Check this out!

Live streaming video from Times Square! :) Enjoy!

May your lip balms be smooth, your bath bombs be fizzy and your soaps be sudsy!

peace~love~and to another great year,

yummy post holiday sale!

All of our holiday inspired products are buy 1 get 1 FREE! That is, until inventory is gone. Everything from organic bars of soap, to sugar scrubs, lips balms and gift sets! :)

Hop on over to our etsy shop and check it out! We've labeled all sale items with (HOLIDAY SALE ITEM) to make shopping a snap!

Here's to a fabulous New Years!

peace~love~happiness,

gingerbread house party!

Our 3rd annual family gingerbread house making party was last night. The ladies brought their best ideas, candy and a smidge of trash talk! Facebook was ablaze with the "BRING IT" posts! :)

After three hours of serious decorating, we ended up with some very lovely houses and I wanted to share them with you!

First Place Winner- Jenny



Second Place Winner- Nichol



Honorable mention- Stephanie

This is SO MUCH FUN and a great tradition for your friends and family! Happy holidays :)

peace, love, happiness,

...the ugly

the good, the bad....and this is just plain ugly!
Was supposed to be my nemesis......copacabana...a luscious pineapple, coconut smelling multi-colored soap that I had made previously, several times....and broke the FIRST cardinal rule of soap making.......----> WRITE DOWN YOUR RECIPE. {A DUH blonde moment}
Did I? Nope....and so, trying to remake that same luscious wonderful soap months later I ended up with 8 lb vat after 8 lb vat of disasters! Horrid batches that looked like something that someone threw-up! Not yummy AT ALL!
So I thought I was clever and just "KNEW!" which FO was the culprit....and so I removed it from the blend of FO's.....and made another 8 lb batch.

{play dreadful sounding music}

I pour the lye water into the oils.....and stick blend......it wasn't curdling like all the previous batches...so I thought, Great! :) {ignorance is bliss}

30 minutes later :( Seperation! AHHHHHHH! About 1" of oil floating on top of the soap in the mold. It's in the over...as I do mostly CPOP....and I decide ---> NOT AGAIN!
{Dun-Dun-Dahhhhhhhhhhhh!}This batch WILL make it...and I think "what can I do?" so I grab my stick blender and with the oven door open...I'm blending the soap, in the mold, in the oven. Saying goodbye to the lovely yellow, green and blue swirls that I had previously created :'( This was a last-ditch effort to SAVE THIS SOAP! I figured, I'd force the oils back into the soap and cook the cr*p out of it...and see what happens. {serious rocket science} Who knows right?! {thinking to self} Post-it's were created accidentally....maybe this would be some strange new soap creation?? I'm stick blending and 10 minutes later....still blending.....bent over....head partially in the oven. A site to see.

So it cooks.....I check the pH...it's neutral....it cools and this is what I end up with.....A very strange, sci-fi looking soap!





It's rubbery and you can squish it. You're in the circle of trust...and we are honest in the soap kitchen...... I am so tempted to slap a label on it and call it The Grinch Soap. May be a hit with the kids!

Anyways.......I figured I'd share this because we all have the good, the bad and well, there's just the UGLY!

Happy holidays to you all! XOXO

yummy organics

We've made this rose bud soap previously, but this time decided to re-create the soap using mostly organic oils and coloring the soap naturally.

We wanted this soap to be creamy, so we made it with coconut milk. It's also made with organic soybean oil, organic coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic cocoa butter and palma christi oil. At trace, some ground rose hip and elderberries were added. The fragrance is fantastic, using rose absolute and a smidge of one of our most favorite fragrance oils that smell like a big bouquet of lush red roses!

It turned out nicely. :)

peace~love and petal power!

a treasury!

TYTY for putting our yummy in your lovely treasury! We so appreciate it and want to share the love!

Please check out peaseblossomstudio on etsy...where you'll find leather journals, prints, cards, wedding & fancy books, ornaments & decor and pendants. Maybe a gift for a friend or two? :)

peace~love~happiness,

need a new years resolution?

How about changing the world? Sounds impossible, but is it?

I'm an Oprah fan......and on one of her recent shows, she exposed me to the girl effect. The video that was shown on the show, I honestly...loved. I want to share it with you and for you to consider the possibilities.

