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 Hello Super Mushpa y Mensa Fans! We know it has been killing you waiting for our next post. Well here it is Maya’s Makeover Zine!!! We will not go on and on about our amazing zine as it is pretty self explanatory, but here is what Maya’s zine includes:
All this in a fantastical and printable PDF. Want some more Mushpa y Mensa? Check out www.mushpamensa.com With much love, Mushpa y Mensa |
Category Archives: Recipe
Minty Lavender & Rose Body Scrub
February is Mushpa’s Birthday Month!
She has a wonderful tradition of celebrating not only one day, but other days too! It makes you feel extra special, and your birthday lasts not only a day, not only a weekend, but a whole month! I’ve tried to get very creative and have hand-crafted many of her little gifts. Stamps made out of wine corks, soul-mate bracelets, and even a home-made potpourri!
A couple of days ago, I decided to whip up a really easy, but super delicious body scrub using all natural ingredients for her. Good for the body, and good for the soul!
All you need is:
-a clean glass jar, fabric, rubber band and ribbon
– organic sugar of your choice. The coarser, I think the better.
-organic coconut oil
-peppermint oil (or any other minty oil of your choice)
-lavender and dried rose hips
Heat some water in a sauce pan and place the coconut oil jar in the water. This will quickly soften up the oil without the need of a microwave! Measure about 1/3 cup of coconut oil and place in a bowl. Slowly add the sugar, until it starts absorbing most of the oil. I say it will be about a 1 cup. If you pour too much sugar and it becomes dry, add more oil!
After mixing the sugar and coconut oil, add the peppermint oil essence. I used about 20 drops of oil. Start with a little less, and keep adding until you find the perfect balance.
Add the Lavender! I suggest about 1 to 2 tablespoons, and mix it all up.
After you have the perfect scrub, line the bottom of your glass jar with rose hips. This is a nice little detail, and it looks beautiful at the bottom of the jar! Once the scrub is in, the roses will also absorb the oil and you can use them as part of the scrub too.
After the layer of rose hips, I added a layer of the scrub and filled it half way. Then I added a layer of lavender, placing the dried lavender on the outer edges of the glass so you could see it better. Then add the second layer of your scrub, and once again, one more layer of lavender. I placed three rose buds at the top so when Mushpa opened it, it looked oh-so-very-nice!
Close the jar. Cut a round piece of fabric, place it on the lid and hold it down with a rubber band. Then add the ribbon….. perfect!
Happy Birthday Month Mi Mushpa!
❤❤❤
-Mensa
Minty Lavender & Rose Body Scrub
February is Mushpa’s Birthday Month!
She has a wonderful tradition of celebrating not only one day, but other days too! It makes you feel extra special, and your birthday lasts not only a day, not only a weekend, but a whole month! I’ve tried to get very creative and have hand-crafted many of her little gifts. Stamps made out of wine corks, soul-mate bracelets, and even a home-made potpourri!
A couple of days ago, I decided to whip up a really easy, but super delicious body scrub using all natural ingredients for her. Good for the body, and good for the soul!
All you need is:
-a clean glass jar, fabric, rubber band and ribbon
– organic sugar of your choice. The coarser, I think the better.
-organic coconut oil
-peppermint oil (or any other minty oil of your choice)
-lavender and dried rose hips
Heat some water in a sauce pan and place the coconut oil jar in the water. This will quickly soften up the oil without the need of a microwave! Measure about 1/3 cup of coconut oil and place in a bowl. Slowly add the sugar, until it starts absorbing most of the oil. I say it will be about a 1 cup. If you pour too much sugar and it becomes dry, add more oil!
After mixing the sugar and coconut oil, add the peppermint oil essence. I used about 20 drops of oil. Start with a little less, and keep adding until you find the perfect balance.
Add the Lavender! I suggest about 1 to 2 tablespoons, and mix it all up.
After you have the perfect scrub, line the bottom of your glass jar with rose hips. This is a nice little detail, and it looks beautiful at the bottom of the jar! Once the scrub is in, the roses will also absorb the oil and you can use them as part of the scrub too.
After the layer of rose hips, I added a layer of the scrub and filled it half way. Then I added a layer of lavender, placing the dried lavender on the outer edges of the glass so you could see it better. Then add the second layer of your scrub, and once again, one more layer of lavender. I placed three rose buds at the top so when Mushpa opened it, it looked oh-so-very-nice!
Close the jar. Cut a round piece of fabric, place it on the lid and hold it down with a rubber band. Then add the ribbon….. perfect!
Happy Birthday Month Mi Mushpa!
