How to Make Plain Yogurt

I'm one of those people you see at the grocery store reading product labels. For the same reason, I am always looking for recipes on YouTube to make things that I consume on a regular basis. Below is a recipe for making your own plain yogurt at home.

Ingredients:

1 Gallon of whole milk (I use only just a little more than half a gallon)
1 Cup of plain yogurt (You only need this the first time you make it, you can use your own after that)

Utensils:

A big plastic container with a lid
A silicon whisk or wooden spoon
A large pot (preferably a non- stick one)
A cup
A towel or piece of clothing big enough to cover the plastic container where you will put the yogurt

Preparation:

1. Before you start, measure a cup of plain yogurt and set it aside so it reaches room temperature. 
2. Pour a little more than half a gallon of milk in a pot.
3. On a low to medium heat, bring the milk to a boil. Stir the milk continuously with a silicon whisk or wooden spoon making sure that you get the bottom of the pot "swept" as you stir. This is done to prevent the milk from sticking to the bottom, which can cause the yogurt to have a weird taste and color. If  you feel that the milk is sticking to the bottom, consider lowering the heat. Once the milk comes to a boil, let it boil for about a minute and then turn the heat off. 
4. Let the milk cool down to a point that if you put some on the palm of your hand, it feels warm enough but it doesn't burn you. This is very important because you do not want to kill the bacteria of the yogurt once you mix it with the milk. 
5. Remove any fat that has set on the top of the milk while cooling down. 
6. Now that your milk has cooled down enough, mix it with the yogurt. Make sure that the yogurt and the milk are well combined. You can do this by stirring it for about a minute. 
7. The last step is to place your yogurt in a plastic container with a lid. At this point you can take a towel or any piece of clothing that will cover the container well and keep it warm. Place the yogurt in a warm dark place (like a cupboard that you will not keep opening for a while). 
8. Leave the yogurt to set overnight or at least 8 hours. You will be tempted to check on it, DO NOT. 
9. Refrigerate your homemade yogurt and use it as you like. If you plan on making yogurt again, save about a cup for next time you want to make more.

Tip: If you like Greek yogurt, all you have to do is take the yogurt that you just made and strain it for a couple of hours. To strain it, you can use any thin piece of clean cloth like a white t-shirt.

Tom's Natural Deodorant - Review

I'm slowly transitioning to natural products and it can be very overwhelming trying to find the best product when you are just getting started. Deodorant is one of those things that I use everyday but never really cared about the ingredients. When I did start having concerns about what the ingredients were, I read that aluminum is not a good ingredient to see on the list. Tom's Natural Deodorant was my first choice to try out. 

Pros

My experience with it has been positive for the most part. When I first tried it out, I felt that the wild lavender scent was, in my opinion, strong but as the days went by I started to get used to it. The consistency of the deodorant is a yellow-ish solid and when it gets in contact with your skin, it starts to melt. You only need to rub it to your armpits a couple of times because if you over do it, it starts to look like soap lather. I haven't experienced any unpleasant armpit odors while using this product so it passed the performance test for me.

Cons

The only con that I find with this deodorant is that it allows you to sweat. I know that sweating is one of your body's ways to naturally detox, but it can be a bit uncomfortable and look not so cool. 

Overall, this product works fine for me and I continue to use it, but I'm on the hunt for another natural deodorant. I have no problem with sweating if I'm around the house or working out, but if I'm about around people it is not very nice to have sweaty underarms :D. I know that this is not the only deodorant they do so I'm looking into trying out the other one (s) and see if any stops you from sweating. 

 Below, as you can see, there is a picture of the back of the product if you are interested in knowing more specific details about it.

Do you have any recommendations for natural deodorants or perhaps you know how to make your own? I would be interested to know...

Minimalism Journey Update - Makeup Collection

During my minimalism journey, this has probably been the hardest area to declutter. I had to ask myself many questions before I even attempted to tackle it. Why? You may ask, and the main reason is because I just love pretty makeup, even if I do not wear a lot of it.

