Important: While this facial scrub is made with largely natural ingredients, allergic reactions are always possible. Facial skin, especially around the eyes, is sensitive.

• Test a small area of skin in a less sensitive area, such as your arm, before applying it to your face.
• Avoid direct contact with the eyes or the mouth
• Those with nut allergies should use extra caution, as coconut oil is a primary ingredient

We originally used this scrub occasionally to treat irritated, very dry skin, serving as both an exfoliant and a moisturizer. Over time, one of us began using it daily with great results. Because coconut oil is the base, it can help or worsen acne depending on skin type and use. We do include castor oil and honey to help balance it. As with most skincare, results depend on context, since skin is highly personal. Let your skin’s response guide how often you use this scrub.

Let’s get to the ingredients

Here is what you will need:

• Dark Brown Sugar – 1 cup
• Coconut Oil – ½ cup
• Sea Salt – 1 tbsp
• Castor Oil -1 tbsp
• Vitamin E oil -1 tsp
• Arrowroot Powder – ½ tsp
• Dried Comfrey – ½ cup
• Honey – 1 tbsp
• Essential Oils – 30 drops +/-

The Why Breakdown

Each ingredient in this scrub serves a specific purpose. Some benefits are supported by research, others by long-standing traditional use. For us, the deciding factor is simple: it works.

Dark brown sugar provides gentle exfoliation, helping remove dead skin without being overly abrasive.

Sea salt adds exfoliating grit and helps reduce spoilage due to its natural preservative properties.

Coconut oil moisturizes and helps restore the skin barrier, making it especially useful for dry, irritated skin.

Castor oil balances coconut oil, offering anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.

Vitamin E oil helps prevent moisture loss, softens skin, and supports skin repair.

Honey helps draw moisture into the skin and offers anti-inflammatory and antibacterial benefits.

Comfrey helps soothe and soften skin and supports hydration.

Arrowroot powder reduces the greasy feel of the scrub and helps improve overall texture.

Essential oils add scent and provide aromatherapy benefits, depending on the oils selected.

We recommend using organic and all-natural sources to ensure they maintain their full strength. The reality is, though, that it can get cost-prohibitive for some. We have written a couple of articles about what organic means and what it doesn’t. If you need to cut costs, do so; we have at times as well and haven’t noticed a significant difference.

Essential Oils

Essential oils let you customize this scrub for your intended use. For a morning scrub, brighter scents like eucalyptus, lemongrass, and tea tree work well. For evening use, softer options such as chamomile, rose, and lavender are more calming.

Use caution when selecting oils. Some essential oils, including cinnamon, clove, and peppermint, can irritate sensitive skin and are unsafe if they come into contact with the eyes. If you are unsure about an oil, check a reliable reference before adding it to the mix.

The how

So, how do you make this? It is easy

1. Gather up all ingredients, including the essential oils
2. Place in a food processor
3. Pulse for 30 seconds
4. Scrape down sides
5. Pulse again for 30 seconds.

At this point, check it. It is very easy to overblend. To ensure this works correctly, keep blending to a minimum to preserve the grit of the sugar and salt. It should feel gritty like coarse sand. You may need to repeat steps 4 and 5 a couple more times.

Place this in a jar or other sealable container. Since brown sugar, honey, and salt are hygroscopic, they degrade by absorbing moisture from the air. You know what air in a bathroom has in it? Water! Keep it sealed to extend its shelf life.

Using it

When you want to use it, open the container, take out a teaspoonful, and use it as you would any other facial scrub. It is that simple.

A Side Note

If you are concerned about coconut oil, you could substitute an alternative oil, such as olive oil. In that case, we would recommend adding more arrowroot to the mix. Why is this needed? Coconut oil is firm enough at room temperature to retain its shape, whereas olive oil does not. Additional arrowroot or other thickener would be needed to solidify the mixture and prevent separation. We have not tried this ourselves but it would be a good experiment to try.

Wrapping Up

You know how to create your own facial scrub and tune it to your needs. While the ‘green goo’ isn’t the prettiest, it is highly effective and made with ingredients that are generally low-cost and have known health benefits. In addition, it is easy to make, smells good, and can make a decent homemade gift.

The post How To Make A Great Facial Scrub first appeared on Simplified Living Lab.

Why Make It?

People post recipes that usually lead with claims like lower cost, more natural ingredients, fewer preservatives, or other health perks. We’re skipping that because our focus lies elsewhere. What we wanted was to be able to create things from scratch and tailor them to what we liked. As a result, like our bread recipe, we wanted a place to put the instructions so we could find them. That is what this blog post is. 

