Category: Vintage Sara’s Soaps ‘n Such

Image via WikipediaThis recipe featured in the CoastViews Magazine Blog and was brought to my attention by Monique, a Facebook friend.  I tried it for the first time last week and, while it didn’t hit the palate as we were anticipating (more on that in a bit), it’s still a very delicious soup.

You’ll need:
3 tablespoons butter
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
4 medium carrots, chopped
3 medium ribs celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Dash fresh ground black pepper2 tablespoons fresh parsley, or 2 teaspoons parsley flakes
3 cups mashed pumpkin, fresh if possible
2 cups half-and-half or 1 1/2 cups milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream
Parsley or chives for garnish (optional)

Directions:
In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat.  Saute’ chopped vegetables until just tender.  Add garlic and vegetable broth and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add curry powder, salt, pepper, parsley and pumpkin.  Stir cream until well blended.  Working in batches, blend until smooth and pour back into the saucepan.  Heat through; add more salt and curry powder as needed.  Garnish with chopped parsley or a few roasted, seasoned pumpkin seeds.

I made this in my Dutch oven, just to make sure it all fit in one pot.  I added an additional teaspoon of curry, which was a bit much.  I’ve found that ground clove balances the curry without making the soup taste too much like pumpkin pie.  I’d recommend starting with 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves for the whole batch and adjusting to taste from there.  This soup is awesome for cool Autumn nights, and I trimmed a bit more fat by using 1% milk, as opposed to the cream or half-and-half.  It doesn’t taste as rich as it might, but it’s still very tasty.

The flavor threw us a bit at first, because we’re all used to a butternut harvest soup I make as often as possible in the Fall and Winter.  That soup contains sweet potato and apple, among other goodies, and I season it with allspice, cumin, cinnamon and nutmeg, so it’s got a bit of a sweeter spicy taste.  I think all of us were looking at the soup, noticing the color and texture and expecting it to taste the same.
I hope your family and you enjoy this treat!

I whipped up another batch of pumpkin doozies today; after all, I had to find something to do with the leftover cream cheese frosting.  I made the original batch with whole wheat flour, since that’s what we have in the canister.  They were a gorgeous brown and had a rich flavor as the nuttiness of the flour accented the pumpkin.

We’re running low on whole wheat flour and I didn’t feel like a run to the store, so I decided to use self-rising flour, which only comes in white in our house. This batch was significantly lighter colored, doesn’t have quite the same flavor but tastes a bit like pumpkin shortbread. Mmmmm mm! I haven’t tried one of the sandwiches in this batch, yet, but my daughter did. Her verdict? “They’re good, but next time, use store-bought frosting.” I wonder if she realizes it’s the same batch of frosting she enjoyed so much in the last batch of cookies?
 I got the recipe off of Allrecipes, so I can’t claim credit for it.  It’s very easy to make, so whip some up and enjoy!
You’ll need:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup of sugar
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove
1.  Preheat oven to 350 deg F.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2.  Cream together the butter and sugar.  Add  pumpkin, egg and vanilla; mix well.
3.  Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  (If you use self-rising flour, omit the baking soda, baking powder and salt.)
4.  Drop onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.  Bake for 12-14 minutes and let sit for 1 minute before transferring to wire cooling racks to cool.
 
Cream Cheese Frosting (also from Allrecipes.com)
You’ll need:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy.  Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar.  Store in the refrigerator after use.

Image via CrunchBaseAlright.  It’s taken me a while, but I simply have to confess, I’m sucking at this blogging thing lately.  What is it?  Time?  Maybe.  Lack of things to talk about?  Yeah, more than likely.  I’d say that both of these are hindered by my laptop being out of commission.  It’s like this:  I’m the world’s worst for not turning it off.  I’m homeschooling my older daughter all day, squeezing in some soapmaking after school’s over, darting into the office to update my Facebook or Twitter streams or, on occasion, fixing or upgrading something on my website.  Do y’all really want to hear about that stuff?  Probably not.