❤❤❤
-Mensa
Super Delicious Chocolate Oat Bran Cookies
I have been working tirelessly on the greatest oat bran cookie recipe ever! I feel like I finally have one worthy enough to put in our blog. It is sugar free as well (for all you diabetics), we use Truvia Spoonable instead.
Here it is:
Dry Ingredients
12 Tablespoons of organic oat bran
5 Tablespoons organic Dutch processed cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons organic flax seeds
3.5 Tablespoons Truvia Spoonable
2 Teaspoons baking powder
Wet Ingredients
3 Tablespoons alcohol-free vanilla
2 whipped egg whites (dry or liquid)
3 Tablespoons Trader Joe’s fat-free sour cream (or organic nonfat Greek yogurt)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, then mix the wet ingredients in another bowl, then mix them all together. Mix ingredients for a few minutes till the oat bran and cocoa soak up all the fluids. You don’t want it runny. Then put some aluminum foil down on the baking sheet, grab a big spoon, dig in the batter and scoop out a spoonful onto the cookie sheet 12 times! Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Take out, cool and eat!
Keep the leftovers in the refrigerator since there are not any preservatives. This way they will last about a week. Use the sour cream if you want more of a brownie type of cookie. If you want a denser cookie use the Greek yogurt. They both are delicious just different.
Enjoy!!!
– Mushpa
The Healthiest Dessert: Tofu Chocolate Pudding!
The yummiest, and healthiest dessert you will ever eat….
And you can make it in less than 5 minutes.
-1 package of Silken Tofu
-1 tablespoon of sweetener (We like Stevia/Truvia. Adjust if you want more or less. I started sprinkling and kept adding until I reached about 1tbsp.)
-2 tablespoons of powdered cocoa (adjust as well…I started sprinkling and mixing until chocolatey goodness was reached)
-1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
Mix all ingredients in a food processor or blender….and boom! That’s it.
It was so good, that I realized that I should probably take a picture after I had finished it all!
-Mensa
Making some Organic Mayo….with Coconut Oil
We bought a jar of coconut oil at the super-market the other day.
It was a bit hard to find a good use for it because even after trying some recipes, it of course didn’t behave like the olive oil which we use regularly.
I did use it as a hair mask, which was nice, but there was still a lot left on the jar….
So out came the idea to make Mayo with coconut oil. I looked up some recipes and it is totally possible and doable.
We used…..
- 1 whole egg
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon of fancy mustard
- 1/2 a lemon’s juicy juice
- a good pinch of salt
- some pepper
- 1/2 cup of Organic Coconut Oil
- 1/2 cup of nice Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Disclaimer.… if this is your first time making mayo (like it was mine), be careful and do it EXACTLY as the instructions tell you… After you learn, then you can experiment. I should have done so…
Do the following:
- Mix your two oils together.
- In a food processor, blender or bowl (if you are hand whipping with a whisk grandma-style) mix the eggs, yolks, mustard, lemon juice and condiments.
- After all is nice and even start adding DROPS of oil to your mixture and continue the blending and whisking process. *** this is where I messed up***…If you add the oil too fast, the mixture will curdle and you’ll end up with oily egg juice… So sad.
- Keep adding drops until it turns a lighter color…you will be able to tell if they start mixing well.
- SLOWLY add little streams of oil and continue to blend…and just keep doing it slowly, oh so patiently…
- After you are almost done with the oil (about 1/4 cup left) you can speed it up a bit if using a blender, and add the rest of the oil. It should start to become a heavier mixture….continue on until its silky smooth.
- Let it set for 30 minutes in the fridge.
*** IF YOU MESS UP***
I saw many posts and recipes say how you could not save your mixture if it curdled….NOT TRUE! You can mess up and still have delicious mayo!
Since I had done it the first time in the blender and messed up, I decided to hand-whip it.
I added another egg yolk in a bowl and whipped it….and to that base I started to add the droplets of the curdled mix slowly, whipping it by hand. I followed the instructions clearly this time, and poured the messed up mixture in without having to throw it away! And it worked!
FANTABULOUS Home-made, coconut oil mayonnaise.
Since it’s home-made, with NO preservatives and whack ingredients, it only keeps in the fridge for about two weeks or less….but its worth it!
YUMMMM……
-Mensa
Homemade Clay: An Inconvenient Truth…
So you try to be conscious and it ends up you didn’t do much better than you originally thought you would.
I looked, and searched for home-made clay recipes all over the internet. I was looking for a clay that would be malleable yet durable enough to make beautiful things, cheap enough to produce and make over and over again, and a recipe that didn’t use nasty or toxic ingredients.
And I found one! It was perfect….or so I thought.
The ingredients?
