Today's Creations

We have been low on toothpaste lately. David's been using those little ones you get for free from the dentist, and I've been using the kid's strawberry flavored toothpaste. Somehow, fruity toothpaste just doesn't cut it for me, my mouth doesn't feel "clean" but like I just ate some candy. So I decided to give homemade toothpaste another shot. In the past, I used baking soda, salt, glycerin, and peppermint oil. It was a bit salty, although there wasn't much in it, but it was cheap to make and had no fluoride nor sodium laureth sulfate in it which I hear is bad for you teeth. Most toothpastes out there contain one or both. Upon further research, I read glycerin is bad for your teeth too, and that too is a very common ingredient in toothpaste, even in the ones they claim are "natural." For those who'd like to educate themselves more on this topic, please read: http://www.truthquest2.com/teeth.htm So I decided to make a plain ol' toothpaste out of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide (a whitener), peppermint oil, and water. Homemade toothpastes don't foam like the store-bought ones, since SLS isn't in there which causes it to foam. It's a little strange at first, but as with most things, you get used to it and it doesn't bother you. I made a small batch and put it in a baby food container (yes, I've held onto them since Abby ate them. They're such great containers.) Looks a little like yogurt, I could add food coloring to make them look like "toothpaste", but white's fine with me. For those of you who'd like to try this at home, the recipe is:



4t baking soda

1t hydrogen peroxide

4 drops peppermint (or any oil you'd like. Next time I might try a mix with mint and tea tree)

water (enough to make a paste)



It really doesn't make too much, the amount in the jar was triple the recipe.

I thought I'd try a bread I haven't tried yet...Challah bread. One of the breads on my bread I'd like to get down, is the Japanese bread they sell at Nijiya. Often called Pan de Mie or Pullman bread, no one has really found THE recipe, that nails it. Many people online have come close, but not quite there. One guy said the Challah bread comes close in texture. So I thought I'd give it a try. This is what it looked before the 2nd rise and the baking. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it looked. I was excited. It looks nice against the blue too. I just got a silicone baking sheet to replace parchment sheets that gets thrown away after each use. I can reuse this over and over...

The finished product. A tad overbaked, but the inside was very fluffy. Not quite as sweet and eggy as ones I've had in the past. But it's a great starting point for my quest.