Yummy was looking for an organization to get involved with and this seems so perfect for us! Care.org. Little things, like $7 can buy a girl school books for a year! The impact, HUGE.

Visit care.org for more information. We mothers can help other mothers. Gotta love that!



peace~love~and making a difference,

a new location for yummy!

Yummy is headed to Sayville, NY, to the Oliver West Apothecary & Day Spa! This spa offers some impressive spa services like a Caviar Power Facial or how about the 24 carat gold treatment, hmmm?! :) Lots of mani's, pedi's, waxing, makeup and of course massages to choose from too.

Check out their website!

peace~love~happiness,

a lovely treasury

Sending out a special thanks to Big Girl Studio on Etsy, for putting our Oh honey, beehive! soap in her lovely treasury. Check her shop out. Lots of very cool sterling silver earrings, bracelets, necklaces and rings! :)


peace~love~happiness,

go elf yourself!

hee-hee

Seriously.....it's fun and makes for a great way to send your holiday greeting card.
If you haven't heard of it, it's Jibbab.com. I am of course, a member! ;)

This little video is of myself, my husband and three of our kids! :) Enjoy!
There are tons of videos to choose from and you can create yours at jibjab!

We Elf'd ourselves!

peace~love~happiness,

yummo recipe!

Ok, so I'm a bit of a cooking show fan :)

Lately it's been Chef Academy! And tonight they shared a tomato sauce recipe that I just had to share with you! I usually cook (when I cook from scratch) a recipe by Mario Batali, that uses grated carrots to sweeten the base and it AWESOME....but this looks divine so do try it!


INGREDIENTS
6 lb (2.7 kg) Beef or Heirloom tomatoes
4 Star anise
1 Vanilla pod
Sea salt & cracked black pepper to season
White sugar
2 Sprig fresh thyme
1-2 Bay leaves
Infusion
Fresh garlic
28gm bunch fresh basil
Extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS
1. Place a heavy cast pan to heat up.

2. Wash the tomatoes and halve roughly.

3. Place into the hot pan and season with salt, pepper and a touch of sugar.

4. Add the anise and vanilla.

5. Allow the tomatoes to start to cook then press them gently with a masher to help them to release their juice.

6. Reduce the heat down to just simmering and continue for about 1-2 hours until a thickened paste. This slow evaporation of the moisture from the tomatoes will produce a deep color concentrated flavor without any bitterness.

7. Crack the garlic and add along with the basil which is just halved and throw in.

8. Combine with the warm paste and finish with a good amount of olive oil to finish the infusion. Allow to cool before storing ready for use.

NOTES
• If you have added too much sugar to start this can be balanced out with a touch of vinegar.

• Always taste the tomatoes uncooked to determine their natural sweetness before you add the sugar.

• The amount of garlic to infuse with greatly depends on its strength; again make your own judgment.

• Additional seasoning such as cumin, fennel seeds, chili etc can be added this is of course personal taste again.

© 2009 CHEF JEAN CHRISTOPHE NOVELLI

peace~love~happiness,

another yummy location

Dr. David Green specializes in Sclerotherapy, Starlux® Fractional Skin Resurfacing, Thermage, Tattoo Removal,
IPL Photo-Facials, Botox®, Juvederm®, Restylane®, and Laser Hair removal.

If you live around the Annapolis area, check them out or visit their website here.

peace, love and spreading the yummy,

Curds and why?!

It's the next day. The soap has set...and as you can see...there is a layer of oil....and the lovely curdle! lol

As I said in the previous post, this is the 4th, 8lb batch that failed. I will have this figured out Friday. I think the culprit is a lovely coconut milk FO. We shall see......
I will whip up a small test batch and see if it curdles.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

this and that

Well.....today was yet ANOTHER attempt at copacabana (my pineapple & coconut) lovely that use to work. But the last 4 yes, FOUR...8 lb batches curdled!

At first I thought, maybe I just got mixed up and mis-measured. Tried it again. Same outcome...

Then I thought, well, maybe I mis-measured again?! (blonde) So I tried it again. Same outcome...

THEN I thought I'll have someone else measure and I'll fragrance.......SAME OUTCOME.

