Tin Foil Tip

Do you rent your humble abode? This is a quick tip that I needed reminded of when I first moved into this apartment which has an electric stove. Use aluminum foil to protect the stove bibs. Last winter I was at a friend's place and this simple and brilliant idea jumped right out at me. (bright new shiny foil sheened from his stove) Duh! Why hadn't I remembered to do that. Totally saves you from buying replacement pans which are getting more and more pricy. It's so simple to accomplish and you can replace them as often as you'd like for pennies!

Fresh stove bib.
ummm.. someone might have boiled over a pot and ruined the pre-exsisting foil bib cover. (hehe.. uh that would be ME!)

Tear enough tin foil to cover your stove bib.  Tear a hole in the location where the prongs are going to plug in. Wrap all the foil tightly around the underside of the bib. Tear off any extra.

Oops.. a little tear. I bought cheap aluminum foil last time. I now realize why I like Reynolds Wrap so much better. :)
I'll let you know how fixing it with transparent tape works. ;-)

Viola!

Tumeric Facial Mask

So with the post of my Sugar Lips Scrub it got me to thinking about other recipes I used when I worked at the Natural and Organic Spa. Tonight I came up with a new concoction which was a little risky but turned out great!

It has long been known that aspirin is a great treatment for acne. It contains BHE (beta hydroxy acid) or salicylic acid. The very same ingredient that is in many manufactured blemish treatments. I have recently become aware of turmeric and it's many healing properties as it's a natural antiseptic and antibacterial agent. Turmeric is also an anti-inflammatory. All of these ingredients combined will produce brighter, less irritated skin. After a few masks you should see a marked improvement in your break-outs. I felt my skin looked less red and irritated after just one treatment! Add in a little honey as its a humectant and you've got a little somethin' good goin' on!

So here comes the risk factor. Everyone knows you can't get great things without a little risk involved right?! And if you know anything about turmeric you were gasping at the thought of applying it to your face! Scarredy cat that I was, I certainly didn't want a bright mustard colored face! So I did what any bright gal would do.. a test patch on my arm. :) Yep, sure thing, a square yellow stain appeared. But to my surprise a suggestion I found on the web, regarding using milk to remove the yellow from your skin, worked! I wish I'd have known this trick for all those times I cooked with turmeric and had yellow finger tips!

Turmeric Acne Mask
3 aspirins crushed, non-coated works best but I used buffered ones as that was all I had.
1/4 tsp turmeric (find at an Indian grocery)
1/4 tsp honey
2 TB (or so) of besan flour. (this is chickpea flour which you can find in most Indian groceries)
milk, enough to create a paste
milk, enough to wash face post mask
cotton balls

Mix first two ingredients together. Add the honey and besan flour. Start adding milk until it forms a paste. It will be very bright yellow! Apply to face and let dry. This will take about 10-15 mins. Wash off with warm water. Use a washcloth that you don't really care about since the turmeric will stain it. Once all of the mask is removed, cleanse your face with a cotton ball dipped in milk. This will remove any yellow tint your skin picked up from the turmeric. (it really works!! promise!)

My face felt fresh, looked brighter and is quite soft too!  I have to admit this experiment turned out much better than the recent banana mask I tried to make. Oh goodness.. that was a disaster! lol.

Aspirin Mask
1-3 aspirins
Warm honey (runny honey)


Mix these two items together and apply to the infected  area. Let dry, appx 10 mins. Rinse with warm water to remove.
*You might need a few drops of warm water to get it to mix up properly. But it should remain a paste.

Raspberry Fruit Dip

1/4 cup shredded coconut (opt)
1 cup sour cream
2 TB milk
1/4 cup raspberry preserves

In a bowl mix together the above ingredients.
Toss fresh fruit in lemon juice and serve together using the fruit for dipping.

Baking Soda

There are tons of ways to use baking soda beyond just the usual recipe in the kitchen. Did you realize it makes a great cleaning agent? Today I used it to remove the build-up of non-stick spray in my non-stick pans. Yes I finally read the care directions for them! I didn't realize until this weekend you should not use non-stick sprays in non-stick pans. Amazing little fact I wish I'd known when I bought the pans 2 years ago lol. I also removed the icky grease that seems to always be on my George Foreman grill no matter how well I clean it. Annnnnd I used it to clean the stains out of my stainless steal sink too! Yep, I was pretty amazed with that one too! Ck it out..

Before. Note the circular stains in the upper left and right corners. They looked much worse in person.

During. Sprinkle area with baking powder. Add just enough water to form a paste and start scrubbing!

Final product. :D Look how shiny it is!

Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies

 Today was a beautiful day, sunny and 67 degrees outside! It was quite warm for the Midwest in November! It got my blood going and I was a amazed at how much I got done today. Yep, I just patted myself on the back! :-) One of the items I managed to complete today was whipping up some ooey-gooey toffee cookies. Minus a trip to the grocery (in the middle of the recipe I realized I was outta flour) these were pretty quick to make.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter ( I used reduced fat Skippy)
1-1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
3 TB. milk
1 TB vanilla extract (*Halal Vanilla is available if needed)
1 egg
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1-1/3 cups (8-oz pkg) Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits, divided.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Beat shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl until well blended

 Add egg, beat just until blended.


I just love using my KitchenAid mixer! Look at it go! Yep, it's pink people.. isn't that a fabulous color?! :D







Combine flour, baking soda and salt gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. Stir in 1 cup toffee bits; reserve the other 1/3 cup for topping.









I did the standard two test cookies today! (I tend to skip this part) A test batch allows you to see how long to bake the cookies according to your oven and type of pans that you are using.
Today I baked my cookies 7 minutes.







Drop by heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. (I used a baking stone.)

Bake 7-8 mins or until set. Be careful not to overbake. They will continue to firm up after you remove them from the oven.
Remove from oven and allow to cool 2 mins while remaining on the pan. Remove from cookie sheet and let completely cool on wire rack.


Remember the 1/3 cup toffee bits we reserved? Use these to top each cookie after it comes from the oven.
*I didn't do this as I only used wax paper oday but I think it would work well to use a wire rack with wax paper underneath to catch the loose toffee bits. There was JUST enough toffee to split the bag into 1 cup and 1/3 cup. The 1/3 cup for topping was barely enough to finish the last few cookies. I would use the toffee on the wax paper for the last cookies.. or you could eat it if you have left overs. :)

Makes appx. 3 dozen cookies.














*Recipe from the back of the Heath toffee bits package. Hershey brand.

Quick Tip: Sugar Lips

 Try it! Skip dessert tonight. Instead, try this delicious homemade lip exfoliant.

1 TB. granulated sugar
1 TB cocoa powder
1 TB honey

Mix ingredients together until they form a paste. Gently exfoliate lips with mixture for 10-30 seconds. Wipe lips clean with a wet washcloth. Feel free to lick the rest off, it's edible! :p You'll be amazed at how smoothly your lip balm glides on afterwards, not to mention how kiss-ably soft your lips will be!

To take or not to take.. Vitamins!

Here is an interesting article on new research regarding multi-vitamins. Seems new studies show they provide little to no benefit. If this is true it certainly makes me feel less guilty about neglecting to take them consistently! Ha!  Check the article out here!