Rich Chocolate Avocado Pudding

If you have a resolution this new year to eat a little healthier, give this pudding a try next time you are ready to indulge. Though not completely sugar-free, this pudding is a great way to get some healthy fats into your diet while you satisfy your cravings!

• Servings: 3–5
• Time: 5–10 minutes active; 30 minutes inactive
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• 2 large avocados, peeled and pitted
• 1/2 cup (43 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup (105 g) brown sugar or 2/3 cup (160 ml) agave syrup
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) coconut milk
• 2 tsp. (10 ml) vanilla extract
• 1 drop cinnamon, peppermint, or orange essential oil

Instructions:

1. Blend all ingredients together in a blender until smooth.
2. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to chill and thicken.
3. Serve alone, or top with sliced berries or whipped cream.

New Start Cleanse

It’s the beginning of a new year. Chances are, after holiday eating and a long, stressful year, your body could use a good cleanse. Toxins build up from the chemicals and pollution around us, which can really overwork your liver. You may need a cleanse if you have the following symptoms: skin breakouts, bloating/stomach pain, food cravings, trouble sleeping, constipation, headaches, fatigue/sluggishness, irritability, or congestion. There are several essential oils that help to clean and detoxify the liver and lymphatic system and give digestive support:

• Fennel
• Geranium
• Rosemary
• Roman chamomile
• Blue tansy
• Helichrysum
• Tea tree
• Melrose
• Hyssop
• Juniper

These can be diffused in the air or diluted and applied to the liver area or pulse points to aid your body’s cleansing process.

Another aspect of cleansing includes getting plenty of sleep so your body can rest and repair. Moving your body is also important. Sweating releases toxins, and exercise can inspire a sluggish lymph system to get going. It is very important to drink plenty of water while cleansing. If you are in need of a thorough cleanse, you can try fasting from food and drinking a lemonade concoction in place of food. This cleanse can be done for 3–10 days, but be sure to adjust for your body’s needs and consult an expert if you have concerns.

1. Add 2 Tbsp. (25 ml) of freshly squeezed lemon juice to 10 oz. (300 ml) distilled water.
2. Mix in 2 Tbsp. (25 ml) pure maple syrup.
3. Stir in a dash of cayenne pepper.
4. Drink 6–12 glasses per day in place of food.

Lemon converts to an alkali in the body and eliminates toxins from the bowels and bladder, and cayenne pepper is a thermal warmer that dilates the blood vessels. An herbal laxative tea may also help with elimination during your cleanse. When you’re done with your cleanse, phase back into food with freshly juiced produce and then thoroughly chewed vegetables and fruit.

It is a good time to press the reset button and take out the trash in your body. If you make the effort to cleanse, you’ll find renewed energy and health moving into the new year.

See the Reference Guide for Essential Oils to learn more about how to cleanse your body for optimum health and disease prevention.

Source: Reference Guide for Essential Oils, 2016 Edition, pp. 196–97, 396–97.

EO-Flavored Water: Citrus Twist

Add a little citrus twist to your water, and enjoy the uplifting flavor! Simply add a drop of lemon and/or orange essential oil to 8–20 oz. of water. You can even add a couple slices of fresh citrus fruit if desired. Need an essential oil–safe water bottle? Get one at Abundant Health™!

EO-Flavored Water: Cinnamon Orange

Boost your immune system a little with this flavored water combination! You can try this 2 different ways:

1. Add a cinnamon stick to your water with a drop of orange essential oil.
2. Add a few orange slices to your water along with a toothpick of cinnamon essential oil.

Do you need an essential oil–safe water bottle? Get one at Abundant Health™!

From the Reference Guide: Energy

It’s the time of year to bundle up. During the winter months it’s easy to feel sluggish and fall into a health slump. With more sickness going around, colder temperatures, and the loss of sunlight come feelings of exhaustion. Getting more sleep and ample hydration during the winter months is vital to keeping your energy levels high. There are also some great ways to energize your mind and body with essential oils.

The following essential oils can give you that much-needed pick-me-up:

• Peppermint
• Basil
• Black Pepper
• Cypress
• Eucalyptus
• Grapefruit
• Juniper
• Lemon
• Lemongrass
• Myrtle
• Nutmeg
• Orange
• Rosemary
• Thyme

These oils may help stimulate the endocrine system, increase energy, improve circulation, and combat fatigue.

Essential oils can be inhaled directly or applied to a cotton ball or handkerchief. You can also diffuse essential oils in your home and in your work space. Diffusing oils produces positive ions that help increase your energy. A nasal inhaler recipe is great to take on the go to use whenever you experience a dip in energy or brain fogginess.

Adding these essential oils to your bathtime or personal care routine can give you a surge of energy to start your day. Try adding a few drops of essential oils to your lotion, or apply directly to your wrists and behind your ears. Mix a blend of oils with a base oil, and massage into the feet, the base of the neck, and on the temples help to gain the energizing benefits.

