Homemade natural window and surface cleaner!

I get excited about little things! It's silly, but also fun. :) My excitement today came in the form of an improvement to my favorite natural window cleaner. It's based on vinegar, so it smells pretty strongly of vinegar... which is not good for my pregnant nose. In an effort to improve the smell, I opened my essential oil cabinet and grabbed some lemon and orange essential oils, and voila! Lovely citrus-y cleaning goodness, with the added benefit of cutting through scum (at least the shaving cream residue at the bottom of my husband's sink) wonderfully! Still streak-free and everything. You'll love it!

Here's what you'll need:
2-3 Tbsp. vinegar (ammonia works too, but you only need one or the other)
1/2 c. Rubbing alcohol
1 squirt dish soap
20 drops lemon e.o. (or more to smell)
20 drops orange e.o. (or more to smell)
water
a 24 oz. (or so) spray bottle

Just pour your liquid ingredients into your spray bottle and give it a good shake. Easy as can be!

And now you may actually enjoy cleaning. :)

All-natural Ear Infection Remedy

This blog is being re-purposed! Up until now, it's been a (mostly ignored) cooking blog. I still love cooking, so there will still be cooking-related posts, but I'm also going to be using this as a place where I can share a lot of the natural remedies that my family and I are coming to love more and more. 

I should say at the start that I am not against modern medicine. I feel like many of our modern medical abilities are true miracles and I am so grateful for many of the doctors and nurses that have helped us when we've needed it. However, I also believe that for thousands of years God has provided His children with the plants and herbs, etc., that we need to heal our bodies. I believe that by being open to both sides, we truly get the best of both worlds. 

And now for the good stuff! How many of you have children who get ear infections? Any time we have a serious cold that runs through our family, at least one of our three children (and often I) will wind up with a secondary ear infection. Usually on a Saturday night, of course. So what to do? Run to the doctor for a standard antibiotic prescription? At $100 for an off-hours office visit (with no co-pay) and another $15 for the prescription, that adds up--especially when I'm taking myself and two kids. No thanks. I've used this natural ear infection remedy on myself and two of our kids (L, the lucky girl, never gets ear infections) and it has worked EVERY TIME. So if you want to cure an ear infection fast, with only ingredients you already have in your kitchen, read on.

All you'll need is fresh garlic, olive oil, and a dropper.

Step 1: Peel a few cloves of garlic. I did 7 cloves this time. 

Step 2: Place your peeled (but still whole) garlic cloves in a small saucepan and add about 1-1/2 cups olive oil. You can do a much smaller batch if you're just using this for medical purposes, but it tastes good too, so I make extra to use in cooking.

Step 3: Turn the heat on medium low until the garlic looks like it's simmering. Then turn the heat as low as it will go and let the garlic infuse for about an hour. After that, turn the heat off and let the garlic and olive oil cool down all the way. The olive oil should smell very strongly of garlic.

And you're done! Wasn't that easy? The last thing you need to do is pour the oil into a bottle with a dropper. I used an old medicine bottle that I cleaned out well. I leave the garlic cloves in the oil so that it gets stronger with time. 

Now, to treat an ear infection.

For an adult, use 5 to 7 drops in the infected ear 3 or 4 times a day. When I treat myself, I grab a book and lie down on my side for about 10 minutes per side (and let's be honest, when I'm sick with an ear infection, it's nice to take a few extra minutes of quiet time). The pain is gone within 2 or 3 treatments, but I do an extra day's worth just to be sure. I have never had an ear infection that lasted more than a day or so when I used this stuff.

For children, it's much the same. I use 3 drops for my 6 yr. old, and whatever I can with my almost-2-yr.-old.  The older kid knows this stuff is amazing and so he happily does everything I ask him to do. My almost-2-yr.-old is definitely not so cooperative. I wind up having to hold her head still while I add the stuff (which of course she hates, but there's nothing else for it), and then I snuggle her up on my lap and either read her stories or sing her songs. She soon forgets the trauma of the strange drops in her ear and enjoys the closeness.

Sure beats a 9-day course of expensive antibiotics!