Recipe: Homemade Deodorant/Antiperspirant (that Works!)

The very first "crunchy" skincare product I ever made was deodorant. My work contract had just ended and I didn't have anything lined up right after, which meant at least a week off of work, which was plenty of time to test out some homemade deodorant.

I'm not going to lie. I had an odor problem. And a sweating problem. My deodorant would last maybe an hour two, sometimes half a day. I used prescription strength. I even asked my doctor for botox injections in my armpits. He laughed and said no. (Jerk.) So I just carried anti-antiperspirant deodorant in my purse and re-applied whenever I could.

I was not excited to try out homemade deodorant, but I figured I'd give it a shot. And I only gave it a shot because another stinky sweater at Crunchy Betty, like myself, wrote a post about homemade deodorant being better than traditional deodorant. And not just better, but AMAZING.

So I tried it out one of her recipes. The first day I had to reapply mid-day. And after that? No problems whatsoever. I've never been stinky since. I've never had to reapply mid-day.

As for the awful underarm wetness I used to have, and I'm talking completely soaked and ultimately stained shirts, I've never had a problem with that either. I'm not saying there isn't some wetness. It's hard to avoid when it's 100 degrees outside, but I don't have underarm wetness just walking down the street anymore. I don't have to toss shirts. I don't have to worry about anything getting stained. I feel amazing.

And you can too!

Another note on this amazing concoction: I've always had rather rough feeling, generally bumpy armpits. I hated raising my hand if I wasn't wearing sleeves of some kind (and even then, I tended to avoid it because God knows what you could smell). After using my homemade version, I have silky smooth pits.

A quick word about rashes and bumps: They do happen, especially if you're allergic to the ingredients. I find that when I don't mix all of the ingredients as well I should, I'll get too much of a certain ingredient on my skin and it will cause problems. For example, too much coconut oil not mixed properly with arrowroot powder and baking soda causes my pores to clog. Too much baking soda in a clump causes my skin to turn red.

For me, I find it's easily avoidable as long as I mix well. I have also found that cornstarch (which can be substituted for arrowroot powder) is not something my skin likes and it gets sore and red and a layer will peel off. It's nasty. But I have no problems with the arrowroot powder so it's worth it to me to seek it out in stores or online and pay a little extra.

If you're new to the crunchy lifestyle, as I was, it can be a little expensive to buy your ingredients, but you'll have them on hand to make many, many batches and, if you do make other crunchy cosmetics and household items, you'll find that the items overlap.

So it's expensive at first, but really cheap if you stick with it. I think I paid $30 for the 3 ingredients, and I've only had to replace the coconut oil in two years, and that's because I use coconut oil all the time!

Ingredients
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
5 tablespoons coconut oil
5-10 drops essential oils (my favorite is lavender!)

Preparation
Mix dry ingredients together.

If your coconut oil is solid, heat it on the stove until it's liquid. Add in the liquefied coconut oil. Add in the essential oils of your choice. Stir well.

For storage, you can keep this in a container and use an applicator to apply. I actually kept the last deodorant container I bought. I cleaned it, rinsed it out, and I pour my homemade deodorant into that so I can roll it on per usual.

Because this has coconut oil in it and coconut oil liquefies at room temperature (and way over - for those of us living without central air conditioning!), I keep my deodorant in the fridge. It's really easy to put it on in the morning when I'm getting ready for the day and I don't have to deal with a mess in the bathroom.

When I'm traveling and don't have access to a traveling fridge, I keep it in a small container and carry an applicator. It may sound complicated, but it's pretty simple and part of my routine now.

Recipe: Summer Frittata

While I'm not typically a fan of eggs by themselves and egg-heavy food items like an omelette or certain types of quiche, I do really love a frittata in the summer time with lots of fresh produce.

Look at all the delicious summer squash!

In case you're not sure what exactly a frittata is, let me explain. (It's okay, I didn't know what they were until I read the French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook!) Essentially, you mix eggs with veg, cheese, meat, whatever you desire. You cook it a bit on the stove before popping it in the oven or under the broiler to finish.

A quiche, just for comparison, usually has a crust and some type of milk or cream added to the mix.

So to sum up: it's a quick, easy, and a delicious breakfast!

Ingredients
5 eggs
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 small yellow squash, chopped
2 tbsps fresh parsley
5 stalks of kale, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
salt and pepper
olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan, grated

Ingredients
Break the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat with a fork.

Add the squash, kale,

goat cheese, and parsely. Stir to combine.

Heat the olive oil in an oven safe pan over medium heat. Preheat the broiler.