See the Reference Guide for Essential Oils to learn more about how essential oils can be used to increase your energy levels.

Source: Reference Guide for Essential Oils, 2016 Edition, pp. 176, 426–27.

 

First Snowfall Diffuser Blend

Winter often comes with mixed feelings. Sometimes it can be dreaded because it is associated with coldness and darkness. At the same time, winter often contains many wonderful memories of beautiful snowfalls, warm fires, holiday parties, and family and friends. Make the memory of the first snowfall last all winter long with this diffuser blend!

If you need a diffuser, take a look at these diffusers from Abundant Health.

Makeup Remover Pads

These makeup remover pads will help remove even the most stubborn makeup and leave your face moisturized at the same time!

• Servings: 15–20
• Time: 5 minutes active
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• Round cotton pads
• 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) witch hazel
• 1 Tbsp. (12 g)  Coconut Oil
• 1/4 tsp. (1.5 ml) Vitamin E Oil
• 3–4 drops essential oil (optional—don’t use if using this as eye makeup remover)
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) hot distilled water
• 4 oz. Salve Jar

Instructions:

1. Place as many cotton pads as will fit into your 4 oz. salve jar.
2. In a separate glass dish, mix witch hazel, coconut oil, vitamin E oil, and essential oils (if not using this for eye makeup). Add hot distilled water; stir to combine as much as possible.
3. Pour hot liquid over cotton pads gradually, allowing the liquid to soak into the pads as you pour.
4. To use, wipe a pad across makeup that you want removed. Avoid the eye area if using essential oils in this recipe. Wipe face with a dry tissue to wipe off excess oil if needed.

Candy Cane Sugar Scrub Bars

Do you like exfoliating with a sugar scrub? You may want to give this recipe a try!

While you are in the shower and ready to wash up, just grab one of these and rub it all over your body like you would soap. The soap helps get you clean, the sugar helps exfoliate your skin, the coconut oil replenishes moisture, and the essential oil refreshes the skin and provides a lovely scent. It’s a great way to pamper yourself while showering!

These sugar scrub bars make a great stocking stuffer or addition to any “pamper yourself” gift!

• Servings: 20+
• Time: 10 minutes active; 30–60 minutes inactive
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup solid unscented soap, shredded
• 1/4 cup (48 g) Coconut Oil
• 1 cup (200 g) white sugar, divided
• 5 drops peppermint essential oil
• 1 drop red food coloring (optional)
• PET Jar or other airtight container

Instructions:

1. Put the unscented soap and coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave for 10-second intervals, stirring in between, until melted. You can also melt the ingredients on the stove top with a double boiler if you prefer.
2. Mix 1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar with 1 drop red food coloring, if desired.
3. Allow soap/oil mixture to cool for a couple minutes before adding in the white sugar, dyed sugar, and peppermint essential oil.
4. Press the mixture into a silicone mold, muffin tin lined with paper cups, or a glass dish (to cut into cubes).
5. Let sit in the fridge or freezer to allow mixture to firm up before cutting into cubes (if needed) and transferring the cubes to your PET jars or other airtight containers.
6. To use, simply rub a sugar scrub bar over your skin while showering. Rinse off with water.

Extra Scent Ideas:

• Autumn Spice: Use brown sugar instead of white sugar and 5 drops cinnamon essential oil instead of the peppermint essential oil. Add 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) maple syrup to the mixture.
• Pumpkin Pie: Use brown sugar instead of white sugar. Add 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) honey, 1 tsp. (2 g) pumpkin pie spice, and 2 drops cinnamon essential oil instead of peppermint.
• Grapefruit Mint: Use 3 drops grapefruit and 2 drops peppermint essential oil. Add 1 drop red food coloring (optional).
• Create your own scent! The possibilities are endless.

Class Idea: Scented Wood Slice Ornaments

Would you like to hold a fun and easy make-and-take essential oil class? Though we call these ornaments, you could use this same idea and make wood slices to decorate any time of the year! You can even use larger wood slices and make drink coasters (if you use them with hot drinks, the oils will diffuse even better!). We also think these make fun gift tags, decorative labels, car diffusers, etc. The ideas are endless!

Here’s what you need for the class:

• A short lesson on whatever essential oil–related topic you desire. You can find many good ideas and information in the Reference Guide for Essential Oils.
• Wood slices. These can be ordered pre-cut (and even pre-drilled) online, purchased at a craft store, or made from a good tree branch. If you do make your own, you may want to sand them a little too.
• A drill. This is for adding a hole that you can use to string up your ornament. If you are doing a different kind of decoration, you may not need a drill.
• Decoration supplies. We chose to use a wood-burning tool to decorate our wood slices. You can also do a similar idea with string art using a hammer, small nails, and string/thread. If you are going to hang your wood as ornaments, you will also need ribbon or string.
• Essential oils. You may want to have little sample bottles available along with a few holiday-scented blend recipes and allow your guests to choose what oils to add to their sample bottle to take home with their ornament.