Back to the whole “not turning it off” thing.  I love my laptop and our home’s wifi connection because they enable me to watch my shows in the evenings and still get some of my computer work done.  They can also allow me to work on blogs and so forth while I sit in the living room as my daughter works.  Unfortunately, until I can get a new cord for my laptop, neither of those things is happening.  Soon!  Hopefully soon!

Besides my lack of blogs lately, what has been keeping me busy?  I’ve created a new blog for Moms of all sorts, colors, professions, in-home, out-of-home and even manly moms (aka, Dads).  It’s for us and it affirms that we as parents are God‘s masterpieces, and those children we’re raising, nurturing and loving are themselves masterpieces that God created and is still using us to fine tune.

I have a fabulous new private label customer in Elissa, owner and lead stylist at Salon E in Kinston.  Elissa and I met in April at Bee Fest in Kinston and the girls and I had the pleasure of taking a little road trip up to visit with her and discuss her spa collection needs.  How fabulous was that!  It was awesome seeing her again, and I’m so excited about the fantastic products I’m making especially for her.  When her shelves are stocked, I’ll post it so you can buy my wonderful soaps and spa treats from her.

Elissa requested two soaps that I didn’t have in stock.  Well, I have one of them in stock, but it’s a clearanced item.  Her requests were for soaps that get you going in the mornings, and I recommended peppermint and Crystal Coast Morning.  Peppermint simply uses redistilled Peppermint essential oil for an in-your-face, tingle-your-senses bathing experience.  Crystal Coast Morning packs the punch of waking up at the beach on a brisk Winter morning where the only sounds you hear are the waves kissing the sand, birds calling to one another and “ahhhh”- the sound of your first sip of coffee.  You’ll be able to get these delectable goodies from Elissa as well.

Massage oil, available scented, unscented or flavored. My own highly exclusive oil blend

In case you didn’t know, I have a fabulous line of products for couples that I call Le Boudoir.  I enjoy making these (and product testing, of course!), because couples should have all natural (or mostly natural) products specifically designed to enhance their love life.  My husband feels that one of my business goals going forward into the fourth quarter of the year should be to really drive this line.  I was sharing this with a writer friend of mine – she writes under Celtic Lass – and she offered to help.  How?  Here goes; hang on!

CL writes erotic literature – pretty classy stuff; pretty hot stuff, too! – and she’s willing to include some of my products in her stories with links back to them on my site.  Pretty sweet, huh?  But wait!  It gets better!

How’d you like to star in an erotic story?  CL can include you in her stories with either your spouse/SO or just some random “other” (opposite sex unless requested otherwise).  If you would like, she can also create a link to your social media page or website as a way of giving her “lovers” the opportunity for a bit of shameless self-promotion.  We envision that these stories will get a lot of reader traffic, so you stand a great chance of expanding your audience.

If enough people participate, we will open up voting, with the winners getting free Le Boudoir products.  Sounds like a win to me!  If you’d like to be a character (ha!  All my customers are characters! ;-)), you can post a comment below or email Celtic Lass or me.

I mentioned in another blog post about meeting a friend from Twitter this past Saturday.  Sarah is a talented artisan in her own right.  A graduate of Meredith University with a degree in Art, she is artsy and gifted in ways I can only dream about.  I think a part of me may be slightly envious that she has the time to do all these great crafts.  She not only showed me her fantastic flower hair clips, but she also told me about a new product she’s planning to add to her line, as well as the rugs she has recently learned to make using old sheets and pillow cases.  I’m telling ya, this lady has TaLeNt!



My older daughter wearing her new hair clip by Tacky Trash

 Sarah brought some of her creations to show me, and I found a hair clip that I knew my daughter would love.  It’s got some great colors that go with several of her outfits and, as I could have predicted, she planned her outfit for Sunday’s church services around her new clip.

You can find Sarah’s other hair creations at her Etsy shop, and if you live in the Wilmington, NC and Cape Fear area, you can find her lovely clips at The Boutique on Castle.

Know an artisan or crafter who deserves a shameless plug or shout-out?  Make sure to tell them how much you appreciate their work.

