bluebuckeye, posting in naturalliving:
One of my goals for the next year is to totally phase out paper towels. I would like to get up a stash of cloth towels or rags that is large enough I can go a week or two without running out, while still using them as often as I use regular paper towels. I'm debating whether to buy fabric or just to cut up some old t-shirts and use those. I mainly use paper towels for wiping down the counter, squeezing out potatoes for hash browns, or for soaking up bacon grease. What do you all use for this kind of thing? Any specific fabrics that you like or that work better than others?

crazy_invisible, posting in naturalliving:
I have been doing OCM for a few weeks or maybe a month. For the most part, my face has been looking much better (aside from a few breakouts here and there). I am planning on changing my ratio from 30 castor oil and 70 grapeseed oil to 20/80 because my skin has been quite dry.
My only problem, basically, is blackheads. Mainly on my nose - tip of my nose and the bridge between my eyes. There are a few blackheads on my cheeks, and forehead, but they are mostly on my nose.
Wondering if anyone has any ideas on ways to get rid of the blackheads, or if there is anything I should change in my OCM routine? Or really any reason why I am still having trouble with these pesky things.

Thanks all.

songspell, posting in what_a_crock:

I just joined because I have a holiday breakfast dilemma. I'm planning on making an "oatmeal bar" for breakfast on Christmas, and by that I mean oatmeal with bowls of "fixin's" (dried fruit, brown sugar, nuts, butter, cream, etc, for everyone to do it up their own way).

I have been making batches of steel-cut oatmeal in my slow cooker for a few weeks now. I've been following Alton Brown's recipe for "over-night oatmeal" (it actually only take 4 hours in my slow cooker...), so I'm pretty comfortable with that recipe, but does anyone know the proportion of oatmeal to liquid if I don't want to add dried fruit to the pot while it's cooking? I'm assuming I would need less liquid because there is no fruit to be reconstituted... I just want oatmeal without bits in it.

(For reference, AB's recipe calls for 1 cup oatmeal, 2 cups of dried fruit, 4 cups of water, and 1/2 cup or half-and-half.)

m_natale, posting in naturalliving:
 Hey everyone!  Long time lurker, first time poster.
I have had athlete's foot between a few of my toes that I just can't seem to get rid of.  I've had it for several months.  It'll go away a little bit then come back again full force.  I have tried the OTC athlete's foot cream from Walgreen's, as well as witch hazel mixed with a little bit of tea tree oil.  Both of these seem to help on the surface for about a half a day or so, then right back to the insane itchiness!
Does anyone know of a sure fire way to get rid of this annoyance (preferably herbal or homeopathic)?
Thanks, in advance for any advice!

drivenbylove, posting in naturalliving:
I want to make my own laundry detergent using this recipe. I have a few questions:


1. Does this look like a good recipe?

2. I want to add essential oils so that the laundry detergent has a good smell. If I put the oils in, will it make my clothes oily? Thanks so much for your help!

bron_the_brin, posting in naturalliving:
X-posted to beauty101 

I live in Sweden and I can't find virgin coconut oil from shops, and the only place I've found that sells it online has sky high prices. I turned to Ebay (which I've never used) and it took me ages of googling to find items that will ship to Sweden.
Since I've never bought this before, I don't really know what the "right" stuff should be like. Basically, I want at least a litre (32oz) so I can start using it for homemade deo, for my skin, maybe for my hair and I want to try it as lube, since I'm very yeast infection prone.

( I have a few questions. )

PS. I have about 13 more hours before the bidding ends, so I'm in a hurry! Thank you once again!

