Lip balm and a family recipe

I made a couple of things this week that I'm proud of. One thing I made was lip balm. I used beeswax, olive oil, and lime essential oil. I melted the wax and the olive oil in a double boiler, then added six drops of the lime oil, and then poured it into this little container. That's it! The thing that makes me really happy is that there used to be this all-natural lip balm that I absolutely loved. It was the best lip balm that I had ever tried, and I was happy that I wasn't spreading petroleum products on my mouth. However, I had to stop buying it because it was too expensive. This lip balm that I made? It's exactly the same thing! And the supplies cost pennies. So I think I am making my own lip balm forever.

The other thing that I made was a family recipe from my husband's family. My family doesn't really have recipes that are passed down, although some people have a dish that they're famous for. Anyways, I wanted to make one of the family recipes, called Derr's delight. Jason's aunt invented this recipe when she was in college. You brown some ground beef and add a chopped up onion and a green pepper. Then you add two cups of stock (my father-in-law insists that it must be consomme from the soup aisle. He will be annoyed that I used stock. I don't use consomme from the soup aisle because I can make my own stock from the stuff you usually throw away, and it doesn't cost me anything.) You also add a cup of rice. You simmer this for half an hour, or until all the liquid is absorbed. Because I didn't use canned consomme, I added some seasoned salt. If you use the canned stuff you won't need the salt, unless you love salt. Anyway it comes out gooey and good. It's great student food. I was happy to try out a family recipe. My husband has made it once before too, so it's not like I think I have to keep up all the cookin' traditions, as the woman and all. I just wanted to share in the heritage because his family is my family too now.