Homemade Treats for Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day, don't worry about buying flowers or making dinner reservations — show your love with these thoughtful homemade (and delicious) gift ideas from Carla Emery.

Kisses: Beat 2 egg whites stiff. Add a pinch of salt, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, and 1/2 t. vanilla. Drop from a teaspoon onto a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Bake in a 300 degree F oven about 30 minutes until firm and dry. Variation: Add 1/4 cup coconut, or 1 square chocolate, melted and mixed in.

Brandied Cherries: Boil 5 cups sugar with 2 cups water for 12 minutes, or until you have a clear syrup. Pour that syrup over 5 lb. cherries (the small sour kind) and let stand over night. Drain off the syrup and boil it again. Add cherries and boil about 5 more minutes. Take out cherries with a skimmer (the kind with holes to let the juice drain away) and put the cherries into canning jars. Boil the syrup down 15 more minutes. It should be getting pretty thick. Add 2 cups brandy. Remove from heat. Pour over cherries and seal.

Rose Geranium Cake: Sift together 2 cups flour, 1/2 t. salt, and 1 t. baking powder. Cream 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup sugar. Add alternately the flour and 2/3 cup water. Finally, add the unbeaten whites of 4 eggs. Whip hard for 5 minutes. Line a loaf pan with buttered paper and rose geranium leaves. Pour in batter. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes. Pull the leaves off with the paper when the cake is done. 

Do-it-Yourself This Mother's Day

Just in time for Mother's Day, Carla Emery offers some recipes for homemade pampering for the wonderful women in your life — or for yourself!

NOTE: To prevent allergic reactions, test a small quantity of any unaccustomed substance by rubbing it on the underside of your arm. Then wait 24-48 hours to see if a rash develops.

For Your Face 

Face Masks. A mask consists of a "binder" (which makes it adhere) and other ingredients mixed in with the binder. Choose your binder according to whether your skin tends to be oily or dry. For oily skin, use yogurt or egg white as a binder. For dry skin, choose lanolin, honey, sour cream, or egg yolk. Experiment with the other ingredients. You can blend vegetables and fruits and combine them with your binder, or use any of the recipes below. 

Wash your face clean before applying the mask. Don't ever put a mask onto the area around your eyes. Rinse off after a half hour or as soon as the mask dries. (While you're waiting, it's a good time to take a nap.) To remove the mask, use a washrag and warm water. Then use cold water to close your pores. NOTE: If you feel any irritation, rinse off immediately!

• Oatmeal Mask: Mix together 2⁄3 c. oatmeal and enough honey to make a pasty consistency. Optionally, add 2 t. rose water. 
• Honey/Lemon Mask: Mix 2 T. slightly warmed honey with 1 t. lemon juice. Put the mixture on your face and leave for about a half hour.
• Peaches and Cream Moisturizer: Blend together 1 ripe peach and heavy cream. Refrigerate. Massage onto your skin wherever needed once per day.
• Homemade Lip Gloss or Rouge: Mix a drop of food coloring with a fingerful of petroleum jelly. Kids have fun with this, and it won’t hurt their skin.

For Your Body

Herbal Bath. Make a strong tea by pouring boiling water over your chosen herbs. Let steep while you draw your bathwater. Then strain into the water. Or just put herbs right in your bath water - either loose or in a little cheese- cloth bag. Let them steep 10 minutes; then join them in there. Good herbs for bathing are chamomile, lemon verbena, mint, peppermint, and rosemary.

• Herbal Bath Salts: With Epsom salts, mix sage, thyme, and pennyroyal; lemon balm and peppermint; lavender, rosemary, and pennyroyal; or another herb or herbal combination that pleases you. Or use Epsom salts with a few drops of your favorite fragrance or herbal oil mixed in. When bottled attractively, this makes a nice gift.

 

Homemade Worcestershire Sauce

Pour 1 qt. wine vinegar into non-aluminum pan and heat. Add 1/2 t. curry powder, 1/4 t. shredded and crushed pimento. 1 minced garlic clove, 4 t. cut and mashed green onions, 1/2 lb. brown sugar, and a pinch each of ginger, pepper, mustard, and salt. Stir into the vinegar, note how high in the pan the liquid is, put on a lid and cook on very low heat for 1 hour, adding more vinegar occasionally to keep the liquid amount the same. When the time is up, add 2 c. sherry and let rest a week in a warm place. Then strain out the solids and bottle the sauce into a sterilized, dark-colored glass. It tastes best if all your ingredients are fresh.

[Excerpted from the "Food Seasonings" section of Chapter 5: Herbs & Flavorings. Other recipes include: salt mixtures, herb-flavored vinegars, seasoning mixtures, spice mixtures, curry powders, mulled beverages and sauces.]

How to Grow a Loofah Sponge

Loofahs (genus Luffa) are a squash not eaten but used as vegetable sponges--a bathing spa favorite as well as good multi-purpose scrubbers around the house. Tropical in origin, they grow best in the Deep South or may be grown in a heated greenhouse in cooler climes.

With a long growing season, loofah squash are generally started indoors several weeks before the last frost date. Soak the hard seeds for at least 12 hours and plant 2 or 3 to a 4- to 6-inch container and keep in a warm, dark place; germination can take several weeks. Once sprouted, move the seedlings into good light. When seedlings are 2 inches tall, thin to the strongest plant; at 3 inches they are ready to be transplanted outdoors, provided the weather is warm and stable. The vigorous vines are attractive, with yellow flowers.

For the best sponges, leave gourds undisturbed on the vine to mature, ripen, and dry. In shorter-season climates, harvest the gourds and dry indoors until they turn brown, feel light, and rattle with loose seeds when shaken. Slice off the big end and shake to remove the seeds. Soak the dried gourd overnight or until the skin separates from the sponge. Remove any loose pulp from the netted interior and soak in a mild bleach solution. Dry thoroughly out of direct sunlight.

Ambitious do-it-yourselfers should also check out pairing this project with some soaps to make a truly special homemade gift. Here's a recipe to get you started, but consult Carla's section on soap making in The Encyclopedia of Country Living for more details.

Flower Soap

Take 4 packed c. fragrant flowers (such as rose, cherry, or apple), 4 c. rendered tallow, 2 c. cold soft water, vegetable oil, and 1⁄2 c. plus 2 T. lye flakes.

Gather flowers just before you make the soap.

Immerse them in the melted tallow.

Heat for an hour just at the melting point.

Allow to harden overnight and then remelt (don't overheat) and strain.

Add enough vegetable oil to flower tallow to total 5 cups.

Cool. Stir lye into cold water until dissolved.

Grease molds with vaseline.

Proceed to cool, mix, and mold as for any other soap.