Tutorial Tuesday ~ An Easy Crowd Pleaser: Mock Lasagna

This isn't any fancy foodie meal, but Mock Lasagna is a casserole I grew up eating and now I make for my own family. And everyone inhales it. It's an easy recipe, taking maybe 20-25 minutes to prepare and assemble everything before baking, and it's very easy to make substitutions to "healthify" or remove any ingredients you might not want in it. For example, I used only one pound of ground beef, added broccoli to the meat to get some more veggies into us, played with the spices a little, and made a separate dish without the noodles for myself since I'm currently grain-free. It's pretty hard to mess this recipe up!

Mock Lasagna
2 C uncooked elbow macaroni or rotini
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce, condensed tomato soup, or pasta sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder (I always throw in extra garlic)
1/2 C milk
1 egg
1/4-1/2 lb shredded/grated mozzarella or cheddar cheese

Prepare pasta according to package directions, and drain. Brown ground beef and onion, drain fat, add tomato sauce, 1/2 tsp salt, and seasonings. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Beat egg, milk and remaining salt together, blend into macaroni, and spread in greased casserole dish. Cover with meat mixture and top with cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before cutting. Serves 6.

submitted by Lori, alfabette zoope 

Featured Artisan: Joyful Earth

Joyful Earth is known for her wonderful selection of beautifully artistic, yet perfectly useful unpaper products.  Let's meet Robin, the artisan behind Joyful Earth!

My goal with Joyful Earth is to create sustainable, functional, fun and unique items for your home. From kitchen cloths, to baby and child items, to reusable snack bags, to tea accessories and more. I hope to help my customers find joy in the everyday items used in their homes, while ensuring ecological responsibility in my creations.

How has your business evolved since you first started selling? (What got you started as a WAHM?/How long have you been in business)
I first started selling in 2005 under the name Tush Cloth Diapers. I loved being a diaper sewing WAHM but after my youngest child potty learned, I started to lose interest in diaper making and selling. In the summer of 2009, I took a break from Tush to delve into other reusable products for the home. Joyful Earth was met with immediate enthusiasm from my customer base and I've been growing and evolving the Joyful Earth line of products since then. In fall of 2009, Tush closed permanently as I decided to focus my energy on growing Joyful Earth. 

What is your favorite product to make?
My favorite products to make are the Tea on the Go sets. Inspired by an idea Lisa, of Healing Pixie gave me - I created this product to allow the loose tea lover to have their favorite teas on hand wherever they went. I love shopping for fabrics, mixing fabrics and creating unique pieces for my customers.

You make a lot of green products - what has been your journey into being green? 
I've always been green. I remember way back in high school sitting in a room filled with bags and bags of paper to be sorted and recycled. A group of friends and I had started a "green club" in our school (this was back in 1990 before being green was fashionable) and we took on the massive task of recycling the waste paper in our high school. The paper had to be sorted into colour and white paper, and we'd spend hours chatting and sorting. I'm not sure we ever got through all of the sorting, but the memories are still with me today.
When I had babies, it was natural that I decided to cloth diaper them. We had a disastrous time cloth diapering our eldest because I had not yet discovered the online cloth diapering community. When we had our second, I discovered Hyena Cart and soon after began sewing diapers for my daughter and eventually for sale. The rest is history so to speak.

What does a typical day look like for you? 
A typical day involves a lot of balance! We wake up at about 6am and I brew that essential pot of coffee. As the kids play or watch tv, I check in on my email, facebook and browse the online forums I belong to. Then we eat breakfast and I madly rush to get the eldest two out the door. On a good day, the youngest naps while the middle child is in preschool. I use this time to package orders and do a bit of sewing. Close to lunch we head out to the school to pick up the middle child and then back home for lunch and a bit of housework. My partner comes home at 1:00 and I get busy sewing for the rest of the afternoon. Generally, my husband will do most of the supper prep as I finish up photos and listings. I also have an out of the home job that I go to 2 days per week. Saturday and Sunday are a mix of activities, working out and sewing. It sounds like I am very busy, but really its a nice relaxed routine that we all enjoy! 

What inspires you?
I wish I could say that I am inspired by nature or something more artistic, but it's just every day life that inspires me. The idea for Joyful Earth came while I was shopping for groceries and yet again forgot to bring my reusable grocery bags. I felt that if I had something beautiful and functional, I'd be more inclined to remember to bring them. 


What is your most favorite thing you've ever made? 
Its really hard to narrow this down to just ONE thing. I've created some amazing dye work for diapers and unpaper products and some of tea wallets I've made have been really difficult to part with. If I were to narrow this down to one piece, it would likely have to be the Heather Ross Mendocino mermaids shower curtain hanging in my bathroom! So rarely do I find time to create things for our home, I am especially proud of this piece.

Thank you, Robin, for sharing your world with us!  
Stock up on Joyful Earth's unpaper products for your home at 
http://joyfulearth.etsy.com
http://joyfulearth.ca 


and be sure to join the Joyful Earth fanpage for a change to win a custom mini tea on the go set - you pick fabrics! http://facebook.com/joyfulearth

Wordless Wednesday

Shhh....

