Summer Sippers

It is amazing how the spirit begins to lift this time of year – the sun is shining, birds are chirping, flowers are blooming – all is well with the world. Ah, spring. Of course – being a kind of people that always seem to want what we don’t yet have, we’re also craving hot summer days, which to me, means fun drinks to sip outside in the sunshine with a good book.
So, without further adieu…. Some super fun & simple summer drinks!

Lemon/Raspberry Twist
1 container frozen lemonade concentrate
1 lemon
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Make the lemonade as directed on the can with ½ can less water than directed (so if it calls for 4 cans, use 3.5)
Cut lemon in half – use half to squeeze extra lemon-y goodness into the lemonade
Slice the rest of the lemon and put slices into lemonade
Pour raspberries into lemonade
Mix, chill and serve with ice

Lemon/Lime Surprise
1 container frozen lemonade concentrate
1 lemon
1 lime
1 Mikes Hard Limeade

Prepare frozen lemonade as directed
Cut lemon in half – squeeze 1 half of lemon into mixture for extra lemon-y goodness
Slice the rest of the lemon and put slices into lemonade
Do the same with the lime
Pour in Mikes Hard Limeade
Mix, chill and serve with ice

Sondra’s Sensational Summer Sipper

I named this one after my dear friend Sondra because she loved it so much!

1 can frozen lemonade concentrate
1 lemon
4 Lipton Green Tea with Mandarin Orange Tea Bags
Prepare frozen lemonade as directed, minus ½ can of water
Brew the tea bags, as directed
Mix tea and lemonade
Cut lemon in half, squeeze one half into mixture, use the rest for to slice – add slices to drink
Mix well, chill, serve with ice

I know, super simple, right? Obviously, these can be changed to your liking - raspberries, strawberries, blueberries – whatever you’d like! You can also use freshly squeezed lemonade instead of concentrate, a sugar free lemonade mix or any flavored tea. If you're feeling super frisky, you can throw some ice in your blender (or your snow cone/slushie maker if you are lucky enough to have one) and make some frozen drinks.




Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Megan!

Today is HHH member Megan's birthday and we thought we'd dedicate this post to our friendship with her. Many wishes for a Happy Birthday and a fantastic year, Meg! We adore you!

Here are our individual messages:

A cheesy birthday acrostic for my dearest Megan:

Megan is a rare and beautiful soul,
Exuding warmth wherever she goes.
Gaining her friendship was like winning the gold,
A bond I will cherish and always hold.
Now smile and celebrate you’re one more year old!

♥ Nicole

Dearest Meg,

Happy birthday! While thinking over the past year or so at work, and especially when reflecting on how life at the CDC has been since Mere left with Gabe, I nearly always think about you and count myself extremely fortunate. Not only am I sincerely lucky to have a friend to attend faculty meetings with and chit-chat with in the mornings, but my fortune extends to being friends with you outside of work too! I love that we have so many of the same interests (I'd count food, Pride and Prejudice and homemade yogurt-making among the many!!) and I love that we get to see each other all the time at work. The only good thing about driving in at 6:50 in the morning is seeing your car parked in the usual spot...I know I can at least sneak in a quick conversation with one of my best friends before starting the day! Also, the recipes you've shared with me recently have been amahhzing. You are truly the best!

Love you!
Sondra

Meg,
While reading yesterday I saw this quote by Walt Whitman"I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends," and you my dear, immediately came to mind. With your gentle (yet hilarious) spirit and kind (and sarcastic) ways you always cause me to re-evaluate and strive to be a better person.
Thank you for this beautiful thing we call friendship; all the advice, laughter and good conversation, the memories we made and met memories to come!
Love you,
Mere

Join the Revolution!

As a Food Network junkie, I have long been a fan of Jamie Oliver's. He is a famous chef in England who grew up cooking in his parents' pub at the age of 9 and has since opened several restaurants of his own. One of his cooking shows "The Naked Chef" features him cooking with extremely fresh and local ingredients...the segments show him in his own garden snipping herbs and pulling vegetables out of the ground. As a sucker for a good British accent, I love him. But I would have loved him anyway, because he has a great message about food.

In his native England, Jamie started a food revolution. Appalled by the food that was being served to school children (processed, fatty, no fresh fruits or vegetables) he set out to change things. He endorsed getting rid of processed foods and introducing locally-grown and fresh produce to school children in order to help combat the epidemic of childhood obesity. Now, he's bringing his mission to the United States. His show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, kicked off last night.

Previous to watching the show, Carl and I bought his latest cookbook by the same name several months ago. In it, he gets to the heart of his mission. In addition to introducing children to fresh vegetables, fruits and home-cooked meals, he really drives home the importance of cooking. Sadly, cooking skills are being abandoned in England and the US in favor of fast-food and quick meal options of all kinds. What that translates to is processed food filled with chemical additives that people are consuming like it's going out of style. He reasons that if everyone can learn at least two or three recipes from scratch and teach them to someone else, a food revolution will begin taking over the country. Ideally, people will return to cooking meals from scratch at home and using fresh, locally-grown produce, and by extension, health problems and obesity rates will begin to decrease.

