Golden Garlic Bread

I grew up with a mother who loves to cook, and she's the best of any I've ever met! I was always at her side watching her create the most beautiful meals and delicious baked goods. She instilled in me that love of cooking. I thought, from time to time, I could share delicious recipes I've come across with all of you cute readers. My first to share is a recipe for Golden Garlic Bread. We got it out of a Taste of Home magazine years ago and we love serving it to family and company because it's always a hit and a half!

Golden Garlic Bread

1 loaf French bread

3/4 cup butter softened

1/2 cup mayonaise

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

3 chopped green onions

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Cut French bread in half, length-wise. Combine the rest of the ingredients and spread over both halves. Place under the broiler. Remove when cheese is melted and bubbly, and edges of bread are lightly browned. Cut into slices, serve, salivate, devour, and immediately go into convulsions of joy.

Beauty Tip of the Week - Chitty Chitty Chap Stick

Chitty Chitty Chap Stick

Not only does this stick of moisturizing happiness soothe your chapped lips, but it drenches and quenches your cuticles too! Let elation ring out! Take regular unscented chap stick and lightly run the edge all around your nail. You can buy those icky drippy cuticle oils, of course, but they're messy, spill-prone, and you leave oily finger prints everywhere, which wouldn't be considered wise if you have a forthcoming crime planned. So...be a good "chap" and "stick" with chap stick! (Jerald dreamed up that last catchy phrase for me. Kudos babe!)

Ten years! Man, We're Getting Up There...

Has it been ten years already? It seems like yesterday I graduated with my friends at old East High. Saturday night, August sixteenth, Jerald and I attended my reunion. I had such fun introducing Jerald to all my wonderful friends who I haven't seen in so long! Gone from everyone were the flannel shirts tied around high-waisted "mom jeans", the braided belts, the curled-under bangs, and other nineties fashion horrors that had seemed so cute at the time. You all know exactly what I'm talking about!

I was so happy to have Jerald with me. I only wish we'd been high school sweethearts! Dang it - he would have made high school so much flirty fun. Anyway, he had as much fun talking with everyone at the party as I did. He hadn't known a soul going to the event, but he left having made some great friends. I love how outgoing and confident he is. What a man!

How I wish I'd had many more hours to catch up with friends, but I had fun laughing with Elizabeth and Matt, Jill and Behrad, Katie and Matt, as well as Liz, Kate, Lindy, and Jodi, and many more. Let's not wait another decade to hang out. We girls might be back in our "mom jeans" by then! Ugh...

Me with Katie at the reunion - one of my sweetest high school friends

Beauty Tip - Make Everyone Else Feel Beautiful

Peri Oral Dermatitis! The title alone conjures up rashy images. That's what my poor face suffered from this year for five ghastly months with bumpy, rashy spots on my chin and around my nose. Luckily, I was able to cover it pretty well with makeup, but some days it was all too visible. At the time, I didn't know what it was and I felt very insecure about it. I tried EVERY skin care treatment I could find to rid myself of this horror before finally calling my dermatologist. I was thrilled to discover this yuckiness had a title! Yay! A skin infection that could be chased away by an oral antibiotic. It was gone in days. Back when I was in the bumpy thick of it, though, and before I'd received help from my doctor, I went to the spa to get a facial. I was feeling embarassed about my face that day, as it was particularly rashy. As I waited in line to check in, the receptionist stared at me for a moment and said, "Wow, you have the most beautiful skin" (I don't know what she was thinking - the spread of pink bumps was gaining territory on my chin). My eyes widened and I stood there dumbstruck. I breathed a thank you to her. I promptly went to the restroom, entered a stall, closed its door, and burst into tears. I don't think the receptionist will ever know how much her kindness meant to me. I had so badly needed that compliment that day.

Now, I love writing beauty tips on my blog, and I try to keep them somewhat tongue-in-cheek and silly - almost poking fun at the beauty industry. My effort is more to encourage pampering and taking time for ourselves. The beauty industry has a certain ideal, which I don't think anyone can live up to, except for, maybe Barbie... and she's made of plastic. The scriptures tell us man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. How difficult it is, though, when insecurity rises and confidence falls.

My beauty tip for this week is to make everyone feel beautiful. Let's tell our spouses they are hot and sexy. We'll tell our little children how smart and pretty they are. Hey, let's compliment a baby's cuteness to his mother - and while we're at it, tell her how great she looks after delivery. We can call the grocery store clerk by name and tell her we love her hair. Maybe we could ask to speak to our restaurant waiter's manager to praise the great service. Don't be shy. It doesn't matter if we don't know them. Spread genuine and sincere compliments far and wide by looking for the beauty in others. We musn't keep a compliment to ourselves. We may never know how badly someone needs to hear it.

Beauty Tip of the Week - Baby Skin

Babies enter this world with smooth, glowing, and delectably soft skin. It is blemish-free with not a freckle to be witnessed. Studies have proven that by stroking a newborn baby's skin, his brain development increases dramatically. Well, it's not exactly a ghastly chore to do, since caressing its buttery softness brings joy to both mommy and baby.

Through the course of life, however, the skin changes in texture and appearance - roughness, dryness, sun damage, wrinkles, acne, freckles, scarring, sagging, flaking, bloating, and many other wretched "ing" descriptions that horrify the spirit.

But...there may just be a way to welcome back with open arms some of the velvety skin we once knew as tiny children, but never appreciated. Pure cocoa butter, which is a derivative of the roasted seeds of the cacao plant and has been used for centuries to lubricate, soften, and moisturize the skin. It melts at room temperature, so it is readily absorbed.

One of the most captivating and grin-inducing aspects of cocoa butter is its light, chocolaty scent! You feel as though you're smoothing chocolate fondue all over yourself! It's a great way to satisfy a craving with no abominable calories to ruin the spiritual experience.

You may purchase pure cocoa butter from your local pharmacy or health food store. It is completely solid in the container, so simply cut out a chunk and melt it in the microwave or double boiler. Let it cool to room temperature because burning yourself would also bring the joy of the experience to a screeching halt. The best time to apply this chocolaty, buttery treat would be after a shower or bath while your skin is still damp and supple (Eww, I hate the word "supple"). This locks in the moisture. Now, cocoa butter is probably a bit too heavy for the face, so if you're prone to acne, just apply it to your body (Ugh, I hate the word "body"!).

Try it. I bear you my testimony that cocoa butter is true. Your skin will be as soft as my little Summer's is. Bring back the baby skin, baby...