Our Peanut Butter Can Be Any Nut Butter

We may be talking about peanut butter, but technically, you can make your version with different nuts. It is the same process. We don’t only use peanuts in ours because we want a different depth of flavor. As an aside, the US does have standards for when to call something a spread or a butter. The tl;dr is here, and the more extended version is here. After making and eating a lot of nut butters, I am not a fan of these categorizations. 

Why aren’t we fans? Because we break nut butters into three types that don’t come from factories.

• First, you’ll find the basic grind at many local supermarkets. It’s usually just nuts, coarse, and in our experience, nearly impossible to spread.
• Then there’s the ultra-smooth kind—more like a sauce or jelly—that comes from high-oil nuts (or added oil) and long processing times.
• We want something in between: butter that spreads easily but still holds some firmness and texture—not as firm or creamy as Jif or Skippy. We appreciate those for what they are, but they lack the depth of flavor and homemade texture we’re after.

 It’s About the Oil Content

The final texture of nut butters comes down to how long you process them and how much oil the nuts contain. Raw ingredients aren’t always consistent—peanuts, for example, vary greatly. There are several types of peanuts and different methods for roasting them. Since peanuts are a crop, their characteristics depend on where and how they grow. That means oil content and texture can differ from batch to batch.

Our recipe uses a standard roasted, non-salted supermarket bulk peanut. We also add a bit of pecans to add depth of flavor. Want less oil? Use a dry-roasted peanut with no salt added for your peanut butter. Want to roast your own? Maybe try Alton Brown’s idea in his recipe.  

The important thing is that familiarity creates success. Once you have tried something and found something you like, realize that changing the nuts can impact how oily the peanut butter is, impacting the final consistency. 

Texture is About Time

This will sound like a Captain Obvious comment, but the longer you process the peanuts, the smoother the result. What is not so obvious is that you raise the heat level as you process. If you want silky, you can process the peanuts until they release their oil and become liquified. 

When you process under 10 minutes, you will not usually see the separation. Processing means pulsing your food processor for 1 minute, then letting it rest for 1 minute. Why do this? It’s about heat. You are slowly raising the temperature of the peanuts through friction. Based on our empirical evidence, once you hit 12-14 minutes of processing, your mix will liquify. For us, that isn’t simply about time; it happens at around 120℉-130℉.  

Here is the progression over time of the peanut butter as it goes from thick to a creamy sauce.

Chunky as it first comes together.

Blended similar to buying fresh ground in a store.

Creamy as the nuts release their fat.

Why is that important? If you want thick peanut butter at room temperature, you may not want to process it as long. If you want it to be thin and spreadable, you may need to keep it in the fridge to firm up. In the latter case, you don’t want to add more than a teaspoon of oil until you have completed processing to dial in the right consistency for your needs.

Hedging Your Bets

In terms of having it get too thin once it separates, you can hedge your bets and take out some insurance using a stabilizer like guar gum. Many people have issues with an additive that stabilizes or alters food chemically. Hear us out on this one first before saying ‘t’ain’t natural to be using that’

Guar gum, made from guar beans, is a natural thickener like corn starch or arrowroot powder. The key difference is that it thickens without heat, which makes it ideal for recipes that don’t involve cooking, like peanut butter or fermented hot sauces. You can read more about it here.

Some individuals are sensitive to guar gum just like those sensitive to soy, nuts, milk, whey, or other food intolerances. However, guar gum is also a common ingredient in the food world, so you are probably already consuming it if you have had something as familiar as a pint of Ben & Jerry’s (or others) Ice Cream. We aren’t picking on them, but we use them to show how common the usage is.

Storage

Our recipe creates an easily spreadable peanut butter. The oil (fat) is drawn out of the nuts into a suspension to make it spreadable, which makes it a bit unstable. Depending on your kitchen, at room temperature, it may be too thin for you, and due to the instability, it may allow the oil to separate. We recommend storing it in the fridge after making it to allow it to thicken and solidify. This may take up to 12 hours. We would rather keep it in the refrigerator than add any shelf stabilizer to it.

Print

Smooth Peanut Butter

A recipe for a smooth Peanut or an 'Any' nut butter.