The show is extremely eye-opening and sad. He went to a classroom of first graders in a town in West Virginia, and none of the kids could identify any fruits or vegetables. They had no idea what a tomato looked like, or even a potato. When he showed them chicken nuggets and french fries and pizza, though, they all shouted out the answers without a problem. This generation of children is the first generation not expected to live as long as their parents. It's really sad.

I believe in the Food Revolution on both counts, but especially from the home cooking front. As someone who has embraced cooking from scratch and using fresh ingredients, I know how much my life has changed since becoming a fan of home cooking. I agree with Jamie completely that cooking skills should be revived and people should sit down to dinner together enjoying the food that they created in their own kitchens.

So, join the revolution! Visit Jamie's website and sign the petition saying you agree with his mission, which he will take to the White House after his series airs. Also on the website, you will find information about the state of school lunches in America and England, and discover easy, from-scratch recipes to make at home. You are encouraged to learn them and pass them on to someone else to really get the ball rolling on a local level and preserve the culture of cooking. Go, Jamie!

The Sweetest Detour of All

Way back in November, Megan and I embarked on a hilarious and fun-filled adventure together. We took the day off and planned to drive to Cincinnati to visit our great friend and former co-worker. Another friend who recently moved a few hours south of Cincinnati also arranged her schedule so she could meet us for the weekend. We couldn't wait, and, as it turns out, the weekend itself was nothing but a tremendous success.

But, as most of us have learned along the way at some point in our lives, sometimes the journey can be just as fantastic as the destination. That proved to be the case when Megan and I pulled off I-71 during the mid-point of our trip and ventured into an outpost of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.

This detour was suggested to us by my dad, who for the past nearly 40 years has traveled extensively for his job. His travel expertise comes in quite handy when you're curious about a good place for pizza in Boston, or have a hankering to sample the perfect burger in LA (In-N-Out, of course!!) This time, he recommended the best ice cream in Columbus, or indeed, in any place I have ever visited: Jeni's.

Ice cream lovers, and foodies of all kinds, be prepared to have your socks knocked off. One look at the Jeni's menu and you will immediately begin salivating and questioning your good fortune in happening upon such a truly magical place. Wildberry Lavender, anyone? Bourbon Buttered Pecan? Or how about Cayenne Ice Cream? Thai Chili? Or what about the most bizarrely harmonious combination of all, Mackenzie Creamery Goat Cheese with Cognac Figs?

Goat cheese ice cream, you say? Some readers might be wincing in abject horror right now, while others might be gazing off into the distance and thinking "That might just work....actually, that might just taste mind-blowingly amazing!" I was in the latter category, and was determined to sample the goat cheese and cognac fig ice cream, if for no other reason than I figured I might never have the chance to try something so uniquely whimsical ever again.

So, this knowledge in hand, Megan and I parked our car and waltzed into Jeni's. One of the many spectacular features of Jeni's is that they use local produce to create their ice creams. All of the fruit, cream and other enhancements are grown nearby in Columbus, or in other areas of the state. This is wonderful news for many reasons, among them being that it supports the local economy and helps create the freshest, most delightfully tasty ice cream around. Another lovely part of the Jeni's experience: you are encouraged to sample as many different flavors as you'd like before making your final selection. Rock on!

Megan and I sampled many interesting flavors and finally made our selections. I chose two scoops: one of Salty Carmel, and one of Mackenzie Creamery Goat Cheese with Cognac Figs. Megan selected one scoop of Salty Caramel and one of Bourbon Butter Pecan. We then took our ice cream and sat outside the store to eat, deftly ignoring the two young children running absolutely amok around the ice cream counter.

This is another example of how food can help to shape a memory. There we were, mid-way through a road trip visiting friends, sitting outside on a beautiful November day eating ice cream. We happened to stop at the Grandview Jeni's location, and it was ideal. This section of Columbus features a charming little street with restaurants, coffee shops and stores, almost all of them unique and one-of-a-kind. It was the weekend before Thanksgiving, which can sometimes be winter-coat weather in Ohio, but on this day it was sunny and fairly warm. I remember sitting outside the store window and eating ice cream with our feet up on the chairs. It was sublime, it was perfect, and the ice cream was unlike anything we've ever tasted!

The flavors at Jeni's are seemingly bizarre, of course, but what makes them work is that they're layered. So, my goat cheese and fig ice cream didn't taste like a true hunk of goat cheese, which would have been disgusting. Instead, I first tasted the sweet taste of cognac followed by the soft crunch of figs, and lastly my mouth detected a faint twang of goat cheese. It worked beautifully. The Salty Caramel, their signature flavor, was also quite phenomenal. You first taste a hint of dark caramel followed by a tiny wisp of salt.

After discussing this impending post with Megan, she reminded me of her Bourbon Butter Pecan and also emphatically told me that it was the best ice cream she'd ever had. I had a bite of hers, and I can confirm that it is absolutely out-of-this-world. I'm a big butter pecan lover as it is, but adding bourbon to it seems to make it an entirely different and decadent treat. Again, unlike what you might expect, the bourbon merely enhanced the ice cream rather than taking it over. You taste it after you taste the buttery pecan, rather than having an overwhelming taste of bourbon in your mouth. (hey...would that be a bad thing? Not so sure!)

