new toothpaste

My mum bought me this new toothpaste from Argiletz! It's made of clay and sage and all natural ingredients. It actually even tastes good! I just really wanted a natural toothpaste, because all the others contain bad things, like Sodium Fluoride (which is actually used as a rat poison)...

Ingredients

Aqua, Illite, Maltitol, Calcium Carbonate, Salvia Officinalis*, Alcohol*, Glycerin, Silica, Sodium Lauroyl Glutamate, Usnea Barbata Extract, Carrageenan, Salvia Sclarea oil*, Xanthan Gum, Linalool.
*Ingredient from organic farming

PIZZA time

veggie

hawaii

Mmmmmmmmmmmm, I found those spelt bases and they are really really good! Next time I'll try to make my own spelt pizza dough ;-)

morning pancakes

Good morning !

After sleeping more than 12 hours tonight, I woke up quite hungry :) I thought, let's make some pancakes! I just bought some ginger syrup and I wanted to try that.

I didn't measured anything, I was too lazy for that. Just took some spelt flower, cinnamon, chia and flax seeds (that I soaked first in boiled water), oat flakes, little bit of orange flower water (I love the smell of it) and some rice milk. Mixed that all together.

Then I made the topping ; coconut milk with ginger syrup, cinnamon, chia seeds and shredded coconut.

  

This was the result ! Okay, it doesn't look very good but it was good and also quite heavy ! 

PS : My blog is 1 month old now !! And there will soon be a little give-away for you, I'll keep your posted :)!

Love, Shady

DEMAKEUP

Hi guys!

I was never a big fan of make up remover wipes, which are not so good for the environment, or other quite aggressive make up removers. So, I only washed my face with a soft soap, which worked alright except for the mascara, which leads to black eyes in the morning. But if you wear eyeshadow, foundation, lipstick, liquid eyeliner, ... I guess this won't work either.

Now, this is the solution that is much better for your skin and it takes off really EVERYTHING!

VEGETABLE OILS !

It's actually logical that it takes off make up so good, because make up is made of oily compounds that water can't remove. But oil only solves in other oils, like water only solves in other water compounds, that's why oils can remove make up so easily.

You can use any kind of vegetable oil; olive oil, macadamia oil, jojoba oil, ... It works with all of them. Just put some oil on a cotton-wool and wipe it over your face. Mascara, eyeliner, blush, foundation, lipstick, ... it takes it all off!

One of my favorite is jojoba oil;

                - it makes the skin very soft

                - good for any type of skin (from very dry, sensible skin to acneic and oily skin)

                - it also works against eczema and psoriasis

                - it rehydrates and restructures the skin

                - really good for your hair too; it's nourishing and fortifying, also good when you have quickly greasy hair, it works against the excess of sebum

                - it protects the skin from the cold; you can wear it as day and night creme

                - it's a natural anti-UV

                - it's anti-aging!

Now, go throw those wipes away and go buy some of those fantastic oils!!!

PS : I buy most of my oils and essential oils on www.aroma-zone.com (if you understand French, click on the French page because it's much better explained and illustrated, they still have to work on their English site).

SPELT

Why we should all eat more spelt? Let's talk about that! My dogs, cat and horses have a daily spelt menu! 

Wheat, the most common cereal, loses all of is qualities when it has been grinded. The only thing that is left over are gluten. So you always should use whole-wheat products! 

But with spelt, all the good qualities stay after the grinding process!
Spelt contains about % 57.9 carbohydrates (excluding 9.2 % fibre), 17.0 % protein and 3.0 % fat (good fats), as well as lots of dietary minerals and vitamins. Spelt also contains lot of amino acids and these are responsible for making the happy hormone -> spelt makes us happy too :). It also keeps us blood-sugar value constant, this is good against cravings! 

Why choose spelt in stead of regular wheat?

• it has a better ratio carbs/fats
• it lowers the cholesterol, thanks to the good unsaturated fatty acids
• it delivers lots of energy (good for athletes)
• it helps the digestion, because it's really easy to digest and the nutrients go quickly in our blood and handle cell renewal, and at the same time it detoxifies our body because it stimulates our kidneys
• it contains more vit B's than wheat, those are good for the metabolism of our nervous system and our brains.

When you buy spelt in full grains, like on the picture above you need to soak the grains a whole night before cooking it. Throw away the water where it soaked in. Then you put it in a dish with 2 times his volume of water, on low heat and cook it for 30-40 minutes. You can make a nice and healthy salad if you add some vegetables and a little bit of olive oil with it! 

Spelt soup  = this is a really nourishing spelt soup recipe, good for cold winter days!


- Soak chickpeas or other beans a whole night in water, same with the spelt.
- Cook some onions in olive oil
- Add celery and onions (you can add lots of other vegetables; carrots, fennel, leeks, garlic,...) with chickpeas, and let them boil together
- Add the onions cooked in the olive oil; mix the soup like you want it to. 
- Add the spelt and some water, cook everything together till the spelt is tender.

I really love spelt bread also!

Also spelt is the only cereal that doesn't require any pesticides! You don't need to buy it in bioshops, it's always bio:). 




Remember :

 Spelt everyday, keeps the doctor away!

batch of cookies

Made these cookies today!

I always adapt vegan recipes I find with things that I have at home, and it always turned out great. Now I made almond-dates cookies.

