Carton of heavy whipping cream = 5 fun projects

This all started as a way to teach Eli how butter is made and to have Eli learn a small science lesson as well. It turned out to be a delicious day of treats.
Making BUTTER is so easy and only requires 2 ingredients:
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• Salt to taste (just a few pinches will work; not much at all)

Pour the 1 cup of heavy cream in a bowl and whip using a hand held mixer. The cream with thicken into whipped cream consistency and will form firm peaks; then keep whipping and suddenly the cream will turn into what looks like cottage cheese. Keep whipping – soon the cream separates into a solid (the butter) and a liquid (the buttermilk). Keeping mixing for about 10 seconds after this happens to make sure it all separates. Using a spatula push the butter into a lump and pour off the buttermilk (into a container to save). You will now have to rinse the butter; if you don’t rinse any excess buttermilk – the butter will go rancid quickly. To rinse, add a little ice water to the butter in the bowl and beat for 10 seconds. Drain and repeat a few times until the water is clear. Now add salt to taste.

Here is a short recap of the science behind butter:
Heavy cream is an emulsion. The fat is spread throughout the cream in very tiny drops. The protein in the milk acts as an emulsifying agent; it keeps the fat droplets suspended. When you shake the cream you force the fat droplets to come together. If they come together with enough force, they'll stick to each other and keep forming bigger and bigger gobs until you've got butter.

Now for the buttermilk. FYI by using a cup of cream to make the butter, you should get ¼ to ½ cup buttermilk.

BUTTERMILK RANCH DRESSING:
• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• ¼ cup Sour Cream
• ¼ cup Buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
• Fresh or dried herbs ( we used Rosemary and Dill from our herb garden)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Just mix all the ingredients together; add more mayonnaise if you would like it to be thicker.

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS:
• 2 ¼ cups Bisquick
• 2/3 cups buttermilk

Heat oven to 450. Stir ingredients until soft dough forms. Place on surface sprinkled with Bisquick mix. Knead 10 times. Roll dough ½ inch thick. Cut with 2 ½ inch cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

And then we made the yummy WHIPPED CREAM:
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Add all ingredients in bowl and whip quickly either by hand with a whisk or by using a hand mixer until soft peaks form (if using a mixer – make sure you don’t over whip as the cream will curdle).

Now we really lived it up and I cut a buttermilk biscuit in ½, put some fresh strawberries on top and then topped with whipped cream. On the other half of the biscuit, we let the fresh butter melt – yummy.

We had a little more of the heavy cream left, so we made one bonus treat - ICE CREAM. Now this is a very simple, very light delicate ice cream.
• ½ cup of heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon of vanilla

Simply put all the ingredients in a small Ziploc bag. Seal very well (you could even double bag the cream so that it doesn’t leak) and make sure all extra air is squished out of the bag (if the bag is filled with extra air, it may pop during the next step). Then put that small Ziploc bag in a gallon Ziploc bag. Fill the larger bag with ice and sprinkle the ice cubes with 4 tablespoons salt. Wrap the bag in a towel and shake it around, making sure the ice keeps the inner bag covered. It should take the cream about 5 to 10 minutes to freeze – so keep SHAKING.

The science behind Ice Cream:
When the ice melts it takes heat energy from the warm cream and in turn makes the cream get colder…the salt lowers the freezing point of the ice and this makes the ice melt faster and cools down the cream mixture faster as well. The water in the cream freezes and forms ice crystals and viola – ice cream.

Today's Tincture

Tincturing is a wonderful way to capture the natural essence of herbs; and it is so easy to do. To make a tincture, grind up fresh or dried herbs, place in glass container and cover with alcohol (because I use the tincture only in perfumes – I use perfumer’s grade alcohol which is odorless and colorless). The tinctures need to be cured anywhere from 10 days to 2 months – depending on the herb being tinctured and the desired strength of the final scent.

Today I am tincturing juniper berries in honor of the weather turning cooler. There are two fragrances on my mind as I prepare the juniper berries today. One is a Holiday scent with frankincense, juniper, tonka and vanilla as a base – and spicy orange for the heart of the scent. I also want to create an herbal mixture that will play up the crisp, fresh scent of juniper with a blend of rosemary and lavender. Both will be great fragrances for the Fall season.

I am also going to use some of the left over dried herbs to make small sachet. I use small muslin bags with a drawstring and fill with the ground dried herbs. The sachet can be put into drawers and closets and even better, the sachet can be hung from the faucet as the water runs into the tub. This creates a wonderfully scented bath.

Leave me a comment and let me know what scents the cooler weather is bringing to your mind today…

Soap Monsters!

Here is a great Halloween activity to do with the kids.  Soap monsters. 

It is both a craft project and a science project.  All you need is a soap bar (ivory works best because it is whipped), a microwave and assorted items like pipecleaners, glitter, cotton balls and google eyes to decorate your "monster"

The science behind the monster is simple.  The microwave heats up the water molecules in the soap which turns the water into a gas - water vapor. 

At the same time the soap is softened because of the heat.  This combination allows the gas (water vapor) to push on the soft soap causing foam to form.   Right before your eyes the bar"grows" into a puffy pile of foam.