While I'm at it, I want to share something I've found working for my hair. I've always had hair that never felt soft and got greasy quite quickly. A couple of months ago I looked around for natural ways of washing hair and since then I've done the following after washing my hair with shampoo and conditioner: I mix a third of a decilitre of lemon with a tablespoon of honey with some warm water (so the honey melts) and even more cold water in a large cup. After washing my hair, I rinse my hair with this, then wash it out quickly with water (but leaving some of it in). I've noticed that my hair becomes so much softer right afterwards and also when it's dry. The other day I forgot to rinse my hair with this stuff and my hair felt like steel wool! Dunno what's making my hair soft out of these things, but it softens my hair! :D

theliveofv, posting in naturalliving:
Hi again. I just found this neat recipe for making homemade stick deodorant in case anyone is interested. Hope you like it!

http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2009/03/quick-stick-deodorant.html

thhiiiefff, posting in naturalliving:
Hey all,
I remember a while ago [perhaps a year or two back] someone posted about wanting to switch from using toilet paper to home-made cloth alternatives. I too am looking to make that switch. I've been looking for that post or one like it for an hour. Does anyone have the link to it, or a make-your-own-cloth-tp tutorial, handy? Thanks in advance.

brown1dgirl, posting in what_a_crock:

I had a supremely yummy crock-pot beef roulade recipe last year and now I can't find it! I don't see it on here, but it could have come from anywhere. I remember the beef spread with mustard, onions, bacon and dill pickles, rolled up, dredged in flour, browned then put in the crock. Some kind of liquid was added, I'm sure. Then it cooked and at the end you got it out and added sour cream to the juice. Does that ring a bell for anybody? If so, please post the recipe with measurements and whatever I forgot. MANY thanks!

ambria_sornia, posting in naturalliving:
My dad has entrusted me to find out about getting solar panels for the house. He wants to find a new source of energy and maybe even get some cutbacks from the government.:)

So where can we find info on this? How much to solar panels cost? And how can you install them?

Also, is there a way to conserve rainwater? (like for gardening)

larivee22, posting in vegrecipes:
1 quart of Potato Peel Broth  2-3 bunches or broccoli, or one bag of frozen broccoli 1/2 gallon milk 1 small onion pepper and salt to taste Saute the onion in butter or olive oil.  Add the potato peel broth and bring to a rolling boil.  Add broccoli, boil broccoli in potato peel broth until soft, then add the milk.  Boil down for 2-3 hours, season with pepper and salt to taste.

evershadowed, posting in naturalliving:

I came across the Kiehl's (www.kiehls.com) product line in my Natural Health magazine and ended up glancing through their website. The following look interesting:

rare earth deep pore cleansing masque
blue herbal moisturizer
rare earth deep pore daily pore cleanser
centella skin calming facial cleanser
centella recovery skin salve

And they have a counter in Shanghai, which is all sorts of cool. Buuuut, while the key ingredients for these products sound great, Kiehl's does not seem to fully disclose ingredients, so I can't see if there are any nasties to avoid :(

So my question for you all...has anyone used products from Kiehl's (either one of the above listed or others) and what did you think of them? How natural are they? If you own one of their products...I'd love to see an ingredient list >.>

Thanks in advance :) While I still hope to use homemade recipes for cleansers and such, it'd be nice to know if there are decent brands with (mostly)natural ingredients here in Shanghai somewhere.

iagoda112, posting in naturalliving:

I have been having a weird problem with my homemade household cleaner. I am using a mix of white vinegar and lemon juice, but in each spray bottle I have tried, it seems to be clogging up the tube and basically the spray will not work. Has anyone else had a similar experience? I really want to use my mixture, it works well, but I hate that I can't use it in a convenient way.

artlessthan3, posting in naturalliving:
I've found conflicting information about invisible zince. Is it safe? And how natural is it?
Thanks!

white_howler, posting in what_a_crock:

Hello! Joined the community when it was on the front page and boy am I glad!

Here's my first official contribution:

Snowed-in-chicken (in honor of our lovely East Coast storm!)

Ingredients:

1 small to med sized chicken (without gizzard)
1/2 cup sweet vermouth
1 cup water
2 slices of thick-sliced bacon

spices:
generous amount of salt
sprinkles of: pepper, paprika, garlic, sage, coriander -- enough to dust the chicken in the pot.

To cook:
Loosen fascia (connective tissue!) under the skin of chicken breast, insert a slice of bacon over each breast under the skin. Wrap remaining end of bacon around each leg and tuck into cavity (looooong bacon!). Pour vermouth and water into crock pot, place chicken in crock, season with salt and spices. Set on high, done in 4 hours. Remove bacon, and serve.