We immediately became enamored of Jeni's and looked up the website once we returned from Cincinnati. We were excited to find out that they feature a rotating seasonal menu with as many intriguing flavors as their signature staples. When I discovered that they have an Ohio Sweet Corn and Berry ice cream, I promptly stated my desire to invent some bogus excuse for a trip to Columbus this summer so that I could swing by Jeni's try it. Megan's response? "I've actually had sweet corn ice cream before." This, ladies and gentleman, is how you know you've met your match in a spectacular friend! (That, and the fact that the two of you can sing all kinds of '80s music, word-for-word, for a combined round-trip total of 8 hours in a car! Who knew?)

Festive... Interesting... Ugandan?

This past Saturday the four lovely ladies congregated at a Bead for Life party where they were given (or perhaps forced) the chance to try a staple Ugandan food: Plantain Cake. Plantain cake is generally served at all meals, generally accompanying a sweet meat or vegetable dish.

Ingredients:
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs dry breadcrumbs
1 cup cottage cheese
4 tbs olive oil
3 eggs, separated
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 ripe plantains; peeled, halved and cut into pieces

Directions:
1. Fry the plantain strips in oil until they are well browned on both sides

the plantains, peeled, cut and ready to be fried

2. Mix cottage cheese, cinnamon and sugar together in a bowl

sugar, cottage cheese and cinnamon mixture

3. Beat the egg yolks until fluffy. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold the egg whites into the egg yolks.

4. Grease a baking dish and sprinkle the base with the breadcrumbs.Ta-da!

5. Add a quarter of the egg mixture into the dish and then add a layer of plantains.

6. Cover with a third of the cottage cheese mixture and a little olive oil. Repeat layers until all ingredients have been used. You will finish with the egg mixture.

7. Place in an oven pre-heated to 355 F and bake for 40 - 45 minutes.

While this wasn't the most tasty dish I've ever eaten, I really enjoyed having the chance to try something new. And eating traditional Ugandan food just seemed to fit into the Bead for Life ambiance.

Homemade Peppermint Soap

If you have read any of our past blogs, I’m sure you have been blown away with our domestic goddessness and are not surprised in the least that we have successfully made our own soap. However, that is definitely not going to stop me from telling you all about it. So.. ladies (and gents) use up the rest of that body wash – forget about spending a million dollars on fancy handmade soap for your oh so sensitive skin and prepare to be amazed!

Our journey to being amazing soap makers started with one of my favorite things: books! We read and researched all about soap recipes, ingredients (omg we have to use LYE – but we’ll get to that later), processes and places to purchase said ingredients. We found that the best information and recipes were located in Susan Miller Cavitch’s The Soapmaker’s Companion: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes, Techniques and Know- How. We also decided on Bramble Berry to purchase most of our ingredients and gathered together the rest of the materials needed.

First things first; the soap mold.
All soap recipes will require some sort of soap mold. We were lucky enough to enlist my dad in making ours and saved ourselves quite a bundle. Before you purchase a pricey soap mold, get the dimensions needed and make sure you don’t know a handy person to help you out.

Picking a Recipe
There are lots and lots of different soap recipes out there, and it can be a little overwhelming to choose just one – so we decided to just start with a basic recipe in Susan Miller Cavitch’s book. We used Soap Essentials Bar II, so.. here we go!

Ingredient List
201 grams sodium hydroxide (yikes I know, but you’ll be okay)
1 pound 3 ounces distilled water
1 pound 5 ounces olive oil
1 pound coconut oil
14 ounces palm oil
12 grams grapefruit seed extract
7 teaspoons pure essential oil or fragrance oil (optional)

Materials List
Hand mixer
Glass bowls
Several spoons
Candy thermometer
Dropper
Kitchen Scale
Stock pots
Protective eye wear
Rubber gloves
Wax paper
Plastic wrap, Ziploc bags or plastic containers with lids

The Process
1. Line your mold with wax paper (the book said to “miter the corners” we had no idea what that meant, but for you, I did a little google-ing and it means, “a surface forming the beveled end or edge of a piece where a joint is made by cutting two pieces at an angle and fitting them together” [thank you Merriam Webster] anyway we taped the corners to make sure everything was covered in the wax paper)
2. Measure out the essential oil (we used peppermint oil) and grapefruit seed extract and set them aside in tightly sealed containers
3. Now we get serious: put on your goggles and gloves.
4. Weigh the sodium hydroxide and set it aside
5. Set the glass container on the scale and add the water – remove from scale
6. Carefully add the sodium hydroxide to the water while stirring (you may want to open a window at this point, as the fumes can get bothersome, but if you don’t stick your face over the bowl and breathe deeply while stirring, you should be just fine) Stir until completely dissolved.
Set bowl aside, use candy thermometer to check the temperature. The reaction will heat the lye solution to over 200 degrees. Let cool down to 80-100 degrees.
7. While lye is cooling, begin mixing the oils.
8. Place palm oil and coconut oil into boiling water (oils will turn from solid to liquid)
9. Weigh olive oil - pour correct amounts of the palm oil and coconut oil into the same bowl as the olive oil and incorporate thoroughly (let cool to 80-100 degrees)
10. Make sure you have your goggles and gloves on again – here comes the lye!
11. Slowly pour the lye into the oils, stirring as quickly as possible. (the book says to stir by hand – or if using a mixer to put it on the lowest setting – we used hand mixer) Mix briskly – keeping as much of the mixture as possible in constant motion.
12. After about 5 minutes your mixture should begin to thicken and look uniform. Continue stirring/mixing firmly and briskly until “tracing” can occur. Cavitch says that tracing is when, “a small amount of soap drizzled across the solution’s surface leaves a faint pattern before sinking back into the mass”. We just used our best judgment on this one total stirring about 20 minutes.
13. Once you feel the tracing has occurred, you can add your essential oils and grapefruit seed extract. Mix until all oils have been incorporated.
14. Now you are ready to the pour the soap into your mold. Make sure everything is as even as possible. You can use a spatula to make the mixture even. At this point, it kind of looked like frosting.

