Friday, October 30, 2009

Peppermint craze is back!


I went crazy for peppermint last year when I created the recipe for my Candy Cane soap. In one season this soap cultivated a loyal following of customers who've been waiting all year for me to make it again. Well it's back with a new twist! Now made with local peppermint and some organic ingredients. I was able to acquire peppermint and spearmint essential oils from a local grower. I'm elated to say that I'm now able to incorporate locally grown and distilled mint into all my mint soaps. And this first batch of Candy Cane soap is comprised of over 60% organic ingredients. My organic supplier had some supply issues this fall, so the next batch of Candy Cane soap is less organic. If you're looking for the wholesome goodness of mostly organic soap be sure to purchase your Candy Cane soaps while supplies last.

Also available to satiate the peppermint palate is my Cocoa Mint Lip Balm. I experimented on friends and family last season by giving out White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn with a Cocoa Mint Lip Balm attached for their lip smackin' pleasure. It was a big hit.

And since I'm going crazy for peppermint these days ... you might be seeing some additional peppermint products soon ... like White Chocolate Peppermint Body Butter and Candy Cane Salt Scrub. Can't wait for them to appear on the webstore? Drop me an email of phone call. They're made and ready to take center stage at my holiday events.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Gluten free diet ... living without?

Over twelve years ago a nutritionist challenged me to get off wheat. What I discovered is, after having a headache every day for fifteen years, I could virtually extinguish my migraine-like headaches by eating gluten free. Of course I've fallen off the wheat wagon many times. It is just plain hard to live in a world of glutinous options especially when you're traveling or eating out! But several years ago when my oldest son tested positive for wheat allergy, I had to regain my resolve, it wasn't just me who suffered when I didn't work hard at providing alternatives. A teenager living in a glutinous world had even more challenges. I called the school dining hall to find out what options there would be for him. The answer: "we don't do that". So it was up to mom to figure it all out. Through trial and error we soon discovered how important it was for him to adhere to the diet. I would pick him up from school and I could tell by the way he carried himself when he ate pizza. Not only did it make him fatigued it affected his entire demeanor and cognitive abilities. I'm really proud of him today, as an athlete trying to perform at the top of his ability he knows what he needs to do, and he's doing it! This past summer, I decided to try the diet on my youngest son who's symptoms were moodiness and chronic dark circles under the eyes. The result: a new kid!

Last year my little sis gave me a subscription to Living Without, a magazine for people with food sensitivities. It's been a good source of baking ideas and medical information. But one of the things that intrigues me is this idea that I'm "living without". It leaves me with this feeling that I'm somehow missing out. Well I'm here to tell you that embracing a lifestyle that chooses to eat the foods that fuel your body without burdening it with foods you're allergic to is far from living without. I guess you could call it living within. Sure, living within the constraints of my body's needs has been so frustrating. And having two kids that have followed my genetic disposition for food sensitivity has been really hard! At first I internalized it as pressure, I felt this great huge burden to provide for them. And while I have been working hard at providing options for them I've had this growing list of new food sensitivities to deal with for myself. So at times I would be providing sometimes up to three different meal options for my family of five! Providing food for myself and my family this past year truly has been one of the most challenging tasks of my parenting "career".

But what I've discovered as the key to success in this journey is as simple as the perspective shift from "living without" to "living within". It is that simple. I'm living within the constraints of mine and my family's needs. And what I've discovered is that food can taste really good, even without wheat, sugar, eggs, etc. In the past I hadn't been much of an experimenter in the kitchen. One of the things that becoming a soap artist has taught me is to experiment with new things all the time. And those experiments of good and bad have led to great new discoveries of what I like, things that I didn't know I would like. So now after years of following food recipes to a tee I'm finally experimenting with them. Having multiple food sensitivities of my own, and the needs of my boys, have pushed me to a new level of creativity in the kitchen.

But I could not have gone down this path without the help of people who were willing to share their ideas, people I REALLY appreciate! I met Jody last year, soon we were conversing about diet and discovered our common concerns. She being farther down the road than me has been an amazing source of ideas and inspiration. Thank you Jody! She also pointed me to Tom and Ali's cookbook and blog. Ali's recipes are amazing! She has totally engineered her recipes to perfection. I have not tried a single one that wasn't good, in fact, most of them are just downright awesome. I followed the elimination diet in their cookbook and on their website and it has been enlightening. One of my discoveries is that I'm allergic to rice. Even though many of Ali's recipes incorporate rice flour I've been able to adjust the flours in her recipes and they still turn out fabulous.

So here's a note of gratitude for the people who've shared their gluten-free experiences with me. And you know what I've discovered now that I've made the perspective shift to living within? It's really not as hard as I thought it was because mom feels so much better and so do the kids! And there's also something satisfying about taking an insurmountable challenge by the horns and going with it.

So here our some of my favorites for Tom and Ali's blog to help get you started:

Gluten free waffles I have to make these every Saturday now! We freeze the leftovers and the boys eat them throughout the week. They taste great slathered with my new sugar free jam!

