When Martha Stewart Living changed its format in May, it began including a “Martha’s Pick” in the front of each issue, in the Apothecary section.  I’ve decided that as part of my Martha experience, I need to give these a try, even though honestly they are things I would probably never buy on my own. If they are things Martha personally highly recommends, I want to try them out in my life, to see if they make my life more Martha-like.

First up, Susan Ciminelli Marine Lotion, Martha’s Pick in August Martha Stewart Living. I bought the 2 ounce (yes only two) bottle. The magazine says it is $22. However, with the outrageous shipping and handling charge, this totaled $41.40. Eeek. For that price, it better give me the skin of a 6 month old.

I opened the bottle and my first reaction was that I didn’t like the scent. Martha says it “incorporates botanical ingredients – including algae oil, cypress, juniper, and marjoram.” I’m all for botanical ingredients, but this stuff really smells. To me, it almost smells like eucalyptus – kind of strong, somewhat minty smell.

I put some on and disliked the smell even more once it was on my skin. I also didn’t like the consistency of this – it’s a very thin liquid, almost like water, very easy to spill all over.

I rubbed the lotion in and it did make my skin feel smooth and even a day later I can tell where I applied it. However, I can’t get past the smell. I tend to be overly sensitive about smells, so I gave it to Teen Martha for her to try since she loves scented things. Her first reaction was “This reeks!” I’m a little more diplomatic and will say I just did not find the smell pleasing at all.  I think I’ll stick with my Cetaphil lotion!

More Martha Picks on the way in the coming weeks – I’ve ordered the May, June and Sept picks. Some are on back order.

When Martha Stewart Living changed its format in May, it began including a “Martha’s Pick” in the front of each issue, in the Apothecary section.  I’ve decided that as part of my Martha experience, I need to give these a try, even though honestly they are things I would probably never buy on my own. … Read more →

When Martha Stewart Living changed its format in May, it began including a “Martha’s Pick” in the front of each issue, in the Apothecary section.  I’ve decided that as part of my Martha experience, I need to give these a try, even though honestly they are things I would probably never buy on my own. If they are things Martha personally highly recommends, I want to try them out in my life, to see if they make my life more Martha-like.

First up, Susan Ciminelli Marine Lotion, Martha’s Pick in August Martha Stewart Living. I bought the 2 ounce (yes only two) bottle. The magazine says it is $22. However, with the outrageous shipping and handling charge, this totaled $41.40. Eeek. For that price, it better give me the skin of a 6 month old.

I opened the bottle and my first reaction was that I didn’t like the scent. Martha says it “incorporates botanical ingredients – including algae oil, cypress, juniper, and marjoram.” I’m all for botanical ingredients, but this stuff really smells. To me, it almost smells like eucalyptus – kind of strong, somewhat minty smell.

I put some on and disliked the smell even more once it was on my skin. I also didn’t like the consistency of this – it’s a very thin liquid, almost like water, very easy to spill all over.

I rubbed the lotion in and it did make my skin feel smooth and even a day later I can tell where I applied it. However, I can’t get past the smell. I tend to be overly sensitive about smells, so I gave it to Teen Martha for her to try since she loves scented things. Her first reaction was “This reeks!” I’m a little more diplomatic and will say I just did not find the smell pleasing at all.  I think I’ll stick with my Cetaphil lotion!

More Martha Picks on the way in the coming weeks – I’ve ordered the May, June and Sept picks. Some are on back order.

When Martha Stewart Living changed its format in May, it began including a “Martha’s Pick” in the front of each issue, in the Apothecary section.  I’ve decided that as part of my Martha experience, I need to give these a try, even though honestly they are things I would probably never buy on my own. … Read more →

I haven’t made many no-bake desserts, but Chocolate Mint Icebox Cake caught my eye on the MarthaStewart.com page of August Martha Stewart Living. It looked really good and once I found the recipe online, I realized it was very easy to make.

You start by whipping cream and adding sugar and mint extract. The next part was not quite so easy. I think the problem is that the recipe is just not clearly worded. You put the whipped cream between the chocolate wafers and make stacks. Then you lay the stacks sideways – this wasn’t really explained and I only figured it out by seeing the photo of the final product.It would have been helpful to be told how many cookies to put in each stack.

Next you cover the whole thing with more whipped cream and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days. Mine sat for 24 hours.  Before you serve, you cover it with mini chocolate chips.

Slicing this was not easy. The wafers do stay kind of crisp, so I had a little trouble.

It also didn’t look very pretty on the plate because I didn’t cut it very well. All is forgiven though Martha, because this tastes really, really great. The bad thing is it feels like it is a light dessert because it is all whipped cream, and you forget how fattening it must really be.

We really liked this one. The longer it sits, the softer the wafers get. We had the leftovers the next day and it was even better then.  I was quite surprised at how much I liked this.

