Allantoin helps to soothe, soften and heal skin. It is used often in products for sensitive skin or acne-prone skin as it is anti-irritating, meaning it will actually reduce irritation that may be caused by other ingredients. It is most commonly used to:

• help prevent and treat dry, chapped, cracking skin or lips
• relieve dryness and soften cold sores and fever blisters
• temporarily protect minor cuts, scrapes and burns
• treat and prevent diaper rash

When you read a list of ingredients on a product, it’s so easy to breeze over the names. Often you are looking for the “bad” ones, so you don’t pay as much attention to understanding the “good” ones. Especially if it’s a short word you can easily pronounce! So next time you come across Allantoin (it will likely be near the bottom as a little goes a long way) you’ll know that it’s definitely a “good” one.  And in case you’re wondering, Allantoin is found in all of Garden Girl’s face creams, body butters and body lotions, and  hand and foot creams!

I made these today, using the recipe from this month’s Cooking Light magazine. It went against my main rule for baking – never bother with anything in a 9×9 or 8×8 pan because it’s just not worth the effort. I mean, we could go through a small pan in an afternoon…

Anyway – considering how delicious these sounded, and considering the fact that we were trapped at home all day due to our friend Irene, I decided to try them. And I’m so glad I did – they are so yummy! And actually, (as hard as it is for me to admit this) they are so rich that the small batch is probably a good idea.

My biggest complaint, however, is that the caramel layer (which is more like a layer of penuche fudge – YUM) is much thinner than they showed in the picture. They must’ve made a double batch of that layer for the photos – which bugs me. If you make these, you should expect that you will have barely enough caramel to cover the brownies. It ends up being fine – it is so sweet that the small amount is sufficient.

Phew- long preamble! Now for the good part – the recipe. I have “borrowed” the photo from Cooking Light (and remember, yours likely won’t look like this).

Salted Caramel Brownies (adapted from Cooking Light magazine)

For the brownies:

• 3/4 cup unbleached flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• cooking spray

For the caramel layer:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark – I used dark)
• 3 1/2 tablespoons fat-free evaporated milk, divided (I used 1% milk and it was fine)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 heaping tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 1 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped)
• 1/8 teaspoon coarse salt (I used Kosher salt which isn’t quite coarse enough but it was fine)

For the brownies:

• Preheat the oven to 350
• Spray an 8″x8″ square baking pan with cooking spray (Cooking Light recipe says 9×9, which you can use too. Just cook for about 19-20 minutes instead – I just like the thicker brownies)
• Mix the dry ingredients together (flour through baking powder) in a large bowl. You might want to sift the cocoa to avoid lumps.
• In  a small bowl, mix the eggs, melted butter and vanilla.
• Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix until combined (don’t overmix)
• Spread the batter into the baking pan
• Bake for about 25-28 minutes (check at 25 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center has only a few wet crumbs. Don’t forget – if you’re using a 9×9 pan, bake for about 19-20 minutes. These will be rich and fudgy brownies – not cakey. Set on wire rack to cool.

For the caramel layer:

• While the brownies are cooling, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the brown sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
• Remove from heat and add the powdered sugar and vanilla.
• Spread this mixture onto the cooled brownies.
• In a small bowl, microwave the chocolate and the remaining milk for 20 seconds. Stir until chocolate is melted. Drizzle over caramel layer (I put it in a plastic zip-top bag and snipped the corner to make the drizzling easier).
• Sprinkle the salt evenly over the top.
• Let stand 20 minutes or until set.
• Cut into 20 bars (according to Cooking Light) – or more likely, into 16 bars

Black Bean + Corn Salad

In a big bowl, mix:

• 2 cans organic black beans
• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained – OR 1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed OR 1  1/2 cups fresh corn, cooked and cut from cob
• 2/3 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• OTHER suggested additions: chopped avocado, chopped mango

Dressing (mix together in a separate bowl):

• 2 T chopped flat leaf parsley
• 2 T chopped cilantro
• 2 T chopped scallions
• 1 T ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 4 T olive oil
• 10 T fresh lime juice (about 5 limes)
• Salt & black pepper

Pour dressing over beans and vegetables, then mix until well combined. Chill in fridge to let flavors marry. Serve cold or room temperature. Keeps in the fridge for 4 or 5 days. Also excellent as a salsa with chips, or over chicken or fish.

