I’m sure I am not the only one who knows how frustrating it is to find the perfect recipe, start making it, and then realize that I am out of a crucial ingredient. (What’s that? You don’t make recipes without double-checking that you have all the ingredients on hand? Well, aren’t you special.)

Because there is nothing more annoying than having to run to the grocery store and leave your raw cookie batter sitting on the counter, I took the liberty of putting together a handy-dandy substitution cheat sheet of things you can use when you find yourself without the genuine article.

For self-rising flour, substitute flour with baking powder and salt. Self-rising flour is really just a fancy name for flour that already has baking powder and salt added, so you can cheat the system by adding those things yourself. For each cup of flour, just throw in 1 ½ tsp baking powder and about ½ tsp salt.

For cream/half-and-half, substitute milk. Keep in mind that this will only work sometimes. Milk is a lot thinner than cream and has a lot less fat (added health bonus), but that also means that it doesn’t behave the same way. For a recipe in which you’re mixing everything together anyway (quiche), it will work fine, but it’s not going to get you anywhere if you pour it in a bowl and try to whip it into real fluffy cream. If you don’t have regular milk, try using buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream. Read More »

I have never liked blueberry pie. In fact, I would even go beyond that—I’ve always thought it was disgusting. I am not the biggest fan of fresh blueberries, either, but lately I have started to like them more and more.

Despite all of this, last week I could not stop thinking about how I really wanted to make a blueberry pie. Why did I think this… why? I have no idea. I am still unable to explain it. But I suspect it was divine intervention, because the resulting blueberry pie was THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER EATEN.

The recipe is dunce-free (not that CC readers are dunces, of course) and uses fresh berries, which I suspect is the real reason for my enthusiasm behind this pie. All previous blueberry pies that were set in front of me were either a) made from cans of blueberry pie filling or b) things that I refused to eat because I was under the impression that I hated blueberry pie. Read More »

Confession: I’m a beauty product junkie. So much so that two dresser drawers and a large makeup table can’t hold all the hair products, makeup, and countless lotions I own—I keep the extras in “storage,” two large plastic bins hidden in my closet.

And despite the fact that my collection is so massive that I actually hide half the stuff when my new boyfriend comes over (seriously, it makes me look disturbed)—I couldn’t help but check out the new Botanical collections from the healing garden.

I decided to cover all my bases: CALM: Tender Lavender whipped body lotion on my desk at work to soothe deadline stress, INSPIRE: Uplifting Jasmine rainwater body mist by my laptop at home to cure writer’s block, and DESIRE: Wild Ginger whipped body lotion and rainwater body mist at my boyfriend’s apartment. Alleviating work stress and writer’s block is nice and all, but I won’t lie—I was most looking forward to trying out the DESIRE lotion and body mist. Read More »

Apparently, a lot of women suffer from low libido.

According to ABC News, hypoactive sexual desire disorder, which sounds very clinical but for the most part I’m pretty sure refers to a lowered sex drive caused by life (hormones, supplements, exhaustion), affects about one-third of American women. That’s a lot of headaches.

Deciding that it just isn’t fair women still get the short end of the stick (ha ha) when it comes to sexual desire later on in life, scientists have been busy developing a Viagra-like product called LibiGel. Although it’s still in the testing stage, LibiGel had a reportedly “283 percent increase of satisfying sexual encounters for the women taking the drug” in trials at 17 different institutions.

The gel comes in a pump bottle, and a small amount is rubbed into the skin of a woman’s upper arm. Over a period of 24 hours, “the gel’s testosterone seeps into her bloodstream, boosting her energy and libido.” Read More »

I’m down for poonany preservation, but this is something else.

Virgin Cream, a $60 cream that acts as a vajajay time-machine of sorts that (supposedly) tightens up a woman’s womanhood back to its more “youthful” days. The website boasts claims such as this:

If You Would Like To:

Be a woman that nearly all men… just can’t resist, this is going to be the most important message you will ever read.

Here Is Why:

Let’s face it… almost any woman can get a man to have sex with her. You don’t have to be pretty. You don’t have to be sexy. You don’t have to have a great body. Basically, you just have to be a woman who will say “yes” and thousands of men will have sex with you…

Once!

But, what if you want that same man to call you for another date? Well, that might NOT be so easy. But, what if there was a way to make sure… almost every man… wanted to go out with you again? Better yet, what if there was a way to make having sex with you… so fantastic… the man you are interested in… couldn’t even think about another woman? What if there was a way to make having sex with you… so good… a man would do anything… even marry you… to keep you in his bed?

Whoa! Talk about demoralizing! I love it. Read More »

You know Nair.

That smelly white cream you put on your face for 3 minutes every couple of weeks to keep the girlstache away? That stuff that can burn your face off if you don’t wipe it in time? That stuff you hate?

Well, they’re coming after your little sisters.

In an all-new advertising campaign, Nair is targeting “first-time hair removers”—girls ages 10-15.

With a sparkly new bottle and two new scents, kiwi and peach (which, I’m assuming, smells exactly like every other Nair scent: sh*tty), “Nair Pretty” is all about enticing girls without much hair to take off every spare stub.

“I am a citizen of the world,” the bottle proudly states. “I am a dreamer. I am fresh. I am so not going to have stubs sticking out of my legs.”

While I’m not convinced there’s a direct correlation between hairy legs and having no dreams, the marketers behind “Nair Pretty” seem pretty sure that they’re doing a monumental good in the lives of little girls everywhere. Read More »

Maybe she’s born with it, but for me, it’s definitely Maybelline. Like most women, I don’t even think about how many beauty products, from face wash to perfume, I layer on every day. Something I’ve given even less thought to is what’s in my products—until I found Kaia House.

Jumping on the organic bandwagon a little late, I just discovered Kaia House, the foremost source for organic skin and beauty care. Kaia House focuses on banishing the use over of harmful petrochemicals, parabens and other skin offenders, and offers 20 lines of premium organic and natural products including celeb-trendy Osea, Perfect Organics, Red Flower, and Biotique.

But when it comes to beauty products, is going out of your way to buy organic really worth it? Absolutely, according to Kaia House. And after reading their extensive list of un-safe (and common) chemicals that should be avoided when purchasing beauty products, I think I’m a convert.

Read up on the dangers lurking in your makeup bag and then head to KaiaHouse.com for a more comprehensive list. Your skin will thank you! Read More »