I haven’t made many no-bake desserts, but Chocolate Mint Icebox Cake caught my eye on the MarthaStewart.com page of August Martha Stewart Living. It looked really good and once I found the recipe online, I realized it was very easy to make. You start by whipping cream and adding sugar and mint extract. The next … Read more →

I am not from the south, so the idea of barbecued shrimp that isn’t actually barbecued sounded a little, well, silly to me. Martha has a recipe called Mr. Jim’s Louisiana Barbecued Shrimp in August Martha Stewart Living. I was ready to do some grilling until I actually read the recipe. No grilling needed. In fact, this recipe is very easy and quick.

You make a sauce with melted butter, garlic, Worchestershire, rosemary, lemon juice and lemon peel (I used zest instead of hunks of peel), hot sauce, and salt and pepper. Bring that to a simmer then add your shrimp (I did NOT leave the heads and tails on as the recipe directs! “Fish faces” as my dad always calls them. Ewwwww).  Shrimp cooks very quickly.

I was scratching my head a bit at this recipe because it makes so much sauce and it’s very thin – you can’t just put it on a plate. Then I realized the recipe says to serve it with a baguette for a reason – you need to serve your shrimp and sauce in a bowl and dip the bread. Holy cow, this was good. The shrimp was very flavorful and really addictive, but the bread….. It tasted like the best garlic bread you’ve ever had when you dipped it in the sauce. The white baguette soaking up that dark, delicious sauce. Oh, this was heaven. Three of us ate the entire pound of shrimp and whole baguette. In fact, it was so good that it physically pained me to dump the remaining sauce down the drain.

I am not from the south, so the idea of barbecued shrimp that isn’t actually barbecued sounded a little, well, silly to me. Martha has a recipe called Mr. Jim’s Louisiana Barbecued Shrimp in August Martha Stewart Living. I was ready to do some grilling until I actually read the recipe. No grilling needed. In … Read more →

MarthaAndMe has been nominated for a Blogger’s Choice Award. I would love it if you voted! http://bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/79322 You do have to register with the site first before you can vote – if you click on ‘vote’ before you register it does not go through – you have to register then go back and vote.

MarthaAndMe has been nominated for a Blogger’s Choice Award. I would love it if you voted! http://bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/79322 You do have to register with the site first before you can vote – if you click on ‘vote’ before you register it does not go through – you have to register then go back and vote.

MarthaAndMe has been nominated for a Blogger’s Choice Award. I would love it if you voted! http://bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/79322 You do have to register with the site first before you can vote – if you click on ‘vote’ before you register it does not go through – you have to register then go back and vote.

MarthaAndMe has been nominated for a Blogger’s Choice Award. I would love it if you voted! http://bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/79322 You do have to register with the site first before you can vote – if you click on ‘vote’ before you register it does not go through – you have to register then go back and vote.

For Martha Monday on Monday, August 17, let’s make the map coasters on page 42 of August Martha Stewart Living. If you don’t have the magazine, never fear! Here’s what to do.

You need paper maps (and if you don’t have any you could print some online, or use any other decorated or patterned paper you have), cutting mat, round cork coasters, craft knife, foam paintbrush and ModPodge.

Put the map on the cutting board, facedown and cut it out by tracing the coasters with the knife. Brush the ModPodge on one side of the coaster and stick the map onto it. Smooth the map to get rid of bubbles. Put more ModPodge on top of the map and on the sides, brushing it to smooth it out. Let it dry.

That’s it!

And if you’re new to Martha Mondays, anyone can join. Just do the craft, recipe or project on or around the planned date. Post it on your blog and put a link in a comment here. If you don’t have a blog or don’t want to blog it, feel free to just leave a comment here. I’ll post my results on Tuesday. The idea is we will all work on the same project on Martha Monday (if possible – if you want to d0 it earlier or later in the week, that’s perfectly ok) and report our results later in the week. Try to put your results as a comment to my post with my results, so we have them all in one place if possible. Can’t wait to see how everyone likes this one!

For Martha Monday on Monday, August 17, let’s make the map coasters on page 42 of August Martha Stewart Living. If you don’t have the magazine, never fear! Here’s what to do. You need paper maps (and if you don’t have any you could print some online, or use any other decorated or patterned paper … Read more →

Welcome to Martha Mondays. If you aren’t familiar, this is an open project where every week, we’ll cook, craft or do a Martha project together and then post or comment about it. The Martha Mondays recipe for August 10 was Grilled Vanilla Peaches, from August Martha Stewart Living.

I’m posting my take on it below. If you made it, or get a chance to make it, post your results on your blog (feel free to use the Martha Mondays logo so it is easily identifiable) and leave a comment here with a link. If you don’t have a blog or don’t want to blog about it, feel free to leave a comment about how it went for you.

I thought this recipe sounded delicious on paper – and it was easy. The first step was buying the peaches. Folks, I am ready to throw my hands up in frustration about this! I am having the worst time with peaches. I’m buying local peaches. First,  I have to watch like a hawk to be sure the check out person does not smush them into the bottom of a bag or bounce them around over the scanner. Then half of them rot before they get ripe. It’s very frustrating and expensive!

I finally ended up with 8 peaches that were somewhat ripe. Martha says to halve the peaches. Well, the recipe calls for freestones. Our local peaches are not freestones, so I ended up have to cut around the pits. So my peaches are not as pretty as I would have liked.

