African Sweet Potato & Peanut Soup

I made this wonderfully different soup for Sunday night dinner. Sweet potatoes, peanuts and spinach, what a combination! But oh, so good.

Large can of Chicken Broth (I used the 99% Fat Free kind)
2 T. Peanut Oil (or veg. oil)
1 Medium Onion, diced
1 T. Minced Ginger
1 T. Minced Garlic
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 Lb. Cooked Chicken, cut into bite size pieces
2 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 lb. Spinach (or Kale, your choice)
3/4 C. Chopped Peanuts (I used unsalted, dry roasted)
1/2 C Peanut Butter, chunky or smooth, your choice
Cilantro for garnish, if desired

Saute onion in peanut oil, over medium heat, for about 5 minutes.
Add garlic and ginger. Saute 3 minutes.
Add chicken broth and potatoes. Add spinach, peanuts and peanut butter.
Cook soup over low heat for about 1 hour.

Soap Delivery

Fresh soaps have been delivered to True Colors Hair Salon, Rt. 1 Freeport!

Soap Samplers

I brought a few of these cute little soap samplers to the Brunswick Winter Market last Saturday and they have been very well received.

This sampler pack is great for your out of town guest, smaller soaps to bring to the gym, maybe a travel set, hostess gift or just a great way to try 4 different soaps.

All 4 soaps are individually wrapped with a mini informative label and tucked in a clear oval gift box and tied neatly up with a cream colored organza bow. They are a brand brand spanking new item and as of now, only available at market.

The Beach In Winter

Captain and I had a chance to visit our local little piece of sand on a warm winters day. The beach or shore can be very beautiful in the winter time and today was full of lots of other like minded people. Some folks were having a bundled up picnic on the warm rocks, and others were carefully pulling pretty stones and shells out of the cold water, carefully as to not get too many fingers wet with the February water. I simply picked up a stick and drew this heart while Captain was looking the other way, when he asked me what I was doing, I just smiled and glanced down at the heart. He smiled back.

NEW Soap In A Sweater

I just made my first few bars of "Soap In A Sweater". What in the world is that you say?

Felted soap is your wash cloth already wrapped around a bar of Casco Bay Soap Co. soap! "Soap in a Sweater" is simply our super soap wrapped in natural local wool fibers. I hand wrap each bar in colored wool roving, add hot water some friction and agitation and slowly the fibers all lock together and create a completely wrapped bar of soap.

Felted soap is soft, fun and colorful! Great for scrubbing skin, either exfoliating of removing dirt, gives you some extra grip on the bar of soap, helps those youngsters find their bar of soap in the tub of bubbles and so much more.

In the end, the felted fibers will shrink down a bit with the soap, eventually leaving you with a great smelling hollow wool pocket. You can either use it as a scrubby on it's own, throw it to the cat for her to play with or cut a slit in the side and fill with more soap!

A labor of love, but I'm happy to make this just for you:

SOAP IN A SWEATER

Sea Shore Scrub

Sea Shore Scrub has moved into the top spot for most purchased soap. Lavender used to be the reigning Queen, but the last 3 weeks there have been special orders for guest size bars of Sea Shore Scrub as well as a sell out at the Farmers Market. Sea Shore Scrub has long rivaled Lavender, but now has edged her out of top spot.

This light tan colored bar is full of ground apricot kernel, ground fine like sand, that serves to gently exfoliate and polish your skin. Sea Shore Scrub is a unique blend of Bergamot, Orchid, Jasmine and Violet with supporting notes of Ozone (air), Sandalwood, Musk and Moss. This fragrance could be described as fresh and green and a favorite among both men and women alike.

Can be found on my website here: Sea Shore Scrub or at Market (but by chance, as it sells out fast)!

What do lobster and this doormat have in common?

My mom and dad gave me this fantastic doormat. You must be thinking, a doormat? What is soooo fantastic about a doormat? It's not just any old doormat, it's special.....

The rope used in creating this doormat was part of a rope buy back program in Maine that affected hundreds of lobster men (and women) and thousands of feet of rope. Captain and I each have our recreational lobstering license, so we were very interested in the program. The story is this, lobster men were required to switch from rope that floats, to rope that will sink. The reason? To protect our wildlife. So when the tide goes out, all this extra, slack rope isn't floating around in the water that a seal or whale could get all wrapped up in. Captain and I actually already had the sinking rope (and a little breakaway do-hickey in case a harbor seal were to get caught in our ropes), so we were in compliance. But all that floating rope out there had to be replaced. And all that old rope would potentially end up in a landfill. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of rope.

