My Food Blog

For the last few years, I have tried to eat healthier and maintain my weight loss (24 pounds); but my struggle with high cholesterol is ongoing. At my last follow-up appointment with my MD, we set some exercise goals. I won't try and fool you, it's not going to be easy to start an exercise routine, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

Some of you may remember my published story in the Chicken Soup book about my weight loss.
Say Hello to a Better Body

Since that publication, I have been working to maintain my weight loss and live healthier. My Blimpy Girl web site offers great recipes for those wishing to modify their eating habits. It's not a diet plan, it's an eating lifestyle. A lifestyle where moderation rules.

Here are three of my favorite recipes from the Blimpy Girl web site:

Roasted Pork Chops in a Fig Reduction Sauce



Roasted Veggies on Baguette Slices

 

Shakshuka Blimpy Girl Style

 

 

 

Hope you take a moment to visit the Blimpy Girl website. There are plenty of great recipes for you to try.

The Dr. Seuss Birthday Party

Yes, that would be me, the owner of GoPlanetEarth getting ready to great guests at my grandson's birthday party. He turned five and all he could talk about was his Cat in the Hat party. It was a huge success and all twelve guests had a great time collecting tickets to cash in at the candy bar and prize tables.

The birthday boy, Fischer, is pictured (center) along with his brother and sister.

There were truffula trees, a photo station, candy bar, games, coloring, lunch and most important, gifts! Fischer was the perfect host greeting his guests as they arrived to Seussville.




(And, yes, I know I spelled Seussville wrong on the entry sign.) Thankfully, none of the kids noticed and most can't read yet.



Seuss Lunch Station



The lunch station (pictured right) was set up on the wood floor. It included PBJ sandwiches from Costco, GoGo Squeez applesauce, Gogurt, cupcakes and Dr. Seuss coloring pages.



The Birthday Boy



 





 

The coloring pages entertained the guests while waiting for everyone to arrive.

 

Photo Station

Games included a blindfold/seek duck pond, spin the Seuss wheel and a ring toss. Each game gave the kids an opportunity to win tickets to cash in at the candy bar and prize table.

 

 

 

 

The party was originally planned outdoors but the weather was somewhat "iffy"; I opted for plan B, an indoor celebration.

 

The thank you cards were handed out at the end of the party. Each guest received a photo card from the photo shoot.

 

 





So many things to buy with my tickets.
 

Candy Bar



Cashing in tickets was the best part. It was so hard to decide on what to pick. The kids drew numbers to determine the line order. Of course, the birthday boy went first.



 

Melt & Pour Soap Making: Splatter Loaf

Check out Sophie Soap Chick's splatter soap slices. I'm quoting Sophie, "So many different color options and I had a blast!"

 

This is a really easy soap to do with kids on a rainy day or at a children's birthday party. I personally think it is less mess than finger painting. Roll out a big sheet of Kraft paper onto a table and let the kids do their magic. 

 

Make a soap loaf using Mold Market's square loaf mold and white melt and pour soap base. Fill the loaf mold to the very top (about 2- 2 1/2 pounds of soap base. Once the soap is set up, remove from mold and slice with our miter box and wavy soap cutter.

Set the soap slices to the side while you prepare the different colors of soap for splattering. Use a straw or plastic spoon, flick the colors onto the soap slices. Flip the soap over and do the same to the other side.

You can also spread the colors onto the sides of the soap slices to add more color.

Clear soap base was used for all of the splatter colors. Here is a list of the colorants Sophie used:

• Neon Blue
• Neon Green
• Neon Orange
• Neon Red

You will find all of the above colors here.

 

Melt & Pour Soap Making: Mickey and Minnie Soaps

Over and over again, I am amazed at the many ways Mold Market's cupcake base and large bath bomb are being used to create fun designs. Our Sophie Soap Chick was on a soaping extravaganza the last couple of weeks. This is the first post of the many things I will be sharing from Sophie's soaping adventures.

 

I always give Sophie a shout out of ideas I would like her to try. When I suggested something Disney themed, she wasted no time. This project is easy enough for even the novice soap maker.

