Re-Growing vegetables from scraps

I saw a pin on Pinterest a few weeks ago talking about re-planting the bulb bit from spring onions. So next time I had some for dinner I saved them and put them in water for about a week until they started growing roots and I planted them in some compost.

Now these were originally outside, but I bought them in due to the heavy snow. There's also some salad trying to grow in there, but its struggling due to the lack of sun (the irony is as I am writing this, the sun is the brightest it's been for weeks).




The other day as I was cutting up the leeks for my soup, I had an idea come, maybe leeks did the same thing. So I repeated the process and sure enough, I potted up my leeks this morning!

You will need to excuse my gross window sills here!

 

If this was Pinterest, it would be in a mason jar, with a gingham bow round it; on a pretty bone china saucer. Unofrtunately a recycled yoghurt pot and a chinese take-away box will have to do!

Also, apparently you can just cut of what you need and the plant keeps re-growing. Never have to buy leeks and spring onions again! Awesome.

Soup - warmer of souls

Oh how I love a bug pot of soup when it is cold!

I love love LOVE slow-cooking it and have it fill the house with tasty smells.

I generally don't follow a recipe. Just bung in a bunch of veg and hope for the best.

In this one there is leeks, potatoes, mushrooms, red onion and bacon.

It was tasty and even better there was enough for lunch the next day!

Facial toner recipe

I have known the benefits of drinking green tea for a while and regularly enjoy a cup or ten :). It's like super charging your water with vitamins, anti oxides and other goodies. When I went to the super market the other day I noticed there was a new range of Twinings green tea that was flavoured with different fruit combinations, I picked up the mango and lychee one and also the mint one as they were two for £2.

As I was waiting on my mint green tea brewing, I remembered seeing an advert for a facial cream with extracts of green tea. So I tossed my used tea bag into a small bowl and topped up with water and let it steep over night removed the tea bag and added in a capful of witch hazel to add a little astringent in it.

I dipped in my flannel and wiped it over my face and let it dry. It felt fantastic, it was refreshing like the shop bought ones but without the stingy-alcoholic tight feeling afterwards.


Just two ingredients:

I admit it: looks a little gross but trust me it works!

This is supposed to be spring!

Today, I woke up to a blanket of snow.

My journey into home made cosmetics.

I suffer from dreadful dry skin and dermatitis. I have tried every lotion and potion under the sun. Some cheap, some expensive. None of them seem to do what I want. They are either too thin and I get flakey  and sore too quickly or too thick and I am sticky for too long.

Recently we have had some horrible biting wind which makes your skin very raw. Winter weather is not good for people with normal skin anyway. I read up on the Internet that certain preservatives in cosmetics can cause skin irritation in certain people; but I found it difficult finding products without these nasties in. Although I did find a great shower gel in the Body Shop without these nasties in. It's the hemp one for dry skin, I love it but some days you don't want to smell like you have been rolling in the grass.Especially at job interviews.

My Mum bought me the hand cream from the same range because the lady in the shop said it would be good for my dermatitis (which is on my hands), personally, I think it is good but it leaves your hands quite greasy for a while and the moisturising-ness (is that even a word?) doesn't seem to last very long.

For  an all-round moisturiser, I have used the Simple dermo intensive relief, which was pretty good. Didn't seem to leave me moisturised for very long so I went through the bottle quite quickly, when I went to replace, it the shop didn't have any!

I spent some time looking at the ingredients at the other moisturises and settled on an Aveeno one, it has oat extract which I have read is quite good for dry skin and doesn't have many of the nasties I mentioned previously. The cream is thick and does not really sink into my skin very well. I use it on my face sometimes if that horrible cold wind is around and I need to go cycling.

I was starting to get fed up with all these expensive cosmetics that didn't do what I wanted. I decided to have a go at making my own.

I had a dig around on the Internet and realised it is deceptively easy, I found some recipes and ordered the ingredients, waited and it arrived.

I started with soap, as apparently that is one of the easiest.

This is recipe I used:

500g SLS free opaque melt and pour soap base
2 table spoons of honey
1 tea spoon of bees wax
About 50 grams of oats
20 drops of lavender oil

Melted it all in a ban marie (double boiler) and poured it into a 6-hole silicon muffin pan.

 

Looks almost like my breakfast!

All I need to do now is to let it set for two days.

I used lavender oil as it is supposed to calm irritated skin, oats for moisturising and honey for it is antibacterial properties.

I will let you know how it goes when I use it!I have also ordered some bits to make some lotions/moisturisers too.

Hmm I haven't posted in a while.

The British winter is terrible, two weeks into March and it is still snowing. Where is spring?

Some things have started growing. I have carrots, tomatoes, chive, chamomile and oregano and lovage sprouting but everything else is still asleep.

On the other hand, we have had a few days of sunshine and this has meant my other tomato plant I planted in August has gone berserk. It has loads of flower buds on it and is massive, it is literally taking over the bedroom window sill. Hoping we will have some more sunshine soon.

I have finished the cushions for Mum and she was really pleased with them. I went to visit them last weekend and I forgot to take pictures!