For awhile now salons and the blowout manufacturers have tried to downplay the the toxicity because, clearly, this is/was a big money maker. Women were clamoring for the treatment because it worked so well. But at what cost? The formaldehyde-laden formula is applied to the hair and then hair is blown dry and straightened -meanwhile producing clouds of toxic fumes. To make matters worse, the salons are typically not ventilated sufficiently so not only are clients exposed during the process, poor stylists breathe the fumes all day long. And it is becoming a major health concern

The treatments have been banned already in Canada. Hopefully, they will be soon banned here. We all want to look our best, but this one comes at too serious of a cost. And stylists have finally started to talk.  One woman created a blog in desperation – you can read her story here. It’s a powerful recounting of how stylists and salons can get caught up in the whole trend – it’s an easy money maker, and that’s understandably hard to give up.  As the blogger can account, the price she has paid is real and very scary.

But the big test is how much the kids complain when they use it. And this is the first one that we have tried that has been accepted by the boys. It is still thicker than Coppertone or Banana Boat, but it is much easier to apply than some of the other all natural sunblocks. ( The key is to apply it to small areas at a time. )

Caribbean Sol is so safe and natural that it made it to the EWG 2011 list of best sunscreens.  So we are thrilled to be able to now offer our customers a safe, reliable and effective sunblock – both Sol Care SPF 25 for adults and Kid Care SPF 25 for kids. Both are free of parabens, sulfates, petroleum products and phthalates – just like Garden Girl products!

And while we were on our quest for sunblock, we found that there was one other product that we wanted to offer as well. The sunless self-tanner - a great all-natural self tanner that bronzes your skin naturally -but without the sun. So you can protect yourself from the damaging (and dangerous) sun, but still get a nice bit of color.

It all does make you think. We are exposed to pesticides in many ways – not just from the food we eat but also in our homes and offices. The greatest exposure in general actually comes from household pesticide use (those sprays that keep ants and bugs out of your house). So if you are worried about what you are eating, definitely think about what you are spraying too. There are many non-toxic bug control sprays available – we have one that we have been using that has kept the tiny ants away (those little guys make me nuts!) It may take a couple of additional days to get rid of the bugs, but just think about how much healthier it is for you and your family.

Anyway, if you are looking for fruits and veggies that are LOW in pesticides, check out EWG’s list of the “Clean 15″. This will help you balance your selections. According to EWG: “Picking five servings of fruits and vegetables from the 12 most-contaminated products would result in consuming an average of 14 different pesticides a day. Choosing five servings from the 15 least contaminated fruits and vegetables would result in consuming fewer than two pesticides per day.” It’s also important to remember to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables so you get the vitamins and minerals you need.

Both of these are available in PDF form so you can bring it with you when you shop.

What do YOU do to try to reduce your exposure to pesticides? Or do you think this is all blowing things out of proportion? We’d love to hear from you – join in the conversation on the Garden Girl Facebook page.

Anyway -  here is my random mix of favorite things. Clearly it is not comprehensive or exhaustive, but it was fun to create!

• My family (I know that’s obvious but this list wouldn’t be complete without it)
• My friends (see above)
• Garden Girl products (of course!), my personal “must have’s”: You’re Fresh, Even Stephen, Break Free, Nature Nurture, Super Hero serum, Eye Can’t Believe It, Chill Out lotion, Alive body wash,  Simmer Down bath salts, Hand it to You hand cream and Zippity Do Dah peppermint foot cream
• My new VitaMix!
• Our SodaStream soda/seltzer machine
• White vinegar (for cleaning and laundry)
• My tumble composter from Costco (so easy!)
• My husband’s old (2003) Prius – such a great car
• My BlackBerry
• My laptop
• Facebook
• Mineral makeup
• Greek yogurt
• Chocolate
• Banana Bread
• Smoothies
• Gooey brownies
• Hot fudge
• Ice cream (Brigham’s Mocha Chip or Chocolate Chip are 2 all-time favorites)
• Broccoli (seriously)
• Spinach (again, seriously)
• Juicy tomatoes in the summer – especially with fresh mozzarella and basil! (and crusty bread)
• speaking of bread….CARBS (but I try to squeeze in whole grains whenever possible) – especially chewy, crusty bread and pasta
• A big salad with tons of stuff in there – especially if someone else did all the chopping
• Shortcut dinners like all natural frozen potstickers from Costco, Mama Rosie’s spinach ravioli, Bell & Evan’s chicken, Trader Joe’s mandarin orange chicken, Trader Joe’s frozen brown rice, quesadillas, omelettes
• My rice cooker
• My Kitchen Aid mixer
• My favorite cookbooks: America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, Gourmet cookbook, and King Arthur Flour Cookie Book
• Cooking Light magazine
• Epicurious.com and other online recipe databases
• Food Network
• Any good workout I can find that’s 20 minutes or less and that I can do at home
• Our Weber Grill
• My latex mattress
• Central air conditioning (i know – VERY un-eco-friendly but we do keep it on the warm side)
• Caribbean Sol sunblock
• Caribbean Sol all natural self tanner (nice!)
• Trader Joe’s Powerberries (DO NOT BUY these if you are not already addicted – they are so yummy that they are pure evil…)
• Our pizza stone
• Pizza dough from Russo’s
• Actually – Russo’s in general, along with Trader Joe’s (can’t imagine life without it), Costco, and Whole Foods
• Reusable grocery bags (just seems like an obviously good idea, doesn’t it? and now I have finally gotten the hang of always having them in the car…)