 

 

 

Ingredients used:

• Clear soap base
• Black colorant
• Tomato Red colorant
• White soap base
• Mold Market's large bath bomb
• Mold Market's cup cake mold
• Flexible Jelly Roll pan
• Carving tool
• Alcohol spray

Here are Sophie's instructions on how to make and assemble the Mickey and Minnie soaps:

1. Melt clear soap base, add black colorant and poured it into the large bath bomb mold.
2. Melt clear soap base, add tomato red colorant and pour into the cupcake base.
3. While these set up, pour the extra red color into the flexible jelly roll pan. Don't pour too much because you want it thin enough to be able to carve and bend it to shape the bow. Hand-carve the bow with the carving tool making almost a figure eight without cutting the center (use the white soap base to make an extra circle for the center of the bow).
4. Pour black soap into the jelly roll pan. Once it is almost fully set, remove and hand carve the ears with the carving tool. It took a few tries to make them look like mouse ears. Once I got four to match I fixed up the edges and pushed in the center to curve to make it look more like a mouse ear.
5. Melt white soap base and pour into the jelly roll mold for the buttons. I used the bottom of a small Chapstick to outline the perfect circle and then cut it out with the carving tool. Once everything was cut I began assembling the mice. I attached the base and head first with clear soap.
6. The ears and buttons were next which completed Mickey. I secured the white circle to the bow with melted soap and attached it to Minnie. I off-centered the bow to give it some character. 

The rubbing alcohol spray helps with air bubbles than occur when pouring soap into the molds. These soaps will fit GoPlanet's clear cupcake boxes. Scenting the soap base is optional.

Don't Let 'Sameness' Validate You

 “I don’t want that one, NeeNee, it’s different.” Those were the words spoken by my seven year old granddaughter, Olivia, as I handed her a handful of fresh cherries.

“What’s wrong with it”, I asked?

“It doesn’t look like the rest of the cherries; it’s not the same color.” Without hesitation, she exchanged the cherry for one that resembled all the others. “There”, she said, “now they all look alike”.

It was an innocent, yet thought provoking, statement that triggered a red flag. Might she be swayed to take the road less traveled in life because it is wasn’t a popular choice? I wondered if she viewed sameness as a validation of acceptance within her peer group.

I tend to be OCD, so maybe I overplayed the whole cherry conversation; but one thing is certain, following the masses to “fit in” has never been an option for me. I like the idea of traveling the road less traveled. There is excitement in bushwhacking my own path in life and living with a fearless desire to see what lies ahead. Of course, blazing new trails doesn’t come without opposition or obstacles.

There are things to consider before taking the road less traveled.

1.       The road less traveled is narrow and often lonely. You won’t earn popularity votes.

2.       You will encounter plenty of people who didn’t follow their dreams, or gave up; I call them dead soldiers. Avoid their discouragement and stay focused on the road you’ve taken.

3.       Don’t expect everyone to understand your choices.

4.       Failure is not the end. Those on the popular track are waiting for some miracle to land in their lap. Guess what? Miracles don’t happen without hard work.

5.       Set your own challenges. Become the CEO of your own life and set goals different from others.

6.       Success isn’t measured by time; it’s measured by experiences and opportunities that allow you to know what works best for you.

7.       Understand that trailblazers disrupt nature; they overturn rocks, cut down trees and move dirt. If they can’t remove the obstacle they build bridges over or around it. Sheer determination cuts through barriers and obstacles.  

8.       Taking the road less traveled is for leaders; they point the way, take the risks, and have a vision for turning their dreams into reality.

9.       Know your passion and gifts. You need to know with absolute certainty that the path you’re blazing is the right one for you.

10.   Trailblazers create a path where none existed before.

 

As an online entrepreneur and manufacturer for over 15 years, I’ve learned valuable lessons from the school of hard knocks, both personally and professionally. One thing is certain; an individual deemed an odd-colored cherry, regardless of age, has two choices. They can let sameness validate them or embrace their uniqueness and take the road less traveled.  I want my granddaughter to understand she doesn’t have to be like all the other cherries in the (peer) pack; or, stifled by other people’s expectations and limiting thoughts.

When the time comes for Olivia to venture out on her own, NeeNee will be there with a shovel, ax, hammer and backhoe. She can count on me to mentor, saw trees, chop thorny bushes and build bridges as she blazes her trail in life. And may she find a bowl of odd-colored cherries at the end of her trail; a reminder she took the road less taken.

 

8 New Mold Designs from Mold Market

Eight new soap mold designs from Mold Market will arrive mid-June. I can't wait to start working with these molds. I'll keep you posted on arrival date.

Made in the USA Cupcake Soap

 

 

Our Soap Chick, Sophie, has been at it again. This "Made in the USA" cupcake soap was inspired by nothing other than the American flag.

 

 

Sophie used Mold Market's cupcake base and Mold Market's large bath bomb mold. The stars were hand-cut from red and blue soap. You can also use varying sizes of star cookie cutters.


Score the cupcake base with fork prongs to help seat the cupcake top. Clear, melted soap secures the two pieces together as well as the stars.

Sophie used white soap base in this project so the red and blue colors don't really POP. I suggest using clear soap and red colorant for the cupcake base and pour the top in white soap along with clear soap (add ultramarine blue to the clear soap).

Using clear soap would give the same red and blue colors in the American flag.