- 1 cup of almonds

- 3/4 cup of spelt flower

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 10 medjool dates (or more/less to taste)

- 1/4 rapadura cane organic sugar

- 1.5 tablespoon coconut oil (you have to melt it)

- 6 tablespoons almond milk

- 1.5 tablespoon flax seeds

- 1/4 cup of maple syrup (I didn't had any maple syrup left so I put some agave syrup, but not enough so my cookies were a little drier than usual)

- 1 cup oats

- 1.5 tablespoons cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

You don't have to translate the cups in grams, I just take one of my cereal bowls and use this for every ingredient.

Put your almonds on a baking plate, and put them in the oven at 170-180 C° for 10 minutes to roast them. Always check to see that they don't burn. Then mix them roughly. Mix also the oats roughly. In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients: spelt flower, baking powder, oats, flax seeds, cinnamon, sugar, almonds. Then add the wet ingredients; vanilla essence, almond milk, coconut oil, dates (chopped in little pieces), maple syrup. Whisk it all together. Then you make your cookies in the size you want them; 180 °C in the oven for 10 minutes, then let it cool down for 5 minutes in the oven and then take them out of the oven and let them cool down and dig in!

the cold - the oils

When it’s so cold outside, you should better protect your skin, hands, hair. 

This is an easy recipe for a face mask, that will make your skin have an healthy glow and help it against dryness.

·         Carrot juice freshly made

·         1 egg’s yolk (eigeel)

·         A little bit of olive oil

Preparation: beat the egg yolk with the olive oil in 100 ml of carrot juice. Put this on your face for 30 min and wash it off. 

Your hands will likely also suffer from this weather;

·         1 teaspoon of lemon juice

·         50 grams of quark

·         1 tablespoon of flour 

  

Knead your hands with this preparation and wash off with warm water. This will keep your hands soft and young!

I love taking baths, certainly the baths that I make with different kinds of oils. It's really relaxing and my skin is very oily afterwards, this is good because I have a dry skin.

This is how I make them; I take two tablespoons of a certain oil. You can use olive oil, macadamia oil,... Don't choose too expensive oils, but try to use biological oils. Sometimes I use some argan oil, here it's expensive but not in Marocco so if you know someone who goes there always ask to bring some for u! Then I garnish this oil/oils with essential oils. 

* LAVENDER = lavendula officinalis. This essential oil is really one to have at home, it works for so many things. I never make a bath without lavender :). It treats insomnia, agitation, anxiety, digestive problems, stress, nervosity, depression. It also heals scars very well, restores tired skin, burns, .... If you have trouble sleeping, take a bath before you go to bed, with 2 tablespoons of any oil with 4-8 drops of lavender essential oil. You always have to dilute your essential oils in any other normal oil because you can't put it straight on your skin, it's too concentrated. 

* PEPPERMINT = mentha piperita. This one has a tonic action on the body. It relaxes your muscles, relieve your articulations. Besides a relaxing and stimulant action, it also has the ability to relieve real migraines, headaches, stimulates the nervous system; it's really good when you have a mental fatigue. Because it's so stimulating, don't use it before you go to bed, it won't help you sleeping! It also works to lower fever. 

* LEMON = citrus limonum. Lemon essential oil has a lot of good things to offer. It's works antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, healing, it liquidizes the blood, works as an hypo-tensive, anti-infectious, it regularizes the nervous tone, helps the digestion, it's diuretic, draining (good for cellulites), and many more:). When you use it in your bath, it will have a slimming effect; anti-cellulites, good against acne, releaves pain from insect bites, good against wrinkles, it's also good against anemia and mental fatigue. Lemon is a good one to mix with lavender! 4 drops of lemon essential oil and 4 drops of lavender essential oil diluted in any oil.

Here is a little anti-cellulite recipe : In 15 cl of normal oil, you dilute;
        - 20 drops of cyprès essential oil
        - 20 drops of juniper essential oil
        - 20 drops of lemon essential oil
        - 10 drops of geranium essential oil
        - 10 drops of grapefruit essential oil

When you take your bath or shower, scrub your cellulite zones with this oil to activate the circulation. Then when you are dry, knead yourself firmly with this oil again on those places, even if it hurts a little! You can make more and put it in a bottle, keep it in a cool and dark place.

There are really a lot of essential oils with amazing properties, it's difficult for me to talk about all of them in one article. Those three that I just talked about are really good basics to have at home. Essential oils are also quite expensive (between 5-15 euros) because you need really a lot of flower/plant to make a little bottle, it's so concentrated. Don't try to buy them cheap either because bad made essential oils are dangerous, always buy them in pharmacies or bioshops!

DON'T USE ESSENTIAL OILS IF YOU ARE PREGNANT. Off course there are only a couple who are dangerous for your baby, but I just want to warn you. I suggest you go to someone who really studied aromatherapy, if you want to have an anti-stretch mark oil for example during your pregnancy (I think it's the only thing that works against it!).
The way I use it, is really inoffensive and I have a couple of books about it that teach me the basics and simple ways to use them in your daily life.

Also don't use any agrums (lemon, mandarin, bergamot, tangerine, orange, ...) essential oil and go into the sun afterwards, because they're photo sensitizing and you'll burn very quickly.

This is the book that I have :).

If you have any questions about it, leave me a comment!

I hope you'll enjoy essential oils in your bath (and in your life) as much as I do!

Love, Shady