Carrot Marmelade Sparkling In The Sun

It’s time for new carrots. Go to your organic farmer’s market and buy some. Then:

• gather 2 and 3/4 to 3 cups of peeled and then grated carrots. It’s better touse someone else to do it (if you have to grate them by hand). Promise that you’ll give them on jar of marmalade when finished, it always works.
• with a zester remove the zest from 2 oranges (organic please) and one lemon.
• put the zest in half a cup of cold water and leave it there for 10 minutes, or until you finish with the rest.
• remove most of the white pith and cut the two oranges in small pieces, saving the juice with them. (remove seeds if any)
• in medium heat, place zest (without the water they were swimming in which by now should have absorbed their bitterness) plus half a cup of water and start simmering.
• in 5 minutes add orange pieces with juice, carrots, the lemon juice plus the juicece of one more orange.
• let simmer for 10 more minutes with lid on. if you see the water evaporating fast do two things: first, DON”T OPEN THE LID SO OFTEN, second, add some water, another half cup would be enough.
• remove from heat, add 5 cups of sugar. it seems a lot but if you want to can your marmalade you’ll need the sugar to do the conservation for you. stir until you’re sure sugar is dissolved. return pot to the heat and wait until it reaches the “full rolling boil” stage (google it if not sure what this means).
• add one pouch of liquid pectin, boil for ONE MINUTE, not more, count pink elephants or whatever. remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so to ensure correct distribution of the fruit in the jelly. pour into pristine clear and boiled jars, close with lids, process jars in a water bath for 15 minutes. let cool in the water, remove, label, keep in a dark and cool placeup to a year. if opened, keep in refrigerator. if a lid doens’t pop when you open it for the first time, discard without further thinking (well unless you open it the day after canning  I guess.)
• I almost forgot!!! if you’re into it, add two tablespoons of homemade orange liqueur.If you don’t have any (why not!!! it’s so easy to make!!!), use some commercial like Grand Marnier.
• enjoy Sunday mornings with hot bread and sparkling orange carrot marmalade
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Homemade Beauty

It’s been a while since I decided that I ought to live a less-toxic, less-polluting, less-depending-from-big-brands life, with more natural products and more-simple ingredients. I’m trying to organize my life towards this path and it’s not as hard as it sounds. It surely gives you a satisfaction, knowing that you are “crafting” your way of living. It’s not the same to go and spend a lot of money on facial creams that are made of animal or mineral by-products and a long list of chemicals (not to mention products that are tested on animals) and on the other hand to open your jar of handmade sweet orange cream that you know exactly what’s inside and it doesn’t have to be tested on poor animals, cause there’s nothing harmful in there.

I am going one step at a time, I’ve stopped restocking on beauty and household items and when they finish I try to make my own. If not I try to buy handmade and organic products. The internet and my books are a big help. So far I’ve made soap, facial cream, body scrubs, lip gloss, deodorant cream (that works!) and last Sunday I’ve tried my luck to mixing a batch of general bath cleanser and what a surprise! Success!

I’m gonna share with you my Sunday beauty recipes. They are based on the book by Stephanie Tourles’ Organic Body Care recipes, but I’ve tweaked them a bit to fit my taste and needs (and supplies too!)

Serious beauty cooking inside: