NON-TOXIC WASP REPELLENT

anti-wasp

 

It’s the time of year when wasps are starting to go crazy. If you still want to sit outside without them bothering you use this simple and non-toxic incense a very good friend of mine shared with me.

NON-TOXIC WASP REPELLENT

1 cup

4 Tbsp coffee powder

1 small piece of burning wood or coal

Put coffee in an old cup and place burning piece of wood or coal on top. This will start to produce smoke for a few minutes and keeps away the wasps for a few hours.

SEA SHELL LATERN

Muschelkerzengläser

Can you hear the ocean? Here is a great and easy decoration idea for your next smmer party.

SEA SHELL LANTERN

All you need is:

Old large jam jar

Hot glue gun

Hemp rope

See shells

With the hot gleu glue the hemp rope to the glass in spirals and apply sea shell. Put a candle in the glass.

 

This makes a really nice decoration at day and an atmospheric light at

 

 

 

 

 

MILLET CAKES

Millet

 

 

Trust me, this vegan savory cakes are so delicious even non-vegans love them!! The recipe was inspired by the wonderful people at Sonnenfrosch Reformhaus in Graz, Austria.

VEGAN MILLET CAKES

(makes 4 cakes)

¼ cup millet

½ cup water

1 cube chicken stock

1 small onion, diced

1 large carrot, grated

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 Tbsp parsley, chopped

1 Tsp curry powder

Salt and pepper

½ cup flour

4 Tbsp olive oil

 

Shortly wash millet with hot water. Bring water and chicken stock to a boil, add millet, cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes or until all water is gone and the millet is tender. Add rest of the ingredients except flour and mix well. Give flour into a deep dish, form 4 balls from the millet mixture and one by one press them flat. Form nice pads from them. In a frying pan heat olive oil and fry millet cakes until they are golden brown. About 5 minutes per side.

ENJOY!!

30-MINUTE RICOTTA CHEESE FROM SCRATCH

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Make your own creamy cheese within 30 minutes!!

Try my RICOTTA recipe:
(modified from a Martha Stewart Living recipe)

1 L milk (also try it with goat milk)
250 ml heavy cream
½ Tsp Salt
Juice from 1 lemon

1. Heat milk, cream and salt in a large pot to 90 °C (check with a thermometer).
2. When milk has reached desired temperature, remove from heat and add lemon juice. Stir until just combined.
3. Let stand for 5 minutes. At this time point the milk will curd and separate into soft protein curds and cloudy whey.
4. In a large bowl place a sieve and line with a new linen baby dipper or cheese cloth
5. Slowly pour curdled cheese into cloth.
6. Let stand or hang for 20 minutes for a soft creamy cheese and 1,5 hours for a more dense cheese.

Honestly, this is easier than cooking spaghetti, isn’t it?
You can use goats milk and add garlic or herbs to make a great bread spread or add it to pasta or make a typical Italian ricotta cake!

I am currently trying to figure out a low fat version too…so, stay tuned!

 

40-MINUTE HAMBURGER BUNS

Burger Buns

 

I just love hamburgers! They are the kind of fun food that just everybody likes. Eating with your hands is a very grounding experience that especially grownups should do once in a while. However, in Europe it is almost impossible to by good buns that taste like the real thing. That is why I found this ultra-quick recipe at Taste of Home. I was skeptical at first, but after a few adjustments I made to the original recipe they come out just PERFECT!!

40-MINUTE HAMBURGER BUNS

Makes 4 buns:
1 Tsp dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (30°)
1/6 cup vegetable oil
1/8 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 Tsp salt
About 2 cups all-purpose flour (more if needed)
2 Tbsp Milk

Preheat oven to 180°C. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water let stand for 5 minutes. In a large bowl heap flour and make a hole in the middle. Add yeast mixture, oil, sugar, egg and salt and enough flour to form a soft dough that is not sticky.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 3 minutes. Do not let rise. Divide into 4 pieces; shape each into a ball and press them flat. Place 6 cm apart on lined baking sheets.
Cover with a clean dishtowel and let rest for 10-30 minutes (I let it rest for 30 minutes. The dough doesn’t rise a lot, but that is ok.) Bake at 180° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. The buns rise a lot in this time. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. While still hot brush the buns with milk. This way they will shine as they do at the diner.

