patchouli, rosemary, thyme

Additions: borage seed, evening primrose

Our Garden

With spring here our garden is growing strong. Stephen just made me two more garden boxes so I have twice as much room. Currently everything is crammed into two boxes but now I am expanding to the other two boxes. I have picked a handful of strawberries today and soon we will have tomatoes and squash. There is nothing better then fresh fruits and veggies from your own garden.

Carrot Cookies

Andon and I tried a recipe for carrot cookies the other day. They are very good more like little cakes then cookies but delicious. So I wanted to post the recipe. I made a few changes from = the original recipe in order to use what I had in the house.

Carrot Cookies
1 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 tablespoon Orange Juice
1 Egg
1.5 - 2 cups grated Carrots
2 2/3 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
3/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg

Cream the Butter and Sugar. Add Egg and Orange Juice. Combine Flour, Baking Powder, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg. Add the flour mixture and the carrots alternately to the butter mixture. Mix to form dough. Drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet. Bake at 375 or 12-14 minutes.

I have found that a batch of almost any cookies is to much for our family at once. Instead of baking all of the cookies I scoop out the dough to make cookies but I then freeze the scoops. Once they are frozen I place them in a container which I keep in the freezer. When ever we want cookies I just heat up the oven and pull out the frozen cookies.

Carrots

I have found that carrots grow like crazy here. Right now we have an abundance of them so I have been looking for ways to use them. I have developed a recipe for carrot bread which Andon and I made today while Brylynn took a nap (in her swing of course). I also found a recipe for what we call Carrot Butter Andon liked it and it made a good snack. I might try adding some cinnamon to it next time.

Carrot Bread
Mix together
1/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together then add to the flour mixture
3/4 cup applesauce
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir in
2 cups carrots

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes


Carrot Butter
1/2 cup pureed carrots
3 tablespoons cottage cheese
1 tablespoon orange juice
2 teaspoons smooth peanut butter
Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Serve on crackers or bread.