Keyword Bread, Condiment, Sandwich, Sauce, Side

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Processing Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Equipment

• 1 Food Processor
• 1 Spatula

Ingredients

• 12 oz Roasted Peanuts
• 2 oz Roasted Pecans You can use all peanuts but this will create a different depth of flavor.
• 2 tsp Kosher Salt Use more or less to your liking.
• 1 tsp Peanut Oil You may need more based on the oil content of your nuts.
• 3 tbsp Honey Use more or less to your liking.
• 1/2 tsp Guar Gum Optional

Instructions

• Gather all ingredients before you start.
• Place all dry ingredients in a Food Processor
• Process for 1 minute, let rest for 1 minute. We are using this to process / rest interval to control how we raise the temperature.
• Process for 1 minute as you drizzle in the oil and honey mix, then rest for 1 minute.
• Sample flavor and adjust salt and honey to taste.
• Continue to process for 1 minute / rest 1 minute 8-10 more times.
• The temperature should slowly come up to 120-130 Fahrenheit.
• At this point, you should have a major consistency change as the fats liquify. If not, continue to pulse/rest a few more times until you see it seperate.
• Add oil to adjust the consistency to liking.
• Place in jar and set in fridge to firm up. It may take up to 12 hours to fully solidify.

Wrapping Up

This post provides the basics for making a simple homemade creamy peanut or nut recipe. You can experiment with nuts, sweeteners, and consistency to tailor the recipe to your liking. For example, walnuts and maple syrup create a great nut butter with a different flavor profile to spread on apple slices in the fall.

The post How To Make Peanut Butter first appeared on Simplified Living Lab.

Bread Seems Problematic

Baking bread seems to be a challenging task for many people. There are many variables, such as yeast, moisture levels, gluten creation, and lack of gluten creation, all of which contribute to bread not being simple. If you follow some recipes, you must learn a new language with words like autolyze, punch down, and window pane. Worse, several sites feature extravagantly decorated bread that resembles art more than food.

Well, bully for them! That is not us. We have busy lives, need sandwiches or toast, and want something made by hand. That is where this bread recipe came from. This bread does take time, but much of that time is not active, meaning you can walk away. This is also a ‘no-knead’ bread, meaning it doesn’t require a lot of hand or machine work to knead the dough. 

Source callout. This was someone else’s recipe we modified. We wanted a base bread that had the benefits of both bread flour’s gluten and whole wheat nutrition. Next, we prefered a moister bread than the original recipe so we added butter to the mix. We also like a taller loaf for sandwiches, which requires adjustments to the amount of ingredients, pan size, and cook time. Finally, the original recipe had two problematic flaws that some people struggled with, which we simplified and will address.

Many recipe sites provide pictures and videos of the step-by-step process for making something. We won’t do that. Why? Because we feel it buries the most critical steps in a lot of noise. Breaking with tradition, we will provide you with some pointers on the essential steps and key considerations that will help you break this recipe. Also, if you haven’t read it, here is our guide to fixing bread.

First, we are using a less typical 9 x 5 x 3 pan size. We wanted a bigger loaf for larger slices. One of the primary keys to making bread is ensuring the correct pan size. If the pan is too small, the bread will not be supported and will have too much ‘muffin top’. Using a pan that is too large, the bread will not produce the shape we associate with sandwich bread because it cannot rise over the rim.

• Always measure flour by weight or a spoon-and-level method. This is where the issue of having too wet or too dry dough can arise. No matter what you do, every recipe is going to be off based on the unidity of your kitchen. This is why we prefer to show a picture of what a hydrated dough looks like rather than simplify this further.
• Proof your yeast in warm water to ensure it is alive. While some yeast don’t technically need this, it is simple.
• Warm water is defined as 105°F-110°F, which is slightly above body temperature. Yeast dies if the water is too high above that level, and they won’t create lift if it is too low below that level.

Here is what proofing yeast looks like. Good yeast will foam in under a minute when mixed in warm water. 

Water Content

To achieve good bread, you must balance the water content with the structure. This is especially tricky in no-knead breads. Because flours contain moisture, and eyeballing measuring cups full of water is not 100% accurate, you need to tune your dough. If the dough is too sticky, fold in a tablespoon of flour. If the dough is too dry, it won’t rise in the oven, so add a tablespoon of water. You want to see a shaggy dough like this. 

Doubling 

Because yeast bread is made with living organisims, the times in this recipe are approximate. Yeast is unfeeling and cannot be forced to work faster; they do not care about your schedule or timeline. To achieve a good rise in dough, you must allow the yeast to do its work, which takes time. We can encourage them to work faster through warm conditions. For example, we proof the bread in a room at 78°F. If your kitchen is 67°F, it will take more time. If it is 82°F, it will take less time. 