Congrats to you – the hard part is over!

Curing and Cutting your Soap
1. Once your soap is poured, cover it (we used a piece of plywood that was slightly larger than our mold) with a lid and a blanket. Let the soap sit for 18-24 hours.
2. Uncover the soap (set it away from drafts or extreme temperatures) let it sit for 1-7 days or until firm enough to cut, but not rock hard. Ours sat for about 4 days.
3. Cut the soap – ideally you would use a ruler and make the bars uniform. Our bars are not so uniform – but functional just the same. I just used a regular kitchen knife with a smooth edge. This batch made about 32 pieces (various sizes)
4. Once the bars were cut, we slowly peeled the wax paper away from the bars.
5. Set the bars on plain brown paper grocery bags (we actually used wax paper and it worked fine, just don’t use anything with color or print or it will rub off onto your soap).
6. Set the bars away from extreme temperatures and allow to cure for 3 to 4 weeks, turning them over halfway through.

Yay, you’re finished!! Cavitch recommends using a breathable material to store your soap in.

Okay – so that is the process and recipe for the soap, it seems like a lot, but I can’t believe how smoothly it went on the actual soap making day. We, as we always do, had a blast making it. I think we have all been super impressed with how the soap turned out. I for one have sensitive dry skin, especially on my face, and can’t believe how wonderful the soap is on my skin. I typically have to use lotion on my face every day because of how dry it is, but I have been able to eliminate that with the use of this soap! It smells lovely and lathers (which excited us all) like any other soap I’ve used.

“Soap and water and common sense are the best disinfectants”

Have you Heard?

Have you heard? SPRING IS HERE!!! Can you tell I'm a trifle excited? I absolutely adore Spring (I'll most likely reiterate this statement when Summer comes and again in Fall, I'm a three seasons kind of girl). Spring really has that special something for me, my life seems to automatically improve once this season rolls around. There seem to be so many joys that come my way once Spring hits. My birthday is one glorious week away. Skirts and sandals come out of hibernation. Tank tops and ankle bracelets will soon be my everyday fashion. We'll soon get out the grill and sip chilled cocktails on the deck. And Salads and fruit start making up a much bigger portion of my diet than in previous months. Salads and fruit....Mmmm.....I'm salivating just thinking about all the wonderful possibilities. In fact, on my way home from church this evening I couldn't get one particular salad and fruit combo out of my mind.

Citrus Salad anyone? I don't normally endorse fruit on salad. But I have a weakness for a good fruit salad. I ran across this recipe (Possibly in Better Homes & Garden) towards the end of the Summer last year, I've not actually made it yet. But I have thought longingly of this recipe over the past six or seven months; waiting (not so patiently) for the next warm day when I could make this delicious looking treat. I've looked forward to packing a picnic, a good book, and heading with my hubby to the nearest park for the afternoon. Anyone want to join me in trying out a salad that promises "Fresh fruit with a hint of lime and mint is positively ambrosial."

Citrus Salad

To make simply assemble the following list of ingredients (Except coconut and pecans) and refrigerate the night before serving. This will allow time for the flavors to meld. Add the coconut and pecans right before serving.

Honey and Lime Drizzle - Stir together and juice of 1 lime and 2 Tbsp. of Honey.

Triple Citrus - One kind of Citrus is fine, but when you combine tangerines, oranges, and grapefruit the salad will have an intriguing blend of flavors.

Coconut - For texture and sweetness add wide-cut toasted coconut

Pecans - Sprinkle with fresh pecans, walnuts, or peanuts for crunch and contrast (I think I'll toast mine...)

Pineapple - Slices of fresh pineapple are a natural flavor compliment to the coconut.

Mint - The leaves release delicate flavor as the salad is chilled.

*I took all the descriptions from the recipe card that came in the magazine. Just FYI. :-)

Bead for Life Bracelets

In the honor of their newest arrival, Kaleia Joy, Jillian from Rooted in Love did a contests on her blog. The scheme of the blog was to guess Kaleia's birth, her birth weight and length. I guessed baby Kaleia would weigh 7lbs 15oz.... and I was right!

My prize... two beautiful bracelets!

Not only were these bracelets beautiful, they mean something. These bracelets, or to be more percise, the beads mean income for impoverished women and their families in Uganda. They mean money for food, medicine and school fees.

Bead for Life provides a way for women in Uganda to not only work their way out of poverty by making beads, but the goal is for these women to then be independant from the Bead for Life organization in 27 months. So by purchasing a beautiful necklace or bracelet from Bead for Life you are impowering a woman for the rest of her life.