Add the mixture to the oven-safe pan. As the eggs cook, gently lift the edges up with a spatula and rotate the pan so that the uncooked eggs run underneath. Do this for the first 1-2 minutes, until the eggs begin to solidify. Once they have, cook for an additional 5-6 minutes until the eggs are set.

Cover the mixture in parmesan and place the pan under the broiler for 1-3 minutes. The eggs will puff up, and the cheese will melt and brown slightly.

Remove from the oven and enjoy!

Recipe: Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

I look forward to making this dessert every summer. I troll the farmer's markets carefully, always on the prowl for bright red rhubarb stalks that my grocery store never carries. I can usually spot one or two stands at the market who offer it, and usually the rhubarb is right next to the bright red, plump, and juicy strawberries that nature intended it to go with.

Okay, maybe this recipe isn't inspired by the heavens, but it's pretty close to perfect - and the fact that I can only have it a handful of times each summer just makes it all the sweeter!

Ingredients
3/4 cup of flour
2/3 cup of sugar, plus 1/2 cup
large pinch of salt
6 tbsps unsalted butter
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds or walnuts
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 pound of strawberries, hulled and quartered (about 3.5 cups)
12 ounces of rhubarb, ends trimmed, chopped

Preparation
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, 2/3 cup of sugar, and salt. Add the butter to the mixture, blending in with your fingertips until the mixture is clumpy. Mix in the oats and nuts.

Preheat the oven to 375.

In a separate mixing bowl, add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and vanilla extract. Mix well. Add the strawberries and rhubarb and toss to coat with the sugar mixture.

Scrape the fruit into your baking dish until it covers the bottom evenly.  Sprinkle the oat topping evenly on top.

Bake until the filling bubbles up and over the oat topping, about 45 minutes.

Let cool for 15 minutes. Serve with ice cream.

Recipe: Spicy Bacon Jam

This post is a bit late, but since my Father's Day gift was a bit late (sorry, dad!), I suppose it's okay.

What do you get for the dad who doesn't like watching sports or playing golf? My father doesn't work in an office so ties and cuff links are out. His company is woodworking so buying tools is sort of like giving a housewife an iron. Not cool. (Also, I can't afford the tools he does want.) Oh, and he doesn't drink. Gifts can be hard.

So bacon jam has started popping up on menus here in NYC, and I knew after the third time I ordered it from yet another restaurant that I needed to make some and send it as a Father's Day gift.

I'm not going to lie, it's pretty incredible.

I decided to base my recipe off of Martha Stewart's recipe and while it doesn't look pretty, it's very tasty. There isn't any fruit in this so calling it jam is a bit of a misnomer, but it is sweet and it does have a jelly-like substance to it. The bacon is rendered so it isn't crunchy; typically I dislike non-crunchy bacon but it works perfectly with the texture.

So what does one do with bacon jam?

I suppose you could slap some on a piece of baguette, perhaps with a bit of brie cheese and eat it like that. I've been putting it as a condiment on my sandwiches - as you can see in the photos with  my cheddar, pepperjack, and avocado sandwiches.

I put it in pasta as well, which was good, but not as delicious as the sandwich. I'm looking forward to mixing some in with my eggs, as well as maybe stirring some into some fried potatoes!


Ingredients
1 pound sliced bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, diced
1 jalapeno
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3 ounces pure maple syrup
3/4 cup brewed coffee

Preparation
In a large skillet over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, cook bacon until the fat has been rendered, about half an hour. If you haven't rendered bacon before, the goal is to turn the fatty parts of the bacon into liquid grease; you'll end up with a skillet of it!

With a slotted spoon, scoop out the bacon pieces, leaving the grease, and place bacon pieces on a paper towel.

Add onions and jalapeno and cook in the bacon grease for about 4-6 minutes. When onions have softened and are turning translucent, add the garlic, vinegar, sugar, syrup, and coffee and bring to a boil.

Boil for about 2 minutes and then add the bacon pieces back into the mixture.

Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a slow cooker. Cook uncovered on high for 4 hours, until liquid is syrupy.

Transfer to a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.

You can enjoy right away, otherwise store in the fridge.

Recipe: Homemade Toothpaste

So not only do I make most of my food from scratch (or try to, at least!), I also try to make most of my toiletries from scratch as well, for generally the same reason: I'm trying to cut out the high number of preservatives and potentially harmful ingredients I'm exposed to on a daily basis.

When I ran out of toothpaste one day, I figured I'd give toothpaste making a go.


After a bit of research, it turns out that we don't necessarily need to brush our teeth with anything other than water and a toothbrush. Flossing is much more important as we really need to get the food out from in between our teeth.

