DIY Life

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products, and other useful blends.

There's nothing like a cool drink to refresh on a hot summer day. Last week, we explored drinks made with fresh mint and essential oils. Now it's time to think beyond the mint.

Did you know that most citrus and herbal essential oils are sold to large food companies as flavoring? Hydrosols, which are the water left behind when plants are steam-distilled into essential oils, are also safe to ingest in small quantities when they're organic and top quality, according to Suzanne Catty, author of Hydrosols: The Next Aromatherapy.

Make sure your oils and hydrosols are organically grown and of good quality, then read on after the break for drink recipes -- citrus, herbal, and even some floral -- made with essential oils, herbs, and hydrosols.

Mmm-mmm. Fresh basil. It's so very fragrant -- the indispensable ingredient in a host of mid-summer recipes.

My basil is lush, green and ready for picking. Okay, I don't have a whole lot of it out in my garden; however, I'm planning on growing a lot more next summer. In preparation for that lofty enterprise, I thought it'd be cool to find out how the expert basil-growers harvest their beloved herb. Here are some tips I picked up:

1. Know your basil. There are lots of varieties out there, and it's always good to know which one you have, as the flavors vary quite a bit between them. Chances are good that, like me, you've got the most common variety: Genovese sweet basil.

A new juice bar just opened in our neighborhood. They serve any blend of fruit and veggie juice that you could imagine. They use fresh, organic ingredients, and present the drink in a trendy, branded cup.

For this, you'll pay $5.50. Seriously, for blended carrots, I just can't.

Vegetable juices are popular on health detox and other cleanses, but they taste great too, and can be a healthy part of an everyday diet.

To make this carrot juice, you don't need a juicing machine; any food processor or blender will do just fine. You'll find more information after the break.

Sometimes I avoid using the blender for smaller tasks because I dread cleaning it. Next time you whip up your favorite peanut butter hummus recipe (ok, my favorite recipe, but try it and I'm sure you'll love it too!), you can blend it straight into the jar.

Our friends at slashfood pointed us to this tip by Elise, suggesting that most blenders can be used with a standard canning jar. Apparently this used to be a common way to blend spices and other small quantity mixtures. 40 years ago new blenders even came with a canning jar and a collection of recipes. I didn't know that this was ever the case, so the tip is inventive genius to me.

Regular size mason jars will fit perfectly onto most blender bases. Simply blend your mixes, unscrew the jar, and store it as is. If you accidently break the carafe, you don't have to run out and get a whole new blender either, just use canning jars for all your blending needs. Brilliant, pure brilliance.

Sometimes I run across a gem of home improvement so amazing that not only do I wish I had the talent to create something similar, but I wish I could meet the person who thought up such a concept. The author of The Black Table has taken old blenders left behind by partying roommates and turned them into cool, sturdy lamps. By using:

• 10 feet of electrical cord with an attached plug on one end
• an electric tester
• an electric light socket
• a switch
• two wire caps
• needle nose pliers
• light bulbs
• wire strippers
• electrical tape
• and a blender

You, too, can take your old blender from old and funky to new and fun. Everything you need to know is listed on the Black Table site and included are a set of detailed instructions and pictures to make the process that much easier. I am not quite brave enough to embark on this DIY adventure but it does look like it would be sassy and fun.