All Cloud Nine Soaps start with my basic recipe, which is made up of a large percentage of olive oil. I love working with olive oil for a lot of reason, one of them is that it is slow to saponify, which gives me plenty of time in the soap-making process to play around with colors, patterns, and additives.

Olive oil is high in oleic acid - an omega-nine fatty acid that is found naturally in many vegetable sources. The major component in olive oil is the triglyceride esters of oleic acid.  I won’t bore you with the chemistry of that statement but will instead tell you, it’s the good stuff. Olive oil is rich in antioxidants and antioxidants work very well as moisturizers. One of the primary reasons why olive oil works so well as a moisturizer is because of...

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Warren Buffet says success and wealth can be attributed to following 10 common-sense principles, which I found posted on the wall of Jimmy Johns while enjoying a #8, with extra mayo.

1. Reinvest Your Profits. This makes sense not only in the stock market, but in a small business as well. Entrepreneurs who bleed all the profits out of a business find that they may struggle to grow the business into something larger and more valuable.

2. Be Willing to be Different. Buffet didn’t make his fortune by following the crowd. Instead, he invested when everyone else was panicked, and sold off when everyone else was buying. That strategy always beats the market. Doing what everybody else is doing - the same way they are doing it - is the recipe for becoming average. Nobody pays extra for “average”.

3. Never Suck Your Thumb. After you gather the information you need, make...

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Skin care does not begin after you step out of the shower, skin care starts in the shower. I love milk soaps for that reason.

Milk based soaps, which have been around for centuries, are very kind to the skin. You may find that you need less moisturizer  after switching to a milk soap, which leaves skin feeling and looking softer and healthier.

Why milk? The chemistry of milk tells the story. Fat molecules are an important part of making good soap and milk is loaded with natural cream. The pH of goats milk is very close to the pH of human skin, a controversial topic, but I believe a fact that helps make goats milk soaps naturally gentle without the need for chemical additives. The milk contains lactic acid, an alpha-hydroxy and a natural exfoliant that promotes the shedding of...

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Keep soap up out of standing water. Unlike commercial soap, handmade soap contains all of its natural glycerin and will get mushy/melt if left in standing water. Keep your soap on a soap dish or in a soap sack.

Buy soap ahead of time. Soap actually gets better as it ages. I have soaps that are over three years old and they smell as wonderful as the day I made them. Keep a small stash on hand because handcrafted soap makes a great emergency birthday, thank-you, hostess, holiday, or teacher gift.

Let your soap dry out between uses. Make sure to let your soap dry out between uses. Don't allow your soap to sit in a puddle of water or let the shower mist pour down on it.

Cut that bar in half;...

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Although I love to cook, I don’t really like to bake; it’s tedious and messy. I’d rather make soap if I am going to make that big of a mess.

For the record, I do make an awesome Banana Bread ( a top, top secret recipe). I also have a delicious Cognac Brownie recipe that takes way too long to make so I only make them on very special occasions (or when my man is upset with me). Oh, and I also make a great Peanut Butter Pie, which I know, sounds gross, but it’s to die for. My son loves it.

I digress. This blog is about frosting. Frosting needs cake. I can’t begin to guess how many cake recipes I’ve tried over the years in an attempt to make a dark, rich, super moist, chocolate chocolate cake. I'm talking about...

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Castile Soap (pronounced cass-teel’) originated centuries ago in the Castile region of Spain, back in the day when soap was available only to the rich and royal. It was (is) made with 100% olive oil.

This is a very mild bar of soap that gently cleanses, making it safe for babies and people with allergies or sensitive skin. I prefer unscented goats milk soap for sensitive skin and kids, but that’s just my own personal opinion. I have customers who would disagree.

These days, it seems as though many companies and a lot of Soapers call their soap “Castile Soap” when it’s made with less than 100% olive oil. "Castile" now appears to be a name given to any soap that is vegetable oil based, but this is just not fair to a real deal bar of Castile Soap. If the soap...

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Real Chili, a Milwaukee tradition, serves bowls of chili with your choice of mild, medium, or hot, with or without spaghetti noodles, with or without beans, or with spaghetti and beans. I always order mine medium, with spaghetti and beans, plus sides of sour cream and shredded cheese. The secret is in the meat which is ground up super fine, like gravel, and has a unique indescribable taste. It's spicy, but not hot, and almost clove or cinnamon-like. The kicker, however, is that this meat is super oily. Dark orange oil sinks to the bottom of the bowl and gets soaked up by the oyster crackers that are served on the side. At least that what I do with the crackers; I toss them in the bowl and stir them in to soak up every last drop of that ju-ju and I...

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I love shopping for food, talking about food, trying new foods, all day cook-a-thons, growing, harvesting and preserving food, dining out, and recipes. I believe that just about anything can be fixed, solved, resolved, or decided over a good meal. I am talking about a meal that comes from the soul. A meal that is prepared with thought and served with intention. Comfort foods in particular.

I have been collecting recipes for 25+ years that I keep in a 3-ring binder. But before any recipe makes it into that binder, I prepare it and taste-test it. Sometimes I tweak the recipe and sometimes I toss it. Only OMG! recipes make it into my binder. Those recipes are my “go-to” recipes. Here's one of those recipes I’d like to share with you. It’s a pasta dish because I happen to think that pasta is the center of the...

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