As you can imagine, my breath was awful so I gave up on that after a day.

So with a bit more research, I tried making a paste with baking soda and hydrogen peroxide and brushing with that. My breath was slightly better and, WOW, my teeth were sparkling white. After 2-3 days of this mixture, my teeth became very sensitive from the whitening.

I tried just baking soda by itself, but that is nasty. Also, it doesn't really neutralize bad breath. And if I remember correctly, just baking soda still leaves grit on your teeth. Gross.

I think I experimented a bit more, but now I have this recipe that I love, adapted from Wellness Mama. My teeth feel clean, my breath smells great (generally speaking), and the calcium in this recipe potentially remineralizes teeth. (She explains how that works on her site.)

I'm not a dentist or a researcher so I'll not claim anything here, except my own experience. Between this toothpaste recipe and regular flossing, my teeth look and feel better than they ever have before.

Ingredients
5 parts calcium powder (dried, powdered eggshells will also work)
2 parts baking soda
3 parts xylitol
5 parts coconut oil
10-20 drops peppermint essential oil
5 drops orange essential oil

Note: I tend to use tablespoons for mine so it would 5 tbsps calcium powder, 2 tbsps, baking soda, etc.

Mix dry ingredients together.

Heat coconut oil if necessary until the oil liquefies. Add oil one part at a time until desired consistency. (I like about 5 tablespoons in mine; you may prefer more or less.)

Stir in essential oils.

Store and use!

I keep mine in a ceramic container in the bathroom. If it's just you and you're confident in your hygiene, you can just dip your toothbrush into it.

If there are multiple people in your household, you could add an applicator or try putting it in an icing/frosting tube and squeezing it out.

Recipe: Spinach Gnocchi in a Parmesan Butter Sauce

For lots of reasons, I've been rather lax about preparing meals lately. I'm not proud of it, and I've definitely not felt as amazing as I usually do BUT I'm still trying to eat as fresh and healthy as I can.

I came up with this dish due to lack of time and energy and it is very tasty and very rich considering the little effort that goes into it.  Because this is one of my last minute, go-to recipes, I don't have exact measurements or ingredients. I tend to make it with whatever I have on hand, and it's even tasty plain. Of course, I much prefer it with vegetables in it because it's much heartier and more filling, but use what you have on hand for this quick dish.

I found fresh (and affordable!) gnocchi with spinach ground into the pasta. So that's the base. I whipped up a quick butter sauce while the gnocchi was boiling. If you're feeling ambitious, toss fresh vegetables in the butter and saute them. If you're lazy and have fermented vegetables on hand, just wait until everything is ready and add a spoonful on top when it's finished baking. (You can guess which one I did...)

Ingredients
1 pound of gnocchi
3-4 tablespoons of butter
parmesan cheese

optional: shallots (or fermented onions), garlic, fresh spinach, bit of lemon juice (or zest of preserved lemons), chili flakes, salt, pepper

Preparation
Place a pot of water on the stove. Add the gnocchi once the water begins to boil. Keep an eye on it as it usually only takes 4 minutes.

Place your butter in a pan on the stove as well.

If you're using fresh produce, you'll need a bit more butter, it should be on medium heat, and you should begin sauteing. Start with the shallots/onions and saute until they're golden brown - about 4 minutes. If you have anything else crunchy you want to add, do it now. Otherwise, as the shallots/onions brown, add the rest of your ingredients: spinach, lemon juice/zest, garlic, and spices.

If you're not using fresh produce, keep your butter on low heat.

I like to add the cheese (after the veg have softened) and let it melt into the butter. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.

As the gnocchi finishes (it will get all fluffy and float to the top of the pan), I add it to the sauce/veg mixture and saute it for a few more minutes.

Add the gnocchi and sauce to your bowl and let it cool for a moment or two. If you're using fermented veg, now would be the time to add it and stir it into the dish.

And there you go! Very simple and delicious.

Total time: 5-10 minutes
Serves: 2 people

How Do You Know When Your Ferment Has Gone Bad? (AKA Fermenting is Really Easy, I Swear!)

One of my favorite things about fermenting food isn't the health benefits or the idea of using it as food storage, though those things are great, but I really love how it easy it is.

If you look at vegetable fermentation, at it's core you just essentially put some vegetables in some salty water. Sure, sometimes you can get more complicated that - maybe you want to chop everything, maybe you're fermenting salsa, maybe you're making something alcoholic - but at it's core, fermenting is fairly simple and straightforward.

My biggest concern when I started fermenting foods was that it would go bad. I'm the type of person who throws out the whole container when it gets moldy rather than carefully clean it and disinfect it for future use so trust me when I tell you I hate mold and bad bacteria.

