Sunday, December 30, 2012

Bath Salts & Bath Bombs


I know the Christmas season is done, but it's always a good idea to have gifts on hand to give as needed. Who doesn't like bath salts and bath bombs! The coolest thing about making bath salts is they’re super easy and you can make a bunch of them in a short amount of time. You can also make them fancy, fizzy, bubbly, colored, or just plain and they’re still so fun! I’m going to explain how to make a basic bath salt, a fizzy bath salt, and bath bombs.


Basic Bath Salts
Makes ~3 cups
Supplies:
o  Large bowl
o  Mixing spoon
Ingredients:
o  2 cup Epsom Salt
o  1 cup Baking Soda
o  ½ cup Oil, such as sweet almond, canola, shredded cocoa butter, etc (optional, but great for moisturizing)
o  10-15 drops, or desired amount, essential oil or fragrance (optional)
o  5-15 drops food coloring (optional)
o  Flower petals, such as rose, lavender, etc. (optional)
In a large bowl add dry ingredients, mix well. Add oil and mix. Add desired amount of essential oil/fragrance and food coloring. Mix well. I have found that the bath salts usually harden up a bit so don’t be surprised if you have to loosen them up after a day or so.


Fizzy Bath Salt
Makes ~4 cups
Supplies:
o  Large bowl
o  Mixing spoon
Ingredients:
o  2 cup Epsom Salt
o  1 cup Baking Soda
o  ¾ cup Citric Acid
o  ¾ cup Light Oil, such as sweet almond, canola, shredded cocoa butter, etc. (optional, but great for moisturizing)
o  10-15 drops, or desired amount, essential oil or fragrance (optional)
o  5-15 drops food coloring (optional)
o  Flower petals, such as rose, lavender, etc. (optional)
In a large bowl add dry ingredients, mix well. Add oil and mix. Add desired amount of essential oil/fragrance and food coloring. Mix well. The fizzy bath salts also harden up a bit so don’t be surprised if you have to loosen them up after a day or so.



Bath Bombs
Bath bombs are the same ingredients as the fizzy bath salts. The main difference is you have to add water via a spray bottle to saturate the salts in order to form into a bomb.
Spritz salts with no more than 2 sprays. Put your ear close to the bowl and listen to the crackles of the baking soda and citric acid. Mix well and continue until the salts stay together when pressed between your hands.
You can use just about anything for molds, such as silicone baking dishes, plastic Easter eggs, hands, etc. I used plastic Easter eggs because that’s what I have. To do this, you fill each half more than you think you should. Press both sides together with all of your might and let set for a minute or so. Slowly take the egg part off of the bomb without twisting. Even if they break and don’t stay together, ½ egg shaped bombs are cool too.
Another way of doing bath bombs is to do bath bomb chunks by spreading the mix in a cookie sheet. Let dry and break into chunks.

How to make bulk:
Of course you can just double, triple, quadruple, etc. the recipes, but here are some quick tips to make it faster:
-          2:1 ratio for citric acid to baking soda (ex: ½ cup citric acid to every 1 cup of baking soda)
-          2:1 ratio for salt to baking soda
-          All sorts of salts can be used, such as sea salt, epsom salt, or even table salt.
-          ½- ¾ cup oil to every 1 cup baking soda.
-          Oil/butters change the smell of the salts so keep that in mind on what oils/butters you add.



Packaging:
Bath salts and bombs look beautiful in most containers. Cellophane bags are a couple bucks at the local craft or party store. Most wedding sections in craft stores have a great selection of very cute jars and containers that hold roughly ¼- ½ cups of salt. Also, don’t forget the ribbons, labels, and all the other fun things to personalize the containers according to the wedding colors, bride and groom favors, etc.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Homemade Breadcrumbs

 

During the cooler months I'm inspired to eat only homemade bread instead of store bought bread. I've been making some deliciously flexible almost whole wheat breads that I will share the recipe with you soon. Last night I made some bread, which was a total flop. I let the first rise way to long. I decided to move onto the second rise, shaped it into loaves, and baked it. Not surprisingly the bread was dense and not sandwich bread worth. Nevertheless there's always a use for recipes gone wrong. As in art there are no mistakes, so with cooking the mistakes can be turned into other things and these loaves turned into breadcrumbs.

To make homemade breadcrumbs all you need is bread! Break the bread into chunks and let them air out on a cookie sheet until dry. Pulse in a food processor until desired consistency. You could also put the crumbs in a plastic bag and hammer those crumbs out (sounds like a great time for the kiddos). I store my crumbs in the freezer to ensure they don't mold. The fridge probably works too.

Now you have breadcrumbs for chicken nuggets, meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, etc. No need to buy that who knows what's in it store bought breadcrumbs when you can make some at home. Enjoy.