Benefits of African Shea Butter

From Nuts to Butter

Shea Butter is the oil from the nuts of wild Shea trees  scattered throughout the wooded savanna of West and Central Africa.

Women Gathering Shea Nuts

Shea Butter has been used for centuries in Africa as a decongestant, an anti-inflammatory for sprains and arthritis, healing salve, lotion for hair and skin care, and cooking oil.  

African Shea or Karite butter contains an abundance of healing ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, proteins and unique fatty acids, and is a superior active moisturizer. Unlike petroleum based moisturizers, Shea butter actually restores the skin's natural elasticity, promoting cell renewal.  Shea butter enables your skin to absorb moisture from the air, and as a result, it becomes softer and stays moisturized for longer. In addition, Shea butter has natural sunscreen properties (SPF 2-6) and anti-inflammatory agents. Because of its amazing properties, Shea butter is an excellent ingredient for soaps, lotions and creams. Regular users of  Shea butter notice softer, smoother, healthier skin. Shea butter has also been shown to help with skin conditions and ailments such as extreme dryness, psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis, skin allergies, fungal infections, blemishes, wrinkles, stretch marks, scars, scrapes, and more.

Check out Karita’s Exquisite Skin Creme and lip balms with African Shea butter at

http://karitashandmade.com/products.htm

Fiesta Ware

Fiesta Dishes

When I was a child, perhaps 8 or so, my family would pile into the car and visit my Aunt Ruth.  My aunt had the entire collection of Fiesta Ware as her everyday dishes.   I remember so clearly seeing them in her glass dish cabinet.  I fell in love with her dishes.  The bright vibrant colors just made me feel happy.  I have never forgotten them.

 As a young adult, I started collecting them. First with Betty Crocker coupons, the newer ones, then at flea markets, the older ones.  I never did collect the entire set.  The other month, I happened to be in Kohl’s browsing, and they had Fiesta ware.  I decided right then and there, I was going to get my Fiesta ware.  I bought the 9” plates in almost every color. I am going to purchase the bowls next.  I will get the serving pieces after that.  The rich vibrant colors still make me happy. They look just as good in my dish cabinet,  as they did in my aunt’s.

Salad Dressings

My husband was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago.  What a stressful situation that was and is!  What were we going to do, and how were we going to fight this disease?  We immediately switched to a raw food diet, consisting mainly of fruit and vegetable salads.  My husband called it rabbit food.  I called it a necessity.  But I’d have to admit, eating the same thing day in and day out was tiring.  To change it up, I began experimenting with salad dressings.  I wanted one easy to prepare and healthy.  In my search I found one simple dressing with many variations.  Here are seven.

½ cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup organic apple cider vinegar

or

¼ cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed)

1 tsp. Sea salt

1 clove garlic, crushed

Combine all ingredients in covered jar.  Shake well.  Shake each time before using.

Variations – Add to vinaigrette:

Feta Cheese          3 TBSP crumbled, or crumble over salad

Herbal                    1 TBSP Minced parsley

                                1 tsp. thyme

                                3/4tsp. Italian seasoning

French                    1 tsp. Minced onion

                                1 tomato, pureed

                                1 tsp. Agave nectar or honey

Wasabi                  1 tsp. wasabi powder or paste

Horseradish          1 TBSP horseradish

Italian                     1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning

                                ¼ tsp. Garlic powder

Fruit                        ¼ cup orange marmalade

                                1 tsp. Paprika

                                ½ tsp. celery seeds or poppy seeds

Omit garlic in vinaigrette

Use lemon juice instead of vinegar

                               

Patchouli

Pogostemon  Cablin

Ah patchouli – means different things to different people.  A love hate thing, there are generally no in betweens.

Two women in their mid fifties stopped by my booth one Saturday at the Farmers’ market.  One loved patchouli, while the other hated it!  The one hating it said she always thought it was the smell of marijuana.  The one loving it said it was what they wore to cover up the smell of marijuana.  They both laughed, and went their separate ways.  So it goes with the scent of patchouli!

Patchouli oil is steam distilled from the dried leaves and stems of the Pogostemon patchouli plant.  Indonesia is the leading producer of it's oil. 

Patchouli is an important essential oil in perfumery.   In aromatherapy, there are top, middle and base notes, like in music.  Top notes don’t hold very well and are fleeting.  Middle notes keep the scent together, while base notes or fixatives hold the overall scent together for a long time    giving it greater intensity.

For instance, I make a lemongrass soap.  The dominant essential oil is lemon, which is a top note.  I add to the lemon, lemongrass, geranium (which are middle notes) and patchouli.  Using patchouli in the blend keeps the lemon scent in the bar, so it doesn’t fade.

Externally patchouli is used in skin care products to promote healing, to rejuvenate old, wrinkled and tired skin. It is considered antiseptic and anti-inflammatory.

Internally inhaled it is calming, and some say it has aphrodisiac properties.

Karita’s Handmade uses patchouli in some soaps, skin cremes, and bath salts. Check them out at:
 www.karitashandmade.com/products.htm

They Keep Coming Back

Dirty Dishes

Years ago I worked as a counselor in a home for developmentally disabled adults.  Repetition in everyday chores was the key in helping them to function to the best of their ability.

There was one resident in particular I will never forget.  His name was Jerry.  Jerry loved big band music and big buses.  He could listen to John Phillips Sousa all day long.  Every Saturday he would ride the Greyhound to the next town for lunch.

Jerry on the other hand, hated doing laundry and washing dishes.  He hated them because as he said “They just keep coming back!”  That phrase has stuck with me for 30 years.  I agree with Jerry 100 percent.  No matter how often I do laundry and dishes – they just keep coming back!

I Can Get Married Now

The Mexicans have a saying when a woman can prepare a delicious meal; she can get married now.

I was on a Chicken Mole kick a while back, after having tasted a wonderful dish of it.  I asked for the hostess’s recipe, but never followed through.

Thus began my quest for a dynamite mole recipe.  I found it on the Internet and it was easy to prepare, and delicious.

http://www.mex-recipes.com/chicken-mole-recipe.html.

 I prepared it and the consensus was - I could get married now!  Try it.  You’ll be able to get married too!