I read a statistic a littl while a go that said 1 in 5 people in the world live on less tahn 1 dollar a day. Can you even imagine that? I can't. But for as little as 5 dollars, you can change the life of a woman aner her family in Uganda.

Hmm.. I'm thinking a few bracelets from Bead for Life would make great birthday presents for your friends, a thoughtful gift for your girlfriend or wife, or fit perfectly in a plastic Easter egg!

Stay tuned for pictures from the Bead for Life party I'm hosting at the end of March.

Dublin Stout Cake

I planned all along on doing this recipe for my next Random Recipe installment, but it happened to be quite fortuitous that my next Random Recipe Day ended up being the day before St. Patrick's Day! I wouldn't, however, strictly call this a St. Patrick's Day recipe, though it is as Irish as they come. I'd like to tell you a little bit about the cake before I post the recipe!

First of all, I need to wax nostalgic on cooking for a little while here. While I love the actual act of cooking --- the chopping, the measuring, the monitoring, etc. --- I also love everything that cooking represents, and everything it honors. One of my favorite recipes is my great-grandmother's Cheesecake recipe. She made it all the time when my mom was a little girl, and though she passed away when I was seven, I feel close to her each time I replicate it. Additionally, we almost all mark the seasons by which foods we eat. Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving for me without my Aunt Carol's Cranberry Jello Mold. In fact, even with all the plethora of foods at the table, each year I continue to tell myself that it's my favorite, the same way it was my favorite when I was in grade school. Fellow HHH member Meredith and I instituted what might become a yearly tradition this past Thanksgiving: she doubled a recipe and gave a batch of it to me for my Thanksgiving, and I did the same for her. The pumpkin roll she gave me was universally admired by all, so I look forward to next Thanksgiving when I get to participate in her Thanksgiving via one of my dishes and she gets a place at ours with her magnificent pumpkin roll!

And though it's very easy to think of foods representing Thanksgiving and Christmas, I am always pleasantly surprised when I remember the foods that remind me of early spring; that time at the beginning of March that tends to coincide with the snow melting, the days getting longer and the sun making more prolonged appearances. There are three main foods I think of when I think of this time of the year, and yes, some will be shocking: fish sandwiches, Shamrock Shakes and Dublin Stout Cake. Because my husband and I observe Lent and nearly always forget to plan for the first Friday of going meatless, we end up grabbing Fish Sandwiches from a nearby fast food place. Not exactly a fantastic meal, but for me, it tastes just like March. A former CDC co-worker and I used to eat lunch together and during March we would take turns buying Shamrock Shakes for each other. I remember sipping them in our CDC library, which has floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the outside. We'd be reading, talking, and watching the snow melt and the weather improve all while drinking a mint milkshake. Yes, kind of appalling that McDonald's can represent early spring to me, but there you go. The final food that reminds me of early spring is Dublin Stout Cake!

This recipe is courtesy of my dad, who I believe pulled it from a New York Times cookbook in the '70s or '80s. This cake is praised and admired wherever it goes. It was originally busted out when my sister was in third grade and needed to bring in an Irish dish to school to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. She and my dad made this, and her teacher, who was a nun born and raised in Ireland, said it was the best she'd ever had. You know your recipe is successful when a true Irish person loves it! As for what this is, exactly, well....it's not really a cake. Nor is it a soda bread. Soda bread tends to have more of a rye bread base, which I don't necessarily care for. In my family, we refer to this as "soda bread" just because it's easier and less pretentious than to say "Dublin Stout Cake." When you make this, you will be shocked at how dense it is. First, your batter will be enormously thick. Then, when slicing, each piece will seem remarkably thick and heavy. This is what's fantastic about the cake. It's somehow crunchy on the outside and bread-like on the inside, with lots of raisins and walnuts inside.

Carl and I had the opportunity to go to Ireland several years ago, and we fell in love with the country. I have never been to a more amazing place. That being said, I was also very shocked by Ireland's cuisine, which does not consist of corned beef, cabbage and potatoes, but instead features a lot of locally-grown and farm-fresh creations. I'll never forget eating a pasta gorgonzola on the seaside in Malahide, delightfully eating the best burger of my life in a pub in Dublin, or sitting down to one of many fabulous breakfasts in Galway or Cork. This recipe is akin to the type of thing we were served for breakfasts or we found in coffee shops. It is best slathered with cream cheese and eaten along a fantastically steaming cup of tea or coffee. When I recently got together with Meredith and Gabe in mid-February, we both remarked about how happy we were that March was fast approaching. It meant we could get together more often, and get together to do more outdoorsy, fresh-air things. As Meredith remarked, "Soon I feel like life will be on the upswing." That really stuck with me, because I feel like it perfectly encapsulates where we are in the year. So I have an alternate name for this cake, which, for me, is almost always eaten during the season when spring makes an appearance and all is right with the world:

Dublin Stout Cake
Or
Life on the Upswing Cake

1 cup (2 Sticks) butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
The zest of 1 lemon (I have used the zest of half an orange instead and it works well)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp allspice
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups raisins or 1 cup each raisins and currants
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts (if you plan on making this without first toasting the walnuts, I certainly don't want to know about it. In fact, I am apt to give you the dark look of a woman scorned if we happen upon each other and I am made aware that these walnuts were not toasted! That's how vital it is to toast nuts before using them in almost any recipe, but especially in this one. Just an FYI. Carry on.)
3 tbsps Guinness Stout (the recipe calls for 3 tbsps but in the Livingston family we generally use about 6 tablespoons...your preference)

Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan. Cream butter, sugar and zest until light and fluffy.