I became interested in makeup probably around 2013 when I really got into YouTube. I started watching some of the London YouTubers, which I still love today, but reached a point where I said to myself: Does it make sense to keep constantly buying makeup? Soon I will have more makeup than I need. What is the point of having a full drawer when I mainly use concealer, mascara and lip balm on a daily basis? I do not even like the feeling of too much or heavy makeup on my face! After all these thoughts, it was time to get serious.

My first decluttering session was sometime between April and June, I can't remember exactly, but besides wanting to live a more minimalistic lifestyle, moving was also the perfect opportunity to do so. I got rid of many products and I shipped the rest to my new place. The pictures you will see here are from a second decluttering session I had recently. This time around it was easier because I have detached myself a lot more from the makeup items I still had.

To make it easier, this time my criteria for keeping an item was:

• Do I use it a lot and do I like it?
• Does it feel good on my skin? 
• Is it recent or has it expired?
• How healthy is it to apply these things on my face? Could I find a healthier and natural alternative in the future once I run out of what I decide to keep? 

With these things in mind, I put all my make up on a table, started sorting and after getting rid of what I didn't want to keep, this was the result. The pile on the left is what I decided to keep and on the right what I got rid of. (A couple of days later I got rid of 8 more items from the keep pile, it gets easier each time.) It doesn't seem much, but I'm not trying to have 0 products.

What are your thoughts on minimalism? Leave your comments below and if you have a blog I would be interested in checking it out. Leave your link! 

Disclaimer: With this post I'm not trying to convince anybody to be a minimalist and get rid of half of their belongings. This is something that has worked for me, it helps me feel better, live a healthier lifestyle and be a lot more conscious about what I put into my body. As you may know, stuff you put on your skin is absorbed into your blood...Once I ran out of what I have, my goal is to transition to using natural products.

Minimalism Journey Update - Nail Polish Collection

I recently reduced my nail polish collection to only 4. I had over 25 nail polishes just because I kept buying "pretty" colors. Since I do not like throwing things away, I gave the polishes I didn't want to my friends and family. This way I put a smile on their faces, hopefully stop them from getting more and thus, decreasing the chances of using new resources to produce more products.

I'm glad I became a more conscious consumer and now I ask myself a lot of questions before I decide to make a purchase. It is not only better for your pocket, but also for your health and the environment. As I downsize many of my collections, I'm also trying to transition into using more natural products, once I finish what I currently have. 

Free Samples - My Recent Pinchme Box

I have been a member of pinchme since they started. I remember that samples were released every Tuesday but now they release them less frequently. What I love the most about pinchme is that they offer descent size samples and sometimes even full size products. The reason why I love this is because you can get to try the products for a while and see if you really like them or not. 

Recently I received my first box of free samples in a while, and I was so excited that I decided to write about my first impression with some of the products.

The Covergirl lip gloss is amazing! I hate sticky lip glosses but this one is not too sticky and it feels very light on my lips. The pigmentation is not great but you get a nice natural pinky color on the lips. The Covergirl eyeliner is also good. Once you put it on it dries quickly so if you want to smudge it, I suggest you do it quickly.

The Olay body wash smells heavenly! It is very creamy in consistency, it cleans the skin and leaves it hydrated and soft. I would highly recommend using this product specially if you are lazy and do not bother to apply moisturizer after you take a shower.

The Pond's makeup remover does the job at removing makeup but if you do not like greasy feeling on your skin, you might not like it. When I use it, I make sure to cleanse my skin very well with my regular cleanser. I would definitely not use this product on it's own because I feel it would clog my pores.

I also got small samples of foundation and some coupons that I plan to use very soon...

I hope that you get your free samples too if you sign up with them and if you are already a member, I wish you are as excited as me to find out what samples we would be getting next :) 

The Lazy Easy Quick Cake Recipe

It has been a while since I posted a recipe here but over the weekend my husband and I came up with a recipe that I think you will love! We both wanted cake but we were too lazy to get out and also too lazy to make a cake that would take a long time. That's when he suggested: let's make a pancake cake. Yes, a pancake cake so here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup of pancake mix
1 egg
1/2 a cup of milk (or more depending on the consistency of the batter, you want it to look like regular pancake batter)
1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 tablespoons of sugar (or 3 depending on how sweet you want it)
A pinch of baking soda
Some chopped walnuts and shredded coconut (optional)
2 tablespoons of coconut oil or 1 tablespoon of butter
Sweet cream (optional)
Nutella to taste

Preparation:

In a bowl, mix the pancake mix, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon. Once it is all well combined, add the vanilla, egg, and milk. Mix it well until you get a smooth batter of about the same consistency of the batter you use when making regular pancakes. Add the walnuts and shredded coconut if you would like to.

