• Free Ebooks: Holiday Dinners, Best Healthy Holiday Recipes, Gifts in Jars, and more!

    The price to download these books is currently $0.00 (although the price may change at any time, please confirm prior to downloading).  The ebooks are specifically for Kindles, however, you can click here and download the free application that allows you to read Kindle ebooks on your PC.

    Download a free copy of Holiday Dinners – Recipes, Articles, and Equipment by Dennis Weaver

    Download a free copy of Best Healthy Vegan Holiday Recipes – Christmas Recipes, Quick & Easy Vegan Recipes by Jonathan Vine

    Download a free copy of Gifts in Jars – Recipes for Easy, Delicious, Inexpensive DIY Gifts in Jars (Jar Recipes, Jar Gifts, Homemade Gifts) by Margaret Lowe

    Download a free copy of The Perfect Pie – A Handbook for Pie Lovers by Dennis Weaver

    Download a free copy of Before Bethlehem by James J. Flerlage

    Download a free copy of 925 Ideas to Help You Save Money, Get Out of Debt, & Retire A Millionaire So You Can Leave Your Mark on the World by Devin D. Thorpe

    Download a free copy of Everything You Need to Know About Personal Finance in 1,000 Words by C. J. Carlsen

    Download a free copy of How To Improve Your Vision Naturally – Strategies and Exercises to Restore Your Eyesight by Nick Stanton

     

  • Gift Giving: Moisturizing Citrus Hand Scrub

    Moisturizing Citrus Hand Scrub

    Our family enjoys taking Christmas goodies to our neighbors every year around Christmas time. Since several of our neighbors are watching their sugar intake (due to diabetes) I wanted to find a gift that would be both practical and fun for them without all the sugar. Yes, the gift I eventually settled on last year did contain sugar but they didn’t eat it.  The gift kits were a big hit and the best part….it’s super easy (you even may have all the ingredients in your kitchen).  Several people have asked me for the recipe since last Christmas so I wanted to share it with you too in case you are looking for a homemade, inexpensive, and practical gift to share this year.

    Putting together gifts for neighbors and friends

    You could give away just the jars of Moisturizing Citrus Hand Scrub.  I decided to do a Moisturizing Citrus Scrub Kits for our neighbors and friends.  Each kit contained:

    • Moisturizing Citrus Hand Scrub
    • Hand Soap
    • Lotion
    • Note from our family with instructions on how to use the items in the kit

    Ingredients in the Moisturizing Citrus Hand Scrub

    The olive oil helps moisturize your hands while the lemons and oranges add a clean citrus scent.  The sugar and salt help exfoliate any dry skin and freshens the appearance of your hands.

    Moisturizing Citrus Hand Scrub

    • 3 cups Sugar
    • 2/3 cups Kosher Salt
    • Zest from 1 large Lemon
    • Zest from 1 large Orange
    • 2 cups Olive Oil
    • 1/4 teaspoon Pure Lemon Extract
    • 1/4 teaspoon Pure Orange Extract
    Gently wash and dry the fruit.  To zest the orange and lemon use your cheese grater and turn it to the side with the small openings/blades.  Grate the orange, turning it frequently.  You just want to take off the colored part of the peel (so try not to get too much of  the white portion).
    Now that you have your citrus zest put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well.  Scoop into a mason jar.  Put lid on and decorate as you wish. The recipe makes enough for 2 pints (fills two – 1 pint mason jars).

    Optional:  If you would like a milder scent you can remove or reduce the amount of extract from the recipe.  Also, if you would prefer only doing Lemon or Orange instead of both just double the amount it calls for in the recipe and eliminate the other citrus ingredients.  You can add extra zest into your mix if you like too (see the first picture on this post, the one of the left has extra zest in it).

    Moisturizing Citrus Scrub ready to be put into the jars

    Filling up the mason jars

    Our note included in the the gift to our neighbors and friends!

    The red ones all ready to be delivered! You can see our “blue” note in the back of the kit.  The note also contained directions on it.  I taped on the note on the inside of the package.

    The white ones are ready now too!  All we have to do now is load them up and deliver them.

    It was a lot of fun putting these together for friends and neighbors.  Our family did a large batch and made 10 mason jars full.  Several people have asked for the recipe so I decided to share it here for others as well.  If you are looking for a practical and unique gift this is a great one that worked well for us.