Twinkle Toes Foot Cream

A luscious, minty fresh foot cream for soothing tired feet and uplifting your soles. 

I have been dreaming up this minty foot cream recipe for quite some time, and I am so happy that I finally created it. Back when I was working as a Spa Therapist, one of my favorite foot creams was this buttery mint foot cream that made my feet feel velvety smooth. The only problem with that cream was that it was not natural and had quite a few chemicals. As soon as I acquired some organic, fair trade menthol crystals, creative inspiration poured down on me from the heavens and whispered “you must create a natural version of a mint foot cream“.

So here we are,
and here is the recipe:

Twinkle Toes Foot Cream
Yield – 18 ounces

Ingredients 
10 fluid ounces coconut oil
3/4 cup cocoa butter wafers
1 ounce grated beeswax
1 teaspoon menthol crystals 
1/2 cup peppermint hydrosol
1/4 cup aloe vera gel
1/4 cup distilled water
1 tablespoon rosehip seed oil
1/2 teaspoon vitamin E oil
4 drops spearmint essential oil

Directions

Place the coconut oil, cocoa butter wafers, beeswax, and menthol crystals into your double boiler. I like to use a glass pyrex measuring cup so that I can easily pour the melted concoction into my glass blender. You want to make sure not to over-heat the mixture, so as soon as everything has melted together, stir the mixture and remove from the water & heat. At this point you will want to add the rosehip seed oil, vitamin E, spearmint and stir together. Allow the oils to come to room temperature. You can test this by placing a drop of oil on your skin, if the oil is roughly the same temperature, it is at the desired temp. Now, pour the mixture into your clean and dry glass blender, out the lid on top and blend. Remove the middle insert of the lid so that you are able to slowly drizzle the distilled water, peppermint hydrosol, and aloe vera gel into the center of the oil vortex. If the vortex has disappeared, simple stop blending and use a spatula to push down the sides and mix the cream together. Once that is mixed a little more, turn the blender on again and put whatever liquids you have left into. Continue this process until everything is thoroughly mixed together and you have a luscious cream. Immediately pour into clean dry containers and allow it to cool before sealing them with your lids.

Now all that is left is to label, date, and store your creation!
You can refrigerate the creams for a longer shelf life but it is not necessary. The cream should last for 6 months – 12 months. Always check the scent of the cream before using, if it smells “off”, disregard use.

One of my favorite uses for this cream is to massage it into my feet and legs after a soothing epsom salt foot soak or bath. This lotion is intended for the body, so kindly refrain from using this on any delicate part of your body!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

With Love & Gratitude, 
Stephanie

xx

Roses Are Red – A Tea for Women

Roses are red, violets are blue.
This tea is delicious, and good for your womb.

        During my pregnancy with my daughter, I became obsessed with women’s health and empowerment. I learned all about Doulas, Midwifery, Blood Mysteries, Womb Yoga, Yoni Eggs, Menstrual Cups, Sea Sponges, Yoni Steams, and so much more! There is a vast wealth of knowledge in the ancient art of the divine feminine, and I am so grateful that women’s health is becoming more mainstream and that women are beginning to empower themselves through these practices!

One of my first assignments in the Chestnut Herbs Medicine Making Course was to create an herbal tea blend & infusion. Naturally I wanted to create a blend specifically designed for women. Here’s a quick list of some of the benefits from these wonderful herbal allies:

Uterine Tonic
Hormone Balancer
Fertility Increasing
Astringent
Improves Skin
High in Vitamin C
Lowers LDL Cholesterol
Calming

Sounds pretty awesome right? The best part is that it is also delicious, tart, astringent, and sweet – especially with a little local organic honey.

Can’t wait to try the recipe? Well then wait no more!

Roses are Red Tea

1 cup Red Clover Blossoms 
1 cup Lemon Balm
1 cup Hibiscus
1/2 cup Rose Buds or Petals
1/2 cup Raspberry Leaf
1/4 cup Rose Hips
1/4 cup Nettle Leaf

To make the infusion:

Bring desired amount of water to a boil. While you are waiting for the water to boil place your desired amount of tea into a tea strainer and then place that strainer into your vessel. You can use a tea cup or a mason jar, but if you decide to use a jar, place the jar into a sink when you pour the hot water into it. There is always the possibility of the glass breaking, while it is rare, it can happen – be prepared! As a general rule use 1 teaspoon of herb per 1 cup of water and steep for 15-20 minutes for all the medicinal benefits.

Once the tea is steep add a little bit of honey (if desired), and enjoy!

With Love,
Stephanie

xx

What is love?

What is love? Not the romantic, lustful kind most people think of when they hear love, or even the motherly, parental kind of love. I’m talking about universal love, for humanity and all of earths creatures. Is that even possible? Can a love like that really exist? I mean, let’s face it, humans aren’t always the nicest bunch. Not to mention that we are all seemingly SO different.

In your minds eye I want you to imagine a row of people, and in this row of people I want you to place all the different kinds/types of people you can think of.. Let’s say that from left to right you put a thug, a business woman or man, a nerd, a teacher, tribal person, trophy wife, homeless man, etc. And keep in mind that all of these people are comprised of all the races that exist. Now that’s a pretty lively bunch of people don’t you think? If you asked someone if they thought that these people were all the same, do you think that they would say yes? Probably not. But what if we stripped these people of their clothing, tattoos, accessories, skin color and beliefs? Now something truly magical happens. All of these people who seemed so different suddenly become the same. Clearly we can see our core, true nature, and who we really are. We are simply a creature who is conscious – a conscious being who only wants to love and be loved.