Shaping

 After your bulk or first rise, you shape the dough and place it into a greased and floured pan. You must pull and stretch the dough instead of simply rolling it out like a pie crust. By stretching and folding, the air bubbles are distributed more evenly, resulting in a better rise and a more even crumb. Dusting the dough with flour before the second rise will also help keep the bread from sticking to the tea towel or plastic covering it. 

Now let’s make some bread!

Here is our recipe for a straightforward, simple, yet tasty homemade bread. Remember, being succesful will come down the following points.

• Make sure your yeast is alive.
• Make sure your water is 105-110F
• Adjust the mositure levels based on your kitchen and its humidyt.
• Give the yeast time to do their job.
• Use all the times as guidelines and not hard and fast rules.

Print

Simple ‘No Knead’ Basic Sandwich Loaf

A basic recipe that is easy to follow and fairly foolproof.

Cuisine American

Keyword Bread

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Resting Time 5 hours hours

Total Time 5 hours hours 55 minutes minutes

Servings 12 Slices

Author Pete

Equipment

• 1 Bread Pan 9x5x3
• 1 Bowl
• 1 Bowl Scrapper
• 1 Spatula
• 1 Dish Towel, moistened (or greased plastic wrap)
• Measuring Cups and Spoons
• 1 Dusting wand (handy if you bake a lot but not 100% necessary)
• 1 Digital Thermometer with a fine tip (the best way to check for doneness but not 100% necessary).
• 1 Whisk

Ingredients

• 2 cups bread flour Use the 'spoon and level' technique to fill cup.
• 2 cups whole wheat
• 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast or one packet
• 2 tsp fine salt
• 2 ½ tsp sugar
• 2 cups warm water (at 105-110F)
• 2 tbsp melted butter (cooled to room temp)
• Additional AP or bread flour (for adjusting dough and dusting surfaces)
• 1 tsp canola oil to grease pan (or nuetral flavored oil)

Instructions

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour yeast, salt and sugar.
• Use a whisk or spoon to blend well.
• In a small bowl combine water, butter (or oil).
• Slowly add wet ingredients into dry while mixing Use the bowl scraper (or spatuala) to fold dough onto itself until combined.
• Note: Water content of the flour varies. If the dough is too sticky, dust with small amounts of flour until it becomes workable by hand. If it is too dry, add a teaspoon of water. See photo of shaggy dough above as a guide to correct moisture level
• Cover the bowl with moistened dish towel or greased plastic wrap and set it in a draft-free place to rise for 4 hours.
• When dough has doubled in size, grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with oil then dust with flour.
• Scrape the dough out onto a well-floured surface.
• With floured hands, shape the dough into a rough rectangle about 9 inches by 12 inches.
• Note: You may still need to adjust moisture level here. The dough should be workable without sticking to floured hands.
• Note: This bread doesn't need to be ‘punched down’ like others. Minimize the amount of time you work it to retain as much of the air bubbles as possible.
• Make 2 folds. With the short side facing you, fold 1/3 twards the middle. Fold the other third on top of the previous fold. Pinch seams
• Gently roll into round log and press to make it the square shape of the pan.
• Drop it into the prepared pan and gently push down and into corners to make it even.
• Dust top of loaf with flour
• Cover the pan loosely with a moistened dish towel, and set in a draft-free place for 1 hour, or until it is approximately double in size.
• About 45 minutes before the loaf is done rising, heat the oven to 425F.
• Remove the dish towel and dust the risen loaf with a little more flour.
• Place pan in middle rack of oven.
• Bake the loaf for 25 minutes, until it's a deep golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. You are looking for an internal temp of 200-205F.
• Note: All ovens cook slightly differently. Use 25 minutes as a guide to start checking for being done. You may need 5-10 minutes more cook time.
• Note: These temps and times are at sea level. You may need adjust your cooking times and temps for your area.
• Remove from the oven and rest for 5 minutes
• Use a dish towel to turn out onto a cooling rack.
• Cool completely (2-3 hours) before slicing.

Wrapping up

We hope this bread works out for you as well as it did for us and that it makes bread more approachable. It doesn’t take rocket science to produce a good loaf. Once you have it set up, you can add to and modify it to fit your needs. You could add seeds for an extra crunch or raisins, cinnamon, and extra sugar for a sweeter dessert bread. The idea is to get something to work and then iterate over it to tune it to your needs. 

The post How To Make A Simple Loaf Of Bread first appeared on Simplified Living Lab.