-1 cup of Non-Toxic Elmer’s glue
-3/4 to 1 cup of Corn Starch
-2 tbsp of mineral oil Olive Oil
-1 tbsp of lemon juice
Not so toxic, right?…. Well, I looked into what mineral oil really is, and essentially it is the “by-product of the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline and other petroleum-based products from crude-oil”. That same oil in the clear bottle and the pink cap that you put on a baby’s bum bum, that stuff (plus some fragrance), comes from an incredible unsustainable source. On top of that fun fact, the World Health Organization “classifies untreated or mildly treated mineral oils as Group 1 carcinogens to humans.” (Source) Group 1 carcinogens = DEFINITELY CARCINOGENIC TO HUMANS. What?!?!
So since I am being all aware and into this, I decided to replace mineral oil with OLIVE OIL!
Cool… That’s great. So I am happy I’ve done my research and I feel better about myself.
I go about following this recipe, which at first I was hating, because it did not come out like it said. After reading the comments from other people though, I cooked the dough longer and realized that the most crucial thing is to KNEAD the clay when it’s REALLY HOT. Then all the parts will blend.
ps. I also added turmeric to the recipe to give it some natural color.
But then something else happened…another question that should’ve been obvious to ask, but I did not. Where the heck does Elmer’s glue come from???
Oh here we go again….. Elmer’s glue is made of polyvinyl acetate which, you guessed it, comes from petrochemical sources. Come on world!!! Really? Which really makes me think about all the “non-toxic” things we buy, that are actually quite toxic to our environment, our bodies, and our world! Of course elmer’s glue is toxic if it’s source and main ingredient when extracted from the ground pollutes and kills everything around it!
Agrrr… I’m not so happy about this at all. I want to be able to make my own clay/dough at home, with decent ingredients that won’t harm you and me.
I haven’t experimented again, but I will once I find the perfect ingredients.
In the mean time, I will try to use up all my “non-toxic” glue, and try some more natural glue recipes. And lesson learned. Check ALL ingredients and where they come from regardless of now “natural” and non-toxic they are.
-Mensa
3 Ingredients: All Natural Every Day Cleaner
We made our own all purpose house cleaner with 3 ingredients we have at home. It will save us some $$$ and it is super environmentally conscious, AND its as easy and cheesy as 1, 2, 3!
One:
Dont throw away your old cleaner’s spray bottle!
Keep it, and fill it half way with white vinegar.
TWO:
Fill the rest of the bottle with all-natural tap water! ; )
THREE:
Add about 5-10 drops of essential oil. We used peppermint because it smells oh-so-fresh, but you can do anything from lavender to patchouli!
THAT’S IT!
You can use this anywhere and everywhere, and according to The New Homemaker there is dozens of combinations that you can use vinegar with to clean everything from your laundry to removing stains and odors!
So why bother buying “green” cleaners when we can make them at home!?
So do it now!
love,
-Mensa
Easy Hummus Yummus Recipe! (Without Tahini)
Sunday morning I cleaned my kitchen and realized I had a can of garbanzo beans in the pantry…So what can I make? Well what else but HUMMUS!
I looked up a couple of recipes and realized that one of the main ingredients, tahini (sesame paste), was not in my pantry…
So I IMPROVISED! And it turned out better than delicious!
This is an easy recipe for a home-made hummus. I usually eat it with carrots, sugar snap peas and crunchy anything. The combination is the best!
Here it is:
-1 can of garbanzo beans
-1 lemon for its tangy juice (use less depending on your liking…I ❤ lemons!)
-salty salt (about a teaspoon or more also depending on your tastebuds)
– Olive Oil
– a little cumin
-1 tablespoon or so of pine nuts (These replaced the sesame seeds/tahini)
-1 clove of garlic
Add garbanzo beans (making sure you drain all the extra water from the can), about a teaspoon of salt, a good two tablespoons of olive oil, the garlic, a couple of “shakes” of cumin, and the pine nuts all in a food processor. You can also use a blender of course, as long as you blend it to a smooth consistency. I eye-balled the recipe, so amounts are about what I think I put in. A little more, a little less will only make it YOUR hummus recipe :]
I tasted it and thought it needed a bit more olive oil, so as it blended I poured a bit more in to give it texture. I transferred it to my own tub and now I have hummus for the week!
And it only took about 10 minutes!
First time hummus making…a delicious SUCCESS!
-Mensa
Organic Mango Lassi Recipe
Yup yup. Mango Lassi for breakfast! Here is how easy it is…
Add to your blender:
– 1 cup chopped, organic mango (peeled and stone removed)
– About a cup and a half of non-fat, organic plain yogurt
– A splash of organic Apple Juice for added sweetness
Mix together y listo! A healthier version of a yummy mango lassi.
-Mensa