Sift together flour, salt, baking soda and allspice.

Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately with the eggs, beating well after each addition.

Stir in stout.

Fold in raisins and nuts and blend well.

Turn into pan and bake 1 hour.

Reduce heat to 300 and bake until cake tests done with a toothpick, about another hour.

Let cool completely before serving.

Serving suggestion: butter or cream cheese sweetened with orange juice or powdered sugar.

Jewery or Art?

Storing jewelry is annoying. No drawer, bin, or box is ever big enough. Earrings are constantly being separated from their partners. Bracelets tangle. Necklaces form knots that would test even the most seaworthy sailor.

Until now. The madness stops with a few cork-boards and cute pins.

Problems Solved!

Yeah, I make my own shaving cream... No big deal.

You've probably already read about some adventures three HHH members undertook at the end of January. On one cold afternoon near the end of the month, Meredith, Megan and I got together to make a variety of homemade goods. Meredith discussed our success making laundry detergent earlier, and Megan detailed the joys of homemade deoderant (in a most hilarious fashion, I might add) in the post previous to this one.

I decided to talk about the shaving cream that we also whipped up. When we initially came across the recipe, it promised to soothe and get rid of razor burn for those afflicted with it. My husband has gone through a plethora of products hoping to get these results, so he was quite intrigued with the idea. The ladies and I all decided to boggart this shaving cream and use it ourselves just to see how it felt after a typical leg-shave. The result? Carl and I are both thrilled!

The recipe needs to be concocted over two days, but it makes an absolutely shocking amount once you whip it up (more on this crucial stage in a moment...) For now, here's the recipe:

Super-Soothing and Softening Shaving Cream (I adore alliteration!)

Ingredients:

4 oz Dr. Bronner's Eucalyptus castile soap, grated
4 oz water
1 oz cocoa butter
1 tbsp shea butter
2 oz liquid glycerin
20-25 drops of peppermint essential oil

Steps:

1. The night before, combine the grated soap and water. (I did this for all 3 batches before Megan and Meredith came over the next day. It took me maybe 20 minutes to grate all 3 bars as Dr. Bronner's soap is very dense, but once I got in a rhythm it was actually fun. Yes, that's embarrassing to admit, but I am also a person who finds it relaxing to whisk up a roux or chop a huge amount of vegetables. Shockingly, I am also perversely drawn to my hand-held mixer over my standing one when it comes to recipes that require a large amount of whipping. I think I'm a glutton for physical labor. But we'll save my appalling behavior for another post...) At any rate, let the soap and the water sit overnight. In the morning, it will look like cottage cheese. Try not to be turned-off by this. (just kidding, I actually love cottage cheese!)

2. Heat the cocoa butter, shea butter and glycerin on low until everything is melted. Remove from heat. Add the soap mixture and blend until everything is creamy. THIS PART IS CRUCIAL!! Blend with a hand-held mixer, for the love of everything good and holy! We mixed vigorously by hand and ended up with a shaving soap. We quickly remedied our error by re-dumping the shaving cream into bowls and whipping it up with a mixer. After about 4 or 5 minutes (and some additional water added) it truly frothed up like mad and became a cream.

3. Once the texture is gloriously light, add the 20-25 drops of peppermint oil. Use a spatula and fold it into your container of choice, being thrilled with your domestic goddess prowess as you work.

I can't say enough wonderful things about this shaving cream. Since Carl has used it, his razor burn issues have virtually disappeared. The eucalyptus soap base helps heals cuts and irritation, and the cocoa and shea butters leave skin smooth and healthy. I use it exclusively to shave my legs and am completely happy! My skin is soft the entire next day after shaving, and that's praise indeed considering I started using it mid-winter when everyone's skin is at its driest. In the future, I might add a bit more peppermint oil to the finished product. But for now, we are both enjoying our homemade shaving cream!

The Secret Challenge

Teaming up with these three ladies has me doing things that had never before crossed my mind. A few months ago I had never thought about making soap (more to come on this later!!!). I had no inkling to make my own detergent. I was happy to use name-brand cleaning products. And I never thought about making deodorant. Now I'm excited to be a part of making all of these amazing products. Right now we're going to tackle the last item on the list of things I never thought I'd do but am now super excited about.

Today, we're taking the Secret Challenge. First off, let me tell you that I am quite the girls girl. I don't like talking about anything unsavory, I don't like admitting to things that girls are not supposed to admit to (you know, all those things we know about boys and they talk freely about, but we pretend never happen with girls?). I've decided to put that aside for about five minutes and be completely honest with you. So here goes nothing...I stink. I've always felt as though my body chemistry adjusts pretty quickly to any one kind of deodorant. Which means that I have quite the stockpile of deodorants in my cabinets. Regular deodorants, clinical strength deodorants, all-natural deodorants, and even a mineral rock that you wet and rub over your skin as a deodorant. Suffice it to say, deodorant and smelling not-so-fresh is something I think about often (especially on those hot summer days when all I do is run around outside after small children at the CDC). I think I've found my answer, because I've been using this homemade deodorant for a month now and at the end of every day I still feel fresh and clean, and can even occasionally still smell a hint of mint on my skin.