As an American, I was raised to think all bacteria is bad. Obviously, we've been learning in the last few years why that attitude is not only incorrect but can be very dangerous. Some bacteria is good. We need bacteria to live, to thrive. If you're having a little freak out right now because you don't know if you can eat living bacteria, I'd just like to point out that if you eat yogurt, saurkraut, cheese, olives or drink beer, wine or kombucha, then you already consume fermented foods. Congrats!

Now let's move on to what happens if you follow a fermentation recipe. If you look at my fermented jalapeno pepper recipe, you'll find that it's very simple. Peppers. Salt. Water. You get the basic steps. But what's happening in there? What if something goes wrong? What if you accidentally eat the bad bacteria and get really sick?!

Don't worry. I don't want you to die from using my recipe either. 

Here's what's going to happen. On the peppers you bought (and on everything, really) are thousands, maybe millions of bacteria and yeast waiting for their chance to thrive. After you clean the peppers with hot water and toss them in the brine, the salt in the water suppresses the "bad" bacteria and allows the "good" bacteria to do it's thing.

If all goes according to plan, after a few days you'll start to see bubbles at the top of the brine. That's good. It's working. Sometimes you get a lot of bubbles. Sometimes you only get a few. It doesn't really matter.

Then your bubbly ferment will start to turn cloudy. The colors on the fruit will dim. Don't panic. The cloudiness you're seeing is dead yeast. Did I mention that there's also a lot of yeast along with the bacteria? Anyway, it's all going according to plan.

Let it sit a bit longer. Check your recipe. Sometimes ferments are ready to go after a few days, sometimes after a few months, and the annoying thing is (especially when you start out and you're really concerned about bacteria) that the length of time depends on you and your kitchen.

Basically what happens is this: when you start your ferment, it takes a day or two as the bacteria start to wake up. Then it turns into a party. Then the party starts to wind down and everyone goes home (aka dies).

Ideally you want to stick your ferment in a fridge (or somewhere below 60F) right as the party winds down. When your bubbles start to dwindle, that's a very good indication that you should tighten the lid and move your container to a cooler place.

Warmer environments speed things up. So if you live somewhere without air conditioning and it's 95F, then you need to check on your ferment quite a bit because you could have something ready in a few days. If you live in a much cooler place and it's only 75F, then it'll take a bit longer.

If you're ever unsure, which could happen because maybe you didn't get that many bubbles or the temperature fluctuated, I recommend taking a deep breath to brace yourself, then smell it, and taste it. The deep breath is to help calm your nerves - even though I usually know what I'm making and eating, it's still scary to taste-test something! But really, smell it. Does it smell like food? Or does it smell off? Taste it. You'll know immediately if it's bad. (It's probably not bad.)

Here's how you know when a ferment has gone bad (and pay attention, this is important):

1. It has mold. Mold is fuzzy. Mold is usually green. Mold is on the surface. If you have something slimy on the bottom of your ferment? Something white on the sides? Not mold, probably yeast and normal, so go ahead and eat it.

See the fuzzy cloudiness? Normal.

Some cultures feel that mold is normal and okay and they happily scrape the mold off and let it continue. Some others will scrape the mold off the top once and hope it doesn't come back. I'm not really there yet. I don't want to chance it at all so it gets tossed.

2. You have kahm yeast. Kahm yeast grows on the surface. It's white and has little bubbles. Technically it's harmless and you can eat it. However, sometimes it doesn't have a good taste to it and you have to toss the whole thing*. The downside is that you have to taste your ferment to know if yours is fine or not.

That's it. That's really all that can go wrong.

But what about botulism?
Botulism is a common fear for people who can their food, and for good reason. It has serious side effects, including paralysis. In case you're not aware, it's caused by the bacteria clostridium botulinum, and sometimes a few other strains. Obviously, this is a bacteria you want to avoid.

C. botulinum is, like other bacteria, everywhere and is just waiting for the right conditions to grow and thrive. The right conditions: an anaerobic environment that's not too acidic, not too salty, and not too crowded with other bacteria. All of these conditions are the exact opposite of what you're trying to achieve when you're fermenting, and assuming you follow the recipe, to add vegetables in brine, you're going to be fine.

The only time botulism has been linked to fermentation is when you're fermenting fish and meat, and for some reason, they're all reported from Alaska.

So yeah, fermenting can be really easy and you'll know right away if it's safe to eat.

Now get to it!

*I have recently discovered a "cure" for kahm yeast. I'm currently testing it out to see if it works so stay tuned!