Hey gang! We still have 3 spots open in our Soapmaking 101 Class this Saturday, August 4th - if you're interested, please do sign up!!

And, here is a wonderful summer recipe for all that zucchini I know you have in your garden...Enjoy! I will get it posted on the website pretty soon!

You need:
zucchini or summer squash
cheese (whatever kind you want)
herbs (whatever kind you want)
salt and pepper (if you want).

I made this last saturday for 10 people, for a dyeing class we had at
our shop. I made a huge 9x13 pan and they ate it all and I thought
there might be a fight over who got to lick the pan.

Slice zucchini or summer squash into 1/4 inch thick slices or rounds.
I like to do it longways, so the slices are kind of like lasagna
noodles, but the rounds work too. Place one layer of sliced zucchini
in the bottom of a pan. Sprinkle with salt and/or pepper (if you
like), a generous sprinkling of whatever chopped fresh or dried herbs
you have, and a layer of cheese. Repeat, until you are out of zucchini
or cheese or your pan is full - but end with a layer of cheese. Cover
with foil and cook at 375 until cheese is melted and zucchini is al
dente. If you want to be fancy, remove the foil for a few minutes and
broil the cheese on top.

My best rendition of this recipe, to date, used green zucchini, a
combo of sharp cheddar, mozzarella and feta cheeses, seasoned sea
salt, freshly cracked black pepper, plenty of dried toasted minced
onion, a bit of granulated garlic, and lots of thyme.

The good thing about having regular classes held in our classroom is that it regularly forces us to clean our classroom. Because otherwise it tends to be come the catch-all place where all manner of boxes, supplies, herbs, and other random strange things get dumped. So Friday, before our dyeing class, we spent ALL DAY cleaning the classroom! it's still not perfect, but we did clean and install the new fridge and stove we just got. We now have 2 full sized fridges and one large dorm fridge, and they're all 100% chock-full of oils, essential oils, and dried herbs. We had an orgaizing spree with the EO's and dried herbs, shown off in these pictures. Dried herbs are all on the top freezers - herbs starting with A through L are in the left freezer, and the rest in the right freezer. You can't see it, but on the front of each fridge/freezer door is a list of what herbs, eo's and hydrosols are in it, and what quantity. the thought being that if someone removed, say, a pound dried lavender or two lbs. of tea tree eo, then that person would mark it off the list on the front of the fridge/freezer, and that will help us keep better track of of all our stock. Instead of saying (as we do now) - "Hey! where is the dried lavender? are we out? did i have some in the back corner over there?" followed by much muttering, rummaging, swearing, hair-pulling, and frantic phonecalls to Ameriherb......