I could do an entire list of my favorite food from Trader Joe’s – actually I think I have in the past? And I know I’ve done a “favorite finds at Costco” Facebook posting. Those are always fun!

Anyway – that’s my random list, for better or for worse. It makes me laugh that it is mostly food – apparently I have a one-track mind…

I’m looking forward to hearing what some of your favorites are!

But the thing is, my kids have grown up with these types of cereal so they are actually ok with it. Clearly they would prefer yummier choices (who wouldn’t?) And it’s not to say that they aren’t THRILLED on Christmas when they each open their annul gift of a full box of chemical-laden, sugar-rush-provoking, full-on sweetened cereals like Lucky Charms and Corn Pops! Hey – everything in moderation or as a treat, right? But generally, they don’t complain about the choices.

As a matter of fact, this year my oldest son has mastered the art of organic rolled oats in the microwave. He makes a big batch and we all have it every morning (plus they ALSO eat cold cereal – which to me sounds like a lot of food, but they love it). I had forgotten what a great way it is to start the day with oatmeal- and they love the sprinkling of brown sugar and cranberries.  Between that and the smoothies (still nuts over my Vitamix – holy cow, is that a fun machine!), it’s a great way to get the boys started on their busy days.

Anyway, all that said, I am always interested in suggestions for healthy breakfast suggestions. That’s why the Cooking Light list of good breakfast cereals caught my eye - Choose the Best Healthy Cereal.

Not only does the article make some great suggestions for healthy but great-tasting cereals, but it also has some great guidelines for making good cereal choices including looking for ones with “a serving of whole grains (16g) or at least have a whole grain as the first ingredient, be relatively low in sugar (10g or less), be a good source of fiber (3g per serving), and be free of artificial colors and dyes.”

The list has “winners” for categories like Best Cereal for Kids and Best Cereal for Fiber. So check it out – it’s always nice to shake things up a bit, so maybe you’ll find something new to try – maybe even something that doesn’t taste like cardboard?

The Daily Green online magazine has released some useful guidelines for seeking safe lipsticks.  Basically, what it comes down to is to avoid the following:

• Parabens
• Phthalates
• Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives
• Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)
• Oxybenzone
• Fragrance
• Lead

In many ways, it’s great to have a nice list to use when looking for a safe product. However, the tricky thing is that you often don’t know if some of these ingredients are in the products as many companies don’t label all ingredients in their products.

The article does go on to list a few suggestions of safe lipsticks. Interestingly they are all pretty steeply priced. The good news? Garden Girl offers lipstick sheers that meet the above requirements AND are only $5.50 each! Check them out at www.GardenGirlSkinCare.com.

And keep an eye out for more colors coming soon!

Entering is easy. All you have to do is post your entry here. In your posting, please provide a description in 50 words or less, of why your mom is beautiful. We are especially interested in understanding her beauty from a “beyond skin deep” perspective.

The only conditions are that your entry is 50 words or less, you do not include your mother’s full name, and you don’t post anonymously (we need to be able to give your screen name to announce the winner). Otherwise, you have free reign. Entries will be judged on creativity, uniqueness and general story. And don’t forget – it doesn’t have to be your mom, it can be any mom that has a special place in your life.

Have fun – and get cracking! Because your mom will be thrilled with the prize: a $75 gift certificate to Garden Girl - free for her to use on whatever paraben-free, phthalate-free, sulfate-free, petroleum-free Garden Girl products suit her beautiful fancy!

And don’t forget to spread the word – there are so many deserving moms out there!