When doing this as a class, you may want to set up the make-and-take portion as a line of stations that your guests can go through. Here is how you could set it up:

• The first station could be a drilling station where someone is available with a drill to help your guests drill their wood slices. You can also have the wood slices pre-drilled, but doing the drilling at the class could allow your guests to choose whether they want to make an ornament or some other decoration.
• The second station could be a drawing station with pencils, scratch paper, and a few simple ideas (to help people get started).
• The third station could be a wood-burning station with a couple of wood-burning tools set up and plugged in.
  
• The fourth station could be the ribbon station with a variety of thin ribbons, a ruler, and scissors for your guests to cut a strip about 5–6 inches (13–15 cm) long.
• The fifth station could be the essential oil station where you could include a small selection of essential oils with a few holiday-scented blend ideas and small sample bottles for the guests to put their chosen essential oil or blend in. You may also want to include some dispensing tools (such as these 1 ml syringes and Adapta-caps™) to help with the transfer of essential oils to the sample bottles. You can even use these blank labels to make labels for the sample bottles.

Wood Slice Ornaments

• Time: 5–15 minutes active
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• Wood slices (cut and sanded, if needed)
• Power drill
• Pencils
• Wood-burning tool
• Ribbon
• Essential oil(s)

Instructions:

1. Drill a hole (at least 1/4″ or 1/2 cm from the edge) in each wood slice. If you are doing this with a class, you may want to pre-drill all the wood slices. (If you are making a decoration other than ornaments, you can skip this step.)
2. Draw an image (such as a snowflake) on the wood slice with a pencil.
3. Use the wood-burning tool to trace your pencil drawing. Be very careful not to touch the tip of your wood-burning tool, as it is very hot.
4. Cut a ribbon strip about 5–6 inches (13–15 cm) long, place it through the hole in the wood slice, and tie the ends together.
5. Add a few drops of essential oil to the wood slice, and hang your ornament on your Christmas tree (or wherever else you want to decorate). Add more oil when needed.

Extra Ideas:

• Use these as gift tags, car diffusers, decorative labels, drink coasters, or any other decoration!
• You can convert this idea into a child’s craft project by doing string art rather than wood-burning art. To do string art, just hammer small nails into the wood slices, and wrap string (or thread) around the nails to form an image. Easy ideas include stars, Christmas trees, snowflakes, etc.
• You can also paint one side of a wood slice with chalkboard paint and decorate it with chalk. Use the other side as a diffuser by adding essential oil to the wood.

Shepherd’s Pie

This delicious comfort food just got even better with the addition of essential oils!

• Servings: 8
• Time: 40 minutes active; 30–40 minutes inactive
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Ingredients:

Potato Topping:

• 2 lbs. (about 1 kg) potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 cup (57 g) unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) half-and-half
• 3/4 tsp. (4.5 g) kosher salt
• 1 drop black pepper essential oil
• 1 egg yolk

Meat and Vegetable Base:

• 2 Tbsp. (30 ml) olive oil
• 1 cup (150 g) chopped onion
• 2–4 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2–4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 lbs. (680 g) ground beef or lamb
• 1 tsp. (6 g) kosher salt
• 2 Tbsp. (15 g) flour
• 2 tsp. (10 ml) tomato paste
• 1 cup (240 ml) chicken or beef broth
• 1 tsp. (5 ml) worcestershire sauce
• 2 drops black pepper essential oil
• 2 drops rosemary essential oil
• 2 drops thyme essential oil
• 1/2 cup (83 g) fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 1/2 cup (72 g) fresh or frozen peas

Instructions:

1. Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C).
2. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the meat and vegetable base. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrots; cook until they begin to take on color (about 3–4 minutes). Stir in garlic.
3. Add meat and salt, and cook until meat is browned. Sprinkle the meat with flour, and stir to coat. Continue cooking for another minute.
4. Add tomato paste, broth, worcestershire sauce, and essential oils to the meat mixture; stir to combine. Continue cooking for a few minutes to help thicken the sauce a little.
5. Stir in corn kernels and peas with the meat mixture. Transfer mixture to a 9″ × 13″ (23 × 33 cm) casserole dish.
6. Once potatoes are cooked, drain them and pour them into a bowl. Add butter to the bowl, and cover the butter with the hot potatoes to help it melt. Once the butter melts, add half-and-half, salt, and black pepper essential oil to the potatoes, and mash until smooth. Stir in egg yolk.
7. Spoon mashed potatoes over the meat and vegetable base, and spread to fully cover the meat mixture.
8. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until the potatoes start to brown.
9. Allow to cool for 10–15 minutes before serving.