My Latest Soap Creation

It's not secret that I LOVE creating soaps. After all, anyone can melt soap base, add some color, a bit of fragrance, pour it into a large mould, slice it, wrap and label it and voila. Hey, it's easy, it's functional and it yields the ability to make larger quantities of handcrafted soap with minimal labor. But to create a lovely but still functional bar of soap... Or even just to create a lovely bar of soap to display in a bathroom - those tasks require skills and talents - and patience! I certainly enjoy the ease of making a batch of simple, plain, nourishing bars of soap, such as my last batch of Patchouli soap. That soap didn't even have the benefit of added color - it was a simple, aloe-based hot-processed soap with patchouli oil for scent. (Incidentally, I'm sorry to announce that I'm completely sold out of that soap at the present time, and the next batch will certainly have its share of color.)

But creating one-of-a-kind soaps brings me a special kind of joy and satisfaction. I love the way they look spread out on our kitchen table as I'm in the various steps of the creative process. Perhaps it's the array of handcrafted, trimmed and beveled soaps, waiting for their dragonfly adornments. Maybe it's the soap rack covered with small soap dragonflies that my daughter has mica-brushed, looking like they're fixed in flight over some invisible pond, wings sparkling in the light coming through the window. Then, it could be how they're finally put together, dragonfly resting softly on soap, excess soap trimmed away, and the final products waiting patiently for me to wrap and label them. I hear you now: Well, show us the soap already!!! OK, OK, here it is, my Apricot Freesia Dragonfly Soap. Currently, quantities are limited, but I'll be making more of these soon.

Shout Out to Norfolk!

I have Google Analytics installed on my website, which allows me to see where the site's hits are coming from. It's amazing when I can see that people in Paris, London, Moscow, Dublin and unknown, unremembered corners of various foreign countries are hitting MY site and looking at MY wares! Another thing that Analytics does is, it shows me how many hits come from certain places and how many of those hits are "unique" (new).

I keep seeing hit upon hit from Norfolk, VA, which is not that far from here. *Waving* Not only that, but now the reports are saying "0% unique" hits from Norfolk. So... Whoever you are, drop me a line! You apparently enjoy looking at my wares, and I'd love to hear from you! It'd be great if you ordered from me, too, but no pressure! :-)

The Kitchen for Cooking???

Yeah, whodathunk it? The soap production is slowing down a little. I'm making some handcrafted soaps in preparation of my show next weekend, but, despite the oils and lye calling to me from my storage area ("Sara... Ohhhhh Saaaaara" - See, there they go again), I'm resisting the urge. One, I'm seeing the end of my lye and don't want to place a bulk order this close to our move. That's just a hazmat hassle I don't want to have to think about. Two, my five-year-old daughter is on her Spring intersession (a 3-week break from her year-around school) and wants to do things with me. She's having to forebear some soapmaking and wrapping, because it needs to get done before we can go to the beach next weekend and, let's face it, the kid's got her priorities in order. She's yearning for sea and sand as much as I am!

So, in an effort to include her in things I want and need to get done, she's been helping me wrap soaps, do dishes and when she makes a mess in the living room, she picks it up and vacuums if necessary. This morning before I'd even finished my morning cuppa, she was asking me when we'd be doing dishes. After slowing her down... and slowing her down... And, "Can I please just finish my coffee before we have to worry about that?" After all that, we got productive. (Um, no, she's not available for rent, lease, borrow or loan, but you can use her as an example for kids who don't want to work around the house.)

Another one of my projects that I've been wanting to take on is really very simple - fairly healthy breakfast sandwiches for my husband to carry with him to work. I've done these before and he liked them "OK"; fat-free cheese slices are apparently very plastic-y, whether they're melted or just unwrapped. I got the original recipe out of Lean and Lovin' It by Don Mauer, a local nutritionist who's put out some great lower fat, lower calorie recipes that still taste good. The original recipe calls for:

English muffins
Egg substitute
Fat-free cheese slices
98% fat-free deli ham
Fat-free buttery spread

Not bad, but... My main thing is, the first time I made these, I trimmed down the ham slices so they'd fit the English muffins better and ate the trimmings. I can't eat cold deli meat while I'm pregnant, though, so in order to avoid temptation, I opted for Canadian bacon, just like you'd get at that place with the golden arches. So, my variation has...