My Spice Jar filled with Homemade Peppermint Deodorant!

What You'll Need

• 2 Tbsp cocoa butter
• 3 Tbsp shea butter
• 3 Tbsp baking soda
• 2 Tbsp corn starch
• 1 Tbsp liquid glycerin (optional)
• 2 vitamin E oil capsules (Puncture & squeeze out the oil)
• 15 drops of essential oil (we used Peppermint)

What You'll Do

• Melt all ingredients (Except essential oil) in a pan on medium heat.
• Make sure to stir to help the butters melt and combine
• Remove from heat
• Add essential oil, pour into a relatively small jar (We used glass spice jars)
• Cool in the fridge for a bit then place it in your medicine cabinet until it fully solidifies and you are ready to use!

How You'll Use It

• Just scoop out a small amount, rub it in, and voila!

Before we depart (and go back to thinking only kosher, girly thoughts) let me quickly give you a few troubleshooting tips:

1. Don't worry if after you refrigerate the deodorant for a little while there is a small amount of oil on the top. Once it's been in your medicine cabinet for a day that will absorb/solidify.
2. If you have sensitive skin (like me) you might want to make sure you wash off any leftover oils either at the end of your day or the start of a new day - you probably don't want two days worth of deodorant on over each other.
   
3. I subscribe to the scrape-with-the-back-of-you-fingernail-method for extracting the amount of deodorant I need. I think another one of us just chopped the whole thing up and takes out bits and pieces as needed. Those are just a few ideas for you.
4. We all found the peppermint smell far from overwhelming when the deodorant is used. It smells fresh and minty in the jar (or if you take a sniff while it's on), but I've not had anyone tell me I smell like a peppermint patty. (That one is more of a factoid that a tip.)

Okay now, back to thinking only happy thoughts about smelling like daisies (or in this case, mint chocolate).

Hummus!

Hummus just happens to be (one of) my favorite snack foods. So this week I'm sharing with you all my super easy, super adaptable Hummus recipe. Okay, here goes...

Plain Hummus!

1 Can Garbanzo Beans (aka Chickpeas)
Drained, but reserve the liquid
1 1/2 Tbsp Tahini (Seasme Seed Paste, Most likely found in your grocers ethnic foods section...You might have to ask someone where it is!)
3-4 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
1-2 Tbsp Garlic.
Sea Salt
Olive Oil

Get your mixer ready, put in the Garbanzo Beans, Tahini, Lemon Juice, Garlic, a little salt, Olive Oil, and blend. Here's where you get to play around a little (Well I play around with the whole thing, but more on that in a second). Add some of your reserved liquid if your Hummus is too thick, blend again and taste. Add salt, garlic, or olive oil to your liking.

I love this recipe because you simply cannot mess it up. These days I don't even measure anything when making it, I simply dump a little of everything in the processor and blend. You don't have to use the reserved Garbanzo liquid to smooth out your Hummus if you don't want to, you could use Olive Oil or more Lemon Juice if you wanted, whatever suits your taste-buds.

Our Giant Container of Hummus, Pictured with A few
of the Spices we use to...(wait for it)... Spice it Up!

My husband and I make this by the batch-ful. We love it because you can add any spices or flavoring to jazz it up or change it around. We normally make a double batch and then dish out what we want when we go to eat the Hummus, we then individualize our individual portions to our tastes that day. Get creative! To help you out your first time though, here are a few of our tried and true adaptations:

Crumbled Feta Cheese (You can NEVER go wrong with a little Feta)
Diced Kalamata Olives
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
A little more Olive Oil and Garlic
Rosemary & Garlic
Sundried Tomato Spices
Basil
Salt & Pepper

Bibs can be cute too

I never realized how difficult it was to find cute bibs until I needed to buy them for my baby, Gabe. Cute bibs are few and far between. Now, if you like bibs that say things like "Spit Happens," "Milk Junkie" or the like, you'll find lots of those, but that's not really my style. I just wanted something simple, cute and of course effective for meal times. And that is where Raechal and Etsy comes in. Her shop Ragamuffin is a place to find cute bibs, burp cloths and the occasional baby onesie.

Each item is handcrafted, beautifully patterned and a little artsy looking! Wanna see?


They wash up nicely and I just love them to pieces. Gabe looks super cute in them too!

Oh how I love Etsy, Ragamuffin by Raechel and now, bibs as well!

My First Time Eating Sushi...

I think, for the most part, I have always liked odd or even exotic types of food. I've definitely developed broader tastes as an adult, but even when I was a kid I ate lots of different things. Since my dad grew up in Texas, spicy food was no stranger to our table. Each Christmas when my grandmother would visit from Dallas, she would arrive with a bag full of tamales (in corn husks, of course) and a freezer bag filled with pecans that a relative picked off a tree. My mom has a very direct and much-observed Polish line in her family, so I was also no stranger to Polish and Eastern-European dishes as a little girl. It was only later in life when I realized that I ate some not-so-typical things while a lot of my friends feasted on mac and cheese and hot dogs! (I liked those too!!)

