Hi there, friends!
I hope you're doing well as 2016 comes to a close. I know the Holiday Season is a flurry of activity for a lot of you, so this email gives you the opportunity to add even more to your plate! I usually do a lot of baking for Christmas, but this year I decided to shake it up a bit and give everyone homemade bath and body whatnots. Because, really, do we need another dozen cookies in our lives? (The answer is "yes", but I'm saving room for the Black Truffle Mac and Cheese that I'm introducing you to.) I'll admit I went a little overboard with honey lip balm, bath bombs, facial serum, and olive oil lotion. Curse you, Pinterest! I'm sure you'll be cursing me, too, as I'm giving you the recipe for the olive oil lotion in addition to the Mac and Cheese. Luxury abounds!
Recipes are great, but what's going on at the store, you may ask? Well, we are open from 9:00-5:00 this Saturday, Monday-Friday from 10:00-6:00, and 9:00-3:00 on Christmas Eve. Our featured product this month is the Cinnamon Pear Balsamic. I realize that I'm not using the Cinnamon Pear Balsamic in either of the recipes in this email, but I use it nearly every day for winter salads. Leafy greens, sliced apple, handful of pecans, goat cheese and Cinnamon Pear Balsamic. It's the best and when you pair it with the Blood Orange Olive Oil, it's like Christmas in your mouth. So get your Cinnamon Pear Balsamic for 20% off and then grab your Blood Orange Olive Oil and use it to make these sugar cookies and/or your olive oil lotion.
Oh! We have a new White Balsamic in our midst. Well, it's not new, exactly, but it has been a year or two since we had it last. I bring you the Honey Ginger White Balsamic! It is lovely. It's nice and spicy in that gingery way and pairs with our Japanese Toasted Sesame for Asian inspired salad or marinade. It also goes very well in whiskey with a slice of lemon for when you feel a cold coming on. I implore you to try it the next time you come in. However, in order to put this one out, we had to take one away. The Grapefruit White Balsamic is taking a hiatus. If you desperately need it, we have a few reserve bottles in the back to tide you over until the summer, when we'll likely bring it back.
The Northern Hemisphere Extra Virgin Olive Oils are going to slowly start trickling in over the course of the next two months. The only one we have available to us at the moment is an Organic Arbequina from California. We're going to trade out the Organic Chemlali (sorry, I loved it, too) for the Organic Arbequina, probably tomorrow. Those are the only changes I'm making right now, I promise! Nothing too crazy.
Okay. I'm at a point where I am constantly washing my hands. It is winter time, so we have had round-the-clock colds in our house. I cook way too much, so there's that. I change a ton of diapers, as you do with a baby. As a result my hands are cracked and scaly and appear to be 100 years old and it truly irritates me to look at the label on my "super hydrating lotion" and the first ingredients are water and alcohol. Wait. What? The main ingredients are designed to make my hands drier than they were? Nope. I decided to take matters into my own chapped hands and found an extremely easy DIY recipe on the interwebs. I will tell you that is recipe is one that you should slather on before bed and let it be. It's more of a salve, if you will. Considering that the ingredients are all oil and wax, it feels all...oily. But in a good way! I used the Eureka Lemon Olive Oil as the base and it has a really nice smell, even without essential oils added. The Blood Orange or Persian Lime would be equally lovely.
What you do is get a really big glass mason jar and use this jar from now on as your "lotion making jar", because you will not want to spend the 1 hour it takes to get it clean. You can get beeswax pellets (which I recommend) on Amazon or at Hobby Lobby, in the candle making section. Or if you know someone who has bees, ask them for a bit of it. It's good stuff to have around. Also use a wooden chopstick or kabob skewer that you can throw away and not bother washing. This recipe makes about 3 jars of lotion. They make adorable gifts that are great for winter time.
Now, this Black Truffle Mac and Cheese will change your life. You'll have to read the recipe below to see how that magic happens, but let me warn you. There is no going back. This is what you will bring for every gathering from this point forward. It feeds an army and is so deliciously cheesy that it warms you up even on the coldest day. It will make all your days be merry and bright!
I hope you're doing well as 2016 comes to a close. I know the Holiday Season is a flurry of activity for a lot of you, so this email gives you the opportunity to add even more to your plate! I usually do a lot of baking for Christmas, but this year I decided to shake it up a bit and give everyone homemade bath and body whatnots. Because, really, do we need another dozen cookies in our lives? (The answer is "yes", but I'm saving room for the Black Truffle Mac and Cheese that I'm introducing you to.) I'll admit I went a little overboard with honey lip balm, bath bombs, facial serum, and olive oil lotion. Curse you, Pinterest! I'm sure you'll be cursing me, too, as I'm giving you the recipe for the olive oil lotion in addition to the Mac and Cheese. Luxury abounds!
Recipes are great, but what's going on at the store, you may ask? Well, we are open from 9:00-5:00 this Saturday, Monday-Friday from 10:00-6:00, and 9:00-3:00 on Christmas Eve. Our featured product this month is the Cinnamon Pear Balsamic. I realize that I'm not using the Cinnamon Pear Balsamic in either of the recipes in this email, but I use it nearly every day for winter salads. Leafy greens, sliced apple, handful of pecans, goat cheese and Cinnamon Pear Balsamic. It's the best and when you pair it with the Blood Orange Olive Oil, it's like Christmas in your mouth. So get your Cinnamon Pear Balsamic for 20% off and then grab your Blood Orange Olive Oil and use it to make these sugar cookies and/or your olive oil lotion.
