Seasoning Mixes DIY

As most people know, health is a gift that just keeps on giving. Giving homemade seasoning mixes, without all the chemicals usually in traditional mixes, is one easy peesy way to do just that.

You can find different versions, but I found these four from the Mountain Rose blog. They also sell the spices and things for all of these mixes.

Taco Mix:

1/4 cup Chili Powder
1/4 cup Cumin Powder
1 tablespoon Garlic powder
1 tablespoon Onion powder
1 teaspoon Oregano leaf (or oregano leaf powder)
1 teaspoon Paprika with 1/4 cup Himalayan salt or sea salt (optional)
1 teaspoon ground Black Pepper

To make: Put all in jar and shake well or mix in a food processor until mixed. Store in an airtight jar for up to six months. Makes approximately 1 cup. To use: sprinkle on ground beef or chicken as you would any store bought taco seasoning. 3 tablespoons is the same as 1 packet of store bought taco seasoning.

Ranch Mix:

1/4 cup dried Parsley leaf
1 Tablespoon Dill leaf
1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon Onion Powder
1/2 teaspoon Basil leaf (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

To Make: Mix all ingredients together in jar or food processor. To make into Ranch Dressing, mix 1 Tablespoon of this mix with 1/3 cup Homemade Mayonaise or Greek Yogurt and 1/4 cup Coconut Milk.

Chili Mix:

1/2 cup Chili powder
1/4 cup Garlic powder
3 tablespoons Onion powder
1/4 cup Oregano leaf
2 tablespoons Paprika powder
1/4 cup Cumin powder
1 tablespoon Thyme leaf

To Make: mix all ingredients and store in an airtight container. 1/4 cup of mix = 1 package of store bought chili seasoning.

Pumpkin Mix:

1/4 cup Cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon ground Ginger
2 teaspoons Nutmeg powder
2 teaspoons Allspice powder
1/2 teaspoon Clove powder (optional)

To Make: Mix all ingredients and store in airtight container. Use as you would regular pumpkin pie spice. Great in pumpkin cheesecake,  pumpkin pie, spiced pumpkin lattes or coconut flour pumpkin muffins.

To add a little flare, fold a piece of card stock paper or possibly some old Christmas cards in half and staple it on a Ziploc bag. Just make sure you staple above the zip and not below.

Homemade Hair Products

I’ve been inspired to make some hair care changes lately and they seem to be paying off. Find more toiletry recipes here and hair products here.

There is this style called beach waves. I’ve always liked them, but I never knew how to get them. I brought this up to my hair dresser and she told me how I could do it. She recommended that I go find stuff called salt spray or texturizer spray at a beauty supply store. I didn’t find the salt spray and there weren’t a whole lot of texturizer sprays, so I just grabbed one to make sure I had an option. When I got home I looked up this salt spray because I was thinking that it shouldn’t be that hard to make and turns out it’s really not.

You need:

1 cup of warm water

2 Tablespoons of sea salt- you need sea salt and not table salt

1 Tablespoon of coconut oil- if you can find some virgin coconut oil, in other words it hasn’t been processed to death then it should have a nice coconutty smell.

Some recipes will recommend a tablespoon of hair gel for extra hold, but the reason I was making my own was so it would be chemical free. If I added the gel then it wouldn’t be. For me it works fine without it.

Put it in a spray bottle and spray under the top layer at the roots and all over. Take a towel and smash up from the ends. Blow dry on the low setting. Mine usually looks fine at this point, but sometimes I have a side that likes to be a little flat. If this is the same take an inch section of hair twist it and then use the flat iron. Do as many sections as you need and then carefully run your finger through the twists to loosen the wave.

My success with this inspired me to make my own shampoo. I had found a recipe that sounded interesting a couple of weeks before, but one of the ingredients was castile soap and no one sold it here, so I had to wait for it to come in the mail. Nothing kills inspiration and motivation like having to wait.

When I finally used the shampoo I thought that it worked really well, but there are a couple of things about it that I don’t really appreciate and some of my family members didn’t either. It gives my hair a kind of sticky, oily feeling, but that comes out if I use the rinse that is recommended and if I don’t then it’s not that noticeable with my beach wave hair that I usually do. Because I take a shower at night, if I don’t blow dry my hair then I have a bit of a greasy issue. Both those problems are easily fixable. I just noticed that it’s only supposed to be used once a week instead of everyday. Taking that into account I don’t think the smidge of extra consideration is that big of a deal.

Here’s the recipe:

3/4 cup distilled water

1 Tbsp peppermint

1 Tbsp lavender

1 Tbsp nettle- I didn’t have any of this, so it’s not in mine. It may make a difference.

1 Tbsp rosemary

Add the dried herbs to boiling water and make a tea. Once the tea has steeped and cooled, add the following ingredients.

1/4 liquid castile soap or vegetable glycerin

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp witch hazel (alcohol free, plain, or scented) or aloe vera

It lasts about a month and for once a week use.

I used lavender and rosemary from my mom’s garden and aloe vera from her aloe vera plant. It was pretty fun not to have to go to the store for everything.

For the rinse that is supposed to be used with and helps remove that somewhat sticky, greasy feeling add:

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

16 cups water

Use every week or two with the shampoo. Wash hair, add rinse, leave in and then rinse hair with cool water.

Last 6 months.

I got the shampoo and rinse from here. It also has several other hair products that didn’t really work for me, but feel free to try them out.

Want more ideas? Check out my DIY page.