Other ideas for the Made in the USA soap:

• Pour the top in alternating blue and white colors only make the stripes thinner
• Use clear soap for the first layer of the top and embed a star, sprinkle with silver glitter. Pour remainder of top in stripes.
• Make the cupcake base blue and the stripes white and red

Melt & Pour Soap Making: Embellishing Your Soaps

Mold Market's soap molds take soap making to the next level. If you don't believe me, take a look at what Maria at Kokolele Soap has done with Mold Market's ice cream cone mold. Maria told me she was so delighted to discover this mold could me used to make a 3-D soap.

Mold #239 (Soft Serve Ice Cream) has a flat back. However, when you join the halves, you get this wonderful 3-dimensional soap which you can embellish to your heart's content.

Maria's soap artistry is amazing.

These are the new border trims from Mold Market available in June 2013. Use them to embellish your soaps. There are six border strips on each mold.

 

Here is a former blog post on how to make the different colored layers for the ice cream soap.

 

 

Here is another creative soap by Maria using Mold Market molds. I have purchased a number of soaps from Maria's Etsy shop and I must say, they are perfection with lovely packaging and labels.

The above soap is made with Mold Market's cupcake base and a small bath bomb mold. The two pieces are connected with clear soap base and embellished with a rickrack soap border.

How To: Mother's Day Picture Frames

I've been on a Mother's Day craft marathon this past week with my grandkids. We've made paper Mache vases, sun catchers and our final project is ice cream stick picture frames.

These refrigerator picture frames are easy, inexpensive and colorful. Supplies include:

• Craft Popsicle sticks
• Craft glue
• Glitter
• Paint
• Plastic buttons
• Scrap ribbon
• Business card magnets
• Printer and camera

Form a square frame with the pop sticks. I attached two parallel sticks at the top and bottom, and one stick between the two layers. A diagonal stick was used on the back side to keep the picture in place.

Spray paint or brush on tempera paint with a brush. I used spray paint. Allow the sticks to dry between each coat of paint.

Decide how button arrangement and where you want to place glitter. Layering the buttons by size will give added depth. Allow the picture frame to set up overnight.

When the embellishments are dry, print and trim photos to side into the sides of the frame. The diagonal pop stick will help keep the picture in place.

The last step is to adhere the business card magnets to the back of the frame. I used on full magnet and trimmed a second to fit. Hot glue worked best for securing to the wooden sticks. Even though the magnets had an adhesive backing, they didn't seem to stick well. The hot glue worked great.

Glue the business card magnet to the back side of the frame.

How To: Mother's Day Paper Mache Vase

Meet my granddaughter, Olivia. She's the budding artist behind this beautiful flower vase she made for her mommy. Olivia couldn't wait to return from her soccer game so she could begin painting the vase. It seemed like it took forever for the Mache paste to dry (at least in her mind).

Four year old, Fischer, also had to get his hands into the messy, gooey paste. I think the kids favorite part was playing in the goop. I was cleaning up dried flour paste for days.

We used plastic bottles from Daily's Bloody Mary mix. When working with a four and six year old, plastic was the better choice.

My honey-man brought home old newspapers from the tire store (he was there getting his tires rotated). The newspaper was torn into strips, some long, some short and dipped into a mixture of flour and water.

The paste was made with 2 cups flour and 1 cup water. These measurements aren't exact, but close. The Mache paste should be the consistency of cake batter with no lumps.

Apply the paper in layers covering the entire bottle.  Allow layers to dry before the next application. The waiting is difficult for the kids, but you can generally apply the next layer within 15 minutes if you haven't over-saturated the newspaper with the mix.

 

I did mention messy, didn't I?

We found three layers worked well. The third layer was plain white paper, though this isn't necessary. It does, however, offer more painting options. Let the bottle dry overnight before applying paint (the kids used tempera paints).

 

A word of advice...cover the work surface with plenty of paper. I keep a big roll of Kraft paper on hand for these messy projects.

Once the paint was dry, I gave them a thin coat of clear acrylic spray to seal the paper coating. Fischer didn't want any added embellishments on his vase, but Olivia was all over the idea (must be a girly thing).

 

I hot-glued coordinating grosgrain ribbon around the bottle and added a colorful sun catcher to the bottle neck. It was a sun catcher left-over from another project I did with the grandkids. What mommy wouldn't love to receive this colorful vase on Mother's Day? I know I would.

How To: Mother's Day Sun Catcher's

This year I am committed to giving handmade Mother's Day gifts. The grand kids are excited about these colorful sun catchers that we made by melting plastic beads. You can find beads at just about any retail craft or online store. I used leftover beads I had from other summer craft projects I have done with the grand kids.

This short tutorial gives instructions to make these colorful sun catchers. If you're looking for something to craft by hand for Mother's Day, this might fit the bill. The cost will also fit your wallet. One 8-inch round sun catcher cost me under $1.00 to make.