So though I generally have no problem eating all types of novel spices, sea food and even meat, up until last Wednesday I had yet to sample sushi!! It's not that I considered myself averse to it: yes, it's raw fish, but I've eaten rare tuna (with only a thin sear on the outside --- actually, that's the way I prefer to eat tuna!) and you will never see me turning down squid, mussels or even octopus. I guess what concerned me (and my husband) is the fact that it all looks so exotic...so pretty, even, and I wouldn't know where to begin ordering it.

Luckily, fate intervened in the form of fellow HHH member Megan and her husband Steve. Steve has long been a fan of sushi, and Megan grew to appreciate it after she started dating him. When I worked at the CDC with another spectacular person, Nora, I remember her and Megan talking about getting sushi from a local restaurant on the east side of Cleveland. Nora in particular was emphatic about how fabulous their tempura-battered, deep-fried Oreo cookies were. I decided I must, in fact, try eating at Otani!

Carl and I decided to meet Megan and Steve at Otani after work on a snowy Wednesday night. With some trepidation, we walked into the restaurant. I can't imagine trying sushi without being with someone who knows what they're doing. There were so many options that it absolutely floored me. Carl and I picked some types of sushi that sounded good to us, and Megan and Steve supplemented the order with their favorites. Since we're thrifty people and decided to eat at Otani on 1/2 Off Sushi Night, we decided to throw caution to the wind and really go crazy ordering different types. We actually ordered so many different kinds that even the waitress was flummoxed! She was truly astounded by our order, causing semi-embarrassment on our end. After waiting for about 30 minutes for our sushi to be rolled (Megan and I filled in this time by catching up on all the latest news and gossip, and I proceeded to drink about 5 Pepsi's in a row...hey, it was a rough day at work!) the sushi finally made its arrival. Here are the pictures I took:



And the verdict? I loved it! Carl and I were both impressed. I think we initially feared that the textures of the rolls would be odd. Perhaps coarse rice with soft fish, which would produce a disgusting combination when chewed. I also feared it would taste super fishy. Not at all. Everything melted together and it truly didn't taste fishy in the slightest. I enjoyed virtually every type we tried, the exception being a clam one. I love clams (to the point of obsession, which is certainly an odd thing to admit being obsessed with, now that I've divulged my secret...) but this one was way too chewy for my tastes. It was, however, one of the prettiest types of sushi on the board! Everything else tasted fabulous. You probably also noticed a picture of Steve about to bite into a deep-fried shrimp head. Look closely, the eyes are still visible and are actually pointed toward the camera! Ah, Steve. Always adventurous and hilarious! And, in honor of Nora, who is now a teacher in Kentucky, I simply had to order the Deep-Fried Oreos. Here they are, in all their lusciousness:




After eating them, I announced to the entire table that I intended on getting my hands on a Fry-Daddy so as to replicate the recipe for any and all occasions. I have yet to act on my threat, but it might be worth it to drop the cash on a new appliance and make my kitchen reek of oil, undoubtedly gaining several scalds and burn blisters in the process. Hey, all's well that ends well....and I can't imagine ending any meal in a more fabulous way than with a tempura-battered Oreo. (Love you, Nora!)

Mom's Favorite Carrot Cake!

This month, my mom celebrated her 50th birthday – so I decided to try my hand at her favorite cake – carrot cake! I have to say it was a success!

Cake Ingredient List:
4 eggs
2 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon of baking soda
3 cups of finely shredded carrots
¾ cup cooking oil
½ cup finely chopped pecans
¼ cup raisins (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredient List:
1 8oz package of cream cheese
½ cup of butter
2 teaspoons of vanilla
6 (ish) cups of powdered sugar

Cake Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour two round cake pans
2. Beat 4 eggs and allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes
3. Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda) in large mixing bowl until well incorporated
4. Combine eggs, carrots, oil and raisins in separate bowl

Carrots should be finely shredded or they will sink to the
bottom of the batter. I used a cheese grater.

5. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients, mixing until fully combined
6. Pour batter into pans

7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until tops are golden brown and toothpick inserted near centers comes out clean
8. Let sit in pans for 10 (ish) minutes
9. Take out of pans and let fully cool on wire racks



10. Once cake is cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting
11. Use crushed pecans in between cake layers and on top (optional)


Cream Cheese Frosting Steps
1. Let cream cheese and butter sit at room temperature to soften
2. Whip cream cheese
3. Slowly cut in butter, continue to whip until creamy
4. Add vanilla
5. Slowly add in powdered sugar (2 cups at a time) until you have reached frosting consistency

I used an electric mixer to whip the frosting.

Make sure it is not too creamy or thin.

I added frosting and the crushed pecans inbetween the layers.

I refrigerated the cake after frosting and it set overnight before the big day. The cake turned out great, it was moist and the frosting was delicious. The toughest part was shredding the carrots – 3 cups is quite a bit!

My mom loved the cake and was very impressed that I made it from scratch.
Enjoy!

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother"
Abraham Lincoln