Over the summer I planted a little garden in my backyard. Most of the plants did great this year, and my jalapeno plant was no exception. I harvested about 20 jalapenos from my lil plant today.

This of course poses the question- just what does one do with 20 jalapenos? I wasn't really in the mood for poppers- I wanted to do something more creative. After some time searching the web I ended up on my favorite recipe website again- allrecipes.com, and found this recipe for jalapeno hot sauce.

Ingredients

• 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 10 fresh jalapeno peppers, sliced
• 1-1/2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

• In a medium glass or enamel lined sauce pan over high heat, combine oil, peppers, garlic, onion and salt; saute for 4 minutes. Add the water and cook for 20 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool to room temperature.
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• Transfer the mixture to a food processor and puree until smooth. With the processor running, slowly add the vinegar.

• Pour into a sterilized jar with a tight lid. This sauce will keep for 6 months when stored in the refrigerator.

My skin looks and feels amazing right now, all thanks to my very sweet friend Ari She came to visit this weekend and brought me two gifts- a volcanic mud mask and a homemade facial toner. I finally had a chance to try the mask tonight and I am stunned! My skin looks so even and feels so refreshed!All you do is mix the powder with equal parts water and apply to your face. Ari mentioned that it might tingle somewhat when I applied it, but I didn't notice that. After about 20 minutes the mask was dry and ready to come off. Just rinse with warm water and done!


Twinkle is such a girlie girl. She stuck her paw in the jar right when I had my hands covered in the mask and couldn't stop her! It was very cute, but she didn't care for the paw washing she got after I rinsed my hands off.

Thanks again Ari!! I love the mask. :)