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Happy (Natural) Valentine's Day — Happy (Natural) Valentine’s Day

Well here it comes again…Valentine’s Day!

After being married for nearly 20 years we don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day like we used to. Kids, jobs, and day to day life just demand more attention than February 14th does!

I do think it is nice to try and do something for your loved ones to make them feel special, these gift ideas are great any time of year not just Valentine’s Day.

Homemade Chocolate Truffles

These truffles are easy to make and just have a few simple ingredients, kids love to get involved in making these treats and the variations are endless. Here is the basic recipe we start with:

250 ml whipping cream
250 grams semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toppings:

Crushed walnuts, pecans and pistachios and or unsweetened coconut, and pure cocoa powder

Directions:

Heat the cream and butter in a double boiler (but do not boil)
Add chocolate and stir gently until melted
Remove from heat and let it cool for a few hours
After it has cooled use a melon baller to scoop out chocolate mixture, with hands coated lightly in butter gently shape ball to round, roll in topping of choice and set on parchment paper
Refrigerate in air-tight container overnight
Place in a container of choice and give out to loved ones!

Homemade bath oil (and/or massage oil)

This is an easy way to offer your loved one a little time to relax in a warm bath with an oil customized to their liking.

Just take a carrier oil of choice. I like to use almond oil, but you can use any oil of choice. Put it in a pretty jar that will look nice in the bathroom. Add 10-15 drops of essential oils of choice, some of my favorites are lavender, neroli and rose. Give it little shake, put a pretty ribbon on it and give it to your loved one!

This oil also makes a great massage oil!

Homemade bath salts

This is very similar to the bath oil idea but epsom salts can soothe sore muscles and add some extra relaxation;

Mix these ingredients together, 2 cups epsom salts (or a mixture of sea salt and epsom), 2 tsp oil of choice. I use almond oil with 5-10 drops of essential oil of your choice. You can also add a few drops of all natural food colouring if you want coloured salts, or add dried flower petals to the mixture for a natural look. Mix to combine–breaking up any lumps–and put into pretty container to give away!

Some other fun ideas

Write a card to your loved one telling them all the things you love about them (I do this for my kids). Make Valentine’s breakfast fun by using a heart cookie cutter to make an egg, to cut toast, or an avocado. Try making heart-shaped cookies for a snack. Prepare a homemade candlelit dinner for two with a bottle of organic wine (for a private “grown-up” dinner give the kids a pizza and salad in the other room).

Enjoy your Valentine’s Day!

Photos courtesy of; The Rehn and Crafty1Tutu (Ann), Supercarrot, Morgan Street

Follow these 10 easy steps to making your home into a more natural place to live.

Step 1

Swap conventional home cleaning products for natural ones and avoid all the nasty chemicals in conventional products; for some ideas view my post on homemade cleaning products.

Step 2

Use toxin-free hand soaps, hand sanitizers, homemade body lotion, it’s not just what you eat that can negatively effect your body, but also what you absorb! Some recipes I use in my home can be found in my post about personal care products.

Step 3

Trade in your store bought laundry soap for environmentally friendly , toxic free Soap Nuts I get mine here; sopanuts.co.uk. Soap Nuts are a dried fruit of a tree (most often a Chinese soapberry tree) inside the dried fruit are saponin an all-natural surfactant that work as a detergent to clean your clothes. You can add essential oils to your Soap Nuts to create fresh smelling, clean laundry with no chemicals. Vinegar works wonders on whites and naturally softens clothes in the rinse cycle.

Step 4

Swap plastic storage and water containers for glass ones, eliminate all the dangerous chemical in plastic products that can leech into food and drinks you consume.

Step 5

Lessen your use of canned good, canned goods leech Bisphenol A (BPA’s) into your food. Try making your beans from dried ones, using fresh tomatoes, or when you make soups make extra and freeze them to help avoid canned products.

Step 6

Invest in a water filtration system at the very least for your drinking water, and if you can filter the water for your whole house, chemicals in water can be absorbed through your skin via showers or baths as well as ingested. City tap water is full of chemicals such as chlorine, fluoride, and pesticides, antibioticsto name a few, and many other things you may don’t want in your body such as heavy metals, unhealthy bacteria, viruses and so on……avoid plastic water bottles as the chemicals in the plastic make their way into your drinking water.

Step 7

Buy organic food when you can. For me this means we try and buy and consume organic meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit as much as possible. It is more expensive to buy organic foods but you can be creative in making a smaller amount go farther, the emphasis is on the quality of food not the quantity. For ideas read my post on how to eat organic on a budget.

Step 8

Avoid using your microwave! Microwaves distort the molecular structure of the food it is cooking, it also releases radiation into the area where it is being used. Boil your water in a kettle or on a stove top instead, warm your food in the conventional oven or stove top, I only takes a few more minutes!

Step 9

Start adding natural health remedies to your first aid kit. Use witch hazel or tea tree oil (diluted in a carrier oil) to treat minor cuts or infections, aloe vera to treat burns, arnica cream for bumps and bruises. For indigestion use a teaspoon of baking soda with a glass of water instead of an over the counter remedy, treat a stuffy nose with a steam facial and a few drops of thieves’ oil. I will be doing a post on natural remedies very soon.

Step 10

Remember to relax and make your home as stress free as possible, laugh, love, exercise, meditate all these things will help keep positive hormones flowing in your body and help you avoid the toxic effects stress can have!