Arizona Moonlight - Back in Stock

Arizona Moonlight had a short absence, but is now back in stock. To make our moonlight soap the "moons" need to be made a day before so they are ready to go to embed into our night sky.

Now look at this gorgeous blue...wouldn't that make a fabulous night sky?

But sadly the moment the lye hits the pot our beautiful blue turns into a grey...yeah imagine my face the first time this happened...oh well the end result color works for this project.

I bring it to thick trace and fill the molds halfway and then carefully lay the moons into the molds....

...then fill the night sky the rest of the way up.

I just love the finished project!!!

Canning Corn Relish

We are on a canning kick and just canned some corn relish. I have never had this before but The Hubs' mom used to make it...and right now I am so in love with canning I am game for anything.

We used the Ball Blue Book recipe:

The Hubs went to the next town over to get our favorite corn from Hausers Farm, he cooked it and then cut it off the cob and measured out 2 quarts.

In another container he prepared:
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped orange bell pepper
1 cup chopped onion

Into the pot it all went along with:
1 cup sugar
2 TBL dry mustard
1 TBL celery seed
1 TBL mustard seed
1 TBL ball salt
1 TBL turmeric
1 quart vinegar
1 cup water
4 cloves minced garlic

We brought it to a boil and then simmered for 20 minutes...then ladeled into hot jars.

Arent these beautiful!!!

All 8 pints went into the canner and processed for 15 minutes.

and a bowlful leftover for The Hubs to enjoy now!

Pumpkin Soap

It is that time of year again....Pumpkin Soap time!!! First I gathered all my ingredients, oil mixture, fragrance oil, cocoa powder shaker and of course the pumpkin.

I add the pumpkin into the oils, then add the lye and then I pour off my topper soap batter before I add the fragrance oil because the fragrance oil has vanilla in it so it will brown the soap....and I want some contrast.

Into the mold it went layering soap with a line of cocoa powder and topped with the unfragranced soap batter. This is the only soap I dont insulate because the pumpkin heats it up on its own...this is at 2:30pm...

...at 4:20pm the gel phase has already begun...

...10 minutes more...

....10 more minutes....

...and just 2 and a half hours after pouring into the mold we have full gel with it just sitting uncovered on the counter.

Now some of my cocoa lines didnt quite meet up...

And some came out exactly as planned.

Regardless of which bar you may get, all of them smell fabulous!!

First Time Trying Quinoa

I bought a box of Quinoa (keen-wa) and finally got a chance to make some. I havent known how to use it...so I actually just dove in and made it up as I went.

First I washed the quinoa as I hear it can be pretty dirty, then I cooked 1 cup with 2 cups of water. When it was almost done I added in:
1/4 cup diced red onion
2 ears of corn (cut off the cob of course)
1 can of cannellini beans
1/2 can of diced green chilis
nature season's to taste ( I LOVE this seasoning!)

Mixed it all up, and I love how it came out. I debated about using black beans, but have been wanting to try the white kidney beans...and I like them!

I really enjoyed the quinoa and now I am off in search of what more I can make with it...what do you like to make with it?

Giveaway

Enter our giveaway to win an assortment of our bath and body products.
One lucky person will win a bar of vanilla verbena scented soap...a jar of foot cream...a purse sized bottle of raspberry explosion lotion...and a raspberry mist lip balm.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Canning Bread & Butter Pickles

I have wanted to can for years...and I think my jam making session has bit me with a lil dose of a canning bug.

So where to start?? We thought pickles would be a good start...never knew trying to find dill would be so hard...so finally found a store that carries it...but yeah...sold out right now. So how about bread & butter pickles...which are my absolute fave anyway!

Using the Ball Blue Book recipe:
In a large bowl combine:
4 pounds cucumbers cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 pounds onions thinly sliced
1/3 cup ball salt

Cover with ice cubes and let sit 1-1/2 hours
Drain, rinse, drain

In a large pot...because this makes a lot...combine:
2 cups sugar
2 TBL mustard seed
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp peppercorns
3 cups vinegar

Bring to a boil and then add your drained cucumber and onion mixture...return to a boil.

Pack the hot pickles and liquid into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace and remove air bubbles then process in water canner for 10 minutes. This recipe made 7 pints...and to make again I think I will cut the onions up a little more than just slicing them because they kept wanting to clump together, but other than that it was quite easy peasy!

Mmmm...too bad we have to wait 4-6 weeks to dive into these babies!!

Making Sample Soaps

I am making sample soaps which I havent done in a while, so I made calendula as my first batch, I measured my calendula to add in at trace....

Poured into my molds, I did one as the sample bars and one regular loaf...

 The next day when I go to cut the bars...I remember my log splitter had broken wires, no instructions but I am determined to figure this out, it is just guitar wires...

I know the end piece goes into this piece on the bottom as the anchor... 

Then it threads up top and gets wound around the top pieces that spin it tight...but I had issues with this and 2 hands werent enough, but I tried my best...

Then when I tried to snip off the excess wire the pliers got stuck closed on the wire instead of snipping it off...so here is where I gave up and made do to fix later when The Hubs got home..

So with one string still missing I ran it through....turned it around and ran it through to cut the other side to get my four mini logs lol...

...Last step is the mini cutter....and voila I soon have over 60 sample bars.