Oh! We have a new White Balsamic in our midst. Well, it's not new, exactly, but it has been a year or two since we had it last. I bring you the Honey Ginger White Balsamic! It is lovely. It's nice and spicy in that gingery way and pairs with our Japanese Toasted Sesame for Asian inspired salad or marinade. It also goes very well in whiskey with a slice of lemon for when you feel a cold coming on. I implore you to try it the next time you come in. However, in order to put this one out, we had to take one away. The Grapefruit White Balsamic is taking a hiatus. If you desperately need it, we have a few reserve bottles in the back to tide you over until the summer, when we'll likely bring it back.
The Northern Hemisphere Extra Virgin Olive Oils are going to slowly start trickling in over the course of the next two months. The only one we have available to us at the moment is an Organic Arbequina from California. We're going to trade out the Organic Chemlali (sorry, I loved it, too) for the Organic Arbequina, probably tomorrow. Those are the only changes I'm making right now, I promise! Nothing too crazy.
Okay. I'm at a point where I am constantly washing my hands. It is winter time, so we have had round-the-clock colds in our house. I cook way too much, so there's that. I change a ton of diapers, as you do with a baby. As a result my hands are cracked and scaly and appear to be 100 years old and it truly irritates me to look at the label on my "super hydrating lotion" and the first ingredients are water and alcohol. Wait. What? The main ingredients are designed to make my hands drier than they were? Nope. I decided to take matters into my own chapped hands and found an extremely easy DIY recipe on the interwebs. I will tell you that is recipe is one that you should slather on before bed and let it be. It's more of a salve, if you will. Considering that the ingredients are all oil and wax, it feels all...oily. But in a good way! I used the Eureka Lemon Olive Oil as the base and it has a really nice smell, even without essential oils added. The Blood Orange or Persian Lime would be equally lovely. What you do is get a really big glass mason jar and use this jar from now on as your "lotion making jar", because you will not want to spend the 1 hour it takes to get it clean. You can get beeswax pellets (which I recommend) on Amazon or at Hobby Lobby, in the candle making section. Or if you know someone who has bees, ask them for a bit of it. It's good stuff to have around. Also use a wooden chopstick or kabob skewer that you can throw away and not bother washing. This recipe makes about 3 jars of lotion. They make adorable gifts that are great for winter time.
Now, this Black Truffle Mac and Cheese will change your life. You'll have to read the recipe below to see how that magic happens, but let me warn you. There is no going back. This is what you will bring for every gathering from this point forward. It feeds an army and is so deliciously cheesy that it warms you up even on the coldest day. It will make all your days be merry and bright!
Eureka Lemon Olive Oil Lotion
Adapted from A Sonoma Garden
Makes approximately 3 jars
1 c. Eureka Lemon Fused Olive Oil (or Blood Orange Olive Oil)
1/2 c. Coconut Oil
2 oz. Beeswax (I usually buy mine from Amazon)
1/2 tsp. Almond or Avocado or Vitamin E Oil (optional)
20 ish drops of Essential Oil (I used Frankincense, Myrrh, and Lavender) (optional)
1. Combine the olive oil, coconut oil, and beeswax together in a large glass Mason jar. Henceforth, this will be your lotion making jar, as you will not want to bother trying to wash it. Put this jar into a saucepan and fill that saucepan with water until it reaches about halfway up the sides of your Mason jar. Set your heat to medium and stir your oil/wax mixture until everything is melted. Make sure that no water gets into your jar during this process.
2. Remove your Mason Jar from the double boiler. At this point, add your Almond Oil and Essential Oils, if you're doing that.
3. Pour (carefully!) into wide-mouthed half-pint jars. Now stir (I used a wooden skewer/chop stick, so I would have no dishes to contend with) every 15 minutes until it comes to room temperature. and you're done! (Or don't stir it if you want it to have a smooth surface.)
Black Truffle Macaroni and Cheese
Adapted, only slightly from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook
Serves 12 (No kidding. 12)
 |
| Cheese Sauce, not Lotion |
6 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. Black Truffle Oil
6 slices white bread, crusts removed, cubed/torn into 1/2 inch pieces
5 1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. Black Truffle Sea Salt
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
4 1/2 c. (18 oz.) grated Sharp White Cheddar cheese
2 c. (8 oz.) grated Gruyere cheese
1 lb. elbow macaroni
1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 3 qt. casserole dish or a 9 x 13 in. dish, set aside. Place bread in a medium bowl and toss with 2 Tbsp. Black Truffle Oil. Set the crumbs aside.
2. Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the 6 Tbsp. butter in a high-sided skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. When the butter bubbles, add the flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.
3. While whisking, slowly pour in the hot milk, a little at a time to keep the mixture smooth. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick and smooth, 8-12 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in Black Truffle Sea Salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 c. Cheddar cheese, and 1 1/2 c. Gruyere; set the cheese sauce aside.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the macaroni until the outside is cooked, but the inside is still underdone, 3-4 minutes. Drain pasta, rinse with cold running water, and drain well. Stir the macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 c. Cheddar, 1/2 c. Gruyere, and the bread crumbs over the top. Bake until golden brown, 30-40 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes, then serve.
Thank you all for making our holiday season so wonderful. We love seeing both the new and the familiar faces that have been coming through. Happy Holidays, friends.
Cheers,
Andrea
Thank you all for making our holiday season so wonderful. We love seeing both the new and the familiar faces that have been coming through. Happy Holidays, friends.
Cheers,
Andrea
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