Amish Baked Oatmeal

2 cups Oatmeal
10 tbsp Brown Sugar (half cup + 2 tbsp)
10 tbsp Milk (half cup + 2 tbsp)
5 tbsp melted Butter or Margarine
2 eggs
1 tsp Baking Powder
¼ tbsp Salt
2 tsp Vanilla


Mix together all the ingredients
Spread evenly on a greased pan (9x13)
Bake at 325 till golden brown (15-20min)
Serve with hot milk and blueberries (we usually use blueberries but you can try other fruit if you don’t have any)

You can also add cinnamon or other spices if you like. Some people have used maple syrup for all or part of the sweetener.
You can use quick oats or regular.
Some like to mix it all up at night then bake it in the morning.

Connie’s notes:
I used half steel cut oats (all I had left) and half regular oats. I ground two tablespoons of flax seeds and added that too. Also a good sized shake of cinnamon…probably a teaspoon, a rough chop of half cup of pecans and a rough chop of half a cup of dried cranberries.

I mixed mine the night before and put it in the pan for the next morning.

Too many?

I coerced the Hubby into going to 'look' for shelves last night. I have moved boxes and boxes of fragrance oils out of the house, and into the shed, and they were taking up valuable floor space since I had nowhere to put them. So on the pretense of 'just looking' I found this unit. Hubby agreed to pay with the understanding that I had to put it together myself. No Problem! Have power tools, will build! By the way...do you have ANY idea how hard it is to fit a 6 1/2 ft. box in a convertible Mustang? Yes, it's January, and yes, we had to put the roof down to get it in the car. Luckily, we were able to put the roof back up once we'd stuffed everything inside.

So then I started moving, arranging, and organizing all those scents. I got soooo excited to think there just might be some space left over (of course I would have to fill that space by shopping for more), until I realized there's one more box that hasn't even been moved out there yet. Hmmm...may have to post a yard sale somewhere to get rid of some of the stuff I don't use often.

In case you're wondering, the top shelf is (mostly) Essential Oils, the next shelf down is the stuff I use most often for candles, and the bottom two shelves are seasonal/strictly soaping fragrances. I've heard, "He who has the most fragrances, wins"...wonder if I even qualify for a prize?

Sandalwood Rose

I have a friend who makes exclusively vegan soap, scented with essential oils only, colored with only herbs/clays/botanicals. She's a bit of a soap-snob, but it's ok, I love her anyway.

She participated in a swap, where she received a bar scented with Sandalwood Rose. To her utter shock and dismay, her hubby decided it was a wonderful scent and promptly claimed the bar as his own. Then the bar was gone.

Again, to her utter shock and dismay, he asked how he might procure more of the wonderful scent that lingered on his skin, and left him smelling, in his mind, "clean".

So she asked me, her heathen (animal fats and fragrance oil) soapmaking buddy to acquire the scent and make him a batch, for which she would pay by giving me oddles and oodles of gloriously white, creamy, beef tallow...free of charge. Who could resist? I'm weak, love beef tallow for the creaminess it adds to my soap, and hey...the fragrance was easy to find.

So, this is that soap (not really...he got the whole first batch, and this is a new batch). As homage to her...or as much homage as I can pay considering our different styles...I left the soap to color itself. A wonderful mauvey tan that fits the scent well.

Herein lies my problem: I love the scent, and will probably carry it regularly, but I don't really think the name "fits". Rose implies feminine and floral...which this soap is not. It makes a wonderful unisex scent, but I don't want male customers to be turned off by the thought of slathering themselves in rose petals either.

So...we'll consider THIS my very first blog contest. Offer up a name for this soap and if we choose yours, you'll win a bar for your very own (probably some samples, too). Decision will be posted Jan 17 at 10:00 a.m.

In the mean time, if you just can't wait, or don't think you can come up with a winning suggestion, you can purchase a bar on Etsy or Artfire.

Newly Listed

This fun flirty soap scent combines peaches and berries with a soft down of musk. Large 5 oz. bar of soap with the perfect balance of creamy yet bubbly lather. Available on Etsy!

Happy New Year!

Wishing all my friends, followers and customers a healthy and prosperous New Year!

I've recently started an Artfire account, so there will soon be new listings in both Artfire and Etsy.

I recently lucked into massive amounts of fragrance oils that are all for soaping. Watch my shops for exciting new "stuff"...I can't wait to play with them! I feel inspired once again, which can only be a good thing, since I was starting to lose hope of ever being inspired again. Lots of wonderful new things on the horizon!