Featured Artisan - Relic Soap Co

Lots of people in the WAHM world have heard of Relic Soap Company - and today we get to meet the woman behind the name.


Karen.


In her own words .. 


Relic Soap Company is a family-owned business that specializes in creating one of a kind artisan soap that nourishes the body and dazzles the senses. Our unique blend of oils is the product of years of listening to our customers and providing them with a soap that they come back for time and time again. Our soaps are infused with cultural, culinary, and aroma-based inspiration. Soap is a necessity, but we aim to indulge you with delicious aromas and sumptuous ingredients.
What makes our soap unique?

While other companies are aiming to cut costs and skimp on ingredients, Relic Soap Company is not satisfied with mediocre soap. We strive for extraordinary. We love olive oil for all of its amazing qualities and use it as a dominant ingredient in each of our soaps. We use only top-shelf natural plant-based oils, essential oils, fragrances, botanical extracts, and minerals. We make all of our soaps in small quality-controlled batches using traditional methods. 


Everything is made by hand.

By us.

We opened the floor to a few WAHMs, and passed their questions along to Karen.

Where did you learn to make soap, and what got you started?

I started making soap back in 2002, when I was pregnant with my second child. I was a born entrepreneur who wanted to stay home to raise my children while they're young. I found soapmaking because I wanted something I could make with my hands. I think I'm perhaps a little bit of a mad scientist too. My journey began with books and lots of failed experiments. I am very thankful for the help of many soapmakers that I met online that helped me along my way.

What's your favorite soap from your line and why?

This is a VERY hard question! I get asked it at nearly every market and show I ever do and somehow I flounder through it each and every time. If I could only pick one, it would be my Froth sea salt soap. I'm smitten with vetiver essential oil.

What was the inspiration for your business name?

I wish I could take credit for our name. My husband, Ryan, came up with the name after weeks upon weeks of trying to come up with something that felt right. Relic makes us think of something both ancient and timeless at the same time - much like soap.

If you could give one piece of advice to anyone starting on the soap-making journey, what would it be?

Do your own research. Don't rest on the shoulders of others. If you want to truly make good soap, you need to know how the process happens. Until you know that, you can't truly problem solve when the need arises. And it will arise!

What does your workspace/supply/curing-space look like?

A dungeon? Okay, maybe not quite. It's a corner of our basement that allows me to ventilate to the outside. I use my husband's only drafting table, stainless steel work tops, stainless steel racks for curing, and many cubbies for all the tools I use from time to time. We just moved in 18 months ago so we're still working on getting plumbing to my workshop and better lighting. I have fantastic storage racks and built in shelving that came with the home. It's nice to be able to slip down to the shop when the baby naps.

How do you come up with fresh ideas for your products and the copy that describes them?

I am inspired by nature and the culinary world. I am most moved by olfactory memories transport me to some event in my past. Have you ever smelled a cherry pie cooling and had it bring you back sitting at your grandma's kitchen table? That's what I'm talking about. I live for those moments. I have to admit that the copy makes me want to tear my hair out. I find it so hard to describe what you'll experience with each of my scents, especially the very complex fragrances. I get some help from my friends and their impressions. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to have it just pop in my head!

Want a chance to win Karen's giveaway?

Karen is giving away 2 sea salt bars and a sustainable cedar soap dish.

Here's how to go about it:

* Visit Relic Soap Company and reply to this post about your favourite soap.

Additional entries:

* Fan Relic Soap Company on Facebook and leave a comment here saying that you did so.

* Fan Etsy Hyena Team on Facebook and leave a comment here saying that you did so. 

* Blog or FB or Twitter about this giveaway and post the link of this board.

* Make a purchase from Relic Soap Company between now and Sunday, March 21st and 

  post about it here. This will get you 5 additional entries. There is currently a promotion

  going on which you might want to take advantage of.

The winner will be announced on Monday, March 22nd 2010 and the soap shipped shortly thereafter.

Tutorial Tuesday - on Monday

Bit of a shake up today.
We're going to have to pretend it's Tuesday, and then tomorrow pretend it's Monday.
Here's to quick t-shirt folding!

Funny Friday

Caring for your silver jewellery

Silver tarnishes over time - courtesy of sulfides in the air. The greater the humidity and the air pollution the faster that silver will tarnish.

When that happens, a quick buff with some soft cotton cloth will work wonders. Or, if you don't have the patience or the elbow grease, use a polishing cloth.

Don't be tempted to use a dip without reading the fine print. For the most part they will harm whatever else is on your jewellery (pearls, semi-precious stones), and if you don't rinse the piece properly residue will remain. And it's hard to get it off. And whatever you do .. don't use a toothbrush!

Things that will help prevent tarnishing:

* Don't wear your jewellery when doing housework - or to the spa.

* Store your jewellery with small anti-tarnish strips in small bags (or a box)