Pacific Island Foods

As someone with a limited diet, I'm always interested in finding new foods I can eat, or finding new parts of foods or plants that I can eat.

This is a link to a series of leaflets on South Pacific foods and it's simply wonderful. Lots of recipes, but also lots of practical advice on how to prepare these foods from scratch, or use them in recipes. There is information on more common foods like pineapple, or foods that folks in the west may not be as familiar with, like rarer nuts or tubers.  Also some great information on food we don't eat here at all typically, but could - things like how to make and prepare fresh fig leaves, or the leaves from a chile plant or pumpkin, that sort of thing.

I totally recommend you check it out!

Homemade sunscreen

This one looks pretty interesting - a homemade sunscreen bar:
http://wellnessmama.com/4844/sunscreen-bars/

One thing, though, is that it requires a lot of oils that many of us can't use. Might be able to find something to substitute with, though.

However, in the interests of the most natural sunscreen ever, I remind you of pigs. Who roll in the mud not only to keep cool, but as a kind of protection from the sun, too.

That's right: rub mud on your skin - the most basic form of sunscreen there is. 

Now, that sounds silly for folks who are going to, say, an amusement park or a picnic. Most of them dressed up and don't care to have mud all over. However, if you were, say, hiking, or gardening? You have a hat on for face protection, so typically you just need arms and legs. Which are going to be getting covered in dirt anyway, so hey, why not just rub them down with a little wet dirt and save the money on sunscreen? Or the possibility of a reaction, at least if you can find some clean dirt that's not, you know, contaminated by heavy metals or something.

I have a friend whose grandmother used to do this when out gardening, living out west and not having sunscreen at the time. Everything old is new again, I guess!

Homemade Cashew Cream

Homemade Cashew Cream

The original idea for this is from a blog that is no longer in existence (and I can't recall the name to save my life) but it's basic and easy, so not too hard to pass on. There will eventually be photos, when my camera comes back to life.

If you don't know what cashew cream is, it's AWESOME is what it is. It has a hint of sweetness to the taste, but it thickens up like dairy, like really thick, so it's a great dairy substitute for dishes that need thickening during heating, especially if the flavors blend well.

DIY gelatin

I found a link for DIY GELATIN at maantistaaste.com.  Yes, that's the gelatin you could use to make jello.

Originally it was for pork bones, but I used it for ox tail and it worked GREAT.  I'd check out the link above to see what they have to say about gelatin, as it's interesting, but let me tell you the basics here.

Homemade electrolyte solution

An electrolyte solution, yeaaa!  I have never been able to find an electrolyte solution free from my allergens, so this is the result of a little research on nutrients needed in electrolyte solutions and some taste testing.

As this is an electrolyte solution of my own design, I would be wary of using this in an emergency situation where you need a more precise and verified balance of electrolytes, but I'll put in the specifics of what I've found, so you can see if it works for you, eh? If I'm really dehydrated, I have it as is, but more often, I dilute it more and have it instead of water. It seems to help me a little better than plain water does.

Oil Cleansing Method

I have been using soapnuts liquid to wash my face and skin with, but I live in a desert and I have dry skin. The soapnuts cleans it, and doesn't strip the oil away, but it doesn't add any, either, and my skin simply never, well, glows.

That's what we all want, right? That glowy, lovely skin that...that I've never had, ever, so why I think I'll get it after 40 is a mystery. But I'll keep trying anyway!

Enter the 'oil cleansing method.'

Soapnuts 2

I've been using soapnuts liquid since November now. Here's the verdict so far.

Homemade, grain-free starches and flours

In the last few years, I've reacted to all processed starch that I've purchased. I know of other sulfite-sensitive folks who have said the same, as well as some super-sensitive celiacs, and some folks who have to be corn or grain free.

If you need a starch, however, and you can have either sweet potato or potato, there's a really easy way to make your own sweet potato or potato starch. This method leaves you with remainders from the process that you can turn into sweet potato flour or potato flour, too!

Stevia Syrup

I can have stevia as long as I grow it myself, so imagine how excited I was to learn that you can make stevia syrup from the leaves!

This site shows how: http://lifehacker.com/5951453/diy-stevia-syrup

Stevia Syrup:

How to make your own chickpea flour

This is really easy. It takes a bit, but it's really easy. I don't have a grain grinder or nut grinder, so I have to use my blender. I'm sure it's even easier with a grinder!

Making Chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour:

Soapnuts, or no shampoo, part 2

After using only baking soda and vinegar for a few months as my hair cleaning regimen, I was starting to have problems with my hair care. There was a slow build up of oil in my hair that I could eliminate, but to do so, it was seriously drying out my scalp and hair with the amount of baking soda I had to use.

Unpleasant.

It didn't work well at all with my teenage daughter, either, who produces a lot more oil in general, and has exceedingly thick hair that was difficult to penetrate with the baking soda mixture.

So, I went on another researching binge and I found something that works well. My daughter and I have been using this since November and it is AWESOME.

Soapnuts. 

No Shampoo

Shampoo has been a bit of a problem for a while - lots of allergies means more and more shampoos are making us react. My daughter has been having a lot of skin problems due to shampoo, so we've been a bit desperate lately.

Which leads me to here: cleaning my hair without shampoo. I know people do this. I hear about it; I read about it. So I decided to give it a try.

Homemade bouillon

There are a lot of foods that I can't eat, obviously, but I come across so MANY awesome looking recipes that I hate to just leave them to languish in the depths of my bookmark folders. Who knows, maybe someday I could even eat these!

So I'm going to start listing some here, for my potential later use, and for the use of anyone who may be able to enjoy these today.

First off, homemade bouillon, from 101cookbooks.