3 MINUTE FAST HAIRDO

haare

 

Upon request here is my 3 minutes fancy jet everyday hairdo. (I have never before had random strangers on the street ask me how to make a hairstyle).
I invented this on a wedding where I was invited and had forgotten to bring hairpins. So I just tucked my ponytail inwards as shown in the pictures and it was so stable that it stayed throughout the whole wedding even without hairspray. To make a real perfect ballroom hairstyle you could use hairspray. Ever since I make this hairdo whenever I fell like it. It goes great for everyday and fancy.

I just love it!!

HOW TO MAKE SOAP

soapmaking

This is the deluxe version of a homemade present! At a wonderful workshop at betahaus in Berlin I learned how to make soap from scratch from luna. It is easy and lots of fun!

HOW TO MAKE SOAP

This recipe contains a perfectly balanced mixture of cleaning and moisturizing oils. If you want to use different oils we should get together to calculate a different mixture because this is a little bit trickier. To get started I would start off by sticking to this recipe. It will take about 3 hours.

For about 500 g soap you need:

Olive oil 165 g

Coconut oil 99 g

Sunflower oil  44.55 g

Castor oil 16.5 g

Bees wax 4.95 g

Lye (NaOH) 47 g

Distilled water 109.8 g

About 150 drops essential oils as desired (I used half orange half ylang-ylang oil)

Food or natural colors (I used yellow clay and indigo blue)

1 milk bow cut open to leave a lid

1 towel

 

  1. In a large jam glass (500 ml) weigh 4.9 g bees wax and 99 g coconut oil
  2. Put jam glass in a simmering water bath (double boiler) and heat and stir until beeswax has melted. Temperature should be at about 70 °C, control with a candy thermometer. Let cool.
  3. Meanwhile measure 109.8 g distilled water in a large plastic cup (e.g. old, clean, large yoghurt cup)
  4. On a piece of paper weigh 47 g lye (NaOH), !careful, corrosive!
  5. Close to an open window carefully and slowly mix LYE INO WATER in 3 portions while stirring. Let cool for 15 minutes in front of an open window.
    (NaOH reacts with water in an exothermic reaction and produces heat and gases. The water will get very hot. Just stay close to a window, keep stiring and don’t inhale the fumes.  If you spill a little bit on your hand keep normal vinegar close by and pour it over the spot it will neutralize the lye.)
  6. Into glass of cooled bees wax-oil weigh:
    44.55 g sunflower oil
    16.5 g castor oil
    165 g olive oil
    In the water bath heat to the same temperature as the lye-water ± 5°C
  7. Pour oil mixture into lye-water.
  8. Now we have to be fast…Mix with a whisk fast until the consistence is creamier like liquid honey cream honey. This is your soap mixture.
  9. Quickly add 150 drops of essential oils and keep mixing. Mix until soap mixture gets creamy as pudding. This will happen in a few minutes.
  10. Divide soap mixture into portions and quickly add colors, mix.
  11. Mix soap in 2 layers next to each other  in a cut open milk box or cup cake forms and swirl with a chop stick to make a mosaic structure
  12. Cover lid and pack into the towel to keep warm for 24 hours. In this time the soap is saponifing.
  13. After 24 hours cut soap into pieces and let dry on a cool dry place for 6 weeks. In this time the pH of the soap will (drop) get milder and you can use it to wash your hands and body.

THAT’S IT!! Congratulations you made your first soap!

TIP OF THE DAY

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The best tomatoes are the ones you have watched grow!!
My balance up to now: 2 kg tomatoes from 6 plants.

TIP OF THE DAY:
Since I can’t eat all of my harvested tomatoes I just put them as they are (not cut) into a freezing bag and FREEZE them. This way you have tomatoes throughout the hole year for making the best tomato sauces you can imagine. Just put a bit of water in a pot and thaw tomatoes over medium heat until they fall appart….

YUMMIE!!!

SPICY TOMATO SALSA

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Party time with my quickly prepared and spicy:

SPICY TOMATO SALSA

3 tomatoes
2 scallions
1 small red hot chili (as much as you can take)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tsbp apple vinegar
Salt, pepper

Puree all ingredients in a blender. Done!!
When friends are over the salsa is mostly gone before I can open the taco chips bag….