So today, was the fourth attempt. I ran the recipe thru the soap calc, carefully measured, fragranced and yet again......Can I just throw it out the window?! lol

Seriously. 32 lbs of soap. Makes me crazy!!

Apparently it's an additive. I must have fragranced with a mix of pineapple and coconut and then I found a lovely blend of the two (a different fragrance oil) and have been using that. I suspect it's the culprit.

Tomorrow is festivities with the family...and stuffing ourselves with turkey and the trimmings and ending the night by playing a card game called GUTS. A family favorite! hee-hee

So Friday will be test day. A small batch I'm switching out the suspected FO and see if it curdles.

I will keep you posted!

Happy Thanksgiving! Eat, drink & be merry! :)

peace~love and thankfulness,

been a little naughty?

Maybe you've seen these before, maybe you haven't. I ran across them on etsy, so this is definitely not my idea, but who ever thought of it first...all I can say is.....GENIUS!

What better stocking stuffer than a sack of COAL? Or soap, that is! ;)

Handmade soap made to look like coal. hee-hee I LOVE this idea!

You can use black soap die, but it would probably take a lot to really pull off a deep black color. Activated charcoal is what I used to bring it to this shade of black.

And the smell....well, like Christmas of course! It's a cute gag-gift....but in the end, it's still yummy soap, so the smell had to be the blend of the holiday tree, smelling fresh of Balsam Fir...and gingerbread men, hot out of the oven, with grandmothers pumpkin pie looking sweet on the counter, with a few cranberries & figs thrown in there somewhere. It's luscious and makes me smile ever time I smell it.

Each sack holds roughly 4 oz of soap. The roughly chopped pieces are placed into the bag and cinched at the top. It's stamp reads: been a little naughty? Sack of COAL.

I can see these in many a stocking...so get to makin' some lumps o' coal soapers! It's fun, pretty easy and will make those that receive it, smile.

peace~love~happiness

adorable pastry soaps

I first saw these adorable soaps at jabon-soap blog. They are cute little coconut milk based soaps, set into pastry paper and topped with calendula flowers, rose petals and coffee beans.

And so, I'm sharing my, albeit, not perfect, attempt. :)

I'm posting the recipe found on Nuria's blog
800 gr Olive Oil
150 gr Shea butter
50 gr Castor Oil
225 gr Coconut Milk
122 gr lye
Vitamin E

I doubled the amounts, for a double batch.

First I chilled my coconut milk in the freezer until it was almost frozen, but still in the slushee phase. I slowly added my lye.

Measured out my oils- added my lye mixture and stirred into the oils....until incorporated.

I put out 4 Rubbermaid bowls, to pour off a bit of raw soap into each container, to scent.

I decided to scent with lavender EO, rose absolute, vanilla absolute and a lovely EO blend that I make called zen blend.



I then chose my botanicals or toppings for the soap cakes.....I went with rose petals, coffee beans, calendula flowers and lavender.

Ok, first thing I realized is, you want to put these in the paper, AFTER the soap has begun to set up a little. Where it starts to thicken and you can scoop it like thick applesauce....if not, you end up with too runny, raw soap, that wants to leak out of the papers. You can see how loose the soap cakes are with the lavender on top...

As I plugged along, I realized that thicker soap was important, and thankfully, soap thickens on it's own- so this problem took care of itself and I was able to spoon out portions of soap and top with the botanicals.



In the end, they started to look more like what I had seen, although Nuria's soaps are far more beautiful!



And of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't flub something......I happened to grab the vanilla absolute and add it to the soap that I had already dropped a few drops of red colorant into..which was supposed to be the rose....but turned out to be a vanilla rose. :) These things happen. A lot....... To me. ;)

Also, I asked Nuria if the soap would stick to the paper, assuming it would. She said they would stick, but that she uses two papers, when she fills the soaps. After they set, the next day or so, she easily peels off the paper that has stuck to the soap and replaces it with a new paper. Easy peasy.

Try these adorable little soaps yourself. Wouldn't they be fabulous on a cake pedestal? I'll take more pictures tomorrow after these set.

peace~love~and sharing the knowledge,

a new blog for yummy!