I joined Twitter Spring of 2009.  To be honest, I’d heard about it but thought, I really don’t have time to do any social networking.  Besides, what networking?  I’m a hugely pregnant work-at-home Mom getting ready to move; it’s not like I’m going to meet anyone.  I now laugh at my naivete, because I’ve done a LOT of networking and have met quite a few people with whom I first connected on Twitter.  Some of these are local; others are fellow soapmakers who I had the pleasure of meeting in Denver at the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild annual conference.

I met the most recent Twitter friend on Saturday.  We’d been tweeting back and forth some, and I’d followed her Etsy post listings and FourSquare excursions.  Then, something new popped up.  She started posting about a new project she was undertaking with the intriguing name “52 first dates in a year.”  The premise is simple:  Sarah will go on a date with a different guy every week for a year.  Her goal is to meet new people, make new friends and to undertake a courageous voyage of self-discovery.  She’s not looking for hook-ups; as she says on her blog, the gentlemen can expect a thank you and at most, a kiss on the cheek at the end of the date.  She is also limiting her dates just to guys to whom her friends refer her.  And that’s where I came in.

I mentioned that I’ve met some local people from Twitter, and one of those happens to be a gentleman named Craig who was interested in our church.  Craig happens to fall within Sarah’s preferred age range, is delightfully social and won’t make the average female want to gouge her eyeballs out after looking at him.  I sent Sarah an email recommending Craig to her and after twenty-something emails later – some really long and all under the subject line “date recommendation” (we need a new subject) – we met in person.

When I joined Twitter, I expected to network with other business people and other soapmakers.  I expected to use Twitter to promote my business.  I never expected to make a very good friend because of Twitter.  That ended up being a very pleasant surprise. 

Are you on Twitter or Facebook?  I’d love to connect with you!  Check below for my links for Twitter and Facebook.

What has been your most memorable Twitter or Facebook experience to date?

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/SaraNesbitt
Facebook:  www.facebook/com/SaraNesbitt
Facebook fan page:  www.facebook.com/SarasSoapsnSuch

As a small business owner, mom and homeschool teacher, I’m very seldom “off.”  I wake up in the mornings and hit the ground running, keeping up with my two girls.  Then we start homeschooling, and once that’s over, I’m still Mom but also hustling to catch up on business matters, often working right up til dinner, pausing for dinner and to put the girls to bed, then getting back to work, often until 11:00 at night.

Today, I was invited to be “off.”  I’ve recently met a lady on Twitter named Sarah who invited me to join her to walk her church’s labyrinth this morning.  How wonderful, both to meet this new friend and to enjoy 30 minutes of time “off” to me and “on” to God!  I wrote about it on my religious blog; this is the repost.

Labyrinth – Photo courtesy of Unity Christian Church

If you blow the picture up and trace it, you’ll see that there are no dead ends to the labyrinth; the line leads to the center, and after savoring time in the center to pray and meditate, the labyrinth then leads sojourners back out to the outer edge of the circle. When walking towards the center, sojourners – for, yes, the labyrinth represents a journey – take the opportunity to clear their hearts and minds, enabling God to speak.

As I walked the labyrinth, there were some things I discovered, as well as some things the Holy Spirit revealed to me.

Walking the labyrinth forced me to look down at my path.  As I walked the labyrinth, I had to keep my eyes down so I could see where I was going. When I tried to look at other sojourners or enjoy the beautiful sanctuary, I risked getting off my path. The same holds true for our Christian walk. So long as we’re focused on what we’re doing and what we’re supposed to be doing, then we will find our way staying true to our spiritual paths.

I didn’t walk the labyrinth alone, any more than I walk this Christian journey alone. Yet, my walk is my own. As I walked the labyrinth, I followed, I led, occasionally I walked beside another sojourner, I may have, at times, met someone on the walk and once, I had to step aside so someone who was just starting the labyrinth could pass.

