July 3, 2009: We can’t miss a Federal holiday just because it falls on a weekend!
We wish everyone a safe and joyous celebration. We’ll be back on Monday, ready to ship your orders quickly and efficiently.
Cheers!
MMS Staff
I’m Treva, guest editor today. I work in the Graphics Department here at Majestic Mountain Sage.
Are you on your feet all day? I have a cream that will make your feet feel revived. Last night I got home from work and my feet were really tired and achy. Before I went to bed I grabbed my Minty Foot Cream. My daughter even offered to rub the cream on my feet. (I did return the favor.) The foot massage was wonderful!
Today I am going to show you how to make the best foot cream EVER! This cream will not only make your feet feel cool and tingly but it will also soften them. Who doesn’t need that this time of year?
You will need:
1 pail Head to Toe Cream Base
Bucket wrench
1 fl oz Peppermint Essential Oil
1 fl oz Spearmint Essential Oil
Collect the premixed colors we made on January 12, 2009
2 Small Transfer Pipettes (These have the markings on the side to help with measuring.)
Long Handled spoon or spatula
Zipper Bags
Wide mouth drinking cup
Scissors
30 of the 4 oz PET Low Profile Jars (or jars of your choice)
30 of the 70 mm Black Straight Lids (or lids of your choice)
Labels
Remove the tear tab from the lid, using the bucket wrench pull up on the tabs to loosen the lid from your bucket. Use a small pipette to measure 26 mL of the Peppermint Essential Oil, add to your cream; use a different pipette to measure 8 mL of the Spearmint Essential Oil, add to your cream. This fragrance usage rate is higher because this is intended to be a foot cream. Note: If you want to make a Minty Body Cream use 13 mL of Peppermint and 4 mL of Spearmint instead. The Fragrance Calculator can help if you have questions.
I think I will use a mint green color. We want to start off with a subtle color because we can always add, but we can’t take it away. I started with 6 drops of blue and 3 drops of yellow. After stirring it for a couple of minutes, the color was too blue so I added 2 more drops of yellow. Stir, stir, stir. Make sure you stir to the bottom of the bucket to get the color and essential oil evenly distributed throughout the pail. We don’t want to get to the bottom of the bucket and find white cream. This would mean we did a terrible job at mixing!
Once you have the color you want, get your zip bags and a wide mouth drinking cup. Open the bag and insert it into the cup. Fold down the top to keep the zipper area clean. The cup will support the bag while you fill it. Zip the bag closed, cut about 1/2″ off the corner to make a pastry style bag, twist the bag from the top, now you are ready to start filling your jars. The easiest way to fill is to insert the cut corner all the way down into the jar. Squeeze firmly and consistently. Slowly raise the bag as the jar fills. You will get a perfectly filled jar with practice. Wipe any excess cream off the jar and put on the lid.
Using a paper towel polish the manufacturing wax off the lid. This is most obvious on a black lid. Apply the labels and now you are ready to give your feet a nice treat.
These make great gifts for your family and friends. Enjoy!
My name is Andrea. I work in the production area here at Majestic Mountain Sage. I am the guest editor today. Andee is home with the flu. When she gets back, she will be so sad that she missed our special cookie day.
These cookies are soft sugar cookies. They are a favorite with the staff here at MMS. Since these cookies are so soft we won’t be able to ship these in orders. But since I am giving the recipe, I hope you will understand.
The World’s Softest and Best Sugar Cookie
2 cups regular granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sour cream
4 beaten eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
6 cups all-purpose flour (unbleached, unbromated please)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together sugar and shortening. Add sour cream and mix well. Add beaten eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. Stir dry mixture into creamed sugar mixter. Finished product will be a like a big dough ball. The mixture should not stick to the sides of the bowl. If it does add some more flour. You need to be able to pick it up and roll it with a rolling pin without the dough sticking to the pin. Sprinkle flour onto flat surface and separate dough into thirds. Shape one piece of dough into a ball and place on floured surface. Flour your hands and flour dust the top of the dough so the rolling pin does not stick. Gently roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters or use a drinking cup for a regular circle. I love to eat the dough so make sure you make enough for dough cookies and baked cookies!!
I use parchment paper on top of my cookie pan. Place the shaped cookie dough onto cookie pan.
Place in oven and bake for 8 minutes!!! You do not want them to get brown at all. When your timer goes off open the oven door and press gently on one of the cookies and if it feels somewhat firm they are done. I have never had to bake them more than exactly 8 minutes. The thicker cookies might take more baking time though. Cool on wire racks or paper towels.
I use homemade Cream Cheese frosting for my cookies. But you can use any kind you like.
Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz cream cheese, cool room temperature
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
Powdered sugar (up to 4 cups)
Beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat until well blended. Gradually continue to add more powdered sugar until it has reached a consistency that you want. For me I usually only end up using 2 cups of powdered sugar, but feel free to add a whole bag if you like stiffer and sweeter frosting. If the mixture gets too thick you can always add about 1 to 2 tbsp of milk. Then spread onto your cookies and you get to lick the bowl and the beaters clean.
Don’t forget to add colorful Valentine’s sprinkles to each cookie!
As you can see, the MMS staff enjoys these cookies. I won’t say how many Kenny and Bryce have eaten before the photo shoot, but I will say their sugar high has their production counts at the top!