Thanks to Erin with Designer Blogs, such a class act! I HIGHLY recommend her for a revamp of your blog (if you were wanting one.) She's fast, efficient, friendly, everything you could ever want in a blog designer! Smart too!! ;)

Lots of things in the works for yummy. Oh, I can't WAIT to show you what we've got cooking in the soap kitchen. So cute for the holidays too. You'll have to wait for it...I'm still waiting to get it finished. Adorable really...and I'm sure will be in many a stocking this year. I'll get it posted soon so you guys can make some! You'll love it!!

Also the yummy website is being revamped as well. As soon as that's available I'll show it off baby!

Do you like FREE? Yes, of course you do....well, be sure to visit Tammi at myorganizedchaos and see what she's saying about little ol' me! Plus you get to register to get some free goodies......which as Martha would say, is "a good thing!"

The holidays are coming and that means PUMPKIN BREAD! Yay! I've blogged about this scrumptious bread and even shared the recipe.....so be sure to get that! ;) Making that this year to bring to our families festivities. Yum. It's sinful and fat free! hee-hee NOT! REALLY not. Like 3 cups of sugar, NOT! :) But hey, it's good and it's Thanksgiving, which is a time we all stuff ourselves like turkeys! Or maybe that's just me...

Ok dahlings. I'm SOOOO excited to share the latest, albeit novelty item, but still...so cute!

peace~love~happiness,

soaps, lotions & scrubs...oh my!!!

BUSY little bees here at yummy headquarters! Making Lemon Drop Lotions & butter cream sugar scrub...
Sugar Cookie lotion, Land of Milk & Honey butter cream sugar scrubs, Aww Suki Suki soap.....
Lots to do!

On another note...Yummy's Pass the Brewski Soap is in the Etsy Gift Guide....Gifts for Dad! :)



WOOT-WOOT!

Ok, back to work! :)

XOXO

peace~love~happiness,

A little Yummy here and there

Welcome and let me tell you, it's a lovely, cool day here in usually sunny & hot FLA! I love this weather and I'm opening all my windows and will be sucking in this crisp, fresh air!

Today's agenda.....SOAP, SOAP and more (can you guess?) Yes! SOAP!
Citrus oatmeal, berry luscious and candy man. This stuff flies off the shelves! I'm thinking my 8 lb molds need to be bumped up a notch. Not quite ready for the 40 lb slab mold. Can you even IMAGINE?! lol That's one big HUNK of soap!!

Some new happenings......Tammi from My Organized Chaos got her hands on some yummy and is dishing out some reviews of the products. Check her blog out. LOTS and LOTS of info going on there...giveaways, reviews, a 2009 holiday gift guide, she's wheelin' and dealin! She's just reviewed the Let Them Eat Cake, holiday lip balm trio and pucker pot. What did she say?? Well you'll have to read it yourself! :) My Organized Chaos

Also, Paula at Green Colored Glasses who blogs about anything eco friendly and green and you know how Ms. yummy loves~loves~loves earth friendly! Some very cool information here, like crayon rocks made of soybeans, and plastic bags that dissolve in water!

Stop by these blogs and say hi!

TTFN

peace~love~happiness,

Two new locations for yummy

Two more places to 'get your yummy on' :)

Art on 5th
425 5th Avenue
Indialantic, FL 32903

Check it out. Karen is the chic-in-charge. Expect an eclectic collection of watercolors, acrylic and oil paintings, pottery, jewelry, baskets, fabric art, wood carvings, and tikis. Call 724-4490.

and

Shingle Creek Spa
9939 Universal Blvd.
Orlando, FL 32819

Located at the prestigious Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel in Orlando. Check them out at Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel

peace~love~happiness,

Who needs Mistletoe?!

Fabulous little lotion bars that smell like spiced fig & brown sugar yumminess!
We made a cute little label and it's packaged and ready to go!



The REST of the day was dedicated to serious organizing and cleaning of the soap kitchen. ALL DAY LONG! I realized that most of my 'stuff' was in big boxes and so I moved everything to clear storage containers and now I can actually SEE what's what! Major overhaul at yummy headquarters! I'm pooped! I must say....having everything in an organized space makes you feel lighter....it must be that feng shui thing! :)

peace~love~happiness,