This realization of self and others, that we are NOT our things, our beliefs, or even our experiences, is profound. Yet, as profound as it is, it can be a really hard concept to accept and put into action. I know that I continue to have a tough time with it, but it certainly gets easier with practice. Whenever I feel prickly towards someone, I remember that deep down beyond the walls they’ve built up to protect themselves from being hurt, they are the exact same as myself. Just a conscious being who wants to love and be loved. Unfortunately, as a society, we have yet to figure out how to love after being damaged.. Everyone experiences that hurt in different ways… But maybe if we realize that we are born with our true nature of love, it will become easier to move past the pain and become fully self-realized.

I ask of you today, and all days, to remember that even though we may appear to be different on the outside, we are really all the same on the inside. Let us heal as a community by showing those who have been hurt, just as you have, all the love you can muster. In the face of challenges and pain, move forth with understanding and love. We are one, and we are here to love.

BE love my friends.
Be love.
❤️

Wild Persimmon Crisp (GF)

I can’t believe that I am finally making my first post on my new blog, it may not seem like a big deal, but here I am… heart beating just a little deeper and faster. Twinges of nervousness and excitement for what could come of it, and also just the feeling of vulnerability for putting myself out there.

But you know, I could not think of a better first post than this.

Over the holidays I had a hankering for an apple crumble, a childhood favorite, and decided to make it for our family thanksgiving gathering.
It was tart, sweet, delicious, and hit all the points. Yet, when I first tasted this persimmon crisp I couldn’t help but think “My god, this is so much tastier!”.

Anyways, we ended up reconnecting with our friends Joel & Family from Naturalist For You (a non-profit organization teaching about nature and sustainability), Amazing people. They have this giant Fuyu Persimmon Tree in their yard and it was brimming with ripe and ready to use persimmons. Not only that but they had bags of wild foraged black walnuts (different than the english variety they sell in the store). Joel & his family gave us a bag and told us to pick as many persimmons as we would like! So many ideas came rushing to my mind, initially I thought of the recipe from Chestnut School of Herbs – Spiced Hawthorn Pear Persimmon Brandy . Then I thought of persimmon Jelly/preserves, but then it clicked! Persimmon Crisp… Yes, this is what I would make & share with them.

It was a labor of love creating this.

I spent about an hour carefully getting the walnuts out of their shells.. Although the first one didn’t go so well, I smashed it to smithereens! Hahaha, I kept thinking of my husband saying “You have to hit it really hard”.. I’m like okay, here we go – *SMASH* *SMASH* *SMASH* with the hammer I went… I open up the towel that I had wrapped around the first doomed walnut only to see what looked like a walnut paste. Too hard Stephanie, too hard. I finally found the finesse it took to take the walnut out practically whole, just a delicate but firm strike to the horizontal line along the shell. — Oh, I should also mention that I saved the hull of the walnut to make a tincture – it contains juglone, a component which is said to rid the body of parasites. Black walnut is also a natural laxative and contains vitamin C.. (among many other benefits). You can purchase it from Mountain Rose Herbs, Here.

Once I had all of my walnuts shelled, it was time to get to getting with the persimmons.

I had about 15 persimmons to create a 3 Quart baking dish full of crisp. The chopping and peeling of them took about another hour, maybe more with Aria crawling around. The beautiful thing about these Persimmons is that they barely have any seeds so you can really utilize the entire fruit.

Once the persimmons are all chopped and peeled they should look like this. I love doing a rustic imperfect chop, so really it doesn’t matter how you chop them, just make sure that the chunks aren’t too large otherwise they will be too firm in the bake. *phew* Finally time for the best part – the creation and baking of the crumble. I wasn’t sure what gluten free flours I should use at first, but I ended up going with brown rice flour and almond meal. I like the texture of brown rice flour a lot because I feel like it is the most similar to flour (light and soft), and the flavor of almond meal is delightful. A good combination in my eyes! Once I had it all mixed together with the oats, sugar, and spices, it started to smell like the holiday season all throughout my home.

Oven’s set to 350 and all I need to do is place it in the oven for 45-60 minutes and then….

hale-llujah
The masterpiece is complete.

You know, I’m still in disbelief that I created this recipe, I’ve always loved cooking and baking but never thought that I could create recipes (especially for baking). I am proud, happy, excited, and feeling hopeful for my future creations.. But I know that there will be just as many ‘mistakes’ as there are successes.

With that being said it is with a tender heart that I open myself to you and share this creation of mine. I sincerely hope you enjoy it and find it to be one of your holiday favorites as it is now ours.

With Love,
Stephanie

& Here is the FULL recipe – Enjoy!

Wild Persimmon Crisp 

Ingredients

For the filling:
15 persimmons, peeled & chopped
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup  organic raw cane sugar
2 Tbsp brown rice flour
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

For the topping:
1 cup gluten-free oats
1/2 cup chopped black walnuts (or any walnut)
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground clove
1/8 tsp nutmeg
10 Tbsp Grass-fed Organic Butter, chilled and cubed

***I use organic whenever possible to support out earth and pesticide free agriculture***

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel persimmons and cut off top leaves, proceed to cut the persimmon into small rustic chunks. Place chopped persimmons into a large mixing bowl and add lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, and flour.

Mix thoroughly and and add to a buttered 3-quart baking dish.

Set aside.

In another large mixing bowl add brown rice flour, almond meal, all the spices, and oats. Mix thoroughly. Add the chilled and cubed butter to the bowl and mix in with your hands, just until large clumps form. Once mixed, fold chopped walnuts into the mixture.

Add the mixture evenly to the top of the persimmons in the baking dish.

Place in oven for 45-60 minutes, or until the top is crispy and the fruit juices are bubbling. Persimmons should be soft when pierced with a toothpick.

Allow the crisp to cool and serve warm.

Enjoy

Xx