A Few Of My Favorite Soap Making Resources

A Few Of My Favorite Soapmaking Resources & Supplies

Disclaimer - You should never, ever make soap until you have researched it and know what you are doing.  As much as I love to "wing it" - soap making it not a wing it activity.  

Basic Resources:

• Lye Calculator (for making your own soap recipes)
• Essential Oil Blending Calculator
• How To Calculate How Much Oil Is Needed For Your Soap Mold
• A Beginners Guide To Making Cold Process Soap

The formula for Crisco has changed since the early 2000s. It now incorporates a fair amount of hydrogenated palm oil, which is good for making soap. If you're using Crisco, be sure to know what kind you are using and and adjust your lye calculator accordingly. Most lye calculators have a setting for "old Crisco" and "new Crisco." If your label lists "hydrogenated palm oil" as one of the ingredients, use the "new Crisco" setting.

Soap Making Recipes:

• Step By Step How I Make Home Made Soap
• Step By Step Homemade Peppermint Soap
• Basic Slow Cooker Soap (Make soap in your crock pot!) 

The Soap Book, by Sandy Maine 

This is the soap making book I started with.
Great, simple, recipes, with lots of herb additives.
It has a great format, and is easy to follow.

Simple & Natural Soap Making by Jan Berry is my current favorite soap making book.

My favorite book does change frequently - but this is a nice balance between the simple book above, and the very complex book below.  And it's pretty.  :-)

https://amzn.to/3t8Wrih

The other soap making book on my shelves.
This one is not as pretty as the Sandy Maine Book, it's more, well, like a BOOK than a magazine.  But it is SO full of great information, my copy  is marked with bunches of sticky notes. https://amzn.to/2QLfybp

Bramble Berry Project Ideas (Formerly The Soap Queen)
Bramble Berry is a supply site, and to inspire you to purchase their products, they offer great projects!
https://www.brambleberry.com/

Soap Making Supplies:

Soap Mold & Cutter
https://amzn.to/37vMQ4U
I have a lot of wooden molds, which I either grease with crisco or line with wax paper before using.  But silicone really is sooooo nice when making soap!
And these cutters are great!

You can make soap without an immersion blender.  If you do not mind stirring really hard for HOURS.  :-)
Seriously, this makes it so much faster and easier!
https://amzn.to/2FhEX7i

An accurate scale is an absolute essential.
Make sure it can measure in both ounces and grams
This is not the one I use, mine is a 20 year old postal scale - but this one looks nice, and is reasonably priced.
https://amzn.to/2QCwjFA

Lye is getting harder and harder to find - our grocery stores no longer carry it.
I can still find it at lowes, by the drain cleaners
Just be sure it is 100% lye - and nothing else added.
Thankfully, there is also Amazon Prime.
https://amzn.to/2FbwnXE

A nice selection of colors to start with - 
https://amzn.to/39B6jTx

I used to buy dried lavender at the health food store, to add to my soaps - but it's cheaper to buy it online now.  Here's an assortment of additives - 
https://amzn.to/2ZMmwku



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The Snow Geese in our back yard today -

January Baby Goats

We had goats loose last fall.  We keep the billies separate from the girls until November, so we plan for March babies.  This year...  looks like we are going to have quite a few early births.

Yesterday twin girls, to one of my best moms.  They are doing great -

 They are up, running around, and adorable in the snow today.  (we lined the inside of this shelter with hay bales yesterday, knowing the temps would drop, and it would be windy, last night.  It was 2 degrees when I got up this morning)

Then this morning - 

This little girl is more of a concern for us.  Some of our Boers are born with their front legs not working well right away.  Nutradrench takes care of the problem in a day or two.  This one was born with this, in the snow, and her mom is skittish.  Doesn't seem as interested in standing still for the baby to nurse.  We'll have to watch carefully to make sure she is eating.  We put a calf shelter in the pasture and moved the baby in there so she's separate from the others and less likely to get trampled.  

Our Sheep

 I either need to find a local shearer, or learn to shear, this year!

Daughter with Mom.  Lamb on the left was born last spring.  Mom is a Jacobs, Father was a Suffolk

All three of our sheep- our new ram is a Jacobs too.

Recipe - Anniversary Chicken

Boneless chicken breasts marinated in Teriyaki sauce, 

then topped with ranch dressing, bacon, and thick slices of cheese

• Boneless Chicken
• Teriyaki Sauce
• Ranch Dressing
• Cheese (Cheddar was on the original recipe, but I often use colby jack)
• Bacon or bacon bits

Marinate the chicken in teriyaki sauce.

Place in a baking pan, top with a tsp or so of ranch dressing, cheese, and bacon or bacon bits. (Maple smoked bacon from Sam's club is fabulous on this)  Thinly sliced green onions on top are optional too.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and cheese is bubbly on top.

It's a weird combination of ingredients, but trust me - it's good!  A favorite here.  This is also a great meal to make a lot of in advance, flash freeze, and cook later.

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https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/p/recipes.html

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Chicken (cut up or shredded)

onion 

garlic

Chicken broth

can of enchilada sauce (I used the big can, two regular cans, for one crockpot)

8 oz Cheese (cheddar, or montery jack - I used montery jack last time)

sour cream (about 2 cups for the crockpot full)

corn tortillas

Optional - I have added corn, leftover salsa, diced tomatoes with chilies..  whatever I have on hand that I think will go ok in this.  :-)

Put enchilada sauce in the crockpot.   Add chicken broth and water until the crockpot is about half full.

saute the chicken in a little oil or butter.  Remove, put in the crockpot.

 add onion and garlic to pan, saute.  Add sour cream and  the cheese (shredded or cut up small) until cheese is melted.   Mix a little flour and cold water (like making gravy) and stir into the cheese mixture to thicken it. 

mix cheese mixture into the crockpot.

Cut the corn tortillas into small strips, add to the crockpot.

Peabody's Tail

Each year our peacock loses his tail.  I have a LOT of peacock feathers.  I saved one tail separate from the other feathers, so this swag is one complete peacock tail.  :-)  It looks so simple, but you would not believe how long it took me to sort those feathers and get them all pointed in the right direction!