Video link about these doormats: http://video.dailygrommet.com/services/player/bcpid37836813001?bctid=42733932001

Enter The Maine Float Rope Company. These doormats are designed by environmentalist Penny Johnston. Her company collects and recycles the rope and turns it into virtually indestructible doormats. The result is a safer habitat for marine mammals, some financial relief for the lobster men, and a cleaner environment.

Shaving Soaps

Spotlight on another of my specialty soaps....Lather up with my new shaving bar. Great for women and men, face & body, you can use this bar to wash with as well!

While our traditional soaps are great for shaving too (in fact, we use them everyday) we created this specific shaving soap after several customer requests.

You've been warned - once you try a real soap to shave with, you'll never use a commercial shaving cream again!

This soap is my same fantastic 100% Veggie soap recipe with some added cosmetic grade clay. The clay helps give the soap extra "slip" and also helps purify your skin (think clay mask).

How To Use Our Shaving Bar:

It is best to shave near the end of your shower. This allows time for the hair to soften.

Clean the area well, to remove any body oils, products and dead skin cells.

Build up soap lather in hands.

Apply to area you wish to shave.

Shave and rinse well.

Juniper Breeze is a light fruity fragrance.

A Fun (and thoughtful) Valentine's Gift

My sweet husband got me this funky and fun camera strap for my camera for Valentines Day. I insisted on no flowers or chocolate this year. He knows that I carry it all around taking pictures at market to share with you. And I am one of those girls that actually put the strap around my neck (it helps to have you hands free when snow shoeing through high drifts and maintaining your balance). Thank you my husband, my Valentine.

This strap was made by Meegez. She can be found on my favorite site, Etsy.com ~ for all things handmade.

Happy Valentines Day

Have a sweet day with your Valentine!

The Power Of Raw, Organic Cacao

(Cacao pods and the beans)

I am soo excited to share with you this next post. This past Sunday I took a Power of Raw Organic Cacao class. Taught locally by Kendal Scott. She taught us about the anti-oxidant benefits of eating raw, low processed cacao. Raw, organic cacao powders comes straight from the cacao bean and plant, which s the nutritional source for all chocolate products. Beans are cold press and milled at low temps, never going over 118 degrees, to protect the live nutrients. We sweeten using a natural sweetener, Agave syrup, but you could also use maple syrup or brown rice syrup.

Up there in the picture at the top of this post, is the Cacao pods and beans. Kendal gave us some beans to try. These are unprocessed and unsweetened, so very different than chocolate that we get already made up in the stores. I bit into a bean, and it kind-of crumbled and fell apart like a nut might. It had a bitter taste, but wasn't bad. It had flavor reminiscent of chocolate but not very strong. I enjoyed it. A few of the other attendees did have a funny look on their face, as it was a bitter bean. Kendal eats about a half dozen of these beans a day. I could get used to that!

Raw Organic cacao is:

Antioxidant rich

Supports the immune system

High in dietary fiber, polyphenois and flavanols

A high source of magnesium

Good source of iron and calcium

Brain boosting, lift mood and benefits the brain

Increases energy

She introduced us to cacao powder, beans and nibs. She offered us samples of a hot chocolate (perfect for our cooooold Maine winters day), and a wonderful simple mix of cacao, powder, Agave syrup, coconut and almonds (yummy! can you say Almond Joy goodness?). We also made our own bark chocolate to bring home. We mixed some powder cacao, agave sweetened and add-ins of our choice. I added cranberries, pecans and sunflower seeds. I went right to the store and purchased my own raw organic cacao powder! Captain and I enjoyed the bark that I had made once I got home, we both loved it!

What fun! I encourage you to learn more about cacao and to look around your area for some fun classes of your own to take. There is a lot to learn out there in the world.

I really enjoyed this class. Kendall also had a "make your own vegetarian Sushi" class that I attend. We learned to roll our own veggie sushi rolls, and went away with a few new recipes to try.

Kendal will be offering more classes and you can find her website here:

KENDALL SCOTT WELLNESS

Kitchen Scrub

One of my special purpose soap, Kitchen Scrub, is a favorite at the Farmers Markets.