My mind could not fill with God until I emptied it of stuff.  In this case, I don’t mean bad or worrisome stuff; I mean all stuff, even happy. Right before walking the labyrinth was the first time Sarah and I had met in person, and the very first thing we said to each other was the other’s name as a question, and in perfect sync. Obviously, with our names differing by just one letter, it was rather amusing. Again, a happy thought, but still one that created mental “noise” and kept me from hearing God as I should.

When I arrived at the center of the labyrinth, my mind was clear, open and being deliciously filled with God. This may sound bad, but I could enjoy a prayer free of my children (my older daughter and I pray together twice a day, with her daddy joining us at bedtime prayers). This children-free time with God enabled me to pray just for what I wanted to pray. I didn’t feel compelled to list all of her sick friends (most of whom are probably well on the road to recovery by now). It was, plain and simply, my Mommy time with God. No, it was my WOMAN time with God, a daughter taking quiet respite time hanging with her Father. As I walked back out of the labyrinth, I felt lighter, calmer and less stressed.

Have you ever walked the labyrinth? What was your experience of it?

Church of the Servant Episcopal Church is located on Oriole Drive in Wilmington, about 1/3 mile down on the left. The labyrinth is open the third weekend of each month on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings.

A little over a month ago, I posted my reasons for opposing the Safe Cosmetics Act; you can read that article here.  I have no problem with safe cosmetics; that’s why my colleagues and I make our own as much as possible, and we make them according to cGMPs (Current Good Manufacturing Practices), as set forth by the FDA.  In this video, I discuss how the passing of the Safe Cosmetics Act (H.R. 5786) would decimate thousands of small businesses.  It’s almost eleven minutes long, so go ahead and grab a cuppa before watching.

Please, if you haven’t already done so, contact your Representatives and Senators and tell them that you oppose the Safe Cosmetics Act.

After writing this post regarding “illegal” pesticides in the form of bug repellents – all natural ones that haven’t been tested by the FDA or the EPA – a newish friend Lisa, co-CEO of Personal Care Truth, messaged me with some great information regarding these products.

I’d found some – what I’d thought was good – information on a supplier’s website.  This lady is smart, heavily involved with battling industry-crippling legislature and a highly reputable source.  I didn’t realize she was posting somewhat fear-related information, and I don’t know if it’s out of ignorance or an attempt to crush a competitor – hers or someone else’s.  Well, I quoted that source and even linked to her articles on my website.  Now I feel like a fool.

The truth?  The EPA has a list of ingredients that are considered exempt from testing.  These not only include the inert ingredients I use to make up the base for my bug repellent sticks, but also the essential oils that are the active, bug repelling ingredients in them.  But then there’s that pesky other agency, the FDA with its own set of rules and regulations.  A repellent is a drug; the secret around it is not labeling it as such.  Not a problem.

In conclusion, all natural bug repellents are much, much safer than commercially prepared ones containing extra chemicals, including DEET.  If they’re prepared according to the cGMPs established by the FDA and labeled according to the guidelines set forth by both the FDA and the EPA, then these products are ideal for helping keep children and adults bite-free and safer from the diseases that mosquitoes transmit.

Want some awesome, totally safe, all natural bug repellent?  You can get yours here!  The bugs are still out there annoying us, so take care of ’em!

Originally typed 29 July 2010

Each day, my girls and I walk at least a mile-and-a-half.  Well, I walk, the baby rides in her stroller and my older daughter who’s six rides her bike.  She likes to be the leader, and since she tends to ride on my heels, I let her.  Walking with her has taught me a few valuable lessons in leadership.

(1)  A good leader will make firm decisions.  We take turns deciding which route through the neighborhood we’ll take, and when it’s her turn, she doesn’t waffle; she says, “Let’s start at the cul de sac today.”

(2)  A good leader trusts that those she’s leading will follow her.  My daughter wouldn’t be “leading” if I were to strike off in the other direction.

(3)  A good leader will accept direction from her followers.  Even though my daughter may be leading us on our walks, she listens when I holler, “Car!” which is our code for “get to the side.”

(4) She respects differences of opinion.  Usually her little legs wear out before mine do, so she respects my desire to continue while she finds something else to do.

Who’s been an unlikely leader for you?  What did they teach you?