After your mixture is ready, heat up a medium pan and add the coconut oil or butter. Make sure it doesn't get too hot because your "cake" will burn. Add all the mixture at once and cook it for about 5 minutes on very low heat. Take a spatula and carefully check if the bottom looks golden brown. If so, slide the "cake" from the pan to a large enough plate and then turn it so you cook the other side for 5 minutes as well.

Now that your "cake" is cooked, let it cool and once it cools off cover one side of the cake with a filling of your choice (we used sweet thick cream). Cut the cake in half and place the two parts on top of each other in such a way that your filling is in the middle. To finish, cover the top plain side with Nutella and refrigerate for about an hour. Lastly, serve and enjoy!

Servings: 4
Cooking Time: 15 minutes without counting the time you allow to cool before eating it.

Note: if you do not want to put cream  you could use anything that you would like for the filling. Be creative! Have fun in the kitchen.

How Minimalism Can Minimize Stress While Moving

Over the years, I have experienced moving probably a little more than the average person. I have moved from one country to another, from one state to a neighboring one, traveled to another continent for a little more than just a couple of days, and more recently moved from the east coast to the west coast. Such activity requires organizing the trip, leaving a job and therefore finding another one, packing and finally moving. It is time consuming, it can be expensive, and it can also raise the level of stress of an individual. I quickly became overwhelmed by the moving process and it all started when I opened my closet door and thought: "I have too much stuff". That's when I started doing some research and came across minimalism on YouTube* and I have to say, applying minimalism to my space minimized the level of stress I was feeling.

I started taking steps towards simplifying my life by re-evaluating not only my material possessions, but also by freeing myself from emotional attachments I had to items. I took a step back and decided that before packing I would go through the process of de-cluttering. By doing this, I was able to reduce the number of things I needed to take with me to the new home. It felt like lifting a heavy weight off my shoulders and it made me feel less stressed. The action plan to move started in January and by late May I was ready to start packing.

I knew shipping could get very expensive so I wanted to pack as fewer boxes as possible. I managed to move with a total amount of ten USPS Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Boxes, which you can get for free at your local post office and can ship up to 70 pounds domestically for less than $19. I wanted to travel with just a carry on but I still had a few more things I knew I would need so I needed to pack those. I decided to use a checked in addition to my carry on. Unfortunately, when I got to the airport and was checking in, I found out I went over the weight limit on my checked bag (which costs $25 within the US anyway) and I had to pay an extra $100 bucks for a couple of extra pounds!

Another thing that I found minimalism helped me with was by reducing the amount of time it takes to unpack. When people move, it can take them days or even months to unpack. I was able to do this task the day after my arrival and it only took me a few hours. I had almost everything I needed but I left big items like my bedroom furniture, tv, desktop computer and other things behind. It would cost more to transfer them than to buy them at the new city. One thing I do not recommend is throwing things away if someone else can still make good use out of them. Minimalism doesn't mean that you have to get rid of stuff. In my opinion, de-cluttering is a necessary thing to do every once in a while so you can feel more comfortable in your own space. To me, it is more pleasant to look at an empty wall or a wall with just one or two decorations than to look at a wall with a thousand things hanging off.

To conclude, minimalism helped me feel less stressed during the process of moving because I was able to reduce the number of things I possessed. I went through everything I owned and only kept what I really needed, a few things that I did not want to part with and some that constantly bring happiness to my life when I use them or look at them. Even though I have less belongings than before, there are still areas that I feel I need to tackle even more, but I'm going to leave that for another post.

How has minimalism helped you? Did you know about it before reading this? I'm very interested in finding out your minimalism story. Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment or ask questions.

*If you want to know more details, I suggest you read my post "How I Discovered Minimalism" by clicking here.