Oranges and Lemons

We have an abundance of oranges and lemons on the vineyard.  And we love them!

I have been experimenting with a lovely orange and lemon body scrub.  There are a few recipes floating around, some you blend, others you grate etc. 

Below is a recipe for the one I love.  It is so quick and easy.  For this amount you can pop what you don't need into a couple of small jars.  They would make a lovely handmade gift.  Alternatively, because it is an oil base it will keep for a couple of months.

Lemon and Orange Body Scrub

You will need:

1 cup sea salt
1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil, but if you have it, almond oil, coconut oil, or even vegetable oil will be fine)
1 tsp of grated lemon rind/ lemon juice
1 tsp of grated orange rind

Mix the sea salt and oil together in a mixing bowl, then add the lemon and orange. If the consistency is watery, you may want to consider adding a bit more sea salt.

When kept in a jar the oil and salt will seperate.  A quick shake will sort this out.

I'm going on holiday at the end of this week so have been preparing my skin with this lovely concoction - Enjoy!

Something yummy...................

Easy Lemon Biscuits

You will need:

125g of butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp grated lemon rind (I doubled this for a stronger lemony flavour)
1 egg
2 cups standard plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Method:

Cream butter, sugar and lemon rind together until light and fluffy.
Add egg, beating well.
Sift flour and baking powder together and mix into creamed mixture.
Roll heaped teaspoonsful of mixture into balls and place on an oven tray.
Flatten sligthly with a floured fork.
Bake at 190C for about 12 minutes or until pale golden.

For the icing I mixed together icing sugar, lemon juice and rind.  Our lemons are not too sour so this icing was just so good!

The next batch I'm going to include orange rind as well.

And continuing with the citrus theme, I had to include my Lemon Dusters from a previous post.

My sister n law Em made these for me using a recipe from Wendyl Nissen's Home Companion.  I love using these and have discovered that due to the vinegar in them they are fantastic for wiping down mirrors and windows - NO STREAKS! 

Here is the recipe:

Lemon Dusters

You will need:

½ cup water
½ cup white vinegar
3–4 lemons
6 drops lemon essential oil
6 to 8 dusters (made from old towels, nappies or sheets)

Mix equal quantities of water and white vinegar in a bowl. Add lemon essential oil, soak your clean dusters in the bowl for a few minutes and squeeze so that they are damp.

Peel the rind off the lemons and lay a couple of pieces on each cloth. Roll up cloths lengthwise, then roll the other way into a ball. Place these in the jar one on top of each other, throw in the occasional extra piece of rind and screw on the lid.

Take the dusters out when you need to use them, and if they aren’t too soiled you can roll them back up and use them again.