Cucumber Tomato Basil Salad I was eating this daily at the height of our tomato and cucumber harvest. So fresh and scrumptious!

Spicy Summer Black Bean Salad This was another amazing harvest salad recipe. Love the flavors all together, and the black beans for protein.

Maple Raspberry Scones Now this one is downright awesome. I was so sad when our raspberry harvest came to an abrupt end with the coming of frost.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Brain cloud or inspiration?

Do I have a brain cloud? I just love the movie "Joe versus the Volcano", you know when his whole world is dreary, clouds in the sky, no windows at his desk, a buzzing florescent light bulb, a lamp that doesn't work, etc. Joe's life is depressing and when the "doctor" tells him he has a brain cloud, he believes it. Well, my life is not depressing, but there are days when I think I must have a brain cloud. And in many respects I do, it's called menopause and lyme disease. I'm not going to bore you with the sob story just the net result.

So I've been working on creating a facial cleansing soap for quite some time. This work was inspired by the events that lead me to leave my mask behind. And I've been testing my recipe on friends and family with rave reviews. (We don't product test on our chocolate lab, Chip, even though he is a member of the family, or any one else's pet for that matter. Although, when I start working on creating a pet soap I may have to bend the no animal testing rule just to make sure they like it ... we'll see). So anyway, lot's of people trying it and loving it and I start making it to add to my product line. And I let my customers know it's coming in October.

Then I'm laying awake in bed one night thinking about the ingredients in the new face soap and what to tell people about it. And I think about this one ingredient that was placed in the soap because it is so great for your skin called "wheat germ oil". Anyone who knows me knows I am allergic to wheat. I avoid it all costs, gives me migraines and other maladies. I also have a ton of other allergies. And because of that my customers kind of look to me to provide allergy friendly products. While I did not seem to react to this face soap many people who suffer from wheat allergies or celiac disease do not use any products that have wheat in them. So anyway it begs the question, how did "wheat germ oil" somehow cross the barrier and end up on my shelf. I would have had to order it, then look at the label every time I added it to the recipe. And mind you I've made this recipe quite a few times. Hence the brain cloud question. Anyway, I'm laughing it off. But as I tried to figure out how to explain to my customers why the face soap isn't here as planned the only thing I could figure out was to totally own my condition as chronically suffering from brain fog. So what next? Should I jump in a volcano?

While hiking up to the top of a volcano and jumping in it as it's about to erupt does sound rather exhilarating, I've decided to go back to the creative drawing table on the face soap. The net result, the new new face soap is going to be even better! I'm still in the testing phase on this. But you can look forward to rice bran oil instead of wheat germ oil, and some awesome additives, like pomegranate seed oil and rose hip seed oil. I can't wait to be able to offer it to my customers. But for now I have an awesome new face soap for my shower. And, well having a brain cloud isn't so bad when it leads you to rethink the equation.

Update on organic soaps

As you may now from the post Organic Harvest I've been converted to this commitment to going organic. I have a supplier that has been great at providing organic base oils for my soap. Well apparently they completely ran out in early September. And I have been waiting for their organic oils to come in. And waiting... October is my biggest production month of the year as cold processed soap takes four to six weeks to cure. I couldn't wait any longer for their shipment to arrive and had to order from another supplier this week. So I'm said to say that for the time being my soaps won't be as organic as I'd like. But I do have a lot of soaps in inventory that have over 60% organic ingredients. So if that's important to you, let me know when you place your order so I can pick through my inventory and get the most organic ones for you.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Sugar Free Raspberry Jam

I guess you could say I've been on a sugar free kick, or rather a sugar free lifestyle change. I just don't feel that great when I eat sugar, so why bother? Well it's really hard to find sugar-free alternatives. And most of the time sugar-free recipes call for chemical replacements. I don't do sugar chemical replacements either, they make me feel worse. So when it was time to make our traditional raspberry jam this year I was in a quandry. I started doing some research and discovered I needed special pectin to make jam without sugar. I found Bernardin and I've been pleasantly surprised by the results. I made three variations of the same recipe. I like them all, but I think the Raspberry with Blueberries and Acai berry juice is pretty sweet. A little disclaimer here: my husband, a lemonade addict, says they're all kind of tart. So here you go if you're looking for an adventure in Sugar Free Raspberry Jam:

Raspberry w/ Apple Juice
3 cups raspberries
1 cup applejuice
1 packet bernardin pectin

Raspberry w/ Apricot Nectar
3 cups raspberries
1 cup sugar free apricot/pineapple nectar
1 packet barnardin pectin

Raspberry/Blueberry Jam w/ Acai Berry Juice
2 cups raspberries
1 cup blueberries
1 cup Acai/blueberry juice
1 packet barnardin pectin

I'm sad to say the raspberry crop is gone now that we've had several nights of frost. We picked by headlamp last week when we realized the frost was coming. But it sure was fun while it lasted.

Want to find bernardin? Go to http://www.amazon.com/Bernardin-Pectin-No-Sugar-Needed/dp/B000FRVVJW

Need more recipe ideas? Go to http://www.homecanning.com/can/ALRecipes.asp?R=660