6 whole wheat English muffins, split into two halves (good for fiber and protein)
6 ounces of egg substitute
6 2% fat cheese singles
12 slices of Canadian bacon (a serving is 3 slices with 1.5 g fat/serving)
Buttery spread
Fresh ground pepper
Olive oil spray (I have an air pump for oil)

This recipe does well with an extra pair of hands or the ability to form a 1-person assembly line. First, start browning your Canadian bacon in a pan you've lightly spritzed with the olive oil, about 2 minutes per side. While that's going, begin toasting the English muffins. As the English muffins come out of the toaster, spread them lightly with the buttery spread (whipped butter is perfectly OK for those who prefer natural products). I find it helpful to put the halves back together while I'm waiting on the bacon so the butter really melts.

Place two slices of Canadian bacon on each English muffin, one on each half. Pour one ounce of egg substitute into the pan and cook it for two minutes, flip it, then cook it for a minute more. Add pepper as desired to cooking egg. While that's cooking, place a cheese slice on one of the slices of Canadian bacon on the English muffin. Add cooked egg to sandwich, close it, let it cool a bit, then slip it into a plastic baggy.

Repeat until you have 6 sandwiches.

When you're ready to eat it, open the bag and pop the sandwich in the microwave for 30 seconds or until cheese is melted. Add a piece of fruit, and you've got a good, pretty healthy, portable breakfast for 6 days.

I have no idea what the fat and calorie count on this would be; I haven't checked. Both of mine have given it two thumbs up and enthusiastic "Mmmmmm's" while nodding happily. I'd guess I spent a total of $10.00 on the ingredients for this (just guesstimating), and I only used up the English muffins. I still have many cheese slices left, a few pieces of bacon and over a cup of Egg Beaters left, so I didn't use all $10 worth of ingredients. Can't hit the drive-thru for that!

Great New Products!

Late February and March have been busy months for me as I've been keeping up with my honey products and learning/practicing/perfecting my swirls. Some batches have turned out great, others are nice and then there was that batch that nearly seized on me. Hey, it doesn't matter how it gets into the mould, as long as it comes out as good soap.

I've been receiving some tremendous help and guidance from a soapbud named Irene. I tell ya, that woman can do swirls that'd make your head spin! She's really expert at it. I have managed to pretty closely copy one of her amazing creations, found in this Dragonfly Soap.

This soap is scented with a delightful Fresh Cucumber scent. This one has gone fast; I only have three bars left. I made another batch today, but this new batch I scented with Magnolia fragrance. Yuuuummmy!!! Great Spring scents all around!

The other creation that went up tonight is Midnight Lilac, a beautiful lightly floral scented soap. Why midnight? Imagine walking through a lush garden with the light from a full moon pouring silver over all the plants and flowers. This soap is midnight dark with gentle lavender and silver swirls.

Midnight Lilac is a limited time offer; once these bars are gone, that's it. So go ahead and get yours. It's the perfect complement to warming Spring days.

Bee My Honey

Ya know you want to. Yep, that's right. You want to grab a tube of my newest lip balm, Bee My Honey, a fabulous honey and shea butter all-natural lip balm. Shea butter contains vitamins A & E, both of which are great for the skin, and it also has sun protection properties. Honey lends its sweetness to this nourishing lip balm, and its humectant property also draws moisture from the air to your lips, helping to prevent them from dryness and chapping.

Can it get any better? Of course, it can! This lip balm also contains beeswax that came from honeycombs belonging to a beekeeper right here in North Carolina - Goldsboro, specifically. Yes, you read that correctly. Not only is my beeswax an American product, but it's also a product of my home state. Not even Burt's Bees uses American, let alone North Carolinian, beeswax (they import it). The honey I use in these lip balms is from a beekeeper in Georgia. Of course, North Carolina has great honey, but I needed something very dark for one of my products.