However, when cooled the soap once again becomes rigid but stays in the puffy form.

This is an example of physical change because the apperance of the soap is altered.

Simply put the bar of soap on a plate and place in the micowave for two minutes (or until you see the soap has stopped expanding).  Make sure to watch as it grows - it is so cool.  When the two minutes are up - remove from the microwave; but be CAREFUL the soap will be HOT for a little while.  When it cools down have your little one study it and decide what kind of monster to make. 

Now comes the craft part. 

Simply glue on eyes, pom poms, pipecleaner limbs or whatever your imagination dictates. 

Now you have great Halloween monsters for a scary display. Plus, you can still use the soap!

Bakugan Cake

Eli really wanted a Bakugan Cake for his birthday, but I couldn't find one anywhere. As everyone knows, I am not known for my culinary skills - but I thought Eli would really get a kick out of having getting his own Bakugan Cake.

Lisa had given me the recipe her easy ice cream cake. She served it when we had last visited and I thought it the easiest, best tasting ice cream cake ever! So with a few modifications - viola - a Custom Bakugan Cake:

The recipe is simple:

INGREDIENTS:

16 Ice Cream Sandwiches
1 16 ounce can/container whipped topping (you can experiment with using flavored whipped cream as well - depending on your tastes)
Caramel or Chocolate sauce
Any crushed candy bars or ice cream topping of your choice. Get creative: use peanuts or fruit like strawberries or blueberries or bananas. As an example, I used crushed peanut butter cups and caramel sauce for Eli’s 6 birthday cake.

Place 8 of the ice cream sandwiches side by side in a 9 x 13 glass pan and arrange them until the entire bottom is covered. You may need to break one in half if necessary.
Spread a thick layer of the whipped topping over the sandwiches. Freeze until harden.
Drizzle any caramel or chocolate sauce; (be as generous as you want) sprinkle with crushed candy bars (or topping of your choice). Create another layer with remaining ice cream sandwiches. Top with other half of whipped topping and freeze until hardened (3 hour minimum, but overnight is best).
Add a thin, fresh layer of whipped topping for the look and decorate with any left over toppings.

For the Bakugan balls I used Lindt truffles - I only thought this up the night before so I had to settle for the dark chocolate, but the white chocolate would make great Bakugan as well. I then used gel icing to make the patterns. For the cards, I used Hersey bars and then decorated with colored frosting and a laminated (okay, taped over) printout of the Bakugan logo.

I froze the balls and the cards so that the icing wouldn't get runny.

Not only did Eli love the cake - he loved eating the cards and bakugan!

Simple Bath Bombs

This is an easy bath treat that is not only fun to make, but also fun to use.
Ingredients:
• 1 part citric acid
• 2 parts baking soda
• Witch hazel
• Fragrance or essential oil of your choice
• Dome Shaped Mold

Mix the dry ingredients into large glass bowl. It is important the mixture is throughly blended, if not the bomb will be grainy. Add color if it is being used and frangrance. Using a spray bottle, start dispersing the water. Be very conservative with the water - too much moisture wil make the mixture over fizz.

Slowly spray and hand mix the dough. Keep doing this until the mixture is packable - it will be crumbly but that is okay. I mold using a a simple rounded measuring sccop. Scoop the mixture onto a cookie sheet and allow to dry overnight.

To use grab a handful and throw into the tub - you will be treated to a fizzy sented good for your skin bath!

Now, if you want to experiment there are a lot of little extra ingredients that will take these treats to the next level.

Extras you can add:

Epsom Salt

Dry Milk Powder

Use light oil instead of water

Coloring - I use soap pigments

Herbs like lavendar, rosemary, etc

Just use you imagination and have fun.

Simple Chocolate Body Scrub

This is a really simple recipe for a moisturizing body scrub. It uses brown sugar and oatmeal flour for a really gentle exfoliating experience. Cocoa powder and powdered milk (you can also use flavored creamer - french vanilla or hazelnut would add a faint, but yummy scent!) adds a subtle frangrance - if you want something a little more lasting, adding vanilla, orange or chocolate fragrance or essential oils will do the trick.

In this first video, Eli shows how simple it is to mix up the ingredients. Notice how he adds the dry ingridents first, then moves to the oils. His basic oil is a blend of olive (for its moisturizing properties) and canola (which is lighter and blends well with the heaviness of the olive oil). The scent of Eli's scrub here is AMAZING! It smells just like those chocolate oranges you whack to open at Christmas - yummy.





The ingredient list is simple and if you are lucky, most will be in your pantry right now. Eli also shows you how to pack the scrub for use in the shower. Remember, the scrub is made with food ingredients and should be used within a month or two from making it up.



In this video post, Eli shows how easy it is to make oatmeal flour. Oatmeal flour is a great addition to scrubs and it also can be used directly into a bath for a soothing soak. Oatmeal flour also makes a wonderful facial mask - simply mix some up with yogurt or sour cream (both contain latic acid, an AHA) and spread on your face and leave for about 10 minutes.



Simple Chocoate Body Scrub Recipe:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup oatmeal flour
• 3 tbs cocoa powder
• 3 tbs milk powder
• about 3/4 cup oil mixture (use more if needed)
• a few drops chocolate and orange essential oils