You place the peaches on parchment, on top of foil (Martha does not want food to touch foil!). I brushed them with oil and lemon juice, then the brown sugar, cinnamon,vanilla, and salt mixture. I thought it was going to be yummy.

I wrapped up the package and Mr. MarthaAndMe grilled it for 15 minutes as directed. We opened the package and the peaches did not look very cooked to me. They were definitely hot though and there was a fair amount of juice, however.

I served them with vanilla ice cream as directed. The ice cream melted almost immediately since the peaches were so hot.

I served this dessert to a group of 10 at my parents’ lake house, but only a few of us actually sampled it. Everyone else was happy to just eat ice cream or the cake Teen Martha made (she’s been slowly working her way through the old Betty Crocker cookbook on the shelf – this week it was a delicious butter cake with chocolate frosting)! None of the kids would touch the peaches. My father was skipping dessert entirely that night, so he wasn’t involved. It came down to me, Big MarthaAndMe (my mom) and Mr. MarthaAndMe.

I wasn’t wowed by this dessert at all.  The peaches did not have a very strong vanilla flavor. Big MarthaAndMe commented that she thought the dish would have been much better if you brushed the peaches with the flavoring then laid the peach halves directly on the grill so they could get charred and have a real grill taste. I agree with her (mom’s are always right). This tasted like partly cooked peaches with ice cream to me.

I wasn’t in love with the recipe, but it was fun knowing others out there were making too! So I want to hear how it went for you. Did you try it? Post a comment and let us know! Haven’t made it yet, but want to? Go ahead. There’s no time limit on Martha Mondays. You can make it whenever you want and report back.

Want to do another Martha Monday? I’ll post the assignment for the next Martha Monday in a separate post. Hope to see you there!

Welcome to Martha Mondays. If you aren’t familiar, this is an open project where every week, we’ll cook, craft or do a Martha project together and then post or comment about it. The Martha Mondays recipe for August 10 was Grilled Vanilla Peaches, from August Martha Stewart Living. I’m posting my take on it below. … Read more →

While a lot of my Martha project involves doing actual Martha recipes, crafts, and projects, I am trying to discover my own inner Martha and change my life so that I naturally live like Martha.

The other day I was standing at the deli counter in the grocery store, buying ham for Dude Martha (I almost never eat deli meat if I can avoid it, but the kids like it) and I noticed our store has started carrying a new line of local gourmet sausages. I’m not a big sausage fan, but the rest of the family are. I had a What Would Martha Do moment. Martha would be excited by an introduction of interesting new local food in her area and would sample it. So I did what Martha might. I bought one of every sausage -bokwurst, knockwurst, frankfurter, German smoked sausage, Hungarian, chorizo, and apple cinnamon and brought them home and grilled them and everyone sampled them.

The biggest challenge was keeping the sausage in order so I could match them with their labels and know what they were! Personally I liked the apple cinnamon the best, but in general I am just horrified by sausage. I can’t stand the chunks of fat in it. It really grosses me out. Teen Martha voted for the frankfurter, which was a nicely smoked hot dog. Mr. MarthaAndMe liked almost all of them. Dude Martha voted for the knockwurst, which is a white sausage.

It was quite a fun little dinner, sampling all these different sausages, and it made me feel very Martha-like!

While a lot of my Martha project involves doing actual Martha recipes, crafts, and projects, I am trying to discover my own inner Martha and change my life so that I naturally live like Martha. The other day I was standing at the deli counter in the grocery store, buying ham for Dude Martha (I … Read more →

I recently got one of Martha’s daily emails, this one offering to teach me how to fold a t-shirt. I do not have a very good track record with folding. You might remember when Martha tried to teach me how to fold a fitted sheet and it did not go well. But a t-shirt? How hard could it be really? I usually fold t-shirts so that the sleeves match up then fold the body in half.  When I put my t-shirts away in the drawers in our closet, I roll them and stand them up in the drawer (another Martha lesson).

I’m always happy to learn another Martha method though, so I was game. I printed out the instructions and got to work with my t-shirt.

The instructions are short. First you lay the shirt out with the neck to your right. Ok, that I can do. The next step says to pinch the shirt at two places – between the collar and the sleeve and then halfway down the shirt in line with the other hand. I think I did that. Then you are supposed to lift it up and cross your arms so the shoulder meets the bottom hem. I did that. You unfold your arms and hold the fold taut. Then you let the

Attempt #1

other sleeve touch the ground and lay the shirt on it.  I ended up with a crumpled mess.

I tried again and again and I could not make this work. I am technically challenged though. When I was in third grade, I got a tissue paper flower making kit. I went through every piece of tissue paper in that kit

Attempt #2

and did not come out with a single flower. Not one.  So, clearly I have limitations.  Can you make these instructions work? I would love to hear about it!

I recently got one of Martha’s daily emails, this one offering to teach me how to fold a t-shirt. I do not have a very good track record with folding. You might remember when Martha tried to teach me how to fold a fitted sheet and it did not go well. But a t-shirt? How … Read more →