Made with triple brewed coffee and the addition of real coffee grounds, this soap is excellent at removing odors such as onion, garlic and fish from had working kitchen hands. This wonderful, special purpose soap is dark brown in color with just a a touch of in coffee fragrance.

You can check it out on my site here: KITCHEN SCRUB

Monday Hearts For Madalene

Just discovered this very touching book of beautiful hearts, called Monday Hearts For Madeline. Oh. How moving. I wanted to share with you....
Here is the book description:

"When a person falls in love, the universe—and everything in it—come vividly alive.
It happened to San Francisco artist Page Hodel when she found the love of her life, Madalene Rodriguez. She expressed her devotion in an unusual way: Early every Monday morning, Page would create a heart for Madalene and leave it for her to discover somewhere near her front door. Tragically, Madalene died of ovarian cancer less than a year after she and Page met. But Page’s love goes on, beautifully symbolized in the hearts she continues to create from a plenitude of objects.

Here are photographs of one hundred of Page’s hearts for Madalene, fashioned from a magical, surprising diversity of materials: acorns and asparagus; berries, buttons, and bungee cord; cardboard, clothespins, corks, and candy corn. True love embraces the world, and Page’s art is testimony to its enduring faith".

To buy this book: http://www.mondayheartsformadalene.com/

Listed Locally...

Here is Casco Bay Soap Co. listed in the Freeport directory for businesses...the word is getting around!

FREEPORT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Found On The Find!

Thrilled to find the Casco Bay Soap Co. coral soap dish set found on The Find.com! Get your own here: CORAL SOAP DISH SET on Casco Bay Soap.com

Blueberry Cream Soap

Mmmmm, the small little Blueberry. Sweet, tart, petite and blue! I just stirred up a fresh batch of my Blueberry Cream soap. The kitchen smells sooo good.

You can find my Blueberry Cream soap here: BLUEBERRY CREAM on my website. This creamy off white soap is swirled with a bit of blue. Smells sweet and vanilla-y.

Here's a bit about our Maine wild blueberries, which are not to be confused with the cultivated larger blueberries available on the market. Mainers are very proud of their tiny little berry.

"Maine's 60,000 acres of wild blueberries grow naturally in fields and barrens that stretch from Downeast to the state's southwest corner. Adapted to Maine's naturally acid, low fertility soils and challenging winters, wild blueberries are a low input crop requiring minimal management. The berries are grown on a two-year cycle — each year, half of a grower's land is managed to encourage vegetative growth and the other half is prepared for a wild blueberry harvest in August. After the harvest the plants are pruned to the ground by mowing or burning".

Feel like baking up something blue? Give this recipe a try : NEW ENGLAND BLUEBERRY CAKE

Share Your Business Card

Serena at The Farm Chicks blog asked about business cards the other day, and I thought that I would post mine for you to see. I'm so happy with how this turned out.

I designed my card it with a graphic artist on Estsy.com. Thanks to Daina, a graphic designer from Minnesota, you can find her here: Kottage On 5th. My mermaids is an adapatation from an antique advertisment.

Do you remember in Victoira magazine there used to be a section near the front of the magazine that would highlight unique business cards. Different shapes, ribbons or beads added to the cards, fun colors and more.

Do you have a business card you would like to show me? Post your link to it in the comment section. I would love to see them all.

The Bloggies

The have an awards for blogs! Did you know that? It's called The Bloggies, like The Emmys or The Grammys.

While yours truly is not in the running (not my little blog), there are a few blogs that I follow that have been nominated. If you scroll down the right hand side of my blog, you will see JOY The Baker, Bakerella & The Pioneer Woman, all which I follow and all which have been nominated!

You can go to THE BLOGGIES and cast a vote or two. You can also click through each nomination directly to the nominated blog and check them out yourselves. (when you go to The Bloggies, it is set up so you need to scroll to the right to see the nominations, not the traditional "down").

Here's the basic write up about The Bloggies: "Ten years ago, bloggers were joining webrings, ranting about the A-list blogs, and journaling about little girls on bikes. The Bloggies were born then and have been grown ever since, becoming the Web's largest blog awards ceremony. This is the 2010 Weblog Awards, where the Web will award the first Bloggies of the new decade".