Very tender, as usual with a crock, and mildly flavorful. Perfect for setting, forgetting, taking time to dig out the car, and having a hot bird ready for you when you get in! Plus the leftover liquid is perfect for chicken soup.

photogfrog, posting in what_a_crock:

1 small prime roast beef
1 can of beer
1 decent sized piece piece of ginger, sliced
1 onion, cut into quarters
2 cloves of garlic
BBQ sauce
salt and pepper
5-6 small potatoes

1. Place onion on bottom of crock pot.
2. Place beef on onion. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Cover with beer and BBQ sauce.
4. Add ginger and garlic to beer/sauce mix.
5. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.
6. At the 6 hour mark, add the potatoes directly into the pot into the beer juices and cook til they are tender.

NOM!

alchemist511, posting in what_a_crock:

Our holiday party plans fell through due to the snow, so we had to improvise dinner with little notice. We had boneless spare ribs in the fridge for tomorrow, so I threw them in the crock with a bottle of barbecue sauce, some garlic powder, cracked pepper and garlic sauce. Set it on high for 4 hours, turning the ribs over a couple of times to make sure they got coated all over (there were 5 of them in there). They came out perfect! The fat had all but cooked off, they were tender and delicious.

lavenderspark, posting in what_a_crock:

I had asked for some help on a recipe a while back (original entry here: http://community.livejournal.com/what_a_crock/734192.html) and said that I would let you know how it went... Then I went on vacation and forgot.

It came out awesome! Next time I'll add some shredded cheese or something as there was no cheese flavor at all. I ended up putting the soup and chicken into a pyrex dish and putting that in the crock to cook.

Here's a picture of how it turned out



That's my husband's plate as my piece of chicken fell apart and didn't look pretty on the plate. But it tasted really good!

elven_ranger, posting in naturalliving:
Just a quick question to ask if anyone has any good tips for how to clear the pipes from the bathroom washbasin . The way the basin is, I cant get at the pipes themselves to  undo the pipes to clean them, but its rather blocked up, with soap residue and such i reckon, and before I have to go and buy a bottle of drain cleaning chemicals (EW!), I wondered if you have any ideas for clearing it in a more eco-friendly way. (have tried hot water and such already).

Thank you! :)

ecoskink, posting in naturalliving:

I have very sensitive and dry skin on my face that has been horrible lately.  I've been breaking out like crazy..mostly on my chin and forehead.  (is that your "t-zone"?) I can't remember the last time I used an actually face cleanser.  I switched to OCM a while ago, first using about 75% EVOO and 25% Castor Oil, and moisturizing with a little EVOO or sometimes Coconut Oil.  That worked well for a while, but I started breaking out again and getting white heads (by the way, what causes white heads?  It always seems like grease or oil trapped under the skin..is that correct?) So I thought the EVOO was too heavy, so I switched to Grapeseed oil (same 75%/25%)  I also started moiusturizing with pure Vitamin E oil almost every night.  Well, again I'm getting white heads and zits all the time and they take forever to go away. Honestly I'll have a pimple for 2 weeks or more, and they usually leave a red spot when they do go away.   I spot treat with Tea Tree Oil and that seems to do nothing.  I also have some black heads appearing on my chin. So I temporarily stopped using anything but water on my face.  I still need to moisturize after though, because even just plain water dries it out.  This doesn't seem to be helping the cause at all. HELP. I'm beginining to think that OCM is not for me, which really bums me out because I do see some positive things from it.  My skin seems so much less dry, and much smoother (aside from the pimples)   Does anyone have any recomendations?  I'm looking for tips on OCM or even a good, natural store bought cleanser + moisturizer.  I'd like to stay away from chemicals/fragrances that will likely dry me out even more.  I've tried Burts Bees back in the day and that didn't work out so well (plus I've been boycotting their products since the Clorox thing :p ) I eat a healthy vegetarian diet and drink plenty of water.  I don't ever wear makeup, so i don't think I need any heavy cleanser.  I just want clear skin.  The rest of the skin on my body is always clear, whats the deal with my face?