I couldn’t resist trying another dip from Thug Kitchen’s new cookbook because this one looked so simple, quick, and fresh. And indeed it is. I made a couple of adaptations to their Low-Fat Farmhouse Dip, and it’s rather delicious, and (oddly, considering the ingredients) has a bit of a bite!

All you do is throw the following into a blender:

1 package of soft tofu

1 chopped shallot

4 cloves of garlic (the recipe calls for three)

1 TBS each of dill, chives, and parsley (I used dehydrated)

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. BTB no-beef bouillon paste (the recipe calls for 1/2 tsp of salt).

SO GOOD! I can’t figure out what’s giving it the bite…maybe the fresh garlic, but I put six cloves in my hummus and never get a kick like this. I don’t think shallots are usually hot, but who knows?!

The other thing I did today (oh, how can you tell we’re up at the cabin for the long weekend–haha!) is try to refine my recipe for lotion bars, which always seem to be as hard as the devil’s toenail or so mushy they melt in a steamy bathroom.

So my latest recipe is 2 parts coconut oil, 1 part cocoa butter, and one part beeswax…

Strangely, this concoction melts MUCH better in the microwave than on the stovetop. The coconut oil melts completely in three minutes. After that, you can just stir it until the cocoa butter disks melt from the heat of the coconut oil. Then, you just heat it a minute at a time and stir in between until the beeswax melts.

After that, you just pour them into molds, and put them in the freezer. If you don’t put them in the freezer, they don’t cool evenly or come easily away from the edges of the molds.

I made five 5-ounce lotion bars, which should last until I manage to locate another batch of cocoa butter and another brick of beeswax, neither of which are as easy to come by as coconut oil, which you seem to be able to buy even at 7-11 these days.

And they are, texture-wise, PERFECT!!